Internet Censorship in Turkey
October 30th, 2008 by Jason
The Christian Science Monitor reports on the troubling rise of internet censorship in Turkey. The government has banned over 600 sites this year, including YouTube, in a clear attempt to “censor and silence political speech.” Turkey’s newly-created Telecommunications Directorate has broad power to shut down sites with no court order or public oversight.
The EU, of course, is watching. An EU official said, “It is a very restrictive law and the implementation has been very problematic” and noted that the issue will be taken up in EU’s next Turkey progress report, due in November.
Posted in Human Rights, Turkey | Comment »
POMED Notes: “Turkey, the Region, and US-Turkish Relations”
October 29th, 2008 by Jason
Yesterday the Brookings Institution and The Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) hosted a day-long conference assessing Turkey’s domestic, regional, and international challenges, and the future of US-Turkish relations. The conference featured panel discussions by top Turkey scholars, politicians, and analysts, with a keynote address by Ahmet Davutoglu, chief foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Erdogan.
For POMED’s notes on the conference, click here.
Posted in DC Event Notes, Event Notes, POMED, Turkey, US foreign policy | Comment »
Introducing POMED’s Country Pages
October 29th, 2008 by Stephen
If you haven’t already seen them, be sure to check out the new country pages here on POMED’s website. POMED’s research team has assembled a valuable collection of resources organized by country. For now, there are POMED country pages for five countries of the region: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Turkey. There will be more pages covering additional countries soon to come. Each page contains essential background information on the country, links to a variety of reports and resources in both English and the local language (Arabic or Turkish), as well as a POMED country backgrounder paper covering the state of government, political reform, opposition groups, and U.S. policy and assistance toward the particular country. In addition, each page contains the latest updates on recent developments in the country in question, updated daily. We hope these pages will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in following political developments and the state of reform in these countries, and we look forward to expanding the project to cover many other countries of the region.
Posted in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, POMED, Publications, Turkey | Comment »
Turkey and the EU
October 24th, 2008 by Tariq
Lebanon’s Daily Star has two articles on Turkey’s relationship with the European Union. First, the newspaper paraphrased Gerald Knaus, founder of the European Stability Initiative, in a seminar hosted by the Carnegie Center, saying, “democratic freedoms in the country are developing,” and, “although the opposition’s fears about the party’s Islamic identity often grabs the headlines, the AKP has in fact ushered in a period of increasing freedom in the country.” Second, Liam Hardy expresses cautious optimism about future of Turkish-EU relations in a commentary piece saying while Turkish integration into the EU proceeds as fast as a “moving glacier,” it nevertheless proceeds, “slowly but surely.” Citing research done by the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Associatoin (TUSIAD), “the parliamentary system, public administration, human rights and the judiciary as key areas of focus for developing the country’s democratic system further.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Reform, Turkey | Comment »
Turkish Leaders Meet With Barzani
October 15th, 2008 by Sarah
Yesterday, Turkish leaders met with Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, for the first time in four years. Ben Katcher at The Washington Note suggests that the meeting indicates Turkey’s “recognition that preventing the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) from launching attacks along the Turkish-Iraqi border will prove impossible without the support of the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.”
Posted in Iraq, Kurds, Turkey, US foreign policy | Comment »
