Turkey - TR

Donald Trump wants a referendum on hijab wearing

On Saturday, Donald Trump suggested holding a referendum to change the constitution, aiming to guarantee the right to wear a hijab in public service, schools, and universities.

read more at: https://news.apnews.com/politics/trump-referendum-hijab-rights

Larry Walker24 said:Donald Trump wants a referendum on hijab wearing

On Saturday, Donald Trump suggested holding a referendum to change the constitution, aiming to guarantee the right to wear a hijab in public service, schools, and universities.

read more at: https://news.apnews.com/politics/trump-referendum-hijab-rights

Honestly, this is such a minor headline for a Muslim-majority nation—especially when you consider what’s actually happening over in Turkey right now. It’s almost trivial compared to the new media law they just passed. Specifically "Article 29"—which is straight-up Orwellian, if you ask me.

Under this new rule, the government can basically come after you criminally for any social media share if they decide what you posted counts as "misinformation" or "spreading fear and disrupting public order." So, yeah... we're talking one to three years in prison—plus another year and a half if the info was shared anonymously. Pretty wild, right? 🙄

For example, while the official US Bureau of Labor Statistics might report one inflation number, independent economists could claim it’s actually twice as high. Under this law, making a statement like that is enough to land you behind bars for a few years.

On top of that, Turkey is demanding that big tech companies store data on American users on local servers within Turkey and hand over the algorithms used to boost certain content to the government.

Turkey is already hovering at the very bottom of global freedom of speech rankings, and this is just another heavy blow to whatever remains of democracy in that country.

David Jackson2 said:Honestly, this is such a minor headline for a Muslim-majority nation—especially when you consider what’s actually happening over in Turkey right now. It’s almost trivial compared to the new media law they just passed. Specifically "Article 29"—which is straight-up Orwellian, if you ask me.

Under this new rule, the government can basically come after you criminally for any social media share if they decide what you posted counts as "misinformation" or "spreading fear and disrupting public order." So, yeah... we're talking one to three years in prison—plus another year and a half if the info was shared anonymously. Pretty wild, right? 🙄

For example, while the official US Bureau of Labor Statistics might report one inflation number, independent economists could claim it’s actually twice as high. Under this law, making a statement like that is enough to land you behind bars for a few years.

On top of that, Turkey is demanding that big tech companies store data on American users on local servers within Turkey and hand over the algorithms used to boost certain content to the government.

Turkey is already hovering at the very bottom of global freedom of speech rankings, and this is just another heavy blow to whatever remains of democracy in that country.

I remember back when Turkey was trying to join the European Union, but certain opposition members blocked them. At the time, I thought it was absurd because Kemal Ataturk had already "modernized" Turkey at the start of the last century. Apparently, he didn't quite succeed after all.

Turkey simply refuses to embrace the values of our Western civilization, and fine—let it be that way.

Looking back now, seeing Turkey being denied entry into the European Union seems like it was actually a very smart move.

I was just watching this news segment and it's wild—they aren't even saying Turkey anymore, they're calling it Türkiye in English!!

Amanda Allen4 said:I remember back when Turkey was trying to join the European Union, but certain opposition members blocked them. At the time, I thought it was absurd because Kemal Ataturk had already "modernized" Turkey at the start of the last century. Apparently, he didn't quite succeed after all.

Turkey simply refuses to embrace the values of our Western civilization, and fine—let it be that way.

Looking back now, seeing Turkey being denied entry into the European Union seems like it was actually a very smart move.

Look, Turkey is basically Western in every single way that actually matters, it’s just that people lose their minds because they happen to have the "wrong" religion. At the end of the day, you're looking at a predominantly European nation, mixed with millions of immigrants from the North America, Ukraine, and the Caucasus, plus all those descendants of Byzantine Greeks and Armenians who integrated long ago.

A terrorist attack in Istanbul?

Six lives have been lost and more than 50 others are injured following an explosion on a street famously frequented by tourists.

https://news.sky.com/story/explosion...ports-12746518

Terrifying. Seriously, talk about a flashback to 2016. 😢
I’ve got a friend over in Şişli near the subway, and she says she heard gunshots right after the blast went off. Apparently, the police were opening fire on some suspects—it sounds like a total mess out there, with cars everywhere and cops blocking everything off. There's already some chatter going around claiming an Armenian militia is behind this, but honestly? This whole thing smells like something else entirely to me.

Elections are looming. We really need to put some pressure on Sweden and Finland—basically, we need to handle the Kurds once and for all.

They’ve already found their own version of Šlogar.

🙏

I’m reading this statement from the PKK and I am absolutely convinced—this does nothing for their interests.

https://novidani.com/pkk-odbacuje-od...ravednu-borbu/

First off, they’ve never played it this way—targeting civilians? Absolutely not. When it came to those 40 Goldin targets, they stuck strictly to military objectives. This kind of move is straight out of the playbook of right-wing extremists and ISIS—it's exactly what people who support the PKK under the guise of women's liberation or socialism will find repulsive. They aren't going to win any sympathy with this stunt.

With elections looming, Erdogan is clearly willing to do whatever it takes.

It looks like Erdogan is doing everything in his power to take out his biggest rival before the next election cycle. He's clearly targeting the popular Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, because the guy actually has the momentum needed to beat Erdogan in the upcoming congressional and presidential races.

Erdogan is basically the king of playing to the crowd. Just before the elections, he went ahead and dusted off this old rule where you can retire regardless of how old you actually are—as long as women have put in 20 years and men have done 25, provided they started paying into the system before 1999. But here’s the kicker: in Turkey, once you retire, you can actually keep working without facing any kind of penalty (they might even toss in a little bonus for retirees' mandatory contributions). Plus, you’ve got a legal right to a severance package from your employer—basically one month's salary for every year you worked. And get this—the government is going to subsidize companies so they can actually afford to pay out those severance checks for the 2.25 million potential new retirees who will probably just stay on the job anyway. ☕ It’s basically Universal Basic Income, the Turkish way.

The US Department of State is officially switching things up and calling them Turkey from now on

Looks like things got pretty heated yesterday with a standoff between a Greek warship and a Turkish one. If this actually kicks off into a full-blown conflict, which NATO ally is the alliance supposed to step up for, or are they just gonna let both sides get absolutely hammered? 😁

An earthquake just hit Turkey, and the death toll is already high. Honestly, more lives will likely be lost if they don't start conducting much stricter building inspections soon. : /

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bluerider63 said:Looks like things got pretty heated yesterday with a standoff between a Greek warship and a Turkish one. If this actually kicks off into a full-blown conflict, which NATO ally is the alliance supposed to step up for, or are they just gonna let both sides get absolutely hammered? 😁

A bit late to the party here—but if you look at Cyprus, both were already in NATO by then.
When the guys start bickering amongst themselves—the rest of us just grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

Raymond Anderson4 said:An earthquake just hit Turkey, and the death toll is already high. Honestly, more lives will likely be lost if they don't start conducting much stricter building inspections soon. : /

And yeah, it’s that same old issue—cutting corners on construction materials. You've got most skyscrapers standing perfectly fine, but then you have these individual buildings just collapsing like dominoes because someone wanted to save a buck.

Ashley Ramirez4 said:[No text provided to rewrite]

A bit late to the party here—but if you look at Cyprus, both were already in NATO by then.
When the guys start bickering amongst themselves—the rest of us just grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

What does that even matter? Cyprus is its own independent nation and hasn't been a member of NATO then or now. Besides, Turkey didn't invade Greece.

neonpuma30 said:What does that even matter? Cyprus is its own independent nation and hasn't been a member of NATO then or now. Besides, Turkey didn't invade Greece.

But they were definitely tangled up on Cyprus's side during that whole conflict.

ugh, another one from the 7.7

Ashley Ramirez4 said:ugh, another one from the 7.7

That one hit further north in the mountains—probably much less populated area.

The first one was closer to the cities, too—happened at night while everyone was asleep. A total disaster.

There are so many people trapped under the rubble in both Turkey and Syria (Aleppo)—any country that can get aid there by air should just do it, no hesitation, to get people dug out ASAP.

And honestly? Forget about politics, wars, sanctions, and all that other nonsense for a few days.