The renowned Professor Resat Kasaba came to BU a few weeks ago to give the annual Campagna-Kerven lecture. He is one of the few scholars with the command of history and political science to give a talk that sets present-day Turkish events into a larger historical context. A brilliant talk.
http://www.bu.edu/buniverse/interface/embed/embed.html?v=1TcAoQ1kT
David Lepeska, who has written for Al Jazeera America, became latest journalist to run into problems with Turkey after sent back to the US from Istanbul airport
A Turkey-based American journalist says he was denied re-entry at Istanbul Ataturk airport and put on a flight to Chicago.
German leader says she will not compromise principles to save refugee deal as Turkey demands comedian’s prosecution
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has insisted she will not compromise on fundamental democratic principles to protect the EU’s refugee deal with Turkey after the Turkish president sought the prosecution of a German comedian for a crude poem about him.
Jan Böhmermann accused Turkish president of ‘repressing minorities, kicking Kurds and slapping Christians’ in satirical sketch
In Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s inability to take a joke may hardly be news. But after the Turkish government asked for the prosecution of a German comedian for performing a satirical poem about its president, it is now well known in Germany, too.
Updated | Wednesday, 11:55 a.m.
AMERICANS WONDERING WHAT life might be like in the near future — after a President Donald Trump acts on his promise to “open up our libels laws,” so that politicians with easily bruised egos can sue reporters or commentators for hurting their feelings — should pay attention to what is happening this week in Germany.
If you were thinking of joining Tom the Dancing Bug’s INNER HIVE, now’s the time to do it. For the rest of the month of May, 125% of all sign-up proceeds will be donated to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which promotes press freedom worldwide.
Award-winning photographer and video journalist Refik Tekin captures the moment Turkish security forces open fire on Kurds without warning. The footage was shot in the Kurish city of Cizre, south-east Turkey, in January this year. Tekin was with a group of Kurds who wanted to evacuate bodies and injured people from the street
Last month, a mass child abuse scandal linked to a conservative foundation favoured by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) bubbled to the surface in Turkey. A male teacher (M.B.) was arrested under suspicion of raping at least 10 students at private educational dormitories, some of which were run by the pro-government Ensar Foundation.
The Turkish city hosts the HQ of Tamkeen, a UK-backed aid agency reintroducing democracy to a country ravaged by civil warDragging on his American-brand cigarette, Rami al-Khatib leans back and looks away. There is a wry smile but it hints at a bubbling frustration. I have asked him whether he feels optimistic about the future. “There are two questions you should never ask a Syrian,” he says, “and that’s one of the
For a ‘one state solution’, and sustainable peace, political and constitutional changes need to be adopted, appreciated and practiced not only by the state, but across society.
Woman carries portrait of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in Nowruz gathering in Diyarbakir, Turkey, March 21, 2016. Murat Bay / Press Association. All rights reserved.In 2002 when elected for the first time, Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) made six important pledges. These were: to develop ‘a new pluralistic constitution which respected the ethnic and religious diversity of the country’; to establish a ‘strong democracy’; to strengthen the ‘rule of law’; to respect ‘freedom of speech’; ‘to have zero problems with neighbours’ and ‘to find a peaceful resolution with the Kurds’.
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