Turkey
Turkey: public prosecutor accuses general of involvement in terrorist attacks
By Justus Leicht, March 21, 2006
A bomb attack carried out last November in the southeastern Anatolian city of Semdinli has provoked sharp conflicts within the Turkish ruling elite. The controversy centers on charges related to the a...
Turkey: Court drops prosecution of writer Orhan Pamuk
By Justus Leicht, February 6, 2006
An Istanbul court last month ended the trial of Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk on technical grounds. In many similar but lesser- known cases, however, journalists, writers, human rights activists and poli...
EU in crisis over Turkish membership
By Justus Leicht, October 18, 2005
Negotiations for Turkey’s accession to the European Union began officially on October 3. The diplomatic wrangling in the run-up to these negotiations and the implications of Turkish membership s...
Turkey: trampling on free speech continues
Novelist Orhan Pamuk faces jail terms
By Kerem Kaya, October 8, 2005
The prominent Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk will be tried on December 16 and faces up to four years imprisonment on charges of “public denigration” of Turkish identity for publicly speaking...
Turkey: corruption scandal erupts in Tek Gida-Is trade union bureaucracy
By our correspondent, September 8, 2005
Tek Gida-Is, the Union of Tobacco, Alcoholic Beverage, Food and Related Industry Workers of Turkey, has been shaken by allegations of corruption. Amid claims of widespread corruption in the central of...
Turkey: poverty increases with economic expansion
By Kerem Kaya and Sinan Ikinci, June 11, 2005
Despite the expanding Turkish economy, the figures recently released by the State Institute of Statistics (DIE) point to growing poverty in the country. According to DIE figures, in 2003 the number of...
Turkey: IMF plan demands new attacks on working people
By Sinan Ikinci, May 30, 2005
On May 12, Turkey signed a new three-year, $US10 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
Turkey: military’s nationalist campaign conceals rapprochement with US
By Justus Leicht, May 18, 2005
During the past seven weeks a wave of chauvinism has swept through Turkey. Initially aimed against the Kurds, its real target is the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government of Prime Minister Re...
Turkey: union leadership intervenes to end paper workers’ struggle
By our correspondent, March 15, 2005
The 51-day workers’ occupation of Turkish Cellulose and Paper Factories (SEKA) in Izmit, northwest Turkey, came to an end March 11, after some 700 factory workers accepted an offer by the Turkis...
Turkey: union bureaucracy works to sabotage paper workers’ occupation
By our correspondent, March 10, 2005
On March 4, in cities across Turkey, tens of thousands workers from several industries remained at their workplaces to demonstrate their solidarity and support for the SEKA paper workers, who have bee...
Turkey: paper workers occupy factory
By our correspondent, February 25, 2005
More than 700 workers together with family members have occupied the Turkish Cellulose and Paper Factories (SEKA) in Izmit, northwest Turkey, since January 20. The SEKA workers oppose the AKP (Justice...
Turkey’s train wreck: a tragedy rooted in the drive for profit
By Sinan Ikinci, August 2, 2004
A new express train linking Istanbul to Ankara derailed on the evening of July 22 in the country’s northwest, killing 38 and leaving 80 injured.
