Turkey returns property to religious minorities

ISTANBUL – Turkey adopted a law to return immovable property to foundations of religious minorities. It solves one of the biggest judicial problems of religious minorities in Turkey. The changes to the law will be announced tonight by Prime Minister Erdogan during an iftar dinner with members of religious minorities.

The legal amendment pressed for not only by religious minorities, but …

Mass circumcision, and then it’s time to party

AKYURT – Ninetyfive boys. In four shifts they have been circumcised in a municipality mass circumcision. In the hospital, so efficient and hygienic. And now that all almost a hundred boys are competently released of their foreskin, its party time in Akyurt, a town close to the Turkish capital of Ankara. The mayor: ‘Your first step towards manhood is taken!’

Summer, …

Microsoft sends successful Turkish dealers to Mecca

ISTANBUL – Microsoft Turkey rewards successful dealers: for $40,000 worth of Microsoft sales, the dealer gets a ticket for the pilgrimage to Mecca. A spokes pseron of Microsoft confirms that.

Every following $25,000 of sales earns the dealer another ticket for the pilgrimage, of Hajj, in November 2012. Winning a trip doesn’t make the pilgrimage free of costs though: not the …

Headscarf conquers Turkish parliament

The Turkish parliament has up to now been a forbidden area for women wearing a headscarf. And in the labour market women who cover their hair are discriminated against. Aynur Bayram tries to change that by standing as an independent candidate in the upcoming general elections.

A hundred thousand votes. That’s how many votes Aynur Bayram (30) has to collect in

…

Massive goodbye to Turkish politician Erbakan

ISTANBUL – Hundreds of thousands of Turks said goodbye to politician and former Prime Minister Erbakan Tuesday afternoon. Erbakan died last Sunday at the age of 85. The streets around Fatih Mosque, where the farewell ceremony was held, were cramped with people, as were the cemetery and the road leading to it. In several places it was too busy and …

Turkey’s highest religious leader replaced

ISTANBUL – Ali Bardakoglu, president of the Turkish Directorate for Religious Affairs, Diyanet, was unexpectedly replaced Thursday by his deputy, Mehmet Görmez. There is wide speculation in Turkish newspapers about the reason for Bardakoglu’s dismissal. The Turkish government has stated that Bardakoglu’s term of leadership had lasted long enough, Bardakoglu says it was his choice to retire.

Bardakoglu was appointed in …

Happiness – 4 women share their story

Are you happy? Where ever in the world you ask that question, you can always identify with the answers. Journalist Frederike asked women in the Turkish city of Bursa. What defines their happiness?

‘Green Bursa’ is how Turkey’s fourth biggest city, Bursa, about a hundred kilometres south of Istanbul, is often referred to. And indeed, there is …

Ongoing discrimination against Alevites in Turkish education

Istanbul – ‘Absolutely nothing’ is the answer from lawyer Kazim Genç to the question what the Turkish government has done to end discrimination against Alevis (a path within Islam) in the Turkish education system. Genç won a case in 2007 regarding the obligation to receive religious education at the European Court of Human Rights. The verdict: the Turkish state can’t …

Headscarves allowed again at Turkish universities

ISTANBUL – Women wearing a headscarf on Monday regained the right to enter universities in Turkey. It had been forbidden for more than ten years after a decision by the Constitutional Court. The new situation is the result of a decision of the Board for Higher Education (YÖK), according to reports in several Turkish media outlets on Tuesday.

The YÖK has …

Whistle blower arrested in Turkey

ISTANBUL – In the Turkish capital Ankara on Tuesday morning Hanefi Avci was arrested, a police chief who wrote arevealing book about the infiltration by a religious movement in state institutions. This story appeared in several Turkish media on Tuesday.

The book was published this summer and sent shock waves through the country. Avci wrote from his years of experience working …