MUSTAFA AKYOL

The road from Brussels to Shanghai MUSTAFA AKYOL

The road from Brussels to Shanghai

Turkey’s decades-long relationship with the European Union is now in state of coma. The European Parliament voted the other day in favor of “freezing” the relationship, while Ankara responded in a “we-don’t-give-a-damn” sort of mood. The vote is not legally binding, and it will be up to the European Council, consisting of the leaders of the member states, to decide on Turkey’s future next month.

November 25 2016
Did the Turkish government just try to legalize child rape MUSTAFA AKYOL

Did the Turkish government just try to legalize child rape?

If you have been following Turkish news, the odd question in my headline might have occurred to you.

November 22 2016
When reason does not work MUSTAFA AKYOL

When reason does not work

For decades, I have been a believer in human reason. By that, I don’t mean that I have been a hardcore French rationalist who thinks that we can find all truths through reason

November 18 2016
A sad farewell to the European Union MUSTAFA AKYOL

A sad farewell to the European Union

President Tayyip Erdoğan spoke to a supportive audience in Ankara on Nov. 14 and said something about the strained relations between Turkey and the European Union

November 15 2016
The brave new world with Donald Trump MUSTAFA AKYOL

The brave new world with Donald Trump

Last Tuesday night, I went to bed thinking that I would probably wake up to a world with Hillary Clinton as the next American president. I woke up instead, of course, to Donald Trump as the next American president. It was a big surprise, of course, if not a shock. But I told myself, as I later told others, “Don’t panic, it probably won’t be that bad.”

November 11 2016
Thoughts about the next US president MUSTAFA AKYOL

Thoughts about the next US president

By the time you are reading these lines, the presidential election in the United States will be over.

November 08 2016
Vicious cycle on the Kurdish front MUSTAFA AKYOL

Vicious cycle on the Kurdish front

When I woke up yesterday, I saw two breaking news: First, around a dozen members of the Turkish Parliament, all from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), had been detained by the police. Second, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a terrorist group that fights for Kurdish autonomy, had bombed the police station in Diyarbakır, killing eight people and injuring almost a hundred.

November 04 2016
Depressing news from Turkey MUSTAFA AKYOL

Depressing news from Turkey

SARAJEVO – I have been in Europe in the past week, in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Heidelberg, Germany, for public talks on freedom.

November 01 2016
Is Ankara really irredentist now MUSTAFA AKYOL

Is Ankara really irredentist now?

Dictionaries define “irredentist” as “a person advocating the restoration to their country of any territory formerly belonging to it.” What makes this relevant to us today is that there are some political commentators who suggest that Ankara has lately become “irredentist.” Are they right?

October 28 2016