A friend of mine visiting Turkey commented on a squat toilet with the words: ‘Well, things are just less hygienic in Turkey than in the Netherlands, aren’t they?’ I smiled and didn’t bother trying to convince her otherwise. I mean, she had to go back to Holland and still feel okay using public sit-down toilets, so I thought it would …
‘Tensions Turkey are fight for democracy’
ISTANBUL – The current tensions in Turkey are often seen as a power struggle between the army and the government of Prime Minister Erdogan. Unjustified, say several Turkish opinion makers: it’s a struggle for real democracy.
Earlier this week, once again dozens of (high-ranking) military personnel, some retired and some still on active duty, were arrested for alleged links with Balyoz …
ISTANBUL – Does Ilker Basbug, the top general of the Turkish armed forces, want to modernize the army, or is he a hawk who would do anything to keep the institution as powerful as it is? Both, so it seems. He supports the investigation into military personnel supposedly linked to coup plans, but also believes that civilian judges shouldn’t try …
Forty nine so far, and counting. Forty nine (retired) personnel: 17 former generals, 4 navy admirals on active duty, 27 officers and one non-commissioned officer. All under arrest since Monday, because they are supposedly linked to Balyoz (Slegdehammer), an (alleged) coup plan dating from 2003 that has become part of the ongoing Ergenekon investigation.
When I read about Ergenekon stuff, I …
Turkish press happy with Hiddink
ISTANBUL – The new ‘national chief’ Guus Hiddink makes it to the front pages of several Turkish newspapers. Mostly short articles, but on the sports pages there is a lot of attention for the man who, according to the headline in Vatan, ‘said ‘Yes’ for 8 million lira per year’.
For one of Turkey’s biggest newspapers, Hürriyet, Hiddink’s coming to Turkey …
Now and then it happens to me: I end up in a living room full of women. Last night I found myself in such a situation again: eight women between the ages of 17 and 54, and they were doing all the women’s things you can think of. One was knitting something for a baby. Another asked the others which …
Istanbul – The Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals annulled the life sentence of Metin Kaplan, also known in Europe as the Caliph of Cologne. His plans to overthrow the Turkish secular state and install an Islamic state, are, according to the court, not serious enough grounds for a life sentence. This is as reported in Turkish media this weekend.
It’s not …
Some call him the only hope for leftist Turks: Mustafa Sarigül. He is the mayor of Sisli, a district in Istanbul, and he is about to start a new political party, the Turkey Change Movement. A real social democrat party, he promises, with the aim of justice and work for all.
So when the foreign press club announced a meeting with …
My love and I stand on the balcony of the house he grew up in. We look out over the village. It’s been snowing, everything is white, and the sun that has made the snow sparkle all day, is slowly disappearing behind the hills. It’s cold. Then I notice that only a few houses have a smoking chimney. It could …
The empty hands of Tekel-workers
A crate is thrown into an iron barrel and the fire flares up. But it doesn’t get really warm: the ice cold wind blows along the plastic sheeting that it is hoped will offer some protection against the weather. The group of men from Batman, in the south-east of Turkey, have been living on the street in the city centre …
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