Politics

EU/Turkey

French Lawmakers Debate Turkish EU Bid

The French parliament is set for a heated debate on the controversial issue of Turkey's EU accession, an issue that divides French politicians and public alike. By Deutsche Welle staffMore

Turkish authorities are now in charge of Kaplan, photo: AP

Opinion

Kaplan Ouster Is Good for All

The deportation to Turkey of radical Islamic leader and accused terrorist Metin Kaplan is good news for Germany, writes DW's Rainer Sollich.More

Amr Mussa could work in between the moderate Islamists and the liberals, says Gamal Abdelnasser (photo: AP)

Political Elites in Egypt

Between the Moderate Islamists and the Liberals

In his detailed analysis, Gamal Abdelnasser takes a look at possible future developments of Egypt's political elites and explains why Amr Mussa is likely to step up as Mubarak's successor.More

Italian PM Berlusconi has already forged closer ties with Gadhafi, photo: AP

Libya Sanctions

EU Lifts Arms Ban Against Tripolis

The EU agreed to lift an 18-year-old arms embargo on Libya, welcoming the country's renunciation of weapons of mass destruction and movement towards "responsible government."More

Turkish police must rid themselves of the old mindset, say activists, photo: AP

Human Rights in Turkey

Torture Remains Tricky Issue

Turkish leaders remain convinced that systematic torture in the country's prisons no longer exists. Some of the country's human rights activists beg to differ. Andreas Tzortzis reports from AnkaraMore

Turkey's Religion Council

Setting Guidelines for Islam and Politics

The Religion Council discusses essential issues concerning religion and politics. Apart from Turkey's most important Islamic scholars, intellectuals and politicians are attending as well. Dilek Zaptcioglu about last month's meetingMore

Germany is one of Turkey's strongest European allies (photo: AP)

Turkey/EU

Schröder Hails Erdogan as a "Great Reformer"

As Turkey looks set to receive official EU blessing to start negotiating membership, Prime Minister Erdogan got a warm reception when he visited Germany, Turkey's major ally in its quest for accession. By Uwe HesslerMore

New rules could put a stop to asylum in Europe, photo: AP

Immigration

Human Rights Group Slams EU Asylum Plans

Amnesty International says EU plans for a joint approach to asylum violate international agreements. NGOs have vowed to fight a German proposal for the EU to set up refugee asylum camps in North Africa.More

Wan Azizah Ismail in front of "Justice Party" logo, photo: AP

Anwar Ibrahim

Democracy as Safeguard Against Repressive Islam

Ethnic tensions, economic problems – many observers believe that Malaysia now stands at a critical juncture. The early release of the former Deputy Prime Minister, imprisoned for corruption, is giving rise to heated speculation. Lennart Lehman reportsMore

Turkey: the new star on the European horizon? (image: DW)

A Budding Seed of Doubt

Nothing more stands in the way of Turkey's bid to join the EU. Both sides have cleared up their differences. But are the irritations between Brussels and Ankara really dispelled? Deutsche Welle's Bernd Riegert doubts it.More

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, photo: AP

Ruling AKP Under Fire Over Reform Delay

Turkey's ruling party came under fire from the European Commission and women's right groups over a decision to delay penal code reforms because of a row over its plans to criminalise adultery. Dorian Jones reports from IstanbulMore

Abu al-Ula Madi, photo: islamonline

The Al-Wasat Party

Democratic and Pluralistic?

Egypt could soon have a new political party. When the country's committee for the recognition of new parties meets at the end of October, it's possible that it might approve the Islamic reformist Hisb Al-Wasat. Jürgen Stryjak reportsMore

Subject of debate: Iran's nuclear site Busheher near Shiraz (photo: AP)

Nuclear Conflict in Iran

Playing With Fire

Tehran has plenty at stake in its game of cat and mouse with the International Atomic Energy Agengy. What are the political goals of Iran's delaying tactics in the dispute over its nuclear program? Bahman Nirumand reportsMore

photo: University of Fribourg

Portrait Tariq Ramadan

Role-Model for Muslim Youths throughout Europe

Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan is the idol of the Parisian suburbs. He is fighting for a modern Islam and against what he calls "Jewish intellectuals". Now the US administration has revoked his visa. By Jörg LauMore

Journalists are "Gossiping old ladies in the steam bath" - according to President Bouteflika who was reelected only this year (photo: AP)

Censorship in Algeria

The End of Freedom of the Press?

Freedom of the press in Algeria, introduced in 1988 and still virtually unique in the Arab world, is now in serious danger. Journalists are being arrested, newspapers shut down. Bernhard Schmid explains the background behind these developments.More

All smiles: Erdogan and Verheugen (photo: AP)

EU/Turkey

Verheugen: No More Obstacles to Accession Talks

After meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyp Erdogan Thursday morning, EU Expansion Commissioner Günther Verheugen is ready to recommend Europe start membership negotiation with Turkey.More

Indonesia's new President to be: ex-general Yudhoyono (photo: AP)

Election Result in Indonesia

The Country Is Firmly on the Democratic Road

The course has been set: with many of the votes counted in the Indonesian presidential election, it's clear that the former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the winner. This analysis is by Sybille Golte.More

During the 1992-1995 war Mujahedeen troops came to the aid of Bosnian Muslims which constitute about 40% of the country's population (photo: DW)

Mujahedeen in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bosnian Muslim Charged with War Crimes

Bosnia-Herzegovina has charged a Bosnian Muslim of Arab descent with war crimes in the country's first ever case against Islamic fighters or so called Mujahedeens. By Sabrina HodzicMore

Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, photo: AP

Interview Prince Karim Aga Khan IV

1

"The Core of the Terrorist Problem Is Political"

In an interview with Deutsche Welle, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, the hereditary imam of Shiite Ismaili Muslims, argues that today's Middle Eastern terrorists are fueled by political motivations and not religion.More

Prime Minister Erdogan says Turkey is doing its best to meet entry criteria (photo: DPA)

Interview Recep Tayyip Erdogan

"A Change in Mentality Is Needed"

The EU Commission is to publish a key report on October 6 on whether Ankara is ready to open talks on joining the EU. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan said the country was on track.More

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Most Recent Photo Essay

Land of nomads and desert: Mauritaniaʹs extremely hot and arid climate explains its very low population density. In 2009, the country had just 4 million inhabitants spread over 1 million square kilometres. The Adrar plateau, located in the north of the country near Atar, is known for its gorges and dunes

Mauritania, land of desert and contrasts

Mauritania straddles the transition between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, its population is equally divided between Africans and Arabs. Berber women carefully veil themselves with colourful 'melhafas', their feet decorated with henna, while Wolof women show off their beautiful skin glistening with shea butter. By Pascal Mannaerts (www.parcheminsdailleurs.com)

China's ongoing repression of its Uighur Muslims

More than a million Chinese civil servants have been assigned to move into the homes of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities, spending weeks as uninvited guests.More

Human Rights Watch: Egypt's new approach to fighting dissidents

Over the past year, Egypt's authorities have increasingly resorted to anti-terror and emergency laws as a means of crushing peaceful opposition to the government. Journalists and human rights activists continued to be persecuted, Human Rights Watch said in its latest World Report 2019.More

openDemocracy: Free thinking for the world

openDemocracy logo (source: openDemocracy)

openDemocracy is an independent global media platform covering world affairs, ideas and culture which seeks to challenge power and encourage democratic debate across the world.More

MSF Nauru report: "Indefinite Despair"

Australia's offshore processing centre on Nauru (source: msf.org)

According to the medical report "Indefinite Despair", the mental health suffering on Nauru is among the most severe Medecins Sans Frontieres has ever seen around the world, including in projects providing care for victims of torture.More

Jailed Saudi activists honoured with Right Livelihood Award

2018 Right Livelihood Award winners: Abdullah al-Hamid, Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani und Waleed Abu al-Khair (photo: Ahmed al-Osaimi/Right Livelihood Award/CC-by-sa-3.0)

Three Saudi activists have been honoured alongside anti-corruption campaigners at the awards ceremony. Known as the Alternative Nobel, the prize recognises efforts thought to be ignored by the Nobel prizes.More

Jamal Khashoggi's last column: What the Arab world needs most is free expression

A group of people hold pictures of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a demonstration in front of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington on 8 October 2018 (photo: picture-alliance/AA/S. Allahverd)

Karen Attiah, The Washington Postʹs Global Opinions editor: "I received this column from Jamal Khashoggi’s translator and assistant the day after Jamal was reported missing in Istanbul… It perfectly captures his commitment and passion for freedom in the Arab world. A freedom he apparently gave his life for."More

Amnesty International demands Raqqa investigation following U.S.-led "war of annihilation"

The US-led Coalition’s ongoing failure to admit to, let alone adequately investigate, the shocking scale of civilian deaths and destruction it caused in Raqqa is a slap in the face for survivors trying to rebuild their lives and their city, says Amnesty International.More

U.S.-Saudi relations under scrutiny

Following the alarming disappearance of Saudi journalist and political dissident Jamal Khashoggi, John Oliver examines America's uncomfortably comfortable relationship with Saudi Arabia.More

Against Identity politics: 21st century tribalism and the crisis of democracy

Neo Nazis, Alt-Right and White Supremacists march through the University of Virginia Campus with torches in Charlottesville, USA on 11 August 2017 (photo: picture alliance/dpa/AA/abaca/S. Corum)

Democratic societies are fracturing into segments based on ever-narrower identities, threatening the possibility of deliberation and collective action by society as a whole. To free the world from ongoing conflict, argues Francis Fukuyama, we need a more universal understanding of human dignityMore

Searching for the missing in Yemen

This Amnesty report details how scores of men have been subjected to enforced disappearance after being arbitrarily arrested and detained by United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemeni forces operating outside the command of their own government. Many have been tortured, with some feared to have died in custody.More

Al-Shabaka: Focussing on 25 years of Oslo

Presided over by U.S. President Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shake hands following the signing of the Oslo I Accord in Washington D.C. in 1993 (photo: picture-alliance/CPA Media)

A quarter of a century since the signing of the Oslo Accords, an independent and sovereign Palestinian state has become little more than a myth as Israel continues to expand its settler colonial project and military occupation.More

For Palestinians, America was never an honest broker

Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump chat as White House senior advisor Jared Kushner is seen in between them, during their meeting at the King David hotel in Jerusalem on 22 May 2017 (source: Reuters/Courtesy of Government Press Office/Kobi Gideon)

The Trump administration’s policies don’t represent a radical shift. The White House has simply abandoned the facade of neutrality and rubber-stamped the Israeli government’s agenda, says Dalia HatuqaMore

openDemocracy: Free thinking for the world

openDemocracy logo (source: openDemocracy)

openDemocracy is an independent global media platform covering world affairs, ideas and culture which seeks to challenge power and encourage democratic debate across the world.More

David A. Andelman: The U.S. needs a plan for Syria

Displaced Syrian children push a boy with disability on makeshift wheelchair at a refugee camp in the northern Idlib province on 29 August 2018 (photo: Getty Images/AFP/A. Watad)

The war in Syria seems to be entering its final days, with Assad’s forces closing in on one of the country’s last opposition-led provinces. Yet the USA, focused on trade wars across three continents and political wars at home, still doesn’t seem to have figured out what role it should be playing in the conflict or its aftermath.More

Satellite imagery and the Palestine-Israel exception

Satellite image of Israel and the West Bank (source: Google Earth)

Whereas large parts of the Middle East and North Africa are covered by very high-resolution imagery, the Kyl-Bingaman amendment – bipartisan legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1997 – limits the quality of aerial photography of Palestine-Israel available to the public through platforms such as Google Earth and Bing Maps.More

Human Rights Watch report points the finger at Egypt

In a recent report, Human Rights Watch criticises the Egyptian authorities for having failed to investigate or prosecute a single member of the security forces five years after their systematic and widespread killing of largely peaceful protesters on Rabaa Square in Cairo.More

China's crackdown on Uighurs

Muslim men of the Uighur ethnic group leaving the Id Kah Mosque after Friday prayers in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China (photo: EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG)

Although China has detained hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and is cracking down on religious practice, Muslim leaders and communities around the world remain silent. Why?...More