A truck dumped fertilizer on a road near where main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and participants of his “justice march” were staying to protest, as the march from Ankara to Istanbul entered its 14th day.
Comment(s)6/28/2017
A total of 4,936 cases were opened in 2016 against people accused of “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with courts convicting 1,080 of defendants, according to Justice Ministry statistics
German Chancellor Angela Merkel cut and ate the iconic Turkish döner kebab at an event in the capital Berlin on June 27, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.
As the defense ministers of NATO allies met in Brussels to discuss key global issues, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık was set to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis late on June 28, after the latter left open the possibility of longer-term assistance to the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia.
It has been determined that a social media account used to attack government figures and leak information in 2013 was created in the police’s intelligence headquarters in the capital Ankara’s Çankaya district.
FOLDED CORNER - ‘After Europe’ by Ivan Krastev (University of Pennsylvania Press, 120 pages, $19.95)
Turkey has urged a “fair and lasting” solution at the new round of Cyprus talks, an official familiar with the matter has told the Hürriyet Daily News
Turkish MPs will be provided with new phones in order to enhance the security of their conversation privacy, Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ahmet Aydın has stated, adding that “necessary tests” are currently being conducted.
Turkey’s Mediterranean resort province of Antalya will likely host nearly 3 million tourists from Russia this year, according to Russian Consul General in Antalya Oleg Rogoza.
Turkish warplanes on June 28 conducted an air operation targeting outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq, “neutralizing” seven of them, the army has stated
Turkey on June 28 marked one year since the triple suicide bombing and gun attack on the main international airport in Istanbul that left dozens dead and was blamed on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jjihadists.
Turkish forces retaliated with artillery fire overnight and destroyed Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia targets after YPG fighters opened fire on Turkey-backed forces in northern Syria, the Turkish military said on June 28
RIGHTS
Oya Armutçu – ANKARA
The Constitutional Court on June 28 denied the demand of jailed educators Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça to be released from prison. The two have been on hunger strike for over 100 days in protest at their dismissal from their posts in state of emergency decrees, and were arrested at the end of May.
Comment(s) 6/28/2017
LOCAL
ISTANBUL
A taxi-driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into four pedestrians in Istanbul’s central Beyoğlu district after allegedly using bonzai, a cheap and addictive synthetic drug, local media reports said.
İdris Emen – ISTANBUL
Earth-moving trucks and concrete mixers have killed 24 people, including six children, over the past year on Istanbul’s roads.
A court in the southern province of Antalya on June 28 sentenced a police officer to four years and two months in prison for beating a man with sticks and truncheons during Turkey’s Gezi Park protests in 2013.
BRUSSELS
U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning to the Syrian government not to carry out a chemical weapons attack appears to have worked, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said on June 28
ARBIL - Reuters
Iraq’s military said June 28 that it had retaken two more neighborhoods from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Mosul’s Old City, bringing it closer to total control of the city
ANKARA
Turkey’s new seismic survey ship, MTA Oruç Reis, has become ready to enter service.
ANKARA - Anadolu Agency
Some 570.1 million Turkish Liras (some $162 million) was earned in tolls collected from two bridges over Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait and toll roads across Turkey in the first five months of 2017, the Highways Directorate stated on June 28.
İZMİR
Some 65 people were killed and 489 were injured across Turkey during three-daily Eid al-Fitr holiday, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on June 27.
Fevzi Kızılkoyun – ANKARA
Turkish authorities are planning to set up “rehabilitation villages” to help drug users get rid of their addictions in four provinces
OPINION - all the columnists »
The map of the Middle East was radically changed almost 100 years ago at the end of the First World War.
Comment(s)6/29/2017
The Turkish government has endorsed a rather aggressive rhetoric on foreign policy over the past five or so years, but one issue stands out as an exception: Cyprus.
Around 10 years ago, international media forums used to focus on the benefits of developments in communication technologies. Today, the question is more often about how to cope with the inconveniences brought about by technological advancements and social media.
Our colleague Utku Çakırözer, one of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) parliamentarians who used to be a journalist, has visited some journalists currently jailed in Silivri prison during Eid el-Fitr.
Government circles have been reacting to Republican People’s Party (CHP) head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for not carrying any party symbols on his “justice march.”
There is a very interesting debate about digital marketing among technology journalists these days. We are used to banners invading our screens or being tracked by cookies and shown the same advertisements over and over again
The fruits of economic growth are not being shared widely enough. In many advanced economies, the post-2008 recovery has benefited the relatively rich, while large numbers of households have seen incomes stagnate or decline.
The defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), or DEASH, has started to seem certain, after the impending fall of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.
Many small villages in the Aegean region have become highly popular in recent years as accommodation opportunities increase. The best known among these villages is Alaçatı
Turkish athlete Nur Tatar Askari won a gold medal in the 2017 World Taekwondo Championship on June 27 in South Korea, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.
Turkey’s popular holiday resort of Bodrum’s Gümüşlük district will once again host international musicians at the 14th Bodrum International Gümüşlük Classical Music Festival from July to September
The World Heritage-listed reef is the largest living structure on Earth and its economic and social value was calculated for the first time in the Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation
Treasure hunters destroy a historic field in Antalya’s Çağman Hill after shooting artifacts with guns and digging large holes around it
Police officers have fenced off eggs left by caretta carettas in the southern province of Antalya’s famous Konyaaltı Beach, taking them under protection. They also placed a signboard around the fences, warning holidaygoers in the area about the eggs.
Between July 1 and 16, Istanbul will host an international mega shopping event where visitors can enjoy discounted, tax free and late night shopping, along with a series of exciting events
Penniless single mother J.K. Rowling finally succeeded after a series of rebuffs from publishers, and the book became the first instalment of a seven-novel series that has sold 450 million copies worldwide
Comment(s)6/26/2017
“Our friends in the town keep us, as formerly, abundantly supplied with all the delicacies it affords: many of the dishes sent us are excellent; among others some butterfly-things of pastry, which one might blow away, but for the honey their wings are clogged with.”