Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
Painful Refugee Day, Feverish Year for Ankara By Abdennour Toumi Ankara, Turkey — The Syrian conflict has produced the most compelling humanitarian challenge of the last fifty years. According to the UNHCR (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees) office, there re 12.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance including 3.9 million who fled Syria and 7.6 million…
Turkey’s Democratic elections show that the HDP opposition can win support, but not enough to oust the AKParti, the party President Erdogan founded. But now the HDP is a more formidable voice in defining Turkey’s Democratic future. The vote suggests Turkish voters may want a multi-party coalition leadership By Abbdenour Toumi Ankara, Turkey — In order to…
Read More “In Turkish elections: Ağa Selahattin Dethrones “Sultan” Tayyip” »
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….
On the Campaign Trail with AKParti Candidate Mr. Yüksel YENI in northwestern Anatolia. By Abdennour Toumi Bursa, Turkey — On Saturday I got aboard the AKParti “conquer caravan” for two days on the campaign trail with Mr. Yüksel YENI touring the province of Bursa in the Marmara region of northwestern Anatolia. Bursa is the fourth most populous city…
By Abdennour Toumi Ankara, Turkey — Turkish parliamentary elections on June 7th are fast approaching, the streets are decorated with parties’ banners, and daily candidate caravans furrow the districts with blaring loud speakers, seeking the vote for their constituency. The operation has already begun in Turkish communities abroad. It’s a “sports” contest on a national scale, yet this…
Three-day International Symposium held in Ankara, Turkey explores the challenges facing Syria, its history, politics, and foreign policy, hosted by the SDE Institute of Strategic Thinking in collaboration with Yildirim Beyazit University. Also explored, the Armenian Massacre, the Western divisions of the Arab World, and the Kurdish movement for statehood By Abdennour Toumi Ankara, Turkey —…
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…
Read More “Kurds celebrate Kobani victory with musicfest in Seruç, Turkey” »
Q&A with Dr. Veysel Ayhan, President of International Middle East Peace Research (IMPR), a think-tank center based in Ankara, Turkey By Abdennour Toumi, Ankara-Turkey Profile: Dr. Veysel Ayhan is Associate Professor and President of International Middle East Peace Research Center. He is also Associate Professor at the Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu, Turkey. In May 2012,…
Read More “Exclusive interview with Turkish analyst Veysel Ayhan” »
A Day at the Syrian-Turkish Border, refugees and relief By Abdennour Toumi Nusaybin-Turkey — The Nusaybin gate stands in Qamishli, a city controlled by the PYD, in a self-proclaimed administrative territory in northeastern Syria. At this border gate the Assad regime still controls the administrative process (paper work). A giant smiling portrait of President Assad hangs on a…
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The Voice of Salah e-Eddine Haunts Kobani By Abdennour Toumi (Suruç, Turkey) After more than two weeks’ resistance, ISO militants have taken over neighboring villages southwest of Kobani (Aïn-el-Arab) forcing an exodus of northern Syria’s ethnic Kurdish population across the border to the southern city of Suruç in Şanliurfa province. As a result the Turkish military has…
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…
APO Spirit at the Big Fat Kurdish Wedding! By Abdennour Toumi Derbassiya, Turkey — Here in Turkey Kurdistan is very dear to the hearts and minds of Kurds across the region, including Mesopotamia and other historical places, and I wonder if any people have occupied such a unique position before. Certainly Kurdistan is very dear in…
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…
Comic Strip: Ikhras, Kim Kardashian and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad By Ray Hanania Kim Kardashian, the HUGE Reality TV star, has come out swinging for Syrian Dictator Bashar al-Assad and defending his government against the Syrian Rebels, claiming that the rebels are killing Armenians in Kesab (Kessab) near the Syrian border with Turkey, where 100 years…
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Armenian American celebrity Kim Kardashian boosts Syrian dictator Assad By Ali Younes and Sadallah Mahmoud While the mainstream American news media is no longer providing any in depth coverage of the raging civil war in Syria or the atrocities that has been committed by the Syrian regime or his extremist Al Qaida-linked opponents, two tweets by American…
Read More “Armenian American celebrity Kim Kardashian boosts Syrian dictator Assad” »
Ustar Erdoğan, Stronger Than Ever By Abdennour Toumi Contrary to all expectations of the opposition and the media, even in light of the Taqsim Square protests, the charges of corruption, the national security leaks, and the bold decision to ban social media, nothing prevented the AK Party from achieving a landslide victory in Sunday’s municipal…
Syrian Refugees: We Will Be Back, After Awhile By Abdennour Toumi Special correspondence from Şanliurfa, Turkey In April, 2011, the first Syrian refugees crossed the border into Turkey. Now, three years later, the most recent UNHCR estimates, dated March 18, 2014, 841, 889 Syrians have registered in Turkey, according to AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management…
Read More “Syrian Refugees, We Will Be Back, After Awhile” »
Arabs fall short of Olympic medals, along with Israel, Turkey and Iran By Ray Hanania As the final day of the Sochi 2014 Olympics arrives (Sunday Feb. 23, 2014) and as the two weeks of athletic competition comes to an end, unfortunately athletic contenders from the only two Arab countries that entered the Olympics, Morocco…
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