Turkey

The arrest of Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has sent shockwaves through Turkey’s political landscape. Civil society has been protesting every day, amidst a media crackdown that attempts to contain the unrest. What does this mean for Turkey's democracy and the rule of law, and for EU-Turkey relations? We asked 3 Questions to Dawid Bartelt, Director of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung's Istanbul office.

While the European Union is poised for alteration, it becomes important more than ever to remember why Türkiye matters for Europe’s migration challenges. The EU needs a stable Türkiye. A country in severe economic and political conditions, lacking sufficient support for refugees and migrants, perfectly illustrates the push factors that drive further migration where the EU is a near destination. A stable Türkiye benefits the EU, the population in Türkiye, and the surrounding region. This cannot be achieved with unfair policies.

Just days after the devastating earthquake and as the first vehicles loaded with relief supplies set off from German airports in the region, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community and the Federal Foreign Office made an announcement in favour of further assistance: families with a Turkish or Syrian background would be able to take in their family members affected by the earthquake on a temporary basis.

Help knows no borders. There are many people who are willing to take in survivors of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey. Medical support in the stricken areas is desperately needed. But this will require support at political level.

On the night of 6 February 2022, two devastating earthquakes hit south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria. As of now, at least 40.000 people have died, and it is feared that the number of victims will increase drastically. We have compiled a list of organisations to which you can donate in the different affected areas.

2023 promises to be a crucial electoral year in Europe as voters elect new national leaders in several major countries, including Turkey, Poland and Spain. This article explores the role of the European Green Party (EGP) members in these elections.

A new law in Turkey that would jail people for spreading “fake news” online has widened the rift with European digital regulations and human rights standards to tighten the muzzle on the press and social media users ahead of elections next year.

On Monday 25 April 2022 in Istanbul, Turkish philanthropist and civil society activist Osman Kavala was sentenced to life in prison, marking a new low in Turkey’s downward slide into authoritarianism since at least 2013.

In Turkey, where twenty years of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule has seen the country descend into authoritarianism, mainstream media is almost completely under Erdoğan’s control. Social media remains one of the only outlets for those opposing Erdoğan to voice their discontent. Since the 2013 Gezi protests, the AKP has been trying to control the narratives on social media by employing social media trolls: networks of fake accounts that disseminate propaganda for the AKP and targets the opposition. Studies show that these troll networks are becoming more sophisticated and are changing tactics. Fazıl Alp Akiş explains how.

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in recent days has brought new dimensions of  human suffering and political crisis. Afghans are fearful of encountering hostile environments in their neighbouring countries and, in the case of Pakistan, possible security threats for ethnic and religious minorities. 

Turkish President Erdogan, usually a friend of many and often harsh words, needed almost a week before he took a stand on the Taliban takeover in Kabul.

In the age of Tinder, a so-called friend with benefits is defined not so much by the friendship between the partners, but by the fact that they get all the benefits of a romantic relationship without having to be in one. But the relationship between Ankara and Washington, which has cooled off considerably in recent years, has evolved into a partnership in which both sides regularly and openly express doubt as to whether it even is a partnership and whether there are any benefits to it at all.

Turkey and multilateral institutions alike, including the European Union, were already struggling with political and economic crises in the years before the pandemic multiplied the sense of catastrophe. As they seek to pull themselves out of the depths of Covid-19, it is time to set aside the divisions that have long stalled progress for all of them, and seek recovery in cooperation and mutual benefit.

In the middle of the night on March 20, 2021, a presidential decree was published in the Official Gazette, announcing Turkey would withdraw from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention.

The Human Rights Action Plan revealed by Turkish Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan makes bold claims of progress in human rights, freedom of expression, freedom the press and judicial independence. Here an analysis of what the action plan promise us

The EU’s positive agenda in its Turkey policy is based on wrong assumptions where Europe’s strategic interests lie.

Cânân Arın from Istanbul, Turkey, is the tenth recipient of the Anne Klein Women's Award, which honours women who courageously and persistently stand up for human rights, equal rights and sexual self-determination. The lawyer will receive the award in 2021 for her tireless commitment to non-violence, equality and legal security for women and girls. For over 40 years, she has campaigned for women's rights and self-determination. In 1990, Arın was one of the founders of the Mor Çatı (Purple Roof) association and of the first independent women's shelter in Turkey, which was founded in 1995.

Joint statement by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, the Robert Bosch Foundation, the Goethe Institute, the European Cultural Foundation and the Mercator Foundation to members of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the German Bundestag.

The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum intends to sustain EU-Turkey partnership with same old political incentives rather than new responsibility-sharing mechanisms. The Pact will thus promote securitisation in the Mediterranean without generating meaningful change.

The recent escalation of violence in Idlib is also a result of the increasing tensions between Turkey and Russia. The victims are those in Idlib, caught up in a hopeless situation amid a huge spectrum of differing interests.