What Next for Turkey After Erdogan Power Play?
On Davutoglu’s watch, 338 civilians were killed and another 355,000 people forced to flee their homes in the last eight months in Kurdish towns in the country’s southeast.
ADST
What Next for Turkey After Erdogan Power Play?
On Davutoglu’s watch, 338 civilians were killed and another 355,000 people forced to flee their homes in the last eight months in Kurdish towns in the country’s southeast.
D.C. think tank gets a taste of Turkish conflict right outside its doors
By NAHAL TOOSI
The war on the streets of Turkey has spilled onto Washington’s polite think tank row.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s appearance Thursday at the Brookings Institution drew protesters, sparked clashes between his security guards and journalists, and was capped by a long, highly defensive speech in which the Turkish leader dismissed his Western critics.
The chaotic scenes, captured by photos and media accounts, were an unusual sight on the stretch of Washington’s Massachusetts Avenue where Brookings and a number of other think tanks and academic institutions are headquartered.
The protesters, many of whom were unhappy with Turkey’s treatment of its Kurdish minority, held up signs calling Erdogan a war criminal. According to reporters at the scene, the Turkish leaders security guards began assailing reporters and protesters well ahead of Erdogan’s appearance.
Amberin Zaman, a Turkish journalist with the Woodrow Wilson Center, tweeted that a member of Erogan’s security details called her a “PKK whore” for standing in the driveway — a reference to a militant Kurdish group currently battling the Turkish state. One video appeared to show a Turkish journalist being physically pushed away from the area.
Media outlets reported that local police officers rushed in to try to calm the situation, but that some of them warned the Turkish leader’s security guards that they needed to back off and let the protesters have their say. “You’re part of the problem, you guys need to control yourselves and let these people protest,” Foreign Policy reported one police officer as saying.
Read more here
(AP PHOTOS)
Turkey’s president, a man used to steamrolling his critics at home, is in for a rough visit to Washington.
As Recep Tayyip Erdogan began making the rounds in the U.S. capital Wednesday, dozens of foreign policy thinkers, including former ambassadors to Turkey, released a letter warning that the situation in the country is “deeply troubling.”
The letter, which is heavy on right-leaning and neoconservative signatures, came as the White House tried to downplay questions about why President Barack Obama wasn’t holding a formal bilateral session with the Turkish leader by saying the two would probably have an informal chat.
Erdogan, who leads a party with Islamist roots and is in town in part to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, also is slated to speak at the Brookings Institution on Thursday. A Q&A is planned, during which the Turkish leader may face some tough questions about the direction he’s taking his country.
Turkey is a key Middle East ally for the U.S. It borders Syria, has sheltered millions of refugees from the war-torn Arab state and allows the American military to use an airbase on its soil to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State.
Read more here
The Pentagon is ordering families of U.S. troops to leave certain areas of Turkey because of “security concerns in the region,” according to a statement today from the U.S. European Command.
The order applies to the cities of Ismir, Mugla and Adana, where Incirlik Air Base is located.
The order comes after the State Department issued a travel warning, urging U.S. citizens to avoid southeastern Turkey because of “increased threats from terrorist groups.” The State Department also ordered family members of U.S. government civilians posted in Turkey to leave certain areas of the country.
In its statement, European Command said the step “does not signify a permanent decision to end accompanied tours at these facilities. It is intended to mitigate the risk to Do elements and personnel, including family members, while ensuring the combat effectiveness of U.S. forces and our mission support to operations in Turkey.”
March 8 is marked as International Women’s Day in Turkey, and is typified as elsewhere across the world by speeches appreciating the role women play both in the workplace and at home. Yet for the remainder of the year, women face an uphill struggle to gain recognition and respect in a country where sexism still sells.
Turkey, March 8 and the Everyday Struggle Against Gender Stereotyping
The 1978 movie Midnight Express is based on a book by Billy Hayes. The book depicts Hayes’s arrest for drug trafficking, beatings, and squalid prison conditions in Turkey, where he was captured.
According to the chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Turkey at the time, the story was not as lurid as Hayes makes it out to be. You can decide for yourself by clicking the link!
“Don’t lose hope. Life is like walking around a block. There is always a turning point. You may not be able to see it now, but you will one day turn the next corner and things will get better. The three first words of the UN charter are ‘We the Peoples.’ You are at the center of all the work that we do. It is about your lives, your opportunities and your future.”
These are the words refugees at the Nizip refugee camp outside Gaziantep in Turkey heard from UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson this weekend.
“There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict. The UN’s first priority is therefore to find a political solution to end this terrible nightmare,” he said.
Blast Kills at Leaves Many Dead in Ankara, Turkey
This is the second major bombing to hit the Turkish capital in less than six months.
Did you know? You can apply before 12 February to be part of the World Humanitarian Summit, taking place 23-24 May 2016 in Istanbul.
Apply now to host a side event, be part of the exhibition fair or showcase your project at the innovation marketplace: https://www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/whs_summit
