Monthly Archives: April 2014

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday he would like to lower the age of candidacy for the Turkish Parliament to 18 from the existing minimum of 25, an idea he first floated in 2012.Talking to children in his … Continue reading →

In an unexpected move, Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s office has extended condolences to grandchildren of Armenians killed in 1915 events during World War I in Anatolia. For the first time, Turkey issued a statement in sympathy with the pain … Continue reading →

Three teenagers were detained during a National Sovereignty and Children’s Day celebration in İstanbul for protesting the death of Berkin Elvan, who was shot with a police tear gas canister during last summer’s Gezi Park protests and died after 269 … Continue reading →

While the government has signaled a change from the current model to the “first-past-the-post” election system, political scientists have warned that an immature political system might give rise to a leader and party hegemony in Turkey and diminish the number … Continue reading →

In some of my earlier columns, preceding the March 30 elections, I gave the prospects of a Justice and Development Party (AKP) win a good chance but used the famous words of Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno, uttered in the … Continue reading →

Gendarmerie Commander Gen. Servet Yörük, speaking at a workshop about missing children on Monday, has said a total of 14,412 children have gone missing in Turkey in the last five years.  The workshop, held under the title “Let’s not lose … Continue reading →

An Azerbaijani journalist was deported from Turkey and sent back to Azerbaijan on Saturday after the accreditation of his press card was canceled, according to the Cumhuriyet daily. Rauf Mirgadirov, a journalist with the Ayna-Zerkalo newspaper and the Turkey correspondent … Continue reading →

Two new directives that went into force on Thursday that further facilitate development and commercial activity in Turkish forests are the last of 10 changes made to the Forest Law in the last decade that will likely prove disastrous for … Continue reading →

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee recently passed a resolution commemorating the “Armenian genocide,” clearing the way for the resolution to be voted on in the Senate, a sign of Turkey’s diminished lobbying power in the US capital.A senior diplomat … Continue reading →

The build-operate-transfer (BOT) and build-lease-transfer (BLT) models seem to best suit Turkey’s needs in financing ambitious projects that cost a fortune at a time when problems in the global economy are making liquidity scarcity a prominent issue, but today’s dream … Continue reading →