For the record, Erdoğan could not silence a publisher…a German one…

A German court rejected a request by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for an injunction against the chief executive of Axel Springer over his support for a comedian who lampooned the Turkish leader.
President Erdoğan has applied to court for interlocutory injunction to be issued on Döpfner, the manager of Axel Springer which is one of the biggest media groups in Europe backing the comedian Böhmermann.
A German court has thrown out a bid by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for an interim injunction against Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner in order to prevent him from repeating a poem by German comedian Jan Böhmermann

Turkey: The Long View

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

Crude mockery of Turkey’s president has led to a German comic being prosecuted under an obscure old law. Free speech is one big loser. Angela Merkel’s reputation is another
A new report has revealed that in 2014 over 7 million children lived in households which suffered from severe material deprivation in Turkey

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 State Television (ARD) reporter Volker Schwenck was deported from Turkey on April 19, on the grounds that he was previously banned from entering the country

Refugees Shouldn’t Be Bargaining Chips

The European Union paid off Turkey to take back desperate people. Now Kenya and other countries want their cut.

Merkel stresses value of free speech in row over Erdoğan poem

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.

Turkey has asked Germany to prosecute a comedian in accordance with a little-known German law on insulting foreign leaders, placing Chancellor Angela Merkel in a bind.

Turkey asks Germany to prosecute comedian over Erdoğan poem

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.

The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, released annually by the U.S. State Department, has provided a snapshot of the deteriorating human rights environment in Turkey

When Turkish Censors Go Global

A senior Turkish official has confirmed that Ankara had officially requested Germany criminally prosecute comedian Jan Böhmermann for allegedly insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a poem.
President Erdoğan has filed a complaint against Jan Böhmermann who has presented his satirizing poem against Erdoğan on air on the German TV Channel ZDF.

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.

Expertise report in “Gollum case” which is one of the insulting against President Erdoğan cases has been announced: “It is Smeagol in the photos, not Gollum. He used to be a good Hobbit before possessed by the ring”.

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.

Evrensel and Cumhuriyet dailies laying their hands on inspection pre-report as to the Ankara attack have reported that the details of the attack were known to security except for its exact time.

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

Hamza Aktan, 33, news editor of the Istanbul-based private IMC TV broadcaster, was detained in a raid into his house in Bahçelievler district by counter-terrorism police.
The number of girls who were wed before the age of 18 since 2010 is higher than 200,000, Turkey’s Family and Social Planning Ministry has said in response to a parliamentary inquiry by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)

"Depressed Boy" (CC BY-ND 2.0) by Tjook

“Depressed Boy” (CC BY-ND 2.0) by Tjook

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.

Gaziantep: home to Isis killers, sex traders… and a quest to rebuild Syria

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

Kilis, the Turkish town enduring IS bombardment

The Turkish town enduring bombardment from IS in Syria

15 steps for Turkish-Kurdish peace

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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