Code of manners coming to Turkey

ANKARA – Turkish buses will no longer stink of lahmucun and salesmen will no longer knock on doors at all hours if Parliament approves the new Turkish Trade Code. Not as glamorous as reforms on freedom of speech, human rights or democracy, but updates to the articles of law are just as fundamental to the country’s bid to eventually become an EU member"

Holidays Show Hardened Boundaries Among Religions

By Jenny White on religious holidays in Turkey

 It used to be in Istanbul that everyone, regardless of which religious persuasion, shared in each others’ holidays and festivities. I have heard stories from older Turks about how the Muslim youth of Arnavutkoy went to the Rum (Greek orthodox) church with their friends at Easter, and Rum neighbors didn’t smoke in the street during the Muslim month of fasting to show respect for their Muslim neighbors’ tradition.  In Kuzguncuk, the main street would be turned into an Easter festival in which everyone participated. I experienced this myself when I lived in Arnavutkoy in the 1980s and went along as Rum and Muslim youth hung out and danced together at Nese, a popular taverna up the hill.

Report reveals horrors of violence against Turkish women

Alevis rally in Turkish capital of Ankara to seek basic rights

’Che couture’ gives way to Kurds’ ’puşi chic’

ISTANBUL – The fashion world’s appropriation of political icons is hardly novel. We have seen Che Guevara T-shirts and Mao bags in hipster clothing stores before.

’Che couture’ gives way to Kurds’ ’puşi chic’

Yet another fashion trend has ‘wrapped’ up the streets of Istanbul with its colorful look lately. Puşi, the traditional Kurdish scarf or its Palestinian version, keffiyeh, is now covering the necks of trendsetters throughout the city."

The man who heals deadly Kurdish feuds – Europe, World – The Independent

By Nicholas Birch in Diyarbakir, Turkey
Tuesday, 18 November 2008

The Kurdish ‘man of peace’ Sait Sanli is widely respected for his ability to calm the clamour for revenge among the Kurdish community in Turkey

Ibrahim Tekin’s problems began when a friend lent him his wife’s three gold bracelets to shore up his failing restaurant business. Two days later, the wife’s family told him to hand them back: the bracelets were part of a dowry. Mr Tekin could not. He had pawned them. In the ensuing brawl, he stabbed one of his assailants in the heart."

TURKEY: SPECIAL TEAMS TO STOP ‘HONOUR KILLINGS’

A special team will operate in the South Eastern province of Mardin to stop ‘honor killings’, daily Hurriyet reported. ‘Emergency action teams’ formed by the Association for Preventing Honor Crimes and Validating Female Potential (Toder) will be working in 20 villages around Mardin."

Culture of Mass Lynching on the Rise Across Turkey

by Jenny White

27-year-old Selahattin Cirit, a Kurd from Bingol and a motorcycle courier who worked in Istanbul, was was shot in the leg in the Istanbul neighborhood of Okmeydani last Wednesday, pulled from his motorbike, then beaten to death by fifty people. Despite police questioning, Okmeydani residents continue to stay silent, though many of them witnessed what happened. According to media reports, a student in Okmeydani told her mother that someone with a motorcycle had harassed her. Suddenly a rumor about Cirit started to circulate in the neighborhood that the harrasser was Cirit.

Polls reveal no cause for celebration on Teacher’s Day in Turkey

Teachers in Turkey make their living under very difficult circumstances, according to a poll published in Hurriyet daily on Monday, which marks Teacher’s Day in the country."