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World
Istanbul Governor bans LGBTQ pride parade
The Governor of Istanbul has banned the holding of an LGBTQ pride parade in the city for the fourth consecutive year, Efe Songün wrote for The Daily Beast. “This year’s ban was expected considering the bans on other LGBTQ activities announced under the state of emergency earlier this year in Ankara,” Songün said. “Even though…
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World
Turkey drops 2 spots to rank 157th out of 180 countries in 2018 World Press Freedom Index by RSF
Turkey, which has jailed more than 250 journalists and media workers, is ranked 157th among 180 countries in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index released on Wednesday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). As the world’s biggest prison for professional journalists, Turkey has managed to fall another two places in the past year, which…
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World
Turkey’s State of Emergency shrinking space for dissidents : UN
“Protracted restrictions on the human rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association are incompatible with the conduct of a credible electoral process in Turkey,” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High commissioner for human rights, said in a statement on Wednesday, stressing that these rights are particularly crucial in…
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World
Spies & Journalists, the Thin Line Tightened between Media and Security
“23-year-old Zubeida is one of 1,500 Egyptians who vanished from the streets in what human rights campaigners call enforced disappearances. Zubeida’s mother spoke to Orla Guerin (BBC correspondent in Cairo) about the torture her daughter was subjected to at the hands of the police”. This was what BBC Newsnight tweeted…
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World
40 Years of Fake Peace and Illusion Wars
On 9 November 1977, late Egyptian President Sadat (born December 25,1918, assassinated October 6, 1981), startled the world by announcing to his parliament his intention to visit Jerusalem and speak before the Knesset (the unicameral national legislature of Israel), seeking genuine peace. The initiative was prepared by the US political…
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World
The Political Domino Effect in the Middle East
The military occupation of the British, the French, and the Soviets departed from many parts of the Middle East during and after World War II, while Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern states on the Arabian Peninsula generally remained unaffected by World War II. However, after the war, the…
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World
Why Do Dictators Kill Cartoonists?
Naji al-Ali was the most significant cartoonist in the Arab world; his works have been published in almost every publication of Arab media, but thirty years ago, he was gunned down on the streets of London—where he had fled to from Kuwait three years earlier upon receiving death threats. The…
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World
The Two Middle Easts!
The term “Middle East” used to combine two different regions both inhabited by Arabs: Egypt and North Africa countries along with Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Yemen, on the one hand, and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula states: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE on the other. Differentiating…
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Politics
Global military expenditure rises to 1.686 tln USD in 2016
The total world military expenditure rose to 1.686 trillion U.S. dollars in 2016, an increase of 0.4 percent in real terms from 2015, according to a report released on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). According to the report, “the United States remains the country with the…
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World
Dictatorship or Reform after Turkish Referendum?
A constitutional referendum was held in Turkey on 16 April 2017 on to approve 18 proposed amendments to the Turkish constitution. According to this initiative, the Prime Minister`s office would be abolished and the existing parliamentary system of government would be replaced with a presidential system. ‘Yes’ won with 51.39…
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