erdogan

Part 3 of Arzu Geybullayeva piece: Where does religion end and politics begin in Turkey: through the prism of The Gezi Park protests-

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Part 3 The talk of a different Turkey There was much hope vested in the new government of Turkey and its new charismatic Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan who previously as Istanbul?s mayor did much for the city?s development- enhanced water supply, cleared slums, tackled the environment issue and even planted thousands of trees. … Read more

Politics roundup: much-anticipated democratization package might be announced on Monday, Sept 30…

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  Turkish PM sets date for the announcement of much-anticipated democratization package The government?s much-anticipated democratization package is likely to be announced on Monday September 30, PM Erdoğan said Romantic intrigue complicates wiretapping scandal at Turkish prime ministry institution Twelve were detained in an operation on illegal wiretapping Turkish main opposition leader slams government?s foreign … Read more

EFD Rights Watch: Ekşi Sözlük is the target of organized attacks…

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As recently stated Ekşi Sözlük is one of the major internet sites that harbored an internet user culture in Turkey. From time to time, it has been targeted by conservative or Islamist citizens who are quite annoyed with the existence of such a major independent site despite the growth of Facebook and Twitter. There are … Read more

EFD Rights Watch: Utku Kali, a Turkish soldier, may face 25 years in jail for leaking ‘Reyhanlı bombing files’

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Turkish soldier may face 25 years in jail for leaking ‘Reyhanlı bombing files’ A military prosecutor has demanded 25 years imprisonment for the gendarme accused of leaking secret documents on the Reyhanlı bombings-linked terrorist activities   ********* This year?s Internet Villain is: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Our prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was named Internet Villain … Read more

Turkey redefines military’s role as it is heading fast towards a Police state… A politics roundup

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Turkey redefines armed forces’ duties ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? Turkey’s parliament has amended an internal armed forces’ regulation long relied on by the country’s once-powerful generals as grounds for intervening in politics, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported Saturday, in a move that further strips the military of its political influence. Yet another instance of Police … Read more

Ali İsmail Korkmaz, another martyr of Gezi Resistance. God Bless Him.

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Ali İsmail Korkmaz was attacked by thugs in Eskişehir on 2 June. Since then he was in coma. We hear today the sad news… Like in the case of the man with the machete in Istanbul, security forces do not prevent these thugs and in fact allow them to attack protesters… Here is yet the … Read more

BBC’s Q&A: Turkey’s constitutional referendum

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Q&A: Turkey’s constitutional referendum The people of Turkey are voting on the government’s package of constitutional amendments in a referendum on 12 September, the 30th anniversary of a coup that brought the military to power.” Erdogan raps rivals ahead of poll from BBC News | Europe | World Edition Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticises … Read more

AKP’s class war?

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Here comes my second most intense critic of AKP government. (here is the first one back in October 2008)

Foto: Kiralık İşçi Yasası yeniden Meclis'te
Things have changed. Now AKP has become a center-right wing party riding on wild capitalism. Although it sounds like a cliché, this is exactly what is happening. Recently, PM. Erdoğan attended a mall’s opening ceremony (why does a PM attend a mall opening is another question) and declared that “grocery stores are passé. Now it is the time of malls. Grocery store owners have to unite to survive”, something like that… I wonder if AKP leadership is doing any calculations on class politics. With all commercial-legal regulations AKP government is playing against small-scale businesses. They were never good at with workers and now they also abandon those businesses. Is this a rational calculation? I have heard more and more complaints from ordinary people who voted for AKP. Macro-economic developments might be doing all right but micro-economic woes grow. I do not believe AKP can still win with playing cultural and political politics. Yesterday, PM Erdoğan was lamenting: Youth memorize the top song lists in Western countries but do not know our cultural values, stuff. I do not belive this cultural populism will always work…

There has been a worker strike which had gained momentum and gradually media coverage: TEKEL has been privatized and the new owner will probably fire most of the workers. Workers will get compensation but most want to continue to work and they strike. It is not a new story and not always workers are right and TEKEL workers’ action is partially manipulated by anti-AKP circles. However, there is a pattern of AKP’s anti-labor politics. AKP is just too pro-corporate. I am not even anti-capitalist but this level of pro-corporate politics will turn masses against AKP and its possible democratisation moves…

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Erdoğan comes back to Turkey earlier than expected…

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He has to be here as the conspiratorial provocations emerge.

http://fotoanaliz.hurriyet.com.tr/LiveImages%5CYeniFotoAnaliz%5CERDO%C4%9EAN_OBAMA%5C16.jpg
Hürriyet comments on the body language of two leaders. Here are 19 photos to comment.

Turkish Ambassador to US Resigns:

Nabi Sensoy, Turkish Ambassador to the US since 1966, reportedly resigned on Tuesday and asked to be reassigned, three months short of his retirement. No official reason has been given, but Turkish newspapers report that Ambassador Sensoy had been asked by Ankara to forward a request to the White House that the Turkish ambassador also attend the meeting between Prime Minister Erdogan and President Obama, but that Sensoy did not do so. (click here, in Turkish). OR that Sensoy had been asked by Ankara to set up the meeting to also include Ahmet Davutoglu and Hillary Clinton, that the US administration refused this format, and that Davutoglu had blamed Sensoy. (This is all unconfirmed gossip.)

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Obama and Erdoğan meeting soon…

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As I was not too excited with his election, I am not too disappointed with Obama’s moves on Afghanistan. In fact, I remember he was repeatingly on Afghanistan instead of Iraq. Now PM Erdoğan will be meeting with President Obama. It is reported that Obama wants soldiers from Turkey. The latter does not intend to give any. I hope TR-US relations will go through another bitter period…

“What Obama Should Say to Erdogan”

from Istanbul Calling by Yigal Schleifer

Hugh Pope, the International Crisis Group’s Turkey analyst — who just returned from a two-month fellowship at the Transatlantic Academy in Washington — has a new paper out ahead of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Monday visit to the White House. The paper, published by the Transatlantic Academy, takes a close look at two areas in which Washington has an interest in pushing Ankara along, its normalization process with Armenia and its European Union membership process, and also helpfully unpackages the debate over Turkey’s perceived eastward “drift.”

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Here Comes the Pain- Part II. Former military chiefs are questioned Today

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Oh God, even an ordinary sergeant feels and acts like a God in the barracks and now I wonder what these Chiefs feel. Falling from heaven? While Western accomplices like Gareth Jenkins (a great critique of Mr. Jenkins’ report –Between Fact And Fantasy:- that questions the Ergenekon Trial can be found here in Turkish) works hard to spread pro-Ergenekon viewpoints abroad, judiciary process continues and today we reach another top point:

Oramiral Özden ÖrnekOrgeneral Aytaç YalmanOrgeneral İbrahim Fırtına

Questioning of former military chiefs in Ergenekon trial begins

Hurriyet Daily News
The accusation said no hard evidence has been found to directly link the top commanders to the Ergenekon gang, but the coup journals show that the

Turkey braces for commander’s testimony in plot probe (AlertNet)

Source: Reuters By Thomas Grove ISTANBUL, Dec 4 (Reuters) – Three retired military commanders were expected to testify this weekend at an in-camera investigation into a plot to overthrow Turkey’s Islamist-inspired

there is too much pain for the Ergenekon gang. Arbitrarily I named part I here:) A huge roundup follows:

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What happens if the Dutch delegation does not come because Turks do not want a racist, useless, criminal-minded b*****d included in the delegation?

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Nothing happens except the Dutch loses…

Turkey say NO to Wilders

from Internation Musing: Istanbul, Athens, Amsterdam, Patra, Utrecht, by Internation Musing

Turkey has announced that a Dutch parliamentary delegation will not be welcome if it includes Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders. Turkish ministers and MPs will refuse to meet the entire delegation if Wilders is among them. A spokesperson for the Turkish foreign ministry says: ?This man has racist ideas. We fear his presence would overshadow the visit?. The popular Turkish daily Aksam was the first to report the news on yesterday: ?Tension over Mozart?, the paper?s headline read, apparently referring to the Freedom Party leader?s exotic hairdo.

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So Turkey has the OIC conference without al-Bashir

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With the relief of al-Bashir not coming- I speculate that gov’t requested him not to come instead of rejecting his visit to save face- OIC summit takes place without much incidence? I guess so. But western media increasingly ask where Turkey heads. OIC summit triggered another wave of op-eds in this line. Turkey is not only making friends with Islamic countries but also other non-Islamic countries. Her foreign policy cannot easily be dubbed as being Islamized as many commentators argue…
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul checks his time as he waits ...

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul checks his time as he waits for other leaders at the COMCEC Economic Summit in Istanbul, November 9, 2009. COMCEC is the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Al-Bashir is a test for credibility

by YAVUZ BAYDAR

Conducting foreign policy requires finesse, elegance and sophistication, but most of all, consistency. This is particularly true of a democracy. Falling into double standards, although not always willingly implemented, is one of the characteristics of the community of countries that claim to be sensitive to human rights and violations thereof.

Erdogan’s blind faith in Muslims | Seth Freedman | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Kamil Pasha quotes from BBC:
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan questioned the charges against Mr Bashir and said that ?no Muslim could perpetrate a genocide?, according to Turkey?s Anatolia news agency?
PM Erdoğan has such a naive cenception of Islam, I should say..

ANALYSIS: Cancelled Turkey visit by Sudan leader raises questions – Monsters and Critics

Turkey playing with the wolves photo: (!)

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (C) poses for a group ...

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (C) poses for a group photo with his counterparts Abdullah Gul of Turkey (L) and Bashar al-Assad of Syria (R) during the COMCEC Economic Summit in Istanbul, November 9, 2009. COMCEC is the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).REUTERS/Osman Orsal

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Turkish opposition is a major obstacle for further democratization

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Yesterday, main opposition MEPs made a scene in the Parliament, of course supported by MHP second biggest opposition party which led to scuffles while debates on the Kurdish Initiative continued. It is unfortunate that these two opposition parties can and may actually stop the process….

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) ...

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) MPs hold banners during a debate at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara November 10, 2009. Turkey’s parliament is set to discuss on Tuesday reforms designed to boost the rights of the country’s Kurdish minority and end a 25-year separatist conflict — moves seen boosting its European Union membership ambitions. Banners are all about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the first president of Turkey from 1923 and founder of the modern secular state, who died on November 10, 1938 when he was 57.REUTERS/Umit Bektas

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al-Bashir in town

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update:

Bashir cancels visit to Istanbul ;Sudan’s President Bashir, indicted for war crimes in Darfur, pulls out of a summit in Istanbul, following pressure from the EU and US.

Turkey on Friday rebuffed a European Union call to reconsider ...

Turkey on Friday rebuffed a European Union call to reconsider its decision to host Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who is wanted for alleged war crimes in Darfur, saying it had no plans to arrest him.(AFP/File/Ashraf Shazly)

Turkey seems to be one of the rare countries in the world where Omar Al-Bashir is welcome. Although I tend to be excited with gov’t’s foreign policy fantasies in general, Al-Bashir case is less exciting….

Turkey defends Sudan leader visit

from BBC News | Europe | World Edition
President Abdullah Gul criticises the EU after it asks Turkey to reconsider an invitation to Sudan’s president.

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