Author: Fatma Kayabal

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Screenshot of the Turkish daily 'Taraf' with a photograph of Hrant Dink and Mehmet Nihat Ömeroğlu (source: Taraf)

Turkey's New Ombudsman

Anti-Qualified

The first chief ombudsman of Turkey, appointed to ensure the administration acts in line with a sense of justice based on human rights, has sparked public outcry due to his role in the conviction of the late journalist Hrant Dink. The new ombudsman also faces accusations of being too close to the government. Fatma Kayabal reports from İstanbulMore

Erdogan and the Death Penalty: A Message to Europe, a Warning to KurdsErdogan's Authoritarian Drift: Retreat from Democratic AchievementsTurkey's Military versus the Government: From Military Tutelage to Civilian Authoritarianism?
''Hands off Syria!'' - Anti-War demonstration Istanbul's Taksim Square (photo: AP/dapd)

Reaction in Turkey to AKP's Policy on Syria

Divided Society, Polarised Politics

With relations between Ankara and Damascus already strained, recent military escalation in the Syria conflict is also threatening to deepen the long existing rifts that run between Turkey's political sphere and society as a whole. By Fatma Kayabal in IstanbulMore

Crisis between Turkey and Syria: The Battleground ExpandsAlliance between the PKK and the Assad Regime: A Political Sect on the Wrong TrackSyrian Refugees in Turkey: ''Wait until Assad Falls''
Selen Lermioğlu Yılmaz (right) at an abortion rally in Istanbul, Turkey, on 17 June 2012 (photo: Fatma Kayabal)

The Turkish Women's Rights Activist Selen Lermioğlu Yılmaz

''The Government Is Trying to Intrude in People's Private Lives''

In May the Turkish government announced its plan to limit women's access to legal abortion, later dropping the item from the parliament's agenda after harsh reactions from society. While the debate was a divisive one, it did at least provide an umbrella issue beneath which women's groups rallied, says Selen Lermioğlu Yılmaz in this interviewMore

Social Media in Turkey: Circumventing CensorshipTurkey: Fighting Press Freedom with Anti-Terrorism LawsCharges against Turkish Star Pianist Fazil Say: Facing Trial for Joking on Twitter
Erol Önderoğlu (photo: Arian Fariborz)

Press Freedom in Turkey

Against the Criminalization of Journalism

Despite some reforms and ongoing negotiations for EU membership, Turkey's ranking in the Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Index remains strikingly low. Qantara's Fatma Kayabal spoke to, Erol Önderoğlu, the organization's correspondent in IstanbulMore

Repression of Journalists in Turkey: Fighting Press Freedom with Anti-Terrorism LawsHrant Dink Murder Trial: A Test of Turkey's Commitment to Protecting Freedom of Expression
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Gen. Necdet Ozel, Turkey's new Land Forces Commander and acting Chief of Staff (photo: AP)

Turkey's Military versus the Government

From Military Tutelage to Civilian Authoritarianism?

Opinion in Turkey remains divided over whether the recent remand of a former chief of General Staff on charges of coup plotting represents a further blow against an older, less democratic order, or a move by the incumbent government to further consolidate its power. Fatma Kayabal investigatesMore

The Arab Islamists and Erdogan's Turkish Islam: Secularism as a Protector of ReligionInterview with Nilüfer Göle: Shifting Identities and the Stakes of Turkish Democracy
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, talks with Gen. Necdet Ozel, Turkey's new Land Forces Commander and acting Chief of Staff, at the mausoleum of modern Turkey's founder Kemak Ataturk, after the military's annual meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, 1 August 2011 (photo: AP)

The Battle between Army and Government

A New Republic in Turkey?

Ahead of a key military meeting this week, chaired by the country's prime minister, the Turkish army has been rocked by a series of top-level resignations. Fatma Kayabal investigates the latest developments in Ankara's ongoing power struggle between the military and civil spheresMore

Islam and Politics in Turkey: A Divided NationTurkey's Prime Minister Erdogan: From Megalomania to True Greatness?

In brief

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Machghara village in the Bekaa welcomes you with portraits of Iranian leaders and Hezbollah martyrs. For those unfamiliar with geopolitics, a quick glance at the billboards in the streets will reveal who Hezbollah′s friends are

Holidaying in Hezbolland

Since the outbreak of war in Syria, the entire Lebanese border has become a red zone: travellers from the West are advised by their governments to give it a wide berth. Yet once in the field, only the odd military checkpoint serves to remind travellers that tensions in the area remain high. In the Bekaa Valley, Hezbollah – the Party of God – holds sway. Wielding considerable political, military and social clout, this powerful Shia Islamist organisation is government, parliament and welfare state rolled into one. By Eric Lafforgue