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 [...]
Amnesty International is urging the Turkish government to use this crucial moment to act concretely to decriminalize dissent, at a time when a new constitution is being written where such issues are being debated and when promises have been made in this respect to the PKK in return for peace. A package of reforms called the [...]
The irony doesn’t escape me that the new constitution (a preliminary draft of which was leaked last week) appears to be being written primarily by a coalition of AKP and the Kurdish BDP (Peace and Democracy Party), with the internally divided CHP and the nationalist MHP on the margins. All four parties have a place [...]
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 [...]
CHP member of parliament Safak Pavey recently returned from Syria where she and a group of Turkish lawmakers met with President Bashar al-Assad in an attempt to free foreign journalists believed held by his regime. Pavey crossed overland in Hatay and on her trip spoke with Syrian refugees. She learned that Christian refugees were being [...]
I’m in Istanbul for a rather unusual event — the Third International Conference for Islamic Cooperation for a Peaceful Future of Afghanistan — a meeting of dozens of top Islamic leaders and scholars and Grand Muftis, including Deoband Ulema from India and a variety of Islamic scholars from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and [...]
In an unprecedented move after three decades of PKK insurgency and violent retaliation by the Turkish military that has killed more than 40,000 people, the Turkish government is talking to the PKK about peace. Official talks between the Turkish government and the PKK through its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan are proceeding despite what appear to be [...]
I deleted the most recent post because the dates were not current: Çelik resigned in September 2011.
Some information from a recent evaluation of Turkey’s publishing industry (click here): According to the Turkish Ministry of culture, over the last 10 years there has been a 300 percent increase in number of books published. In 2011, according to the Turkish Publishers Association, 43,190 titles were released with sales of 1.5 billion dollars. 30-35% are [...]
Since 1972 Freedom House has been doing an annual survey of the status of political rights and civil liberties in countries around the world, including Turkey. These are defined in their latest report (click here) that charts the increase and decline of these variables. Turkey is listed as a ‘partly free’ country, putting it in [...]