Turkey
Few Silver Linings in Egypt for the United States…or China
Recent events in Egypt provide significant food for thought for China policy idealists and realists. The liberal West’s chosen panacea for China—millions of young people taking to the streets and voicing democratic slogans—produced an embarrassing military coup and an appalling massacre in Egypt. If news… »
The silent protest of the standing men in Taksim Square
Here is a video of Andrea Di Grazia shot on June 20, 2013, in Taksim Square, Istanbul. The silent protest in Taksim Square goes on. At any time of the day dozens of people stop in silence, watching the portrait of the founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, mimicking the provocative… »
Turkey – dynamics of stillness
Dear friends, The latest news from Turkey is that in many cities in Turkey now the people are standing still, without moving, also in Ankara and Istanbul, in squares, in streets, in malls, in… »
Ankara – calm before the storm
The correspondents heard that people were gathering at the central square of Kizilay, so they went out at 3pm walking down to the main road to Kizilay Square where many people were walking in that direction with slogans, banners and making noise with whistles. We accompanied them and when arriving… »
Turkey – letters to the world
Dear humanist brothers and sisters from all over the world from Hüseyin Öntas, Turkey. Thank you for sharing testimonies of the people of Turkey with your loved ones. After all the violence in Turkey a different kind of siblinghood and solidarity was aroused among those here and the ones who… »
Turkey – support the demand for the abolition of Art. 318
Dear sisters and brothers, We wholeheartedly support your demonstration on 13 May. Article 318 allows the Turkish State to jail anyone who discourages people from joining the army, even if that army is from another country. We support the abolition of this Article not only for… »
Turkey: Ankara to end anti-PKK offensive if fighters lay down arms: PM
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the country’s military will end operations against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) forces if the group stops fighting. “If there are no more armed actions our troops will not undertake armed actions,” Erdogan told reporters the Netherlands. The comment came hours after jailed PKK… »
Turkey: PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, announces ceasefire with Ankara
The jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan has announced much-expected ceasefire to end the 28-year conflict between the PKK and Ankara. “We are at a stage where guns should be silenced,” Ocalan said in a letter written from his prison cell that was read out by… »
Turkey: “Government doesn’t need to search for lesbians in other cultures”
“The government doesn’t need to go all the way to far away countries in order to find lesbians and lesbian parents. He is welcome to visit us here at the Kaos GL Association, which is barely 1 kilometre away from the Parliament where he works.” Kaos GL reacted strongly to… »
Number of Syrians seeking refuge in Turkey continues to rise, UN agency reports
14 January 2013 – The total number of Syrians seeking refuge in camps in Turkey from the ever-worsening violence of their country’s civil war has risen to over 153,300 persons, the United Nations refugee agency reported today. “This is about a 3 per cent increase since the year-end figures of… »