I agree with German Bishops on this one: They are calling for the rededication of a church in the Turkish city of Tarsus, arguing that not only would this be good for the Christians living in Turkey, but that Turkish openness towards Christians would be helpful toward the acceptance of Turks in Germany, and in the rest of Western Europe. (more…)

The German newspaper the Spiegel reports that ‘[t]wo short films have appeared on the Internet featuring the German Islamist Eric B. in which he calls his “brothers” to join the jihad. The authorities have been hunting him for weeks, fearful that he could be preparing a terrorist attack in Kabul. The video messages are fanning those fears.’ (more…)

In what could be interpreted as yet another sign that the situation in Germany is deteriorating, police suspect that Antisemites have vandalized a Jewish cemetery in Berlin. ‘On Monday night, unknown perpetrators knocked over more than 20 headstones.’ (more…)

Funny stuff: Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the country’s Parliament yesterday that those who oppose the plan of a company, sponsored by millions from Qatar, to buy Turkish Sabah atv and newspaper are racists / are discriminating against, well, Arabs I think. He also said that he isn’t angry just because his son is the owner of the company that’s buying Sabah. (more…)

Since Serbia is a Christian country, it seems to me that it won’t take long before Serbia truly joins the European Union (unlike say, o, well, Turkey): ‘The European Union will sign a pact on closer ties with Serbia on Tuesday, a spokesman for EU president Slovenia said.’ (more…)

It seems that French prisons are filled with Muslims. Although Muslims only form 12% or so of France’s total population, they form 60 to 70% of the country’s prison population. 70%. Although, according to researchers, criminologists and Muslim leaders ‘immigrants and the children of immigrants are disproportionately represented in almost every prison system’ on the European continent, France is overdoing it a tad bit. (more…)

Although I’m a fervent critic of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, I’ve got to say that I appreciate his role as ‘Middle Eastern Mediator.’ Turkey is a unique country, in a unique decision. It’s a Muslim country, but focused on the West, modern and secular. It’s friends with most other Muslim countries - most of whom aren’t secular - but it’s also friends with European countries, the United States and, yes, Israel; the Jewish nation-state. (more…)

Via NOS Journaal comes a horrific story: a 70 year old man has been arrested in Austria. Police suspect he raped his daughter constantly, and kept her locked in his basement for 24 years. No one had seen his daughter since 1984. Not only did he rape his daughter, and did he lock her up in his basement, he also made her pregnant seven times. One of the children died soon after birth, three others were raised reasonably normal, and the three other children were kept in the basement with their mother. (more…)

The German newspaper the Spiegel has a great report up - as we are used from this newspaper - about a Turkish-German organization, Hatun and Can, that helps Turkish women escape from forced marriages. Quite some Turkish immigrants are forced to marry with whomever their father wants them to marry. The result is, most often, an unhappy, frequently even abusive marriage. The organization, therefore, does great work, that deserves to get a lot of attention and financial support (I’ll tell you how to donate to this organization below). (more…)

European Parliament: Erdogan only has himself to blame for the closure case against his party, the AKP. The reason, according to the enlightened members of this fake Parliament? “The government put on the brakes on reforms. Article 301 [of the penal code, which criminalizes insulting Turkishness] still stands and no step has been taken in terms of freedom of speech. Now the AKP suffers the consequences of its own mistakes.” (more…)

When it comes to human rights, I can’t help but get the distinct impression that France cares about them, as long as caring about them doesn’t hurt the country financially. If standing up for human rights is bad for the country’s economy, well, French leaders rather ignore that nasty expression. (more…)

‘This exposes that the differentiation between Islam and the West is not about values. It is all about dehumanization of the other. Values such as democracy, freedom and tolerance are mere tools in an old game of forming inferior-superior identities,’ Nejdan Yildiz writes for Turkish Daily News. (more…)

According to Turkish Daily News, Deniz Baykal will be reelected as leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, the CHP (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s party basically). This is bad news for the country’s Kemalists and secularists: Baykal isn’t exactly popular and he has proven to be a less than effective leader. (more…)

Mehmet Ali Birand writes: ‘The other day, I was discussing the recent developments in Turkey with a European friend, who’s an expert on Turkey. I haven’t asked for his permission, so I won’t give his name. I can say, however, that he’s one of the foremost names in European politics.’ (more…)

The Jerusalem Post reports that US Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff said Tuesday that “[t]errorist groups are believed to be actively recruiting Western Europeans for possible attacks in Europe, or to use the continent as a springboard for strikes in the United States.” (more…)

Yesterday, Silvio Berlusconi won the elections in Italy. Since he is the leader of the center right coalition that won big yesterday, he will become the country’s new prime minister; the one before him, Romano Prodi, was forced to resign after only 20 months in office. (more…)

Thanks to all who sent this in: Michael Rubin wrote a great article (for the AEI) about the danger of Islamization of Turkey, and about a man called Fethullah Gülen. Rubin explains: “Few U.S. policymakers have heard of Fethullah Gülen, perhaps Turkey’s most prominent theologian and political thinker. Self-exiled for more than a decade, Gülen lives a reclusive life outside Philadelphia, Pa. Within months, however, he may be as much a household a name in the United States as is Ayatollah Khomeini, a man who was as obscure to most Americans up until his triumphant return to Iran almost 30 years ago.” (more…)

This is why I believe that conservative women are often great national leaders. There is, of course, M. Thatcher, and now we have, in Europe, Angela Merkel. She is Germany’s Chancellor and not quite willing to give in to pressure from China: shortly after China tried to convince her not to meet with the Dalai Lama for the foreseeable future, she has said that she will most certainly meet with the Tibetan leader again. (more…)

Turkish Daily News - Turkey’s biggest English language newspaper, which sometimes prints columns written by yours truly - reports that ‘[d]elegations from Turkey and Iran met in Ankara yesterday to solidify the memorandum of understanding signed last year to develop Iran’s three phases in South Pars gas fields.’ (more…)

The last Turkish veteran of the first World War, Yakup Satar, has died. He was 110 years old. Dr. e. was kind enough to send me the link to the post she wrote about him. In the post, she shares some information about who Yakup Bey was, how he joined the army in World War I, and what he did afterwards. It is a good read, and a great find, for all those interested in World War I and World War II, and especially for Turkish readers of this blog. (more…)