Turkey's State Radio to Begin Armenian-language Broadcast
HÜRRIYET: Turkey's state radio will launch an Armenian-language channel, reports said on Friday in the latest in a series of planned foreign language broadcasting mediums being launched by the state.

The move comes as Ankara and Yerevan have been engaged in a normalization process between the neighboring countries that for decades have had no diplomatic relations.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan also said Wednesday that state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corp (TRT) would launch a radio station broadcasting in Kurdish.

The radio channels broadcasting in Armenian and Kurdish will go on air in "two to three months", Reuters and CNNTurk reported citing Anatolian Agency.

"At this stage, we will refrain from any comments," an Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman told Reuters when asked about the report of the planned radio station on Friday.

TRT also plans to launch a Persian TV channel and a news channel broadcasting in English next year, Friday's reports added.

Turkey recently took steps to boost the cultural and democratic rights of Kurds with the Jan. 1 launch of TRT-6, a TV channel that airs in Kurdish 24 hours a day. [Source: Hürriyet] Sunday, March 22, 2009

Clinton betont die Schlüsselrolle der Türkei
NZZ Online: Ankündigung eines baldigen Besuchs von Präsident Obama

tf. Wien, 8. März

Die amerikanische Aussenministerin Hillary Clinton hat sich am Samstag bei einem Besuch in Ankara für eine engere Kooperation zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und der Türkei starkgemacht. Zur Untermauerung ihres Bekenntnisses kündigte Clinton einen baldigen Besuch von Präsident Barack Obama in der Türkei an. Die Visite, die in ungefähr einem Monat stattfinden soll, sei ein Ausdruck für den hohen Stellenwert der Freundschaft zwischen den beiden Ländern. Clinton traf in Ankara ihren Amtskollegen Ali Babacan und hatte eine knapp zweistündige Unterredung mit dem Regierungschef Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In Medienauftritten lobte Clinton das Gastland als Beispiel für eine erfolgreiche Koexistenz von Demokratie, Moderne und Islam. Entsprechend grosse Hoffnungen setzen die USA auf eine aktive Rolle der Türkei im Nahost-Friedensprozess. >>> tf | Sonntag, 8. März 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch und Gebundene Ausgabe) – Versandkostenfrei innerhalb der Schweiz >>>

Lauter Wahnsinn!
EU-Abgeordnete drängen die Kommission, die Beitritts-Verhandlungen mit Ankara zügig fortzusetzen.

BRÜSSEL. „Wir brauchen die türkische Mitgliedschaft für die Energiesicherheit in der EU.“ Mit diesen klaren Worten ließ am Mittwoch der EU-Parlamentarier Hannes Swoboda (SPÖ) aufhorchen. Die EU-Kommission solle in den Beitrittsverhandlungen mit der Türkei dringend beginnen, über das Kapitel Energie zu verhandeln, erklärte er gemeinsam mit Fraktionskollegen anlässlich der Bewertung der Beitrittsbemühungen der Türkei durch den außenpolitischen Ausschuss des EU-Parlaments. Die Verhandlungen sollten beschleunigt werden, so die Sozialdemokraten. Erweiterung: „Brauchen türkischen Beitritt wegen Energie“ >>> Regina Pöll | Mittwoch, 11. Februar 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch) – Deutschland & Österreich >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Gebundene Ausgabe) – Deutschland & Österreich >>>

Ankara repart à l'assaut
 de Bruxelles
LE FIGARO: Le premier ministre turc s'est efforcé lundi auprès de la Commission de relancer les négociations d'adhésion de son pays à l'UE.

Pour sa première visite à Bruxelles depuis 2004, le premier ministre turc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a tenté lundi de relancer les négociations d'adhésion de son pays à l'UE, aujourd'hui enlisées. «L'intégration européenne est pour nous un objectif stratégique», a-t-il répété, en promettant un «processus de négociation plus actif et plus vivant». «Nous ferons tout notre possible pour accomplir de réels progrès dans la négociation», a répondu en écho le président de la Commission, José Manuel Barroso, qui espère une percée en 2009.

Depuis l'ouverture des pourparlers d'adhésion en octobre 2005, les relations se sont progressivement détériorées entre les deux parties. À force d'envoyer des signaux contradictoires à Bruxelles, Ankara a découragé ses partenaires européens. Et faute d'unanimité au Conseil, l'Union européenne, pour sa part, n'accorde qu'avec parcimonie les laissez-passer qui permettraient à Ankara de s'arrimer plus fermement à sa rive européenne.

Récemment, le gouvernement Erdogan a nommé un nouveau négociateur en chef et donné des gages de bonne gouvernance démocratique à l'Europe en lançant une chaîne de télévision diffusant en langue kurde. Il reste que sur les trente-cinq chapitres qui jalonnent le processus de négociation, seuls dix ont été ouverts, d'une importance mineure.

Huit chapitres, en particulier, sont gelés depuis 2006 à l'initiative de Nicosie, après que la Turquie ait refusé d'étendre les bénéfices de l'Union douanière avec l'UE, à la république de Chypre. L'île reste divisée entre sa partie sud et sa partie nord, contrôlée par Ankara et non reconnue par la communauté internationale. >>> Pierre Avril | Jeudi 22 Janvier 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Broché) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Relié) >>>

France Says Turkey Improves But Has More Things to Do on EU Bid
HÜRRIYET: French ambassador in Ankara said on Saturday that the European Commission's Turkey progress report gave the message that "Turkey was improving, but it could do more".

Meeting journalists at breakfast in the Aegean province of Izmir, French ambassador Bernard Emie said that Turkey and France had intense military, economic and cultural relations.

Noting that France was the second biggest investor in Turkey, Emie said the current trade volume between the two countries was nearly $20 billion.

Commenting on European Commission's latest progress report on Turkey, Emie said the report laid down various factors such as Turkey's improvement in terms of Copengahen criteria or implementation of new arrangements in the Turkish parliament.

The report should not be perceived negatively, Emie said, adding that it tried to say that Turkey could achieve more things.

Emie also said that the period between July 2009 and March 2010 would be "Turkey Season" in France. He said the French would gain a new approach towards Turkey thanks to the activities to be carried out in his country during those days. [Source: Hürriyet] November 8, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Turkey: Political Stability Hangs in the Balance
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Generals arrested as coup conspirators, a court on the verge of banning the ruling party: The power struggle in Turkey between Prime Minister Erdogan's Islamic-rooted AKP and the secular, old-guard Kemalists is intensifying -- at the cost of political stablity.

Ali Ercan’s world swarms with enemies. The gray-haired professor of nuclear physics and deputy chairman of the Kemalist Thought Association (ADD) has to worry about reactionary Islamists, separatist Kurds, suspicious Armenians and Greeks, capitalist Americans and of course the European Union, with its constant pressures to reform. A bodyguard stands in front of Ercan’s small office on Gazi Mustafa Kemal Boulevard, round the clock.

Inside, a brass plaque greets visitors: “Turkey will never belong to Europe! She will never give up her sacred sovereignty!” Ercan, 55, came up with the slogan himself. Now he wants the words etched on his gravestone, he says. The Europeans come in for particular blame in this “dark and dangerous time which our country is living through.” Who else have encouraged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Islamicize Turkey through “reactionary religious forces,” he says. Who else have pushed Erdogan to sell off Turkey economically and erode its national sovereignty?

Many Turks think the same way. It was Ercan’s association that drummed up massive demonstrations last year against Erdogan’s conservative Islamic-rooted government. Hundreds of thousands gathered in front of the Atatürk Mausoleum in Ankara to demonstrate against the election of Abdullah Gül, a onetime fundamentalist, as president and to rail against the foreign “neo-colonial powers” that backed him. The ADD is a sort of think tank for Turkey’s patriotic conservatives -- and a refuge, above all, for retired military leaders. Coup Plot Intensifies Ankara’s Power Struggle >>> By Daniel Steinvorth in Ankara | July 7, 2008

THE INDEPENDENT:
The Big Question: Why Is Tension Rising in Turkey, and Is the Country Turning Islamist? >>> By Nicholas Birch in Istanbul | July 8, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>

A Nod to Europe: Ankara Amends Controversial ‘Turkishness’ Law
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Turkey's parliament has accepted the government's reform of a law used in recent years to persecute writers and political dissidents. The law against "insulting Turkishness" is now a law against "insulting the Turkish nation." Whether it will help Turkey join the EU is an open question.

A long-awaited change to a law against "insulting Turkishness" was passed early Wednesday morning by Turkey's parliament, though writers and activists say the revision isn't strong enough. Critics of the law have long considered it a curtailment of free speech in Turkey and a major obstacle to Ankara's ambition to join the European Union.

Legislators voted 250-65 in favor of amending Article 301 of Turkey's penal code, which has been used to convict 745 people since 2003, including Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and murdered journalist Hrant Dink (more...), according to the Associated Press.

The revision redefines the crime as insulting the "Turkish nation" -- instead of "Turkishness," which was vague enough to allow the government to harass political opponents. The new law also cuts the maximum jail sentence from three years to two, and requires the justice minister to approve any investigation into possible violations.

Critics are calling the reform superficial. "What needs to be done is to abolish 301 altogether," said Fatma Kurtulan, a pro-Kurdish legislator, according to AP. Kurtulan said the reform was designed to appease EU demands without actually bringing about any real change. A Nod to Europe: Ankara Amends Controversial 'Turkishness' Law >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Ankara to Change One Law, But Others Still Muffle Dissent
Turkish flag courtesy of Google Images
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Turkey has said it will soon move to amend a controversial law that makes "insulting Turkishness" a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. But a number of laws that will remain on the books also represent a threat to free speech.

This month, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) plans to soften the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which makes it a crime to "denigrate Turkishness." The law has been used to prosecute numerous intellectuals (more...) who dared to speak out about the 1915 Armenian killings during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, most notably Turkish Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk and journalist Hrant Dink. A Turkish court later dropped the charges against Pamuk. Dink was found guilty and received a six-month suspended prison sentence. A nationalist teenager later shot and killed him.

The bill to amend article 301 was approved by a parliamentary committee on Friday and is set to go to the floor on Tuesday.

Late last year, the European Union warned Turkey that if it didn't move to cut or amend the law, its prospects for membership might be reduced to null. "It is not acceptable that writers, journalists, academics and other intellectuals ... are prosecuted for simply expressing a critical but completely non-violent opinion," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said at the time.

But even as the Turkish government moves to modify Article 301, legal experts are criticizing the fact that a number of statutes are still on the books in Turkey that pose a potential threat to free speech. Ankara to Change One Law, But Others Still Muffle Dissent >>> By Stefanie von Brochowski in Ankara, Turkey

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)