The Turkey Representation of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, the Diyarbakir Institute for Political and Social Research, İsmail Beşikçi Foundation and Open Society Foundation will jointly organize the international conference “From War to Peace, from Conflict to Resolution” in Istanbul on December 13, 2014 and in Diyarbakir on December 14, 2014. 

The fifth Green Economy Conference of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Foundation opens to discussion the shale gas phenomenon in the energy sector with its social dimensions. 5th.

We regret to inform you that due to current developments in Turkey, “From War to Peace, From Conflict to Resolution” conference series, which would be held in Ankara on the 17th of October and in Diyarbakır on the 19th of October have been postponed until further notice and the new date will be announced at a future date.

Today, especially in light of the Gezi Uprising of last year, it appears that humor lives in and through social media. Magazines could not deal with television, and they could not keep up with the oppositional humor that was evolving by the minute in social media. To be fair, they are not leading this humor, they contribute to it, but they could not become its guiding force or pulling force.

Series were born in this “it is all for commercials” environment and were given a name reminiscent of the radio period: Soap opera. Not because they were light like soap bubbles and disappeared when they popped but because they were produced by soap companies themselves!

The accession of Turkey to the EU has traditionally been an important topic for right-wing and far-right campaigns. This time, even though it did appear in the context of immigration and prejudices against Islam, it did not play a major role in the campaigns. That does not mean, though, that Turkey will be off the far-right agenda. Quite the opposite, Turkey for them is a symbol of many things they are against: migrants and Muslims.

Clearly, the most important trigger issue for Turkey had been the Kurdish question. In a Syria undergoing regime change, Turkey wanted to be on the good side of the potential new rulers from the start. Through first the Foreign Ministry , and later all its units, it started taking into its ambit all Syrian opposition, first the Muslim Brotherhood and the National Council, and then the pro-Al Qaida Al Nusra Front and Iraq Damascus Islamic State.

Since the year 2012 when privatization gained speed, the share of the public sector has shrunk while that of the private sector has rapidly grown in terms of both installed capacity and generation.

The Law for Supporting Tourism is among the main culprits behind the invasion of coasts and forests by five-star hotels from 1980s onwards. The Turkish tourism industry grew by an annual 15% versus a worldwide average of 6.8% from 1985 to 2005. The plan sets targets such as a bed capacity of 1.5 million, over 40 million tourists and an income of 50 billion dollars from foreign tourists.

The AKP’s 2023 vision includes the demand for a “unitary executive.” Nonetheless, the 2014 presidential elections might potentially create a dualistic or two-headed model vacillating between the parliamentary and presidential systems. This possibility would quickly become reality under the presidency of a leader such as Erdoğan.