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Trade unionists launched a one-day general strike in Turkey as our last issue went to press. On Thursday 4 February, tens of thousands of public sector workers staged a one-day walk out in solidarity with employees of the government’s Tobacco and Liquor Administration (TEKEL).
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The Ottoman Empire existed from 1299 until its abolition by Mustafa Kemal’s Turkish nationalists in 1923. At the height of its power, during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Empire spread from the Atlantic coast of Morocco to the Persian Gulf and from southeastern Europe down to the Red Sea.
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By Alan Thomas
The recent general elections in Turkey saw a decisive victory for the ruling, mildly Islamist Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AK Party) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The election, called in light of the Turkish constitutional court’s intervention in the presidential selection process and also following sabre-rattling from the Army who have previously toppled Islamist-led governments, saw the AK Party increase its vote by almost 13% on the previous general election. In fact, Erdogan took more than 46% - a margin unheard of since the 1980s. This obviously gives him a mandate for future governance and represents a step forward for Turkish democracy in that the Kemalist generals have not felt able to simply scrap an election which produces a result that they dislike.
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Richard Preece discusses the recent anti-government demonstrations in Turkey
Much mainstream liberal and centre-right reporting on the crisis in Turkey has portrayed the debate as being a kind of “clash of civilisations in one country” between “Islamists” (or even “Muslims” according to others) supporting the ruling Adalet ve Kalk¦nma Partisi and “secularists” supporting the army and the opposition Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi.
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By Richard Preece
The current political crisis in Turkey presents a dilemma for left-wingers, because Turkey is a country that doesn’t fit either of the stereotypical views held by knee-jerk “anti-imperialists” or “liberal interventionists” about politics in predominantly Muslim countries.
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By Joan Trevor
On 12 October, the French National Assembly gave a first reading to a bill that would make it a criminal offence to deny the Armenian genocide of 1915-17. The punishment could be up to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. The bill passed by 106 votes to 19.
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By Joan Trevor
The Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk faces charges of insulting Turkishness, that might earn him up to three years in prison. An earlier charge against him of insulting Turkey's armed forces has been dropped.
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Turkey is a nation not unused to living with the day to day spectre of terrorism.
A campaign of Armenian guerrilla attacks on Turkey's interests abroad in the 1980s, and more recent Kurdish and leftist bombing campaigns inside Turkey, mean that residents, particularly of the country's major cities, Istanbul and Ankara, are aware of the risks.
But the public reaction to finding themselves enduring attacks soon described by the local media as "our 9/11" was as much one of shock and bemusement as it was grief and outrage.
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Controversial plans for Turkish forces to occupy Iraq as peacekeepers have been abandoned.
The plans, which were voted through by Turkey's National Assembly in October, received widespread opposition from Iraq's US-installed interim Governing Council, Kurdish and Islamic leaders, and much of the Turkish public and media.
