The easy answer is it is the election time and He and his followers like to have an enemy at this time. There is no need to look for a rationale behind this renewed interest in criminalizing the Gezi resistance. It is a straw man. It is an easy target after more than five years. … Read more
I did have some connections in the CHP’s electoral campaigning process and after a week passed I believe my ideas are more settled now. First of all, lack of transparency about the election night is quite discouraging. This lack of transparency in all sides is the very reason for conspiracy theories. I do not have … Read more
Quoted in an AlJazeera piece. (Will spike in fake news have an impact on elections in Turkey?) ‘Undermining journalism’ Erkan Saka, a blogger and academic at Istanbul Bilgi University, blamed the government’s crackdown on established news media following the failed coup attempt for the rise in fake news. Following the coup attempt, the Turkish government closed … Read more
A political Twitter phenomenon Twittered this: Olm ben bunu hiç unutmadım, hiç unutmayacağım amk… pic.twitter.com/qFHM5NwR0h — TravisandTylerDurden (@travisandtyler) May 9, 2018 Many critical citizens started to subtweet announcing what moments they would not forget and thus would vote against the ruling party. I have read most of them at midnight a few days ago and … Read more
Since I was busy in Lisbon, I missed the action. Turkey’s former president and a long time comrade of Abdullah Gül was rumored to become the presidential candidate of allied opposition. This rumor was ended at last by Mr. Gül’s own press release. However, he waited until the last minute when no one believed anymore he could be … Read more
There is no Doğan Media Group (DMG) anymore. This triggered a great anxiety among the government critics. Well, nearly 90 % of all mainstream media is owned by people who are explicitly pro-Erdoğan. That is, there is not even a pretension of being objective etc. If I had the power to let thing happen, I would … Read more
As some of my careful readers already know, I have been looking jobs abroad for a while. I would say, this is not as intense as I had started at the moment. I did find a good solution for the next year- I will write about in another post- and I will see what happens … Read more
Most of the Turkish citizens do not have the luxury of learning more about family genealogies as written documents about it were not a priority for Ottomans. Many of us learnt bits of information through fragments of verbal/ oral history. My father once said our ancestors came from Algeria. I thought how come he can … Read more
I had started writing this when I and my brother, Hakan was in Lviv, Ukraine on new year’s eve. Then added Eskişehir, Turkey as I went there for thesis jury membership. Still more days passed, and I could not continue, finish up and publish. I have realized that I have not been posting for several days- … Read more
A Few Thoughts on the Decision to Eliminate Evolution From Turkey’s High School Curriculum 07/12/2017 By Prof. Erkan Saka The ruling Turkish government rarely uses explicit Islamic reasoning to intervene in Turkey’s secular life. Instead, taxation, age restrictions, and zoning regulations have been used to support the restriction of alcoholic beverages in the country. In … Read more
A major summit on fact-checking just ended and I am glad to have attended and have witnessed many pioneers of the field. Here are a few notes. They are not necessarily structured. Also some ideas inspired by the summit. First of all, I am sure this summit could not be that effective without Alexios Mantzarlis‘ organization. … Read more
I was very upset with the November 1, 2015 election results when AKP had a landslide victory. However, that’s what voters chose and in the last analysis I am fine with that. It is part of the democratic system we have to live with that. As long as there are legitimate elections, we can always … Read more
Some were so happy at the reception that took place at the Presidential Palace in Ankara to commemorate the 93rd anniversary of Turkish Republic. Some pro-government columnists who built their career as anti-militarists -during their anti-Kemalism years- were happy to take selfies with the Chief of Staff: In the mean time: And we rely on American … Read more
In a conference 3 years ago,in Skopje, Macedonia, someone from the audience stood up and yelled us, 2 academics from Turkey, claiming that Turkish TV shows are making Macedonians stupid. That was the first instance I realized how big this TV show industry has become. Attributes of cultural similarities are interesting and I believe they … Read more
As many Turkish scholars are looking for jobs abroad, I hear a lot about that priority is given to those who have residency in the university’s host country. UK universities seem to be particularly notorious about this. If two candidates have similar evaluations, priority given to the one who has not residency problems even if the other is … Read more