Turkey
Turkish court provides explanation of its ban on headscarves
By Sinan Ikinci, October 30, 2008
Turkey’s Constitutional Court has provided a long-awaited explanation of its annulment of constitutional amendments that served to ban Muslim headscarves.
Turkey: Another political detainee tortured and killed in prison
By our reporter, October 15, 2008
Turkish police, prison officers and gendarmerie tortured and killed 29-year-old Engin Ceber, who had been arrested along with three others while distributing a legal magazine in Istanbul.
Turkish manufacturing sector hit hard by financial crisis
By Sinan Ikinci, October 11, 2008
On Wednesday, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) announced that industrial output, a leading indicator of economic growth, decreased in August at a 4 percent annual rate. In August 2007 industri...
As the international finance crisis intensifies
Turkish economy falters
By Sinan Ikinci, October 1, 2008
Turkish prime minister and leader of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a televised address to the nation on Sunday to inspire confidence in the markets and pro...
Corruption scandal shakes Turkish building workers union
By Sinan Ikinci, September 13, 2008
A massive corruption scandal has erupted in the Union of Road Building and Construction Workers of Turkey, revealing that the union leaders have been pocketing huge sums of money and engaging in other...
Georgian conflict poses dilemma for Turkey
The “Straits Question”
By Sinan Ikinci and Peter Schwarz, September 9, 2008
Given the proximity of Turkey to Georgia and its intense economic and political involvement in the region, the Turkish government’s reaction to the conflict between Georgia and Russia has been r...
Turkish trade unions oversee sackings of tyre workers
By our Turkish correspondent, August 20, 2008
Just a month after the Union of Petroleum, Chemical and Rubber Industry Workers of Turkey (Lastik-Is) ended a two-week strike in northwest Turkey, the companies involved have begun discriminatory dism...
As inflation soars
Real income losses for Turkish workers
By Sinan Ikinci, August 11, 2008
On August 4, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK) announced that in July Turkey’s inflation rate rose to 12.1 percent from 10.6 percent in June. The annual rise in inflation was only 6.9 perc...
Turkey’s economic indicators worsen
By Sinan Ikinci, August 8, 2008
On July 26, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Nazim Ekren announced that the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government has decided to establish a committee, comprised of government officials, ...
Turkish courts impose ban on YouTube
By Kerem Kaya, August 6, 2008
On May 5, all access to the popular video-sharing web site YouTube was banned in Turkey. YouTube was banned in connection with a video that allegedly insulted Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of mo...
Dormitory collapse in Turkey kills 18
By our Turkish correspondent, August 5, 2008
On August 1, at around 5:00 a.m., a gas explosion at a three-story girls’ dormitory in a remote district of Konya—a city in central Turkey—led to the death of 18 girls and the injury...
Constitutional Court rules against ban on Turkey’s ruling party
By Sinan Ikinci, August 2, 2008
On July 30, Turkey’s Constitutional Court rejected the chief prosecutor’s demand to permanently shut down the ruling Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party) and ban Prime Minister Rec...
