Photojournalists of international organizations are arrested so that we cannot see what happens. But can they prevent reporting? Back to citizen journalism 101. In the meantime, I observed more motivation among the university students for further protests. Several journalists were detained during the protests in Turkey following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. … Read more
I wanted to talk about Mahir Polat. I did not meet him, but I always heard positive feedback about him. -I cannot say the same for many others in Imamoğlu’s inner circle- A modest person who worked hard to contribute to Istanbul’s cultural heritage. He was arrested along with Imamoğlu. In the last elections, he … Read more
Well, Imamoğlu’s imprisonment seems like Turkish authorities symbolically annulled the right to vote and to be elected. Most Istanbulites elected him for the third time- he increased his votes every time-, and here is what we have now. Secondly, a strong potential rival of the current president is eliminated by imprisoning him. I observe a … Read more
Here is a round-up of what happened until noon on March 22 in the latest wave of crackdown in Türkiye: I have translated the allegations against İmamoğlu and his responses in this PDF file: Allegations against Ekrem İmamoğlu and İBB Turkey spends record $12bn defending lira after Erdoğan rival’s arrests. In the Istanbul Bar … Read more
There are some signs of protests I haven’t seen since the Gezi Protests. However, it is too early to say whether these will continue. In any case, we still need a VPN to continue our daily internet surfing. The police are not too brutal at the moment against the student movement we haven’t seen … Read more
I have a morning class starting at 9 am, and I didn’t check the news, but my students informed me about the developments during the break. Because of the internet throttling, it isn’t easy to access many social platforms. Police closed some of the main routes, my students had difficulty arriving at the campus, and … Read more
Here are some instances of bootleg alcohol-related deaths in Turkey in 2025: Istanbul (January 2025): At least 30 people died in Istanbul over a three-day period after consuming bootleg alcohol, with dozens more hospitalized. This was part of a broader crisis where high taxes on legal alcohol led to increased consumption of counterfeit drinks1. Istanbul … Read more
The recent closure of Gazete Duvar triggered a new series of criticisms towards Google’s search engine algorithm changes. Below is a curation of news on this topic ending with a comparative angle with other countries. My approach to Google has turned relatively sour recently, but I still don’t believe the platform itself is the only … Read more
I woke up with a sad news from Türkiye: The death toll from a fire at a hotel in Turkey’s northwestern province of Bolu has risen to 66, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has announced. The blaze also left 51 people injured, with one in critical condition. via The Bolu mayor said the hotel did not … Read more
2024: Ecological struggles in Turkey Bianet :: English 2024 was a year when on both the global and national level, heat records were broken and the impact of the climate crisis was felt in the clearest way. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) declared that the global mean surface air temperature for the January-September period in … Read more
Mavi Boncuk blog has a list of cheese types from Türkiye. I think I have tasted half of them yet: 1) EZINE WHITE Ezine Cheese has been registered by the European Union and has become Turkey’s 18th geographically indicated product registered in the EU. Ezine Cheese is the first Turkish cheese registered in the EU. Ezine … Read more
I never liked Arabesk and listened to Ferdi Tayfur or Müslüm Gürses, but these musicians were strongly embedded in Turkish popular culture. After Gürses, Ferdi Tayfur just passed away at 79. Ferdi Tayfur, born Ferdi Tayfur Turanbayburt on November 15, 1945, in Adana, Turkey, was an iconic figure in Turkish music and cinema who passed … Read more
I have seen news of more deaths and asked Perplexity to compile relevant data: Turkey has been grappling with a significant bootlegging problem in recent years, driven by several factors: High Alcohol Taxes The Turkish government has dramatically increased taxes on alcoholic beverages, making them unaffordable for many: Special Consumption Tax on alcohol was … Read more
One could observe that the government is very employer-friendly. Bianet listed all the banned/postponed strike proposals since 2003. Here are the banned strikes under the rule of the AKP: The first strike ban during the AKP era occurred on Jul 1, 2003, at Petlas Tire Industry and Trade Inc., where workers were represented by the … Read more
I am feeling strong doses of nostalgia after taking my personal belongings from my parents’ storage place. Like many families in İstanbul, my parents finally decided to move away from their apartments because of the expected major earthquake. Istanbul is in a frenzy of urban renewal, and the building they lived in for 45 years … Read more