WorldcrunchIstanbul based journalist reporting mostly on politics, human rights, law, press freedom & rock’n’roll. Turkey representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Regular contributor to worldcrunch.com, Headbang; occasional contributor to The Telegraph & The New York Times among others. Formerly worked with: Hürriyet Daily News, Bianet, setimes.com & Blue Jean.
As protests continue against the arrest of Istanbul’s opposition mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, there’s no doubt that Turkey is in a dark chapter of its history — and a common story in authoritarian and populist regimes. But the protests also show that the will for democracy is alive.
The October 7 attack and Israel’s brutal response have left a trail of devastation, which materializes in very different tragedies for Palestine and Israel, a story of missed opportunity for Turkey — and a tragicomedy of U.S. leadership.
There’s the obvious stops. And then there’s the off-the-beaten path venues and activities — all recommended by an Istanbulite travel journalist!
Following his AKP party’s resounding defeat in the March local elections, Turkish President Erdogan called the results a “turning point”. But will he — and country’s political landscape — really change?
As nearly half of the world prepares to vote in elections this year, Turkish journalist and author Ece Temelkuran warns, in the Istanbul-based weekly Oksijen, that many countries are following Turkey’s path from democracy to dictatorship.
As Israel ramps up its attacks on Gaza, and support from the West continues, ordinary people in Turkey are falling into the trap of seeing the world as an inevitable showdown between East and West.
Before the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war, a social media campaign in Turkey aimed to take on anti-Arab and anti-refugee sentiment. But the campaign ultimately just swapped one type of discrimination for another.
Palestinians are suffering under the Israeli regime and relentless bombardment of Gaza, yet the Western world, also known to be the “civilized” world, continues to support Israel. Turkey’s complex relationship with Islamic and Middle Eastern countries as well as with the West brings back the most fundamental questions about the past and future.
The Oct. 7 Hamas attacks are as devastating on Israel as the Sep. 11 were on the U.S. But like it did 20 years ago, such an attack also has the power to reshape politics inside Israel and around the region in a way that risks making everything worse.
New York Mayor Eric Adams has for the first time allowed the city’s mosques to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer over loudspeakers. A Turkish correspondent living in New York listens in to the sound of the call (“cleaner” than in Turkey), and the voices of local Muslims marking this watershed in their relationship with the city.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent tour of Gulf states is proof that the Turkish president aims to repair his country’s diplomatic ties in the region, all the while looking for investment for Ankara’s floundering economy. Quite the reversal of fortunes considering that not so long ago Gulf countries faced accusations of sponsoring the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was received warmly in the U.S. and in France — visits which must have provoked some jealousy in Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces many of the same anti-democratic criticisms as Modi, can’t expect the same kind of red-carpet welcome in Washington.
After 60 years waiting for EU membership, Turkey seems no closer to being brought into the fold. The Cypriot question and the countries’ declining democracy are just a few of the points brought up in ongoing discussions.
The 74-year-old veteran politician has a solid chance of unseating Erdogan from power after 20 years. Kilicdaroglu has displayed the kind of calm and open attitude to save Turkish democracy.
President Erdogan and his allies have spent the final weeks of the campaign questioning the political legitimacy of their opponents’ eventual victory ahead of the May 14 election. When the vote does come, the risk of setting off a veritable civil war is real.
A tale of Turkey’s second president accepting defeat begs the question of whether Recep Tayyip Erdogan would accept election defeat on May 14, and return to life as a private citizen.
Election day is approaching in Turkey. Unemployment, runaway inflation and eroding rule of law are top of mind for many. But one subject isn’t getting the attention it deserves: the environment.
Turkey holds key elections next month. Many who were exiled over the years have returned with optimism, only to be jailed. Turkish journalist Ece Temelkuran says from now on, she will only go back on her own terms.
What if the devastating earthquake was caused by a weapon fired from a satellite that pierced the earth’s surface? How does someone like this wind up in charge of science in a great nation like Turkey?
When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tried to reassure his fellow citizens that they could safely donate to help earthquake victims, many were skeptical. It’s a sign of a longstanding mistrust of institutions that affects the nation on the deepest level.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing a tough re-election battle in May made tougher by criticism linked to the devastating earthquake. Rumors are swirling that he might delay the election, even though it’s simply not in his Constitutional powers.
A reflection of what the Feb. 6 earthquake exposes deep problems in Turkish public life over the past two decades, and what we can expect in the coming months and years.
On the diplomatic and political level, no world leader speaks more regularly with Vladimir Putin than his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. But the growing closeness of Russia and Turkey can also be measured in the economic data. And the 2022 numbers are stunning.
The six-hectare gardens in the center of Istanbul, which are more than 1,500 years old, have helped feed the city’s residents over the centuries and are connected with its religious history. But current city management has a restoration project that could disrupt a unique urban ecosystem.
Nearly a century since the post-Ottoman reform of the Turkish alphabet, which replaced the Arabic letters with Latin based ones, the issues it evokes on both the personal and political level are still very much alive.
Turkey heads to the polls next year as it faces its worst economic crisis in decades. Disillusioned by corruption, many young people have already left. However, Turkey’s disaffected young expats are still very attached to their country, and could offer the best hope for a new future for the country.
The indictments filed against prominent liberal figures after the 2013 Gezi park protests show the government doesn’t care about defending the constitution.
ISTANBUL — The New Year’s Eve terrorist attack at a popular nightclub in an upscale neighborhood of Istanbul has left 39 dead and dozens wounded. As Turkish authorities continue their search for the suspect, the terror group ISIS claimed responsibility Monday for the attack at the Reina nightclub, which some have noted came after loud public debates about the celebration of Western secular holidays. Here are seven questions and answers to better understand what happened, as well as the broader context in Turkey, and beyond. 1. What is the symbolic meaning of the nightclub Reina? Reina may be out of […]
Ceding to Russia’s influence in Syria is a “rare public humiliation,’ for Erdogan and his ambitions to make Turkey a world diplomatic power.
-OpEd- ISTANBUL — Over the years, as Turkey’s European Union membership process stalled, I have seen plenty of blame on both sides. Ultimately, I never believed Turkey would become a full EU member, as the process was full of insincerity from both Ankara and Brussels. Now, it is over. In all these years, I never criticized the EU membership process out of some nationalistic impulse. But I do believe that the goals of democracy, rights and freedom cannot be achieved by way of foreign pressure. I also believe that the EU is not merely a union of political principles, and […]