The Common Sense Movement, a platform bringing together civil society [organizations], opinion leaders, journalists, academics, writers and politicians from different segments of society, held its first meeting opposing coup attempts and anti-democratic practices in Turkey in the eastern province of Malatya on Saturday….
[Zaman newspaper estimates 50,000 attended.]
The Common Sense Movement will continue its string of […]
Nicosia, Cyprus
Hugh Pope in the Wall Street Journal (For full article, click here):
Nobody has ever lost money betting on the failure of the Cyprus peace process. But this year, the best chance in decades to end this conflict has quietly crept up on local and international policy makers, and the European Union now has one […]
Article by Mustafa Akyol (for full article, click here):
The people of Damal, a district of the eastern city of Ardahan, couldn’t have imagined that their modest and destitute town would attract droves of visitors and become the focus of the Turkish media. But that is exactly what happened in the past few years with the […]
After three amazing comebacks to reach the semifinals, Turkey is wild with rejoicing and hope. Two consecutive wins would make Turkey the Euro 2008 champion. But first the Turks have to clear the German hurdle in the semifinals in Basel, Switzerland, this evening and then take care of the other […]
Yasemin Congar wrote a hard-hitting Opinion piece in Taraf Daily on the Army General Staff’s Information Support Plan, dated September 2007, a document unearthed by Taraf Daily that it claims describes a comprehensive plan of action to intervene in politics and civilian life.
From a Todays Zaman article: The plan went into effect in September 2007, according to the document, […]
Who’s getting in line to replace Prime Minister Erdogan?
From an article by Goksel Bozkurt in Turkish Daily News:
The pending closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has triggered a drift toward alternatives in the political arena, with Turkey’s center right that has languished in recent times sniffing opportunity.
Many new and former […]
From Roger Cohen’s opinion piece in The New York Times:
… Turkey [is a] a conservative country fast-forwarded to Westward-looking secularism in the 1920s by the founder-hero of the modern republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and now grappling with the place in that republic of an ascendant political Islam.
I like this fight. It has its crude, misleading […]
Excerpts from Newsweek article on Turkey (click for full article):
Turkey’s Constitutional Court recently overruled its National Assembly and declared that two constitutional amendments passed in February were in fact unconstitutional. The Assembly is entitled to amend the Constitution with a 65 percent majority, and the judges conceded that I’s had been dotted and T’s crossed. […]
Photos from Zaman
A diverse crowd of thousands of people (Zaman claims 20,000) marched in Istanbul on Saturday to support democracy and to protest the coup that many believe is occurring as a result of the Constitutional Court case against the ruling AK Party. A variety of non-governmental organizations were represented and the march […]
Click for:
The 2008 Amnesty International Turkey Report
2008 Human Rights Watch: Turkey Report
2008 Reporters Without Borders Turkey Report