CHP is a hopeless can and they cannot apologize for a massacre from their golden age period. AKP seizes this moment and forces them to the corner. AKP leadership adopted this policy of apology for the past -from the Kemalist era- events while creating new issues to be apologized. It is very likely that some … Read more
Mehmet Baransu, who is known to have published leaked military documents at Taraf daily, and Rasih Yılmaz, a Bugün columnist, movie critic and an author, led a campaign yesterday against Ekşi Sözlük. Ekşi Sözlük with more than 10,000 thousand contributors is the biggest online forum and one of the few independent sites against increasing conservative … Read more
We happened to see a few signs in the last few days that Turkish authorities are strategizing to contain opposition in Turkish cybersphere. While Turkey’s minister in charge of internet regulation, Binali Yıldırım, complained about the criticism he was subject to in social media, Government’s hitman Bülent Arınç, who is particularly hostile against cybersphere was … Read more
unfortunately not only aid sources are mobilized but also hate speech against Kurds… But in the last analysis, I can assure you that humanitarian attempts dominated the scene and racists were relatively marginalized… So there emerged fragments of a racist metaphysical discourse that claimed earthquake was a divine revenge for the fallen soldiers… In the … Read more
Photo from Hurriyet archives. By the time I have arrived Diyarbakır, right now i am waiting for some friends with whom I will go to Mardin to attend an academic conference, 26 soldiers have died. I have had a quick look at Twitter: the president Abdullah Gül uses “revenge”. First time for him. Some people … Read more
Geçen hafta sorularına verdiğim cevapları yayınlamayan UHIM’den bahsetmiştim. “islamcılar”dan sonra “liberaller”den de bir “sansür” yedim. Sevgili Ecem’in haberinde sanırım editörlerin kırpışına kurban gitti söylediklerim. Haber burada: Medyada ‘Rambo Gazeteciliği‘ Çoğu zaten arkadaşım olan hocalarımın söylediklerine bir sözüm yok. Söylediklerinin altına imzamı atarım. Ben yalnızca farklı ve biraz riskli bir yerden bakmak istedim: Sokaktaki insanda son … Read more
Why is Turkish government messing with Internet? Turkish Prime Minister: Facebook Is ?Ugly Technology? 1. Because it is an unruly environment. PM Erdoğan’s intense media bashing along with more practical sanctions gave way to an AKP hegemony over the mainstream media. All major anti-AKP newspapers, TV channels, media conglomerations in general are more or … Read more
It is very hard to believe that our colleague and friend Ahmet Şık is an Ergenekon member. He devoted his life to struggle for human rights issues in Turkey as a journalist and he was in Nokta magazine team whose publications started the Ergenekon case in the first place. Many people suspect his unabating anti-Gulenism … Read more
I could probably be more sympathetic if Necmettin Erbakan did not prevent Numan Kurtulmuş‘ ascendancy at Saadet Party despite his old age and illness. But he did his best to stop Mr. Kurtulmuş who could provide a marginal but substantive political standing. What Mr. Erbakan did in fact to assume his own leadership in order … Read more
However it gets complicated. If there isn’t hard evidence, and there is a growing anxiety over the evidence issue, then it is impossible to support this raid. This is despite the fact that I have no sympathy for Soner Yalçın and his gang at Oda.TV, an influential website with idiosyncratic left leanings, anti-AKP and pro-Ergenekon … Read more
It was NTV news with Can Dündar. My sister recorded the session here. Stating the obvious that social media had a central role in organizing the demonstrations. Since conventional media was under the control of the veteran authoritarian regime, there could not be any other media. And social media is harder to control and there … Read more
I began to feel that PM Erdoğan is moving away from the knowledge of sense of people he knew very well. After a week of barraging at some citizens’ lifestyle, was he expecting no backlash? An upper middle class fanbase is already “anxious” with AKP politics and PM Erdoğan’s pejorative way to approach to alcoholic … Read more
Municipality elections was a warning and it seems that AKP officials did not get the message and became somewhat increasingly arrogant after the referendum. The following news roundup demonstrate how they become exactly like whom they replaced. A social engineering commanded from above. Not in all cases, AKP may be the real culprit, but the … Read more
I wonder if some of our freedom loving citizens were that sensitive for the stone throwing Kurdish kids. I witness an alliance between gauchist Turkish groupuscules and mainstream opposition parties and citizens against the government. Probably these groupuscules are enjoying their time as they could never get that much media attention if times were different. … Read more
A few weeks ago, Ministry of Defence and new Chief of Staff declared that they have plans to make military service 9 months for all. As a persuasive technique they underline that this will provide equality. At the moment there are five different service types. Their crude populism offers non-college graduates a decrease in their … Read more