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In The News

Not A Game: Erdogan, Maduro, Trump And The Thirst For Power

The new season of Game of Thrones, which premiered Sunday, will surely be filled with all manner of sabotage, conspiracy, and politicking. The fictional world of author George R. R. Martin is essentially a timeless story of the pursuit of power as an end in itself. But that same show, it appears, is not only […]

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In The News

Honoring “Turkish Schindlers” — Forgotten Heroes Of The Armenian Genocide

Unlike the ‘Righteous Among The Nations’ of the Nazi Holocaust, individual Turks who opposed the Armenian genocide are lost to history. Again, Turkey’s government is largely to blame.

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In The News

Trump and Erdogan Try To Bully Europe, Europe Pushes Back

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel came back Monday from Ankara empty-handed. German military personnel currently stationed at NATO air bases in Turkey will likely soon follow. Amid a growing rift between Berlin and Ankara, Gabriel had failed to convince his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to lift Turkey’s ban on German lawmakers visiting the approximately 250 […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Why Half Of Turkey Will Never Accept The Referendum Result

-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 […]

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In The News

Turkey Referendum, Erdogan Victory Leaves Questions Open

ISTANBUL — The narrow win of the “yes’ camp in Sunday’s crucial constitutional amendment to change Turkey to a presidential system is a major victory for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP). Though final results are not yet certified, 51.3% of the more than 58 million Turkish voters (turnout […]

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In The News

After The Coup, Why I Left My Beloved Home In Turkey

-Essay- Until last year I lived in Istanbul with my husband. We’re both from Australia and we taught English at local universities. We had a great life, with wonderful Turkish friends like Hasan and Nurhan (not their real names.) On Friday nights in the summer, we went out to dinner with them. On one such […]

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In The News

How Did Turkey Become Isolated So Quickly?

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.

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In The News

Online Resistance In Turkey

ISTANBUL — The smartphone’s video camera zigzags through the crowd. Amid a joyful brouhaha punctuated by applause, the young videomaker captures the first smiles and the excited faces, still stunned by the good news. “Asli Erdogan, Necmiye Alpay and Zana Kaya are free!,” the journalist comments as she films the scene. The date was Dec. […]

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In The News

Turkey And Europe, Time To Take Erdogan To Task

The Turkish president is using Europe to stoke nationalist sentiment back at home before a referendum to expand his own powers. Enough is enough.

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In The News

Experts Agree, It’s A Small World After All

-Essay- For the record, I am writing this from home. On a late winter Monday, with most of our crew either off-the-clock or working remotely, I decided to spare myself (and a few others) the day’s commute to hash out the news from our office in eastern Paris. So again, for the record: Yes folks, […]

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In The News

A Sacred Right To Celebrate? 7 Questions After Istanbul New Year’s Attack

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 […]

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Syria Crisis The Endless War

The ISIS Rockets “Made In Turkey”

In Iraq, near Mosul, ISIS was running a sophisticated operation to make guns and explosives. A new report has found much of the material used came from facilities in Turkey.

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In The News

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.

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In The News

Ankara Is Not Sarajevo, Bad Analogies Of Russian Envoy Assassination

The killing of Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov has set off comparisons to 1914 and the singular spark for World War I.

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In The News

What Divides Turkey And The EU Goes Deeper Than Politics

-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 […]

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In The News

Spotlight: Erdogan And EU, A Strongman And Weak Continent

Looking eastward from Western Europe, Turkey used to be seen as both a model of secular democracy in the Muslim world and a huge business opportunity. But longstanding hopes for Turkish entry into the European Union appear grimmer every day. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, apparently seeking to revive a form of “Ottoman glory,” has led […]

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In The News

Why Turkey’s Assault On Press Freedom Is Different This Time

When I told the guy at my neighborhood grocery store in the Turkish city of Istanbul that I was traveling abroad, he said, “Don’t come back. Not if you can.” I told him I have a life here. “They will arrest us all, one day,” he responded. I’d never previously discussed politics with my grocer. […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Turkey: Why Europe Must Stand Up To Erdogan’s Power Grabs

As Turkish President Erdogan pushes his country towards despotism, European Union leaders — especially in Germany — must take a harder line.

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In The News

Turkish Strongmen, Western Weakness

Turkey has grown silent. Since the failed military coup in July, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown across Turkish society has featured a particular focus on journalists working for opposition newspapers. According to Reporters Without Borders’ Julie Majerczak: “Turkey has become the world’s biggest prison for journalists.” But the crackdown goes well beyond press freedom. Two […]

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In The News

Toxic Air And 300 Million Kids

You’d want to be just about anywhere but the Indian capital of New Delhi today. Smog choked the city and triggered warnings that even healthy people were at risk of respiratory problems. Air pollution typically peaks in Delhi at this time of the year, driven in part by firecrackers burned to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu […]

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blog

On This Day – October 29

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Geopolitics Ideas

Turkey, Beware Of Erdogan’s Blind Faith In Majority Rule

-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 […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Greek Conspiracy Theories, Turkish Truths And Lies

ISTANBUL — There is an Italian saying: “Una faccia, una razza.” It means “One face, one race,” and is used by Italians and Greeks to note the characteristics the two peoples share. When it comes to Turkish and Greeks, I use this phrase as “One face, one mentality.” I don’t know how similar Greeks and […]

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In The News

How One Immigrant Adapted To Germany, And Why So Many Don’t

Nuray ÇeÅŸme arrived from Turkey as an infant, and yet still struggled to integrate. She worries that today’s refugees will have an even harder time making into the mainstream.

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Geopolitics Syria Crisis

Meanwhile In Damascus: Pro-Regime Optimism Far From Aleppo Siege

The worst fear in the capital is a lasting truce between Russia and the United States, which they believe would halt the Assad regime’s offensive and delay the total victory.

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Ideas Society

A Woman’s Sacred Right To Wear Shorts — Or A Headscarf

-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 […]

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Geopolitics Syria Crisis

Mom vs. ISIS: Indonesian Student Torn About Going To Syria

JAKARTA — Teuku Akbar Maulana, 17, is from the westernmost Indonesian province of Aceh. He was a brilliant student and was offered a scholarship to study in Turkey. Akbar left for the Turkish city of Kayseri in 2013 to attend the International Imam Khatip High School but grew tired of it after a few months. “We were studying something that I had learned before so I wasn’t getting what I wanted,” he says. Bored, Akbar, who was 15 at the time, started to spend more time on social media, including Facebook. His feed was flooded with brutal videos of what […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Turkey’s Failed Coup, Why The Official Line Doesn’t Add Up

Who knew what and when? Questions linger two months after the coup attempt was quickly stamped out.

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Rue Amelot Society

Seven Women In A Turkish Holding Cell

This summer, I was arrested in Turkey. It was the wrong time, and I was in the wrong place — visiting the predominantly Kurdish eastern regions of the country. For the first four days I was held in a cell in a police station, before being transferred to a deportation center. I had come as an activist, trying to document the Turkish military’s actions on the eastern part of the country, where a veritable war has been waged on the Kurdish population. My own story of the events leading to the detainment is, however, for another day. Now, I want […]

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Geopolitics Syria Crisis

How The West Lost Syria — And Turkey Found Russia

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Geopolitics

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 […]

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blog

August 28

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Geopolitics

Erdogan’s Purge Moves Next Door To Georgia

TBILISI — The Georgian capital is built upon a hill, sandwiched in the midst of towering peaks. The same can be said about this country, wedged between powerful regional neighbors. As Georgia’s economy and aspirations rise, Tbilisi’s growing middle class is flocking to private schools to educate its children. There’s just one problem: some of […]

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Society

Why The Burqa Fits Just Fine In A Modern Democracy

-OpEd- BERLIN — The ministers of the interior of Germany’s 16 federal states have presented their plan against terrorism. Among them, the abolition of the dual citizenship and a public ban on wearing the burqa. As far as is known, no dual citizenship holder has committed a crime of a terrorist nature. The number of […]

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Ideas

Turkey, The Boomerang Of Erdogan’s Post-Coup Crackdown

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 […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Turkish Editor Can Dundar: Why I Am Forced Into Exile

Can Dündar, a recipient of the *Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2016 International Press Freedom Awards who served jail time this past year and was facing another prosecution, announced in his column that he was resigning as editor of the opposition daily newspaper Cumhuriyet. He is believed to be in Germany, and wrote Monday that he […]

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Ideas

Erdogan’s Post-Coup “New Turkey”? Islamism Disguised As Unity

Both President Erdogan and top opposition parties are focused on national reconciliation. But Erdogan’s plans will ultimately exclude democracy.

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blog

Turkey And Russia, Reunited Against The West

SPOTLIGHT: TURKEY AND RUSSIA, REUNITED AGAINST THE WEST Russia and Turkey have historically straddled East And West, often in different ways and with different degrees of influence over the centuries. Right now, both countries appear crucial — and unpredictable as ever, each in the hands of imperious rulers. Thus all eyes today are on a […]

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blog

Turkey, Erdogan Leads Massive Rally In Istanbul

Milliyet, Aug. 8 “A New Turkey Is Born” reads Monday’s front page of Turkey daily Milliyet, which joined virtually every other national paper in its wall-to-wall coverage of the massive rally in Istanbul to demonstrate national unity against the recent failed coup attempt. Perhaps more than one million people thronged to the Yenikapi district of […]

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blog

“Gliding” MH370, Texas Handguns, Pope Potato

SPOTLIGHT: ERDOGAN’S PURGE SPARKS RALLIES ABROAD The unprecedented zeal of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s purge, after an attempted military coup on July 15, has attracted condemnation from international partners and damaged ties with allies in Europe and further afield. Erdogan has accused exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen of masterminding the coup, and his global efforts […]

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