Ankara Forum and 'realpolitik' lesson in Ankara...

Cengiz ÇANDAR

 

Our policy on northern Iraq

İlter TÜRKMEN

 

Turkish Press Scanner

Earthquake expert warns of risksEarthquake risks were once again brought to the foreground as experts spoke on the eighth anniversary of the earthquake in the Marmara region district of Düzce, the daily Radikal reported yesterday.Red Crescent deputy chairman, Professor Ahmet Mete Işıkara, said he feels anxious because no earthquakes with a magnitude between 6 to 6.9 on the Richter scale have taken place in Turkey since 2003.Işıkara was speaking at a conference titled ''Turkish Red Crescent Project for Organizing Society Leaders,'' organized for the anniversary of the Oct. 12, 1999 earthquake that shook the Düzce district of Bolu and aff......

 

Turkey: From Ataturk to Erdogan

Asharq Alawsat - London,UK
Asharq Al-Awsat, Istanbul - Turkey is one state yet it is home to numerous identities as the people of Istanbul, Ankara, Konya, Izmir, Diyarbakir, Mardin, ...

Turk general says not too late for incursion-report | Reuters

For her the war is over: the PKK fighter who wants to end killing - Times Online

Turkish prosecutor launches probe into pro-Kurdish party after calls for autonomy - International Herald Tribune

Turkey's Erdogan says some EU nations not doing enough to fight Kurdish rebels - International Herald Tribune

As in the days of Noah: Turkish-Kurd tensions spill into Europe's streets

European Parliament Holds Hearings on Turkish-Armenian Border « The Iron Ladle

Israpundit » Blog Archive » Kurdistan and the Ottoman Empire

An unlovely date 10 November 1938 and Mustafa Kemal ATATURK. : November 2007 : Metin YILMAZ : My Telegraph

 

Mirror On America: Why Have Democrats Been Obsessed with the Armenian Genocide?

Turkish Press Scanner

Is this a school or an internment camp? The strict and dated regulations implemented at the Bahçelievler Erkan Avcı technical and industry profession high school have been compared to an

Should we start to take Barzani seriously?

Mehmet Ali Birand

The gospel according to Atatürk

MUSTAFA AKYOL

Greatest dream of Mesopotamia: GAP

Gila Benmayor

Yusuf Kanlı: Some wise words from Baykal

As if it were he instead of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who met with U.S. President George W. Bush in the Oval Office on Nov. 5, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal appears to have dumped his hawkish attitudes regarding northern Iraq. Only few days ago the CHP leader was condemning northern Iraqi local administration headed by Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) chief Masoud Barzani as a potential target of a Turkish operation into the region to root out separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group. Now he is defending the notion that Turkey should engage in “surgical operations” that would target only the PKK. He is no longer talking about a

 

Nationalism and brain drain!

Orhan Kemal Cengiz

DTP faces probe for demanding 'autonomy'

A judicial investigation was launched Friday against the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) which demanded “democratic autonomy” and more rights for Kurdish citizens during its general

In Turkish mountains, an oasis of inter-ethnic harmony

Clinging to a craggy mountaintop in southeast Turkey, Mardin is at the geographic heart of a region in the throes of violent conflict between the Turkish army and separatist Kurdish rebels.But in...

Whirling Dervish of a Desk Officer

Danielle Garbe currently serves as the Turkey Desk Officer.

My first four months as the Turkey desk officer in Washington who covers the political dimension of our bilateral relationship has felt at times like the dance of the whirling dervish. I started in July when Turkey was spinning on the political currents of historic parliamentary elections that resulted in the return to power of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) by a 14 percent higher margin than it had received in 2002. Prime Minister Erdogan resumed his office and the parliament elected his foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, as the next president. Some in Turkey had questioned whether Gul could be president because his wife wears a traditional Muslim headscarf. Turkey resolved the issue through a free and fair election that demonstrated the strength of its democracy and rule of law.

 

Turkish Press Scanner

Five-star pilgrimage The orientation meeting for a luxurious pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca was organized by a tourism company at the famous Çirağan Palace Kempinski Hotel in Istanbul, the daily Akşam yesterday reported Some 450 candidates who will participate in the five-star pilgrimage organized by the Eman Tourism Company attended the orientation meeting at the hotel and drew attention to themselves with their very chic attire. The nominated pilgrims will receive training before they embark on their pilgrimage to holy lands.The training session began with a reading of the Koran and an introduction to Kaaba and Razya a

 

Un État kurde en formation au nord de l’Irak

by acturca

Le Figaro (France), Lundi, 12 novembre 2007, p. 1

Adrien Jaulmes (envoyé spécial à Erbil)

A new state policy on the Kurdish question?

There are signs that the "state policy" toward the Kurdish question may be entering a process of change.

AK Party’s democratic sins

We all know that the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) first term in office was not a huge success in terms of democratic reforms if we take into account the majority it had in Parliament.

 

 

What do closer Turkish-Saudi relations mean these days? by MEHMET SEYFETTİN EROL

The “uprising” of the Pakistani people, the pouring onto the streets of the Georgians and in this sense the “counter revolution” being experienced, the most recent US stance towards Iran and its reception by certain “free” European countries -- notably England, France and Germany -- with a resounding “Yes, sir,” and the critical visits to Turkey by Saudi King Abdullah, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas:

 

Abbas-Peres meeting a diplomatic success for Turkey

Yesterday Ankara hosted a historic meeting of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres ahead of a crucial Annapolis summit, organized in an attempt to re-launch the peace process in the Middle East.

The opposition’s responsibility

by ERGUN BABAHAN, SABAH

The task that falls on the shoulders of the opposition is not merely to divulge the mistakes and weak points of the government.

 

DTP: A betrayer or a victim?

by ENİS BERBEROĞLU, HÜRRİYET

I know that the two words in the headline of this column will be harshly criticized. Some will get stuck on the word “betrayer” and others will wonder why the Democratic Society Party (DTP) should be considered a victim.

 

Due diligence in Kurdish issue

by ALİ BAYRAMOĞLU, YENİ ŞAFAK

Recent developments have proven that Turkey faces a Kurdish issue of a sociological nature.

 

Establishing a professional army

by MEHMET ALTAN, STAR

In response to questions directed by the Ankara representatives of some national newspapers at the General Staff headquarters in the capital, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt said: “A professional army could be established.

Northern Iraq and nationalism

by MEHMET METİNER, BUGÜN

Belittling the new formation in northern Iraq with a hostile point of view and considering the clanship in the region as primitive do not comply with the traditional Turkish concept of state that dates back several centuries.

President Gül's Central Asia vision

by MUSTAFA ÜNAL, ZAMAN

President Abdullah Gül's three-day visit to Azerbaijan should not be considered merely a simple visit to a brother country. We should evaluate this visit from a broader point of view.

DTP no longer represents Kurdish people

At a party convention on Thursday, Nurettin Demirtaş, a former militant of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who spent 10 years in jail for his links to the PKK, was elected the new chairman of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), bringing the party to a more hawkish line.

 

 Armenian Atrocities Against Muslim Turks Part II « The Van Der Galiën Gazette

 

Turkey faces Tora Bora-like challenge in Iraqi Kurdistan

by David Francis

Since gathering on Turkey's border with northern Iraq last week, Turkish troops have been mounting small-scale attacks against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) inside Iraqi borders. These attacks have reportedly consisted of Turkish special forces with the support of helicopter gunships, targeting PKK bases.

 

Turkey’s Kurdish challenge, Gunes Murat Tezcur

A series of developments in the last month has internationalised Turkey's Kurdish problem and gravely threatened the already fragile stability in the region. The essence of the problem lies in the historical conflict between regional powers and a Kurdish nationalism that has recently found a safe haven in northern Iraq under United States protection.