The fourth Libya Contact Group meeting to be held this week in Istanbul (July 15-16) will no doubt attract wide world attention.
Saturday was a hectic day, as Istanbul hosted the 4th Meeting of the Contact Group on Libya in the confined surroundings of Çırağan Palace.
Whether the near collective resignation of the leadership of the Turkish Armed Forces was the last battle of a long war or the beginning of a new one, this will take some time to determine.
My TV news editor pulled out a long piece of paper from a small metallic stand on his desk where he was keeping his urgent office notes and his house bills.
“I just received two blows from the tax office. Eight hundred euros for something called ‘solidarity tax’ and another hundred euros for ‘business activity’ – they mean the shop I have rented out to a hairdresser.
It is already more than a month since the Turkish government made the historic decision to restore property taken from minority foundations through a dubious 1936 law to these communities.
Last week’s G20 summit ended yet with another stern warning by the head of IMF Christine Lagarde that the situation of world economy “is likely to get worse and that “emerging economies are starting to be affected by the weaknesses in advanced economies.”
October has a special meaning for both Turks and Greeks. For the Turks, Oct. 29 is the occasion to commemorate the founding of the Turkish Republic. For Greeks, Oct. 28 is the anniversary of a moment of national unity under a controversial ruler who refused to bow to a foreign invader.
The new government in Greece under Lucas Papademos is presenting its program this evening before a parliament that is still trying to absorb the shock of last week’s cataclysmic changes in Greece’s political landscape.
