Süleyman Demirel

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has honored the achievements of artists with the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Awards.

The annual award ceremony took place at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara with limited participation due to the pandemic.

The Turkish clarinet legend, Mustafa Kandıralı, known to be one of the best clarinet virtuosos not only in the country but also in the world, has died at the age of 90 due to organ failure.

Kandıralı, whose original surname is Kadıoğlu, was born in the northwestern province of Kocaeli's Kandıra district in 1930.

Turkey on June 16 remembered its ninth president, Süleyman Demirel, who passed away five years ago.
Demirel was ousted twice in military coups and survived an assassination attempt before dying of heart failure at the age of 91.
He was one of Turkey's most prominent center-right political figures, serving as prime minister seven times and as president from 1993 to 2000.

In western Turkey lives a man with 64 years of work experience who dedicated his life to making the special leather pants, called kıspet in Turkish, used in traditional Turkish wrestling.

It was a short while before the 1971 Turkish military memorandum. Foreign Minister İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil visited Tehran after receiving an invitation from Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, for a meeting which he later recounted:

I recently read Henry Kissinger's remarks in June about Turkey. I compare it to what he said about Turkey back in 1992, and the difference within the 25 years is heartbreaking. Developments in Syria are poisoning Turkey's intimate relations with its allies. Let me elaborate.

Turkey is no longer polarized. Polarization has reached to such dimensions that as if several "nations of extremes" are living side by side in this country, not only ignoring the sensitivities of the "other" nations but trying to prove their superiority in every way possible. Can this be called "the culture of the powerful"?

In a press conference before taking off for Pakistan on Nov. 16, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said he was for a system where the president could keep his (or her) position as the leader - or at least as a member of his or her party.

Turks who wanted Donald Trump to win because they believe he would harm the country they dislike the most, namely the U.S., appear to be having the last laugh. We see once again how unpredictable democracy can be. 

We don't have to respect the result of the U.S. presidential election, but we have to accept them because we respect the rules of the game. 

Complaints and news stories on the apprehension of the innocent alongside the real suspects are increasing. The issue is growing into a social victimization dimension. Students, civil servants, journalists, businessmen, academics, judges and prosecutors are being detained, so much so that the prime minister feels the need to make frequent warnings.