I am unhappy about the recently legislated law on social media and the internet. I have concerns that it might be used to further tighten the sphere of freedoms in this country. Laws legislated as a reaction to some nasty developments unfortunately possess the potential of going to the extreme.
I did not work a day alongside Mehmet Ali Kışlalı, which was my loss. Yet, he has always been my editor, mentor, harshest critic and, fortunately, one of my most devoted readers.
Doctors and health officials are all warning that Turkey has not yet come out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Put aside fears of a second and bigger wave in the fall months, it is not yet possible to claim that the Turkish people have learned the need to abide by the rule of the game: Hygiene, social distance and masks.
The late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktaş would often say July 20, 1974 was the birth date of a safe homeland for his people. Indeed, he was right, though the same date represents a painful wakeup call for the Greek Cypriot people who unfortunately still insist the island completely belongs to them and no one else.
From last Sunday until Tuesday, for three days, Armenia and Azerbaijan were again exchanging fire. How it started? Each country has its own story, but apparently the latest flareup started with an Armenian ambush with heavy artillery and drones killing 11 Azerbaijani soldiers, including a general and a civilian. Azerbaijan claimed it killed over 100 Armenian soldiers in retaliatory attacks, but so far Yerevan has confirmed four deaths.
There are moments to remember. Yesterday morning I wrote a small message to one of Turkey’s living legendary theater actors, Metin Akpınar. I first encountered the great man of theater in my 20’s when together with my beloved countryman Zeki Alasya. They were playing their legendary “Yasaklar,” or “Bans” play, criticizing authoritarianism, the coup period and military tutelage on democratic governance at an Ankara stadium for thousands of people.
A few days ago, the entire country remembered the 27th anniversary of the July 2 Sivas massacre and the blatant murder of 35 people in a hotel burned by a radical mob. It was a very sad anniversary not only for the families of the victims or the Alevi community but for all those who believed the many colors of this society foster incredible and beautiful cultural diversity. Unlike the anniversary of the Sivas massacre, however, the country was rather silent when it came to remembering a similar and indeed worse terrorist attack and murder of 33 civilians, including five women, in Erzincan’s Başbağlar village.
Twenty-seven years ago today, July 2, an Islamist mob staged one of the most shameful acts in republican history in Sivas. Chanting religious slogans polluted with sectarian hatred and vengeance, and benefitting from the inaction of not only the local police but also the military, the mob attacked and burned to death 35 people – including a Dutch journalist – gathered at the Madımak Hotel to attend an annual Alevi festival. Two of the people were workers of the burnt hotel.
A visit to the Greek Cypriot sector of the divided Cyprus by the European Union’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, demonstrated once again not only how irrelevant the EU has become in peacemaking in Cyprus, but also how shortsighted European diplomats might be in calculating the consequences of what they do, or worse, what they decide not to do.
