On June 6 the military court in the southeastern city of Van once again postponed a scheduled hearing in a case brought against three members of the security forces who are accused of carrying out an extra-judicial execution in the Kurdish town of Semdinli in... MORE

The Turkish military has been quick to endorse the June 5 ruling of the country’s Constitutional Court annulling the attempts by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to create a legal framework for lifting the ban that currently prevents women wearing headscarves from attending... MORE

Public Prosecutor Suleyman Aydin has called for an investigation into allegations of a 2004 plot to topple Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), according to a report in the Islamist daily Zaman (June 4). In March 2007 the weekly news magazine Nokta published what... MORE

According to Turkey's Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim, if all goes well, Turkey’s new generation communication satellite Turksat 3A will be launched on June 12 from French Guiana into geosynchronous orbit. The launch, originally scheduled for January, was repeatedly postponed due to unexpected technical difficulties with... MORE

On May 31 the Turkish General Staff (TGS) posted a statement on its website claiming that a boat belonging to the Greek coastguard had violated Turkish territorial waters close to the disputed island of Kardak/Imia off Turkey’s Aegean coast (Turkish General Staff website, www.tsk.gov.tr). The... MORE

On May 30 Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya presented his response to the initial defense of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) against the application for the party’s closure which he originally he filed with the Constitutional Court on March 14 (see EDM, March 17).... MORE

On May 29 Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan publicly denied newspaper reports that Ankara had offered water to Syria in return for engaging in indirect peace negotiations with Israel (CNNTurk, May 30). In recent months, Turkey has been acting as an intermediary between Syria and... MORE

Turkey is likely to face power cuts again this summer as a combination of drought, poor planning and economic populism result in electricity production failing to keep pace with demand. According to official projections by the Turkish Energy Ministry, Turkey will produce 191 billion kilowatt... MORE

In an era of record-high oil prices, Turkey, which imports 90 percent of its energy needs, is considering any and all options, including nuclear. The country’s energy requirements are pitting the government against the country’s environmentalist lobby, one of the strongest in the Middle East.... MORE

Turkey remains a major transit route for heroin trafficking with a substantial proportion of the revenue being used to finance radical organizations, such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to a recent report by the Department for Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime (KOM) in the... MORE