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Democracy reinforced under Turkey’s Erdogan My column this week in the Arab News speaks to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, truly one of the few real Democratic leaders in the Middle East standing up to rising religious extremism from Muslims in the Arab World, Christians in the West and Jews in radical Israel. A referendum he…
A Turkish Democracy with a sour K’nafah taste What does the outcome of the vote mean for the future of new Turkey’s political Second Republic? By Abdennour Toumi Sunday the Turks voted on a referendum proposing eighteen amendments to Turkey’s 1982 constitution. These amendments have passed and given birth to Turkey’s Second Republic, granting President…
Ruthless Thanksgiving this year with politics as side dish Thanksgiving celebrants will be under more pressure this year in dining rooms across America if Facebook is any indicator of how Americans feel. The politics of the recent presidential election campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will have an impact, according to recent polls. Here’s…
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Turkey’s Neo-Secularists and Neo-Islamists: An Episode to be Followed. Now the AKP government has survived a coup and as a result is in process of purging the country’s military and civil institutions in the wake of the July 15th coup attempt. By Abdennour Toumi Turkey’s political scene is witnessing a revolution that neither the military nor…
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Photo array. Turkish government comes to aid of Palestinians. By Mohammed Asad Palestinians receive Turkish aid at an aid distribution centre in Gaza city, on July 2016. The aid, consisting of flour, sugar and rice, was allowed into the Palestinian territory via Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing and will be stored in warehouses run by Gaza’s…
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Turkey: Algerian and Egyptian Scenarios Failed. A Turkish model that today excelled to end demo-ctatorship mentality, and establish a working democracy in Turkey — ironically led by an Islamist president… By Abdennour Toumi Turks cast their last democratic ballots in November, 2015 under an overcast political sky and the smell of bombs in the southern cities,…
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It Has All Become Clear, President Erdoğan “Gets” It. This attack came as a brutal shock and underscores the increasing tension in the region to which Turkey is no longer immune. By Abdennour Toumi The Istanbul attacks on Tuesday night at Ataturk Airport rank as the fifth deadliest terrorist attack in the last six months. This…
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The escalating Turkish-Russian crisis following Turkey’s downing in November of a Russian war plane promises to spill onto European soccer pitches with FC Lokomotiv Moscow set to play Fenerbahce SK, notorious for its fiery fan base, in a Europa League match.
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
“World’s top 20 industrial powers met in Turkey, seeking to overcome differences on a range of issues primarily the Syrian conflict, refugee crisis and climate change” — Halil Danismaz, President of the Turkish Heritage Organization The world was once again unified over the weekend not only for the condemnation of the terrorist attacks in Paris…
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‘Sultan’ Erdoğan the Magnificent of Turkey By Abdennour Toumi Paris, France — Turkey has won, those who want political stability and economic prosperity have won, and those who are fighting for democracy in the region have won. In a stunning political season, the AK Party and President Erdoğan won a landslide victory in Sunday’s early…
By James M. Dorsey Militant soccer fans are on a roll in the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia. Fans in Turkey and Egypt have defeated legal efforts to criminalize them as terrorists while Malaysian ultras are tackling corruption in and mismanagement of their country’s soccer association. In Germany, the pitch anticipated the government’s shift…
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Not surprisingly, Israel has surfaced as one of the only countries int he world not to help the millions of refugees that are fleeing from the terrorism of the Islamic State and Syrian Dictator Bashar al-Assad. And, Israel is building a wall to block them from entering their occupied nation, but not along the Syrian…
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By James M. Dorsey The Turkish Football Federation (TFF), in a demonstration of the inseparable ties between sports and politics, has effectively declared its support for renewed Turkish-Kurdish hostilities designed to enhance the prospects of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party in forthcoming snap elections. With armed Kurdish youth effectively taking control of at least one…
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Love doesn’t involve divinity — sometimes it takes a visit to a mystic place to realize the depth of tolerance. In Konya just to stop at the tomb of Jalal Eddine Rumi one can vehemently feel the love for humanity. By Abdennour Toumi Konya, Turkey — In the heart of Anatolia in the middle of its great wild…
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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Troubled Waters Under the Tigris and Euphrates Bridges By Abdennour Toumi Ankara, Turkey — Last summer I was in the southeastern province of Mardin, when social-demand riots erupted in the majority of Kurdish villages and towns. Burning tires and barricades blocked the roads as farmers protested the cut-off of electricity and especially of water needed to irrigate…
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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…