Yusuf Kanlı: The imam and the teacher!

The “imam” and the “teacher,” or Aytatollah Khomeini and the founder of the modern Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürk… Eminent Professor Şerif Mardin, using the “imam” and the “teacher” as symbols for religious conservatism and secular republican thought respectively, told a recent panel discussion that in Turkey, “the imam has won over the teacher.” Like his earlier “peer pressure” warning, the remark of the eminent professor immediately captured attention of both the Islamists and secularists in the country and a new discussion started whether the imam really won over the teacher and, if so, whether this development verifies the secularist complaints of a “counter revol

Turkish teachers remind me of fictional characters in novelsby CHINGIZ AITMATOV

The name of my country embraced by mountains is Kyrgyzstan. Although our people have been dealing with writing and reading, none of this acquired the quality of general education. In training our children, we tended to employ the sayings of our great ancestors, the essence of nature and works of folklore.

Constantinople's Gypsies Not Welcome in Istanbul - TIME

In the shadow of Byzantine battlements, a gaggle of giggling girls runs back and forth among the dilapidated houses, stopping occasionally to expertly shimmy their hips and twirl their wrists. They're chased by several whooping boys, who inevitably catch them and haul them off to "jail," a spot by a wall. The gypsy children of Istanbul's impoverished Sulukule neighborhood — home to the world's oldest Roma communities — call this game Cops and Bellydancers, a homespun version of Cops and Robbers amended to reflect their own experience of being born into a life of dancing and dodging the police."

2,309 Girls

By Jenny White

The deputy head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate insisted yesterday that, despite people’s  reference to religious requirements to keep their daughters home, there was no religious reason for not sending girls to school. Rather, Islam demands that every Muslim, men and women, seek knowledge and science from birth to death. Society’s discrimination has forced women into darkness, he added, with the result that society also cannot educate good men.

The Vocational Socialization of Police and Security Personnel in Turkey

By Jenny White

A new TESEV publication analyzes the training and ethical standards of Turkey’s police and security services. Of particular interest is the definition of “deep state” on page 27 and institutional paranoia on p. 38. For the report, click here.

I wish the ‘3Fs' govern Turkey

Cengiz ÇANDAR

The military feels hurt by the public

Mehmet Ali Birand

Every Turk is a soldier

Last night as I was sitting at a café, an elderly gentleman approached me and asked the ultimate question that I frequently come across: "What will become of us, professor?"

İstanbul ranks 114th among world cities for quality of life

By TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES

A new survey has found that İstanbul ranks 114th among 215 cities around the world in terms of quality of living.

Could İstanbul be the world's greatest city?

By MAHMUT ÖVÜR, SABAH

British Monocle magazine recently published a list of the world's 20 most livable cities. First on the list was Copenhagen. This Danish city was chosen for its quality of life and for being a center of top design.

Green Left - TURKEY: Turkey: Tuzla shipyard workers’ struggle

Alevis charge AKP with double standards

The foreign minister has complained about restrictions on freedom of belief and religion, but the attitude of the government towards Alevis suggests the government is not so alarmed when