Special police force trained to protect women in İstanbul. Female officers make up half of the 100-member force, which completed a 15-day training course on gender relations, inequality and how to properly and sensitively handle cases of gender-based violence. Each district in İstanbul has been assigned at least two of these specially trained officers. But Homicide Bureau Chief Fahrettin Gönbe told the Hurriyet daily on Sunday that this is simply the first step. According to Gönbe, a pilot team has been serving İstanbul for the last two months. “The first criterion for joining the team is that it must be voluntary because this work is not something to be done by force,” he said. “People who are sensitive to and aware of the issue of domestic violence were selected.”
In the future, however, the aim of the İstanbul Police Department is to have all police officers, not just a special team, trained on how to properly handle cases of gender-based violence. A man stabbed his wife to death out of jealousy in Kayseri on Saturday. RIGHTS - Turkey's presidential board slams Dink trial outcome. Hurriyet.com.tr Turkey’s State Audit Board (DDK) completed a report into the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalistHrant Dink today, saying it found mistakes in the questioning of government personnel which adversely affected the efficiency of the overall investigation into the murder.
President Abdullah Gül had ordered DDK to look into the case of Dink's murder after lawyers for the murdered journalist’s family said the trial was not being properly conducted. The report said the trial was hampered by structural and procedural difficulties even though the culprits were swiftly apprehended. The DDK also said "gendarmerie and police intelligence units did not work toward the protection of Hrant Dink even though they had learned of a … threat. " Turkey's civilian-military complex. Ithaca, NY - Turkish society's complex relationship with the military has recently featured in the news, this time offering hope that civil authority had triumphed over the army's shadowy hold on political life. First came the news of the detention of Turkey's former Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug under the charge of heading a terror organisation and conspiring to bring down the Turkish government.
And shortly afterwards came the sensational indictment against the surviving architects of Turkey's bloody 1980 coup, former president and Chief of General Staff General Kenan Evren and the former air force commander, Tahsin Sahinkaya. For many, this suggested an overcoming of the democratic deficit in civilian-military relations in Turkey. Was Turkey, promoted as an exemplary model of secular democracy, being stimulated by the revolutionary energies of the Arab Spring, finally settling its accounts with its culture of pedagogic militarism?
It would be wise to curb such enthusiasm. An open letter to Slavoj iek. On his recent visit to Turkey, the philosopher Slavoj Žižek praised the country and suggested that it could taken as a model by the Arab world. Here, one of Turkey's leading commentators responds. (NB: We have linked to Turkish-language sources where none are available in English) Dear Mr Žižek, As an attentive follower of your work, I feel obliged to write to you after hearing your comments on Turkey. I share your admiration for my country, which I think made you say "if the Arab world really needs a model, Turkey can be taken as a model". Yet I can not help but repeat the sentence with which I concluded my contribution to The Doha Debates on 12 January: "Turkey can not be a model for the Arab World because it has enough problems already.
" One of the distasteful things about authoritarian regimes -- as you might already know very well -- is that they turn writers into imbeciles by forcing us to repeat the obvious over and over again. Yours, Ece Temelkuran. RIGHTS - Greek Patriarch to give speech in Turkish Parliament. ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew is to give a speech in Turkish Parliament next wek in the framework of the new constutition. The speech will be the first such occasion in the history of the Turkish Republic.
Patriarch Bartholomew is expected to bring up a number of issues including the employment of minorities in public offices. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ Vercihan Ziflioğluvercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew is set to give a speech to Parliament’s Constitutional Commission on Feb. 20 to expound on the problems of Turkey’s minorities, marking the first such occasion in the history of the Turkish Republic. “Our Armenian deputy patriarch says we are happy and not beset by any problems every time a microphone is extended to him. “We have problems of identity, recognition and language. Turkey’s minority communities have more problems in common than they have differences, he added. ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News.
The Syrian Dilemma: Turkey’s Response to the Crisis. Almost a year since unrest broke out in Syria, its uncompromising president, Bashar al-Assad, has proven unwilling to undertake any political reforms or surrender power. The United Nations (UN) Security Council took up the issue, but a draft resolution condemning the violence and backing an Arab League plan for a power transfer was vetoed by China and Russia. Demonstrations and riots are met with violent repression, allegedly resulting in 5,000 casualties. And recent suicide attacks in December and January, while an Arab League observer mission was struggling to convince the Syrian regime to listen to reason, show that both the regime and the resistance will stick to their hard-line positions, igniting more violence than ever.
As the death toll rises, pressure for an international intervention is mounting. And that puts Turkey, Syria’s northern neighbor, in a difficult position. Though seemingly in the best position to make an impact in Syria, Turkey will not take action on its own. Three Economic Lessons Imported From Turkey. I just returned from a week in Istanbul, where I was reporting a piece on what Turkey’s burgeoning contemporary art scene tells us about where the country is headed politically (you can look for that in our upcoming style and design special in the magazine later this month).
But I also learned a few economic lessons that have particular relevance to the U.S. and global economy right now. 1. Manufacturing matters. In Istanbul, I met up with Ersin Akarlilar, the CEO of Mavi Jeans. If you aren’t already wearing Mavi, your kids probably are – the company sells hundreds of millions of dollars worth of high end, slim fitting denim all over the world. Building a global luxury brand is tough, especially for an emerging market firm that doesn’t have the cache of European heritage.
(MORE: Euro Banks Swap Cash for Trash) 2. (MORE: Are Companies More Powerful Than Countries?) 3. Ankara to seek U.N. help to aid Syrian refugees. Turkey plans to lodge a formal request with the United Nations for a humanitarian operation to help Syrians suffering a “humanitarian tragedy” in their country, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday. “I gave instructions today to lodge a request with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva on the subject of humanitarian aid,” the Anatolia news agency quoted Davutoglu as saying during a visit to Washington.
“Turkey is launching an initiative at the U.N. office in Geneva to put in place a flow of humanitarian aid towards Syria,” he said, lamenting a “humanitarian tragedy” unfolding notably in central Homs and in Zabadani, near the capital Damascus, being shelled by the Syrian army. As the OHCHR does not have a humanitarian remit, the initiative would likely be taken up by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), but Davutoglu did not elaborate on the procedure to be followed. Ankara'daki patlamada bir gözaltı - Polis Adliye. Ntvmsnbc ve Ajanslar Güncelleme: 12:09 TSİ 20 Eylül. 2011 Salı ANKARA - Kumrular Caddesi'nde bulunan Çankaya Kaymakamlığı önünde meydana gelen patlamada 3 kişi yaşamını yitirirken; 5'i ağır 15 kişi de yaralandı.
Patlamanın olduğu caddede bulunan birçok ev ve işyerinin de camları kırıldı, 6 araç da yandı. Ankara polisi patlamanın meydana geldiği bölgede, şüpheli bir kadını gözaltına aldı. Şüpheli kadının slogan attığı bildirildi. Patlamanın ardından polis ekiplerinin araştırmaları sürerken, Ankara Garı'nda sakal tıraşı olup, üzerini değiştirdikten sonra kentten ayrılmaya hazırlanan bir şüpheli daha gözaltına alındı. Olaydan yarım saat sonra görgü tanıklarının ifadesine göre telaşlı bir şekilde gara gelen bir kişi, sakal tıraşı olduktan sonra tuvalette üstündeki kıyafetleri değiştirmeye başladı.
Şüphelinin, 'terör eylemlerine katılmak' ve 'dolandırıcılık' suçlarından poliste kaydı bulunduğu öğrenildi. Düşük Yüksek 32 kullanıcıdan 2.5 puan. Bosphorus Strait to be closed to sea traffic for naval exercises. TURKEY tr-national ANKARA - Hürriyet | 9/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Erdinç Çelikkan The high number of ships passing through the Bosphorus Strait and the Dardanelles has alerted the Environment and Urbanization Ministry to the risk created by potential sea accidents The Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul will be closed to transit passages on Sept. 28-29 in order to carry out emergency exercises, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization announced Monday.
Roughly 55,000 sea vessels pass through theBosphorus Strait and 60,000 vessels pass through the Dardanelles each year, the ministry said. The naval exercises will include measures that would be taken in the face of a possible accident on the Bosphorus. According to the exercise scenario, a 250-meter, 95,000-deadweight crude oil tanker will collide with a passenger ship near the Kabataş port and cause an oil spill. The exercise will be the most comprehensive ever conducted on the Bosphorus, the ministry said.
KCK Trial in Turkey: The Court did not Understand the Statements in Kurdish. 22 defendants, ten of whom are detained, are on trial before the Diyarbakir 5th High Criminal Court. Independent Mardin Deputy Gülser Yıldırım is one of the detained defendants who stand accused of "membership of a terrorist organization" on the grounds of their activities at the Democratic City Council of Mardin. The statement of a secret witness referred to as "from Izmir" was read out during the hearing and added to the case file. The secret witness made a statement about his observations during meetings of the Free Citizens Movements and later on at a KCK/TM meeting.
Distancing himself from the movement, the secret witness made the following statement: "The meetings were usually held at the provincial and district presidencies of the closed down Democratic Society Party (DTP). "An unjust trial" The prosecutor demanded to continue the defendants' detention. The defence lawyers demanded the release of their clients but the court board decided to keep the defendants in detention. Top. Home - Turkey : NATO, EU and its evolving foreign and security policy - LibGuides at NATO Multimedia Library.
The Grey Wolves Turkish Nationalist Organisation Has Growing Influence in Germany. This is my own translation of a German newspaper article that was published a few months ago. How the Far Right Grey Wolves Attract Young Turks Essen. The “Grey Wolves” are gaining ever more influence over Turkish youths in North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), warn experts. Above all they attract frustrated young men. The Turkish nationalistic organisation, the Grey Wolves, has new premises in Bochum. The Dahlhausen district of Bochum is well-known as a social flashpoint. Employees of the Agency for the Protection of the Constitution count around 70 associations of the nationalist movement with more than 2000 members in NRW. Danger for Integration The movement’s greeting symbolises a wolf’s head. The Grey Wolves, also called the Ülkücü movement, lure young people with a generous offering of leisure activities and a sense of community. The SPD’s regional parliament member, Serdar Yüksel, also speaks of a danger for integration.
Thought comparable to German Neo-Nazis “Problem underestimated” Source.