Istanbul police raided a “vape party” hosting at least 800 guests on the night of Sept. 17, detaining three organizers and handing administrative fines to all attendees for “smoking indoors,” which is officially banned in Turkey.
Comment(s)9/19/2017
The attacker who kicked a dog named “Mia” in the Aegean province of İzmir was released a couple of hours after his detention on Sept. 18.
Two “pink” trambuses, designed for use only by women, were brought into service on Sept. 18 in the central Anatolian province of Malatya.
U.S. President Donald Trump has thanked Turkey for hosting Syrians who escaped from their war-torn country
The Trump administration has withdrawn a proposal to let President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s security guards buy $1.2 million in U.S.-made weapons, a congressional official said on Sept. 18, following a brawl during the president’s visit to Washington this spring.
Ankara has once again stressed that it will not allow any fait accompli in northern Iraq and will take all necessary measures against the independence referendum
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s economic clout, driven by oil revenue, could be at risk due to row with Turkey over an independence vote, an energy expert says
Meral Akşener, a former Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lawmaker who is currently in the preparations of setting up a new nationalist party, has said experiences she went through as a woman being smeared by allegations while leading a dissident movement would resonate with many women
An appeals court has resolved a dispute between two different courts on the legal files on jailed Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, a disagreement that meant that the case was not processed for ten months
The Turkish wives and children of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Iraq are facing an obscure future, with many families in Turkey searching desperately to reach their relatives.
The number of Turks seeking asylum in Germany is up sharply this year and has been rising steadily since last year’s failed coup attempt, German government data showed on Sept. 18.
Police deployed overnight in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk to prevent any outbreak of ethnic violence ahead of an independence referendum strongly opposed by the Baghdad government, local residents said.
DIPLOMACY
NEW YORK
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been continuing his meetings in New York, where he arrived on Sept. 18 to hold bilateral talks with world leaders and attend the United Nations General Assembly.
Comment(s) 9/19/2017
BUSINESS
Nerdun Hacıoğlu – MOSCOW
The Russian authorities have carried out a search at the St. Petersburg headquarters of Renaissance Construction, a large-scale Turkish contractor, seizing computers and other accounting documents.
ANKARA
As Education Minister İsmet Yılmaz confirmed on Sept. 19 that Turkey’s high school entrance exam will not be held this year, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) continued to raise concerns on the issue, with one of its deputies claiming that the move aims to funnel students to religion-focused high schools.
MARDİN
Police detained four Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suspects on Sept. 18 in raids on two sleeping cells of the jihadist group in the southeastern province of Mardin, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Sept. 19.
Scandinavian Telia AB has sold about 1.78 billion Turkish liras ($508 million) worth of stock in Turkey’s largest mobile operator, Turkcell İletişim, in order to focus on its operations in the
ISTANBUL
A Turkish court ordered on Sept. 19 the continuation of arrest for all journalists, including Nazlı Ilıcak, Ahmet Altan and Mehmet Altan, after a second hearing in the case into the alleged “media leg” of what prosecutors call the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ). The trial was postponed to Nov. 13
Fevzi Kızılkoyun – ANKARA
An Ankara court has arrested three people and released four others previously detained over an attack against the funeral of the mother of jailed Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Aysel Tuğluk.
Aziz Özen – ISTANBUL
An Istanbul court released a woman who had shot her father-in-law to death in Istanbul at the first hearing on Sept. 18, after she testified that he had sexually abused her.
ÇANAKKALE – Doğan News Agency
A group of Syrian refugees have turned an abandoned cattle facility in the northwestern province of Çanakkale into a makeshift residence camp.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Sept. 19 that the Turkish government must pay compensation amounting to 30,000 euros for the lack of safety measures on a building site that led to the death of a man in 2002.
OPINION - all the columnists »
The Middle East went through similarly painful times almost a century ago. That was the dawn of the oil age and a time when three dynasties (Ottoman, Romanov and Habsburg) of three land empires (Turkey, Russia and Austria-Hungary) were falling apart.
A notice hung on the cafeteria door of a high school in the Mediterranean province of Isparta in 2013, announcing that male and female students should eat lunch separately, started out as an pilot implementation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in New York on Sept. 21, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Under normal circumstances the expectation would be that something concrete comes out of this meeting, given that we have the leaders of two supposedly strategic partners with common regional and global interests.
Referendums are beginning to become a mechanism for governments to try solving controversial issues in societies.
The arrest of journalists is quite a big problem in democratic societies since it is a violation against society’s right to demand news.
Israeli flags have recently been waved during independence rallies in the cities of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Comment(s)9/18/2017
What has been happening in Turkey recently is no longer a matter of political criticism and disagreement, it is now simply a matter of despair and sorrow.
How could such a thing happen?
The 4th Istanbul Coffee Festival will be organized between Sept. 21 and 24 at Küçükçiftlikpark. The event will feature workshops and seminars related to coffee, live performances and talks with coffee experts and the world’s leading baristas.
The Turkish Super League’s defending champion Beşiktaş defeated Konyaspor 2-0 in the closing game of the week at home late on Sept. 18, equalizing matters with Galatasaray on top of the standing.
Daily Hürriyet has taken photographs of historic artifacts in the ancient city of Palmyra, which was taken over and destroyed by ISIL in 2015
“Why Are We ‘Artists’? – 100 World Art Manifestos,” newly published by Penguin Books, is a collection of 100 artists’ manifestos from across the world between 1909 and 2012, bringing together activists, post-colonialists, surrealists, socialists, nihilists and a host of other voices.
Hulu’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and HBO miniseries ‘Big Little Lies’ were the big winners, with five statuettes each, on Sept 17 at the 69th Primetime Emmys
Imagine sunset over a vineyard stretching downhill towards the sea, tables spread on grass with light bulb chains hanging on top.
An exhibition by speculative Australian architect, artist and filmmaker Liam Young, “New Romance” is on view at Istanbul’s Studio-X.
The 184th Oktoberfest opened in Munich on Sept 16. Drinkers will face higher beer prices, with a liter of beer costing up to 10.95 euros, 25 cents higher than last year
Comment(s)9/17/2017
The premiere of a documentary on the global 1968 student protests, titled “Generacija ‘68” (Generation ’68), will be held at the SALT Galata Auditorium on Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace.