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Turkish fans twice in two months disrupted moments of silence for victims of Islamic State attacks in Ankara and Paris in a demonstration of the kind of intolerance bred by religiously-cloaked authoritarianism in countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia
Professor Bayram Balci Analyzes Turkish elections Exclusive to The Arab Daily News: Q&A with Bayram Balçi Professor at l’Institut d’études politiques de Paris. By Abdennour Toumi Professor Bayram Balci is a non-resident scholar in Carnegie’s Russia and Eurasia Program, where his research focuses on Turkey and Turkish foreign policy in Central Asia and the…
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Inevitably, the mass exodus of refugees from conflict areas was going to provoke the spilling into Europe of multiple disputes in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Spanish soccer is the first to feel the weight of the baggage that has turned vast numbers into destitute refugees. By James M. Dorsey Inevitably, the mass exodus…
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By James M. Dorsey A condemned Turkish stadium harbours a dark warning of the long-term consequences of ethnic cleansing or what Turks euphemistically call the population exchange almost a century ago when Turkey and Greece expelled their respective Greek and Turkish minorities. It is a message that has not lost its urgency as Turkey fights…
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Syrian Refugees face White Hill Nightmare By Abdennour Toumi Akçakale, Turkey — Tel-Abyad, a strategically-placed town on the Syrian-Turkish border under the control of the ISO since 2013, was seized in a brief take-over operation by Kurdish brigades of Burkan el-Furat and the united forces of the YPG-YPJ. This success may well signal a decisive shift in…
By Abdennour Toumi Ankara, Turkey — The countdown is underway as the Parliamentarian election campaign in Turkey heats up, and the question of a prospect for a presidential system has been foremost in every opposition leader’s rally speech. A constitutional amendment or a new constitution could be put in place for the presidential system dear to President Erdoğan….
By Abdennour Toumi On Monday, according to local sources of Kurdish media, fighters of the YPG entered the city of Kobani, united with the forces of the Kurdish Alliance, and now together they control 90% of the town and its environs. The city of Kobani has been seen as a major testing-ground for the Kurdish…
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New Dilemmas for Turkey’s Syrian-Iraqi Kurds By Abdennour Toumi, Mardin, Turkey As the civil war in Syria continues, the ethnic factor is just one of many paradoxes plaguing this dynamic conflict/crisis. Along Turkey’s southern long borders, it has become clear that with the regime change the Syrian opposition demands have caused Turkey and its regional policy…
Farmers protest Turkish economic policies By Abdennour Toumi Mardin, Turkey — Last week, fire and barricades blocked the roads for three days as farmers protested their electricity and water being cut off to irrigate their corn fields. In the southern districts of Derik and Kiziltepe. Residents of these districts are angered by the lack of water and…