Turkish opposition continues to contest referendum results

For FSRN: The government of Turkey carried out a fresh series of raids this week, arresting another 1000 people and purging the police force of more than 9000 officers allegedly connected to the US-based cleric who President Recip Tayyip Erdogan blames for last summer’s attempted coup. The country remains under a state of emergency, extended after protesters took to the streets decrying what they say was fraud in the recent referendum. The plank of constitutional reforms that would grant President Erdogan much of the powers…Continue Reading “Turkish opposition continues to contest referendum results” →

Turkey’s Fateful Referendum: The Road to Dictatorship?

For The Nation: Istanbul — Cups of tea and trays of sugar cubes are passed around in a crowded meeting in Istanbul’s Sisli district on a damp and cold winter night. Dozens of activists are gathered around a conference table littered with buttons and stickers, some with a simple “Hayir,” or “No,” on them, others with the slogan “No to a One-Man Regime.” The fliers are rainbow-colored, a homage to the 1988 campaign to remove Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from power in that year’s plebiscite….Continue Reading “Turkey’s Fateful Referendum: The Road to Dictatorship?” →

Fear in Turkey’s old city of Diyarbakir, despite multi-million reconstruction

For The Middle East Eye: Diyarbakir — Liwaza Zamba, 57, has twice been forced to leave her home because of the ongoing conflict between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish state. In 1993, after months of fighting between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish militants, her entire village was one of at least 3,000 razed to the ground by the military, forcing her and her family to move to Diyarbakir’s ancient walled city of Sur. A little over a year ago, Zamba tied her white…Continue Reading “Fear in Turkey’s old city of Diyarbakir, despite multi-million reconstruction” →

For Turkey’s Kurds, Nowruz Symbolizes Political Resistance

For Vocativ: Diyarbakir — Holding a loft the Iraqi Kurdistan flag he smuggled past police in his underwear, Ayhan Turkmen stands out in a crowd of hundreds of thousands of Kurds celebrating Nowruz in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir. “The police took one flag from me, but I had this other one hidden just in case,” Turkmen says with a grin, as people stop to ask him if they can pose for a picture. More than 4,000 police officers are securing the festival, forming multiple…Continue Reading “For Turkey’s Kurds, Nowruz Symbolizes Political Resistance” →

Turkish Voters Take to the Seas

For Foreign Affairs: Istanbul — On a clear evening in Istanbul’s Besiktas district, a dozen police officers eyed hundreds of people as they packed a private ferry on the Bosphorus. The passengers were attending an event to mobilize support for a “no” vote on a constitutional referendum scheduled for April 16. Equally wary of the police and any potential pro-“yes” saboteurs, a pair of organizers patted down each passenger before allowing him or her aboard. “It’s not going to be a fair vote, so we…Continue Reading “Turkish Voters Take to the Seas” →

As Erdogan consolidates power in Turkey, the Kurdish opposition faces crackdown

For The Los Angeles Times: She is facing a potential sentence of 83 years in prison. The crime, some would say, is belonging to the political opposition that is under siege by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Figen Yuksekdag, co-chair of the country’s leading pro-Kurdish political party, is among the most prominent targets of a massive legal assault on Turkey’s Kurdish opposition in the run-up to a vote on a constitutional amendment that could grant Erdogan sweeping powers. The government has already stripped her of…Continue Reading “As Erdogan consolidates power in Turkey, the Kurdish opposition faces crackdown” →

Protest, get arrested, get released, then start again: One woman’s fight against Turkey’s crackdown on dissent

For The Los Angles Times Ankara — Light snow fell as Nuriye Gulmen carefully rested a whiteboard next to Ankara’s Human Rights Memorial, a statue of a seated woman reading a book. “Day 48. We want to return to work,” she wrote with a marker on the board, as a dozen protesters glanced at the pedestrians around them, looking for plainclothes police who might thwart their demonstration. Since a failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, the government has imposed a state of emergency,…Continue Reading “Protest, get arrested, get released, then start again: One woman’s fight against Turkey’s crackdown on dissent” →

Protest, get arrested, get released, then start again: One woman’s fight against Turkey’s crackdown on dissent

For The Los Angeles Times: Ankara, Turkey — Light snow fell as Nuriye Gulmen carefully rested a whiteboard next to Ankara’s Human Rights Memorial, a statue of a seated woman reading a book. “Day 48. We want to return to work,” she wrote with a marker on the board, as a dozen protesters glanced at the pedestrians around them, looking for plainclothes police who might thwart their demonstration. Since a failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, the government has imposed a state of…Continue Reading “Protest, get arrested, get released, then start again: One woman’s fight against Turkey’s crackdown on dissent” →

Post-coup purge will affect Turkey’s education sector for decades

For The Los Angles Times Istanbul — With more than 120,000 public workers suspended and nearly 40,000 people in prison, the aftermath of Turkey’s failed July 15 coup is being felt across every part of society, including its highest-ranked schools. The day after the coup attempt, 1,577 deans — working at nearly every university in the country — were forced to resign. An estimated 200,000 students were left in limbo after the closure of 15 universities and 1,043 private schools reportedly linked to Fethullah Gulen,…Continue Reading “Post-coup purge will affect Turkey’s education sector for decades” →

A Kurdish Problem

For The Boston Review: On the morning of June 7 this year, a car bomb exploded in front of Istanbul’s Vezneciler metro station. Used by tourists and thousands of university students daily, it was a ten-minute walk from my home. Perplexed Turks gathered at the tape strung around the site, watching as the husk of a police bus was towed away, the presumable target of a powerful blast that killed twelve. The closest I could get was the sixteenth-century Shehzade mosque, more than a hundred…Continue Reading “A Kurdish Problem” →