Category Archives: Essays

Bianet: “You are the sole owner of everywhere you are” Mustafa Sütlaş

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Nowadays, land and inhabited spaces are images of the “money” that needs to augment itself through their use and market values. When I arrived in İstanbul, I immediately went to one of the forums held in the parks. I wanted to witness the point reached in the course of a month. The attendees’ contribution, enthusiasm, sincerity, seriousness, authenticity impressed me [...] → Read the full article…

New York Times: In Turkey, media bosses are undermining democracy – Yavuz Baydar

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ISTANBUL — THE protests that convulsed Istanbul and other Turkish cities last month exposed, among many other things, the shameful role of Turkey’s media conglomerates in subverting press freedom. As the social unrest reached a peak on May 31 with clashes between tear-gas-happy police officers and protesters spreading through the heart of the city, the lack of even minimal coverage [...] → Read the full article…

Jadaliyya: From Cynicism to Protest: Reflections on youth and politics in Turkey – Ayca Alemdaroglu

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  The recent uprisings in Turkey indicated a transformation of youth cynicism into a widespread protest against the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) government’s conservative and autocratic policies. This transformation demands a new way of thinking about youth and politics in the country. If nothing else, young people can no longer be easily characterized as politically apathetic. In June 2013, Turkey [...] → Read the full article…

Al Monitor: Turkey’s ‘Erdogan Problem’’ – Tulin Daloglu

Protesters shout slogans as they block the main Istiklal street in central Istanbul, July 8, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Cevahir Bugu)

Until Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s future path in politics becomes clear, time to talk about political stability in Turkey is over. This has nothing to do with the ongoing scattered protests since June against Erdogan’s way of politics, which were sparked in an attempt to save a green space in downtown Istanbul but got out of control due [...] → Read the full article…

The Guardian: The Egyptian coup is a warning to Turkey – but will Erdoğan listen?, James E Baldwin

Although Ennahda's situation is much closer to Mohamed Morsi's than the AK party's, the coup is less threatening in Tunis than it is in Ankara. Photograph: Chedly Ben Ibrahim//Demotix/Corbis

Like the Muslim Brotherhood, Erdoğan’s AK party has alienated opponents. Ennahda in Tunisia shows a way forward for democratic Islamists Egypt’s coup was not just a major shock for Mohamed Morsi, but also for the Middle East’s most successful Islamist party: Turkey’s AK party. When news of the Egyptian army’s deposing of Morsi broke, Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, [...] → Read the full article…

Jadaliyya: Brand Turkey and the Gezi Protests: Authoritarianism, Law, and Neoliberalism (Part Two), Asli Igsiz

[Image via occupygezipics.tumblr.com]

Brand Turkey: Modeling Democracy and Neoliberalism When commentators for CNN International, the new bête noir of AKP supporters for its Gezi coverage, criticized the government reaction against the protesters, they claimed that Turkey had previously been held up as a model of democracy in the Middle East, but that the present situation showed that Turkey was a model for nobody. [...] → Read the full article…

Digital Journal: Turkish Prime Minister’s power reaches even into daily bread – Lisa Williams

The police attack vehicle that chased tourists in Taksim and shot pepper spray

As Ramadan continues in Turkey, so do protests that are quickly quelled by the Turkish Prime Minister whose wealth and power reach even into the formula for tasty bread. Nearly six weeks has passed since the first protests in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Under the orders of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish police brutally quelled these protests with water [...] → Read the full article…

Jadaliyya: Brand Turkey and the Gezi protests: authoritarianism, law, and neoliberalism (part one), Asli Igsiz

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Neoliberalism, Illegality, and State of Exception in Turkey The Gezi Park protests, and the state response to them, have crystallized larger dynamics in Turkey. These include recent legal changes and their contribution to the institutionalization of neoliberalism, centralization of powers, allegations of cronyism, authoritarianism, and encroachment on professional independence and labor rights. Overall, these protests offer a valuable opportunity to [...] → Read the full article…

Love in the time of revolution – Şirin Öten

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We learn all our lives. We learn to do hundreds of things to give meaning to life but especially to make money. Nowadays money has to be part of our lives either as an objective or as a means. “Do we live to make money or do we make money to live?” That is the question. Whatever our profession, the money that we [...] → Read the full article…

US News: How Turkey’s Leaders Are Exploiting Egypt’s Coup – Claire Berlinski

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If you’re reading the American press, you might think that the protests in Turkey have died down. Nothing could be further from the truth. Stranger still, if you are reading the Turkish press, you might conclude that you are in Egypt, because that seems to be the only topic of conversation. This is why: Conventional wisdom has it that the [...] → Read the full article…