Timothy Ash

( The) facts are that Trump in effect asks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to dig dirt up on Biden, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy seemingly agreed, after everything Biden did for the reform story in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stabs Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the back - along with the former U.S. ambassador, Angela Merkel, et al.

Zelenskiy does not come out looking good from this - giving the ex-U.S. ambassador a kicking, Angela Merkel and the Europeans a kicking, and then agreeing to do Trump's dirty work on Biden.

This kind of action will inevitably bring self-censorship, less criticism of policy, fewer checks and balances in the system, and this might be seen as part of the institutional weakening that the ratings agencies highlighted.

Key short-term signals will be whether Simsek and the 'reformers' manage to survive and 'ring fence' their positions with the change of prime minister.

There is a need for EMs to focus back on country fundamentals in my view. Get back to basics of prudent macro policy, and structural reform at the micro level ... It's about reducing vulnerabilities and reforming to make each country a good place to invest, at this stage (I'm) not sure what Turkey can really offer, given it does not really have a functioning government itself.