High Turkish honour for Dutch politician

ANKARA – Dutch politician René van der Linden received a high Turkish honour from the Turkish President Abdullah Gül on Thursday. The ChristianDemocrat is now a member of the Order of the Republic, the highest honour for non heads of state.

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Kurdish permitted in Turkish courts

ISTANBUL – The Turkish parliament has passed a law that permits the use of Kurdish in court houses. The right to defend oneself  in one’s mother tongue is an important demand of the Kurdish political movement.

The law was approved after an emotional debate. Some opposition MP’s claim the use of any other language than Turkish in courts will break the …

Dutch MEP causes controversy in Turkey

ISTANBUL (ANP) – The Dutch Europarliamentarian Ria Oomen-Ruijten caused controversy during her visit to Turkey. During a meeting she said that hunger strikes have no place in democracies. Some people couldn’t swallow that. An MP for the pro-Kurdish BDP party tweeted angrily on Saturday morning about Oomen-Ruijten: ‘Apparently Ruijten thinks Turkey is a democracy’.

Oomen-Ruijten made her statement on Friday during …

Turkey disappointed by EU report

ISTANBUL – Turkey is deeply disappointed by the latest so-called progress report of the European Union. The report was presented in Brussels today. It is full of generalisations and prejudice, and it sounds like the EU listened too much to action groups, declared Egemen Bagis, chief negotiator with the EU and Minister of EU Affairs.

The report acknowledges that Turkey has …

Turkish faith in EU at all-time low

ISTANBUL – Only 17% of Turks believe Turkey will become an EU member, according to a poll by a Turkish bureau that was quoted on Wednesday in the Turkish media. Last year this percentage was 34%.

The Turkish European Foundation For Education And Scientific Studies questioned more than 1,100 Turks in eight different cities.

In 2004 Turkey was full of hope for EU …

Turkey follows own course in agricultural policy

ISTANBUL – Within a few weeks, when the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice approaches, they will be shipped into Turkish harbours again: thousands of cows and sheep. Production in Turkey isn’t enough to meet the high demand during the Feast of Sacrifice. For those few weeks, Turkey gets closer to Europe, which demands that import restrictions that Turkey has for cattle …

Real estate market for holiday homes very much alive

ISTANBUL – The real estate market for holiday homes is still very much alive in Turkey, as opposed to those in other Mediterranean countries, like Spain. The favourable exchange rate of the Turkish lira and the fast-growing Turkish economy are the most important reasons.

Turkeycame under the spotlight in the eighties as a country where Europeans could buy real estate …

Visa requirements for Turks illegal

Is the famous Turkish musician Arif Sag just a hot headed Turk who just can’t deal with the fact that he needs to follow certain rules to enter the Netherlands? Or is his frustration about the treatment he got from the border control at Amsterdam Schiphol airport justified, and part of a bigger problem, namely the illegal way Turks are …

‘Dutch airport treats Turkish singer scandalously’

ISTANBUL – A concert of the Turkish singer Arif Sag was cancelled last weekend because of the strict visa restrictions on nonEU citizens arriving in the Netherlands. Sag was questioned at length at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and was made to wait so long that he no longer wanted to enter the country and took the first plane back to Istanbul. …

Turkey: from one dictatorship to the other

The AKP government of Prime Minister Erdoğan has effectively decreased the once unlimited power of the army. The power of the judiciary was strengthened. But now that power has too strong a grip on society.

Why did you visit wounded demonstrators in hospital? Why did you give interviews to so many TV and radio stations? Why did you attend that press …