And again newspaper Taraf (meaning ‘side’) made the Turkish army look foolish. They published a story about alledged plans from the army to make short work of governing party AKP and the Gulen Movement (a big group of followers of religious leader Fethullah Gulen, a controversial figure in Turkey). The AKP already announced that it […]
It is well known what kind of row can erupt when in Holland a new mosque is proposed to be built. But what happens when Dutch people want to build a church in Turkey? This is a story from the southern Turkish town of Alanya, stronghold of Christians who flock here for the winter months. […]
Since last month, Üsküdar has had a brand new masterpiece of architecture. It’s a mosque, but not just any mosque: the Şakirin Camii is designed by a woman and is the most modern, light, open and female-friendly mosque I have ever seen. It’s an absolute must-see, as is the big, huge, immense graveyard that surrounds […]
ISTANBUL – The win of the Partij van de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom) seems to have somewhat boosted interest in the European elections in Turkey. That ‘Fitna goes to parliament’, as the headlines announce, causes some excitement. Wilders’ slogan that Turkey can not become an EU-member ‘in a million years’, is quoted, and the PVV […]
ISTANBUL – The Turkish parliament has passed a controversial law on clearing mines along the border with Syria. According to the law foreign companies will also have a chance to help in clearing the mines, in exchange for the use of the cleared land for several decades. The opposition now threatens to take the law […]
The Eastern Turkish city of Van is, according to certain travel books, much more modern than you would think. And then they sum up by informing us that young people hold hands on the street, that you can get beers in nice lively bars where women too can go without a problem, and that there […]
ISTANBUL – Turks are indifferent to the European elections. They don’t know they are being held, and anyone who does know is not interested. Sahin Alpay, Professor of Politics, and a columnist: ‘Turkey has other things on its mind.’ Anyone starting a conversation with a Turk about the European elections is usually heard talking about […]
Imagine, you have about 600,000 mines along a border hundreds of kilometres long with a neighbouring country, and you want to get rid of the mines before 2014, since you promised to do so by signing an international treaty. But you don’t have enough money, and your own army doesn’t have enough specialists and specialized […]
In my defence I can say that it just doesn’t exist in Holland, illegal book selling on the street. So when I walked from the boat in Kabataş to the metro line to Taksim and came across a piece of cloth on the pavement with a guy on it and a row of books, I […]
ISTANBUL – A Turkish court has ruled that a Syrian Orthodox monastery in the southeast of the country is the legitimate owner of lands that the monastery has owned for centuries. The land rights case was closely monitored by the international community, including the EU, and thus became a measure of the degree of religious […]