Now that the court case against the AKP is finished, it’s nice to have something else to worry about. Skyrocketing gas prices have pushed up the price of donkeys, as farmers are abandoning their tractors for these reliable beasts that run on locally grown “biofuel”. Last year’s donkey price of 700-800 YTL has gone up […]
Andrew Finkel discusses why the court backed away in the end from “the nuclear option”, barely. He argues that the “best answer to those who accuse [the AKP] of having an Islamic agenda is to make Turkey a more democratic and freer place. Reform, not revenge, should be the plan.” (click here)
We can only hope […]
I just published an essay on the situation in Turkey on the SSRC (Social Science Research Council) blog, The Immanent Frame. To read it, click here.
Photo from Radikal
Photos from Zaman
The Constitutional Court has finished its deliberations about whether or not the ruling AK Party should be closed down for being a center of anti-secular activities and 71 of its politicians banned from membership in a political party for 5 years. By a one-vote margin, the court […]
If even half of what is contained in the 2500-page indictment against the Ergenekon gang is true, this has been a long-running conspiracy of truly monstrous proportions. Below are some examples. (To read the article I took them from, click here)
Ergenekon, an organization [with alleged links to the military and security forces, as well as […]
No decision today from the Constitutional Court about closing the ruling AK Party. The court will continue deliberating tomorrow.
Sunday Evening President Gul and Prime Minister Erdogan held a secret 5-hour meeting in which they discussed recent events, but also what they would do if the court closes the party and bans them and 69 other […]
Vulture parties are swooping in to land and position themselves to pick up votes after the AK Party is closed.
A new political party was announced today, the Hak ve Hakikat Partisi. My preliminary translation is Truth and Reality Party (each of the terms has a number of meanings. Hak also means right and justice. Hakikat […]
Andrew Finkel’s chilling assessment of the truth behind Ergenekon, based on his interviews with Col. Fikri Karadag, now under arrest as an Ergenekon conspirator, and with Tansu Ciller, less than a month after she took office as prime minister 15 years ago.
Click here for Finkel’s article.
Read today’s insightful column by Sahin Alpay:
The Constitutional Court in Ankara will [continue] its deliberations on the closure case against the Justice and Development Party (AKP) today. There are basically two alternatives for the court: It will either decide to ban the party or not. Whatever the verdict, it is guaranteed to have a deep […]
Photo from Zaman
The Constitutional Court has completed its meeting today in regard to the case calling for closure of the ruling AK Party, which is accused of undermining secularism, and the banning of 71 of its politicians from politics for five years. No decision was reached today after 13 hours of deliberation. The court […]