Freedom of expression is a very problematic issue in contemporary Turkey. The country may be in accession negotiations with the European Union, yet the lack of freedom of expression -caused by specific laws of the Turkish penal code that undermine it- poses a very big obstacle, and is regularly criticised by the annual European Commission’s [...]

I landed in Islamabad on a hot noon of July 2007. My arrival there sadly coincided with a -not so often until then- suicide bombing at the city center  that took the lives of 13 people, mostly policemen. On the same evening, on my way towards the beautiful Margalla Hills from which one can enjoy [...]

The first alarming signals were sent from Davos. At the panel regarding the events in Gaza during the World Economic Forum in January this year, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan famously accused Israeli President Shimon Peres of “knowing well how to kill people” and –after being refused his “one minute” by the moderator David Ignatius- [...]

Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – AKP), is undoubtedly the dominant political force in contemporary Turkey’s political scene. It has been so since 2002 when it first came to power and keeps strengthening its position steadily ever since. It is indicative to mention that in 2002 it managed to attract a 34.43% [...]