The Turkish government claimed Washington would stop arming the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurdish militia considered among the most successful on the ground fighting the Islamic State (ISIS), following a conversation between President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on November 24.
The hashtag #ÜlkemdeSuriyeliİstemiyorum, which translates to “I don’t want Syrians in my country,” became a trending item on Twitter on July 3 in response to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s announcement that millions of Syrian refugees living in the country would be granted citizenship.
The Jerusalem Post reports: Claims that Israel detained a delegation from a far-right Turkish party at Ben–Gurion Airport on Thursday, including its leader, Mustafa Destici, are greatly exaggerated, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Ahmet Hakan, a columnist for the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, has been discharged from the hospital with broken ribs and a broken nose following a beating by four men on Thursday night, two of whom have ties to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Hakan has received death threats in the past for criticism of the AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey’s escalating crackdown on journalism has gone well beyond incarcerating the odd foreign journalist for covering stories the government wanted to ignore.
Turkish authorities are now targeting Doğan Media Group for “terrorist propaganda,” only days after mobs attacked the offices of Doğan-owned Hürriyet Daily News.
Syrians are the key actors in the human trafficking organizations that illegally smuggle migrants across the Aegean Sea, from Turkey into the European Union (EU), reports Hurriyet Daily News.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the opportunity of speaking to a think tank in Istanbul on Monday to attack The New York Times for sounding the alarm on freedom of the press in Turkey. He suggested that its criticisms of Erdogan’s use of the legal system to intimidate news outlets was “overstepping the limits of freedom,” and told the New York outlet, “Know your place.”
A statue of an Ottoman prince taking a selfie in the Turkish city of Amasya has become both a major tourist attraction and the victim of multiple vandalizations, as residents and tourists alike differ on whether the artwork is a fun homage to the city’s history or a vulgar commercialization of Turkish culture.
