Turkey

TeleSur | – – Under the changes, lawmakers can also vote to ban for three sessions fellow parliamentarians who use expressions such as “Kurdistan” or “Kurdish provinces.” Turkey’s main opposition staged a sit-in late Wednesday to protest proposed changes to parliamentary procedures which they say will restrict lawmakers’ ability to challenge President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling […]

Authoritarianism

One Year Later: Why the Purges in Turkey Were Always in the Pipeline

contributors

By Sarphan Uzunoglu. | ( GlobalVoices.org ) | – – When it comes to Turkey, representatives of European Union countries—aided and abetted by Turkish liberals who got the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) wrong to begin with—are in a state of denial and shock. Their distress is rooted in the idea that prior to […]

Turkey

Turkey’s Emboldened Opposition

contributors

By Sinan Ülgen | (Project Syndicate) | – – ISTANBUL – In Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government has been working to centralize political power, opposition parties have lately had few reasons to be optimistic. This month’s massive rally in Istanbul was a rare exception. On July 9, after walking for 25 days from […]

Authoritarianism

Turkey: Erdogan Marks Coup anniversary with more Crackdowns

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey commemorated on Saturday the anniversary of the failed coup in that country. The coup attempt was genuinely unpopular. Erdogan blames it on the Gulen movement, a shadowy cult-like organization that for years was allied with Erdogan. But in the aftermath, Erdogan […]

censorship

Human Rights Defenders Are Still Behind Bars in Turkey

contributors

By Zara Rahman | ( GlobalVoices.org) | – – Eight of Turkey’s most respected human rights defenders were arrested last week, along with two information technology trainers from Sweden and Germany. All ten of those arrested are still in police custody but have not been charged with any crime. The group had gathered for digital […]

Evolution

Turkey abandons High Tech Future by Banning Teaching of Evolution

contributors

By James Williams | (The Conversation) | – – In the US there have been many attempts to expunge evolution from the school curriculm or demand that creationism – the idea that all life was uniquely created by God – is given equal treatment in science textbooks. While all these have failed, the government in […]

Chemical Weapons

Can Iran, Turkey and Egypt Cooperate to deliver Mideast from Chaos?

contributors

Farhang Jahanpour | ( Tehran Times | – – TEHRAN – Professor Farhang Jahanpour, part-time tutor on the Middle East in the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford, tells the Tehran Times that Iran, Egypt and Turkey must set aside their differences in order save the the region from “chaos and destruction”. […]

censorship

Turkey’s Erdogan: Saudi demand he close Qatar base is ‘Disrespectful’

contributors

TeleSur | – – Erdogan told journalists after Eid al-Fitr prayers that “It (the list of demands from Qatar’s neighbors to lift the ban) is a breach of Qatar’s sovereignty rights.” On Sunday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declared that he supported Qatar’s response to a list of demands issued by the Arab states that boycotted […]

Authoritarianism

Speaking Truth to Erdogan: His Authoritarian Turn and Europe

contributors

By Ludwig Schulz | German Orient Institute | (Via Euractiv.com ) | – – Ludwig Schulz looks at how scientific analysis can help counter President Erdoğan’s fake narrative of Turkey’s thriving democracy and why the European Union should reconsider its policy towards EU accession countries. In his official message for Europe Day on 9 May […]