"What happened to Article 301?
Hens are pictured in Telceker village of Dogubeyazit, eastern Turkey in 2006. Turkish authorities said Tuesday that bird flu has been detected in poultry in a village in the northwest of the country, the Anatolia news agency reported.
(AFP/File/Mustafa Ozer )
What happened to Article 301?
As you may recall, in the first days of last month, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin said work on proposals to alter Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) had been completed and that these proposals were to be presented within one week at the latest to the Turkish Parliament.
Intellectuals in twilight
Next Monday, Feb. 11, universities in Turkey will open for the year's second term. Also next Monday, another session in the Dink trial will take place.'Deep state plot' grips Turkey
Turkey is abuzz with rumours after the arrests of alleged "deep state" plotters, said to include rogue security men.Turkey debates easing of headscarf ban
Turkey's socially conservative government is again testing the patience of its secular opponents, including the powerful military, as the country's parliament prepares on Wednesday to begin debating the lifting of a constitutional ban on the wearing of headscarves at public universitiesWhat Now in the Veil War? | Newsweek International | Newsweek.com
Turkish party leaders fears escalating tension over headscarf issue
Headscarfonomics: Wig shops wig out
Girls wearing headscarves are not the only ones closely following the proposed constitutional amendment that will lift the headscarf ban in universities; if passed the final outcome will alsoWhat do the female students say?
University students top the list of groups in Turkish society whose views have been given little space in the debates about the possible lifting of the current headscarf ban.Headscarf problematic
The constitutional amendment proposal that seeks to lift a headscarf ban at universities has boosted an old debate in Turkey, one with many aspects.A Very American Debate in Turkey - Political Machine
By Justin PauletteWhen France banned the wearing of headscarves in schools, perhaps the most poignant retort was a sign - help by a group of scarfed women sitting on their former school's front lawn - which read: "Thank you for returning us to an age when women are not allowed to receive an education!""
The freedom of expression problem deepens
Semih İDİZTime to time
We are getting tired. The headscarf debates go in circles. Intractability, polarization and all sorts of hurtful statements are being spilled into the public domain, as well as into the arenas of politics and the media.Unanswered questions in the headscarf debate
A great question on the headscarf debates came from Melih Meriç, the broadcasting director of Habertürk TV station.Democracy for the minority and the majority
Democracy, for a variety of understandable reasons, is something better learned by those in the opposition rather than those in administrative power. This is because people can better understand the value of things that they don’t have.Fight over freedoms
Debates over the abolition of the headscarf ban at universities, which has dominated the national agenda over the past two weeks, are triggering stranger reactions from secularist circles with each passing day.EurasiaNet TURKEY: FREEDOM OF SPEECH AGAIN AN ISSUE
The headscarf-Ergenekon fraternity
Cengiz ÇANDARThe project of 'conservatization'
Cüneyt ÜLSEVERShark-infested waters
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the opinion pages, up looms that deadly dorsal fin. "Another column about headscarves!" I hear your own jaws gnashing in horror.Scarf and authoritarian conservatism
Following the general elections of 2007, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) gave the impression that it would not be conservatism, but liberalism, which would be the focus in any new constitution.Post-PKK operations: Will Turkey change its attitude toward Iran and Syria?
H. Akın ÜNVERA ‘solution’ looks far off in PKK fight
Yesterday the daily “Taraf” featured writers Ahmet Altan and Yasemin Çongar with their notes on the Kandil Mountains and their conversations with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members.Yusuf Kanlı: Secularists: Mad minority
So said one of those newspapers propagating the replacement of the secular lifestyle in the country with an Islamic one from top to toe: Mad minority engulfed in panic! Reports in other Islamist media were no different... They were all stressing one common new perception: The naughty minority secularists... The prime minister was talking at the inauguration of the “political academy” of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul... “It's not us, it is those who create this atmosphere of confrontation with the assumption that allowing turban in universities will pose a threat to their lifestyle... The AKP is the guarantee of secularism...” Military is the guarantee of democracTempest in a headscarf
History tells us that how you establish a system for any country inevitably defines the ways its people interact with each other, and how the people interact with each other prepares its future, its destiny.Anti-modern kemalist
It is an oft-repeated verdict that Turkey is a very rich laboratory for social scientists. Discussions over the headscarf have proven this once more. They have also shown that the old Kemalist elite are indeed anti-modern, let alone being modern.Anti-modern kemalist
It is an oft-repeated verdict that Turkey is a very rich laboratory for social scientists. Discussions over the headscarf have proven this once more. They have also shown that the old Kemalist elite are indeed anti-modern, let alone being modern.Headscarf and foundation of republic
If a demand that concerns fundamental human rights, such as one relating to belief and living in accordance with one’s beliefs, is being voiced by the citizens of the Turkish Republic, what sort of function can secularism fulfill at this point?Exhaustion
This is undoubtedly a very tiring country. One of the most important reasons for this is that it lacks a common language, a common area of freedom for society. It lacks an understanding that defends all individuals’ rights and the will to coexist amid differences.This T-shirt is a political symbol!
I have a T-shirt design in mind. “This T-shirt is a political symbol,” will be written on it. That’s it. Deny me entrance into my university with that T-shirt, and let’s see what kind of fools you show yourselves to be!More democracy means democracy for everyone!
As the women of Turkey, let us not allow the matter of the ban on headscarves make us forget our priorities. For this reason, then, let this headscarf ban come to an end.Why are the Islamic scholars keeping quiet?
No one can really understand how it is that we’ve reached this particular point in terms of the headscarf problem.Final turn before freedom
Next week, a constitutional amendment to lift the headscarf ban will be introduced to Parliament. Given the parliamentary seats the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) control, the bill is expected to pass for sure.[MONDAY TALK] Investigating gangs easier with new penal code, says professor
Effective June 1, 2005 the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK) introduced numerous regulations to more easily investigate organized crime, but what prevents us from uncovering the truth is a lack of effective implementation of the law, said Adem Sözüer, the architect of the new TCK.Unsatisfied With AKP’s Turban Proposal Islamist Groups Want Freedom For All Islamist Attire - In Universities And Civil Service
Status quo
Turkey is at an important crossroad. Will it be change or the status quo that will be triumphant? We will either opt for change and development to catch up with the new century, or we will return to the pre-1940 era.‘The TSK is not a criminal organization’
We share completely in the understandable protest from the top commander of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt.How Atatürk's Church Became an Ultra-Nationalist Base
Any quick history of Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, will surely include the institutions he created, from İş Bank to Ankara University to the ideology that bears his name. But who knew the story of the little church that he created until it found itself entangled in the alleged ultra-nationalist criminal gang called “Ergenekon”? This group of about three dozen nationalist figures, including a former general and a colonel, and one of Turkey's most active lawyers who sued many liberal intellectuals for “insulting Turkishness,” has been making headlines in Turkey in the past few weeks. The groups' members were arrested in a midnight raid and several of them are still under arrest. One name among them that looked a bit unusual in the first sight was a middle-aged woman named Sevgi Erenerol who claims the title of “public relations representative of the Turkish Orthodox Church.”
Ersever’s top-secret archive found in general’s house
Media ban imposed on Dağlıca hearings
