"Gen. Başbuğ?s threats are counterproductive

Taraf: Stop threatening and explain what happened!

Gen. Başbuğ’s threats are counterproductive

Turks have increasingly begun using their democratic right to criticize in such taboo areas as the role of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in politics since the Helsinki Summit of 1999, the year Turkey gained candidate status for accession to the European Union.

Fears about ending terrorism?

The Taraf daily, which has brought a breath of fresh air to Turkish journalism since it went into publication last year, revealed shocking documents on Tuesday that showed the failure of the General Staff to act to save the lives of 17 Turkish soldiers in a terrorist attack on Oct. 3 even though intelligence reports were clear about the imminent attack.

Army launches legal action against leaks on deadly PKK attack

Legal action has been taken against leaked reports of the deadly attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the chief of general staff announced yesterday. The reports accused the

Harshness and tension

"My final word, therefore, is a call for all to be careful and stand in the right place." This remark could have been taken as a slightly harsh "warning" if it were made during a discussion between equal parties because there would be no room left for negotiation and a fight would inevitably start if the other party were to reply, "So what?"

Turkey’s military rejects criticism over PKK attacks | International | Reuters

Torture as usual — but a first-time apology

Mustafa AKYOL

The MHP’s anger

By STAR, NASUHİ GÜNGÖR

"The [Justice and Development Party] AK Party, the [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK and [Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud] Barzani have all come face-to-face once more with the century-old Sèvres mentality, and unfortunately, it was the great and honorable lectern of the Turkish Parliament which was used for this meeting.

Back to square one on the Kurdish issue

First it was a devastating attack in Dağlıca. Now it is Aktütün. And countless other attacks occurred in between. Outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorism is back.

No more beating people with the state’s stick

The government’s apology for Engin Ceber’s death in prison is doubtlessly a headline event for Turkey.

You cannot fight terror this way

Twelve days have passed since the heinous attack on the Aktütün military outpost. But sentiments that have been swelling since the attack, which killed 17 of our children, should have already been replaced with common sense.

Barzani cannot meet all our demands..

Mehmet Ali Birand

Summit brings new body for anti-terror fight, excludes policy change

Turkey has decided to establish a new coordinating board in its fight against terrorism, following an hours-long government-military summit.The new board, to be called the Home Security

Ready notebook! Aim pen! Write!

Journalists fearing censorship have spoken out against a new proposal by the country’s television watchdog to hold a terrorism and media seminar at the National Security Academy. “The first striking

‘16 Kurdish newspapers closed down 39 times’

Looking at the incidents in the Southeast from Ankara is quite different from looking at them from Diyarbakır.

Minister promises more education to prevent torture

The government will increase the training of penal officers to prevent torture in the future, according to the justice minister.The announcement came a day after Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin openly

Home security…

So, Turkey is going to have soon a brand new state agency – a home security undersecretariat. The Turkish military has been demanding the establishment of such a department in hopes of accelerating coordination between various state agencies involved directly in or providing vital intelligence support for the fight against terrorism. A few years ago, when this idea was first publicly floated by the military, the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, administration had given the idea a cold shoulder and while publicly the prime minister did not talk on the issue, in private top AKP officials had said at the time that they believed such extraordinary measures would serve no purpose

No concessions to democracy

ALPARSLAN AKKUŞ

Political boldness

CENGİZ ÇANDAR

Turkey and global financial crisis

European countries joined the US, which recently approved a $700 billion bailout package to aid the US financial system in the global economic crisis, in taking concerted measures to ease the financial crisis.