Continue reading ""Turkish women victims of workplace abuse" »
Continue reading "Close, close, close all the society, you dammit!" »
Turkey's government unveiled a £6bn investment package yesterday for the country's south-eastern provinces, taking a tentative step to counter separatist sentiment...
As the gay and transgender community demands recognition, Turkey's conservative society is reacting with hostility, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford.
Edited by:
Nurhan Yentürk - Yörük Kurtaran - Gülesin Nemutlu
It is in Turkish but for those who can read, one should have a look.
Check out the publisher's site.
Results of the United Nations Development Program 2008 “Youth in Turkey” Report:
From an interview with one of the authors:
Only about 4 percent [of Turkish youth participate in civil society activities], and most of these are university students.Despite the perception of young people in Turkey as dynamic, middle-class students, the reality is quite different. Only 30 percent of young people are students. The remaining 30 percent are working and 40 percent are idle — they neither study, nor work. So 40 percent of the young population does not participate in work life, school life and, of course, in social life. One can call these people the “invisible youth.”…
Continue reading ""Problems of Female Employment in Turkey" »
Continue reading ""Turkish ruling AKP submits 301 proposal to parliament" »
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn criticised a request from Turkey's chief prosecutor to ban the country's governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), saying it is not in line with the democratic standards expected of potential EU member states.
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul greets his supporters as he attends a ceremony marking the 93rd anniversary of the end of Gallipoli campaign in Gallipoli, March 18, 2008.
REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Continue reading ""Turkish PM to reveal Kurdish Package on April 6" »
Secular demonstrators chant slogans during a rally marking International Women's Day in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, March 8, 2008. A demonstrator wearing a head band with a slogan reads that: 'We are following your path. We are guards of the republic' and waves a Turkish flag with a poster of modern Turkey's founder Ataturk on it.
(AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta)Continue reading "Youtube becomes a site of mysterious intelligence battles!" »
Turkish intervention in Northern Iraq stopped unexpectedly and troops returned home. The office of Chief of Staff states that the invervention reached its goals, hence the end of operation. I am very glad about that. I mean i am glad that the land operation ended up quickly. There is of course the rumor that intense US pressure led a sudden end. Honestly I don't mind. Turkish parliament showed before that they could oppose US goals (in the beginning of Gulf War). Here, whatever the motives, an operation ending quickly is good. It dispels the claims that Turkey was there to invade northern Iraq. It demonstrates that Turkish army can operate any time of the year- at least a good way to save face. Of course, this means fewer people to die and less spending of funds.
Finally, i would like to point out that Turkish Army began to use internet very effectively. Most of the news sources directly came from the army website. In fact the army stopped usual press releases and conferences and asked journalists to look at their websites. Interesting...
Anyway, here is an article on Kurdish question and here is an older roundup:
EDAM Discussion Paper Series– 2008/Issue 1
EDAM (Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies) has just published the first issue of EDAM Discussion Paper Series 2008. EDAM aims to contribute to the discussion on Turkey’s Kurdish problem with the article “Revisiting Turkey’s Kurdish Problem” by Prof. Kemal Kirisci, Executive Board Member of EDAM, Director of European Studies Center and Jean Monnet Center of Excellence, Bogazici University.
To download the article please click here.
Continue reading ""EU contributing to regional development" »
Tarkan's new image:)
According to a recent study aiming to monitor changes in values and attitudes of societies, Turkey is a country lacking self-confidence where people's sense of happiness and material
First prize in the Portraits Stories category of the 2008 World Press Photo contest by British photographer Vanessa Winship, Agence Vu, showing rural school girls in eastern Turkey, 2007. (AP Photo/Vanessa Winship/Agence Vu) This material is for single publications in print or for a temporary online publication, and may be used exclusively to publicize the 2008 World Press Photo contest and exhibition. It may not be published as part of an article or any other item that contains no direct link to World Press Photo and its activities without prior permission from the photographer or agency.
Continue reading ""Turkey's diehard smokers vow to defy ban" »
Journalist and educator Alper Görmüş has said his conviction about the military's plans of using civilian forces to uproot Turkey's ruling party from power has been proven once again by the recently published words of a retired general.
(AFP/File/Mustafa Ozer )
Continue reading ""Ruining secularism in the name of protecting it" »
Thousands of Turks visit Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's mausoleum to protest against a government plan to lift a ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities in Ankara.
(AFP/Adem Altan)
A woman shouts pro-secular slogans as she waves a national flag with a poster of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in front of his mausoleum in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008. Some 125,000 flag-waving Turks denounced the Islamic-rooted government over its plan to lift a decades-old ban on Islamic head scarves in universities, a move the foreign minister said would expand Turkish freedoms.
(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's address before students who will carry on their graduate studies in foreign countries should be viewed as an example for the deep roots of conservative politics.
Turkey's Tugba Karademir performs during the women's Short Skating Programme at the European Figure Skating Championships in Zagreb, January 25, 2008.
REUTERS/Nikola Solic (CROATIA)
Continue reading ""Conservative modernization and lifting the headscarf ban" »
The approaching French term presidency of the European Union will make 2008 a stressful year for Turkey, but "no" is not an answer for Turks, and Turkey will not accept the EU's "limes strategy," according to Özdem Sanberk, a former Foreign Ministry undersecretary and foreign policy analyst.Continue reading ""Turkey won't accept EU's limes strategy" »
the Turkey branch of Open Society Institute released a book on how everyday lives of Turks will be affected by the EU process. Here is the full doc in Turkish.
I received a hard copy of that book yesterday. Thanks guys!
One of the posters to be used in 2008 by the Ministry of Tourism... Well suits with the title of this post:)
Continue reading ""Assassination of priests on Parliament's agenda" »
Sarkozy slammed by European intellectuals for "illegitimate" stance against Turkey - Hürriyet
A group of professors and scientists from some of the most prestigious universities in Europe have come together to write a shared declaration protesting French President Nicholas Sarkozy's stance against Turkish entrance into the EU. The declaration, published on an internet site called 'Open Democracy,' underlines that President Sarkozy has used 'illegitimate' and 'unfounded' allegations against Turkey in trying to prevent it from entering the EU."
En juin, la France met son veto à l’ouverture de l’un de ces chapitres, portant sur l’euro. L’ouverture d’autres chapitres est conditionnée à la création d’un comité des sages pour réfléchir au futur de l’Union. Comble de tout, la France demande en novembre le report de la Saison culturelle de Turquie prévue pour juin 2009, pour cause d’élections européennes. Pas de Turcs dans nos pattes ! A Bruxelles, le représentant de la France chipote sur les termes consacrés du jargon européen, comme «partenariat d’adhésion», en fait sur tout ce qui évoque l’adhésion. D’issue improbable, ces tentatives causent en revanche des préjudices irréparables aux relations franco-turques.
....
Non, le choix de Sarkozy, c’est bêtement de prévenir que la Turquie et ce qu’elle représente ne viennent souiller l’idée qu’il a de l’Europe et de la France : une Europe, entre autres, «amusulmane» et française. On murmure qu’il serait tenté de faire un tour en Turquie. Je ne sais si les Turcs auront la mansuétude des Algériens pour écouter son franc-parler, qui flirte si souvent avec l’arrogance.
Le débat autour de la Turquie, qui commence à peine, est trop grave pour être abandonné au président Sarkozy. Assurons-nous qu’il pourra se poursuivre sainement, pour le bénéfice de tous.
Reuters, 6 décembre 2007
par Paul Taylor et Yves Clarisse, Bruxelles
Une bataille de mots oppose en ce moment la France et plusieurs de ses partenaires européens sur la Turquie, Paris voulant éviter les formules qui ouvrent une véritable perspective d’adhésion à Ankara.In an immediate reaction to the removal of the terms “accession” and “Turkey's membership” from a European Union document, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan ruled out yesterday the possibility of
European Union foreign ministers met in Brussels yesterday to finalize the draft conclusions for the European Council due Friday. There has been fierce discussion over the part on Turkey since last
Three years ago, after two days of nerve-wrecking negotiations and political brinkmanship, European Union heads of state agreed that Turkey had sufficiently fulfilled the Copenhagen political criteria to be able to open accession negotiations.
There seems to be a bad omen in Turkey’s aspirations to be -- in a remote future -- a member of the European Union. As the country struggles against all odds to push itself through with hard-fought reforms, nasty obstacles line up, as if in a PSP game.
It’s said about policemen but it’s also true for suicide bombers. A nation gets the ones it deserves. Perhaps the nicest thing I read about Afghanistan recently is the suggestion made on the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation Web site that Afghans are culturally inept -- just too decent -- when it comes to blowing themselves up.
The German Sculptor, Olaf Metzel, made this sculptor and called it 'Turkish Delight'. And its placed the campus of an university in Vienna, Austria.
Personally, it not my taste, but I don't see that this sculpture has to be removed what several Austrian citizens of Turkish decent asked for. Is it insulting? No, in my opinion. Can you be offended by this? I really don't know. But there is a fine line between insulting and feeling offended.
A delegation of the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights arrived in Turkey to meet officials and
Continue reading "Now Turkish press likes Mr. Lagendijk..." »
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan (L) addresses journalists during a joint news conference with Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyanni in Athens December 4, 2007. Babacan is on a two-day visit in Athens. REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis
Continue reading ""FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EU, TURKEY AND THE KURDS" »
Dtt-net.com - French President Nicolas Sarkozy today told members of the European Parliament he opposed full Turkish membership of the EU and that he had offered privileged partnership status to Turkish premier Recip Erdogan during bilateral talks."........
"The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation is an independent think-tank which focuses on current policy issues facing Turkey in the main areas of governance and transparency, democratization and foreign policy and International relations. Its English language website provides information on its aims and recent activities. It includes free access to a selection of online working papers and reports. Key topics include Turkish EU relationship (including coverage of Turkey's application to join the European Union) relations between Turey and Greece concerning Cyprus."
Year-end spending habits of Turks are becoming increasingly similar to that of Europeans, according to research conducted by global consulting firm Deloitte. Turkish citizens have started to
The Turkish-EU Joint Consultative Committee was established in November 1995 and is made up of European Economic and Social Committee members and civil society representatives from...
National Observer (Australia), December 22, 2007, Pg. 51(6) No. 73
Joseph Poprzeczny
A lynching campaign is continuing by some people in Turkey against the eight soldiers who were taken hostage by the separatist outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group on Oct. 21 during an ambush at their post in the Dağlıca district of Hakkari, and were released 14 days later. The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) and its three deputies who were involved in getting the soldiers released by the gang are under attack as well.While the DTP has been a source of disappointment as it could not decide whether it is a political party trying to contribute to resolution of the problems of the ethnic Kurdish people of this country through means of politics o....
Presidents Shimon Peres of Israel, left, Abdullah Gul of Turkey, center, and President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas pose for cameras after their meeting in Ankara, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007. Israel will live in peace if it ends its occupation of Arab lands, Abbas said Tuesday, adding that his administration hoped this month's U.S.-led talks with Israel would be a success.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, rear-center, and his ministers applaud President Shimon Peres of Israel after he addressed Turkey's Parliament in Ankara, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007, becoming the first Israeli President to speak before legislature of a Muslim country. Peres expressed optimism that the upcoming peace conference in the United States would help thaw decades of conflict with the Palestinians.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
Mehmet Ali Birand
Burak BEKDİL
Continue reading ""Military court rules news blackout over imprisoned soldiers" »
Tend to Turkey - Council on Foreign Relations
by Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall Fall 2007 Democracy: A Journal of Ideas
The Human Rights Commission of the Parliament decided to form a sub-commission to work on the assassinations of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and Nigerian migrant Festus Okey, who...
“Love it or leave it.” As we stood at the entrance of the courthouse in the Beşiktaş district on Monday morning -- a handful of journalists, colleagues and friends of Hrant Dink -- it was as if the emblem on the front of the van that brought his murderer and alleged
