There are 324,770 official Syrian refugees in Turkey (Turkish government estimates are 400,000). 17 out of 23 of the region’s refugee camps are in Turkey, which has decided to halt construction of any new camps. The main issues are cross-border attacks by pro-regime forces (as witnessed recently in Reyhanli where two car bombs killed at least 51 [...]
Peonies by Mary Oliver This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready to break my heart as the sun rises, as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers and they open– pools of lace, white and pink– …
There’s a new face around town, an e-journal that aims to fill the sweet spot of desire for fresh, cutting-edge, edgy and real reportage about Turkey. The first issue has hit the e-stands. Get it here — http://bulentjournal.com/
There’s so much good news in a row that it’s giving me vertigo. First, the Turkish government and the PKK call for an end to their long, vicious war. Then Israel makes up with Turkey by apologizing for the Mavi Marmara incident. And now, oh the irony, the Turkish government has kindly offered the financially ruined [...]
A commenter on this blog asked whether any Turkish science fiction was available in English.
Didem Aykel Collinsworth of the International Crisis Group reported on a recent Kurdish movement conference in Switzerland. What were the portends within the Kurdish activist community that recent talks between the Turkish government and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan would actually lead to peace after decades of violence? What was necessary for this to happen? Would [...]
Here are some of the latest figures on the status of women in Turkey. These are from the 2012 Turkish Statistical Institute’s report on women. They make up half of Turkey’s population of 75 million. In 2013, they had a life expectancy at birth of 79 (men 75). MARRIAGE Average age of marriage is 23 (men [...]
Here is the final resolution on Afghanistan issued by a large and varied group of top-level international Islamic scholars who met this week in Istanbul (see my blog post about the meeting below). The content was the result of two days of discussion and hours of haggling over the wording so that all the scholars [...]
On March 5, CHP parliamentarian Şafak Pavey boarded a plane in Istanbul that would carry her to the Syrian border. There she led a delegation of Mersin parliamentarian Aytuğ Atıcı and two other CHP lawmakers from Hatay province, Hasan Akgöl and Mevlüt Dudu, over the border and through war-torn Syria. On March 7, the group met for [...]