August 20, 2014

Kimse Yok Mu delivers humanitarian assistance to Yazidis, Turkmens

Kimse Yok Mu, one of the largest charity organizations in Turkey, has sent humanitarian assistance worth nearly TL 2 million collected by volunteers to help Turkmens and Yazidis escaping Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forces in Iraq.

Erdoğan gov't expands ban on media coverage for public event

Independent and critical media outlets in Turkey -- including Zaman, the country's highest-circulation newspaper, and Cihan, the country's largest private news agency -- were denied accreditation to cover the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) extraordinary congress slated for Aug. 27.

Journalists and Writers Foundation in Rwanda for Global Peacemakers Conference

“Global Peacemakers Conference” took place in the Rwandan capital city Kigali, August 7-8, 2014. Turkey’s Journalists and Writers Foundation, the sole participant from outside Africa, attended the event having attracted a large number of academics, religious figures and NGO officials from across the continent.

Erdogan, not religion, divides Turkey

Mustafa Akyol

In the last decade, many observers of Turkey underlined the division between secular and religious Turks as the main fault line in politics. Accordingly, the more secular, Westernized Turks were represented by the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) represented the more religious, conservative folks. Some bones of contention between the two sides, such as the longtime ban on the Islamic headscarf in state institutions, were also reflective of this “culture war.”