Another step backwards.
From a news article (click here): A court decided to shut down Istanbul’s only gay rights association on the grounds that it violates the law for the protection of family and public morality, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. Although members of Lambda Istanbul said they were surprised by the court’s decision, […]
Excerpt from news article (click here for full text):
The Justice Ministry has opened 472 investigations into media outlets in the past three months over alleged violations of the confidentiality of the Ergenekon case, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin revealed…
The minister said in his statement that state prosecutors had the authority to launch probes into these […]
Istanbul Metro Murals, Taksim station, Photos by Jenny White
Excerpts from an article in Turkish Daily News:
As Istanbul’s municipality and governorship celebrate the 555th anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul, academics believe the significance attached to the celebrations has been increasing over the last decades due to a rise in Islamist sentiments in Turkey.
The conquest of […]
The AK Party has often referred to their style of secularism as “the American system”, by which they mean that the government keeps an equal distance from all religions, or a “hands-off” policy. This is contrasted to the Turkish state’s secularism (laiklik), which authorizes the state to control religious public institutions and religious practice in […]
Excerpts from an essay by Ahmet Kuru on the SSRC blog (The Immanent Frame):
Last March, the Chief Public Prosecutor of Turkey’s High Court of Appeals opened a closure case against the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, which had received 47% of the votes in an 18-parties election eight months ago. The prosecutor asked the […]
Arguing that the right to life of citizens is under attack in the provinces of Van, Hakkari and Yüksekova, the Diyarbakir branch of the Association of Human Rights (IHD) announced the results of their latest report on violations of human rights in the Southeast in a recent press conference:
Over the last four months 242 women […]
A list of controversial “dos and don’ts” regarding sexual relations in Islam has been published on the Web site of the Directorate of Religious Affairs. According to the much-debated list, people should avoid having illegal, extra-marital affairs and engaging in relations, such as flirting and dating, that can lead to adultery.
The Web site also cites […]
Pew Global Opinion Survey 6/27/07
What accounts for the precipitous drop in favorable views toward the US over the past six years? The debacle in Iraq, a possible US attack on Iran, US intransigence on PKK…. But could this statistic also be a result of mechanisms internal to Turkey, an increasing xenophobia, militarism, and turning away […]
From an article by Goksel Bozkurt and Mustafa Oguz in Turkish Daily News:
The escalating tensions between the judiciary and the government has landed both parties in a swamp of accusations and confrontations…. In an unexpected and harsh statement issued last week, the Supreme Court of Appeals accused the government of attempting to influence the judiciary […]
Excerpts from Pinar Tremblay’s column in The Turkish Daily News:
Islamists are dead, along with dinosaur secularists.
[But] “religion matters.” It is crucial that we accept this stubborn fact. …It has been around for a long time, as a source of both comfort and conflict…. Therefore, it is time to wake up for those who assume “religion” […]