What’s it worth, this apology that Prime Minister Erdogan made yesterday for the Dersim massacres? He said it, he actually said that he apologizes on the state’s behalf for what happened in 1937 and 1938. A novelty in Turkish politics. But at the same time it is not a novelty at all. It is not the first time people’s pains …
Now and then I invite a Turkish journalist to write a guest blog post on my site. This guest blog is written by Turkish-Dutch Zehra Kaya. Zehra is …
Now and then I publish guest blog posts on my site, written by Turkish journalists. This guest blog post is written by Engin Baş. Engin worked in Athens for …
History and tear gas in Diyarbakir
I’ve often wondered about the use of tear gas against Kurds who for example demonstrate or attend a funeral of PKK members. You sometimes hear that the police ‘just started’ throwing tear gas bombs, but is that really the case? As of yesterday I can say: yes, that is really the case.
I’m in Diyarbakir for a conference on the history …
When I came home Saturdaynight, I heard the sound of a cow coming from the neighbour’s garden. I checked, and yes, there it was. Usually there are only chicken running around there, and the occasional cats and dogs. But I was not surprised to see a cow: the next day would be the Feast of Sacrifice. I knocked the neighbours …
Paper policies won’t help womens and childrens rights
‘Similar rulings will be out of the question from now on,’ said Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin. He was talking about a verdict against 26 men who raped a 13 year old girl: the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld an earlier decision by a lower court to give only minimum punishments, because the men claimed the girl approved of having …
Newspaper Hürriyet published an article this weekend about the 10 most influential names in Turkey. Four men (no women) gave their top 10 and explained their choices. It caused discussion of course, for example because Atatürk wasn’t in any of the lists (which was because it was a list of living people, but of course some people say Atatürk will …
Why I am in Istanbul and not in Van
I’ve been asked these days why I didn’t hurry to the earthquake area in the east of Turkey but stayed in Istanbul. In different tones of voice: angry, interested, surprised. I thought it might be interesting to answer this question in a blog post, to give some insight into the daily realities of a freelance correspondent.
The short answer is: I’m …
We’re counting around eighty deaths this last week. In the early hours of Wednesday the PKK killed 24 Turkish soldiers, on Tuesday five soldiers died, and now the Turkish army is hunting down the perpetrators and has, they claim, killed around fifty of them. It is totally obvious that this will only lead to more deaths. But politicians don’t seem …
The paralysing message of the Balyoz case
‘I’m going to convince you in half an hour’s time that the whole Balyoz case is fake’. I had an interview today with Celal Ülgen, the lawyer for eight suspects in the Balyoz case (Balyoz is an alleged coup plot). Some of the suspects he is defending are ‘big fish’ who had high military positions, like Cetin Dogan and Dursun …
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