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POPSTurkey is Centre of the World Despite the fragile situation, if Turkey were to organise autonomy for Kurds in its own borders, northern Iraq, Syria and Iran it would be a heroic act of enormous historical import.
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POPSRethinking Islam A useful article for those who study Islam or who are interested in The secularist values of Ataturk Turkey. On another note, interesting for parallel western attempts to resurrect Christianity.
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POPSTurkey: the essence of the secularist debate I am with the first view. Secularism should include the freedom of view and the removal of primitive impediments to democratic participation. the lifting of the Kurdish linguistic ban is a step forward too. Even if the move results in accelerating value clashes and violence, the principle holds true.
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POPS Tehran Calls Iranian Kurds "Terrorists" In an exclusive interview with Newsmax recently in Berlin, Ahmadi says that Iran was now working hand-in-glove with Turkey to get PJAK labeled as a terrorist organization. “Iran knows they can’t make trouble for us directly because they have such bad relations with Europe. That’s why they are going through Turkey.” The Iranian regime has been telling journalists and diplomats that PJAK and the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers Party) are the same. “But we are an Iranian party, and have nothing to do with Turkey,” he says. PJAK has become a serious threat to the regime in Tehran because it is fighting to overthrow the clerical regime in favor of a secular republic and because it favors equality between men and women, Ahmadi asserts. The group has around 2,500 armed guerilla fighters, 40 percent of whom are women.
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POPSTurkey's Hatred of Free Speech Until recently, Turkey banned public usage (eduaction, broadcasting etc) of Kurdish language. Kurds make up a fifth of population. There is a strong strand of nationalism which seeks to reframe the Armenian holocaust as the fault of the Armenians. Turkey is seeking membership of the european union.
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POPSWill the U.S. let Turkey go it alone against PKK or join assault on rebels? 
More: With 100,000 Turkish troops now said to be massed on the border with Iraq, Turkish officials and experts anticipate an operation against Kurds in as little as a week Some see this as a choice between keeping Turkey as an ally and appeasing northern Iraq," said Faruk Logoglu, a longtime foreign policy adviser and currently the president of the Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies. "It's more than that. The U.S. is now choosing between a united and divided Iraq A German Marshall Fund poll found that only 7 percent of Turks now think that the U.S. should play a strong role in international affairs and only 2 percent approve of U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. used to be very popular in Turkey. Standing in a street plastered with Turkish flags, Cengiz Atalay, 30, of Ankara said: "We are ready for war." Across town, student Samet Meydan, 21, noted, "What's now clear is that the United States is no longer a friend to Turkey." Erdogan said this week, "Americans should be w
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POPSWhy Turkey Hates America Background for those interested in what is going on in Iraq and the complex of neigbouring geopolitical factors which will influence it.