Saturday the Turkish parliament was opened for the new legislative year. Usually just a ceremonial procedure, this time a historic day: the pro-Kurdish BDP party ended its boycott of parliament, and thus Kurdish activist and politician Leyla Zana also returned to what now is again a bit more like the heart of Turkish democracy. Leyla Zana changed the oath a …
Shocking news this morning: a pregnant woman and her six year old daughter were killed in the Southeastern province of Batman. Many Turkish media were quick to say it was the PKK who did it, Kurdish Firat news agency reported, on witnesses account, that mother and daughter were killed by police bullets. A big TV-station sought the truth in the …
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Rosarin and I are having lunch. We are in Mardin, southeast Turkey. Mardin is a beautiful village on a mountain; it’s very old, well preserved and known for being the most ethnically mixed city in Turkey. Turks, Kurds and Arabs live here, and Christians too. In peace, and they always have. While we are having lunch, our good moods are …
Karayilan caught! Blunder, or strategy?
Saturday the news came in: Murat Karayilan has been arrested in Iran! That’s what you could really call ‘breaking news’: Karayilan is the leader in the field of the PKK, so the second man after jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan, and high on the ‘most wanted’ list of the Turkish state. But soon it turned out the news wasn’t true, or …
The ‘oath crisis’ in parliament is still not over. Ever since both CHP and BDP refused to take the oath to be inaugurated in parliament, there is a lot of good will talk going on between different parties, but for now, it all leads totally nowhere. It’s been almost three weeks now, and no (for the …
What got into the High Election Board?
Now, the Kurdish candidates who were banned from running in the elections at the beginning of the week have been ‘rehabilitated’: they are allowed to run, after the High Election Board discussed the matter again. Did they change their minds because of the intense protests in Istanbul and in the south east of the country? Was there an error in …
Boring elections coming up! Or not?
We already know who’s going to win the elections in June. The latest poll even predicts a 46% victory for governing AKP – that’s hardly a loss compared to the previous elections in 2007. Opposition party CHP is growing and would get 25% of the votes if elections were held now (an increase of about 5% compared to 2007), and …
This is a very cynical thing to say, but honestly, I think at MHP headquarters there is some relief after the decision by Kurdish separatist movement PKK to end its unilateral cease-fire. The more PKK violence, the stronger Turkish nationalist feelings and the more votes the MHP will get. Will they, thanks to the PKK, be able to pass the …
About Ahmet Kaya and a young woman
The whole evening, actually the whole Kurdish question came together in one young woman last night. I saw and heard her during a break in the commemoration night for Ahmet Kayak, a Kurdish singer who died ten years ago in exile in Paris. She was being interviewed on camera about what Ahmet Kaya meant for her. The journalist wanted her …
Polarization and press freedom
The award for the most untrue quote related to press freedom goes to Egemen Bagis, Minister of EU Affairs. He wrote in “Today’s Zaman” newspaper (a religious and very pro-government daily): ‘Today in Turkey there is not an issue or topic that cannot be discussed. Everybody in Turkey can freely discuss his ideas and everyone is free to express their …
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