A recent intimidation campaign against Sezen Aksu, the queen of Turkish music, has highlighted how artists as well as politicians, journalists, and activists are subjected to censorship and pressure from power in the country
On 17 January, Turkish President Erdogan visited Albania. The two countries enjoy a close relationship but the delayed common process toward EU membership and human rights concerns on Gulen’s movement repression cast a shadow on it
In Turkey, the recent violence against Syrians in the Altındağ district, in the province of Ankara, has raised the thermometer of intolerance. New migrations from Afghanistan could exasperate the situation
The European Court of Human Rights condemned Bulgaria for the 2016 extradition of a Turkish journalist, hastily handed over to the Turkish authorities who accused him of being part of the Fehtullah Gülen movement, in violation of national and international rules
The murder of a young woman, Deniz Poyraz, is the latest violent attack against the pro-Kurdish HDP party. Its success is inconvenient for many in Turkey, and today the party struggles to avoid being banned by the judicial authorities
Turkish President Erdogan seems ready to launch the "crazy" project of Kanal Istanbul – the artificial canal that should "double" the Bosphorus – despite concerns about the possible environmental and geopolitical impact. The report by our correspondent
Bayram Mammadov was a young Azerbaijani activist who was unjustly imprisoned in 2016 and then released on presidential amnesty. Since 2020 he had been in Istanbul for his studies. On May 2 he was found dead in the Turkish city. His story
Relations between Turkey and China are growing strong, as confirmed by the recent visit to Ankara by the Chinese Foreign Minister. Relations, however, are complicated by the unresolved question of the Turkish-speaking Uyghurs repressed by Beijing
For 45 days students and academics at Istanbul’s prestigious university Boğaziçi have protested the appointment of new rector Melih Bulu, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
Since the beginning of January, students and faculty of the University of Boğaziçi in Istanbul, one of the most prestigious in the country, have contested the irregular appointment of the new rector by decree of President Erdoğan himself. An interview
The Turkish TV series Ethos (Bir Başkadır), launched by Netflix, is enjoying enormous success in Turkey, but also abroad. Through its complex characters, the country looks itself in the mirror, suspended over the invisible moat that separates the religious part of society from the beyaz türkler – the westernised, secular "white" Turks
There are two main discourses about Syrian refugees in Turkey's media: they are depicted either as "guests to help" - thus implicating moral superiority over Europe - or as a "threat", highlighting their otherness from the country's socio-cultural identity. Either way, disinformation is everywhere
A violent earthquake hit Turkey and Greece on October 30th. The fury of the ancient god Poseidon, whom Homer called 'the Earth shaker', has also shaken the memories that accompany - lacerating and nostalgic - the choral lament for the victims
A clash with ancient roots, reactivated by the discovery of huge energy resources on the seabed: throughout the summer Turkey and Greece showed their muscles in the eastern Mediterranean. But is there an actual risk of an open conflict? An analysis
The data from the first four months of monitoring by the MFRR consortium confirm a concerning landscape for the safety of journalists and the state of media freedom, both in EU member countries and in countries as Serbia and Turkey
Turkey is currently the largest prison for journalists in the world, with over 80 media workers in detention. Not content with that, the Turkish parliament has now passed a law that gives the government more control over social networks. An analysis of the situation of the Turkish media
The next elections in Turkey are scheduled for 2023. Despite the assurances of President Erdoğan himself, however, the political spectrum is in turmoil, between new projects and signs of fatigue in the AKP electorate
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Turkey persists in detaining and arresting new journalists. Calls by human rights organisations for the release of journalists and activists are multiplying
Good relations with Turkey and especially with president Erdoğan, at all costs: this is how prime minister Boyko Borisov has managed to protect Bulgaria from the new migration crisis. However, this strategy may be based on fragile foundations
Two Turkish sociologists and journalists went to see with their own eyes what is happening on the border between Turkey and Greece. An intense reportage
The Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala is in jail for more than 700 days. He's accused of trying to overthrow the government and to have financed the Gezi Park protests in 2013. However, there is no convincing evidence against him
The mayors elected in the ranks of pro-Kurdish HDP have been ousted by the Turkish government on charges of flanking terrorism, further reducing the space for a political solution to the Kurdish question
For three days our partners of ECPMF joined 7 other freedom of expression organisations on a joint mission to Turkey, led by the International Press Insitute. Despite some glimmers of hope, press freedom in the country remains in crisis. Here the final statement, released on 13th September
Less than two months after acquittal in the first instance, two journalists and an activist find themselves accused of "terrorist propaganda": Erol Önderoğlu, Ahmet Nesin, and Şebnem Korur Fincancı will have to face the appeal trial
Şükran Şençekiçer, host of online television channel Medyascope, is certain: in Turkey – despite government repression – some have survived and do good journalism. And here we must start again, with courage and enthusiasm
Little known till the beginning of the electoral campaign, opposition candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu (CHP) triumphed at the Istanbul municipal elections last March, later cancelled. A portrait of the young politician on the eve of the rerun, scheduled for June 23rd
Hundreds of Kurdish detainees in Turkish prisons are carrying out a hunger strike to demand an end to the isolation of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. Despite the serious conditions of many detainees, and as many as seven suicides, their protest today seems to be at a dead end
Since 1995, the relatives of numerous "desaparecidos", who disappeared during the Kurdish conflict in Turkey, ask for justice and truth in Galatasaray Square. Last summer sit-ins were banned, but their struggle continues
Afghans represent Turkey's largest community of irregular migrants, still growing despite forced repatriations, denied rights, and difficult living conditions
