News archive of June 2014

The ‘meat-eater’ tombs of the ancient city of Assos in Turkey’s northwest acquired fame throughout the world as bodies inside the tombs used to decompose within a short period of time Forget about lions, tigers or other big predators, the real carnivores in Assos in Çanakkale are the ancient city’s tombs, whose stones are famous for causing bodies to decompose in record time.

The Arab Spring has turned out to be a massive failure.

It did not bring democracy to the Arab peoples.

It brought a new era of coup d’etats like in Egypt, chaos and division like in Libya, and civil war and the decomposition of existing borders in Syria and Iraq.

President Abdullah Gül has announced that he will not run for presidency again.

According to his statement, he had told Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before the local elections that he would not run again.

A new day is starting. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is not only nominating its presidential candidate; it is also closing one chapter and opening another one.

We will go through a stage when we will be very curious. We will waste time with a lot of gossip, scenarios and names.

“I have rarely been to a country where everyone is so consummated by politics; that’s wonderful. Turks love to talk politics, but as an economist, I focus on the structural side of the economy and we accept the environment as it is.”

This is the answer I received from Word Bank Turkey director Martin Raiser.

Change.org is a “social change” platform that makes its voice heard increasingly throughout the world.

You can start a campaign over the Internet with change.org on any issue you oppose or you want to change and it is possible to reach hundreds of people in a couple of hours.

There is no point in mincing words. Hardly anything has turned out the way Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had planned, predicted or hoped for in the Middle East.

It is hackneyed at this stage to point out that their “zero problems with neighbors” approach has been a dismal failure. But that is the case.

Whatever else you may say about the “young war criminal” (as British journalist Alan Watkins used to call former prime minister Tony Blair), he certainly fights his corner with great determination. He is condemned to spend his life defending his part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and last weekend he was at it again.

The recent advance of the ISIL and the fall of Mosul are forceful reminders to Ankara that it cannot neglect preparedness for asymmetrical warfare.

The 21st Istanbul Jazz Festival kicks off tomorrow. The event hosts the premiere of Turkish composer, author and musician Zülfü Livaneli’s new piece composed for the poems of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi Organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Arts and Culture (İKSV), the 21st Istanbul Jazz Festival begins tomorrow.