southeastern europe

An extensive interview that covers virtually all one would like to know about today's Turkey by one of the best Turkish social scientists. Sociologist Ayhan Aktar: Polarization is among elite, not men in street Sociologist Ayhan Aktar says the division in Turkish politics is mostly in regards to the elite, not ordinary people, considering the tension in society in recent years when the country’s agenda has been full of weighty issues such as an ongoing investigation into a clandestine organization known as Ergenekon, the government’s efforts to settle the Kurdish issue and a hotly debated constitutional amendment package. Read more in Today's Zaman (3 May 2010)

Over the past year or so 'something' has been happening in Turkey. After the spectacular showdown between the military and judiciary on the one hand and the AKP government on the other, after the survival of the latter in the face of a Supreme Court case that could have entailed the closure of the party, a series of conspiracies to destabilize the government, or to create a 'hot' incident with Greece have been seeing the light of publicity ( Balyoz ( Sledgehammer) plot ). The erstwhile untouchable army has had to endure intense and unrelenting adverse publicity and to witness a litany of middle and high-ranking officers being implicated in these cases or even investigated. Allegations of plots ranging from the childish to the sinister (both of which, incidentally, the military has been proven to excel in) are now part of the staple daily media diet of a Turkish public hooked on the suspense and excitement these provide.  At the same time, the  Erdoğan government is prop...

"Darbelere Karşı 70 Milyon Adım Koalisyonu" adlı grup, Fener Rum Patrikhanesi önünde eylem yaptı. Yaklaşık 20 kişilik grup, üzerinde Türkçe ve Rumca "Bütün halklar kardeştir" yazılı pankartlar taşıdı. Grup adına açıklama yapan Yıldız Önen, "Bu devirden sonra darbe olmaz demeyi isterdik. Sırlar odasına girildi diye heyecanlananlara Narry Poterromanı okurken için geçmiş, üstün açık kalmış olmalı diyerek diye takılmak isterdik. Koç Müzesi'ndeki denizaltıda bulunan bomba 300 çocuğu öldürmek için o...