Turkey
Turkey: Amnesty International documents attacks on democratic rights
By Sinan Ikinci, February 8, 2008
On January 14, Amnesty International published a memorandum addressed to the Turkish government highlighting serious problems regarding the human rights situation in the country. The memorandum unders...
Professor sentenced for criticising Turkish founder
By Sinan Ikinci, January 31, 2008
On January 28, Atilla Yayla, a professor of political science at Gazi University and the president of the Association for Liberal Thinking in Ankara, was sentenced to 15 months in jail for allegedly i...
Turkey: Workers protest against betrayal by trade union confederation
By Sinan Ikinci, January 11, 2008
On January 2, a group of workers conducted a protest in the Turkish capital of Ankara against Turkey’s biggest trade union confederation, the Confederation of Labour Unions of Turkey (Turk-Is). ...
Turkey: 15-month strike ends with betrayal by union bureaucracy
By Sinan Ikinci, December 28, 2007
On December 18, the Union of Petroleum, Chemical and Rubber Workers of Turkey (Petrol-Is) and the management of German-Italian owned Fresenius Medical Care signed a contract covering some 300 workers ...
US backs Turkish military attacks on northern Iraq
By Peter Symonds, December 19, 2007
With the backing and assistance of the Bush administration, the Turkish military has launched two attacks in the past three days on Kurdish villages in northern Iraq. While targetted against the guerr...
Scores of migrants drown as boat sinks off Turkish Aegean coast
By Sinan Ikinci, December 14, 2007
According to the latest official data, at least 49 people drowned when a boat carrying dozens of migrants sank December 8 off Turkey’s Aegean coast. Some of the rescued would-be migrants stated ...
Turkey: Assaults on freedom of expression continue
By Sinan Ikinci, December 7, 2007
Ragip Zarakolu, owner of the Belge Publishing House and chairman of the Committee for Publishing Freedom, is facing up to three years in prison for publishing a book by a British-Armenian author, Geor...
Conflict between Turkey and the US intensifies
By Peter Schwarz, October 17, 2007
The conflict between Turkey and the US over the question of military intervention by the Turkish military in northern Iraq is intensifying.
Turkish government gives green light for military intervention in northern Iraq
By Peter Schwarz, October 15, 2007
The Turkish government has given the army a green light to cross the border and conduct a military action in Iraq. A crisis group chaired by President Abdullah Gül gave permission October 9 for the m...
Turkey: Referendum planned for direct election of president
By Sinan Ikinci, October 6, 2007
Just three months after the national elections on July 22, which resulted in a landslide victory for the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkey will hold a popular vote on October 21 on ...
New Turkish government prepares assault on working conditions
By Sinan Ikinci, September 21, 2007
The program of the 60th Turkish government, formed under the conservative Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) and led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was approved in parliament on September 5. In th...
Turkey: Abdullah Gül sworn in as president
By Justus Leicht, September 6, 2007
On August 28, the Turkish parliament confirmed former foreign minister Abdullah Gül as the country’s 11th president. Gül, from the Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party), received the vo...
