Romanian appeals court denies Turkey’s request for extradition of Erdoğan critic

The Bucharest Court of Appeal has denied the extradition of educator Fatih Gürsoy on dubious terrorism charges brought by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and underlined the fact that the Lumina Educational Institutions “operates according to the Romanian law.”

Reactions pour in over Turks’ controversial arrest in Malaysia as UN joins calls against extradition

The UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia has expressed serious concern about the recent arrests of three Turkish nationals in Malaysia, joining calls on the government to refrain from extradition.

Gov’t inspects Gülen-inspired schools while ignoring run-down state schools

The poor condition of state schools in Turkey was exposed by Today’s Zaman reporters on Monday, who found that despite the government expending considerable resources investigating and raiding private educational institutions sympathetic to the Gülen movement, many state schools fail to meet even basic health and safety standards.

Corruption investigation: Questions that will hound PM Erdoğan

Everyone is wondering now what is behind the corruption investigation, and the first “suspect” to come to many minds is the Islamist Gülen movement. Tensions between this group and the AKP have been rising over the years, and boiled over recently due to the prep-school issue – a matter that has received wide media coverage.

The Gülen movement denies this but the vitriol flying between daily Zaman, which is close to Gülen, and Yeni Şafak, which is staunchly pro-AKP, is enough to give one a sense of the bitter struggle involved.

Today’s Zaman celebrates sixth anniversary

BÜLENT KENEŞ On Jan. 16, 2013, Today’s Zaman’s sixth year will be complete. Since the very day this paper launched it has exerted great effort to promote the demilitarization and democratization of Turkey with the hopes that it will transform into a more transparent country governed by the rule of law. In this context it […]

Are ambassadors propaganda officials for the ruling party?

Those who order ambassadors to put their citizens abroad in a difficult position in violation of human rights and national interests do not understand this: The international community is more concerned about whether the government sticks to democratic principles and the rule of law and less about who triggered the recent political crisis.