"1957 US - 2008 Turkey
US 1957
The idea is not mine, these juxtaposed photos spreading thru forwarded emails. Good idea though:)
Turkey 2008
What if it is not a religious conviction?
Some secular columnists discuss whether or not covering the head with a headscarf is a religious requirement.
In the mean time, US now asks Turkey to stop in Northern Iraq. A new wave of tension comin'. Here is a huge round up in Turkey's top two issues in her political agenda.
US presses for end to Turkey raid
Turkey's incursion into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels should be as short as possible, the US says.
Turkey resists pressure to end northern Iraq offensive - Europe, News - Independent.co.uk
Turkey Rules Out Timetable For Troop Withdrawal
AFP: Turkey tells US its troops will stay in Iraq 'as long as necessary'
Cross-border operations vs. cross-dressing
A critical debate of the entire military conflict being played out on Turkey's southeastern border has been stimulated by perhaps the most unlikely conversation.
Talking about religion in Turkey
Who talks about religion in Turkey? And how do they talk about it? We took up these two questions on the state-owned TRT 1 station last week.
Those resisting freedom
It is almost as if there were two wars going on in the country. One is against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, and the other is being waged between those in favor of the ban on headscarves at universities and those in favor of freedom at universities.
Would taking ‘service’ solve the Kurdish issue?
The villager had no water or roads in the past, but today he has. There was no school, electricity or telephone line, but today they all are there; yet the improvement of such standards of living are of course not enough for him (the villager) to tolerate the pressures on his Kurdish identity.
We should save the hearts from suffering!
The PKK should lay aside violence and bury their weapons. The state should seriously start implementing policies that are based on respect for the Kurds’ identity.
Using carrots and sticks fairly
Although there is almost a general consensus among the Turkish public over the need to use military force against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging a bloody war in Turkey for decades, there is also a great emphasis on the inadequacy of military means to solve the country’s Kurdish problem.
Opinion: Turkey’s Kurdish Clashes | Newsweek International | Newsweek.com
'No timetable' for Turkey assault
A Turkish official says military action against the PKK in northern Iraq will go on "until terrorist bases are eliminated".Turkish appeal against scarf law
A Turkish opposition party asks the Constitutional Court to overturn a recent reform allowing headscarves in universitiesTurkey and the Kurds: the politics of military action , Hasan Turunc
Turkey's cross-border military incursion into the Iraqi Kurdistan to attack bases and militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) began on 21 February 2008 and at the time of writing is in its fifth consecutive day. This is the Turkish army's largest ground offensive into northern Iraq for over eleven years. It came as a surprise, given the unfavourable weather conditions that still prevail in the mountainous region. Thus, the scale and the timing alike signal Turkey's determination to continue to pursue and damage its PKK enemy.
Letters: Headscarves, secularism and emancipation | From the Guardian | The Guardian
Madeleine Bunting's comment on the protests in Turkey against women wearing headscarves in Turkish universities (Comment, February 25) avoided the political feeling within the nation at the heart of the matter. There is a creeping feeling in middle-class liberal Turkey that the conservative AK party is promoting more regressive values. Political favour is being granted to the openly religious (or those who wear the trappings of the openly religious) at the expense of secular non-believers."...
Rectors revolt against the Constitution
Although a reform package lifting the ban on Muslim headscarves on university campuses went into effect after it was approved by President Abdullah Gül last Friday, some university rectors are continuing to bar covered students from university campuses.reservations!
turkey's invasion of northern iraq has begun four days ago whether this is a mere incursion, or a lasting mission in cohorts with u.s. policies to partly relieve and aid the american forces in the territory still remains to be seen....Turkey academics defy scarf law
A number of Turkish universities defy a new law allowing women students to wear Islamic headscarves.Kurdish TV, right now!
The “understanding” that Europe has shown to Turkey thus far in terms of the operation into northern Iraq is quite critical, though this “understanding” is both delicate and ephemeral.Would liberals abandon the AK Party?
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) is in the republican wing; there are the “real” citizens and the institutions and there is the university that cannot become “universal” and the “state leadership” that has the public power in this wing.Turkey strives for 21st century form of Islam | World news | The Guardian
In Turkey, Students Test a New Policy on Head Scarves - washingtonpost.com
Turkey's AKP u-turn on additional headscarf legislation, as universities divided (UPDATED) - Hürriyet
Mixed implementation of headscarf ban in Turkey : Europe World
Beyond the military operations, any optimism at all?
When the Turkish Armed Forces' (TSK) massive cross-border operation will end is very hard to predict.Civilian initiatives essential for success of military assaults
Turkey's air raids into northern Iraq that started on Dec. 16 of last year have now been followed by an ongoing ground offensive against the targets of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists with the aim of totally destroying the PKK's infrastructure there.Turkish operation: The optimistic scenario
Turkey has launched the ground phase of its northern Iraq operation. Approximately 10,000 Turkish soldiers have crossed the border and have penetrated up to 30 kilometers inside Iraqi territory despite tough winter conditions.A very different operation
Mehmet Ali BirandThe fog of war
If the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) decision to go guns blazing across the border into northern Iraq has accomplished anything, it will have been to supply the military's least favorite president with the mother of all diversions to approve the military's least favorite constitutional package.The land operation & the 'Kurdish package'
Murat YETKİNThe land operation: For how long and to what extent?
Cengiz ÇANDARLack of alternatives in nature and politics
Winning elections and going on to take single-party power in an administration is the ultimate expression of victory for a political party.Is the headscarf a female problem?
The most recent point arrived at in the defense of the headscarf in Turkey, which includes demands for homosexual rights from a group of covered women making statements in favor of freedoms in general, can only be explained by the “Protestantization” of Islam.
Reflecting on Feb. 28
Eleven years is a short period of time for history, but a large portion of a human life. At least, we should have had 11 opportunities to reflect on what happened on this day in 1997.
L’armée turque mène de durs combats dans le nord de l’Irak
La Croix (France)27 février 2008, Istamboul, , de notre correspondante
Des milliers de soldats turcs sont engagés dans une bataille qui vise les places fortes du PKK et qui pourrait durer plusieurs semaines.
Irak : Les Kurdes trahis par l’ami américain
Courrier International (France), 28 février 2008, p. 28Sam Dagher, The Christian Science Monitor (Boston)
Sans le soutien des Américains, la Turquie n’aurait jamais osé lancer une offensive dans le Nord irakien. Une opération qui viserait le Kurdistan et non le seul PKK, estime-t-on sur place.
Yusuf Kanlı: If this is not, what is chaos?
The prime minister was very angry when one of Turkey's leading newspapers reported the result of the voting in Parliament on a set of constitutional amendments the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its crutch in that endeavor the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) under the banner headline: “411 hands were raised to chaos.”Right, let's put it more bluntly, that headline was in Hürriyet – which is considered as the “admiral ship” of the Doğan Media Group to which the Turkish Daily News also belongs. It was a rather strong headline, obviously. The paper was stressing that the government ignored the need to forge a national consensus in lifting the turban ban for female students
Turkey's tumultuous paradigm shift
Evren Tok and Umut R. Özkan
Two fronts, two struggles
Murat YETKİN
The Kurdish question: The Achilles' Heel of Turkey
Mustafa AKYOL
Now is the time to win Kurdish hearts
Mehmet Ali Birand
