Mayor of Turkey’s Cizre suspended by ministry over terror charges Turkey’s Interior Ministry has suspended the mayor of a southeastern town over inciting people to armed uprising and terror propaganda. A curfew which was implemented late Sept. 4 in the Cizre district of Şırnak would be removed as of 7:00 a.m. on Sept. 12. Post-curfew photos tell … Read more
Greek voters reject bailout offer BBC News | Europe | World Edition With almost all the votes from a crucial referendum counted, Greeks overwhelmingly reject bailout terms offered by international creditors. No in Greek referendum marks profound change for Europe no matter what happens next Open Europe blog by Raoul Ruparel No in Greek referendum marks profound … Read more
Turkey’s Best Election Campaigner Isn’t Even Running for Office Read the Bloomberg piece here. OSCE parliamentarians to observe Turkey’s upcoming election Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) parliamentarians will observe the upcoming parliamentary election in Turkey and provide leadership for the OSCE’s short-term observer mission, the organization said in a written statement … Read more
Today’s Electoral Candidate Lists Show Gezi Spectre Is Haunting Turkey The Istanbulian by Emre Kızılkaya When people question the effectiveness of the massive Gezi Park protests of 2013, some of them even describe the demonstrations as an ultimately failed movement and I always give them two answers that complete each other: Erdoğan’s inner circle and his son in law … Read more
Turkey’s pro-gov’t ‘trolls’ hit hard in latest Twitter battle A spectacular social media war has begun, with Turkey’s pro-gov’t ‘trolls’ losing the latest battle against an apparently more organized virtual opposition. Ceylan Yeginsu @CeylanWrites The Sultanahmet bomber was a 4-month pregnant teen from Dagestan, whose husband died in Kobani fighting for ISIS. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/world/europe/a-norway-town-and-its-pipeline-to-jihad-in-syria.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share … Renowned Turkish professor … Read more
Turkish Parliament approves controversial security bill after 16-hour debate The Turkish Parliament passed a stripped down version of the government’s controversial domestic security bill on March 27, after another fractious 16-hour debate. Turkish main opposition CHP to appeal for the annulment of the security package Turkey’s main opposition party has said it will appeal to the high … Read more
Why we occupy: Dutch universities at the crossroads open Democracy News Analysis – by Enzo Rossi, Johan Hartle, Robin Celikates and Nicholas Vrousalis The Netherlands, a mere 10 years behind the UK, seems eager to catch up. Twin pressures of authoritarianism from above and neoliberalism from below make it necessary to develop the democratic alternative put … Read more
Europe wants Google’s ‘right to be forgotten’ to be applied on global search results The Next Web by Abhimanyu Ghoshal The European Union wants Google to wipe search results mentioning people who invoke their ‘right to be forgotten’ across all its sites, and not just its European versions, reports Reuters Majority of global population agrees Internet access … Read more
Bitcoin, The Beginning Of Open Source Governance? Falkvinge on Infopolicy – Discussions on information policy and civil liberties by Nozomi Hayase Quality Legislation – Nozomi Hayase: In my previous article on this site, “Bitcoin, Open Source Movement for Decentralized Future”, among many other issues I addressed some concern about the existence of early adopters and this apparent … Read more
Secular Turkish Government Permits Religious Symbol Four female lawmakers were welcomed into Parliament with Islamic head scarves, which for some was an unwelcome break with secular traditions and for others a sign of the nation?s maturing democracy. The peace process and the enmity of politics One of the persisting responses to Turkey?s Kurdish issue and … Read more