At least 11 Turkish soldiers, including a lieutenant general, were killed in a helicopter crash on March 4 in Southeastern Turkey, according to Defense Ministry. Lieutenant General Osman Erbaş was the commander of the Turkish 8th Army Corps based in the Eastern city of Elazığ. Two soldiers were injured in the crash that occurred due
Turkey’s independent media outlets challenging the pro-government mainstream in terms of readership have yet another challenge among others: Google and Facebook preferences. “Google gives 90.6% of the top slots in its highest volume news-related searches to Turkey’s pro-government media,” found a recent report by the International Press Institute (IPI). The main beneficiaries of the Google
The Human Rights Action Plan of the Turkish government would be meaningful if President Tayyip Erdoğan had presented it as an administrative reform in the judiciary. Actually, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül explained the real target of the package, announced on March 2, by saying that “The most important thing for me is secure judiciary” Whether
“The European Union should be in no hurry either to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime or to force a diplomatic crisis. Instead, it should deprive Putin of the one thing he craves: political attention. Rather than vacillating between resets and crackdowns, the EU should pursue a strategy of “principled indifference,” wrote Mark Leonard
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the government’s Human Rights Action Plan, which was prepared within the scope of a promised judicial reform package. The plan, which includes nine objectives, 50 targets and 393 activities, focuses heavily on legislative regulations, pledges improvements in a broad range of fields from freedom of expression to arrest procedures.
Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül is scheduled to announce the new Human Rights Action Plan of the government on March 2 at the presidential palace. President Tayyip Erdogan will also attend the “presentation ceremony,” an event that organizations such as the Human Rights Association (İHD) or the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) are not
Turkey registered a 1.8 percent growth rate for 2020 and became one of the few countries that achieved positive growth during the pandemic. The growth performance was primarily a consequence of the excessive credit growth and low interest rate policies adopted during 2020. Yet, the consequent pressures on the TL and the sale of central
After decades in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the United Kingdom’s former ambassador to Ankara, Sir Peter Westmacott, has chosen to share with a wider audience his observations and anecdotes gleaned during his 40-year career. Westmacott’s book, “They Call It Diplomacy: 40 Years of Representing Britain Abroad,” questions the functionality of diplomacy at a
After 35 hours of heated debate, “The law for strengthening Republican values” was adopted by the National Assembly, the lower chamber of the French parliament, last week. Although there is no mention of either Islam or Muslim anywhere in the text, it is no secret that the real purpose of the law is to combat
It would be appropriate to start this article with a question: “How much does biodiversity contribute to the economy?” Ecologists and economists have sought answers to such questions for decades. Governments of the developing countries, in particular, put forward their answers from different perspectives. Are they successful? My answer is no; because it was environmental