Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Turkish riot police disperse people during a demonstration on the first anniversary of the Gezi Park movement at Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 31, 2014. (EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU)

Police shut Istanbul park to pre-empt protests one year after unrest

by Asharq Al-Awsat | May 31, 2014 | World

Istanbul, Reuters—Turkish police on Saturday shut Gezi Park, the Istanbul square at the center of mass demonstrations in 2013, to prevent any efforts to mark the anniversary of the biggest anti-government protests in decades. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who...

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Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses a meeting in Istanbul January 17, 2014. (Reuters/Osman Orsal)

Opinion: Erdoğan’s Lost Luster

by Diana Moukalled | Feb 11, 2014 | Opinion

It was not only Turkish public opinion that was shocked by the recent leak of an audio recording of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in which he hinted at the direct pressure he exerted on the media. The Turkish opposition has often warned against the expansion of...

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Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses the media in Ankara in this file photo of November 13, 2013 (REUTERS/Umit Bektas)

Opinion: Erdoğan is his own worst enemy

by Manuel Almeida | Nov 1, 2013 | Opinion

Locals and tourists of all ages walk around and mix with the crowds who venture into İstiklal Avenue’s packed shops and restaurants. Groups take pictures with the Republic Monument, the statue that celebrates the formation of the Turkish Republic and its founder,...

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Republic Day fireworks over Istanbul, Turkey (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Turkey: Protests continue in Turkey as Bosporus tunnel opens

by Hannah Lucinda Smith | Oct 31, 2013 | World

Istanbul, Asharq Al-Awsat—It’s been a boom year for Istanbul’s street sellers. Throughout Turkey’s summer of protest they’ve kept up a fast trade in the demonstrators’ essentials: whistles, bottled water, and flags depicting the granite face of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk....

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Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters stand at formation in northern Iraq May 14, 2013. The first group of Kurdish militants to withdraw from Turkey under a peace process entered northern Iraq on Tuesday, and were greeted by comrades from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in a symbolic step towards ending a three-decades-old insurgency. The 13 men and women, carrying guns and with rucksacks on their backs, arrived in the area of Heror, near Metina mountain on the Turkish-Iraqi border, a Reuters witness said. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari

The Turkish Model

by Ali Gokpinar | Jul 1, 2013 | Majalla Blogs

In an unprecedented move, in late December 2012 Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government started negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to resolve the protracted conflict between the Turks and Kurds. Crystallizing during the disintegration...