Last week, Prime Minister Erdogan lashed out at opposition parties that had criticized the government’s plan to de-mine the country’s borders by issuing tenders, possibly to foreign firms to carry out the project because, for some reason, the Turkish army didn’t consider itself capable of doing so. The opposition fears the tender will be [...]
The Turkish Book Review, Turkey’s first book review periodical printed in English, has been quietly written and published for the last two years. Published twice a year, the magazine aims to promote Turkish literature to the world and broaden its recognition beyond Turkey’s borders by including information about books and writers from all genres. (click [...]
From Yigal Schleifer’s blog (click here for full text):
The question of who will clear the hundreds of thousands of mines along Turkey’s border with Syria continues to roil the country… What disturbs about the way the issue is being discussed, both by opposition politicians and in the parts of the press, is the nationalist tone [...]
A person cannot be stripped of Turkish citizenship for not doing military service or adopting another nationality without prior permission. Science related applicants for Turkish citizenship apparently have easier requirements. For more changes to the law, click here and here.
UPDATE: click here for comprehensive new rules.
Given all the heavy tanker traffic through Istanbul and the dangerous cargo carried by many of the ships (see my previous posts on this under ‘Istanbul’), another accident was bound to happen. This ship went aground in Yenikoy, at the house of the actress Oya Basar. No one was hurt. (click here for an account [...]
The Switzerland-based genetics institute iGenea has come up with the following Turkish genetic profile. (Click here for article.)
Turkish (28 percent)
Phoenician (21 percent)
Berber (11 percent)
Hellenic (10 percent)
Teutonic (10 percent)
Slav (9 percent)
Arab (5 percent)
Illyrian (4 percent)
Jewish (2 percent)
Photo by Shiho Fukada for The New York Times
Kashgar, China (Excerpt from the New York Times) A thousand years ago, the northern and southern branches of the Silk Road converged at this oasis town near the western edge of the Taklamakan Desert… The traders are now joined by tourists exploring the donkey-cart alleys and [...]
Summary of Amnesty International’s 2009 Human Rights Report on Turkey (for full report, click here)
Human rights suffered in the context of political instability and military clashes. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment increased, while dissenting views were met with prosecution and intimidation. The right to freedom of peaceful assembly was denied, and law enforcement officials [...]
Photos by Jenny White (Reykjavik)
Photo from Zaman
Several members of a federation of cultural associations in Eskisehir were sentenced to five months in jail, (later turned into a 3000TL or $2000 fine) for holding up posters that said “No Jews or Armenians can enter these doors” and another saying “Dogs may come in freely”. (Dogs are considered particularly dirty [...]