COLUMNISTS
August 28, 2015, Friday
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Legitimate power vacuum and opposition problem
It is impossible to speak about the existence of a legitimate government or of any real opposition in Turkey these days. Support for the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has enjoyed a 13-year run in power, fell 9 percentage points in the recent June 7 general election, thus the AKP lost its grasp on single-handed rule. The message from voters to the AKP, which had become a lawless, corrupt, thieving party -- a party that had turned arbitrary rulings into t -
Turks loved the Irish boxer
So an Irish national of Kuwaiti origin beat a dozen shopkeepers in the Aksaray district of İstanbul. It may be surprising for you to learn that he has already turned into a kind of icon, a hero for many Turks who showed their support for him on Twitter and across the Internet. You can see all sorts of messages on Twitter. Some say they wish the Irish tourist had knocked out more of these bandits. Others say they wish there were more Irish tourists there an -
Erdoğan’s war
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeatedly said, “Give me 400 [deputies] and this job [his quest for wider presidential powers beyond the confines of the parliamentary system] will be resolved in peace,” at public rallies ahead of the June 7 general election. This could mean only one thing: If his incumbent party were to fail to cobble together enough votes to change the Constitution, chaos would ensue. And it did. The terrorist Kurdistan Worke -
The way to overcome the crisis
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has turned the hosting of “muhtars,” or village leaders, at his palace into a routine event. But Erdoğan is not actually engaging in an exchange of ideas with the muhtars when they gather in Ankara. After all, if this were his real purpose, he would have already passed on their ideas, complaints and demands to the appropriate departments in the government and then he wouldn't need to call these meetings so often. No; Erdoğan's real ai -
The elections once again
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has decided repeat the previous elections. Although all polls show that there will be nothing new after the general election on Nov. 1, Erdoğan is insisting on repeating the election even while knowing that nothing will change in the composition of Parliament. In my opinion, we have to concentrate on the nature of his insistence in order to understand his priorities, privileges and immunities. After Dec. 17 and 25, 2013, everybody livi -
Following Syrians, Iraqis settle in Turkey
Syrian opposition commander Jamil Ra'doun, who was residing in Antioch, was killed in a bomb blast on Aug. 26. Ra'doun first served in the Syrian army in the rank of lieutenant colonel and then joined the al-Ghab unit of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to lead an army unit; subsequently, he moved to Reyhanlı. On April 3, a bomb was placed underneath his jeep, but local people noticed it and so he survived the attack. It is argued that he was killed not because of political reasons -
A light heart is important
Do jokes and stories translate well and are they appreciated? It all depends! The short answer is “no,” but that is not the case every time. Those of us who live in Turkey for more than a few weeks or months begin to adapt by observing the culture and adjust our attempts at telling stories and in particular jokes so that our listeners don't miss the punch line. I am in the book business in more ways than one and have observed how -
Greece: a country forced to sell
On Aug. 20, 2015, the headlines of mainstream Turkish media outlets cited Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, bidding farewell as he resigned from his post with a quote by Nâzım Hikmet: “The most beautiful days we haven't seen yet.” The complete verse reads: The most beautiful sea hasn't been crossed yet. The most beautiful child hasn't grown up yet. Our most beautiful days we haven't seen yet. And the mos -
Passing a psychological threshold
Though it may be dismissed as ill-founded and seen as overly optimistic, I believe we have passed a critical threshold for the better as large segments of our society have recognized two important political facts. First, Turkish society has come to understand that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is uncomfortable with the rise of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the Turkish body politic. The HDP appears to be maintaining its electoral support. Second -
CHP, HDP should join forces before election (2)
In my last column, I tried to explain why the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) should join forces and form an electoral coalition. We are at a very critical juncture in terms of the future of Turkish democracy and the Kurdish question in the country. It is high time for the Turkish and Kurdish left to come together by putting aside nationalist agendas. The Kurdish issue has always been Turkey's most daunting predic -
Why is AKP insisting on an election it will not win?
Recent polls show the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is unable to increase its votes and that the election results will remain the same. But Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP are insisting on an early election. In this case, everyone is asking this question: Why is the AKP insisting on an election that it will not win? There are a number of reasons for this. This is more complicated than winning the election and coming to power. Let me elaborate on this:
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