Plans to abolish “prep schools” in Turkey have sparked a huge feud between two of the country’s most powerful forces on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AK party have proposed eliminating the schools, which provide private tuition classes to help high school children prepare for university entrance exams.
This has angered supporters of the Gulen movement, which finances and runs many of the schools. Numerous hashtags about the row have been tweeted millions of times over the past week.
#BBCtrending reports that the row points to deeper tensions between Mr Erdogan and the Gulen movement.
It’s never easy to find diplomats who speak publicly without beating around the bush and concealing facts, even if they are retired. Exceptions make especially us journalists happy. Former United States Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone is one of them.
Abant participants: Turkey needs EU support to improve its democracy
24 June 2012 / YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN, ABANT No matter the problems related to the European Union’s historical financial crisis and Turkey’s loss of enthusiasm regarding membership in the EU; participants of the 27th Abant meeting, titled “Different Perspectives on Turkey,” have said that Turkey needs the EU in order to improve its fragile democracy. […]
Divided republic of RTE
The most recent example of the division is reflected at the social level. A realtor put a sign on his shop saying, “Followers of the Gülen movement are not allowed to do business in this shop.” Pro-Erdoğan journalists, instead of condemning the shop owner, thanked him. This is a typical hate crime promoted by Erdoğan and his close associates.
Factory settings of Turkey as a nation-state
ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ 18 May 2012 If we were to give a title to an article discussing the problems most heatedly debated in Turkey, I think the best option would be “Woes of transitioning from an empire to a nation-state.” It has been no easy task to transform a multi-faith, multi-lingual and diversity-dominated empire into a […]
Yamanlar College student wins gold medal in int’l computer project competition
Mustafa Ege Şeker, a student of Yamanlar College in İzmir, has won a gold medal with a computer project he made for the 14th InfoMatrix International Computer Project Competition.
Turkish citizens keen to return to Yemen after conflict settled
Despite being evacuated from Sanaa only after an almost week-long wait at the capital’s international airport, many Turkish nationals are looking forward to returning to Yemen to resume their educational activities once the conflict currently consuming the country is settled.
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