A Syrian Refugee Camp in Turkey

Housed in Boynuyogun camp in Turkey the Syrians of Jisr al-Shughour find themselves as refugees. Their stories demonstrated the terror they lived through.

Turkey To Lead Inquiry Into Israel’s Attack On Flotilla

That’s how most unsuspecting American news readers have or will read the news headlines about Israel appointing judge Yaakov Turkel to lead the Israeli Inquiry.
So you really must admire the Israelis for their sense of humor. It is obvious they only appointed the judge to cause confusion through resemblance to “Turkey”; namely, his turkey neck. his turkey neck

You Betta Recognize, Son!

An old roommate recently asked me over the phone: “Hey, did you hear that Abkhazia is an officially independent country?”

The excitement in his voice and his eagerness to hear my answer were the only things I could hear in that split-second silence before I answered in the affirmative.

This former roommate, it just so happens, is an Abkhaz Circassian from Syria, the son of an Abkhaz Kabardin father and an Adigha mother.

“Circassian,” “Abkhaz,” “Adigha” were all unfamiliar terminology two years ago, but as I came to discover, Circassians have a very long history in Middle Eastern, as Mamluks, Amirs and Sultans, ruling Syria and Egypt for almost three hundred years.

Ramadan 2008 brought me the opportunity to sit down with my friend’s father, a diplomat and a high ranking Abkhaz political figure and to hear an abridged version of the past 100+ years of Circassian history.

T.E.A.M. (Turkey + Europe + Armenia = Membership)

Slovenia’s public and unwavering support for Turkey to enter the European Union is seeing some immediate results with today’s announcement that Turkey and Armenia are preparing to take the necessary steps towards re-establishing diplomatic ties after so many years of hostility and animosity.

After a short period in the dark, it’s good to see Turkey mentioned in the diplomatic sphere of recent current events.

What really surprised me though, were the grossly flawed assessments and erroneous assumptions of what would happen after these ties are established (if they ever do get set up) namely, that once Turkey and Armenia tear down their walls of enmity and build up their bridges of diplomacy, Ankara’s bid for membership in the European Union will be on one way ticket towards becoming a reality.

Obama the Ottoman: His Trip to Turkey Forces the Parallel

Renewed American engagement with the Middle East has been aggressive on all fronts, hinting at what could be the beginning of a new imperial order, albeit one that resembles the dying days of old empire there. Obama’s announced trip to Turkey brings to mind American foreign policy’s growing resemblance to one stage of the Ottoman [...]

No big deal…

When Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan walked away from a WEF session on Gaza, he did so angrily but calmly – he did not “storm” off the stage as we keep reading in the press. While he was understandably offended by the Israeli president, he kept his composure. He finally left because the moderator would not [...]

Bring Back the Ottoman Empire!

Okay, so the title is in jest, but really, I loved the theatrics of the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He stormed out of a panel with Shimon Peres after debating the rights and wrongs of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip. In a show of protest, [...]

Noor: The Conspiracy Against the Arab Family and Unromantic Arab Men

A Turkish TV soap opera, ‘Noor,’ is making the Arab world, and especially, but not exclusively, the women, into captive zombies. They are mesmerized by the lead male, Mohannad, played by a tall young Turk — a former basketball player — with icey blue eyes (the model, Kivanc Tatlitu). Noor is a modern fashion designer. [...]

Turkey’s War on the Kurds Hits Iraq

The Iraqi government is not too happy that Turkey is staging attacks on Kurdish rebels holed up in Northern Iraq. The Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and many European states, has been launching attacks against Turkish people and military targets from bases in Kurdish Iraq. The [...]

Turkey Almost Votes for Religious Freedom!

According to the print issue of the International Herald Tribune on Feb 8, Lawmakers voted early Thursday to approve a constitutional amendment to allow women to enter universities wearing Islamic head scarves, a move that many secular Turks view as an attempt to impose religion on their daily lives. Lawmakers voted 401 to 110 in [...]