Turkey in Europe

"Soner Cagaptay on Turkish Anti-Americanism

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If only there were more Greeks and Armenians…

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 … Turkey would be a better country to live. Maybe we wouldn’t have to put up with some rulers whose only skill in life is to be born as a Turk…

 

Murdered journalist’s son condemns minister

ISTANBUL – Arat Dink and the defense minister both agree that the population exchanges involving thousands of Turks, Greeks and Armenians are what made the country what it is today. The disagreement is on the nature of the consequences."

Gönül blunders in remark on history

ANKARA – With remarks in honor of Atatürk, the ruling AKP’s defense minister recalls the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey after World War I, attracting criticism for his nationalist language and the drift toward pro-state stances."

 

In the mean time, 

 
Ara Kocunyan, chief editor of the Armenian daily newspaper Jamanak, ...

Ara Kocunyan, chief editor of the Armenian daily newspaper Jamanak, poses for a photo at a printing house in Istanbul, in October. Jamanak, the oldest Armenian newspaper in operation in Turkey, celebrates this fall a hundred years of existence beaten by the undertow of an often tragic history.(AFP/File/Mustafa Ozer)

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"Turkey-Obama ties hurt by four obstacles

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Remembering the military nation. Is that a myth?

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  The Myth of the Military-Nation: Militarism, Gender, and Education in Turkey by Ayse Gul Altinay    The last veteran’s death triggered high level commemorations.    A guard of honour carries the flag-draped coffin of War of Independence veteran, retired col. Mustafa Sekip Birgol, as Turkish leaders, army commanders and thusands of people attend a … Read more

"Giving Turkey the silent treatment

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Giving Turkey the silent treatment

By Emma Sinclair-Webb
EU member states’ silence both on Turkey’s failings and its membership prospects have reduced its leverage and strengthened those who oppose reform."

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Taraf daily under pressure

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The latest pressure comes financially. After criticizing government, the paper is excluded from public ads – a traditional state weapon against small-scale press- and it seems that pro-government business also stops giving ads.

Pioneer newspaper hits headlines by breaking down barriers

Suna Erdem in Istanbul

A small but feisty newspaper with a skeleton staff and a backlog of unpaid wages is taking on the establishment and shaking up the compliant Turkish media.

Confrontational and not afraid to break taboos, Taraf faced down the military to expose the ultranationalist Ergenekon, or Deep State, group and 86 alleged members, including senior military officers, are now on trial accused of trying to engineer a coup.

Continue to read.

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As Kemalist clergy excommunicates Can Dündar,

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…he produces one of the most humane portrayals of Atatürk.

  The film Mustafa demonstrates once again that Kemalist clergy (intellectuals, opinion leaders, cultural producers), cannot accept Mustafa Kemal as a human being. It is a suprahuman heroic entity. He has prophetic qualities. Any other portrayal is blasphemy. Can Dündar is a well-intentioned Kemalist but he could not escape being accused by these people and their militant disciples. I have watched the movie/documentary with a girl who started blurbing against the director before the movie and continued afterwards. This good work of biography has no meaning for her and others.

I would recommend the movie. It is too personal, it might ignore some of the social aspects of the early Republican years but it certainly gives clues to understand. Oh boy, those men and women around him in his later years are so familiar. He was surrounded by sycophants. He lost his closest friends and allies in political trials and he ended up surrounded with these people who would be the base of later cult of Kemalism. The cult was the reason of their existence and so they fed them. This still continues today.

Mustafa Kemal is a heavy smoker and drinker. He cannot sleep at nights, lonely and he cannot seem to have long term relations. So what? I would not lose my respect because of these but today’s Kemalist clergy is socially conservative as much as Islamists are. So this portrayal hurts them….

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Another brick in the wall… Mr. Aksu replaces Mr. Fırat

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In another upsetting news,powerful deputy chairman of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat resigns (or replaced by Abdülkadir Aksu).

 

Mr. Fırat was one of the top advisors who has been building AKP’s Kurdish policy. He is said to be disappointed with the latest AKP moves and resigned although the official reason is "personal health issues".

 

The replacement is symbolic: the new deputy Abdülkadir Aksu has a notarious record in political life. As I had noted here,  he was the minister of Interior Affairs when Hrant Dink was assassinated! And guess what:

He happened to be in the same post in four different governments and he happened to be the Police Chief in 1977-78 in Kahraman Maraş when the Maraş massacre happened. During his ministries, Muammer Aksoy, Çetin Emeç, Bahriye Üçok, Turan Dursun, Hiram Abbas, Necip Hablemitoğlu were assassinated….

 


HürriyetUnexpected leave of deputy leader shakes Turkey’s ruling AKP
Hürriyet, Turkey – 33 minutes ago
The unexpected resignation of the powerful deputy chairman of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) could cause a change in the cabinet as 

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Obama Presidency: A New Era In Turkish-American Relations?

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For a few more municipalities…

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PM Erdoğan gone crazy. His latest statements are unbelievable. He has explicitly supported citizens’ use of weapons against protesters. He is riding on the nationalistic discourse even MHP does not use any more: Love or Leave… We will see what this will lead to. I am afraid that AKP now alienates most of Kurds. Mr. Erdoğan believes he has already secured more pious, traditional Kurds but he seems to ignore that religious Kurds are not like religious Turks. Every Kurd I know that does not support PKK still have a nationalistic consciousness. They voted for AKP because they thought this party was the only one that could embrace them. Now it seems this may not be the case. AKP might witness a big time disappointment in the region…

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/_np/0874/6760874.jpgPrime Minister along with some other ministers… 

In the mean time, militaristic propaganda knows no boundaries in major Turkish TV channels. Those respected anchormen/journalists like Uğur Dündar and Mehmet Ali Birand have spent considerable amount of prime time coverage from commando education centers this week! Just watch the prime time news, you will see what I mean.  This week most of the members of Turkish government got briefed at the commando center!

No, the Prime Minister would not have said such a thing

Mehmet Ali Birand

PM accuses intellectuals of cultural erosion, forgets about Üzmez

The prime minister yesterday accused the country’s intellectuals for the erosion of the concept of family in society, but remained tight-lipped on the much-criticized sexual harassment

Oktay Eksi: Quo vadis Turkey?

Where are we heading towards? We need to confess that we feel a sense of fear when we look at the prime minister’s recent remarks and attitudes that support our previous concerns which have been raised in this column on related issue."

 

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EC's TURKEY 2008 PROGRESS REPORT

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Brussels, 05.11.2008     COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENTTURKEY 2008 PROGRESS REPORT

"Mutual consent on Turkey's EU bid: the slower the better

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Mutual consent on Turkey’s EU bid: the slower the better

Barçin Yinanç

Duchess accused of smearing Turkey’s image – Europe- msnbc.com

EU in last minute move to criticize Erdoğan’s media boycott

The European Union Commission will add a last minute amendment to its annual progress report to include criticisms of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip

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AKP uses the Establishment language against DTP

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and pro-AKP columnists act accordingly… Many of the columns I quote shape their writings according to AKP’s new policy against  Kurds. As PM Erdoğan feels he has the support of establishment, he doesn’t bother himself finding a new political language in approaching Kurds. In the old times, his party would have relied on more sophisticated and concerned election strategies….

 
Turkish riot police use tear gas to disperse Kurdish protesters ...

Turkish riot police use tear gas to disperse Kurdish protesters during an unauthorized demonstration in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008. Protests and violence erupted across southeastern Turkey on Saturday as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the area, a hotbed of Kurdish rebel sentiment. An explosion at offices of Erdogan’s party in the area injured six people, authorities said.

(AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta)

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A society of informers. How Turks complain about the web?

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 According to an official site that is in charge of web controls, as of 1 Nov 2008, Turkish citizens filed 25.159 complaints. 12.515 were accepted. Rough translation of the graph above (counter clockwise, from the top) that demonstrates the categories of complaint: Obscenity (55,2%), peadophily (11,9), Other (0,8), gambling (5,3), prostitution (10,6), illegal drug finding help (0,4), drug abuse (0,6), encouraging suicide (2,0), betting (0,5), insulting Atatürk (12)

Index on Censorship on Internet censorship in Turkey

Index on Censorship: ‘There are more people working on censoring the Internet than developing it’

Yigal Schleifer is a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor

The successes of Harun Yahya show just how easy it is to shut down web discussion in Turkey, writes Yigal Schleifer

Turkish Internet users woke up on 24 October to find that access to Blogger, the popular blog-hosting site owned by Google, had been blocked by a court order, because of illegal material (streams of football games) found on a handful of blogs.


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"New equation on the ?Kurdish Issue?….

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New equation on the ‘Kurdish Issue’ by MÜMTAZ’ER TÜRKÖNE

The Kurdish issue — the country’s biggest problem — is now entering a very different stage. Both sides of the issue have come to the fore. On one side is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Democratic Society Party (DTP).

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