President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said he favored restoring the death penalty. It would bring back an ugly face of Turkey, both politically and morally.
Source: CUMHURIYET
Cumhuriyet (“The Republic”) is a Turkish-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 and headquartered in Istanbul. In 2015, the center-left paper was awarded the Freedom of Press Prize by NGO Reporters Without Borders for its stand against the government’s mounting pressure.
Ekrem Imamoglu’s victory in the recent rerun election in Istanbul was a breath of fresh air for Turkish democracy. But to really recover lost ground, the country needs a new set of rules, writes Yakup Kepenek.
For the first time in 25 years, the party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not be running Turkey’s biggest city. With his landmark victory in Sunday’s election rerun, Ekrem Imamoglu will be the new mayor of Istanbul, with significance that reaches well beyond the city’s 15 million residents. Imamoglu, who won easily 54% to […]
Turkey’s president first burst on the scene in 1994 when he was elected mayor of Istanbul. Now, his party tries to hold the city.
Turkey’s politics has been shaken up after President Erdogan’s ruling AKP lost major cities in nationwide municipal elections. Results in the biggest city hang in the balance.
With no other elections set for the coming years and the AKP party’s increasing use of bully tactics, Turkey’s local poll is a last chance to send a true political message.
The indictments filed against prominent liberal figures after the 2013 Gezi park protests show the government doesn’t care about defending the constitution.
-OpEd- ISTANBUL — The April 16 referendum result that gave Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sweeping powers can be summed up in a single sentence: he won on paper but lost the political battle. The followers of the “chief” — a term used by Erdogan’s loyalists to describe the Turkish president — would consider this […]
It wasn’t long ago that Turkey was a nation envied around the world for growing freedoms and a growing economy. Things have changed fast.
Categories
The End Of Turkey’s Ottoman Dreams
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 […]
-OpEd- ISTANBUL — The 2010 referendum to change Turkey’s constitution to give more power to the presidency prevailed in part because of the “It Is Not Enough, But Yes” call for support. I voted “No” then. And now, as it appears that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to hold another referendum that will give even […]
-OpEd- ISTANBUL — After a woman was kicked in the face on a public bus for wearing shorts, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the event as an “individual” act of discrimination. His ruling party, the AKP, expressed a similar opinion, calling it an “isolated incident.” What they failed to acknowledge is the role their cultural […]
Who knew what and when? Questions linger two months after the coup attempt was quickly stamped out.
Categories
Why Erdogan Is Soft On ISIS
-OpEd- ISTANBUL — Turkey’s government and the media that support it have an odd attitude when it comes to violent acts carried out by ISIS: It’s as if the “cultural/ideological dialects” of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government somehow malfunction. For starters, the government has a hard time condemning the vicious massacres carried […]
Tensions remain high in Turkey following the July 15 failed coup attempt, with the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focusing most of its wrath on the exiled imam Fetullah Gulen and the purge of his Gulenist followers. But could Erdogan’s reaction backfire? -OpEd- ISTANBUL — You don’t want Fethullah Gulen to be deported back […]
Both President Erdogan and top opposition parties are focused on national reconciliation. But Erdogan’s plans will ultimately exclude democracy.
-OpEd- ISTANBUL — Having survived the coup attempt is not enough to put our minds at ease in Turkey. Turkey is on a road that doesn’t lead to a pluralistic and democratic system. We wake up to a new nightmare every day about our nation’s direction. What’s happening on Turkish soil is worrisome. But it’s […]
ISTANBUL — Turkish society was on the verge of a major disaster last Friday. If the attempted coup d’etat had achieved its purpose, we would probably already be facing a large-scale civil war today. During the coup attempt, which lasted about 12 hours, we lived through a miniature version of this civil war with all […]
Since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011, more than 2.7 million Syrians have registered as refugees in neighboring Turkey, making it the largest host country for Syrian asylum seekers. The influx, combined with a rise in terrorist attacks in the country, have become pressing issues in Turkish politics. -OpEd- ISTANBUL — Refugees… They […]
Can practitioners of Islam also believe in the ideals of a secular state and democracy? A Turkish academic poses the question and finds some interesting answers.
ISTANBUL — Since Turkey made conciliatory moves towards Russia and Israel last week, critics have pointed to the inconsistencies between what has been said before and what is being said now. But that is not the real issue here: The real issue is about the roots, the true nature and the costs of these changes […]
ISTANBUL — When it was time to make a victory speech, all the cities of the Muslim world were being cited, “Not just Turkey, but also Baghdad, Islamabad, Kabul, Beirut, Sarajevo, and Skopje won today,” declared Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after being elected the Republic of Turkey“s 12th president back in August 2014. “Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, […]
Inflammatory speech, whether you’re the Republican candidate for the White House or a Turkish professor of theology, should be held directly responsible for ensuing violence.
ISTANBUL — Pride Week traces its roots back 47 years to a New York bar called the Stonewall Inn. On June 28, 1969 in response to a sudden police raid, gays who no longer wanted to cope in silence with the social pressure, violence and discrimination trapped the police officers that assaulted them in the […]
-OpEd- Turkey has never been a stranger to terror attacks. But it seems that the spiral of violence we have entered since the June 7, 2015, general election is so severe that it cannot be compared to anything that came before. Worse: There’s no resolution in sight, no sign of an end to this violent […]
Will the Turkish President’s discarded former allies ever dare to form a new party to challenge him?
Why was President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s supposed ally forced out of the Prime Minister post? The answer lies in the particular ambitions of this Turkish leader.
The Turkish editor and a lonely press critic of President Erdogan was the target of a gunman who screamed “traitor” before firing outside an Istanbul courthouse. Dundar tells of his wife’s courage and his own determination to speak truth
-OpEd- ISTANBUL — Parliament leader Ismail Kahraman said Turkey’s new constitution should be based on religion, not ideals of secularism. Needless to say, this created a fuss. And yet, it is no secret what Mr. Kahraman thinks. The Unity Foundation, of which the parliament head is a founder, had a committee that proposed a draft […]
Near the western coast of Turkey, a humble imam recites too many lonely prayers in a cemetery that is filling with nameless victims of the perilous migrant route to Europe.
ISTANBUL — The country is at a dead end, and everything is a mess. The main Turkish opposition, if such a thing really exists, is still unable to clearly express where it stands on the Middle East, foreign policy in general, a new constitution and the debates about the presidential system. Certain opposition groups still […]