Grup Yorum has been around for so many decades that it was another shameful censorship by Turkish authorities. We all know that it has affiliations to an outlawed armed revolutionary organization, but that organization is not even active nowadays. And audiences for the band are definitely beyond that group. I find this censorship really unnecessary. … Read more
I did not have the honor of meeting Mr. Önder, who died after 18 days in intensive care. Despite a lifelong struggle, days of torture and imprisonment, he was not trapped in ressentiment. That’s how I will remember him. Both the Turkish and Kurdish opposition miss an irreplaceable person. This is a (deepl-translated) letter to … Read more
Mahmut Tanal has recently earned fame among a younger generation of Turkish citizens, but he has been dedicated to advocacy for a long time. Mahmut Tanal repeated several times alongside the students as the intervention with the TOMA continued: “What is the TOMA doing at ODTÜ?” Mahmut Tanal: A Timeline of Rights Advocacy and Activism … Read more
With an increasingly busy schedule (May will be overwhelming) and CIV 7 playing, I could not find much time to unbox for a while. There is also the problem of storage. Where will I put the boxes? I am redesigning my office space and also our apartment. In the meantime, here are some findings: 1988 … Read more
I came across a video that substantively summarizes the history of Turkish rap to the present. When stuck in Istanbul’s traffic, you find new stuff on YouTube that you would not normally look at. Now, I’ve made a list of albums to listen to without compromising my metalhead identity. Here is a summary of the … Read more
High School Student Protests in Turkey (April 2025) In April 2025, Turkey saw- and is still seeing- a wave of high school student protests in response to controversial teacher reassignments at elite public high schools known as “proje okulları” (“project schools”). These schools – some of the country’s most prestigious, exam-selective institutions – were … Read more
Konda Research released a data visualization that looks at Türkiye’s history and present. Original data is here (English)
As we are in the middle of the long Eid break, let me list what I have observed during the protests. In the meantime, 301 student demonstrators are still imprisoned, and there is a massive one-day economic boycott against (2 April) of all kinds of shopping. Despite mainstream media censorship, the protests could be … Read more
CHP started a boycott campaign against several brands, and they are officially listed here on the boycott page. It is reasonable to mobilize masses as such, but every brand boycott requires strategic planning. I am not sure about some of the brands. Let’s see how it goes. The CHP’s boycott campaign in Turkey is a … 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
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 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 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
Many citizens in major cities—including İstanbul—have seen these billboard ads, translated as “Who will wash me when I die?” The TV serial is called Gassal. Definition of Gassal Gassal literally means washer of the dead. In Islamic culture, the person who organizes the funeral procedures of a deceased person and washes and prepares the body … Read more