God let me live so that I could tell the story' Ovsanna Kaloustian Turkey The diminutive old woman does not go out in Marseille much any more. She hunches over a cane and is spoilt, mollycoddled by her daughter and grandchildren. Ask her about her childhood, and she becomes perfectly alert. Ovsanna Kaloustian is 106 years old, and one of the last survivors of the Armenian genocide of 1915 . As a memory...
s bill extending control over police, judges and prosecutors flouts separation of powers The Turkish prime minister's campaign to purge the top echelons of the national police and tame the country's senior judges ran into its first wall of international criticism on Tuesday when Brussels told Recep Tayipp Erdoğan that he had to rewrite a contested bill to follow European standards. Erdoğan is on his...
s death (5 December). The article drew comparisons between Mandela, Nehru, Aung Sang Suu Kyi and me. Such comparisons belying a hegemonic mindset demonstrate a lack of understanding of the reality of those faced with struggling for freedom. In describing me as "feared and worshipped", I detect hostility towards those who are forced to rely on their self-belief in their struggle against slavery, massacres...
s relentless effort to silence any opposing voices. This kind of targeting of the medical community is not only repugnant, but puts everyone's health at risk." Dr Hande Arpat, of the Ankara Chamber of Medical Doctors, who volunteered during last summer's protests, said the government had written medical history by passing a law that runs counter to all principles of medical care. "Not only does the...
s Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) said police had raided its offices in the southern city of Kilis, and detained one person. The IHH came to prominence in May 2010 when Israeli marines stormed its Mavi Marmara ship to enforce a naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists. "IHH aid is delivered to Syrian babies, children and those who freeze...
the defining humanitarian crisis of our time' The Refugee Council's letter to David Cameron The crisis posed by millions of refugees from Syria's civil war flooding into neighbouring countries is becoming a humanitarian and political catastrophe that can only be eased if Europe opens its doors, the UN and European commission have warned. More than 2.1 million refugees have been registered by the UN...
We follow the lives of two Syrian refugee families as they encounter people-smugglers, border guards and shocking conditions on their journey into Europe John Domokos Alex Rees Mustafa Khalili ...
t know who was in charge. There was The Islamic State of Iraq in Sham [Isis, a name given to the main al-Qaida group in the north – the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant], the Free Syria Army, the Islamic Front. It changed every few miles." The family had woken early last Friday, sensing the latest outbreak of violence to ravage the north meant a hope of escape. For one week prior, the myriad fighting...
s constitution Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has promised to push ahead with judicial reforms that prompted a fist fight in parliament. He also denied that he was trampling on the constitution as the government battles a damaging corruption scandal. Rival MPs threw punches, water bottles and even an iPad as the parliament's justice commission met on Saturday to discuss a draft bill...
Neill, then at Goldman Sachs, to show that western investors needed to take notice of what was happening in the post-cold war global economy. Robert Ward, of the Economist Intelligence Unit, linked Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt and Turkey but the Civets never really took off. Now O'Neill is championing the Mints, a name first coined by the fund managers Fidelity, for what he thinks will be the...
s strong economic growth over the past decade, bringing relative prosperity to previously neglected parts of the country, has underpinned the popularity of the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his mildly Islamist Justice and Development party (AKP). But the danger of a worsening economy is compounding the instability, essentially political, that has seized the country in the past year, generating...
s deputy police chief was sacked overnight, the most senior commander yet targeted in the purge of a force heavily influenced by a cleric whom the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accuses of plotting to seize the levers of state power. Erdoğan's AK party sent plans to parliament allowing the government more say over the appointment of prosecutors and judges. Erdoğan argues that a judiciary and...
sons and businesspeople close to government Hundreds of Turkish police officers have been dismissed from their posts overnight and some moved to traffic duties, local media reported, further undermining a corruption investigation which the prime minister says is a covert attempt by a rival to usurp state power. Tayyip Erdoğan – who is facing the biggest challenge of a 10-year rule that has seen the...
s appeals court in October upheld the convictions of retired officers for leading a plot to overthrow Erdoğan's government a decade ago. The military last week filed a criminal complaint over the court cases, saying evidence against serving and retired officers had been fabricated. "There is not a problem for us about retrials as long as the legal basis is established. In terms of regulations, we are...
rhetoric, the fight to survive in the global economy is a shared experience for the two historic rivals As British crowing about last year's return to growth increasingly irks the struggling administration of François Hollande, it is worth remembering that London and Paris have more in common than they care to admit. While London looks like a vibrant city of skyscraper developments and trendy pop-up...
s abuse of power is being exposed by the equally intimidating exiled spiritual leader Fethullah Gülen Imagine for a moment you saw yourself as a "model for the world" like the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who recently not only retained the world titles for locking up journalists and ordering Google to take down web pages, but also declared yet again that he would not rest until Turkey...
s government has said it is fending off a "mini coup attempt" by elements in the police and judiciary who served the interests of foreign and domestic forces bent on humbling the country. Ali Babacan, the deputy prime minister, said the ruling AK party had in the past survived military coup plots and attempts in the courts to outlaw the party. It would not now yield to a corruption investigation that...
s power Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has vowed to fight off a corruption crisis circling his cabinet, saying those seeking his overthrow would fail just like mass anti-government protests last summer. Erdogan accused his opponents of trying to sap the power of Turkey and compared the latest allegations to the protest movement that centred on Istanbul's Gezi park. "They said 'Gezi'...
s massive anti-government revolts, hundreds of people took to the streets in cities across Turkey on Friday night calling for the government to resign following a high-profile corruption scandal that involves sons of cabinet ministers, leading businessmen and the head of a state-owned bank. In Istanbul, riot police broke up demonstrations using teargas, water cannon and plastic bullets. According to...
A bribery and corruption investigation involving close allies of the government has led to a new outpouring of anger against Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government. Protests on the streets of Instanbul grew increasingly violent today ...