Abdullah Öcalan is a brutal and murderous terrorist. Let us make no bones about that. But the sight of him on television, a pathetic, blindfolded figure paraded for the cameras in front of two large Turkish flags while tens of thousands of Kurds demonstrated their anger at his arrest in cities across Europe, was evocative nonetheless.
Turkish prime minister Bulent Ecevit could hardly conceal his glee when he announced on February 16 that Ankara’s most wanted man had finally been captured. Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), had been arrested by Turkish Special Commandos and brought back to Turkey ‘to account for his deeds before an independent court.’
I was invited as a speaker to Al-Quds Day meeting on January 31, 1997, which was part of the Ramadan activities held by Sincan municipality, a district of Ankara. Before the program, I sent the organizers a video cassette exposing the crimes of Zionism and highlighting the Palestinian cause.
Istanbul, once a magnificent city of Islamic civilization, known to Muslims of another age as Jannatu dunya (paradise on earth), is today laid open for inspection by the prying eyes of western tourists.
Even before Turkish president Suleyman Demirel invited former prime minister Bulent Ecevit to form a government early this month, following the collapse of Mesud Yilmaz’s coalition on November 25, the Turkish military had made its position on the matter perfectly clear...
The bitter dispute between Italy and Turkey over Rome’s refusal to extradite Abdullah Öcalan, the founder and leader of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), to Ankara to stand trial on charges of terrorism has dealt a serious blow to Turkey’s relations with the European Union (EU).
Turkey appears once again to be headed for turmoil. In this 700-year old country of 70 million Muslims, the seven-decade old military government is at war with Islam, imposing western secularism under the boots of Mustafa Kemal’s generals.
When Turkish prime minister Mesut Yilmaz hobnobbed with Israeli leaders on September 7, there were hardly any quizzical eyebrows raised. This is furthur affirmation of the close ties with Tel Aviv which have long been assiduously cultivated by the Turkish secularist political elites and their shoulder-boarded godfathers in the military.
Displaying characteristic arrogance and imperial over-reach, the US not only sent its troops for exercises into Uzbekistan but also got such arch-rivals as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey to join in what were billed as Nato’s "Partnership for Peace" programme.
The French senate is set to consider a bill passed by the French National Assembly which recognizes the alleged genocide of Armenians by Turks during the first world war.
When the Syrian ambassador in Washington, Walid al-Mu’allim, recently spoke about his country’s rights in the province of Alexandretta, he also signaled that the turbulent relations between Syria and Turkey have inched closer toward a crisis point.
To their eternal shame, Kemalists in Turkey continue to expose themselves as a morally bankrupt bunch. They ban Muslim girls and women who wear the hijab from attending school or university but insist that adultery is permissible.
The joint military exercises held in the Eastern Mediterranean by the US, Israel and Turkey last month are an ominous development, which Muslims must treat, and resist, as grave strategic threat to their security.
Turkey’s secular fundamentalist establishment struck the country’s Islamic movement another blow on January 16, when the Supreme Court voted by 9-2 to ban the Refah Party for being Islamic and to banish the Party’s leader...
Reacting to a calculated snub by the European Union (EU), prime minister Mesut Yilmaz has threatened to withdraw Turkey’s application for full membership if it is not formally accepted as a candidate before June...
The Developing Eight (D-8) economic cooperation group got off to a shaky start on June 15 in Istanbul as its most passionate advocate, prime minister Necmettin Erbakan of Turkey struggled with his hawkish generals to hang on to power.
A tug of war between the Refah-led government of prime minister Necmettin Erbakan and the military establishment over the role of Islam in public life has dominated Turkish political scene since the end of February.
Since late 1996, the big story in Washington has been a scandal about foreign donations offered to the Democratic Party’s election fund.
With Greece, Armenia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia, China and others engaged, to varying degrees, in attacking Turkish interests or blocking Turkish influence in Europe and Central Asia, Turkey is not short of enemies.
A battle is coming to a head in Turkey. A battle which may release the republic from the clutches of the local and international Mafia or it may lose for Turks the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and lead to the eventual creation of a Kurdish entity- a second break-up of the Great Turkish state.
