ISTANBUL – One of the most modern hospitals in Turkey is under intense scrutiny after 27 newborn babies died over a fifteen day period. The Ankara state hospital declared the babies (some of them premature) had infections that can’t be blamed on the hospital, but experts doubt that. The Health Ministry is conducting an investigation. […]
A game show. State broadcaster TRT 1 is broadcasting a game show after the announcement that governing AK Party will not be closed down for anti-secular activities. TRT 2 and 3 are not much better: faithfully the TRT cameras (the only ones allowed in parliament) are recording parliamentary proceedings. Interesting, a debate about education. But […]
It’s good business in a hot city, of course, selling soğuk su (cold water) on the street. Soğuk su soğuk su soğuk suuuuuu!, you hear everywhere. The vendors either sit in the shade with a bucket of ice containing ten bottles, or they wander around looking for a sale at the bus stops or to […]
ISTANBUL – The forest fires raging across the southern Turkish region of Antalya have nothing to do with terrorism or the fight against it. Some fires in others parts of the country do: the Turkish army sometimes lights them in its fight against the Kurdish PKK, which threatens to set forests on fire in the […]
How wonderful it is to see people giving everything they’ve got and see the happiness coming from deep inside: that’s what I saw last night at a concert by Candan Erçetin, (to hear some music click on “muzik kutusu”). A friend got me a seat at the front, and to be honest I had no […]
ISTANBUL – A period of political uncertainty has come to an end in Turkey: governing party AKP will not be closed down, the Constitutional Court decided today. Various reforms and negotiations initiated by the AKP but stalled during the court case, can now be taken further. For example the accession talks with the EU and […]
Three newspapers, three headlines. Cumhuriyet, strong defender of the secular republic, says: “Fine for AKP” – and they write that this proves the Constitutional Court considers the AKP to really be a focal point of anti-secular activities. Zaman, religious and pro-AKP: “Closure rejected” – and on the bottom of the page a picture of a […]
Istanbul is an amazingly big city, and the district of Güngören is far away from where I live. That’s why I didn’t hear anything about the bombing until I got an email about it, about half an hour after it happened. I heard explosions last night, many even, but I had learned not to pay […]
ISTANBUL – Any excitement among Turks who plan to move to the Netherlands after two legal verdicts challenged immigration rules? None whatsoever. The embassy and the consulate in Turkey only got a handful of phone calls asking about the verdicts and their implications, while the Turks and their Dutch partners who are affected don’t even […]
While the expected end of governing AK Party is getting closer and closer – the Constitutional Court will start discussing the closure case against the party on July 28 – the party’s leaders on the international scene act like it’s business as usual. Well, what else can they do? Very carefully, a tiny little beginning […]