Deze week in De Balkanman, @mitrala.bsky.social over Turkije, de Balkan, raki, rakija en Utrecht. En zelfs nog meer. Luister nu in je favoriete podcastapp.

Nadat dictator Assad in december Syrië ontvluchtte, kwamen gruwelijke overblijfselen van het regime aan het licht. NOS-collega's Daisy Mohr en Edmée van Rijn reisden onder andere naar Damascus om daar verslag van te doen. En voor die verslaggeving wonnen ze gisteravond De Tegel ✨

Trial of 5 journalists who covered Turkish protests set to open cpj.org?p=472669

Highly recommend to listen to @bilgeyesil.bsky.social to understand how Turkey has been and still is increasingly trying to control the media, on and offline 👇🏼

Well-known investigative journalists Timur Soykan & Murat Ağırel were detained this morning in Turkey after a complaint by suspects in a money laundering case. Their homes were searched & their digital devices confiscated. FMA calls for their release because #JournalismIsNotACrime

Pikachu protested in Turkey before it was cool. Now he’s unionising against Musk. You're welcome, world.

The Turkish twitter/X sphere is mass moving to BlueSky at the moment. Hepinize hoşgeldiniz 🙋🏻‍♀️

www.nporadio1.nl/nieuws/podca... - met @mitrala.bsky.social

Still many questions regarding the future roadmap of Turkey vs PKK. Here are some possible steps 👇🏼

Some preliminary thoughts about Ocalan's statement (after rereading it&inspired by a conversation with the great [email protected]): 1) Ocalan calls the PKK's ideological basis ("real socialism") dead.

Turkish man is found guilty of "insulting the President" after he filed a complaint about the disinformation spread by the President's election campaign. It is obvious the law is not the same for everyone. www.duvarenglish.com/turkish-man-...

New episode 🎧📚 Claudia Liebelt on cosmetic surgery and perceptions of beauty in Turkey In "Istanbul Appearances", Liebelt researched extensively in Istanbul's beauty salons and cosmetic surgery centres, exploring the sector’s extraordinary growth 👇👇 turkeybooktalk.com/2025/02/18/c...

A historic shift may be on the horizon, as Turkey and Kurdish militant leader Ocalan engage in unexpected peace talks. After 40 years of insurgency and 40,000 lives lost, Ocalan is expected to call for PKK fighters to lay down their arms. Watch our short explainer www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-rc...

Sultan Donald and his Grand Vizier Musk pasha. This is account Ottomanizes the Trump administration

Twee jaar na de aardbevingsramp, ging ik terug naar Antakya, waar de wonden nog diep zijn. Trauma’s, angsten, rouw, verdriet. Waar begin je om dat te verwerken? Kinderen van de dansgroep van Didem Koban doen het door te dansen wat ze meemaakten. Helen door te dansen: nos.nl/l/2554789

Turkey's Court of Cassation ruled that a man who beat a girl unconscious, tried to strangulate her, locked her in a barrel, burned her alive, dumped her body in the woods and poured concrete on it, acted because "unfair provocation," rejecting prosecution's charge of premeditated murder. #femicide

Fears of a bigger earthquake that could cause a tsunami in the sea around Santorini, after hundreds of tremors in the past days. (This is interesting, has this level of predictive warning been seen before?)

Sad day for Turkey. At least 66 people were killed after a fire ripped through a ski resort in northwestern Turkey. Culprit is the same: corruption and influence of construction sector over Erdogan. In 2012, after request from the construction sector, ++

On Sunday, thousands of people gathered where Hrant Dink, founding editor of the Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was murdered in broad daylight 18 years ago in Istanbul, Turkey, to reiterate the call to the Turkish authorities for full justice. cpj.org/data/people/hr…

The spirit in Tbilisi atm 👇🏼

Meanwhile in Georgia, a pro Russian symbol of anti-west conspiracy theories & mediocre former football player will be announced as the new president today. Widely seen as puppet of authoritarian oligarch Ivanishvili who’s been following Russian playbook, sparking mass pro-EU protests.

With the fall of Syria’s Moscow-supported regime, a large chunk of Russia’s leverage over Türkiye is gone. But Erdoğan will not take the risk of challenging Russia. Rather, he will continue acting as an intermediary between Putin and the West. -> read @dimitarbechev.bsky.social

Erdoğan has two big problems that a post-Assad Syria might help him solve. -> read @gonultol.bsky.social

A friend points out that dictatorships, nowadays, also fail because they run out of money. They can't steal enough from the state to pay loyalists, wind up relying on narcotics trade or international crime (true of both Syria and Venezuela, for example) and then their soldiers stop fighting

JUST IN: TV Pitveli journalist Maka Chikhladze is thrown on the ground by the Titushky (regime thugs) after putting their hand on her mouth, and the cameraman is attacked. #terrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests

Interesting analysis on Georgian protests prospects & support or lack there of in police, army etc👇🏼

Turkish police assaulted and detained dozens of women during their protest against violence against women. (25/11 is the International Day for Elimination of Violence against women) Have a look at these strong photos by @bianet.bsky.social that show how very dangerous these women truly are 👇🏼

We have created a page to show how long certain websites and platforms have been blocked from Turkey. If you visit the website, you will see that there is an English version too. You might in fact be surprised to see how long platforms such as Shoutcast, Wikileaks and TuneIn have been blocked.

Amid a nascent "peace process", Nimet Kıraç profiles Turkey's Academics for Peace, who were prosecuted, dismissed and, in some cases, exiled for opposing conflict. “Maybe the opposite of war is not peace, but justice," Ulaş Bayraktar said.

Ik heb ook een Starter Pack gemaakt, met alle NOS-correspondenten die op BlueSky zitten. Volg en deel! go.bsky.app/StLCMHo

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also pressing for a ceasefire in Ukraine. He is to propose a peace plan at the G20 that includes freezing the front line, creating a buffer zone with international troops, no NATO for 10 years & providing Ukraine weapons. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Minimum-wage earners are falling further behind in Istanbul, where rents have gone up a staggering 1100% in four years: Average rent in Oct 2020: 2,308 TL Net minimum wage: 2,235 TL Average rent in Oct 2024: 27,733 TL Net minimum wage: 17,0002 TL t24.com.tr/haber/asgari...

One of my favorite works in te Istanbul Modern collection is this folkloric beauty ‘Coffeehouse’ (1973) by the famous Turkish artist Bedri Tahmi Eyüboğlu.

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Great Turkey journalists/analysts/academics starter pack here👇🏼

Happy Bluesky revolution everyone. Let’s make it informative, smart and kind here! X

I agree that it is partially about preparation for a possible incursion (which has been in the works since 2021, alongside the talk on rapprochement with Assad). Judging from Erdogan's recent statements, Ankara will likely wait until Trump's inauguration before taking a concrete action