Tag Archives: Turkey

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Turkey News | Armenians

Church seizures and political scapegoating heighten unease in Armenian-Turkish community
  • Turkey’s Armenian minority has found itself caught in the middle of increasing conflict between the Turkish government and Kurdish separatists, subject to intimidation, slurs, and attacks from politicians.
  • The Armenian-Turkish community has been particularly upset by the ongoing expropriation of historic churches through eminent domain seizures by the government.
  • In the wake of the centennial of the mass slaughter of Armenians in Turkey during World War I, the community has been fearful of hypernationalist discourse targeting Armenians.

Read more:
“Does Turkey See Its Armenian Minority as a Security Threat?” (EurasiaNet)
“Turkey’s Seizure of Churches and Land Alarms Armenians” (The New York Times)
“A Century Later, Slaughter Still Haunts Turkey and Armenia” (National Geographic)

(Image Credit: Bryan Denton/The New York Times )

Nationality + Migration

Greece & Turkey News | Migrants & Refugees

Greece begins mass migrant deportations to Turkey in accordance with controversial new EU deal
  • More than 130 migrants were on the first boat from Lesbos to the Turkish port of Dikili, including Pakistanis, Afghans, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Indians, Syrians, and an Iraqi.
  • To stem the flow of human trafficking across the Aegean Sea, Turkey has agreed to receive migrants and refugees who have arrived in Greece via the Aegean without authorization.
  • In return, the EU will take in Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and give Turkey money, visa-free travel, and progress in its EU membership application.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeAIOeSyAeg

Read more:
“Migrants sent back from Greece arrive in Turkey under EU deal” (Reuters)
“First EU migrant deportations from Greece to Turkey ‘go smoothly’, despite protests” (euronews)
“First boats returning migrants and refugees from Greece arrive in Turkey” (The Guardian)

Ideology + Affiliation

Turkey News | Journalists

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Independent TV channel pulled from Turkish airwaves over alleged terrorism propaganda
  • IMC TV was pulled from the air in the middle of an interview with Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, two Turkish journalists recently freed after intense public outcry over their arrest.
  • State-owned Turksat, Turkey’s satellite provider, shuttered the channel at the request of an Ankara prosecutor leading an investigation over sympathy towards the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).
  • The blackout occurs as the Turkish government continues to crack down on critical media, including IMC’s extensive coverage of the Kurdish conflict, opposition politicians, and environmental protests.

Read more:
“İMC TV goes off air after prosecutor sends Türksat suspension order” (Today’s Zaman)
“Turkey turns off independent TV channel on ‘terrorist’ charge” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: via Today’s Zaman)

Ideology + Affiliation

Turkey News | Journalists

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Turkish journalists face espionage and pro-terrorism charges after publishing investigative report
  • Can Dundar and Erdem Gul face the possibility of life imprisonment without parole for publishing a report alleging Turkish officials sent weapons to aid opposition fighters in Syria.
  • Cumhuriyet, a secular opposition newspaper led by Dundar, published the report including photos and video of the alleged weapons delivery in May 2015.
  • PM Tayyep Erdogan confirmed that the photos showed trucks belonging to Turkey’s intelligence agency but insisted they were delivering aid to the embattled Turkmen minority in Syria.

Read more:
“Turkish court to seek life without parole for prominent journalists” (Reuters)
“Detained Turkish reporters defiant over espionage claim” (BBC)

(Image Credit: Murad Sezer/Reuters)

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Syria & Turkey News | Turkmen

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Syrian Turkmens flee coastal Syria for Turkey as violence intensifies
  • Hundreds of Syria’s minority Turkmen community left the province of Latakia for Turkey as violence between pro-government and opposition forces increased.
  • Women- and children-majority groups were bussed across the Turkish border as a key opposition-held town fell in the province.
  • Turkey has been particularly critical of what it argues has been Russia’s targeting of the Turkmen minority, which has displaced tens of thousands among the Turks’ ethnic cousins.

Read more:
“Syrian Turkmens cross to Turkey, fleeing advances of pro-Assad forces” (Reuters)
“Hundreds of Turkmens flee Russian airstrikes, enter Turkey” (Today’s Zaman)
“Displaced Turkmen Villagers Brace for a Cold Winter” (Syria Deeply)

(Image Credit: Stringer/Reuters)

Gender, Health + Ability

Turkey News | People with Disabilities

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MHP members call for investigation into conditions facing people with disabilities in Turkey
  • Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputies called on the Turkish parliament to confront the problems facing Turkey’s 8.4 million–strong disability community, including illiteracy (36.34% of the community) and unemployment (77%), according to a 2002 survey.
  • As state positions set aside for people with disabilities have gone unassigned, accommodations gone unfulfilled, and high financial burdens continued mounting, advocates have criticized the government’s slow response, fueling the MHP’s motion.
  • Women with disabilities face particularly difficult circumstances including public harassment and domestic violence, but have seen their concerns take a backseat in disability advocacy organizations largely run by men.

Read more:
“MHP calls on Parliament to investigate problems of the disabled” (Today’s Zaman)
“Women with disabilities facing double challenges” (Andalou Agency)

(Image Credit: Sunday’s Zaman)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Turkey News | Kurds

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Turkish president backs criminal probe into Kurdish opposition party leaders
  • President Tayyip Erdogan threw his support behind a criminal investigation into the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.
  • The call comes after a two-day meeting of Kurdish groups called for greater self-governance in Turkey’s embattled southeast region, where Erdogan’s government has attempted to quash a fresh wave of separatist sentiment led by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
  • Erdogan has called for parliament to lift the political immunity of MPs to facilitate the investigation of politicians suspected of working with militants.

Read more:
“Turkish parliament to consider ‘lifting Kurdish leaders’ immunity’” (AFP, via Yahoo! 7 News)
“Erdogan backs criminal probe into Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: Christian Hartmann/Reuters)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Turkey News | LGBT

Court fines Turkey’s football governing body for firing gay referee
  • Istanbul’s 20th Court for Serious Crimes fined the Turkish Football Federation 23,000 Turkish lira ($7,900) for revoking the refereeing license of Halil İbrahim Dinçdağ, the country’s first openly gay referee, in 2009.
  • Dinçdağ’s release came after the TFF declared him unfit for military service due to the military’s exemption of gay men from military service, with which referees are required to be in good standing.
  • Dinçdağ’s lawyer plans to appeal the ruling, which fell considerably short of the 110,000 lira originally demanded.

Read more:
“Turkey’s top football body fined over dismissal of gay referee” (Hürriyet News Daily)
“Turkish Football Federation fined for sacking gay referee” (BBC)
“Turkish FA ordered to compensate referee who lost licence for being gay” (AFP, via the Guardian)

(Image Credit: DHA Photo, via Hürriyet News Daily)

Religion + Belief

Turkey News | Atheists

Turkish group lobbies for equal treatment and protection for atheists
  • The Turkish Atheism Association has created a petition calling for the end of automatic registration of Turkish newborns as Muslim, the removal of religion from Turkey’s ID cards, and the inclusion of the association in official meetings with non-Muslim groups.
  • Although a 2010 poll found only 1% of Turkish people identify as atheist, the group hopes the 5,000 signatures it hopes to attain will bring attention to their marginalization in Turkey’s nominally secular society.
  • The association was founded in 2014 in Istanbul, but a court blocked access to its website in March on the grounds of “provoking the people.”

Read more:
“Turkish Atheism Association starts petition calling for ‘equal treatment’” (Middle East Eye)
“Turkey’s Atheism Association starts petition for ‘equal treatment’ before law and in society” (Hurriyet News Daily)
“Atheists raising their voice in Turkey amid polarized reactions” (Hurriyet News Daily)

(Image Credit: via Hurriyet News Daily)

Nationality + Migration

Turkey News | Syrian Refugees

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Syrian refugees struggle to integrate into Turkish society
  • Turkey has become home to 2.3 million Syrians, making it host to the largest refugee population in the world.
  • With opportunities in refugee camps limited, most have taken to cities in search of stability, but have found cultural barriers, few legal employment opportunities, limited healthcare access, and increasing resident suspicion.
  • While the E.U. has drafted a proposal for funding assistance to Turkey, officials have mulled several options as integration has stalled, including establishing a safe zone in northern Syria to which refugees could return or refugee-only cities in Turkey.

“I regret coming here. If I can’t survive I’ll go back to Syria and die with dignity. We didn’t come to Turkey to be beggars.”

Read more:
“Tensions simmer as Turkey struggles with burden of refugees” (Reuters)
“Migrant crisis: EU plan offers more money for Turkey camps” (BBC)

(Image Credit: Murad Sezer/Reuters)

Gender

Turkey Feature | Women

Turkey’s Chic Women

Women from around Turkey converged on Istanbul and 9 other cities across the country for the third-annual Chic Women’s Bicycle Tour, a solidarity bike ride to promote transportation equality for women as well as sustainable transportation options in cities riddled with motorized vehicular traffic. Decked out in a colorful potpourri of dresses, hats, flowers, and balloons, the women dressed in resistance to attempts by conservatives to dictate to women how they should dress and act in public. Al-Monitor spoke with organizers about the history and mission of the ride, while Hürriyet provided a vibrant gallery of event attendees.

Read and view more:
“Pedal power gets Turkish makeover” (Al-Monitor)
“‘Chic women’ across Turkey’s western coast cycle for sustainable transportation” (Hürriyet News Daily)

(Image Credit: AA Photo, via Hürriyet News Daily))

Ideology + Affiliation

Turkey News | Journalists

Turkish journalist attacked outside home
  • Ahmet Hakan, a prominent government critic and journalist affiliated with secular media organizations Hürriyet and CNN Turk, was followed home by four men and beaten.
  • The event followed an attack on Hurriyet offices by nearly 100 government sympathizers last month after being accused of supporting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), with whom the government is locked in conflict.
  • The anti-journalist climate in Turkey has led Reporters Without Borders to rank the country 149th out of 180 countries for press freedom.

Read more:
“Anti-government Turkish journalist injured in Istanbul attack” (AFP, via Yahoo! News)
“Attack on Hürriyet columnist condemned after latest blow to press freedom in Turkey” (Hürriyet News Daily)
“Document shows gov’t ignored attacked journalist Hakan’s security request” (Hürriyet News Daily)
“Hürriyet attacked again after gov’t fails to condemn first attack” (Today’s Zaman)

(Image Credit: Bulent Kilic/AFP, via Yahoo! News)

Ideology + Affiliation

Turkey News | Journalists

VICE reporters face terrorism charges in Turkey
  • Four journalists affiliated with VICE News –two British, one locally based, and one unknown–were detained by Turkish anti-terrorism forces for covering the conflict between the government and the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK).
  • The journalists had their equipment seized after they filming clashes between police and PKK supporters.
  • Because Turkey considers the PKK a terrorist organization, the government has obstructed the work of journalists attempting to contact or cover the group.

“It is completely proper that that journalists should cover this important story. … The decision to detain the journalists was wrong, while the allegation of assisting Islamic state is unsubstantiated, outrageous and bizarre.”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: Ilyas Akengin/AFP/ Getty Images)

Nationality + Migration

Turkey News | Uyghur Muslims

More than 170 Uyghurs resettled in Turkey following release from Thai detention camp
  • The 173 released–all Uyghur women and children–had been detained for more than a year by Thai immigration authorities.
  • The group is a part of a wave of ethnic Uyghurs fleeing their homeland in northwestern China because of the government’s crackdown on their culture and activities.
  • Those seeking exit from China rely on underground networks that take them through southeast Asia, where Thailand is a major node in smuggling routes.

“China deprives them of their human dignity, their human rights, and religious freedom in every possible way, so they head to Turkey to live like human beings.”

Read the full story at Radio Free Asia.

(Image Credit: Radio Free Asia)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Turkey News | LGBT

LGB Turks facing outspoken opposition from political figures and call for their murder
  • The government crackdown on this year’s Istanbul Pride is the latest in a series of official condemnations of LGB organizing, advocacy, and inclusion.
  • A group called the Young Islamic Defense has been putting up posters around Ankara calling for the murder of LGB people.
  • Politicians including the president, prime minister, and MPs have denigrated the inclusive People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which won important victories in this year’s elections, and cast LGBT support as anti-Turkish and anti-Muslim.

“This country’s order might be secular, liberal democrat, etc. but no one should forget that the overwhelming majority of our society is Muslim, which accepts homosexuality as immoral, homosexuals who explain themselves cannot join the community of honorable and virtuous people, the ‘fault’ they have committed will be met with disgust as a shameful act. A Muslim cannot defend a regime that equates homosexuals with people of the faith.”

Read the full story at LGBTI News Turkey.

(Image Credit: via LGBTI News Turkey)