National program not ‘national’ enough for opposition
Turkey’s main opposition parties were reluctant to read a key document detailing the country’s National Program, prepared by the government to present to the European Union. The program……
Georgia, NATO, the EU and Turkey by ALİ YURTTAGÜL
“War” is probably the most accurate word to describe the ongoing Georgian crisis. The clashes, which started as part of an internal war, took on an international dimension with the advance of the Russian army into Georgian territories.
Can the EU grab gov’ts attention?
Debates continue over criticism of media boss Aydın Doğan by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Bringing peace to former enemies
President Abdullah Gül heads to Baku Wednesday, if only for a few hours.
A kick-off for peace? by VARTAN OSKANIAN
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan’s recent invitation to Turkish President Abdullah Gül to visit Yerevan to watch a football match together was historic
Recent developments from an Armenian public TV anchor’s eyes by EMRE USLU & ÖNDER AYTAÇ
Today we would like to leave our column to Artak Aleksanyan to share his observations about Saturday’s football game between Turkey and Armenia and its implications on Armenian society.
Watching from Armenia
CENGİZ ÇANDAR
Europeans Not Keen on Turkey’s EU Bid: Angus Reid Global Monitor
Turkey:Armenia ties could end genocide resolutions – International Herald Tribune
Young Armenians split over "genocide" issue
Yerevan trip augurs well for the future…
The president of the Turkish Republic got on an airplane, went to Yerevan, spent half a day there, met one on one with the Armenian president, spent 90 minutes sitting right next to him in front of some 40,000 plus people, later stopped by a reception in Yerevan and then returned to Ankara.
Government posts national program to CHP
The government has posted a copy of the national program to the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and is planning to send bureaucrats to the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, for further
Who is pro EU and who is anti EU in Turkey…
The main opposition parties in Turkey are out of touch with today’s reality. It became Christal clear that the CHP is a party of the ‘privileged’ although not one ‘privileged person’ I met over the last few years voted for them. The MHP is xenophobic and paranoid, a possible partner of Vlaams Belang or the Neo Nazi’s ‘n Germany?"
Erdoğan casts shadow over Gül’s trip
CENGİZ ÇANDAR
Before leaving Rehn gives an important message
Mehmet Ali Birand
Soccer diplomacy
What was achieved? Too early to say… However, what was “not achieved” is rather clear… For a change nationalist obsessions imperiling capabilities and crippling the abilities of people who would otherwise undertake steps – daring they might be, but “required by national interests” – without any hesitation.The domestic as well as the international conjecture was suitable for a “social” visit yet still not for an official visit to Yerevan by the Turkish president. Indeed, even that social opportunity was a product of the European cup draw. Rightly, Abdullah Gül pondered for some time whether or not to travel to Armenia but
An insider’s summary of ‘football diplomacy’
After four intensive days in Yerevan filled with talks, discussions, contacts and emotions, I am back in İstanbul. Obviously, a new page has been opened in relations between the two countries, and the potential for normalization is greater than ever.
EU impressed with Turkish diplomacy
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan will visit Brussels at the beginning of next week for a meeting with the EU Troika (past, present and future EU presidencies plus foreign policy chief Javier Solana).
Opening doors and hearts (1)
Despite unfair and unsavory criticisms from the opposition, President Abdullah Gül went through with the expected visit to Armenia.
Long-term risks for Turkey (2)
Turkey has been besieged by several domestic and external difficulties, and each requires a good opportunity as well as perseverance to be overcome in the longer term.
This is not the year of the EU
Michael Weißbach
Gül in Yerevan: Half of the road
Cengiz ÇANDAR
Armenia Lost the Soccer Match, But Gained International Prestige …
HYE-TERT – Istanbul,Turkey
Milliyet’s journalist Hasan Cemal, the grandson of one of the three masterminds of the Armenian Genocide, Jemal Pasha, had a very touching meeting earlier
THE EU – TURKEY RELATIONS: INDIVIDUALISM VS NATIONALISM | Travel Turkey
There are those in Turkey who perceive Turkey’s ambition to join the EU as a state policy. The point they usually stress is the claim that this effort is nothing but the continuation on the path of Westernization that Turkish Republic’s founders set as the premier national goal. There are some others who do not like the EU accession process and what it entails economically or politically. Their arguments are based on what they call “Turkey’s unique situation” and this argument whereby they support a centralistic nation-state rather than an integrated country to Europe. At that point, both pro and cons of the debate have to face another debate: that is the inevitability of the EU. While pro-EU arguments see the accession process as an indispensible part of Turkish modernization, counter opinions seek alternative routes on the other hand."
Liberal vs radical Armenian perspectives
To what degree Armenians’ claims of genocide should be a determining factor in Turkish – Armenian relations remains an open debate in Yerevan. Isxhan Saxatelyan, a radical member of
APA – Turkey’s effort to save from Western-Russian confrontation
No chapters to be opened during Czech presidency
Delays by the government in meeting the necessary requirements on certain issues, such as taxation, means it will be difficult for a new negotiation chapter on Turkish accession to be
Why the secularists dislike the EU
Kalypso Nicolaïdis and Hakan Altınay argue really hard to explain "why the European Union strengthens secularism in Turkey." I really hope they convince the secularists of the wisdom of the EU membership for the sustainability of secularism in Turkey.
Why the EU strengthens Turkish secularism
Kalypso Nicolaïdis & Hakan Altınay
The question of whether European Union officialdom has taken sides in the ongoing clash between "secularists" and "Islamists" in Turkey is of profound current concern. Many in the first camp seem to believe so, citing as evidence the way that one EU representative after another dismissed the grounds of the indictment denouncing Turkey’s ruling Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, (Justice and Development Party), or AKP, as the "focal point for anti-secular activities." Europe seems to have become, according to some of these secularists, the great co-conspirator against secularism in Turkey ? against the very European value the founders of the Republic sought so passionately to affirm."
Turkey’s strategic importance to open the door of European Union
Divided Cyprus
Will digging up the past bring reconciliation?
JTW News – Turkey Revives ‘Caucasus Initiative,’ But Faces Obstacles
Western governments have deployed considerable diplomatic resources to broker peace between Russia and Georgia since their conflict broke out last month over Georgia’s breakaway republics, South Ossetia and Abkhazia."
Article 301 Strikes Again: Jail Term for Writer
Writer Murat Coskun is in prison for “provoking hostility among people” with his book titled “Acinin Dili Kad?n” (Woman, Language of Pain), which was published by Peri Publishing in January 2002. He was sentenced to one year fifteen days…
Football Diplomacy & Relations with Turkey
by Onnik Krikorian
A number of World Cup qualifying matches were played worldwide on Saturday, but even if Georgia was drawn against Ireland and had to move the venue for the football match to Germany following the war with Russia, many were instead interested in what might prove to be a historic political rather than sporting event. Without diplomatic relations or an open border, Armenia played against estranged neighbor Turkey in its capital, Yerevan."
Orthodox Christianity under threat
By NICHOLAS GAGE Turkey’s treatment of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is a litmus test of its readiness to join the European Union.
Turkish-Armenian Relations: Will Football Diplomacy Work?SETA A 7-page Turkish policy brief on improving relations between Turkey and Armenia
Who is pro EU and who is anti EU in Turkey…
The main opposition parties in Turkey are out of touch with today’s reality. It became Christal clear that the CHP is a party of the ‘privileged’ although not one ‘privileged person’ I met over the last few years voted for them. The MHP is xenophobic and paranoid, a possible partner of Vlaams Belang or the Neo Nazi’s ‘n Germany?
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan speaks at the opening event of a program called “Promotion of the Civil Society Dialogue between the EU and Turkey.”
From history to realpolitik in Armenian-Turkish relations
BBC covered the story as a "landmark visit to Armenia." CNN called it "football diplomacy." French President Nicolas Sarkozy applauded the visit as "courageous and historic."