The number of migrants returning to Turkey is increasing. The more negative attitude towards foreigners plays a role, but is not the main reason for leaving Holland. Four women share their motivations for taking the step. Cabaret artist and writer Nilgün Yerli (37) has been back living in Turkey for a year “I left Holland […]
My black leather coat is still indispensable in winter. When it rains or snows, nothing keeps me dryer and warmer. But somehow, I don’t really feel comfortable in it when the winter weather is cold, but yet dry and sunny. Especially not in combination with the sort of Russian hat that I bought in Holland […]
(pictures temporarily unavailable) Turkey and the EU: the negotiations about access might not go so smoothly, and probably only in about ten or fifteen years will Turkey be part of the EU. And then of course, many Europeans fear, hordes of Turks will come to Europe to find work. In reality the Turkish economy is […]
When you interview a woman with a headscarf, as I noticed these last few days, make sure your translator uses the right Turkish word for ‘headscarf’. There are two, namely ‘başörtüsü’ and ‘turban’. The latter is not appreciated by headscarved women. It’s denigrating, has it’s origin in Arabic (and indeed, the word is not in […]
Politicians in Ankara are fighting over the headscarf ban. Many Turkish students are tired of the discussion and would like the ban to be abolished quickly. While in Ankara, the political centre of the country, advocates and opponents of the headscarf ban are locked in bitter debate, many other Turks are rather tired of the […]
This afternoon I was at the Istanbul office of the governing AK Party. I expected to see groups of people around televisions, watching the voting in parliament today on ‘the headscarf issue’. Today was the first round of voting on a proposal to change the constitution so that women with a scarf can no longer […]
“We stay on the street, with our purple needle!” On first encounter, it’s a somewhat weird slogan that is resounding through Istanbul’s biggest shopping street, Istiklal Caddesi, every Friday night. The purple needle (‘mor iğne’ in Turkish), explains Tuğba Tekerek of the action group Mor Iğne, has for years been a symbol used by the […]
The Turkish pro-Kurdish Party for a Democratic Society (DTP) loses voters to the governing AK Party. No reason for DTP-leader Ahmet Türk to soften his opinions: “Amnesty for PKK fighters must be discussed and the murderers of Kurdish politicians, journalists and human rights activists must be brought to justice.” The end is near for DTP, […]
For me, the arrest of Kemal Kerincsiz appeals to my imagination. He’s an ultra-nationalist lawyer, who is notorious for the lawsuits he started against writers and journalists like Orhan Pamuk, Elif Safak and Hrant Dink because they insulted ‘Turkishness’. Harmful cases in my opinion, because they provoked emotions that even led to murder. And now […]
Now that I have seen the youtube eeh, thing about Atatürk, I’m even more surprised about the blocking of youtube.com in Turkey last week. I can’t even call it a film really. There’s a picture of Atatürk, they gave him pink cheeks, red lips and some eye shadow, they make him say with a high […]