democratic initiative

Good news is that PKK extends ceasefire until elections. Now gov’t’s turn to respond HRW’s claims…

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Let’s celebrate it with a Ferec (Kurdish heavy metal band) song: Ferec – Newroz celebrations in Colemerg (Hakkari) Kurdish rebel leadership extend Turkey truce Human Rights Watch: Tens of thousands of Kurds gather during a rally of the DTP (Democratic Society Party) organized under the banner “Call for a self-respecting life” on November 25, 2007 … Read more

Nationalist unconsciousness at work

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Supposedly leftist Leman humor magazine hits at “Kurdish opening” by making word plays at the word “açılım [opening]”.

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Some of the Turkish media also criticised this photo: How come statesmen crouch like that. In order to show the strength the Statemen should stand erect….

and TÜSİAD back off, as usual:

Turkish business group slams democratic initiative, divisive politics

Top officials with the country’s largest business association have criticized the failure of the government’s democratic initiative and urged cooperation.

TIMELINE: Turkey’s Kurdish initiative has faced rocky road

from Hurriyet Dailynews
The upswing in terror attacks marks a major setback for the government-led Kurdish initiative launched last year. Here are some of the key events in the initiative?s history.

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PKK’s latest terror campaign might be the end of Kurdish gains

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Once I stated that Turkish State have lost Kurds after the closure of DTP. Kurdish opening etc progressed slowly but there had been gains. 30 years ago, you could not utter the word “Kurdish” publicly in this country. Now there is a state TV channel in Kurdish. I don’t claim these are enough but such a thorny issue cannot be solved easily. And Kurdish national consciousness has been gaining ground, more and more public spaces for Kurdishness appeared in the last year. However, organized Kurdish response to politics is to step up terroristic activities. Unfortunately not only the guerilla movement but its political dimension, many leaders of BDP explicitly support terrorist activities. Latest wave of attacks are unbearable. It is highly possible that the Turkish State may start an anti-terror campaign in unprecedented scales with an unforeseen popular support…

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Nothing new in the CHP front: Kılıçdaroğlu condemns democratic initiative

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CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu condemns democratic initiative

from Hurriyet Dailynews
The leader of the main opposition has criticized the ruling party’s democratic initiative policy, saying politics should not be about religious affairs and ethnic identity.

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Erdoğan talks to Turkish writers/authors today…

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PM Erdoğan with with a big group of well-known Turkish writers/authors in a breakfast to discuss the Democratic Initiative… News in Turkish here.
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Elif Şafak along with Alev Alatlı, Gani Müjde, Elif Şafak, Mehmet Metiner, Kürşat Başar, Etyen Mahçupyan, Doğan Hızlan, Ahmet Turan Alkan, Mario Levi, Leyla İpekçi, İskender Pala, Hilmi Yavuz, Kürşat Başar, Ayşe Kulin, Refik Erduran were among the invited writers…

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In the heart of coup preparation center

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An investigation in Special Forces headquarters continues more than 24 hours. It is called the “Cosmic Room”, military’s top secrets are kept. Even copying is not permitted so the Judge takes notes about documents found there….

President of the Turkish parliament and vice prime minster Bulent ...

President of the Turkish parliament and vice prime minster Bulent Arinc, seen here on the right in 2007. Eight soldiers have been questioned over a presumed plot against Turkey’s vice prime minister, the army has said on its website. (AFP/File/Str)

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Dark games at play against the Democratic Initiative?

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Is it a coincidence that 7 Turkish soldiers are killed probably by Kurdish guerillas, a Kurdish demonstrator killed in riots, and a civilian dies wounded by Kurdish rioters in 48 hours?

All have their own genealogies, but happening at the same moment signifies a conspiracy of parties against further democratization. It is ironic to see that both pro-Kurdish activists and nationalist Turks are campaigning against government’s Democratization Initiative a.k.a. Kurdish initiative. Both militaristic and both will lose initiative if the Initiative has success…

here comes: Gov’t said it postponed to discuss an amendment to lower down charges against under-age demonstrators….

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Serap Eser died today. She was burnt in high degrees when rioters threw molotov cocktails to a public bus…Facebook page.

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Aydın Erdem, a demonstrator, a college student, was killed yesterday during pro-PKK riots with a bullet…Facebook page.

AFP: One dead as violence flares in Turkey protests

May god bless their souls, those 7 soldiers killed today:

Uzman çavuş Harun Arslanbey (Adana); erler: Onur Bozdemir (Adıyaman), Kemal Pide (Ordu), Ferit Demir (Muş), Yakup Mutlu (Muş), Cengiz Sarıbaş (Giresun) ve Fatih Yonca?nın (Hatay)

HUMAN RIGHTS RELATED ROUNDUP FOLLOWS

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