News archive of March 2015

Two suspected members of the outlawed DHKP-C group have been killed in an operation to free a captive Turkish prosecutor on Tuesday in Istanbul.

The prosecutor, however, has also died after being seriously injured during the operation that led to his rescue.

As one of our editors said around the front page desk yesterday, our news agenda on March 31 could have made headlines for at least a month in any Scandinavian newspaper.

On June 7, just 67 days from now, Turkey will go to the polls in what many in Ankara regard as one of the most crucial elections for the future of the country. In a weeks? time, all political parties will have to submit their lists of parliamentary candidates to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) and will gear up their election campaign.

There has been no disruption in the production of electricity. On the contrary, there has been excess electricity production. It is so high that selling electricity has become very cheap; producing and selling electricity actually results in a loss for companies. The best way to avoid losses is ?zero sales.?

The eccentric idea in the headline above is actually a hashtag I recently noted on Twitter: #staymuslimdontvote. Then I realized that this is a broader campaign calling British Muslims not to vote in the U.K. elections. For if Muslims engage in the heretical act of voting, the campaigners claim, they would well be betraying their faith and even cease to be Muslims.

What kind of messages should we deduce from the main opposition Republican People?s Party?s (CHP) recent election primaries?

The essential message should be this: Primaries increase the enthusiasm and feeling of belonging to the party?s constituency, increasing the intensity of the will of the people.

If countries were human beings and could be put to a therapist?s chair, Turkey would probably be sent to a clinic instead of being prescribed regular sessions. Before one overcomes the shock from one absurdity, one would be showered by five more (often heavier) blows.

Can it be possible to end the Syrian quagmire through some sort of a proxy war against a ruthless dictator by a coalition of not-so-clean democratic performance or an imperialist, hegemonic "coalition of the willing" aspiring, apart from some other comparatively less important strategic interests, to oust Russians from the Middle East?

A work by one of modern Turkish literature?s most important writers, Sabahattin Ali, will be translated into English for the first time.

By Chryssa Liaggou

Business sentiment and consumer confidence were in decline in March, according to a monthly survey conducted by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) and published on Tuesday.