Berkin Elvan’s funeral services, which were held at the Okmeydani Cemevi on 12 March, once again raised the question of why all six youths killed during the Gezi Protests—or, if we are to approach the Gezi process within a broader framework, why seven out of eight youths killed—were Alevîs. Indeed, the question is not a new one; months prior to [...] → Read the full article…
Unless appropriate measures are taken and an exit is found quickly, Turkey is going to be facing developments that will be at least as formidable to handle as its Kurdish issue. The almost instantaneous spillover of incidents at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University to Antakya [historical city of Antioch] near the Syrian border, the death of 23-year-old Ahmet Arikan on [...] → Read the full article…
The demonstrations that broke out across Turkey earlier this year after the police clampdown on an environmentalist protest at Istanbul’s Gezi Park came as a major sociopolitical quake for the country. The first tsunami after the big tremor is beginning to rise as street clashes spread again across Turkey over the Sept. 10 death of a 22-year-old protester in Hatay province. A [...] → Read the full article…
Clashes between demonstrators and police are continuing since yesterday in the neighborhood of Tuzluçayır in Ankara’s Mamak district. People are protesting against a government project, a mosque-djemevi combination, which locals see as an assimilation project against Alawi minorities, a joint organization by Fethullah Gülen and Cem Association. Thousands of people gathered in the neighborhood to protest the construction after its [...] → Read the full article…