In the mid-1990s, Aygul attended one of the hundreds of «Gulen schools» that were established throughout Turkey by the unregistered network of Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish cleric who has lived in exile in the United States since 1999 and is… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
2016
IS Expanding Its Terror in Turkey
The activities of the so-called Islamic State group, IS, in Turkey has taken a turn with last Saturday’s suicide bombing against a Kurdish wedding in the city of Gaziantep in southern Turkey – just next to the Syrian border. The… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Turkey’s Anti-Gulen Clampdown Rages Out Of Control
On August 17, the Turkish prime minister issued a » special decree» announcing the release of 38,000 prisoners, not including any sentenced for murder, sexual abuse, or rape. This includes financial crimes. Tukey’s overcrowded prisons and slow court processes have… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
How To Win Turks› Hearts
Prominent Turkish satirist and comedian Gulse Birsel was just in Europe — this time for five days. She writes how «bored» she was, and how she couldn’t wait to return to her beloved Istanbul. «Enough Parisian croissants and European monotony,… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Beheading The Eagle: Is This The End Of The Turkish Army As We Know It?
In 2011, Bilgin Balanli, a decorated four-star general in the Turkish Air Force, was expected to become Turkey’s chief of the general staff. Instead, he was arrested, together with hundreds of other generals, admirals, and high-ranking officers. His supposed crime?… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
The Turkish Coup Attempt, Russia, And The West
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels to St. Petersburg on August 9 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They will focus on improving cooperation in two main areas: the effort to find a shared and joint solution to the… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
‹Who Are You?!› How Erdogan Has Lowered The Tone Of Turkish Politics
Recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed a top U.S. general using words and a tone of voice that the Turkish public is familiar with when their president talks, but quite unusual for the president of any country talking about… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Erdogan: ‹May God Forgive Us!› — But Will Turkey?
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, talking about U.S.-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom he calls the «mastermind» of the July 15 coup attempt against him, said: «Unfortunately, we have made serious mistakes [in the past on Gulen.] May God forgive… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Turkey Still Traumatized Two Weeks After Failed Coup
Ihave been watching Turkey 24/7 since July 15, the day that a coup attempt shattered the country for about 20 hours, failed, and dragged the entire Turkish nation through a trauma that is still continuing in various ways. Close to… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
The Gulen Movement’s Collision Course With The Turkish State
Since Turkey’s failed July 15 coup, the Turkish authorities have accused U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen of being behind the attempted takeover of power. It is an explanation that is widely accepted across Turkey. A brief look at the history of Gulen’s… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Four Inconvenient Questions About The Turkish Coup Attempt
Shortly after the failed coup attempt in Turkey, which has left nearly 300 people dead, some 6,000 suspects were arrested, most of them judges, prosecutors, and army officers. Many of the arrests happened in the first 24 hours — the… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Five Reasons This Turkey Coup Bid Failed
Turkey’s military has managed to seize power directly three times since 1960 (and forced another government from power in 1997). So why did this latest coup attempt fail Here’s my take: 1. Lack Of Public Support Three previous coups were… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Turkey’s Short-Lived Coup
It was a “classically Turkish” coup attempt: staged by one faction of the army in isolation from the general population. Gradually, though, government supporters started to come out onto the streets and strategic points in large cities — though not… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Turkey’s Curious Silence On Boris Johnson’s Insulting Erdogan Poem
You might expect a strong reaction from the thin-skinned Turkish president to the appointment of Brexit campaigner and former London Mayor Boris Johnson as Britain’s new foreign secretary. Or at least from his ministers or all those loyal TV channels, newspapers, and… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Erdogan Backtracks On A Bad Policy
On Sunday, I woke up and, as usual, skimmed through the news on Twitter over breakfast. I looked at Turkish news sites and the social network accounts of journalist colleagues. As is often the case these days, there was a lot… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Turkey Turns To Russia In Fight Against IS
Is it just a show of resolve, or a new conviction — or desperation? The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said on July 4 in Istanbul that Turkey might «open the Incirlik air base» to Russia «as we did to all… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
After ‹Apology› Back-And-Forth, Turkey Moves On
Everybody was saying that it wouldn’t happen. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would never apologize — and he is really not the type to do so. Reconciling with Israel and Russia? Never! Erdogan is an Islamist (is he?) facing Israel… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
The Smell of Vezneciler
Questions following a deadly suicide attack in Istanbul Two weeks ago I was sitting in a small shop in Izmir to have my watch cleaned and its battery replaced. Husnu Bey, the owner, a very professional watchmaker, was extremely pleasant to talk… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
‹Only Animals Don’t Pray›
It is Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims worldwide. Mustafa Askar, a professor of theology at the state University of Ankara, is being interviewed live on the first channel of state TV, TRT1. The topic: «Happiness of the Ramadan.» He… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Erdogan & Putin: Two Sides Of The Same Coin
Are Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin too alike to get along? After the Turks shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on the Turkish-Syrian border in November 2015, relations hit a historic low; Russia started a… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
From ‹Zero Problems› To ‹Nothing But Problems›
For years, former Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s policy of «zero problems with neighboring countries» was a flagship concept of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A few years ago when a wave… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
No More Talks With The PKK?
There are indications that the appointment of the new Turkish prime minister, Binali Yildirim, will open a “new phase” in Ankara’s approach toward the “Kurdish issue.” In this new phase, the government is said to solve the Kurdish issue without the… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Erdogan’s One-Man Government
Last weekend, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) held an extraordinary congress whose aim was to accomplish just one thing: Elect Binali Yildirim, a close friend of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to the chairmanship of the party, thus making him the country’s… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Binali Yildirim: Who Is Turkey’s Next Prime Minister?
On May 19, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) elected Transportation and Communications Minister Binali Yildirim as the candidate for the party’s chairmanship. Traditionally, those who chair Turkey’s majority political parties in parliament are also elected as prime minister… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Never Mind Sykes-Picot, Imagine The Middle East Without Modern Turkey
These days we are marking the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which laid the ground for the borders of the new Middle East following the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Many historians, politicians, and even radical Islamist groups, such… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Fighting ISIS Not A Priority For Turks Or Kurds
For a long time the Turkish government was accused of assisting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) group. These accusations were heard especially since the battle Syrian Kurds fought with ISIS over the town of Kobani on the… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Turkey’s Islamists: A Drama (Part 2)
Islamic or not, unchecked power produces corruption. For a concrete example of this, look at Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and the direction it took after its charismatic and iron-fisted leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won parliamentary elections… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Turkey’s Islamists: A Drama (Part 1)
Their drama began at the start of the 20th century, like in many other predominantly Muslim countries. But Islamists of the former Ottoman Empire, and especially in the Republic of Turkey since 1923, have traveled a very specific road to arrive at today’s Erdogan regime. The… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Behind Davutoglu’s Resignation
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has announced that he will not run again for the chairmanship of the ruling AKP party in an upcoming extraordinary party congress. This means he will resign as Turkey’s prime minister. «I have never asked… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Turkey: A Nation Divided — Ethnicity (Part 3)
Visiting Washington, D.C., Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Unity of Peoples› Party (HDP), felt it difficult to clearly answer the question he was asked when opening the Kurdish Policy Research Center. «Is there a risk of a Turkish-Kurdish [armed] conflict?»… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Turkey, A Nation Divided — Religion (Part 2)
The thing that divides Turkey first and foremost is not religion. It is the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, an ethnic-military confrontation that has been going on for more than 32 years. But there is one major religious disparity between two large sections… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
Turkey, A Nation Divided — Politics (Part 1)
In today’s Turkey, there is not one, not two, but at least three major areas that deeply cut society into occasionally quite antagonistic fronts: politics, religion, and, more importantly, ethnicity, which is being translated into terror. All of them intertwine. The… به خواندن ادامه دهید ›
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