Category Archives: Turkey
Overview of Syria’s complex war
(Note: the below comes from my previous Canary article here.) My brief summary of the stages of Syria’s complex conflict – with a particular focus on Turkish interference: Very real frustrations with the Assad regime escalated into civil war in 2011. The interference … Continue reading
Turkey’s role in Syria (arming and supporting extremists)
(Note: the below comes from my previous Canary article here.) As the BBC has noted, Turkey has been a key part of Syria’s ongoing war: The Turkish government has been a staunch critic of Mr Assad since the start of the uprising in … Continue reading
Media criticism of Turkish State finally moving to the forefront
After the most recent terrorist attack on Turkish soil inspired or organised by Daesh (Isis/Isil) on 28 June, I once again highlighted the context of Ankara’s long-standing complicity with Wahhabi extremism – in anticipation of understated media attention on the current government in … Continue reading
Posted in Daesh, Erdogan, ISIL, ISIS, Kurdistan, Kurds, politics, Turkey, Wahhabism
Tagged Kurdistán, The Kurdish Question, Turkey, Turkish State
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Chaos at Erdoğan’s talk in the USA (31 March)
This week I focused mainly on mocking Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and stressing that the West is slowly losing patience with their ally’s authoritarian antics. But on the same day I published my article on Erdoğan, numerous sources spoke of chaos … Continue reading
Posted in Erdogan, politics, Turkey
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Rojava: Chapter 1A
For the purpose of this book, I suggest that we consider four nations in particular as political powerhouses in the Muslim World. Three of these – Iran, Turkey, and Egypt – all have ancient histories and imperialist pasts, perhaps in … Continue reading
Posted in Arab Nationalism, Arab Spring, Arab World, Imperialism, Iran, politics, Saudi Arabia, Turkey
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The aftermath of Turkey’s assault on Cizre
Prof Şebnem Korur Fincancı from the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) visited Cizre after the Turkish State’s siege of the town was eased on 2 March. She described Ankara’s assault on Cizre as follows: As someone who followed the period … Continue reading
Democracy and freedom of speech are terrorist offences in Turkey
Turkey was never exactly the home of freedom and democracy. But since the ruling AKP abandoned peace talks with the left-wing militants of the PKK in July 2015, the State’s authoritarian crackdown on civil society has become even worse. The … Continue reading
Ankara bombing – Turkey’s attempt to justify invading Syria
On 17 February, 28 people – mostly soldiers – were killed by a car bomb attack in the Turkish capital of Ankara. A further 64 were wounded. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu almost immediately tried to pin the blame on … Continue reading
Posted in Erdogan, politics, Rojava, Rojava Revolution, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Turkey, USA
Tagged PKK, PYD, Rojava, Syria, Turkey, YPG
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The Fears of the Powerful and the Hopes of the Peaceful
After two decades of cruising along the contaminated economic canals built by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, the Labour Party’s failure to win the 2015 election proved quite definitively that it had no fuel left (even with the oil stolen … Continue reading
Posted in Arab Nationalism, Arab Spring, Arab World, Assad, Autonomy, Bad Government, Bourgeois Democracy, Britain, capitalism, Capitalist Crisis, Chauvinism, Conservative Party, Conservatives, Corbyn4Leader, Democracy, dignity, Economy, Europe, Great Britain, Imperialism, independence, International Relations, Iran, Iraq, ISIL, ISIS, Islamic State, Islamism, Israel, Jeremy Corbyn, JezWeCan, Kurdistan, Labour, Labour Leadership, Labour Leadership Elections, Labour Party, Libertarian Socialism, Murder, Nationalism, Neoliberalism, New Labour, Oppression, Peace, Plutocracy, politics, Progressive, Reactionism, rebellion, Refugee Crisis, Refugees, revolution, Salafism, Saudi Arabia, Secularism, Social Activism, socialism, Terrorism, The Media, Tories, Turkey, UK, UK Elections, UK Elections 2015, UK Politics, UKElections, United Kingdom, War
Tagged Corbyn4Labour, Corbyn4Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour, Labour Leadership, Labour Party
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Cizre, Leyla İmret, & Turkish Democracy
The HDP co-mayor of the Cizre district of Turkey’s Şırnak Province, 28-year-old Leyla İmret, was brought into the world of politics very abruptly at an early age, with her father being killed “before her eyes” by Turkish “security forces” when … Continue reading
Posted in AKP, Cizre, Erdogan, PKK, Turkey
Tagged AKP, Authoritarianism, Autonomy, Bad Government, Bourgeois Democracy, Cizre, Erdogan, Leyla Imret, Peace, PKK, Turkey, War
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Resistance Is Fertile 