You can say anything as long as its ak (*)

* ak: means white in Turkish, as in AK Party or AKP. Paraphrasing the famous quote attributed to Ford of "any colour of car you like as long as it's black", in the early days when he had a single assembly line. In "Turkey" very soon we'll have a single press line. Mein Kampf implementation in the works.

Turkish magazine raided, copies seized for mock Erdogan selfie | Reuters

Mon Sep 14, 2015 ANKARA | BY ECE TOKSABAY
Turkish police raided a magazine on Monday over a mocked-up "selfie" of a smiling President Tayyip Erdogan with the coffin of a soldier - an allusion to comments that families of soldiers killed by Kurdish rebels could be happy about their martyrdom.

Has anything effectively changed for "Turkey" 's Kurds?

State racism in Turkey and Kurdish question KurdishMedia.com - By Hadi Elis 13/05/2002, The Reason for the War in Kurdistan: State Racism of the Republic of Turkey

The Denial of the Existence of Kurdish people in the Republic of Turkey by the State is the main reason for Ethnic Conflict/ Civil War in Turkey and the Middle East. The aggression and atrocities against Kurdish people as "state policies" started after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, and since then the human rights violations by the Turkish State officials (state security institutions and its personnel, Army, Police forces, Intelligence apparatus, paramilitary forces) are nationally and internationally very well documented.

What about Turkey and Cyprus? Part 2 | Uzay Bulut

Uzay Bulut, Sunday August 3, 2014 | What about Turkey and Cyprus? Part 2


For part 1, see "For What about Turkey and Cyprus?"

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in his presidential election rally in the southern ‎province of Mersin that Israel will be tried by an international court if it continues to act with its ‎current mentality. "We will see that. As Turkey, we will struggle for that," he added.‎

Ironically, when the European Court of Human Rights convicted Turkey in May of this ‎year for its crimes during the 1974 invasion of Cyprus, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet ‎Davutoglu said that Turkey would ignore the ECHR ruling to pay compensation to the ‎Republic of Cyprus.‎

Giving Turkey a dose of its own medicine? | Jerusalem Post

Giving Turkey a dose of its own medicine? By YONAH JEREMY BOB  07/14/2014 Israeli NGO assists Cypriots in filing war crimes complaint against Turkey over occupation.

An Israeli NGO has assisted Cypriots in filing a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court prosecutor against Turkey over its occupation of Northern Cyprus. The complaint, filed on Tuesday and referred to as a communication, was made on the 40th anniversary of Turkey’s occupation of the northern part of Cyprus.

ROS-LEHTINEN: Time for Turkey to leave Cyprus in peace

ROS-LEHTINEN: Time for Turkey to leave Cyprus in peace
Long-standing occupation amounts to annexation | By By Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | Friday, June 15, 2012

Since its invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Turkey has claimed that it was acting as a protector and guarantor of the island’s security. But a closer examination of its actions on Cyprus indicates motivations of a very different character. Turkey’s invasion resulted in hundreds of thousands of Greek Cypriot refugees, who have been unable to return to their homes for almost 40 years. The international community has repeatedly condemned the illegal military occupation of Cyprus by Turkish troops. The United Nations Security Council has passed 75 resolutions calling for Turkey to allow Greek Cypriots to return to their homes and to withdraw its troops from Cyprus. Yet Turkey continues its occupation.

Downer by name, disaster by nature | www.mathaba.net

Former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has waded into his old patch in a characteristically obnoxious and hamfisted way. Alan Austin takes a look at the Downer ``resume``. (Image screenshot from ABC TV News.)

AS IF AUSTRALIA’S foreign policy isn’t precarious enough already. Tony Abbott is Prime Minister, Julie Bishop is Foreign Minister, Andrew Robb is Minister for Trade and all seem well out of their depth.

Now failed former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has gone on television to lecture Indonesia’s Foreign MinisterMarty Natalegawa on its foreign policy. In a monumental blunder, he accused the Indonesians of breaching Australian sovereignty.

Report Exposes Kurdish Torment at Turkish Schools | Rudaw

A Kurdish boy listening to a Turkish class. Photo: AFP

Rudaw | By Uzay Bulut | ANKARA, Turkey – A report released by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly about the role of schools in Ankara’s peace process with the country’s oppressed Kurdish minority exposes the racism and difficulties Kurdish children and teachers face in Turkish state schools.

The report, titled The role of teachers in societal peace building - how the Kurdish issue is reflected in schools, exposes the bullying, discrimination and violence that Kurdish students and teachers experience at schools in Turkey, often resulting in life-long traumas.

How the EU directly funds settlements in occupied territory | Jerusalem Post

How the EU directly funds settlements in occupied territory | By EUGENE KONTOROVICH | 09/28/2013

Photo: reuters: GIANT Turkish flag is seen displayed on the side of a mountain near Nicosia in Turk-occupied Cyprus

The EU knowingly and purposefully provides substantial direct financial assistance to settlements in occupied territory – in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, that is.

A delegation of European Union officials arrived in Israel weeks ago to discuss the European Commission’s proposed regulations for discretionary funding to Israeli entities.

Nothing less than Kurdish as an official language is a solution

24-9-2013 | ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ | TODAY'S ZAMAN

A democratization package is expected to be announced on Monday by the prime minister. If there are no major last-minute changes, then the package will obviously not meet the expectations of the country's Kurds.

What we understand from what has been leaked about the package is that it will include a few reforms that address the Kurdish question. Kurdish names will be given back to places for which they had been replaced with Turkish names; Kurdish citizens will receive some services in Kurdish (the scope of which is not clear yet: whether this services include “petitions” and official replies or just verbal services, whether this will include “judicial services,” and so on); and Kurdish lessons will be included in the curriculum, most probably as electives.

Kurdish ‘nationhood’ | by Nuray Mert

Antifon: If northern Kurds are to remain within "Turkey", they will accept NO LESS rights than Turkish Cypriots, and "Turkey" ostensibly on their behalf, have been demanding in Cyprus, and Turkish Cypriots do not even have either a historical or ethical claim to a contiguous part of Cyprus as Kurds do in northern Kurdistan. When will ethnic Turks finally face this reality? Which reporter will break the ground first? Perhaps Nuray Mert.

Article by Nuray Mert: The main problem with Turkish politics concerning Kurds is that “Turks” cannot accept any prospect of Kurds ruling themselves. Turks in general and the present government in particular resist the idea of Kurdish “nationhood” and that is it. The Kurds may be latecomers but the Kurdish problem is a “national problem,” and first of all, this reality has to be acknowledged. Otherwise, Turkey’s domestic and regional politics concerning the Kurds will not lead anywhere positive.

"Occupied Territories": What About Cyprus, Kashmir, Tibet? | Gatestone Institute

What about Cyprus? That is just one of the questions that Israelis and Europeans should be pondering now that the European Union has again decided that it should dictate Israeli border and security policy.

Last week the European Union issued a ban on funding of, or cooperation with, any Israeli institutions that
are shown to operate in what it calls the "occupied territories" – meaning the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria. Never mind that -- as Palestinian groups have already admitted -- the ban will affect Palestinians as much as Israelis. In its perpetual rush to find new double-standards to enforce, the EU has rushed straight in, regardless.

Turkish Dreams

Comment by cemal ahmet on 5/28/2013 4:46:03 PM on article in Hurriyet Daily News

"Mr.YETKIN,you are still in a very deep sleep.I kindly suggest you to do your own research before publishing an article and don't just sit back and rely on what Mr.YILDIZ is promoting / presenting rosy image to your eyes and rosy words to your ears which are not more than a roadshow. GEOLOGY - TECHNOLGY is a reality here and is a great deal. NO PIPELINES via TURKEY, not 1 million years coz the geology is not going to change.LNG project will take place anyhow even if reunification (reintegration of the minority into the Republic of Cyprus) is to be agreed."

Who hates who?

This is a brief public comment I liked about a Turkish Cypriot's accusation that Cypriots hate the minority.

Matt Mattheou | 5/28/2013 9:04:04 AM | Hatred? What do you base this on?I am a Cypriot (Greek Cypriot) who has been ethnically cleansed, seen his church turned into a mosque and prevented from returning to his looted ancestral home that has now collapsed. You will site the farcical Annan plan, 'TC genocide' arguments usually put forward to counter the GCs challenge to Turkey's human rights abuses. You have a short memory regarding the 1974 events or obviously are unaware of what really happened. Consult an independent source if you can take it. Who hates who?

Islamism Vs Kemalism through Wikileaks and mild Islamic eyes

April 2011 in Today's Zaman: "One of the most striking sections of the US diplomatic cables from Turkey

(Wikileaks), published continuously these days by the Taraf daily, is about the “monster” -- a deadly mixture of ultranationalism and racism in Turkey -- ... “but subsequent nationalist backlash indicates the depth of the divide in Turkish society.” ... It points at dangers inherent in Article 301 of the Penal Code (TCK), which criminalizes “insulting Turkishness” ... AKP risks a more volatile electorate and helps to revive a nationalist hydra that could prove exceedingly difficult to put back in the box once the elections are behind them.”"

Turkey-PKK Peace Will Fail by Michael Rubin

"Whether the talks succeed or, more likely, fail, Öcalan is now the undisputed leader of Turkey’s Kurds. The

reaction of his followers to the fact that Erdoğan is unwilling to implement all but the most superficial reconciliation will probably neither be non-violent nor limited to the traditional Kurdish cities of Diyarbakir, Van, or Urfa. Erdoğan may soon discover that the price of insincere talks is quite high indeed." - MICHAEL RUBIN

The Kurds' Last Battle in Turkey: Teaching Kids Kurdish | PIOTR ZALEWSKI | THE ATLANTIC | MAY 9 2013

As Turkey's biggest minority makes peace with the Erdoğan government, the classroom turns into a

nationalist battlefield. Ever since they were allowed a voice on the national stage, the Kurds have demanded one thing more often than anything else -- the right to educate their children in Kurdish.

Antifon: Turks insisted since the '50s full educational rights for the Turkish Cypriot minority of Cyprus but have pursued the annihilation of the Kurdish identity for the last century. If this isn't fascism, what is?  

A single mention in the Turkish press in decades. That's news in itself!

"Could peace with Kurds resonate on the island of bitter lemons? The Turkish government is walking on eggshells to resolve one of modern Turkey’s most pressing disputes. Could the same idea apply to another pressing dispute? Would Ankara agree that a reunited Cyprus grants the Turkish Cypriot minority the same constitutional recognition and sovereign rights it plans to grant the Kurdish minority" - Burak Bekdil

Cyprus to build gas plant with or without Israel | AP | Menelaos Hadjicostis | 3 April 2013

Associated Press

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Cyprus' offshore natural gas deposits are enough to warrant the construction of a gas
processing plant to export excess supply, regardless of whether Israel decides to be a partner in the project, the island nation's foreign minister said Wednesday.

Turkish opposition leader condemns 'dictator' Erdogan | the GUARDIAN 15/2/13

Turkish opposition leader condemns 'dictator' Erdogan | Kemal Kilicdaroglu, chairman of the Republican People's party, warns that PM is driving Turkey towards constitutional 'disaster' | Simon Tisdall | guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 February 2013 12.33 GMT

Turkey's prime minister is behaving like an "elected dictator" and inciting a constitutional crisis in a bid for greater personal power, the leader of the country's main opposition party has warned.