December 2009 Kurdish protests in Turkey

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) slammed U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino on April 4 over his remarks on Turkey's local elections.       

Turkey's Constitutional Court has found a local court ruling banning access to an online article a "violation of freedom of press and expression," sending the case to an Istanbul court for retrial.

Turkey's National Security Council Meeting (MGK) which convened under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ended late on Sept. 22, stressing that the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum slated for Sept. 25 was illegitimate and unacceptable.

The Turkish Parliament is attempting to pass an internal rule according to which any MP using the term “Kurdistan” in the country’s national assembly should be be fined. The draft proposal has been approved by the ruling pro-Erdogan AKP party and its nationalist coalition partner MHP. The proposed changes would also ban MPs who abstain from taking the oath of parliamentary privileges.

Turkey's drift from the Western alliance is going to be very painful, and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. As the West has started to perceive Turkey truly as a failing state, the country's rulers have started to feel freer to express their hostility (past and present) toward the West. 

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have engaged in a spat on the raising of the flag of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) during Massoud Barzani's visit to Istanbul on Feb. 26. 

Selahattin Demirtaş, a co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey, met with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani in northern Iraq on Sept. 21, with HDP deputy Nimetullah Erdoğmuş saying Demirtaş "requested support" from the KRG head. 

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahçeli has slammed the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) close relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, comparing KRG President Masoud Barzani to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). 

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned Turkey for dissolving a political party in 2009 for alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), saying the party did not promote violence nor warrant such a severe sanction.

The missing section on the government-led Kurdish peace process, suggesting an expansion of freedoms and rights and continued efforts for the resolution of the process after the elections, has finally been added back into the election manifesto of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).