Politics of Turkey

Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirta? has slammed the fact that the authorities have yet to identify any suspects regarding the seven recent killings in the restive town of Cizre in the southeastern province of ??rnak, which has been roiled by protests for the past month.

The Justice and Development Party?s (AKP) members of a parliamentary panel tasked with probing graft claims against four ex-ministers originally intended to send them to the top court, but an intervention by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an changed their minds, it has emerged.

An alleged fraudster with familial links to Turkey?s former science minister has been exposed as part of a probe into a spying case that encompasses wiretapping then-Prime Minister President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and other top-ranking state officials.

This is a picture of Egemen Ba???, one of the four ex-cabinet ministers facing graft charges who were acquitted at parliament on Jan. 20. He cast his own vote during the vote for for at the Supreme Council, artistically throwing his envelope into the ballot box. He had an arrogant, sarcastic smile on his lips. His eyes were indifferent and casual.

Here is Egemen Ba???, one of the four ex-cabinet ministers facing graft charges who were acquitted at parliament on Jan. 20. He cast his own vote during the vote for trial at the Supreme Council.

Preparations are continuing for President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an?s scheduled visit to Somalia, despite the Jan. 22 suicide attack in Mogadishu, Turkish Ambassador to Mogadishu Olgan Bekar has said.

No causalities are reported from the Turkish delegation, but one Turkish official was slightly wounded in the explosion, Bekar told the Hürriyet Daily News.

Turkey is a net winner from the decline in oil prices, said Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 22.

?Our biggest gain from low oil prices is the improvement in our current account balance,? Babacan said, adding that the decline may have a slight negative effect on collecting tax revenues from petroleum products.

The Turkish president has again called on foreign countries to shut down schools operated by supporters of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, a U.S.-based ally-turned-foe, saying the Turkish state would happily replace those schools.

A suicide car bomb exploded at the gate of a Mogadishu hotel where Turkish delegates were meeting on Jan. 22, a day ahead of a visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an to the Somali capital.
 
"The Turkish delegates are safe inside the hotel," police captain Farah Nur told Reuters. "The hotel was busy."

Is there any response to this cry from a mother whose 19-year-old son was beaten to death in a secluded corner of the city? What she said was, ?Ali?s life should not be this invaluable, this cheap!?