A few weeks ago a traffic jam forced me to walk through Tarlabasi, an old Greek quarter located in Pera district of Istanbul (Konstantinoupolis). While central Pera (Beyoglu) was where the turn of the century bourgeois lived, surrounded by elite stores and chic cafes, Tarlabasi...
Most of us wake up in the morning and start our daily routine. Some a little early, some rather late. On December 28th, 2011 34 youngsters from Gulyazı village in southeastern Turkey near the Iraqi border did the same. You leave your house to arrive at your office if you are...
The basics don’t change. The basics are: people are born with rights. That’s what we, many nations of the world, have agreed upon and have put down on paper in international treaties and declarations. The right to self-determination, the right to express yourself in your...
Mediterranean and Middle Eastern people are proud of their hospitality. It has been said that strong family ties are the pillars of those societies. Especially in times of need the family size gets bigger as an act of solidarity. In Greece, since the economic crisis hit the...
It could be said that Asia Minor has old-age amnesia. Once cradle of civilization, this region has lost its memory for almost a century now. No one remembers Karamanlis, Pontus Greeks or Smyrnean Armenians who has once created the backbone of the society as well as Ionian...
In my mind personal stories usually outbalance the pressure from mass difficulties. I am more attracted to individuals since their history reveal depth whereas mass prosecutions albeit more representative lack the human side in most incidents. But this take on human rights make...
"This cannot go on" said a journalist friend, referring to the oppression of the media, of Kurdish politics, the silencing of society and rising authoritarianism in Turkey. In return I asked: "Do you mean 'It is impossible for it to go on like this' or 'I will not let it go on...
Fréderike Geerdink Esra wants to take me to the local shop. I’m not sure why, but she insists and takes me by the hand. In the shop I want to buy her and her sister a notebook because they want to practice their writing all the time. But she doesn’t like it. She wants a...
A psychological thriller from Turkish literature: Mountain villagers from Hakkari go for beet harvest and… Was it 7 am, or 8? They left without checking the time. Snow has just left the ground in Hakkari; they’ve got almost a month to dwell. They’ll harvest the...
Fréderike Geerdink “Abdullah Gül has no right to speak”, I hear all the time as a reaction to President Gül resisting the ideology of Dutch politician Geert Wilders, which discriminates against people and marginalises them. That’s because Gül has a problem handling...
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