Mourners bearing Engin Ceber’s coffin. Photo from Today’s Zaman
Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin apologized yesterday for the recent death of an activist [Engin Ceber] allegedly at the hands of police and prison guards and announced that 19 members of the security staff believed to have been responsible for the tragedy have been suspended, a […]
The emphasis in Turkish schoolbooks (see my previous posts on education) and state propaganda urging a militaristic response to Turkey’s “enemies within” is bearing fruit. Turkish society is boiling with anti-Kurdish sentiment that extends beyond the Kurdish terror movement PKK to include any citizen of Kurdish descent. Following the recent deaths of Turkish soldiers at […]
A devastating review of John McCain’s life and career appeared in Rolling Stone. Click here.
The conflict and mudslinging between the AKP government and the Turkish media giant Dogan is escalating. The bone of contention is the Dogan Group’s critical reporting on a charity donation scandal in Germany involving high-ranking AKP members, which is causing a ripple effect throughout the media. Ömer Erzeren reports from Istanbul for qantara.de (click […]
Human Rights First has issued its 2008 Hate Crimes Survey. Click here to read the survey. The survey analyzes incidents and prevalence of hate crimes in 56 countries. Click here for news article discussing Turkey’s report card.
A PKK attack over the Iraqi border on a Turkish army outpost in Aktütün left 17 Turkish soldiers dead and more than 20 wounded. Most of the casualties apparently were caused by heavy weapons fired from northern Iraq. The US, EU, UN and individual European countries strongly condemned the terrorist attack. The US statement reiterated […]
This post is not directly related to Turkey, but I wanted to share an excellent article by the editors of The New Yorker that makes a particularly clear case for electing Barack Obama, rather than John McCain, as US president in November. Turks often say to me that they don’t see any difference between the […]
Click for article. Excerpts: Turkey opened accession talks with the EU three years ago, on Oct. 3, 2005, but progress has been very slow since then. So far, talks have been opened on eight out of 35 negotiating chapters. Talks have been closed only on one of them. [EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn’s spokesperson, Krisztina] […]
From the Financial Times (click here for full article)
A row over corruption allegations is emerging as the new frontline in political battles between the Turkish government and its secularist opponents and could damage the ruling Justice and Development party’s (AKP) carefully cultivated reputation for clean politics.
Last month a German court convicted three men for siphoning […]
Singers, caricaturists, writers, translators, publishers… the court cases against them seem unending, not only under Article 301 (that bans insulting Turkishness), but under a variety of other laws that restrict speech, and increasingly civil lawsuits that impose punitive monetary punishments, or ban websites. See for instance the recent debate about a Turkish court ban on […]