Turkey
Serious water shortage in Turkey
By Sinan Ikinci, August 22, 2007
Ankara, Turkey’s capital and home to more than 4.5 million people, has been in the grips of a serious water shortage for the last three weeks.
Turkey: Textile firms demand wage freeze, layoffs
By our correspondent, August 13, 2007
On August 8, the Union of Textile, Knitting and Garment Industry Workers of Turkey (TEKSIF) announced that it could not reach an agreement with the Turkish Textile Employers’ Association (TUTSIS...
Fifty-five years after founding, Turkish union confederation a bureaucratic shell
By Sinan Ikinci, August 11, 2007
Turkey’s biggest trade union confederation, Turk-Is, which was founded on July 31, 1952, is currently celebrating 55 years of existence. Any celebration, however, is largely limited to the corru...
Washington, EU welcome AKP victory in Turkish elections
By Stefan Steinberg, July 25, 2007
Business, finance and political circles in the United States, the European Union and within Turkey itself reacted positively to the victory of the conservative Islamist Justice and Development Party (...
As the Turkish military provocatively shells northern Iraq
Social tensions at the forefront in run-up to Turkish parliamentary elections
By Sinan Ikinci and Justus Leicht, July 21, 2007
On Sunday, July 22, Turkey will vote for a new parliament. The fact that these elections are taking place in July and not, as scheduled, in November is a reflection of the profound divisions in Turkis...
Amnesty International report on Turkey: failure to punish perpetrators of torture
By a correspondent, July 14, 2007
A new report published by Amnesty International on July 5, entitled “Turkey: The entrenched culture of impunity must end,” clearly demonstrates that torture, ill-treatment and killings con...
Turkish army intervenes ever more openly in political life
By Justus Leicht and Sinan Ikinci, July 11, 2007
The Turkish army is intervening ever more openly into political life as the country’s July 22 parliamentary election approaches.
Turkish military flexes its muscles in northern Iraq
By Peter Symonds, June 7, 2007
Reports of a Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq yesterday have highlighted the escalating tensions between the two countries along the border. In recent weeks, Turkish leaders have repeated...
Turkey: Political allies of military move to unseat moderate Islamist government
By Sinan Ikinci, June 4, 2007
Last week the leadership of the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) publicly announced that its election strategy to unseat the ruling moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) w...
Turkey: Constitutional Court stops presidential election
By Justus Leicht, May 3, 2007
Following a thinly veiled threat of a coup by the military, the Turkish Constitutional Court issued a ruling on Tuesday halting the country’s presidential election. The head of the government, R...
Political tensions increase as Turkish presidential elections approach
By Kerem Kaya and Sinan Ikinci, April 16, 2007
As presidential elections approach, Turkey’s political tensions are continuing to intensify both domestically, between the Kemalist establishment and the moderate Islamist Justice and Developmen...
A damning report on attacks against free speech in Turkey
By our correspondent, April 3, 2007
On March 26, the Freedom to Publish Committee of the Turkish Publishers’ Union issued an alarming report on the state of free speech in Turkey. The report lists the large number of book confisca...
