Turkey

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu | ( OpenDemocracy) Once the external anchor of Turkey’s democracy, the EU‘s normative influence has sunk as low as its reputation among its many erstwhile supporters, who now feel betrayed and abandoned. Shortly after the attack on Istanbul’s Atatürk airport on Tuesday night, a Greek colleague posted on his Facebook wall a […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Turkey’s six foreign policy sins and the Istanbul Bombing

contributors

By Sibel Oktay | (Informed Comment) | – – You don’t have to be an avid follower of international news to have heard about the terror attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport – Turkey’s biggest and Europe’s third largest hub for air travel. Most likely carried out by ISIS, the attack killed 42 people and wounded […]

Featured

Putin’s Winning Hand in Syria, as Turkey Apologizes and Obama Deals

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Vladimir Putin was the skunk at the party in the West after his annexation (or repossession, depending on how you look at it) of Crimea. Europe declared that borders cannot be changed by fiat or troops. The US pressed for heavy sanctions. The Russian intervention in […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Istanbul Suicide Bombers Were Russian, Uzbek, Kyrgyz: Official

contributors

TeleSur | – – The attack at Ataturk Airport is suspected to be the work of [Daesh or] the Islamic State [IS] group. Three suspected IS suicide bombers who killed 44 people in a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul’s main airport this week were Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals, a Turkish government official said […]

Featured

Are ISIL’s attacks the desperation of a Cornered Rat? The Kerry-McCaul Debate

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday evening at the Aspen Ideas Festival that “It has been more than one year since Daesh has actually launched a full scale military offensive, and that’s because our coalition is moving relentlessly on every front . . . Now, […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Turkish airport massacre will further imperil a nation on the verge of crisis

contributors

Alpaslan Ozerdem | (The Conversation) | – – Another heinous terrorist attack has horrified Turkey and shocked the rest of the world. The target this time was Istanbul’s busy Ataturk Airport and it is believed to have been the work of Islamic State gunmen who are thought to have entered the country before the beginning […]

Featured

ISIL Terrorism Strikes at Turkish Economy; & Someone tell Trump the Victims are Muslim

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The terrorist attack on Ataturk Airport in Istanbul Tuesday immediately drew a crass barb from Donald Trump implying that it supported his notion of banning Muslims from the US. Trump probably doesn’t know that the Turks are mostly Muslim, so he is threatening reprisals against the […]

Dissent

Erdogan loses appeal against German media re: Comedian who Satirized him

contributors

By EurActiv.com with AFP Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lost a German court battle against a top media boss when his appeal in a bitter row over free speech was thrown out. Erdoğan had sought a court order to stop the Axel Springer media group’s chief Mathias Doepfner from repeating support for a TV satirist […]

Authoritarianism

The rise and fall of Turkey’s progressive opposition

contributors

By Nick Ashdown | ( OpenDemocracy) | – – Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition party, the HDP roared into parliament on the back of a rainbow coalition of alienated progressives and minorities. Now, armed conflict is pulling it back into the messy tangle of Kurdish politics. “It started like a forest fire,” said HDP deputy and honorary president Ertuğrul […]