Friday afternoon-early evening roundup at the canteen- "New hope for alignment of civilian-military relations in Turkey…..

I do not have particularly productive days and I hope to give an account of these stressed days soon. After my morning lecture, I met with Can at noon and went back to Mecidiyeköy to take care of some credit card issues. Then we came back to the campus, took a strategic table in the second floor of So Cafe and began to do some work. On our way back to the campus, Can was exposed to songs from two violent albums: Obzen by Meshuggah and Fabulous Disaster by Exodus…It is dark now, Friday evening starts with us sitting in the campus cafe, doing some sort of work, feeling like a loser. 

Demonstrators protest against the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) in Middle East Technical University in Ankara March 13, 2009. Demonstrators protested against the exclusion of articles and cover page commemorating Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday from a scientific journal published by TUBITAK, Turkey’s key scientific research body. Hundreds of university teachers and students stand on the first letter of Turkish word "Devrim" which means "Revolution" to form the Turkish word "evrim" which means "evolution" painted on the stands of the university’s stadium. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

A roundup on Turkish politics follows: 

One Minute One Minute…’To Erdogan’ Is a Verb now

By M.A.M

Mavi Boncuk |’To Erdogan’ Is a Verb

New hope for alignment of civilian-military relations in Turkey

By USAK

Efforts to normalize civilian-military relations in Turkey, a candidate for membership in the European Union, have been revitalized by the planning of a two-day meeting in Brussels between April 2 and 3 to discuss the issue in the context of the EU’s enlargement.

* By Lale SARIIBRAMOGLU

The Islamic Spider, The Conspiracy and Me

[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News] I really don’t want to get personal in my columns, but my column neighbor Burak Bekdil sometimes gives me no choice. So, please pardon me for the he-said-I-said part of this article. The latter part, I hope, will give you some perspective of the deeper problem. First part first. Mr. Bekdil’s latest piece that appeared in these pages yesterday was the product of a vicious cycle I have seen before several times: He first makes sweeping accusations against the Islamic/conservative camp in this country. Then I write something which attempts to show that the reality is much more nuanced. In response, he writes an ad hominem attack against me, and accuses me of being the instrument of an Islamic conspiracy that he believes that exists. Enter The Conspiracy

Retired general’s admissions and Turkey’s coups

In Columnists

A recently released recording that features the voice of former Chief of General Staff Gen. İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, who was a major actor in the Feb. 28 process — a military intervention in Turkey’s recent history — shows the retired general’s involvement in three military interventions in Turkey’s past that interrupted the development of Turkish democracy.

Has the era of coups ended in Turkey?

In Columnists

As Turkey has just marked the 12th anniversary of the unarmed military intervention of Feb. 28, 1997, the most recent military intervention to strike the country, there is still widespread discussion about whether or not Turkey’s democracy still faces the threat of military meddling.

There are two different Karadayıs

In Columnists

While the Ergenekon investigation is still under way, transcripts of four voice recordings of former Chief of General Staff Gen. İsmail Hakkı Karadayı have been published in the media.

Prosecutors of the 10th village

By BUGÜN ADEM YAVUZ ARSLAN on Turkish Press Review

After tapes of retired Chief of General Staff Gen. İsmail Hakkı Karadayı were posted on the Internet, everyone began searching for a brave soul like Diogenes with flashlights in their hands.

From Dissent, Seyla Benhabib on Turkey’s constitutional zigzags