The conference on the history of the Diyarbakir region, held last November in Diyarbakir, came to an end. The final word would be for Rakel Dink, widow of Hrant. The Hrant Dink Foundation was one of the organizers of the conference. She came forward, and whereas everybody expected a speech, she started to sing. A Kurdish …
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 …
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 …
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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 …
The sound of cutlery: Ramadan in Üsküdar
‘Istanbul is not very different than usual during Ramadan, is it?’ I’m with a group of Turks, we are in Beyoglu, a shopping, nightlife and tourist hub, and they look at me, they want to hear the foreigner’s opinion. ‘Well’, I start my answer, ‘you know, I live in Üsküdar and…’, and don’t get the chance to finish my sentence. …
Losing a loved one, and then all faith
‘I am sure the state is behind it’, says Kadriye Ceylan. Her son, Tolga Baykal Ceylan, disappeared in August 2004. He lived in Istanbul, where he was studying, went on a short holiday to the small town Igneada and never returned home again. Gone. Kadriye has no hope left that the state will ever listen to her. So she, and …
I wrote an article (read it here) for a Dutch monthly feminist magazine about discrimination in the labour market in Turkey against women who wear a headscarf. Since the elections are coming up, I interviewed the only candidate with a headscarf who stands a chance of being elected, Aynur Bayram from Ankara. She was an example …
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 …
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 …
‘Now please, stop talking and listen to me!’ I can hardly believe this is me talking. To my cleaning lady! But I have reached a limit. The paintings are still very dusty, she didn’t take the hair out of the shower drain, the windows haven’t been cleaned properly, there is still a huge stain on the small table and she …
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