“Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism!” initiative voted Bursaspor fans as the racist of the month. During the Beşiktaş vs. Bursaspor game, Bursa fans shouted as “Armenian dogs support Beşiktaş”, a reference to Beşiktaş’ Armenian Turkish fan leader, Alen Markaryan. Turkish Football Federation had no act in this..
photo credit Attention: Humanity being lost at Turkey-Greece border by RECEP KORKUT from Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news :: Op-Ed by RECEP KORKUT It is midnight on the border between Turkey and Greece. Special teams on rotation at the border are hypersensitive and on the look out for enemies they pursue with … Read more
EU progress report criticizes pressure on Turkish press from Hurriyet Dailynews Even though there is increasing open and free debate over sensitive issues such as minority rights, press freedom is still a problem in Turkey, according to an advance copy of the European Commission?s annual report about the country. Other areas of concern in the … Read more
Turkey wants Israeli apology for fatal raid from Yahoo news TURKEY’S prime minister has again accused Israel of “state terrorism” and called on the Jewish state to apologise and compensate victims of a raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The Canadian Press: Turkish PM describes Israel flotilla raid “state terrorism,” demands apology ABDULLAH BOZKURT – … Read more
First ceremony in Surp Haç after 95 years from Hurriyet Dailynews Sorrow marked Sunday’s historic ceremony at Surp Haç Church in Van, as the cross which was set to be placed atop the dome of the church before the service had not yet been erected. (Photo: The Church of the Holy Cross, an Armenian church … Read more
Turkish opposition leader to face first European test from Hurriyet Dailynews by ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu begins a landmark visit to Brussels on Wednesday, a three-day trip that carries symbolic meaning and will give him the opportunity to express his party’s views on a number of issues, from the … Read more
The Wall Street Journal’s Turkey correspondent, Marc Champion, has another great article out, this time taking a look at the spectacular recent growth of Turkish Airlines (THY) and how that is both mirroring and working hand-in-hand with Turkey’s rising political and economic ambitions.
While I was going through some personal stuff, I missed to watch (or attend) an historical event: A commemoration of the 1915 massacres. The event page is here. This was the first in Turkey’s recent history. It was a small scale event but a giant symbolic step:
Human rights activists hold pictures of Armenian victims during a protest outside the Haydarpasa railway station in Istanbul. Thousands of Armenians have marked the 95th anniversary of mass killings under the Ottoman Empire amid fresh tensions with Turkey over the collapse of reconciliation efforts.? Read more » (AFP/Bulentkilic)
Open Society Foundation, May 2009, Istanbul Türkçe
Hakan Altınay, Michael Lake, Carl Bildt, Paulina Lampsa, Hakan Yılmaz
We as the Open Society Foundation care deeply about EU-Turkey relations, because we strongly believe that Turkey becomes a more open society as it gets closer to the EU. We also believe that the open society values in the EU grow stronger, as the Union gets ready to admit Turkey. When Turkey is admitted as a member of the EU, the new Union will be in a much better position to project open society values in the world, which we consider equally important.
I was expecting a clash btw Sarkozy and Erdoğan but that did not happen so far… Well we still have some to observe a scene:)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a press conference at the European Union summit at the European Council headquarters on March 26 in Brussels. Turkey on Saturday snubbed Merkel’s proposal for its “privileged partnership” with the EU, saying such a status was non-existent in the bloc it is trying to join. (AFP/File/Jean-Christophe Verhaegen) Merkel, Erdogan … Read more
This is from last week. PM Erdoğan could make to the covers of four most best selling weekly satire magazines after his attack on columnists…
The last time he was continuously reacting in a nationalist tone I remember was the pre-municipality elections period. That costed him dearly. He could not persuade nationalist Turks and he lost non-nationalist Turks and Kurds of all sorts…
Now he is back into his nationalist tone. He supports the policies of Union and Progress Party of late Ottoman period which is the prime suspect of Armenian massacres. Well done. He attacked a columnist Cengiz Çandar, who criticized him in these terms. What may be the only good point is that policy elites care for what columnists state. They would not care at all. But they care and want to shape their ideas. In the mean time, in a totally different angle I am also angry with Mr. Çandar because he had ditched me once. After he scheduled an interview for my dissertation research, he did not answer back my calls:)
