The US and Turkish dictators
İhsan Yılmaz I do not remember how many times I have criticized the US government's ambivalent approach to Turkish democracy. It has generally centered on the concept of “Bon, pour l'Orient” (Good, for...
View ArticleIntimidating the media, Erdoğan and Obama
Nazlı Ilıcak US President Barack Obama’s speech to the African Union meeting is a word of advice for all Middle Eastern leaders who do not want to leave power. I strongly recommend especially Tayyip...
View ArticleA Muslim Cleric That America Should Support
John A. Tures* Usually, when Americans hear the term "Muslim cleric," they cringe. Yet there's an Islamic religious leader who calls for peace and inter-faith dialogue, whose supporters are being...
View ArticleFresh political raids targets leading Turkish NGO Kimse Yok Mu
On early Wednesday morning, police Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime division KOM teams entered the Kocaeli branch of Kimse Yok Mu and confiscating applications by utilizing the reasonable doubt...
View ArticleThe unbearable lightness of media in Erdogan’s Turkey
Cengiz Çandar My fellow columnist Kadri Gursel, in his recent piece titled “Turkish daily exposes transfer of weapons to IS,” already informed Al-Monitor readers about police raids at numerous media...
View ArticleThis is the time to speak
Gültekin Avcı The history of oppression and oppressors is the history of deceiving creation. There are stories of trying to make rivers flow backwards and the sun rise from the west. Each book that is...
View ArticleKoza Holding chairman says truth will reveal itself in face of slander
Chairman of Koza İpek Holding Akın İpek answers pro-government press slander saying that the fact that his companies have never engaged in any wrongful practice, will reveal itself. In the latest...
View ArticleCPJ: Turkey’s raid on media group, arrest of British reporters show worsening...
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has criticized a recent government-backed raid on the independent İpek Media Group in Turkey and the arrest of British journalists on terror charges, saying...
View Article17 detained for holding religious meeting in İstanbul
Police raided a building in the Libadiye neighborhood of İstanbul and detained 17 businessmen on Wednesday evening who were there for a religious talk, according to the Meydan daily on Thursday. The...
View ArticleArchitect of Turkish Penal Code slams gov’t for abuse of MASAK powers
Professor İzzet Özgenç, one of the main authors of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and the Code on Criminal Procedure (CMK), has slammed the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government's attempts...
View ArticleColumnists say AK Party wants to ban any critical voice to maintain rule
Columnists from various media outlets have harshly criticized the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)-led operation against the critical İpek Media Group, saying that the AK Party wants to silence...
View ArticleKoza Altın says production monitored by global auditor
Denying claims in the media of discrepancies in its gold production data, Turkey's largest gold miner Koza Altın said on Friday the company is audited by the world's leading auditing firm. The media on...
View ArticleMASAK hides report proving İpek Media Group’s innocence from prosecutor
It has been revealed that the Finance Ministry's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) did not share a significant report that proved that there was no transfer of TL 122 million to the Koza...
View ArticleGülen’s lawyer issues written warning to pro-gov’t media outlets
Nurullah Albayrak, the lawyer representing Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, on Thursday issued a written warning to pro-government media outlets on social media for their persistent use of the...
View ArticleThe Akın İpek Model
İhsan Yılmaz There are two meanings for the term “the Akın İpek Model.” The first is the meaning we use at the İstanbul Institute. As I've discussed briefly here before, a group of academics and people...
View ArticleThe raid
Doğu Ergil A few days ago, the Bugün daily and affiliated media organs were among more than 20 of İpek Koza Holding's companies raided by the police. The media organizations are deemed to be among the...
View ArticleDoğan Media Group making a big mistake
Ali Yurttagül The Doğan Media Group today appears to be making the same mistake the Zaman Media Group made when massive fines were levied against Doğan. The Doğan group doesn't seem to realize that the...
View Article‘We will not allow any journalist to be imprisoned in Silivri again'
With less than two months left until the Nov. 1 snap election, more journalists are facing legal action over claims of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and more media organizations have been...
View ArticleTime to Help delivers food to refugees arriving in Nickelsdorf
Time to Help, a project partner of Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu, has delivered soup and rice to 1,100 refugees who arrived in Austria from Hungary in the border town of Nickelsdorf and the country's...
View ArticleThe last battle against free press in Turkey
Abdullah Bozkurt For the first time, Turkey's chief political Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his associates in the government twisted anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws...
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