The European Parliament have expressed harsh criticism against handling of the countrywide protests by the Turkish government. In a resolution accepted yesterday the European Parliament said it was “deeply concerned at the disproportionate and excessive use of force by Turkish police to break up peaceful and legitimate protests in Istanbul's Gezi Park”. The statement went on to say; “The parliamentarians wa ...

Gülen charter schools in US lawmakers' crosshairs The U.S. state of Tennessee has passed a new law limiting the number of foreign teachers at charter schools in an apparent reaction to educational institutions owned by Turkish religious leader Fethullah Gülen, daily Milliyet reported today. A nongovernmental organization called for the law after one of its members, Phyllis Schlafly, wrote an article drawing ...

A new government plan to reform Turkey’s education system could create a new generation of child brides and child laborers, according to one of Turkey’s top business leaders. “There is a concern that the number of child brides and child laborers will increase” with the new system, said Güler Sabancı, the head of Sabancı Holding’s executive committee. “I hope these concerns and discussion will be taken into ...

Retreating amid a barrage of harsh criticism, the Turkish government promises to ‘ease concerns’ regarding a controversial draft to alter the education system Speaking in Antalya, Education Minister Ömer Dinçer says he understands the concerns voiced regarding the proposed changes in the education system. However, he rejects accusations that the changes will undermine the schooling of girls. AA photo The go ...

The protest of the Armenian bill has resulted in a 34.4% drop in French imports compared to the same period of the year prior. The increasing reactions have at present resulted in a monthly detriment to Sarkozy of 356 million dollars. The draft passed by the French Parliament which deems criminalizing the Armenian allegations of a so-called 'genocide' has slowly begun to result in an increasing financial bi ...

The European Union has hailed a judicial reform package recently introduced by the Turkish government to address long-standing shortcomings in the Turkish judiciary. Peter Stano, spokesperson for EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, told Today's Zaman on Wednesday that the European Commission welcomes the intentions of the government to address a number of important obstacles to the enhancement of democ ...

French Senate voted late for Monday a controversial bill making it a crime to deny the 1915 killings of Armenians was a genocide, ignoring warnings from Turkey that passage of the legislation would lead to new sanctions. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned hours before the French Senate debate on the denial bill that runs a high risk of wrecking Turkish-French ties that the bill could provoke reactio ...

A country which always refers to "DEMOCRACY", liberty and especially "FREEDOM OF SPEECH" is upto playing dirty games against Turkey only to win a couple of hundred thousand Armeninan votes by trying to pass a bill which is supposed to punish anybody to deny so-said Armenian genocide (claimed to have been carried out by the Turkish state in the past). It is absolutely NONSENSE and out of logic to even make a ...

A Turkish parliamentarian delegation will pay a two-day visit to Paris from Dec. 19 to 20 to warn the French Parliament of serious damage to bilateral ties if it passes a bill that would criminalize denial of the Armenian "genocide." Led by Volkan Bozkir, the head of Parliament's foreign affairs commission, the delegation will include Kasim Gulpinar of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Osman Koruturk ...