Joost Lagendijk: ‘Turks want change’
ISTANBUL – The winner of the Turkish elections of last Sunday, the AKP, will have to come with a reasonable offer for a new constitution, says Dutch Joost Lagendijk, teacher at the Istanbul Sabanci University and former Euro Parlemetarian. He is optimistic: ‘The Turks want change.’
Lagendijks optimism is mainly based on the power of social institutions, like business associations and …
ISTANBUL – Metin (47) votes for Abdullah Öcalan. That the leader of the Kurdish seperatist movement PKK is in jail, is not relevant. Hij points at the posters of the candidate for pro-Kurdish party BDP. ‘I vote for Öcalan via him.’
The neighborhood Tarlabasi, a few minutes walk from Istanbuls central Taksim Square, is old, dilapidated and poor, and mainly inhabited …
Third term for ‘Islamist’ Erdoğan
ISTANBUL – The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will most probably start his third term as the most powerful man in tyhe country. With that he is on the way to become the longest ruling democratically elected leader of Turkey. Erdoğan became PM in 2003 and can continue in that position after Sunday till 2015.
During the reign of the …
Turkish ultranationalists switch to pro-Kurdish party
ISTANBUL – In a remarkable decision by a politician of ultranationalist political party MHP in Turkey, he has switched to pro-Kurdish party BDP, along with 16 members of the local MHP Board, daily Radikal reported on Tuesday. There are hardly any parties more ideologically opposed than the MHP and the BDP.
The ex-ultranationalist, Ömer Bozkurt, was a local leader of …
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
…
Thousands of Turks protest for internet freedom
ISTANBUL –Tens of thousands of people have protested in several Turkish cities against censorship on the internet. The turnout was particularly high in Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul and in the western coastal city of Izmir.
In Istanbul at least 15,000 people turned out, especially young people up to about age 35. The protests were aimed against internet censorship in general, but …
Turmoil over sex tapes in Turkey
ISTANBUL – First they kiss rather clumsily, then a bit later they are laying on the bed together. She – a young student – on top. She moves, and he – an older, married politician – slaps her bottom. The sex videos of two politicians from the ultra nationalist National Action Party (MHP) have caused turmoil in Turkey. The men …
Kurdish candidates can run in Turkey
ISTANBUL – On Thursday afternoon the Election Board in Turkey decided to allow six independent Kurdish candidates to run in the general elections after all. The decision follows days of unrest, after the Board on Monday announced a ban on the candidates from participating.
Six of the seven banned Kurdish politicians are now allowed to run, among whom the well known …
Big Kurdish demonstration in Istanbul
ISTANBUL – Thousands of Kurds have demonstrated in Turkey’s biggest city, Istanbul, against the decision by the election board to exclude seven independent candidates from participating in the elections. On the central Taksim Square the flag of Kurdish separatist movement PKK and a portrait of PKK leader Ocalan were carried around. The police kept their distance for a long time, …
Woman with scarf won’t make it to parliament
ISTANBUL – Turkey’s governing party AKP put a woman with a headscarf on the list of candidates for the upcoming general elections. However the woman is a candidate in Antalya, where she stands no chance of being elected. This way the AKP avoids a fuss in parliament: the headscarf is unwelcome in the Turkish parliament because it would erode the …
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