News archive of March 2017

A delegation of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) in the Turkish parliament is expected to meet Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ on April 3 to discuss the decision by jailed HDP co-chairman Selahattin Demirtaş to go on hunger strike, together with another MP, Abdullah Zeydan, in protest at prison conditions, HDP deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder said in an interview with Fox TV Turkey on March 31.

Jailed journalist Kadri Gürsel did nothing wrong; he did not steal and did not kill. He is as pure as can be. He is only but only a journalist, but he is in jail under arrest. Just like other journalistic colleagues of his, he does not know what he is accused of because there is no indictment. 

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), Turkey grew by 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016. Added to upward revisions of the previous two quarters, that brings Turkey's annual growth in 2016 to 2.9 percent. The same number was 6.1 percent in 2015. 

What does this mean? Turkey recently changed the way it calculates its GDP, leaving all analysts perplexed.

Former Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal applied to the provincial sports directorate for the usage of a sports hall in Adana to hold a referendum rally about 23 days ago, but he has not received any answer for 23 days. 

The organizers are considering a rally for Baykal at the local open bazaar. 

The Constitutional Court has reached a very important decision upon an individual application, which is about the highly debated freedom of press. The decision rules, "Giving a jail sentence for a press offence is openly contradictory to the journalist's freedom of expression and freedom of press." 

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Ankara on March 30 in a first ministerial visit to Turkey since the Donald Trump administration entered office in January. 

We are face-to-face with a brand new crisis, as if there was a shortage of tension in the region. Kurds in the Kirkuk Provincial Council have voted to raise the flag of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) along with Iraq's flag over state buildings in the province. Now - as expected - all hell is let loose.

Mezzosoprano Senem Demircioğlu and pianist İklim Tamkan's first album, produced by renowned pianist Fazıl Say, was released on March 31. 

In the album "İlk Atlas" (First Atlas), Demircioğlu and Tamkan perform poems by Cemal Süreya, Edip Cansever, Metin Altıok and Behçet Aysan. 

As I walked down Kıbrıs Şehitleri Caddesi, İzmir's mini-version of Istanbul's İstiklal Avenue, a man who had the signature of Atatürk tattooed on his forehead passed by. I was too shocked to take photos or ask him if the tattoo was a permanent one.

Three women with the same facial expression of discomfort look straight at you from the huge canvas in Fatih Kızılcan's new exhibition in İzmir, symbolizing the artist's favorite theme: The female's bondage by tradition, religion and society at large.