Turkish military official in Syria… #EuphratesShield #Cerablus

Turkish Special Forces: From stopping a coup to the frontline of the ISIL fight The Turkish Special Forces are playing a key role in the operation launched at 04.00 a.m. on Aug. 24 to back the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to free the Syrian town of Jarablus from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant … Read more

Re-conquering Istanbul with residential housing projects, malls… Istanbul news roundup…

Istanbul to mark Ottoman conquest of city with grand ceremony Istanbul is set to mark the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul on its 563rd anniversary with a major event created by a grand team of 1,200, as expectations rise for the event, which is expected to attract 1 million spectators Istanbul marks 1453 Ottoman conquest of Istanbul with … Read more

Journalism agenda: “Award-Winning Citizen Journalist Ahmad Almossa Killed in Idlib, Syria…

Award-Winning Citizen Journalist Ahmad Almossa Killed in Idlib, Syria  Global Voices Online by Amira Al Hussaini Ahmad Mohamed Almossa, a member of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), was assassinated in Idlib, Syria, by unknown masked men, according to a tweet from RBSS. Here’s the Article on Saudi Arabia That Al Jazeera Blocked The Intercept by Cora … Read more

Journalism agenda: Netzpolitik debate in Germany More terrorism-related accusations against journalists…

Germany’s top prosecutor fired for bringing “treason” charge against Netzpolitik Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Harald Range was due to retire this year, but he was fired first when he refused to end his ridiculous treason witch hunt against Netzpolitik, who published revelations from the Snowden docs.   Journalists around the world voice support for Netzpolitik after … Read more

“NATO calls emergency meeting at Turkey’s request… Let’s see how Turkey will explain its position…

Turkish PM: No troops into Syria BBC News | Europe | World Edition Turkey says it has no plans to send ground troops into Syria to fight the Islamic State (IS) group, as it continues air strikes on IS positions. Turkish court approves blocking of Kurdish websites An Ankara Criminal Court of Peace has approved a decision … Read more

Bring it on! Turkey’s Council of State most of whose members recently appointed by Erdoğan approves plans to destroy Gezi Park…

Plan to build Ottoman barracks on Istanbul’s Gezi Park approved in new court ruling The ruling has stirred public outcry in Turkey, with the trending hashtag “We Will Not Allow You To Demolish Gezi” (#SanaGeziyiYıktırmayacağız in Turkish) addressing President Erdoğan. Court annuls numerous project plans threatening authenticity of historic Istanbul peninsula An Istanbul court has annulled a … Read more

Cyberculture agenda: ISIS vs Twitter a data visualization… Prolific twitterbots…

ISIS vs Twitter: A cautionary tale told through data visualization  Boing Boing by Bob Parks A report by the Brookings Institution analyzed a sample 20,000 ISIS-supporting Twitter accounts, and sought to answer the question of how suspending accounts impacts the community.   Meet the Editors Fighting Racism and Sexism on Wikipedia Wired Top Stories by Issie Lapowsky Wikipedia’s … Read more

Contemporary Istanbul 2014 starts… The Istanbul Marathon tomorrow… İstanbul news roundup

Satellites capture Istanbul’s ‘gray’ transformation over past decade  Hurriyet Daily News A comparison of 20 satellite photos hosted by Google Earth reveals how Istanbul has changed with more concrete and less green spaces in the past decade Istanbul once again the capital of arts One of the world’s leading international art fairs, ‘Contemporary Istanbul,’ starts today. … Read more

2 unfortunate cases of dealing with Syrian refugees in Turkey

What happened in Kahramanmaraş today is more than unfortunate. The town is known to be predominantly nationalist (both AKP and MHP dominated the last local election) and a place where two decades ago a massacre against Alevites happened. Using a few petty crimes allegedly made by Syrian refugees, a mass of local residents attacked Arabic labelled stores, … Read more