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Turkey and the Kurds: back to arms?

Last year, the Turkish government led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a series of reforms to address the grievances of its 12 to 15-million-strong Kurdish minority. Following a series of political missteps, a nationalist backlash and the closure of a Kurdish political party, the initiative has imploded. A recent referendum has given it a new lease on life.

http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwid ... rom-turkey

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Turkish government suspends military officers

Turkish government suspends military officers implicated in coup plot

Turkey's government has removed three high-ranking officers from duty pending the outcome of a trial in which a group of military officers are accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamic-oriented government.

The suspensions Wednesday were the first time the government removed officers from duty and came as another indication of the growing civilian authority over the military, which once shaped the country's politics.

http://wire.antiwar.com/2010/11/24/turk ... -officers/

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From one megalomanic who purged all political competition to another…

Erdogan Awarded Gaddafi Human Rights Award

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to be the guest of honor at the 3rd European Union-Africa Summit on Nov. 28 in Libya, where he will be given an award by the country's human rights committee.

Mr. Erdogan has been invited to attend the summit by the Leader of the revolution Muammar Gaddafi to be honored with an award by the Gaddafi Humans Rights Award National Committee at a ceremony scheduled to take place on the night of Nov. 29.

http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=5171

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WikiLeaks cables: Pope wanted Muslim Turkey kept out of EU

The pope is responsible for the Vatican's growing hostility towards Turkey joining the EU, previously secret cables sent from the US embassy to the Holy See in Rome claim.

In 2004 Cardinal Ratzinger, the future pope, spoke out against letting a Muslim state join, although at the time the Vatican was formally neutral on the question.

The Vatican's acting foreign minister, Monsignor Pietro Parolin, responded by telling US diplomats that Ratzinger's comments were his own rather than the official Vatican position.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/de ... -eu-muslim

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Almost 200 Turkish soldiers go on trial for coup plot

A trial of nearly 200 current and retired soldiers, including former army generals, accused of plotting to bring down the Turkish government got under way yesterday with the main suspect accusing the prosecution of fabricating evidence by using "copy and paste".

The trial is seen as the latest showdown in the power struggle between Turkey's religiously conservative government and the strictly secularist armed forces.

Three judges from an Istanbul court began hearing the case against 196 suspects, among them former members of the general staff in Ankara and other high-ranking officers, who are accused of planning a coup to topple the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, in 2003, only months after his Justice and Development party, or AKP, had come to power in November 2002.

http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwid ... -coup-plot