mardi, 08 avril 2008
EU'S REGIONAL POLICY AND KURDISH QUESTION
The Republic of Turkey has a credibility problem regarding solutions to the Kurdish question. Accepting Kurds as interlocutors seems difficult for those ruling elites whether they are old-style Kemalists or new-fashion Islamists. Turkish governments' approach to comparable situations in other countries and mainly their stance on the Cyprus question shows a clear double standard. On Cyprus, policies to introduce an independent state, if not a federal structure are brought up, whereas a strictly centralist and �Unitarian� approach is adopted for the solution of the Kurdish issue. This is a vast contradiction.14:00 Publié dans CENGIZ AKTAR , ENGLISH EDITION , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, kurds, islam, cengiz aktar, europeus
mardi, 19 février 2008
TURKEY: WOMEN CAN NOT RELY ON THE ARMY FOR THEIR GAINS
(By Ertuğrul Kürkçü / Source : Bianet.org – Turkey) Those who believe that the issue of headscarves at university is a “legal issue” are totally mistaken. We are faced with a historical question: Does the new block of Islamist AKP and ultranationalist MHP with the passive consent of the army represent a moment of freedom?
15:35 Publié dans CHERRY PICKING , ENGLISH EDITION , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, islam, headscarf, bianet
mercredi, 13 février 2008
TURKEY URGENTLY NEEDS PEACE JOURNALISM
(By Erol önderoglu / Source : Bianet.org – Turkey) A reaction in the Turkish press to the fire in Ludwigshafen which killed nine Turks shows how great the need for more balanced reporting is. A newspaper accusing Germany of covering up a neo-Nazi attack is perpetrating racism itself.Read on
15:55 Publié dans CHERRY PICKING , ENGLISH EDITION , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, turquie, journalism, media, europeus.org
mardi, 12 février 2008
RECEP ERDOGAN POURS OIL IN THE FIRE OF RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS
The reason for Recep Erdogan’s visit to Germany was sad. During the recent carnival period, a house in Ludwigshafen (south-west of Germany), where Turkish families lived, burnt down and left nine Turkish persons dead. While the Turkish media explained a racist and xenophobe background of this disaster to their readers, German authorities conduct a very transparent investigation allowing Turkish officials to supervise their work. For the time being, the reason for this deadly fire remains unclear.
17:53 Publié dans ENGLISH EDITION , KAI LITTMANN , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (17) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, turquie, germany, kai littmann, europeus, europeus.org
samedi, 09 février 2008
LETTERS FROM ISTANBUL: MEDIA, TURBAN AND BAN
9h20. Phone’s calling. “Mr. Nonnenmacher? Hi, I’m Irem from the Turkish Daily News. I had to pick you up at your hotel. I’m sorry but i’ll be 10 to 15 minutes late. Trafic is horrible today”. Just time for a quick coffee break. Taking the elevators to the lobby. Sitting there, facing the street. Turning the computer on. Quick look at gmail. Then to the Six35’s yesterday edition. Some people look at me wondering: “God, who’s that guy with its Macbook, camera and digital handycam. Is that hotel not supposed to give place first to tourists?” Phone’s ringing again. Irem’s there. Following her. Leaving the hotel. Crossing the street. Few meters further, on the left inside, the Otopark, a kind of very Turkish car park, settled in the middle of nowhere. Conversation really starts. About who Irem is, about her job. She recently joined the Turkish Daily News (TDN). A week ago. She’s a kind of project officer dedicated to new web plateform of the newspaper. She wants the TDN website to be more interactive, more «opened» to the readers. “You have a blog she says. What’s its name, already? Europeus?”. “Yes”. “I had a look at it.” I’m curious. How did she managed to watch it. For several weeks Europeus is no more accessible from Turkey. Reason of it: a wave of uninterrupted spams coming from that country. Philippe Pinault, the founder of the plateform said he had no other choice than taking that decision. “This should not time”. Well, you never know…15:15 Publié dans CHRISTOPHE NONNENMACHER , ENGLISH EDITION , MEDIA , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (6) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, turkish, turban, christophe nonnenmacher, europeus.org
jeudi, 07 février 2008
TURKEY: PARLIAMENT PASSES HEADSCARF CHANGES IN FIRST ROUND
(By Gökce Gündüc / Source: Bianet.org - Turkey) The bill put forward by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) suggesting constitutional change in order to allow women wearing headscarves to attend university was passed in the first round yesterday (6 February). After a debate lasting for over thirteen hours, amendments to Articles 10 and 42 were passed with between 397 and 404 votes. The second round of votes will be on Saturday (9 February), starting at 11 am. The votes on constitutional amendment in general were 113 against and 397 for. The first part of the bill was passed with 401 for and 110 against, the second part with 404 for and 99 against, and the third part with 404 for and 92 against. At each stage of the proposal, opposition MPs used their right to make suggestions and speak.Read on
15:13 Publié dans CHERRY PICKING , ENGLISH EDITION , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, turba, headscarf, europeus
mercredi, 06 février 2008
LETTERS FROM ISTANBUL: CROSSING THE BRIDGE
Heard, when released, a lot about it. (Re)discovered those past days via a Turkish friend. Movie midday by Besiktas. Another look on Istanbul and Turkey than the one too often heard in France. Some won't probably care, stucked as they are in their (sad) believness. Some may see that city, the Turks, differently. Much closer from who they really are. Till then keep on meeting people, filming for Europeus and the Six35. Ten years I had had not been there. So many changes. Paris looks like an old village compared to Istanbul. Sarkozy... Well as we said, three years ago, in France about Bush, most of the Turkish know Sarkozy is not France, but French ignorance, irrationalism still hurts. But time will come to talk about it. Soon. pretty soon.
Watch the movie on Google Video
21:45 Publié dans CHRISTOPHE NONNENMACHER , CULTURE , PODCAST , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, cinema, istanbul, christophe nonnenmacher, europeus
TURKEY: NO COURT CASE AGAINST HRANT DINK'S LAWYER
(By Erol Önderoglu / Source : Bianet.org – Turkey) An Istanbul court dropped the case against Hrant Dink’s lawyer Erdal Dogan for writing that nationalist lawyer Fuat Turgut should be tried for threatening Hrant Dink. After lawyer Hrant Dink’s lawyer Erdal Dogan wrote an article entitled “The big brothers use the law very well” in the Aksam newspaper on 9 April 2007, lawyer Fuat Turgut filed a criminal complaint against him. Fuat Turgut, who was taken into custody and later released in the ultra-nationalist Ergenekon gang investigation, is the defense lawyer for one of the murder suspects in the Hrant Dink murder. In the article in question, Dogan had accused Turgut of threatening Hrant Dink before his murder. He had written, “When a person who should be prosecuted for targeting Dink, for threatening him and for obstructing a fair trial, then turns up as the lawyer for one of the murder suspects, this is where the law has nothing else to say.” Turgut had taken the case to court, demanding 5,000 YTL compensation. However, the Sariyer 2nd Civil Court of Peace decided yesterday (5 February) that there was no crime committed.Read on
17:31 Publié dans CHERRY PICKING , ENGLISH EDITION , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, hrant dink, europeus
lundi, 04 février 2008
TURKEY: SECULARISTS - MAD MINORITY
(By Yusuf Kanli / Source: Turkish Daily News - Turkey) The secularists have now become the "mad minority" according to radicals and Islamist media. So said one of those newspapers propagating the replacement of the secular lifestyle in the country with an Islamic one from top to toe: Mad minority engulfed in panic! Reports in other Islamist media were no different... They were all stressing one common new perception: The naughty minority secularists... The prime minister was talking at the inauguration of the "political academy" of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul... "It's not us, it is those who create this atmosphere of confrontation with the assumption that allowing turban in universities will pose a threat to their lifestyle... The AKP is the guarantee of secularism..." Military is the guarantee of democracy.... The AKP is the guarantee of secularism... Why worry, let's relax and sit back!
23:45 Publié dans CHERRY PICKING , ENGLISH EDITION , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, turban, akp, europeus
TURKEY: INTERNATIONAL PROTEST AT CARTOONISTS' INVESTIGATION
(Source : Bianet.org – Turkey) The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, strongly criticises the preliminary proceedings brought against Turkish cartoonists Musa Kart and Zafer Temocin, both of the “Cumhuriyet” newspaper. Both cartoonists are being investigated for caricatures considered insulting to the President.
09:40 Publié dans CHERRY PICKING , ENGLISH EDITION , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, press, cartoonist, europeus.org