[JW: A very interesting detailed discussion by Andrew Arato of Turkey’s Constitution, parliament and court system as these play a role in the recent crisis (with a case before the Constitutional Court that may bring down the elected government). Arato makes comparisons with India, Germany and Central Europe. His main point is that all sides […]
On Tuesday, 23 people, including three former army commanders, a journalist and the leader of a business group, were detained in operations in the cities of Ankara, Istanbul, Antalya, Erzurum and Trabzon as part of an investigation into a powerful and illegal organization suspected of plotting to overthrow the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) […]
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 […]
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 […]
Photo from Zaman
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) submitted its final written defense in the closure case filed against it to the Constitutional Court on Monday. The AK Party turned in its defense statement ahead of the deadline in an attempt to speed up the legal process to avoid lingering ambiguity. Media reports […]
On April 16, Professor Henri Barkey’s gave the 2008 Campagna-Kerven Lecture on Modern Turkey at Boston University: “Where have Old Friends Gone? US-Turkish Relations Since the Iraq War”. To see a video of his well-received lecture, click here.