Move to Istanbul? Or stay in Amsterdam after all? Aygül, Cigdem, Mine and Ebru decided not to choose, but live their lives in both cities! (These are not the pictures used in ELLE, these were provided by the interviewed women themselves.) She remembers exactly how it was twenty five, thirty years ago. Her parents would […]
ANKARA – Three former Turkish generals have beensentenced to life imprisonment on Friday. They were on trial for planning a coup against the government in 2003. Because the coup plans didn’t lead to an actual coup, they can be released after twenty years. Thirty-four other officers were acquitted. These verdicts are the first from trials […]
ISTANBUL – Muslims in Turkey remain remarkably quiet about the film mocking Muhammad, which sparked unrest in the Arabic world. There was a small demonstration in Istanbul, but that went quietly and without violence. The American President Obama has even asked the Turkish PM Erdogan to help quieten down Arabic Muslims, Turkish media report on […]
‘That protest? That was just to save face.’ I hadn’t yet seen it from that angle, and the friend who said it made me laugh. Turkish Muslims who feel they have to somehow show they are against ‘insulting Muhammed’ to confirm their identity to the outside world. They think of some slogans, carry a banner, […]
There has been some good news this week when it comes to press freedom in Turkey: a total of four jailed journalists were released from jail after a court decision. At least, that seems to be good news. When you look at it a little bit closer, it’s only good news on a personal level. […]
I do remember the church from before the restoration. I remember feeling sad about an Armenian church in the middle of the old city of Diyarbakir being totally dilapidated. The people once attending mass there were murdered in 1915, the witnesses of their former presence in the city destroyed. So it was really good to […]
ISTANBUL – In the Turkish city of Istanbul the trial of 44 journalists working for Kurdish media has started. They are accused of ‘membership of an illegal organization’. The journalists were detained last December and 35 of them have been in jail ever since. They are being tried in the so-called ‘KCK trials’, in which […]
Bugün Türkiye tarihinin en büyük basın davası başlıyor. 44 Kürt gazeteci, ‘yasadışı örgüt üyeliği’ yani KCK’ye (Koma Ciwaken Kürdistan/Kürdistan Topluluklar Birliği) üye olmak suçuyla yargılanacak. Kısaca söylemek gerekirse; bu gazeteciler ne bir örgüt üyesi, ne de mahkemenin elinde bu yönde bir kanıt var; iddianame anlamsız bir sürü varsayımla dolu. Bu gazeteciler, sadece Kürt sorunu konusunda […]
Today, the biggest court case against journalists in the history of the Turkish republic starts. No less than 44 Kurdish journalists are being tried for ‘membership of an illegal organisation’, namely the KCK, the Union of Communities in Kurdistan. To cut it short: they are not members of any group, there is no proof against […]
Îro di dîroka Tirkîyê de doza çapemenî ya herî mezin dest pê dike. 44 rojnamevanên Kurd, wê bi sûcdarîya ‘endamtîya rêxistina derveyî qanûnê’ yanî endamtîya KCKê (Koma Civakên Kurdîstanê) bên dadkirin. Bi kurtasî; ne ev rojnamevan endamên rêxistinekê ne, ne jî di destê dadgehê de delîlên wisa henin; di îdianamê de gelek texmînên bêwate cî […]