‘I wish for a strong opposition party in Turkey’

WHAT’S YOUR WISH FOR 2009?

(Question put to people around the world for magazine ‘Our World’. This is my contribution from Turkey)

Name: Aylin Atalay

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Turkish opposition wants debate on corruption

ISTANBUL – One of Turkey’s opposition leaders, Deniz Baykal, wants a television debate on an alleged corruption scandal in which governing party AKP is involved. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not responding to the offer.
Erdogan hopes that the scandal will blow over, but in the meantime it has kept Turkish politics and media enthralled for weeks. Tension is still high …

The divisive dilemma facing Turkish feminists

Anyone who is pro womens’ rights in Turkey is almost automatically against more rights for women wearing a headscarf. Ever since devout Muslims gained political and economic power, Turkish feminists have been in an awkward position.

The fact that it was the political party representing devout Muslims that lifted the headscarf ban at universities makes Handan Koç angry. “Of course”, says …

Meanwhile, at TRT… a game show

A game show. State broadcaster TRT 1 is broadcasting a game show after the announcement that governing AK Party will not be closed down for anti-secular activities. TRT 2 and 3 are not much better: faithfully the TRT cameras (the only ones allowed in parliament) are recording parliamentary proceedings. Interesting, a debate about education.
But of course, TRT is not …

AKP can now go forward

ISTANBUL – A period of political uncertainty has come to an end in Turkey: governing party AKP will not be closed down, the Constitutional Court decided today. Various reforms and negotiations initiated by the AKP but stalled by the constitutional crisis, can now be taken further. For example the accession talks with the EU and a proposed presidential visit to …

Turkish would-be immigrants unmoved by Dutch court decisions

ISTANBUL – Any excitement among Turks who plan to move to the Netherlands after two legal verdicts challenged immigration rules? None whatsoever. The embassy and the consulate in Turkey only got a handful of phone calls asking about the verdicts and their implications, while the Turks and their Dutch partners who are affected don’t even bat …

Holland will help Turkey set up refugee centres

KAYSERI – Holland will help Turkey with the setting up of six refugee centres and the training of personnel for the centres. There’s 1.2 million euro’s available for the project, coming from EU funds. Dutch State Secretary of Justice Nebahat Albayrak finalised the details of previous agreements this week during a working visit to Turkey. Turkey chose Holland as a …

Holland and Turkey make judicial deal

KAYSERI – Holland and Turkey have made concrete agreements to solve problems in cooperation on legal issues. From now on, there will not always be strict interpretation of national laws. Every legal case will be examined individually. That’s the outcome of a meeting between Dutch Justice Minister Hirsch Ballin and his Turkish counterpart Mehmet Ali Şahin, during the Minister’s visit …

Turkish opposition asks for Lagendijk’s dismissal

A conflict with Dutch Euro MP Joost Lagendijk, chair of the Turkey commission in the European Parliament, is escalating now that the biggest opposition party in the Turkish parliament, CHP, wants Lagendijk to be removed from his position, Turkish Daily News reports. Lagendijk is blamed for having made unfounded criticism of the CHP and Turkish democracy. He himself announced …

A courageous and heartless, but above all a typical Turkish prosecutor

Who is the man that filed a complaint against the AK Party in the Constitutional Court?

A ‘typical Turkish prosecutor’, that’s the most emotionally neutral description of Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, the highest public prosecutor in Turkey. Yalcinkaya filed a complaint against governing party AKP because the party is allegedly the focal point of anti-secular activities. The characterization comes from Levent Korkut, constitutional …