Monthly Archives: May 2014

One year after the Gezi Park protests began, Turkey has yet to calm investors’ fears of political risks at home, while external risks such as US Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary stimulus tapering, add to the threat of losing the image … Continue reading →

A wave of demonstrations that began last year as a peaceful sit-in protest and later evolved into anti-government protests have led to a process dominated by the government’s intolerance toward criticism as well as its troublesome view of fundamental rights … Continue reading →

As an ongoing political dispute regarding the central bank’s interest rate policy creeps over into the bank’s credibility as an independent monetary policymaker, different voices from the Cabinet have signaled a split in opinions over the issue. Prime Minister Recep … Continue reading →

The mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey, which has enjoyed a relatively peaceful period since the launch of a settlement process between the Turkish state and the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has recently been heading toward troublesome days, due in particular … Continue reading →

As protesters prepare for mass demonstrations this weekend to mark the first anniversary of last summer’s Gezi Park protests, the İstanbul Police Department is organizing an unprecedented level of police deployment around Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Some 25,000 police … Continue reading →

Turkey’s Constitutional Court decided on Thursday afternoon to lift a ban imposed on popular video sharing platform YouTube, a block which resulted in Turkey attracting extensive criticism from the international community. The court said the ban was a violation of … Continue reading →

Here is my take on European elections: “From the Baltic to the Balearics, the European elections reveal a continent unhappy with its lot,” wrote the Guardian in its editorial, after the election results for the European Parliament poured in, shaking … Continue reading →

A growing majority of Germans are opposed to Turkey entering the European Union, according to a poll published days after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a controversial speech to Turks in Cologne. The survey by Forsa for Stern magazine … Continue reading →

The results of the European Parliament (EP) elections, which will be determinative in Europe’s policy in the coming years, are expected to adversely affect not only Turkey’s European Union accession process but also the situation of Muslim immigrants in European … Continue reading →

Recently, I found myself in a conversation with some lawyer friends — whose lives have been spent focusing on human rights causes — about the course of Turkey and the despair surrounding the people and on what to expect during … Continue reading →