Young Turks willing to fight for their country
Yesterday, thousands and thousands of young Turkish men started their military service. There is no fear of being sent to the restless southeast or to northern Iraq: “What must be done must be done.”
ISTANBUL – The young man in the picture, that’s Erhan. He is twenty years old and is thrown …
ISTANBUL - In utmost secrecy a delegate from the Kosovo government got into a car after arriving at Istanbul airport. Destination: the Albayrak flag factory. In his suitcase: a dvd with the definitive design of the flag of the republic that would announce its independence in a few days – now last Sunday. That was Wednesday last week, and on …
Through the gate, headscarf off
Politicians in Ankara are fighting over the headscarf ban. Many Turkish students are tired of the discussion and would like the ban to be abolished quickly.
While in Ankara, the political centre of the country, advocates and opponents of the headscarf ban are locked in bitter debate, many other Turks are rather tired of the discussion. As are the women it …
pro-Kurdish party DTP: in the shadow of the PKK
The Turkish pro-Kurdish Party for a Democratic Society (DTP) loses voters to the governing AK Party. No reason for DTP-leader Ahmet Türk to soften his opinions: “Amnesty for PKK fighters must be discussed and the murderers of Kurdish politicians, journalists and human rights activists must be brought to justice.”
(published in Wordt Vervolgd, monthly magazine of Dutch Amnesty International)
The end is …
Law about ‘Turkishness’ is a diplomatic toy
Altering the ban on insulting ‘Turkishness’ will not help freedom of expression. It is better to get rid of Turkish taboos, says Fréderike Geerdink.
(published in daily newspaper De Volkskrant, opinion page ‘Forum’)
The Turkish government is working on an amendment to article 301 of the Penal Code, the article that forbids insulting ‘Turkishness’. The European Union has been pressing for that …
The Turkish flag, symbol of unity and discord
The fight against the PKK is a boost for the Turkish flag industry. Flags are everywhere: they hang outside houses, stick to car windows or hang giant-sized on public buildings. “Everybody who waves the flag is convinced that he is defending the only true Turkish values.”
The Turkish national flag is constantly …
Gül the centre of Turkish attention
Many Turks suspect the just appointed Turkish president Gül of having a hidden agenda. Gül’s task is now to prove he is not an Islamist.
Finally Abdullah Gül is Turkey’s new president. Secular Turks resisted, the Turkish army threatened and manipulated, but to no avail. Yesterday president Gül made his first speech to parliament. So what can …
Former prostitutes want to become parliamentarians
There are more independent candidates than ever before in the Turkish parliamentary elections next Sunday. Ayse Tükrükçü (40) and Saliha Ermez (37) are two of them. They were both forced to work as prostitutes but managed to escape.
ISTANBUL – She will never forget the first time she was brought into the brothel she was forced to work in: …
Less moustaches in Turkish parliament?
Women’s rights are a serious issue in the early elections in Turkey on the 22nd of July. The political crisis is focusing on the separation of religion and state, and secular parties fear that the ruling Islamic AK Parti will not respect women’s rights. Women can gain from that. “Parties now want to show how much …
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