New US Ambassador to Turkey arrives in Ankara
In other news:
In Turkey, Muslim groups have used the “human rights” framework to protect their religious practices, such as wearing headscarves in universities and workplaces. But what happens when the “rights” demanded by dominant religious groups contradict the rights and demands of others? Türkçe
There is still time to quell IS in Syria but the world must be prepared to act immediately, before it is too late.
Hundreds rallied in Istanbul after the news that ISIS militants had entered the Syrian-Kurdish town of Kobane, at the lack of response from the Turkish government. Görkem Keser/Demotix. All rights reserved.
The Syrian crisis has caused the exile of millions of citizens. But only 60,000 of them took refuge in the European Union.
The Turkish army bombed positions of the Kurdish PKK party in south-east Turkey on Monday night, according to observers. Relations between the two sides had worsened recently over Ankara’s reluctance to join the fight against the IS. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is more afraid of the Kurdish nationalists growing stronger than of the IS, commentators write, and fear the end of the peace process between Ankara and the PKK.
One administration’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. Just ask the PKK.
The militant Kurdish independence group, known formally as the Kurdistan Workers Party,suffered strikes from Turkish fighter jets against its positions in southeastern Turkey — even as PKK-linked forces battle Islamic State militants in and around the Syrian town of Kobani.
Turkey, whose conflict with the PKK stretches back three decades, was reportedly retaliating after shells struck a Turkish military base. Deadly riots have also broken out recently in Kurdish areas of Turkey, fueled by perceptions that the Turkish government has been colluding to undermine Kurdish factions fighting in Syria.
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