Worldcrunch
ISTANBUL – If Turkey’s nationalist left tend to blame everything on imperialism, the country’s nationalist right has a tradition of pointing fingers at lobbies and vested interests trying to block Turkey’s progress. That same old tune can be heard today, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself has started blaming recent unrest in Turkey on […]
Protests against the construction plans to pave over Istanbul’s Gezi park have exploded into a national standoff. If the project goes to a popular referendum, what will really be at stake?
Though not its original intention, the demonstrations in Turkey are widening the cracks between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gül.
ISTANBUL – For days now, people from every social circle are in the streets of cities across Turkey protesting the government’s plans to bulldoze Taksim Gezi Park. Among those I have observed are Kemalist nationalists, conservatives, anti-capitalist Muslims, Peace and Democracy party supporters, the Grey Wolves and other ultra-nationalists, homosexuals, transvestites, elderly people, and leftist […]
ISTANBUL – This does not look like the semi-official demonstrations that preceded the May 27, 1960 Coup d’état where chants of “the military and the people walk hand-in-hand” were heard. This does not look like those political rallies intolerant to the lifestyle of religious people, where the demand of “We do not want a headscarved […]
ISTANBUL – The treasure of Troy is back. The collection of golden jewelry from the ancient city, which had been stolen during the 19th century, was handed back to Turkey by the University of Pennsylvania last September. The precious jewelry – known as the “Troy gold” – had been looted after the first excavations of […]
The Aegean town of Sirince has just 600 residents, but thousands are flocking there to survive supposed “end of the world” on Friday.
RADIKAL, KEHABER (Turkey), FINANCIAL TIMES (UK) Worldcrunch ISTANBUL – A Turkish education union has pressed charges over the distribution of anti-Semitic books to schools in Istanbul’s Maltepe district, the daily Radikal reported. “The books include phrases that are unscientific, anti-Semitic, anti-Armenian and humiliate Christians, non-religious people and people with a left-wing philosophy,” read a statement […]
ISTANBUL – Mornings around nine, when shop owners on Galip Dede Street open their doors, dozens of cats appear out of nowhere. They know it’s breakfast time. Not right away: the men first have to unpack new merchandise, stock the shelves, and check the till. But then they put out bowls of water for the […]
NTV, DAILY HURRIYET (Turkey), CNBC (USA) ISTANBUL – One police officer has died in Istanbul’s Sultangazi district, after a suicide bomber threw a grenade into a police station in the area, Turkish news channel NTV reported. Up to five people were injured and taken to hospital in critical condition, according to Daily Hurriyet. “First (the […]
ISTANBUL – For the first time in Turkey’s history, the Kurdish armed group PPK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) has kidnapped a Turkish lawmaker. Hüseyin Aygün, an MP for the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was kidnapped last Sunday in the eastern province of Tunceli. PKK has claimed responsibility for the abduction and has promised to free […]