Bosporus fish, or: fishermen as easy target
An utterly sad low in the trouble over fishing the Bosporus: the head of a fishermen’s cooperative was shot because he opposed the way some of his colleagues scrape the Bosporus fishing grounds with their nets, contributing to certain fish becoming extinct. The man lost his left eye. It’s about time the government takes responsibility.
If you didn’t know any better, …
The bottom line is: Turkey and the Netherlands are friends. Officially since 400 years ago, but in practice even much longer. No temporary political wind can change that. According to Jan-Paul Dirkse, the Dutch ambassador to Turkey, all you need to do is look at the map: ‘Then you see that we are in the same sphere. It makes it …
‘A campus should not be a trade zone’
(This blog post was written by my intern Zehra Kaya, who studies at the Journalism Academy in the Netherlands. She is currently studying for one semester at Yeditepe University in Istanbul.)
Thanks to banners saying ‘Occupied area’ it’s hard to miss the Starbucks on the huge campus. The branch of the coffee giant has been occupied by students since last week. …
A million packs of coloured crayons
Emine Erdogan hugs a Somali woman holding a child. Erdogan himself is about to gently squeeze the cheek of a kid to whom he just gave a pack of coloured crayons. Erdogan is on a mission. A mission to relieve the suffering of the Somali people? Or is it a business mission? A promote Turkey trip? Or a PR mission …
‘Buy gold now’, says Nick, my American colleague at the office who specializes in economy. My two French colleagues and me stand at his desk. We want to know about the trouble the Turkish lira is in, and he tries to explain it to us. ‘Gold?’, we say, our faces pretty desperate. ‘Gold is extremely expensive, why would anybody want …
Anybody who thinks the increase in the killings of women will vanish as soon as the AKP is no longer governing Turkey, should really very quickly wake up. One, because that’s not going to happen any time soon (they will probably win the coming elections). Two, because it is a dangerous form of denial of the complexity and seriousness of …
The economic crisis? For Turks that’s not something we are slowly recovering from now, but something they went through ten years ago. In 2001, Turkey experienced one of the hardest economic periods ever. But the lessons learned from the mistakes leading to the 2001 crisis saved Turkey from being hit very hard this time. So, fast forward? Or better be …
There’s a one-litre bottle of raki in my cupboard. It’s been there for at least three years now, and I never even considered opening it. Actually, I have now decided to keep it to get rich.
I love raki, the Turkish national aniseed-flavoured drink. But raki is not like wine or whisky, drinks that you just drink at night alone …
I’d like to predict some news, possibly for the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014. By that time, Turkey will have fulfilled all requirements necessary to become an EU member – at least that’s what Egemen Bagis, Minister for EU Affairs, said last night at a dinner with journalists, which I attended. But then, Turkey could also reach its …
The economic power of the army
Six hundred. The Turkish army is running at least that number of companies. Covering banking and health insurance, car production, construction, and well, you name it and probably the Turkish army is earning money from it. Earning so much money that the army’s holding company, called Oyak, is (depending on your criteria) one the top 3 or 5 biggest companies …
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