Timeline Turkey 1961-2008
Return to home
1961 Sep 17, In
Turkey PM Adnan Menderes (b.1899) was hanged following the 1960
military coup.
(Econ, 6/14/08,
p.65)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Menderes)
1962 Oct 27, Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev offered to remove Soviet missile bases in Cuba if the U.S.
removed its missile bases in Turkey.
(HN, 10/27/98)
1963 Sep 1, Turkey moved
politically closer to Europe with the Treaty of Ankara. It reduced
duties and implicitly recognized Turkey’s right to join the European
Economic Community.
(http://tinyurl.com/tgab2)(WSJ, 9/7/04, p.A10)(WSJ,
10/6/04, p.A17)
1963 Dec 21, The Turk minority
rioted in Cyprus to protest anti-Turkish revisions in the constitution.
(HN, 12/21/98)
1963 Dec 24, Greeks and Turks
rioted in Cyprus.
(MC, 12/24/01)
1963 Nazim Hikmet (b.1902),
Salonika-born Turkish poet, died in Moscow.
(www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=291)
1964 Aug 7, Turkey began an air
attack on Greek-Cypriots.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1966 Aug 19, An earthquake struck
Varko, Turkey, and some 2,400 were killed.
(MC, 8/19/02)
1967 Dec 29, A Turkish-Cypriot
government formed in Cyprus.
(MC, 12/29/01)
1968 Oct 28, Pres. Johnson named
Robert Komer (d.2000 at 78) as ambassador to Turkey. Komer had served
Johnson as head of the "pacification" program in Vietnam, which used
information and propaganda to gain political and social control of
south Vietnam.
(http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/komer-robert-william)(SFC,
4/14/00, p.D5)
1970 Jan, In Turkey the
Islamic-oriented National Order Party formed under leadership of
Necmettin Erbakan.
(AP, 11/4/02)
1970 Mar 28, 1,086 died when 7.4
quake destroyed 254 villages in Gediz, Turkey.
(MC, 3/28/02)
1970s In Ephesus the Library of
Celsus was restored by architect Friedmund Hueber.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.7)
1971 Mar 4, Five Turkish militants
kidnapped 4 US military men at Ankara, Turkey. The kidnappers released
the four airmen unharmed on March 8, and were subsequently arrested,
tried and convicted. Three were hanged, one was imprisoned, and one was
killed in a gunfight with Turkish authorities.
(www.prophetofdoom.net/Islamic_Terrorism_Timeline_1971.Islam)
1971 Mar 12, A Turkish coup
d'état took place amid worsening domestic strife. It was the
second to take place since 1960. Known as the "coup by memorandum,"
which the military delivered in lieu of sending out tanks, as it had
done previously.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Turkish_coup_d'%C3%A9tat)(WSJ,
3/7/97, p.A10)
1971 May 12, A 6.3 earthquakes in
western Turkey killed about 100 people.
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/events/1971_05_turkey.php)
1971 May 20, In Turkey the
National Order Party was shut down by Constitutional Court for being
anti-secular. Erbakan went to Switzerland in self-exile.
(AP, 11/4/02)(http://tinyurl.com/5vabve)
1971 May 22, A 6.9 earthquake in
eastern Turkey killed about a thousand people.
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/events/1971_05_turkey.php)
1971 Aug, Turkey passed a poppy
licensing law. In return Turkey later accepted a US offer of $35
million, over 3 years, for farmers who agreed to stop growing opium
poppies.
(HN, 11/20/98)(http://tinyurl.com/6ov8tk)
1971 Turkey shut down the Greek
Orthodox Halki seminary on Heybeli island off Istanbul.
(Econ, 6/25/05, p.50)
1971 Milli Gorus, an Islamic
Turkish community organization, was founded in Germany as Turkische
Union Deutschland.
(http://flagspot.net/flags/eu%7Digmg.html)
1972 Jul 7, Athenagoras (b.1886),
268th patriarch of Constantinople, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Athenagoras)
1972 Oct 11, In Turkey the
National Salvation Party formed as the successor of the banned National
Order Party (Milli Nizam Partisi, MNP). Necmettin Erbakan returned home
to take leadership.
(AP,
11/4/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Salvation_Party)
1972 Bulent Ecevit (1925-2006)
succeeded Ismet Inonu (1884-1973) as head of the Republican People’s
Party. In 1974 he became prime minister of Turkey.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey
p.4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BClent_Ecevit)
1973 Oct 14, In Turkey the CHP
replaced the AP as the most popular party, although it did not achieve
a parliamentary majority. The CHP and MSP formed a coalition government
under Bulent Ecevit. The National Salvation won 11.8% of votes in
general elections, winning 48 seats in the 450-member Parliament.
(http://tinyurl.com/4hkxfc)(AP, 11/4/02)
1974 Jan 25, Bulent Ecevit
(1925-2006) became prime minister of Turkey.
(www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/turkey.htm)
1974 Mar 3, A Turkish Airlines
DC-10 crashed shortly after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris and 346
people were killed. It was the worst air disaster to date.
(AP,
3/3/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines_Flight_981)
1974 Jul 15, Greek troops and the
Greek Cypriot National Guard staged a military coup on Cyprus and
archbishop-president Makarios fled. Nikos Giorgiades Sampson (d.2001 at
66) served as president for 8 days following the military coup that
overthrew Archbishop Makarios. PM Bulent Ecevit ordered Turkish troops
to invade Cyprus following the Greek Cypriot coup.
(www.cyprus-conflict.net/Greek%20v%20Turk%20narr%20-%201974.htm)
1974 Jul 20, Turkey invaded Cyprus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_invasion_of_Cyprus)
1974 Jul 23, Greece's military
rulers announced they would turn the nation back to civilian rule.
Constantine Karamanlis returned from 11 years of self-imposed exile and
was sworn in as premier. Karamanlis later won a landslide election and
served as prime minister until 1980. The Ioannides regime collapsed
after plotting an aborted military takeover of Cyprus. The coup
provoked a Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
(AP, 7/23/97)(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)(SFC, 6/28/99,
p.A19)
1974 Jul 30, The prime ministers
of Greece and Turkey and the British Foreign Secretary signed a peace
agreement to settle the Cyprus crisis.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/low/dates/stories/july/30/newsid_2492000/2492515.stm)
1974 Aug 14, The Turkish army
mounted a second full-scale offensive in Cyprus, despite the fact that
talks were still being held in Geneva and just as agreement was about
to be reached. 37% of the area of Cyprus came under Turkish military
occupation.
(www.cyprus-conflict.net/Greek%20v%20Turk%20narr%20-%201974.htm)
1974 Aug 14, Greek Cypriots began
a 2-day massacre that killed 83 Turkish Cypriot men in Taskent.
(www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/birgin%20-%2074%20narratives.html)
1975 Sep 6, A 6.8 quake along the
Anatolian Fault kills over 2,000 in Lice, Turkey.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1977 Jun 8, The final run of the
Paris to Istanbul Orient Express, begun in 1883, took place.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express)
1978 The film “Midnight Express”
was about an American drug runner abused by Turkish jailers. It was
based on the real-life story of Billy Hayes (23), an American who spent
five long, agonizing years in a Turkish prison for attempting to
smuggle two kilos of hashish on his way home to the USA in 1970.
(WSJ, 1/15/98,
p.A1)(www.filmreference.com/Films-Mi-My/Midnight-Express.html)
1978 In Turkey Abdullah Ocalan and
some fellow Turkish university students founded the Kurdistan Worker’s
Party, PKK. It was based on a Marxist, separatist platform that
targeted Kurdish landlords as well as Turkish agents.
(SFC, 11/14/98, p.A11)(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A7)(Econ,
11/17/07, p.100)
1978 Seven leftist students were
killed in Ankara. Abdullah Catli, a heroin smuggler and terror suspect,
was linked to the massacre.
(SFC, 12/10/96, p.A10)
1979 Jul 13, A 45-hour siege began
at the Egyptian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, as four Palestinian
guerrillas killed two security men and seized 20 hostages.
(AP, 7/13/97)
1979 Nov 30, John Paul II, while
on a pilgrimage to Turkey, became the first pope in 1,000 years to
attend an Orthodox mass.
(www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/travels/sub_index1979/trav_turkey.htm)
1979 Mehmet Ali Agca made a
jailbreak in Istanbul. He was being tried for the killing of Abdi
Ipekci, a leading left-wing columnist. In 1981 he shot Pope John Paul
in Rome. In 2006 Agca was wrongfully released from prison in Turkey due
to miscalculations in his term. He was re-imprisoned 8 days later. Agca
was finally released on Jan 18, 2010.
(SFC, 12/10/96, p.A10)(AP, 1/12/06)(AP, 1/18/10)
1980 Sep 12, Turkish military took
over in coup after factional fighting. All political parties were
abolished. Gen. Kenan Evren led a bloodless coup in response to years
of street battles between left and right-wing radical groups that left
some 5,000 dead. Bulent Ecevit (1925-2006), PM of Turkey, was sent to
prison following the coup and banned from active politics for a decade.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Turkish_coup_d'%C3%A9tat)(Econ,
11/11/06, p.97)
1980 Oct, In Turkey Necmettin
Erbakan (b.1926) and 21 National Salvation officials were imprisoned on
charges of acting against secularism. They were released one year later
and acquitted by court.
(AP, 11/4/02)
1980 In Turkey military leaders
established the Higher Education Board.
(Econ, 5/22/04, p.48)
1980 In Turkey the wearing of
headscarves was first banned in universities shortly after a military
coup carried out by officers who viewed Islamists as a serious threat.
But the implementation of the rule varied during the law's early years.
(AP, 7/21/07)
1980 Abdullah Ocalan (b.1948),
leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) crossed the border to Syria
just before the September 12 Turkish military coup.
(WSJ, 3/7/97, p.A10)(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A7)
1980-1991 Publications in Kurdish were banned.
(SFC, 7/5/96, p.A12)
1981 The US Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) instituted the 80/20 rule for opium/poppy imports.
80% of the US need for opium was set to be imported from India and
Turkey. Turkish farmers provided poppy heads while Indian farmers
produced gum opium.
(WSJ, 4/3/00, p.A1,6)
1982 Mar 22, The US submarine
Jacksonville collided with a Turkish freighter near Virginia.
(http://navysite.de/ssn/ssn699.htm)
1982 Dec 6, Turkey began
celebrating St. Nicholas day.
(WSJ, 8/31/98, p.B1)
1983 Jul, In Turkey the Welfare
Party was founded by close aides of Necmettin Erbakan while he remained
banned from politics. In April 1997 a coalition government led by
Erbakan fell apart under pressure by the military and the party was
banned in January 1998 by the Constitutional Court. Leaders of Refah
immediately created a new party : "Fazilet," the Virtue Party.
(AP,
11/4/02)(www.medea.be/index.html?page=2&lang=en&doc=285)
1983 Nov 15, Turkish Cypriots
declared the northern third Cyprus a separate republic, the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus. It was only recognized by Turkey.
(SFC, 3/13/02,
p.A26)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Republic_of_Northern_Cyprus)
1983-1989 Gen. Kenan Evren returned the country to
democratic rule and served as president.
(SFC, 3/31/00, p.E4)
1984 Abdullah Ocalan, founder of
the PKK, turned the group toward armed struggle against the Turkish
government.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10) (SFC, 11/14/98, p.A11)
1984 Bilkent Univ. was founded
just outside Ankara, Turkey.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.16)
1984-1996 Turkey was grappling with an 12-year old
Kurdish insurgency. More than 21,000 people have died since fighting
began.
(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-6)(SFC, 9/6.96, p.A13)
1986 Sep 6, An attack on the Neve
Shalom synagogue in Istanbul killed 22 people. The Palestinian Abu
Nidal group was blamed.
(NYT, 10/8/04, p.A12)
1987 Apr 14, The Turkish
Government formally applies to join the European Communities.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1987/index_en.htm)
1987 Oct, In Turkey a ban on
former political leaders was lifted. Erbakan took over Welfare
leadership.
(AP, 11/4/02)
1987 The Int’l. Istanbul Biennial
was founded. It is organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and
Arts.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Biennial)
1987 The NATO sec.-gen’l.
negotiated a Turkish-Greek dispute.
(WSJ, 10/8/01, p.A14)
1988 Jun 18, Turkey’s PM Turgut
Ozal survived an attempted assassination. He had worked to eliminate
the black market in cigarettes and suspected the cigarette smuggling
mafia.
(WSJ, 2/11/99,
p.A24)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turgut_%C3%96zal)
1988 At Davos, Switzerland, during
the World Economic Forum, Prime Ministers Papandreou of Greece and Ozal
of Turkey embarked on a peace initiative, setting up a hot-line and
vowing to avoid war.
(WSJ, 1/23/08, p.A8)
1989 Oct 1, Turkey’s PM Turgut
Ozal threatened Syria to turn off the flow of the Euphrates River if
Syria failed to live up to a 1987 security protocol.
(www.danielpipes.org/article/262)
1989 Nov 9, Turgut Ozal became the
8th president of Turkey elected by the Grand National Assembly of
Turkey.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turgut_%C3%96zal)
1989 Nov, Turkey’s Pres. Turgut
Ozal (1927-1993) alarmed Syria and Iraq when he announced that the flow
of the Euphrates River would be held back for a month to fill the
Ataturk dam. Flow was increased for 2 months before the cutback to
offset the loss.
(NG, 5/93, p.49)(http://tinyurl.com/2mmycb)
1991 Apr 15, Turkey began moving
thousands of Iraqi Kurds from a border settlement to camps farther
inside Turkey, in a major policy shift for President Turgut Ozal’s
government, which had previously kept the refugees in the mountains.
(AP, 4/15/01)
1991 Jul 20,
President Bush, visiting Turkey, was cheered by thousands of people in
Ankara.
(AP, 7/20/01)
1991 Turkey abolished the price
controls that propped up its state-owned tobacco company.
(WSJ, 9/11/98, p.A1)
1991 Death-squad style killings of
ethnic Kurds began. By 1998 1,500 Kurdish nationalists, journalists,
politicians and businesspeople were killed.
(WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A15)
1991 A ban on the use of the
Kurdish language in unofficial settings was lifted.
(SFC, 2/18/99, p.A10)
1992 Mar 3, An underground coal
mine explosion in Kozlu, (Zonguldak), Turkey, claimed 270 lives.
(AP, 3/3/02)(SC, 3/3/02)
1992 Mar 7, An Israeli security
chief was killed in a car bomb attack in Ankara, Turkey. Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility.
(NYT, 10/8/04, p.A12)
1992 Mar 13, Some 498 died in an
earthquake at Erzincan, Turkey.
(www.uwm.edu/Dept/Geosciences/qketour/qkexampl/qk990817.html)
1992 Oct 7, The Ubykh language of
the north-eastern Caucasus died out when Tevfik Esenc (b.1904), a
Circassian exile in Turkey, died.
(Econ, 12/19/09,
p.137)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubykh_language)
1992 Turkey’s Pres. Turgut Ozal
(d.1993) envisioned the Black Sea as a zone of peace and cooperation.
This led to the formation of the Istanbul-based organization for Black
Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).
(Econ, 5/28/05, p.54)
1992 Turkey organized a regional
alphabet congress and academics agreed to a 34-character Latin alphabet
based on Turkish script.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A12)
1992 Yusuf Kulca founded
Istanbul's 1st privately run home for children.
(Econ, 9/27/03, p.50)
1993 Jan 27, Mumcu, a reporter for
the secular daily Cumhuriyet, was killed by a car bomb while he was in
his vehicle outside his home in Ankara, Turkey. Among groups that have
claimed responsibility are the Islamic Liberation Organization, the
Raiders of Islamic Great East, and Islamic Jihad.
(www.cpj.org/killed/killed_archives/1993_list.html)
1993 Apr 17, Turkish President
Turgut Ozal died at age 66.
(AP, 4/17/98)
1993 May 24, Separatist Kurdish
rebels fatally shot 33 Turkish soldiers and two civilians after forcing
them and about two dozen other persons off a bus in the southeastern
province of Bingol. This ended a unilateral cease-fire and led the
military to intensify a campaign to annihilate the PKK. Testimony in
1999 by Abdullah Ocalan said a regional PKK commander carried out the
slaying.
(www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-948140.html)(SFC,
6/2/99, p.C2)
1993 May, Suleyman Demirel was
elected president by the parliament for a 7-year term.
(SFC, 4/6/00, p.C16)
1993 Jul 5, Kurd guerrillas
murdered 32 villagers in East Turkey.
(MC, 7/5/02)
1993 Andrew Wheatcroft authored
"The Ottomans."
(Ot, 1993)
1993 Tansu Ciller, a US trained
economist, was elected as the Prime Minister of Turkey.
(WSJ, 10/16/95, p. A-1)
1993 Turkey sealed its land
frontier with Armenia after it seized the province of Nagorno-Karabakh
from their Azeri cousins. Direct air travel was still allowed.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.59)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.53)
1993 In the Anatolian city of
Sivas, a fire, set by a mob shouting Islamic slogans, killed 37 secular
writers. In 1997 33 people sere sentenced to death for their roles in
the mob attack.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.C2)
1993-1996 In 1996 Turkey’s former PM Tansu Ciller was
accused of enriching herself by $50 million through links with criminal
gangs over this time.
(SFC, 1/18/96, p.A10)
1993-1996 Turkey spent $50 million on drug dealers
and assassins to kill a Kurdish rebel leader and others considered
threats to the state. Abdullah Ocalan, a Kurdish rebel leader in Syria,
was targeted as was Dursun Karatas, a leftist terrorist in Europe.
(SFC, 1/24/98, p.A8)
1994 Mar, In Turkey Recep Tayyip
Erdogan was elected mayor of Istanbul as candidate from Erbakan's
Welfare party.
(AP, 11/4/02)
1994 Jul 26, The Turkish air force
bombed Kurds in Iraq and 79 people were killed.
(www.hrw.org/reports/1994/turkey2/)
1994 Dec 29, In East Turkey a
B737-400 flew into a mountain at Edremit and 55 people were killed.
(http://tinyurl.com/98ytm)
1994 In Turkey Ali Erol set up
KAOS-GL as a support group for gays and lesbians. In 2005 the groups
sought recognition as an association.
(Econ, 10/29/05, p.51)
1994 The $32 billion GAP
hydroelectric project opened its Ataturk Dam. The project planned 22
dams and 19 hydroelectric plants on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
(SFC, 7/13/98, p.A6)
1994 Inflation reached 120%.
(WSJ, 2/12/96, p.A-1)
1995 Mar 13, Istanbul police
killed at least 15 Alawi (Alevi) demonstrators.
(http://tinyurl.com/byu4j)
1995 Dec, Prime Minister Tansu
Ciller, head of the True Path Party, quit after the Welfare Party,
which pledged to impose Islamic principles, drew the largest number of
votes in parliamentary elections (21%). The leader of the Welfare Party
was Necmettin Erbakan. The Motherland leader was Mesut Yilmaz.
(WSJ, 12/26/95, p. A-1)(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-1)(WSJ,
4/16/99, p.A12)
1995 Dec, Turkey grappled with an
11-year old Kurdish insurgency under President was Suleyman Demirel.
(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-1)
1995 Onat Kutlar, a pro-secular
writer, was killed. The militant group Great Islamic Raiders of the
East Front were implicated.
(SFC, 10/22/99, p.B6)
1996 Jan 1, A Custom's Union with
the European Union was set take effect.
(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-1)
1996 Jan 9, The Revolutionary
People's Liberation Party/Front claimed responsibility for the shooting
death of two businessmen in their offices.
(WSJ, 12/26/95, p. A-1)
1996 Jan 16, Chechens hijacked a
ferry with 165 passengers and crew from the Turkish port of Trabzon
bound for the Russian city of Sochi. Gunmen in Trabzon, Turkey,
hijacked a Black Sea ferry with more than 200 people on board, and
demanded that Russian troops stop fighting Chechen rebels in
Pervomayskaya. The hostages were released three days later after the
Russian troops stormed Pervomaiskoye.
(WSJ, 1/17/96, p.A-1)(AP, 1/16/01)
1996 Jan, Police clubbed people
with wooden batons until they broke in a sports complex. Reporter Metin
Goktepe was killed. 11 officers were charged in the reporter’s murder
but none were in custody. A court ordered 5 policemen to be taken into
custody in 1997. The 5 failed to appear in court. In 1998 5 policemen
were jailed for 7 1/2 years for the killing.
(SFC, 10/19/96, A12)(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A12)(SFC,
7/25/97, p.A11)(SFC, 3/20/98, p.A16)
1996 Feb 6, A Turkish-owned Boeing
757 jetliner crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Puerto
Plata shortly after takeoff from the Dominican Republic, killing 189
people, mostly German tourists.
(WSJ, 2/8/96, p.A-1)(SFC, 5/12/96, p.A-14)(AP,
2/6/01)(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A14)
1996 Feb, Inflation in Turkey was
down to 80% a year. It had reached 120% in 1994.
(WSJ, 2/12/96, p.A-1)
1996 Feb, A military cooperation
agreement was signed between Israel and Turkey. The agreement allows
for joint military training, exchanges between military academies and
participation of observers in each other’s exercises.
(SFC, 4/13/96, p.A-10)
1996 Apr 9, Turkish troops killed
90 Kurdish rebels in a 3-day offensive. 27 of its own soldiers died.
Rebels had declared a cease-fire in Nov., but the government refused to
abide.
(WSJ, 4/9/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 13, In Turkey torture
rehabilitation centers set up by the country’s Human Rights Foundation
were declared illegal by the government.
(SFC, 5/14/96, A-10)
1996 May 24, In Turkey Prime
Minister Tansu Ciller said that her True Path Party was pulling out of
the ruling coalition. This gave the pro-Islamic Welfare Party another
shot at power.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A11)
1996 Jun 7, Turkey’s Pres.
Suleyman Demirel again asked Islamist leader Necmettin Erbakan to form
a new coalition government.
(SFC, 6/8/96, p.A11)
1996 Jun 27, In Turkey thousands
of troops poured into northern Iraq and killed dozens of separatist
Kurds.
(SFC, 6/28/96, p.A14)
1996 Jun 28, In Turkey Necmettin
Erbakan became the country's 1st Islamic prime minister. His
conservative Islamic Welfare Party would have to put together a new
coalition government. Erbakan formed a coalition government and served
as prime minister until resigning a year later after mounting pressure
by secularist military.
(WP. 6/29/96, p.A1)(AP, 11/4/02)
1996 Jun 30, In Turkey a young
Kurdish rebel disguised as a pregnant woman blew herself up in the
midst of a military ceremony and killed 9 soldiers.
(SFC, 7/2/96, p.A12)
1996 Jul 9, Turkey announced a 50%
raise for its 1.5 million civil servants.
(SFC, 7/10/96, p.A8)
1996 Jul 24, it was reported that
3 prisoners in Turkey have died during a hunger strike by 1,900 inmates
in 33 prisons. The protests were for government transfers of prisoners
to remote locations and cancellation of visiting rights for political
prisoners.
(WSJ, 7/25/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 28, Turkey reached an
agreement with prisoners to end a hunger strike after 12 inmates died.
Elsewhere soldiers clashed with Kurds and 16 died along with 28 Kurdish
rebels.
(WSJ, 7/29/96, p.A1)(SFC, 11/23/00, p.D4)
1996 Aug 11, In Turkey the prime
minister approved an agreement to buy $20 billion of natural gas from
Iran over 22 years.
(WSJ, 8/12/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 12, Iran and Turkey
agreed to connect their power networks.
(WSJ, 8/13/96, p.A7)
1996 Aug 27, The 450,000 strong
army was the largest in NATO and the only one that was exclusively
Muslim.
(WSJ, 8/27/96, p.A10)
1996 Sep 5, Turkey declared a new
security zone inside northern Iraq and air attacks were staged on
suspected Kurdish rebel bases.
(SFC, 9/6.96, p.A13)
1996 Sep 25, Turkey said its
troops killed 47 Kurdish rebels in the eastern provinces.
(WSJ, 9/26/96, p.A1)
1996 Oct 29, A Kurdish separatist
suicide team of 2 killed themselves, 3 policemen and a civilian in the
town of Sivas.
(SFC, 10/30/96, p.A10)
1996 Nov 3, In Turkey Abdulah
Catli, a convicted heroin smuggler and terror suspect; Husseyin
Kocadag, a security official and deputy police chief in Istanbul; and
Gonca Us, a gangster mistress, were killed in a car crash in Susurluk.
Sedat Bucak, member of parliament and head of a Kurdish clan that
received funds for providing guards to fight separatist Kurds, was
injured in the same vehicle. The event came to be known as the Susurluk
scandal.
(SFC, 12/10/96, p.A10)(WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A16)
1996 Nov 5, Government officials
announced that a gas pipeline would begin to be built in March to carry
gas from Iran to Turkey.
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.A25)
1996 Nov 21, Yasar Kemal, author,
sought asylum in Sweden. He had been convicted by a Turkish court of
defending Kurd’s rights.
(SFC, 11/22/96, p.A22)
1996 Nov 27, Troops killed 27
Kurdish rebels and lost 6 soldiers in fighting over the past 2 days.
(SFC, 11/28/96, p.B6)
1996 Dec 10, The military purged
70 officers and non-commissioned in a continuing effort to purge Muslim
fundamentalists from its ranks.
(WSJ, 12/11/96, p.A1)
1996 Dec 30, A raid by 5,000
troops into Iraq left 72 Kurdish guerrillas and 2 Turkish soldiers dead.
(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.1)
1996 The Ankarapithecus skull was
found in the Turkish desert. It dated to about 10 million years ago.
The remains show many similarities to Sivapithecus from South Asia, and
have sometimes been included in that genus.
(http://johnhawks.net/weblog/fossils/apes/ankarapithecus/ankarapithecus_overview.html)
1997 Feb 1, A movement began
demanding an investigation in the car accident that linked government
officials and gangster groups. People in cities began making noise
outside their windows at 9 PM every night.
(WSJ, 3/14/97, p.A1)
1997 cMar 2, The military
submitted a 20-measure package to Prime Minister Erbakan that called
for some new laws and stricter application of existing laws to protect
secular principles.
(SFC, 3/5/97, p.A8)
1997 Mar 6, Prime Minister Erbakan
signed on to the list of 18 measures submitted by the military to curb
ultra religious schools, publications and organizations.
(WSJ, 3/7/97, p.A10)
1997 Apr 13, A military
modernization program for $31 billion was announced to reduce
dependence on Western suppliers. Turkey’s standing army numbered
639,000 men, 4,000 tanks, and 400 combat aircraft.
(WSJ, 4/14/97, p.A12)
1997 Apr 26, Two cabinet ministers
resigned over Prime Minister Erbakan’s reluctance to curb his Islamist
policies.
(SFEC, 4/27/97, p.A17)
1997 May 5, It was reported that
Sefa Taskin, mayor of Bergama, Turkey, led a campaign to stop the
mining of gold using cyanide for extraction. He recently published "The
Issue of Gold in Bergama" and used "The Gulliver File: Mines, People,
Land: A Global Battleground," to support his cause.
(WSJ, 5/5/97, p.A13D)
1997 May 18, In the 5th day of a
military offensive, the military reported 1,081 guerillas killed as
25-50 thousand Turkish troops crossed the Iraqi border to attack rebels
of the Kurdistan workers Party (PKK).
(SFC, 5/19/97, p.A14)
1997 May, Turkish commando units
took control of the Bikhayr mountains used by Kurdish rebels as an
escape route into Syria.
(SFC, 10/4/97, p.A10)
1997 Jun 5, It was reported that
the military ordered the boycott of companies that give money to the
governing Muslim party and other Islamic organizations.
(SFC, 6/7/97, p.A8)
1997 Jun 13, Under pressure it was
announced that Turkey’s PM Erbakan, leader of the Welfare Party, would
turn his post over to Tansu Ciller, who would lead until elections Jun
18. Turkey’s first Islamist-led government was ejected after it began
investigating links between the army and organized crime.
(SFC, 6/14/97, p.A12)(SFC, 11/26/98, p.B2)(Econ,
3/22/08, p.61)
1997 Jun 20, Pres. Demirel asked
Mesut Yilmaz, leader of the Motherland Party, to form a new government.
Yilmaz formed a coalition with Bulent Ecevit, head of the Democratic
Left Party.
(SFC, 6/21/97, p.A10)(WSJ, 4/16/99, p.A12)
1997 Jun 26, Turkey announced the
end of the 10-week Operation Hammer, its cross-border operation against
the Kurds. The Turks reported to have lost 113 men and it was estimated
that 3,000 guerrillas of the PKK were killed.
(WSJ, 6/27/97, p.A13)
1997 Jul 20, Turkish troops killed
50 Kurdish guerrillas in the southeast. That raised the weekly total to
84.
(SFC, 7/21/97, p.A9)
1997 Jul 29, Some 15,000 people
protested government plans to curb Muslim schools. At least 13
protestors were injured and 3 officers were suspended by Prime Minister
Yilmaz.
(WSJ, 7/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 4, Some 76 military
officers and nco’s were dismissed in a continuing effort to root out
Islamic activism in the ranks.
(WSJ, 8/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 14, The parliament
approved an amnesty program for some 89 journalists imprisoned for
their news coverage. Pres. Demirel signed the measure.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A15)
1997 Sep 4, In Turkey 33 people
were killed when 2 buses collided near Ankara. Turkey has the highest
incidence of road traffic deaths with 2,713 killed in the first 7
months of this year.
(SFC, 9/5/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 25, Iraq demanded that
Turkey pull back some 15,000 troops who crossed its border in pursuit
of Kurdistan Workers Party guerrillas.
(WSJ, 9/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 29, Turkish planes
attacked Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq and drove the
guerrillas toward the Iran border.
(WSJ, 9/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep, There a was a renewed
ban on wearing head scarves at Turkish universities. Over the next 15
months some 2,000 women were expelled for choosing to wear scarves.
(SFEC, 12/27/98, p.A20)
1997 Oct 3, Turkish jets bombed
escape routes used by Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Over the last 13
days the army reported 415 rebels dead vs. 6 of its own soldiers.
(SFC, 10/4/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 19, In Germany Gunter
Grass presented the peace prize of the German book-publishing industry
to Yasar Kemal, a Turkish author. Grass criticized his compatriots as
"closet racists."
(SFC,10/21/97, p.A12)
1997 Dec 2, In Istanbul 33 people
were sentenced to death for their roles in a 1993 mob attack that left
37 intellectuals dead.
(SFC, 12/3/97, p.C4)
1997 Dec 5, Turkish troops began
an offensive against Turkish Kurds in northern Iraq. The 20,000 man
force was to be assisted by 8,000 men of the Kurdistan Democratic
party, an Iraqi group.
(SFC,12/6/97, p.A9)
1997 Dec 5, Mayor Tayyip Erdogan
of Istanbul made statements in Siirt that were later called
inflammatory. He was charged with inciting hatred based on religious
differences. Erdogan had quoted Ziya Gokalp, a poet who had written the
verse to inspire the troops of Ataturk.
(SFC, 2/13/98, p.D5)(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.A21)
1997 Dec 17, The US and 33 other
countries signed a convention in Paris aimed at eradicating bribery in
international business. Turkey was one of 34 signatories of the OECD’s
anti-corruption convention.
(AP, 12/17/98)(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.14)
1997 Dec 27, In Italy Some 825
illegal immigrants, mostly Kurds, were rescued by Italian tugboats from
the Turkish ship Ararat. They were attempting to smuggle into Italy
from Turkey.
(SFEC,12/28/97, p.A19)
1997 Dec 27, Lower level talks
between Turkish and Greek Cypriot officials were suspended by the
Turkish Cypriots to protest the inclusion of the Greek side in EU
membership.
(SFEC,12/28/97, p.A22)
1997 The book "The History of the
Armenia Genocide" appeared in Turkey, but copies were confiscated and
the publisher Aysenur Zarakolu was arrested and fined.
(SFC, 3/6/98, p.A12)
1997 The film "Eskiya" (Bandit)
was selected by the culture ministry as Turkey’s nomination for the
Academy Awards. The ministry overrules the initial selection of Hamam
by the independent film board.
(SFEC,11/9/97, DB p.60)
1997 The film "Hamam" (Turkish
Bath) was produced. It was a tale of 2 men who fall in love in a
Turkish bath.
(SFEC,11/9/97, DB p.60)
1997 The film "The Heavy Novel"
was directed by Mustafa Altioklar. It was about ordinary people on the
back streets of Istanbul and contained scenes depicting police torture.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A10)
1997 Turkey increased compulsory
education from 5 years to 8.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.15)
1997 Alparslan Turkes, leader of
the Nationalist Action Party, died. The party held an ideology of
pan-Turkism symbolized by the legendary gray wolf that led Turkic
tribes westward from their ancestral homeland in Central Asia.
(SFC, 4/20/99, p.A8)
1998 Jan 12, It was reported that
Turkish police rounded up 1,374 people, mostly Kurds, around Istanbul
in an effort to stem illegal emigration.
(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 15, The parliament passed
legislation allowing husbands to be indicted for domestic abuse even if
their wives refuse to press charges.
(SFC, 1/16/98, p.B4)
1998 Jan 16, In Turkey the
Islamist Welfare Party was banned by the Constitutional Court for
"activities against the secular regime." Former Welfare deputies
created the Virtue Party.
(SFC, 1/17/98, p.A1)(AP, 11/4/02)
1998 Jan 24, From Turkey it was
reported that an estimated 50,000 illegal immigrants move from Turkey
to Greece each year across a sparsely populated 80 mile border.
(SFC, 1/24/98, p.A8)
1998 Jan 25, Prime Minister Yilmaz
disclosed that the Ciller government’s security forces used death
squads against Kurds and engaged in drug trafficking.
(WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 16, The government banned
Muslim headwear by female students and teachers at religious schools.
Separately the leadership of the main Kurdish political party was
imprisoned on charges of links to separatist rebels.
(WSJ, 2/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 17, A UN refugee agency
reported that 6,800 Kurds have fled their homes in northern Iraq
following reported Turkish air raids on rebel positions.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C3)
1998 Feb 24, The former Welfare
Party changed its name to the Virtue Party and elected Recai Kutan as
leader. Separately university students protested a ban on Islamic
dress.
(WSJ, 2/25/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 13, Turkish army forces
captured Semdin Sakik, a field commanded of the PKK, Kurdistan Workers
Party, in a secret raid in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.C12)
1998 Apr 15, Turkish troop clashed
with Kurdish separatists near the Iraqi border and claimed to have
killed 64 with a loss of 11.
(WSJ, 4/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 21, A special court
sentenced Recep Erdogan, the mayor of Istanbul, to 10 months in prison
for a 1997 speech that the military said incited hatred of the
secularist army.
(WSJ, 4/22/98, p.A1)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.33)
1998 May 12, Akin Birdal, head of
the independent Human Rights Association, was shot and injured in an
attack by the Turkish Revenge Brigade, an ultranationalist group. Five
ultranationalists were arrested May 22.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A14)
1998 May 21, In northwest Turkey
rains caused floods and left at least 10 people dead.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D4)
1998 Jun 8, It was reported that
Turkish soldiers had killed 37 Kurdish insurgents in the southeast
provinces of Sirnak, Siirt, and Diyarbakir.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 24, The constitutional
court ruled that adultery was no longer a crime for women. Adultery,
legal for men for a long time, had been punishable for women with up to
3 years in prison.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 27, In southern Turkey a
6.3 earthquake around Adana and Ceyhan killed at least 144 people and
injured about a 1,000.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A21)(WSJ, 6/29/98, p.A1)(SFC,
7/4/98, p.A7)
1998 Jul 4, Aftershocks hit
southern Turkey and some 1000 people were reportedly injured.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A14)
1998 Jul 16, Some 2000 soldiers
were flown into northern Iraq to hunt Kurdish rebels who fled there
after killing 22 Turkish troops in a raid.
(SFC, 7/17/98, p.A16)
1998 Sep 23, The Turkey high court
jailed Istanbul Mayor Tayyip Erdogan.
(WSJ, 9/24/98, p.A13)
1998 Oct 3, Turkey sent some
10,000 troops into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels.
(SFEC, 10/4/98, p.A11)
1998 Oct 14, The draft budget was
unveiled and it was admitted that IMF targets would not be reached.
Inflation for 1999 was targeted to 35% after reaching 100% in early
1998. 1998 growth was measured at 4.5%.
(WSJ, 10/15/98, p.A20)
1998 Oct 21, The European
Commission approved a $180 million aid package for Turkey.
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.C5)
1998 Oct 21, Turkey and Syria
signed an accord whereby Syria agreed to brand the Kurdish Workers
Party (PKK) as a terrorist group.
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.C5)
1998 Oct 23, In Turkey 5 Kurdish
rebels burned themselves to death in loyalty to their leader Abdullah
Ocalan, who was expelled from Syria.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A14)
1998 Oct 29, Five nations endorsed
the oil pipeline from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea. Turkey,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakstan and Uzbekistan committed to the 1,080
mile conduit with a push from the US.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A14)
1998 Oct 30, Anti-terrorist squads
shot an airline hijacker to death and freed 38 passengers.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A18)
1998 Nov 11, A businessman linked
to organized crime said that Prime Minister Yilmaz rigged the
privatization of a state-run bank in his favor. This led to a
no-confidence motion by the Republican People’s Party of the ruling
coalition.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.A16)
1998 Nov 12, The mayor of Ankara
was arrested on graft charges as secularist authorities continued a
campaign against his pro-Islamic party.
(WSJ, 11/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 12, In Italy Abdullah
Ocalan, head of the Kurd PKK, was arrested in Rome.
(SFC, 11/14/98, p.A11)
1998 Nov 17, A Kurdish guerrilla
killed herself and wounded 6 others in a suicide bombing in Yuksekova.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.A12)
1998 Nov 19, Turkey arrested the
head of the main legal Kurdish party.
(WSJ, 11/20/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 25, The government of
Mesut Yilmaz lost a vote of confidence 314-214. Pres. Demirel was
expected to ask Yilmaz to stay on until an interim government is
formed.
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.B2)
1998 Dec 2, Bulent Ecevit was
asked to form a new government.
(WSJ, 12/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 16, In Italy Abdullah
Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, was freed by an appeals
court in Rome. Turkish officials were outraged and renewed threats of
economic retaliation.
(SFC, 12/17/98, p.C4)
1998 Dec 21, Prime
Minister-designate Bulent Ecevit abandoned efforts to form a new
government.
(SFC, 12/22/98, p.C4)
1998 Dec 23, Pres. Demirel asked
Yalim Erez, the acting trade minister of Kurdish origin, to form a new
government.
(SFC, 12/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Dec 29, In Cyprus Pres.
Glafcos Clerides decided not to import Russian-made anti-aircraft
missiles in order to reduce tensions with Turkey.
(SFC, 12/30/98, p.A8)
1998 Turkish archeologists
discovered what appeared to be the ruins of the Great Palace built by
Constantine in 330 AD.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)
1999 Jan 6, The Justice Ministry
said authorities will no longer be allowed to force women and girls to
undergo virginity tests.
(SFC, 1/7/99, p.A10)
1999 Jan 11, A new Turkish
government under Bulent Ecevit looked ready to serve until the April 18
elections.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 17, The parliament voted
in a new minority government under Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.
(WSJ, 1/18/99, p.A15)
1999 Feb 16, Turkish commandoes
captured Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya. Kurds seized Greek missions around
Europe and took hostages. It was later reported that US data helped the
Turks capture Ocalan.
(SFC, 2/17/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/17/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
2/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 23, Turkey formally
arrested Abdullah Ocalan on treason charges.
(SFC, 2/24/99, p.A8)
1999 Mar 3, Turkey called US raids
on Iraq that cut off oil flow to Turkey unacceptable. The US planes
were based in Turkey.
(WSJ, 3/4/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 4, A female suicide
bomber killed herself and wounded 3 civilians in the town of Batman.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 5, In Cankiri, Turkey, a
car bomb attack killed 3 people and wounded provincial governor Ayhan
Cevik. The Maoist guerrillas of the Turkish Workers and Peasants
Liberation Army (TIKKO) claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 3/6/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 13, Thirteen people were
killed in a bomb attack on a shopping center in the Goztepe section of
Istanbul.
(SFEC, 3/14/99, p.A24)
1999 Mar 14, A bombing in Ankara
killed one person.
(WSJ, 3/15/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 16, Two people were
killed in a car explosion in Hatay.
(SFC, 3/17/99, p.A8)
1999 Mar 21, The Kurdish New Year
began with unrest and police arrested 1,500 people across the country
with the southeast under a virtual state of siege. A pipeline explosion
halted the flow of oil from Iraq.
(SFC, 3/22/99, p.A10)(WSJ, 3/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 27, A young woman set off
grenades strapped to her body in a suicide that wounded 10 others in
Istanbul.
(SFEC, 3/28/99, p.A25)
1999 Mar, In Turkey the Virtue
Party member Erdogan was imprisoned for four months for reading
pro-Islamic poem at rally.
(AP, 11/4/02)
1999 Apr 5, A suicide bomber
killed himself and a teenage girl in an apparent attempt on the life of
Gov. Suleyman Kamci.
(SFC, 4/6/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb, Nicole and Hugh Pope
published "Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey."
(WSJ, 2/11/99, p.A24)
1999 Apr 18, Parliamentary
elections were scheduled.
(WSJ, 4/16/99, p.A12)
1999 Apr 18, In Turkey national
election were held. Voters in early results gave 22% of the vote to
Democratic Left Party of Bulent Ecevit, 15.4% to the Islamic Virtue
Party and 18% to the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) led by Devlet
Bahceli. The Motherland Party won 13% and the True Path won 12%. The
People's Republican Party (CHP) received less than 9% and for the 1st
time failed to win any seats.
(SFC, 4/19/99, p.A9)(SFC, 4/20/99, p.A8)(AP,
11/4/02)(Econ, 5/3/08, p.61)
1999 Apr 18, In Turkey 7
provincial capitals in the Kurdish region elected leaders of the
Kurdish nationalist party as mayors.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A18)
1999 May 3, Pres. Demirel
appointed Bulent Ecevit as prime minister and asked him to form a new
government. At the same time legislator Merve Kavakci incited a turmoil
by wearing a forbidden scarf.
(SFC, 5/4/99, p.A14)
1999 May 6, A Turkish court
sentenced 6 policemen to over 7 years in prison for beating a
journalist to death while in their custody.
(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A1)
1999 May 14, Prime Minister Ecevit
announced that Merve Kavakci would be stripped of citizenship because
she accepted US citizenship before her election to Parliament without
informing Turkish authorities.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A18)
1999 May 20, Semdik Sakik, a
Kurdish guerrilla commander was sentenced to death along with his
brother Arif Sakik.
(SFC, 5/21/99, p.D2)
1999 May 31, In Turkey the treason
trial of Abdullah Ocalan was scheduled to begin on a prison island.
Ocalan offered to urge the PKK to stop its armed struggle against
Turkey and to pursue a legal process. Ocalan was later convicted and
sentenced to death, but the death sentence was commuted to life in
prison in 2002.
(SFC, 5/1/99, p.A8)(SFC, 6/1/99, p.A6)(AP, 5/31/04)
1999 Jun 4, Police killed 2
members of a radical group believed to be planning a rocket attack on
the US Consulate in Istanbul.
(SFC, 6/5/99, p.A12)
1999 Jun 14, A parliamentary
committee voted to dismiss military judges from security courts.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.C5)
1999 Jun 29, The court on Imrali
Island sentenced Abdullah Ocalan to death on charges of treason.
(SFC, 6/29/99, p.A8)
1999 Jun 30, In Germany Turkish
businesses in at least 9 cities were hit by firebombs following the
conviction of Kurdish leader Ocalan.
(SFC, 7/1/99, p.A12)
1999 Jul 1, Kurdish rebels killed
3 people in a coffeehouse in Elazig. One of the attackers was killed by
security forces.
(SFC, 7/2/99, p.A18)
1999 Jul 4, PKK guerrillas planted
a bomb in an Istanbul park that killed one person and injured 25.
(SFC, 7/6/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 5, Rusen Tabanci (19), a
PKK suicide bomber, killed herself and injured 17 others in Adana.
There were over 30 bombings in the last 2 days.
(SFC, 7/6/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 11, A bomb exploded in
Van and 16 people were injured.
(SFC, 7/12/99, p.A9)
1999 Aug 3, Abdulah Ocalan called
on the PKK to abandon its armed struggle and pull forces out of Turkey
by Sept. 1.
(SFC, 8/4/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 5, Kurdish separatist
rebels agreed to accept a cease-fire call by Abdullah Ocalan.
(SFC, 8/6/99, p.A12)
1999 Aug 13, Iran agreed under
pressure to join Turkey for simultaneous military operations against
the PKK.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 13, The parliament made
constitutional changes to overhaul the economy and bring in foreign
investment.
(WSJ, 8/16/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 17, A 7.4 earthquake hit
western Turkey with many killed and thousands injured. Over 17,000 were
later reported killed. The quake was centered under the Sea of Armara
on the North Anatolian fault. It was later reported to have pushed
Turkey 4 feet closer to Europe.
(SFC, 8/17/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/18/99, p.A1,13)(WSJ,
8/18/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/20/99, p.A1)(SFEC, 8/29/99, p.A17)(AP, 8/17/03)
1999 Aug 18, The Tupras oil
refinery near Ismit burned out of control as the death toll passed
4,000 from the 7.4 earthquake centered on Izmit. A day after a deadly
earthquake struck western Turkey, survivors denounced the rescue effort
as sluggish and disorganized. The death toll eventually topped 17,000.
(SFC, 8/19/99, p.A1,15)(AP, 8/18/00)
1999 Aug 20, Officials reported
that over 10,000 bodies had been recovered from the quake and the
injured list had risen to 34,000. Prime Minister Ecevit ordered that
the dead be buried as soon as found.
(SFC, 8/21/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 21, The death toll from
the Aug 17 earthquake reached 12,000. Governors in 3 of 9 stricken
provinces called off searches for survivors.
(SFEC, 8/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 24, The death toll in
Turkey’s August 17 earthquake was raised to near 18,000.
(SFC, 8/25/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 25, Lawmakers approved
new taxes to help pay for earthquake damages, which included a 25%
surcharge on cellular telephones.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 26, The Turkey quake
death toll was lowered to 13,040 with 26,630 injured. The parliament
passed a law to give amnesty to Kurdish rebels with no criminal record.
The death toll was later raised to over 17,000.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A14) (SFC,
10/15/99, p.A19)
1999 Aug 31, A 5.2 aftershock
earthquake hit Izmit and killed one man and injured 166.
(SFC, 9/1/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 13, A 5.8 aftershock at
Golcuk left at least 7 people dead and over 420 injured.
(SFC, 9/14/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 26, 11 leftist inmates
were killed and a simmering prison uprising erupted as dozens of guards
were seized across the country.
(WSJ, 9/28/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 21, Ahmet Taner Kislali
(60), a columnist for the pro-secular newspaper Cumhuriyet, died from a
bomb placed on his car windshield.
(SFC, 10/22/99, p.B6)
1999 Oct 25, Israeli Pres. Barak
visited Turkey to boost military cooperation and economic ties.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p. B2)
1999 Nov 12, In Turkey a 7.2 [7.1]
earthquake was centered at Duzce. At least 834 people were killed and
3000 injured. Damage from the last 2 quakes was later estimated at
$10-25 billion.
(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A1)(SFEC, 11/14/99, p.A1)(SFC,
11/15/99, p.A14)(WSJ, 11/17/99, p.A1)(SFC, 4/28/00, p.D6)(AP, 11/12/00)
1999 Nov 15, Pres. Clinton
addressed the Turkish parliament and stressed his support for candidate
membership status to the EU.
(SFC, 11/16/99, p.A12)
1999 Nov 17, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Turkey agreed to a US-backed plan for a Caspian oil pipeline from Baku
to Ceyhan to be completed in 2004. The 1st shipment was made in 2006.
(SFC, 11/18/99, p.C6)(AFP, 6/4/06)
1999 Nov 18, Pres. Clinton at a
conference in Turkey of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe urged Pres. Yeltsin to stop the bombing and rocket attacks in
Chechnya.
(SFC, 11/19/99, p.A1)
1999 Nov 19, The 54-nation summit
of the OSCE closed with a treaty that restricted the number of tanks,
planes and artillery of every army across Europe.
(SFC, 11/20/99, p.A10)
1999 Nov 28, Turkey reported that
some 70 Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq had been killed over the last 5
days by Turkish forces in 15 operations.
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A16)
1999 Dec 10, The EU accepted
Turkey as a candidate for membership.
(SFC, 12/11/99, p.A16)
1999 Jason Goodwin authored "Lords
of the Horizon," a history of the Ottoman Empire.
(WSJ, 4/29/99, p.A24)
1999 The IMF put $4 billion into
Turkey.
(WSJ, 4/2/03, p.A14)
1999 In Turkey Guler Sabanci
launched Sabanci University.
(Econ, 1/29/05, p.64)
1999 In Turkey Guler Sabanci
launched her wine label “G.”
(Econ, 1/29/05, p.64)
2000 Jan 12, Turkish leaders
postponed the execution of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.
(SFC, 1/13/00, p.A12)
2000 Jan 17, Huseyin Velioglu,
founder and leader of Turkish Hezbollah, was killed in a shootout with
Turkish Police during a raid in the Istanbul suburb of Beykoz.
(www.tkb.org/KeyLeader.jsp?memID=5922)
2000 Jan 20, Authorities unearthed
3 bodies from a coal shed in Ankara a day after 10 bodies were found
strangled and left in a coal bin of an Istanbul house. Hezbollah
militants were blamed.
(SFC, 1/21/00, p.D3)
2000 Jan 20, Greece and Turkey
signed a series of accords to regulate commerce, provide for
cooperation in fighting organized crime, preventing illegal
immigration, promoting tourism and protecting the Aegean Sea
environment.
(SFC, 1/21/00, p.D2)
2000 Jan 22, The body of Konca
Kuris, described as a Muslim feminist, was exhumed in Konya, 220 miles
northwest of Mersin. Her body was one of 33 found at properties used by
Hezbollah, a radical group dedicated to overthrowing the Turkish state
and establishing an Islamic republic.
(SFC, 1/26/00, p.A9)
2000 Jan 28, Police uncovered 7
more bodies at a Hezbollah hideout and the government ordered clerics
to read a sermon denouncing violence. Captured militants in Batman led
police to a cache of small arms that included 26 AK-47 assault rifles.
(SFC, 1/29/00, p.A9)
2000 Feb 1, Three more bodies were
found in Diyarbakir and one in Barman attributed to the militant
Hezbollah. The total reached 51.
(SFC, 2/2/00, p.B8)
2000 Feb 2, The bodies of 5 more
Hezbollah victims were found in Diyarbakir and Gaziantep and raised the
total to 55.
(SFC, 2/3/00, p.A14)
2000 Feb 9, Kurdish rebels of the
PKK announced that they had given up their war and would press their
cause "within the framework of peace and democracy."
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 14, Eight people were
killed in 2 clashes between Hezbollah and police.
(SFC, 2/15/00, p.A16)
2000 Feb 28, Three Kurdish mayors
were released from prison pending trial on charges that they aided
Kurdish rebels.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A12)
2000 Mar 10, Former prime minister
Necmettin Erbakan was sentenced to one year in prison for a 1994 speech
in which he criticized the secular government for drifting from its
Islamic roots.
(SFC, 3/11/00, p.A8)
2000 Apr 3, Turkish warplanes
struck Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 25, Prime Minister Ecevit
rallied opposition parties behind Ahmet Necdet Sezer, chief justice of
the top court and candidate for the presidency. Sezer needed 367 of 550
parliamentary votes.
(SFC, 4/26/00, p.A14)
2000 May 5, The parliament elected
judge Ahmet Necdet Sezer as the next president.
(SFC, 5/6/00, p.C1)
2000 May 26, A 6 volume report by
a parliamentary human rights panel was obtained by the Associated
Press. It documented cases of torture in police stations across the
country.
(SFC, 5/27/00, p.C1)
2000 May, The government banned 12
Kurdish language journals.
(SFC, 11/10/00, p.D4)
2000 Jun 2, Delegates in Istanbul
from over 150 nations concluded the latest World Radiocommunication
Conference. They agreed to reserve 3 blocks of airwaves for advanced
services such as wireless Internet access.
(SFC, 6/3/00, p.B1)
2000 Jun 13, In Italy the
government pardoned Mehmet Ali Agca (42), the man who wounded Pope John
Paul II in 1981. Agca was flown to Turkey to finish serving 8 years for
the 1979 murder of a newspaper editor.
(SFC, 6/14/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 21, Iraq threatened to
retaliate against Turkey over airstrikes that left some 40 civilians
dead.
(WSJ, 8/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 7, Turkey announced the
move of some 2000 residents of Tuzkoy and Karain due to cancerous
fibrous zeolite, a mineral fiber in volcanic ash.
(SFC, 9/8/00, p.D2)
2000 Oct 20, Some 800-1000 inmates
began a hunger strike to protest their possible transfer to new prisons.
(SFC, 11/23/00, p.D4)
2000 Nov, Imprisoned gang leaders
Nuri and Vedat Ergin allegedly forced some 200 inmates at Usak prison
to stage a 3-day riot. The brothers allegedly ordered the death of 5
inmates from a rival gang. Turkey planned a broad amnesty that could
release as many as 25,000 inmates, but excluded some 12,000 political
prisoners. A prison hunger strike entered its 5th week.
(SFC, 11/23/00, p.D4)
2000 Nov, Metin Kaplan was
sentenced in Germany for operating a terrorist organization. His group
had planned to bomb Ataturk’s mausoleum in Ankara with an airplane
packed with explosives on Turkey’s 75th anniversary. Kaplan,
known as the “caliph of Cologne,” was extradited to Turkey in 2004.
(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A9)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.53)
2000 Dec 4, The Turkey stock
market fell 8% and marked a 2-week drop of 40% as interest rates soared
to 1,200%. Officials began talks with the IMF for a $5 billion loan.
(SFC, 12/5/00, p.A15)
2000 Dec 6, The IMF agreed to
grant Turkey $7.5 billion in emergency loans.
(SFC, 12/7/00, p.C12)
2000 Dec 15, A central Turkey
earthquake killed 6 people including 5 men praying at the mosque of
Yasarlar village.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.11)
2000 Dec 19, At least 17 people
were killed when security forces stormed 20 prisons to end a 2-month
hunger strike.
(SFC, 12/20/00, p.A20)
2000 Dec 20, The fight to gain
control of the prisons entered a 2nd day. The DHKP-C, a splinter group
of Dev-Sol, led the hunger strike.
(SFC, 12/21/00, p.A20)
2000 Dec 22, Government prison
raids ended after 430 inmates surrendered at Umraniye. The 4-day siege
left 28 people dead including 16 burned alive. Government forces had
not been able to enter the leftist controlled wards of Bayrampasa
prison in Istanbul for a decade.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, p.B4)
2000 Hugh and Nicole Pope authored
“Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey.”
(Econ, 5/21/05, p.85)
2001 Jan 3, In Turkey suicide
bomber Gultekin Koc (23) killed himself a 2 others in a police station
in Istanbul. At least 7 people were injured. Koc was a member of the
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, a Marxist group
(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A9)(SFC, 9/11/01, p.B3)
2001 Jan 7, Iraqi Kurdish
officials reported that at least 500 Turkish troops had pushed 100
miles into northern Iraq in response to a call for help from the PUK.
The PUK was fighting the PKK and had lost 200 soldiers in recent weeks.
Some 10,000 Turkish troops had entered northern Iraq since Dec 20.
(SFC, 1/8/01, p.A9)
2001 Jan 30, Mehmet Fevzi
Sihanlioglu (55), member of parliament, was beaten by fellow lawmakers
in the Grand National Assembly and died of a heart attack. The attack
followed a debate on whether time for speeches should be extended.
(SFC, 2/14/01, p.D18)
2001 Feb 16, Matild Manokyan,
Turkey’s best known legal brothel madam, died at age 84. She had been
Istanbul’s top tax payer for several years.
(SFC, 2/19/01, p.A19)
2001 Feb 22, A financial crises in
Turkey forced the government to let the lira float and it dropped 40%
to 960,000 to the US dollar. By the end of the year the economy sank
9.4%.
(SFC, 2/23/01, p.D4)(WSJ, 2/23/01, p.A11)(WSJ,
4/2/03, p.A14)
2001 Mar 19, The Cabinet approved
a detailed program of political, economic and legal reforms to secure
entry to the EU.
(SFC, 3/20/01, p.A12)
2001 Mar 22, Sabiha Gokcen,
Turkey's 1st woman pilot and the adopted daughter of Ataturk, died.
Armenians held that she was Armenian by birth.
(Econ, 3/27/04, p.52)
2001 Mar 31, Thousands rallied in
major cities to protest a government economic recovery plan backed by
the IMF.
(SSFC, 4/1/01, p.C10)
2001 Apr 11, As many an 130,000
protesters in several cities fought with police and called for the
resignation of PM Ecevit due to the economic crises.
(SFC, 4/12/01, p.C2)
2001 Apr 22, In Istanbul
pro-Chechen gunmen seized at least 30 hostages at the Swissotel luxury
hotel.
(SFC, 4/23/01, p.A8)
2001 Apr 23, In Istanbul 13
pro-Chechen rebels released 120 hostages and were arrested.
(SFC, 4/24/01, p.A9)
2001 May 3, It was reported that
20 people in Turkey had starved themselves to death in the past 5 weeks
in protest of the prison system. Some 200-400 inmates still engaged in
the "death fast."
(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B2)
2001 May 15, The IMF approved $8
billion in loans to Turkey.
(WSJ, 5/16/01, p.A1)
2001 May 16, A Casa CN-235
military transport plane crashed and killed 34 people, mostly
special-forces soldiers returning from a Kurdish region.
(SFC, 5/17/01, p.A12)
2001 Jun 22, Turkey's top court
banned the Virtue Party for violating secular laws.
(AP, 11/4/02)
2001 Jul 4, In Izmir Mahmut Gokhan
Ozocak (41) became the 27th person to die from a hunger strike
protesting prisoner transfers.
(SFC, 7/6/01, p.D6)
2001 Jul 18, It was reported that
Osman Durmus, the Health Minister in Turkey, had introduced regulations
for state schools to expel non-virgin girls training as health workers.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A11)
2001 Aug, In Turkey Erdogan formed
the Justice and Development Party with former Virtue members.
(AP, 11/4/02)
2001 Sep 10, In Turkey a Marxist
militant suicide bomber, Ugur Bulbul, killed killing himself and three
others, including an Australian woman and 2 policemen near Istanbul’s
historic Taksim Square. 21 were injured. Bulbul was released from
prison 6 months earlier for membership in the banned Revolutionary
People’s Liberation Party-Front, a Marxist group, that later claimed
responsibility.
(WSJ, 9/11/01, p.A1)(SFC, 9/11/01, p.B3)(SFC,
9/12/01, p.C4)(AP, 9/10/02)
2001 Sep 26, Turkey approved
constitutional reforms that eased restrictions on broadcasting and
publishing in the Kurdish language.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A11)
2001 Sep 27, Two more prisoners
died from a hunger strike against the new high-security prisons. This
raised the total to 38.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
2001 Oct 10, Turkey granted the
government the authority to send troops overseas and to allow foreign
troops to be stationed on its soil.
(SFC, 10/11/01, p.A7)
2001 Nov 6, In Istanbul 4 leftist
militants, participants in a hunger strike, died during a police raid.
The militants had threatened self-immolation.
(SFC, 11/7/01, p.A16)
2001 Nov 22, The Turkey Parliament
formally recognized men and women as equals effective Jan 1. this
updated a 1926 code that designated the husband as head of the family.
(SFC, 11/23/01, p.A21)
2001 Stephen Kinzer, NY Times
correspondent, authored "Crescent & Star," a journalist’s view of
Turkey.
(WSJ, 9/19/01, p.A18)
2001 Turkey’s police knocked out
the home-grown Hizbullah, an Islamic terrorist group.
(Econ, 7/19/08, p.36)
2002 Jan 14, PM Bulent Ecevit
began a 5-day visit to Washington.
(WSJ, 1/14/02, p.A12)
2002 Feb 3, A 6.0-6.2 earthquake
hit Turkey and as least 45 people were killed. The epicenter was about
135 miles southwest of Ankara.
(SFC, 2/4/02, p.A3)(WSJ, 2/4/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 21, In Diyarbakir,
Turkey, thousands of Kurdish youths battled Turkish police after
authorities banned the celebration of Nowruz, the Zoroastrian New Year.
(SFC, 3/22/02, p.A10)
2002 Apr 19, The top court barred
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a leading Islamist politician, from holding a
seat in parliament.
(SFC, 4/20/02, p.A13)
2002 Apr 29, Turkey officially
agreed to take command of the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 4/30/02, p.A15)
2002 May 30, Police near Caldiran
found the bodies of 19 suspected illegal immigrants who had apparently
attempted to enter during the winter from Iran.
(SFC, 5/31/02, p.A12)
2002 May, Amateur treasure hunters
stumbled upon a site in central Turkey believed to be the lost city of
Sobesos.
(Econ, 6/19/04, p.82)
2002 Jun 4, Turkish peacekeepers
arrived in Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 6/5/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 20, Turkey took over
control of the 19-member peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 6/21/02, p.A10)
2002 Jul 3, Turkey's jittery stock
market fell again following reports that officials discussed a
moratorium on the nation's $30 billion foreign debt.
(AP, 7/3/02)
2002 Jul 5, In Turkey 3 police
officers and a suspected Islamic militant were killed in a shootout
during a raid on an apartment in the southeastern Turkish city of
Elazig.
(AP, 7/5/02)
2002 Jul 8, In Turkey 3 ministers
resigned in a growing push for early elections.
(WSJ, 7/9/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 11, Turkey's foreign
minister resigned, dealing a harsh blow to Prime Minister Bulent
Ecevit, who was struggling to stay in power despite ill health and mass
resignations from his party.
(AP, 7/11/02)
2002 Jul 12, Ismail Cem, Turkey's
former foreign minister, launched a new political party to topple Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit, who is fighting to stay in power despite poor
health and a mutiny within his Cabinet.
(AP, 7/12/02)
2002 Aug 3, Turkey's parliament
approved a reform package aimed at boosting its chances of joining the
European Union by abolishing the death penalty and granting greater
rights to the nation's Kurds.
(AP, 8/3/02)
2002 Aug 6, Israel agreed to buy
about 1.75 billion cubic feet of water from Turkey annually for the
next 20 years to alleviate the nation's growing water shortage and
ensure the success of an arms deal with Ankara.
(AP, 8/602)
2002 Aug 10, Kemal Dervis,
Turkey's economy minister and the architect of a $16 billion,
foreign-backed recovery program, to run for parliament and called on
bickering politicians to join forces for a strong government.
(AP, 8/10/02)
2002 Sep 19, German police stormed
homes and froze bank accounts across the country after outlawing 16
more groups linked to a jailed Islamic militant accused of plotting an
airplane attack in Turkey.
(AP, 9/19/02)
2002 Sep 20, Necdet Kent (91),
Turkish diplomat in France (1941-1944), died in Istanbul. He gave
Turkish citizenship to dozens of Turkish Jews living in France who did
not have proper identity papers to save them from deportation to the
Nazi gas chambers.
(AP, 9/20/02)
2002 Sep 28, In Turkey
paramilitary police reported the seizure of 35 pounds of uranium near
the Syrian border and arrested two Turks who they said planned to sell
the weapons-grade substance. The amount was later changed to 3 ounces
and then found to be inert.
(AP, 9/29/02)(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.A12)(AP, 9/30/02)
2002 Oct 3, Turkey formally
commuted Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan's death sentence to
life in prison after parliament abolished capital punishment two months
ago in a bid to join the European Union.
(AP, 10/3/02)
2002 Oct 9, The European Union's
executive Commission declared Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia,
and Slovakia nearly ready for EU membership and recommended they be
invited to join in 2004. Romania and Bulgaria likely will be delayed
until 2007 because of weak economies, the Commission said, adding
Turkey was the weakest link among candidates.
(AP, 10/9/02)
2002 Oct 23, Turkey’s chief
prosecutor moved to outlaw the Justice and Development Party for
ignoring court order that Erdogan step down as leader. The moderate
Islamic party, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was also Turkey’s most
popular party.
(SFC, 10/24/02, p.A11)(AP, 11/4/02)
2002 Oct 26, In southeastern
Turkey 3 teenagers were killed after they accidentally set off a mortar
shell, where Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels battled for years.
(AP, 10/26/02)
2002 Oct 27, Kurdish rebels
clashed with Turkish soldiers in the mainly Kurdish southeast, leaving
an insurgent dead and five soldiers wounded.
(AP, 10/27/02)
2002 Oct, Turkey’s ISE stock index
began to rise and increased 400% by February 2006.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.74)
2002 Nov 3, In Turkey the
Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AK) won a parliamentary
majority in elections (34.2%), the first time in 15 years that any
party has been in a position to govern alone. The party pledged to wipe
out corruption. It also pledged to maintain the nation's pro-Western
stance, quickly moving to soothe worries that this crucial U.S. ally
would undergo a radical shift toward Islam; Republican People's Party
(social democrats): 19.4%; True Path Party (center-rightist): 9.5%;
National Action Party (nationalists): 8.3%. About 90% of incumbent
members of parliament lost.
(AP, 11/4/02)(SFC, 11/4/02, p.A1)(SFC, 11/15/02,
p.J6)(Econ, 7/25/05, p.44)
2002 Nov 16, Abdullah Gul, a
moderate politician from a party with Islamic roots, was chosen to be
Turkey's next prime minister, but he was widely regarded as a stand-in
for the party's real leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
(AP, 11/16/02)
2002 Nov 23, Turkey's new prime
minister presented his program to parliament, saying his top priorities
are joining the European Union and revitalizing the slumping economy.
(AP, 11/23/02)
2002 Nov 30, Turkey lifted curfews
and restrictions on gatherings in two predominantly Kurdish provinces,
ending 15 years of emergency rule in southeastern Turkey and fulfilling
a requirement toward joining the European Union.
(AP, 11/30/02)
2002 Nov, In south-eastern Turkey
Semse Allak, a pregnant woman, and Halil, her illicit love (or rapist),
were stoned to death for shaming their families in the province of
Mardin.
(Econ, 6/28/03, p.53)
2002 Dec 1, In Istanbul, Turkey,
some 10,000 people took part in a protest against a U.S.-led war in
neighboring Iraq.
(AP, 12/1/02)
2002 Dec 7, In London Azra Akin,
Miss Turkey, won the Miss World Pageant bringing to a close the pageant
that had incited deadly rioting in Nigeria, the original site of the
event.
(AP, 12/7/02)
2002 In Turkey Abdurrahman
Dilipak, an Islamist, and Sanar Yurdatapan, an atheist, authored "Red
and Green," or "Green and Red," on current questions of faith and
social issues such as the role of women.
(SFC, 11/29/02, p.K4)
2002 The World Bank committed $3.5
billion to Turkey in this year.
(WSJ, 4/2/03, p.A14)
2003 Jan 8, In Turkey the pilot of
the British Aerospace RJ-100 missed the runway because of heavy fog in
the southeastern city of Diayarbakir. 75 people were killed with 5
survivors.
(AP, 1/9/03)(WSJ, 1/9/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 11, Another Turkish
prisoner died on a hunger strike, raising the death toll in the protest
against Turkey's maximum security prisons to 64 people.
(AP, 1/12/03)
2003 Jan 17, Turkish troops killed
12 Kurdish rebels in the southeast over the past two days.
(AP, 1/17/03)
2003 Jan 19, Syria and Iran
support Turkey's proposal for a regional summit to seek a peaceful way
out of the Iraq standoff. Turkey has offered to hold the summit where
Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria would discuss the standoff
over Iraq.
(AP, 1/19/03)
2003 Feb 6, Turkey's parliament
voted to allow U.S. troops to renovate Turkish bases for use in a
possible war with Iraq.
(AP, 2/6/03)
2003 Feb 18, Turkey asked
the US to nearly double its multibillion dollar aid package as a
condition for allowing U.S. troops on its soil in a war against
neighboring Iraq.
(AP, 2/18/03)
2003 Feb 19, NATO approved
the deployment of defense equipment to Turkey in the event of a war in
Iraq. Turkey and the US failed again to agree on the size of an
economic aid package.
(AP, 2/19/03)
2003 Feb 24, Turkey’s
Cabinet agreed to the deployment of tens of thousands of U.S. combat
troops ahead of a possible war in Iraq. The measure is expected to face
a vote in Turkey’s parliament Feb 25.
(AP, 2/24/03)
2003 Mar 1, Turkey's
parliament failed to approve a bill allowing in American combat troops
to open a northern front against Iraq. Lawmakers voted 264-250 in favor
of stationing US troops but that was 3 votes shy of a constitutionally
mandated simple majority.
(AP, 3/2/03)(AP, 3/1/08)
2003 Mar 9, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, the leader of Turkey’s ruling party, won a by-election. He was
soon confirmed as PM replacing Abdullah Gul.
(AP, 3/9/03)(WSJ, 3/12/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 11, In Turkey Recep
Erdogan was confirmed as the prime minister.
(WSJ, 3/12/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 19, PM Tayyip Erdogan
said Turkey was preparing to open its airspace to US warplanes but
would not allow them access to airbases.
(AP, 3/19/03)
2003 Mar 20, Turkey’s parliament
approved a motion allowing over-flights for US warplanes. Turkey
announced plans to send thousands of troops into Kurdish-controlled
northern Iraq.
(AP, 3/20/03)
2003 Mar 29, A Turkish man who had
hijacked a Turkish Airlines flight the day before was persuaded by
Turkey's prime minister to release his 204 hostages after the plane
landed in Athens, Greece.
(AP, 3/29/04)
2003 Mar, In Turkey villagers from
the southeastern town of Sanliurfa hurled eggs and stones at a group of
about a dozen US soldiers going to retrieve pieces of Navy-fired
Tomahawk missile, which was intended for Iraq but crashed into an empty
field. In 2006 charges 13 villagers were acquitted of attacking the US
troops.
(AP, 12/27/06)
2003 Apr 18, The IMF approved the
release of $701 million in loans to Turkey, part of an $18 billion
package approved in Feb 2002.
(SFC, 4/19/03, p.A12)
2003 May 1, A 6.4 magnitude
earthquake rumbled through southeastern Turkey. 177 people were killed
and 390 injured including 80 students were trapped in the debris of
their school dormitory in Bingol.
(AP, 5/1/03)(SFC, 5/1/03, A16)(SFC, 5/2/03,
p.A3)(AP, 5/4/08)
2003 May 17, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will open its doors next week
to Greek Cypriot tourists, signaling an end to a decades-long travel
ban.
(AP, 5/18/03)
2003 May 26, An airplane carrying
Spanish peacekeepers crashed into a mountain in northeastern Turkey
while making its third attempt to land in thick fog. All 74 people
aboard were killed. The Yak-42 was chartered from a Ukrainian company.
(AP, 5/26/03)(WSJ, 5/27/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 7, In eastern Turkey a
passenger bus slammed into a wall at the entrance of a tunnel, killing
27 people and injuring 33.
(AP, 6/7/03)
2003 Jun 20, In central Turkey a
student dormitory at an Islamic school exploded and collapsed, killing
10 students.
(AP, 6/20/03)
2003 Jul 4, US forces raided a
Turkish special forces office in northern Iraq and detained 11 soldiers
on reports that Turks were plotting to kill the governor of the
oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
(AP, 7/5/03)
2003 Jul 10, In southeastern
Turkey suspected Kurdish rebels raided a village, killing four
villagers and injuring another.
(AP, 7/11/03)
2003 Aug 22, Turkish troops
clashed with Kurdish rebels in Batman province. 7 Kurds and 2 Turkish
soldiers were killed.
(SFC, 8/23/03, p.A3)
2003 Aug 24, In northern Turkey a
bus in a wedding convoy veered off the road and slammed into a
retaining wall, killing 19 people and injuring several others.
(AP, 8/24/03)
2003 Oct 7, Turkey's parliament
voted overwhelmingly to allow Turkish troops to be sent to Iraq.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2003 Nov 15, In Turkey twin car
bombs exploded outside Istanbul synagogues filled with worshippers
during Sabbath prayers, killing at least 23 people and wounding more
than 300. In all 14 Muslims were killed. 6 Jews were killed at Beth
Israel.
(AP, 11/16/03)(SSFC, 11/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 19, Turkish authorities
arrested six people in connection with the suicide bombings of two
Istanbul synagogues.
(AP, 11/19/03)
2003 Nov 20, In Turkey trucks
packed with explosives blew up at the HSBC London-based bank and the
British consulate. The 32 people killed included London's
consul-general Roger Short. Some 450 people were wounded.
(AP, 11/20/03)(WSJ, 11/21/03, p.A1)(SFC, 12/1/03,
p.A16)
2003 Nov 22, A methane explosion
in a Turkish coal mine killed at least three miners and trapped another
seven in the collapsed mine.
(AP, 11/22/03)
2003 Nov 30, Syria handed over 22
suspects to Turkey in connection with the Nov 16 suicide bombings in
Istanbul.
(SFC, 12/1/03, p.A16)
2003 Dec 14, Elections in northern
Cyprus ended in a deadlock with the pro-EU opposition and
pro-government parties splitting the 50 parliamentary seats. EU members
have said that Turkey must help reunite the island before it can
realize its own membership aspirations.
(AP, 12/15/03)(WSJ, 12/15/03, p.A13)
2003 Dec 21, A vessel, carrying
some 60 migrants from Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, left the
Turkish Mediterranean resort of Marmaris late Dec 20 and was heading to
the Greek island of Rhodes when it sank.
(AP, 12/22/03)
2003 An American court awarded
Motorola and Nokia $5 billion in damages, compensation and interest for
money defrauded them by Turkey’s Uzan family. Turkey claimed another $6
billion from the Uzans.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.14)
2004 Jan 6, President Bashar Assad
began the first-ever visit to Turkey by a Syrian head of state, hoping
to further improve ties forge a joint position on growing Kurdish
autonomy.
(AP, 1/6/04)(WSJ, 1/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 8, Turkey and the US
agreed to reopen the Incirlik air base for Iraq operations.
(WSJ, 1/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 2, In central Turkey an
11-story apartment building collapsed in Konya, killing at least 63
people. 12 people were found alive in the rubble the next day.
(AP, 2/3/04)(AP, 2/6/04)(AP, 2/7/04)
2004 Feb 8, Cem Karaca (58),
Armenian-Turkish rock musician, died. He put together some 20 albums
that mixed Turkish themes and western rock music.
(SFC, 2/17/04, p.A18)
2004 Feb 13, Greek and Turkish
Cypriot leaders agreed to resume full negotiations next week to end the
30-year division of Cyprus before it joins the European Union on May 1.
(AP, 2/13/04)
2004 Feb 13, A Cambodian-flagged
vessel that sank near the entrance of the Bosporus. A snowstorm
sweeping out of the Balkans disrupted travel across Turkey and Greece,
forcing rescuers to call off the search for the 20 crew members of the
cargo ship.
(AP, 2/13/04)
2004 Mar 10, In Turkey 2 suicide
attackers stormed a Masonic lodge in Istanbul opening fire with
automatic weapons and setting off explosions that killed one person and
wounded five.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2004 Mar 25, In eastern Turkey a
5.1 earthquake centered at Cat left at least 9 people dead.
(AP, 3/26/04)
2004 Mar 28, Premier Recep Tayyip
Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party appeared headed for a resounding victory
in Turkey's local elections.
(AP, 3/28/04)
2004 Apr 10, Sakip Sabanci (71),
Turkey’s richest man and head of Sabanci Holding, died. He left his
niece Guler Sabanci in charge of his business.
(www.guardian.co.uk/turkey/story/0,12700,1193172,00.html)
2004 Jun 1, In Turkey Kurdish
rebels, Kongra-Gel, announced a resumption of battle saying the
government had not met their terms.
(Econ, 9/4/04, p.51)
2004 Jun 2, In southeast Turkey
Kurdish guerrillas fired on troops a day after announcing an end to a
5-year cease fire.
(WSJ, 6/3/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 9, State-run Turkish TV
aired its 1st ever broadcast in the Kurdish dialect of Kurmandji. Hours
later Leyla Zana and 3 colleagues were released after spending 10 years
in jail for belonging to the PKK rebel group.
(Econ, 6/12/04, p.50)
2004 Jun 24, In Istanbul, Turkey,
bombs shattered a bus and exploded outside a hotel where President Bush
was to stay the following weekend, in back-to-back attacks that killed
four people and wounded 17.
(AP, 6/25/04)
2004 Jun 27, Turkey rejected the
demands of Islamic militants who are threatening to behead three of its
kidnapped citizens during a visit by President Bush to Turkey.
(AP, 6/27/04)
2004 Jun 27, Over 40 thousand
Turks chanting anti-Bush slogans demonstrated against the president's
visit to their country and a NATO summit. NATO leaders closed ranks on
a pledge to take a bigger military role in Iraq; Pres. Bush declared
that the alliance was poised to "meet the threats of the 21st century."
Pres. Bush called on the EU to admit Turkey as a member.
(AP, 6/27/04)(Econ, 9/11/04, p.50)(AP, 6/27/05)
2004 Jul 2, In eastern Turkey a
car bomb exploded near a governor's convoy, killing 6 people, including
a 12-year-old boy, and injuring 23 others.
(AFP, 7/2/04)(SFC, 7/3/04, p.A10)
2004 Jul 2, In an eastern Turkey a
5.0 earthquake leveled stone and mud houses, killing 18 people and
injuring 27.
(AP, 7/2/04)(SFC, 7/3/04, p.A3)
2004 Jul 22, In northwestern
Turkey a new high-speed passenger train derailed killing 37 people and
injuring 81 others.
(AP, 7/23/04)(AP, 7/22/05)
2004 Jul 30, Turkish authorities
seized 200 pounds of plastic explosives hidden in a truck as it crossed
into Turkey from Iraq.
(AP, 7/30/04)
2004 Aug 2, Masked gunmen killed a
Turkish hostage with three gunshots to the head, according to a video
posted on the Internet, and the Turkish truckers' union said it would
stop bringing supplies to U.S. forces in Iraq.
(AP, 8/2/04)
2004 Aug 11, In northwestern
Turkey 2 trains collided head on, killing 8 people, injuring 55 others.
(AP, 8/11/04)(AP, 8/12/04)
2004 Aug 31, An official said
Turkish troops had killed 11 Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey
during the past three days.
(AP, 8/31/04)
2004 Sep 5, A Turkish company said
it was withdrawing from Iraq a day after Iraqi militants threatened to
behead its employee unless it ceased operations there.
(AP, 9/5/04)
2004 Sep 8, In Turkey rescue
workers started to evacuate dozens of workers trapped inside a copper
mine engulfed in fire. Eight miners were rescued so far. Between 25 and
30 miners were trapped inside the mine in the town of Kure in Kastamonu
province, some 185 miles north of the capital, Ankara.
(AP, 9/8/04)
2004 Sep 21, A Turkish
construction company announced that it was halting operations in
neighboring Iraq in a bid to save the lives of 10 employees kidnapped
by militants.
(AP, 9/21/04)
2004 Sep 26, Turkey’s Parliament
voted overwhelmingly to approve penal code reforms aimed at boosting
its chances of starting membership talks with the European Union.
(AP, 9/26/04)
2004 Oct 2, Turkish troops and
Kurdish rebels clashed in southeastern Turkey in fighting that killed
two soldiers and a guerrilla.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 6, The EU recommended
Turkey be put on the path to full membership.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 11, An Arabic language
television station broadcast video showing three hooded gunmen
threatening to behead a Turkish hostage within three days unless the
Americans release all Iraqi prisoners and all Turks leave Iraq.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 14, Video that appeared
on an Islamic Web site showed militants in Iraq beheading a man
identified as a kidnapped Turkish driver.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Nov 20, Ugur Kaymaz (12) and
his father Ahmet Kaymaz (30), a Kurdish truck driver from Kiziltepe,
Turkey, were reportedly shot dead by police officers in front of their
house. In 2007 all 4 members of the special forces implicated in the
killings were exonerated.
(www.extrajudicialexecutions.org/communications/turkey.html)(Econ,
6/23/07, p.60)
2004 Dec 5, President Vladimir
Putin made the first official visit by a Russian leader to Turkey,
seeking to boost trade and counterterrorism cooperation between the two
countries.
(AP, 12/5/04)
2004 Dec 14, In northeastern
Turkey an avalanche roared down on a town, killing six people,
including a 10-month-old baby.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 15, In eastern
Afghanistan the body of a kidnapped Turkish engineer was found, a day
after he was snatched with his driver and interpreter by a band of
armed men.
(AP, 12/15/04)
2004 Dec 17, European Union
leaders and Turkey agreed on a compromise formula to overcome
differences over Turkish recognition of Cyprus' government as a
condition for opening EU membership talks.
(AP, 12/17/04)
2004 Dec 22, Turkey and Syria
signed a free-trade accord.
(WSJ, 12/23/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 25, Video footage aired
on Turkish television showed a Turkish ship owner saying he and a ship
captain were being held hostage in Iraq and that kidnappers demanded a
$25 million ransom.
(AP, 12/25/04)
2004 Dec 26, A woman doused her
body with gasoline and set herself ablaze in a busy Istanbul square to
protest Turkey's maximum security prison system.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 31, Bulgarian authorities
picked up Suleyman Demirel, one-time owner of Egebank and nephew of
former pres. Demirel, and returned him to Turkey for trial. Egebank’s
collapse had caused financial losses of $1.2 billion.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.14)
2004 Dec, Turkey signed a $10
billion 3-year economic agreement with the IMF.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.12)
2004 Police in Malatya province
arrested Hamit Bayram for attempting the sale of a car-load of heroin.
He was taken to Van where his father, Mustafa Bayram, operated as a
local kingpin. Clansmen with Kalashnikovs soon forced Hamit’s release.
(Econ, 7/24/04, p.48)
2005 Jan 1, The New (yeni) Turkish
Lira (YTL), will begin circulating, wiping out six zeroes from the
current money. The old lira will keep circulating until Dec 31.
(AP, 9/23/04)(Econ, 8/28/04, p.67)(SSFC, 12/5/04,
p.F2)
2005 Jan 1, Turkey was forecast
for 4.3% annual GDP growth with a population at 73.3 million and GDP
per head at $4,150.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.90)
2005 Jan 22, Turkey’s large debt
was reported to amount to about 74% of its GDP.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.47)
2005 Feb 16, Former Turkish PM
Mesut Yilmaz rejected charges of corruption as he went on trial over a
banking scandal with alleged mafia involvement, becoming the first head
of government to be tried by the Supreme Court.
(AFP, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb 23, Turkey's parliament
approved legislation allowing thousands of students thrown out of
universities to return, including women who violated the staunchly
secular country's ban on Islamic-style head scarves.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Mar 6, In Turkey riot police
kicked and beat women and young people who had gathered for an
unauthorized demonstration in Istanbul marking International Women's
Day.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 7, A Turkish alcohol
company ordered the recall of millions of bottles of Turkish liquor as
the death toll from a bootleg version of the drink rose to at least 17.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 11, Turkey’s state
institution over religious life issued a sermon to be preached at some
75,000 officially registered mosques on the dangers posed to national
unity by Christian missionaries.
(Econ, 6/25/05, p.49)
2005 Mar 12, Turkish authorities
closed the Bosporus Strait to maritime traffic after a roll-on-roll-off
(ro-ro) vessel carrying 7 tanker trucks loaded with 138 tons of
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sank in the narrow waterway, which
separates the European and Asian sides of Istanbul.
(AP, 3/13/05)
2005 Apr 15, Turkish troops backed
by attack helicopters killed 21 Kurdish rebels near the Iraqi border
overnight in the biggest clash since the rebels declared a unilateral
truce more than five years ago. 3 Turkish soldiers and a village
guardsman also were killed in the clash 25 miles from the Iraq border
between the town of Pervari in Siirt province and Eruh in Sirnak
province.
(AP, 4/15/05)
2005 Apr 21, In western Turkey a
gas explosion caused a coal mine to collapse, killing at least 17
workers deep underground.
(AP, 4/22/05)
2005 Apr 30, In western Turkey a
police officer was killed and four others were injured when a parcel
bomb exploded in the hands of a bomb disposal expert in a seaside
resort town.
(AP, 4/30/05)
2005 May 1, Turkish PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Israel for a visit seeking to mend relations
with the Jewish state and join in a new wave of Middle East peace
efforts.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 13, Turkish soldiers
killed 9 Kurdish rebels in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast.
Automatic weapons, plastic explosives, grenades, and a rocket-propelled
grenade launcher were seized in the operation. A Syrian citizen was
among those killed.
(AP, 5/14/05)
2005 May 16, In Turkey 2 Kurdish
guerillas trying to attack the home of a Turkish governor were killed
after police fired on them as they approached the building.
(AP, 5/16/05)
2005 May 24, World Orthodox
leaders gathered in Istanbul, the ancient seat of Orthodoxy. They
decided to stop recognizing the beleaguered patriarch of Jerusalem,
Irineos I, for allegedly leasing sites in the Palestinian side of the
city to Jewish investors. They asserted a rare unified position on the
crisis facing the church in the Holy Land.
(AP, 5/24/05)(WSJ, 5/25/05, p.A1)
2005 May 25, In Azerbaijan
officials opened the first section of a $3.6 billion, 1,100-mile
pipeline that will carry Caspian Sea oil to Western markets. The
presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey were on hand
for the ceremony at the Sangachal oil terminal.
(AP, 5/25/05)(WSJ, 5/25/05, p.B2)
2005 Jun 5, In southeastern Turkey
Kurdish rebels ambushed a Turkish commando unit overnight, killing four
soldiers and wounding one near Tunceli.
(AP, 6/5/05)
2005 Jun 27, A meeting in Istanbul
of the World Tribunal on Iraq, the culmination of 20 meetings around
the world over the last 2 years, called the invasion and occupation of
Iraq illegal. The symbolic tribunal sought the immediate withdrawal of
coalition forces from Iraq and payment of reparations for the damage
caused during the conflict.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2005 Jun, Article 301/1 of the
Turkish Penal Code, the “insulting Turkishness” law, took effect. The
law states “A person who explicitly insults being a Turk, the Republic
or Turkish Grand National Assembly, shall be imposed to a penalty of
imprisonment for a term of six months to three years.”
(www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/694/prmID/172)
2005 Jul 6, Hikmet Fidan,
prominent Kurdish politician and critic of Abdullah Ocalan, was killed
in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Police said he was killed by the PKK.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.48)
2005 Jul 9, In southeastern Turkey
a land mine believed to have been planted by Kurdish rebels killed 3
soldiers. Two other land mines injured seven people in separate
explosions.
(AP, 7/10/05)
2005 Jul 10, On Turkey's Aegean
coast a bomb exploded in a popular resort town of Cesme, wounding about
20 people, including two foreign tourists.
(AP, 7/10/05)
2005 Jul 11, Kurdish guerrillas
kidnapped a Turkish soldier after stopping dozens of cars at a
makeshift roadblock in the southeast.
(AP, 7/11/05)
2005 Jul 16, In Turkey a bomb
blast destroyed a minibus near Kusadasi, a popular Aegean Sea beach,
killing 5 people, including at least 2 foreigners. Initial reports
implicating a female suicide bomber were soon changed to a remote
controlled or timer bomb as the cause.
(Reuters, 7/16/05)(AP, 7/17/05)
2005 Jul 18, In Turkey 4 soldiers
were killed when the PKK detonated a bomb in Hakkari.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.48)
2005 Jul 19, A top Turkish general
said the US had given direct orders for the capture of rebel Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) leaders in Iraq.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 21, Turkish forces killed
5 Kurdish rebels, including a woman, in a gunbattle in the southeast.
(AP, 7/23/05)
2005 Jul 23, In Turkey a bomb
exploded at an Istanbul cafe frequented by tourists, injuring at least
two people.
(AP, 7/23/05)
2005 Jul 29, Turkey signed an
accord extending its customs union with the EU to Cyprus and other new
EU members, a key step toward opening membership talks with the bloc.
(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Aug 1, The directors of
Turkey's eight privately owned Kurdish language schools announced they
were closing them due to bureaucratic hurdles and Kurdish demands for
the language to be part of the regular school curriculum.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Aug 4, In Turkey an explosion
in a trash can in an Istanbul suburb killed a mother and daughter and
injured five others as they left a wedding party.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Aug 5, In southeastern Turkey
Kurdish rebels killed 5 Turkish soldiers in a rocket attack.
(AP, 8/5/05)
2005 Aug 6, In Turkey Lu'ai Sakra,
a Syrian with links to al-Qaida, was arrested for plotting to slam
speedboats packed with explosives into cruise ships filled with Israeli
tourists.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 12, Turkish PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan pledged to give more rights to the Kurdish minority in a
speech in Diyarbakir.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.40)(http://tinyurl.com/cmzxz)
2005 Aug 16, Several new computer
worms hit systems running MS Windows 2000. On Aug 25 authorities in
Morocco arrested Farid Essebar (18) for writing the Zotob worm. Atilla
Ekici (21) was arrested in Turkey for paying Essebar to write the worm.
In 2006 Morocco sentenced Farid Essebar (19) to 2 years in prison and
Achraf Bahlouo (21) to one year for their role in unleashing the Zotob
worm. Ekici’s trial continued in Turkey.
(SFC, 8/27/05, p.A2)(WSJ, 9/14/06, p.B3)(WSJ,
11/21/06, p.A1)
2005 Aug 19, A Kurdish rebel group
fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast announced a one-month
cease-fire and said it planned to pursue indirect negotiations with the
government.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 31, Orhan Pamuk, a
Turkish novelist, was charged with insulting his country's national
character and could face prison. In February Pamuk was quoted as saying
in an interview with a Swiss newspaper magazine: "Thirty-thousand Kurds
and one million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me
dares to talk about it."
(AP, 8/31/05)
2005 Aug, Turkey sold a 55% share
in Turk Telecom to Saudi Oger and Telecom Italia for $6.55 billion.
(Econ, 9/17/05, p.64}
2005 Sep 1, Turkey insisted that
it has fulfilled conditions for EU membership, as foreign ministers of
the 25-nation group started meeting in Wales to assess the
predominantly Muslim nation's efforts to join the bloc.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Sep 4, In Turkey a group of
nationalist Turks attacked dozens of buses carrying pro-Kurdish
demonstrators with stones, following violent clashes between Kurdish
demonstrators and police in Istanbul.
(AP, 9/4/05)
2005 Sep 5, A nuclear-powered US
Navy submarine collided with a Turkish cargo ship in the Persian Gulf.
Nobody was injured and both ships appeared to suffer only superficial
damage.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 12, Turkey sold a 51%
stake in Tupras, an oil refinery, for $4.1 billion to a consortium of
Koc Holding and Royal Dutch/Shell.
(Econ, 9/17/05, p.64)
2005 Sep 21, EU nations agreed
that Turkey must recognize EU member Cyprus during its membership
talks, warning that non-recognition could lead to paralysis in the
negotiations.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 24, Turkish scholars at a
twice-canceled conference on the massacre of Armenians in the early
20th century cautiously discussed the politically charged topic,
avoiding inflammatory language as protesters denounced the gathering as
traitorous.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Oct 3, EU nations reached a
tentative agreement on pursuing full membership talks with Turkey,
diplomats said. A spokesman for the Turkish prime minister denied
reports that Ankara had agreed to the deal.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 4, French President
Jacques Chirac said that Turkey would need to undergo a "major cultural
revolution" before entering the EU, and he reiterated that France would
hold a referendum on admitting Ankara to the bloc.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 9, The slaughter of
thousands of domestic fowl in Romania and Turkey began as a precaution
against the spread of bird flu after both countries confirmed their
first cases of the disease over the weekend.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, The Anatolia news
agency said a suspect in a bombing plot against Israeli ships in Turkey
earlier gave $50,000 to people accused of carrying out a series of
bombings in Istanbul that killed 60 people in 2003, according to
testimony from Burhan Kus, a suspect submitted by prosecutors to a
court.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 11, A Turkish company
signed an agreement to build a $360 million power station in southern
Israel. An Israeli Cabinet minister praised such deals as examples of
strengthening ties between the Muslim and Jewish countries.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 13, The EU said the bird
flu virus found in Turkish poultry was the H5N1 strain that scientists
worry might mutate into a human virus and spark a pandemic. Turkey's
health minister said the outbreak had been contained.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 14, A Turkish court
convicted two brothers for the "honor killing" of their sister and
sentenced one to life in prison and the other to more than 11 years
behind bars.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Nov 9, In Semdinli, Turkey, 2
government intelligence officers and a PKK informant were caught trying
to blow up a bookshop owned by a PKK sympathizer. The affair was said
to have been organized by the “deep state,” a shadowy coalition of
rogue officers and bureaucrats whose powers were being sapped by
EU-inspired laws.
(Econ, 4/15/06, p.54)(Econ, 1/27/07, p.52)
2005 Nov 14, It was reported that
a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Oger Telecom has signed a deal to
take a majority stake in state-owned telecommunications company Turk
Telekom, sealing Turkey's largest privatization worth 6.55 billion
dollars. Oger Telecom, part of the Oger group owned by the family of
slain former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri, had won the tender for the 55%
stake in July, in partnership with Italian operator Telecom Italia.
(AFP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 18, Turkey’s energy
minister said oil from a U.S.-backed Caspian pipeline has crossed the
Turkish border from Georgia on its way to a Mediterranean port for
where it will be exported to the West.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 18, In Turkey a bomb
placed in a trash can exploded near a fairground in Istanbul, killing
one person and injuring 12.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 20, In Turkey 12 people
were detained after Kurdish demonstrators hurled Molotov cocktails and
stones at the police during a protest in Istanbul.
(AFP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 21, Turkey's prime
minister rushed to the overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast and urged calm
after weeks of rioting, vowing that his government would investigate
charges that security forces, and not Kurdish guerrillas, were behind a
recent fatal bombing.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 22, A gunman opened fire
with a Kalashnikov assault rifle at a primary school in Turkey's
troubled southeast, killing one male teacher and wounding four other
people.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Dec 8, In the first visit to
Australia by a Turkish leader, PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized
military solutions to the so-called "war on terror", saying the US-led
invasion of Iraq had transformed the country into a training ground for
extremists.
(AFP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 13, Britain's Vodafone
Group PLC offered the highest bid, $4.55 billion, in an auction to buy
Telsim, Turkey's 2nd-largest cell-phone company, from the Turkish
government.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 16, In Turkey a trial
against novelist Orhan Pamuk opened in Istanbul. It was then adjourned
to February. Charges were dropped on Jan 23.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.71)
2005 Dec 17, Turkey's PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan accused the EU of trying to pressure Turkish courts in
the trial of the country's best-known novelist. Orhan Pamuk is being
tried for telling a Swiss newspaper in February that "30,000 Kurds and
1 million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares
to talk about it."
(AP, 12/17/05)
2005 Dec 22, An Istanbul court
fined an author and a journalist for insulting the Turkish state, the
latest convictions under a law that European officials say limits
freedom of expression and must be changed.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 22, The European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Turkey to put in place within three months
an effective reparations mechanism for Greek Cypriots who were stripped
of their possessions in the 1970s.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 27, Turkey reported an
outbreak of avian influenza in chickens in the eastern area of Igdir,
less than a month after declaring its territory free of the virus, and
said it had culled 359 birds as a precautionary measure.
(Reuters, 12/28/05)
2005 Dec 28, The head of Turkey’s
broadcasting board said Turkish TV stations will be allowed to
broadcast programs in Kurdish and other minority languages beginning
next month.
(SFC, 12/29/05, p.A3)
2005 Orhan Pamuk authored
“Istanbul,” a personal memoir and cultural history of the city.
(Econ, 4/9/05, p.71)
2005 Bilateral trade between
Russia and Turkey reached $15 billion, making Russia Turkey’s
second-largest trade partner.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.48)
2005 At least 68 people, including
9 children, were killed this year in landmine blasts in Turkey’s
Kurdish areas bordering Iran and Iraq.
(Econ, 2/10/07, p.52)
2005 Turkey’s population numbered
about 69.6 million.
(www.airninja.com/worldfacts/countries/Turkey/population.htm)
2006 Jan 5, A Turkish teenager
whose brother died of bird flu also succumbed to the disease. Fatma
Kocyigit (15) died in a hospital in the eastern city of Van, four days
after the death of her brother, Mehmet Ali Kocyigit (14). The children
helped raise poultry on a small farm in the eastern town of
Dogubeyazit, close to Iranian border, and were in close contact with
sick birds. Their 11-year-old sister died the next day.
(AP, 1/5/06)(AP, 1/6/06)
2006 Jan 8, In Turkey Anatolia
news reported that a court has approved the release of Mehmet Ali Agca
(46), the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, saying he completed
his prison term.
(AP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 8, Three Turks were
reported to be infected with a deadly strain of bird flu in the capital
Ankara.
(AP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 9, In Turkey a Health
Ministry official said preliminary tests showed five more people have
been infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 10, Preliminary tests
showed another person in Turkey has tested positive for a deadly strain
of bird flu, raising the number in the country to 15. The number of
people hospitalized with symptoms climbed to about 70.
(AP, 1/10/06)
2006 Jan 12, Mehmet Ali Agca (48),
the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, was released from prison
after serving more than 25 years in Italy and Turkey for the plot
against the pontiff and the slaying of a Turkish journalist.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Jan 12, Turkey’s government
said 2 more Turks tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird
flu in preliminary tests, bringing the total number of human infections
to 18.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Jan 15, A Turkish girl died
from suspected bird flu, while her brother was critically ill in
hospital after testing positive for the virus.
(Reuters, 1/15/06)
2006 Jan 16, Turkish health
officials said preliminary tests have confirmed that a girl (12) who
died was infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, raising
Turkey's death toll to four.
(AP, 1/16/06)
2006 Jan 20, Mehmet Ali Agca, the
man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, returned to prison, after an
appeals court ruled that he should serve more time for the killing of a
Turkish journalist and other crimes.
(AP, 1/20/06)
2006 Jan 23, A Turkish court
dropped charges against Orhan Pamuk, the country's best-known novelist,
for insulting "Turkishness," ending a high-profile trial that outraged
Western observers and cast doubt on Turkey's commitment to free speech.
He had been charged under articles 301 and 305 of the penal code.
(AP, 1/23/06)(Econ, 1/28/06, p.50)
2006 Jan 30, In Adana, Turkey, a
bomb exploded at a Turkish-American friendship association in a
southern city that hosts a US air base, wounding five Turks.
(AP, 1/30/06)
2006 Feb 3, The $10 million
Turkish film "Valley of the Wolves Iraq" opened in Turkey. It fed off
the increasingly negative feelings many Turks harbored toward
Americans. In the most expensive Turkish movie ever made, American
soldiers in Iraq crash a wedding and pump a little boy full of lead in
front of his mother.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 5, Andrea Santoro (60),
an Italian Roman Catholic priest, was shot dead in his Santa Maria
church by a 16-year-old boy in the Turkish Black Sea city of Trabzon.
In 2007 the teen was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison, but was
expected to serve only 10.
(AP, 2/5/06)(AP, 10/4/07)
2006 Feb 6, In Rome, Italy, a bus
loaded with Turkish tourists veered off a road in the Italian capital
and slid about 50 feet down a ravine, killing 12 people.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 9, In Turkey a bomb
attack wounded at least 17 people at an Internet cafe in Istanbul. A
hardline Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 10, In Turkey a Syrian
was charged with masterminding suicide bombings that killed 58 people
in Istanbul, and Turkish prosecutors claimed that Osama bin Laden
personally ordered him to carry out terror attacks in this pro-Western
country. Loa'i Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa (32) was accused of serving as
a point man between al-Qaida and homegrown militants behind the series
of suicide bombings in Istanbul in 2003, said the indictment. It said
al-Saqa gave the Turkish militants about $170,000. He was captured in
Turkey in August after an alleged failed plot to attack Israeli cruise
ships in the Mediterranean.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 13, In Turkey a bomb
exploded at an Istanbul supermarket during the afternoon rush, injuring
15 people. A Kurdish news agency reported that a Kurdish militant group
claimed responsibility for the attack.
(AP, 2/13/06)
2006 Feb 15, Kurdish protesters
armed with firebombs and stones battled with Turkish police to mark the
seventh anniversary of guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan's capture.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2006 Feb, In Turkey the
bullet-riddled body of Hikmet Oncel was found in a cave in Sanliurfa.
In 2007 it was reported that Oncel was murdered on the orders of a
phony, 25-year-old Islamic sheikh. In 2007 the film “Takva,” which
satirized mercenary sheikhs, became a hit.
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.46)
2006 Mar 5, Tens of thousands of
people massed in Pakistan and Turkey to protest cartoons of Islam's
Prophet, Muhammad, that have fired anger throughout the Muslim world.
(AP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 9, In Turkey a bomb set
off by suspected Kurdish guerrillas killed three people and injured 18
in the Kurdish-dominated southeast.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 9, In Turkey a bus
carrying about 40 people drove off a road and plunged into a river
before dawn, killing at least 16 passengers and injuring 11.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 11, Turkish and Kurdish
intellectuals gathered under tight security for a major 2-day
conference in Istanbul to discuss a peaceful resolution to the
22-year-old Kurdish conflict.
(AP, 3/11/06)
2006 Mar 16, In eastern Turkey a
helicopter carrying military officers crashed, killing five officers,
and seriously injuring another.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 18, Anti-war protesters
marched in Australia, Asia, Turkey and Europe in demonstrations that
marked the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq with a
demand that coalition troops pull out.
(AP, 3/18/06)
2006 Mar 21, More than 100,000
Turkish Kurds celebrated the ancient spring festival of Newroz with
dancing, singing and calls for political reform and the release of
jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
(AP, 3/21/06)
2006 Mar 24-2006 Mar 25, In
southeastern Turkey government troops killed 14 Kurdish guerrillas near
the hamlet of Senyayla.
(AP, 3/26/06)
2006 Mar 28, Thousands of Kurdish
protesters rampaged after funerals for 4 Kurdish PKK guerrillas killed
by Turkish troops. They hurled firebombs at armored police vehicles and
smashed windows at a police station. 2 Kurds were killed and 40 people
injured.
(AP, 3/29/06)(Econ, 4/15/06, p.54)
2006 Mar 29, In southeastern
Turkey riot police fired water cannons and used pepper spray to
disperse stone-throwing Kurdish rioters in a second day of violence
that an official said left at least three people dead and 250 injured.
(AP, 3/29/06)
2006 Mar 30, In southeast Turkey
violent protests by thousands of Kurdish demonstrators left at least 20
hurt as protesters hurled firebombs and police opened fire to disperse
the crowds.
(AP, 3/3006)
2006 Mar 31, In Turkey a bomb
hidden in a garbage can exploded near an Istanbul bus stop, killing a
street vendor and injuring 13 people. Fighting between Turkish soldiers
and Kurdish guerrillas killed a 3-year-old boy and brought to 7 the
number of fatalities in the 4th day of clashes.
(AP, 3/31/06)(SFC, 4/1/06, p.A5)
2006 Apr 1, Fresh clashes between
Kurdish protesters and police in southeast Turkey killed one protester
and injured 10.
(Reuters, 4/1/06)
2006 Apr 2, In southeastern Turkey
one protester died after police opened fire to disperse Kurdish
demonstrators, raising the death toll in six days of street violence to
nine. A group of men stopped a passenger bus and tossed gasoline bombs
at it, sending the vehicle careening into pedestrians and killing 3 in
Istanbul as pro-Kurdish riots continued to spread. The countrywide
death toll from nearly a week of unrest climbed to 15.
(AP, 4/2/06)(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, The National Bank of
Greece paid $2.8 billion for 46% of Finansbank, Turkey’s 3rd largest
bank. It planned a public offer for a controlling stake.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.74)
2006 Apr 7, In Turkey a suicide
bomber blew herself up injuring 2 people, including a suspected
accomplice. Turkish forces killed 6 Kurdish rebels in Sirnak.
(WSJ, 4/8/06, p.A1)(AP, 4/8/06)
2006 Apr 8, Turkish forces killed
a Kurdish rebel outside Batman and arrested a Kurdish suspect in a
deadly bombing at a seaside resort last year. 2 soldiers were killed by
a land mine blast in Elazig.
(AP, 4/8/06)
2006 Apr 27, Turkey said it has
deployed more than 30,000 additional troops in its predominantly
Kurdish southeast and along its rugged border with Iraq and Iran to
fight Kurdish guerrillas and stop them from coming across the frontier.
(AP, 4/27/06)
2006 May 1, In Turkey, police
fired pepper spray and tear gas to disperse demonstrators denouncing
the IMF and the United States.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 13, A bomb exploded
outside a garage in eastern Turkey, killing three children.
(AP, 5/13/06)
2006 May 17, In Turkey Alparslan
Arslan (29), a lawyer, stormed into a meeting at Ankara’s highest
administrative court and opened fire. One pro-secular judge was killed
and 4 wounded. Arslan picked on the judges because they supported a ban
on the Islamic headscarf in public places, schools and universities.
(AP, 5/17/06)(Econ, 5/27/06, p.49)(WSJ, 3/30/07,
p.A1)
2006 May 19, In southern Turkey a
truck carrying illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and Bangladesh
crashed into a parked transport truck, killing at least 40 people.
(AP, 5/19/06)
2006 May 23, Warplanes from Greece
and Turkey collided over the Aegean Sea island of Karpathos as they
shadowed each other. Officials said the Turkish pilot was rescued
unhurt, and a search was launched for the Greek pilot.
(AP, 5/23/06)
2006 May 24, A huge fire engulfed
the cargo section of Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport,
temporarily disrupting air traffic and causing thousands to flee nearby
terminals.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 28, Turkey’s culture and
tourism minister said two pieces from the treasure of King Croesus that
were returned to Turkey from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
after a long legal battle have been stolen and replaced with fakes.
(AP, 5/29/06)
2006 May 28, A new $4 billion
pipeline from Baku, via Georgia to Ceyhan, Turkey, began pumping oil.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.48)
2006 Jun 1, In western Turkey a
methane gas explosion ripped through a coal mine, killing 17 miners in
the village of Odakoy in western Balikesir province.
(AP, 6/2/06)
2006 Jun 3, The long-awaited first
shipment of Caspian oil from the new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline
got on its way from a Turkish port.
(AFP, 6/4/06)
2006 Jun 12, EU foreign ministers
reached agreement with Cyprus on a formula to enable Turkey to take its
first step in detailed accession talks with the 25-nation bloc.
(AP, 6/12/06)
2006 Jun 18, In eastern Turkey a
bomb explosion on a railway track destroyed eight carriages of a cargo
train.
(AP, 6/18/06)
2006 Jun 20, Turkey's PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan announced plans to build three nuclear power plants by
2015 to meet the country's growing energy needs.
(AP, 6/20/06)
2006 Jun 23, Turkey's top court
indefinitely suspended the corruption trial of former PM Mesut Yilmaz
on technical grounds, a move that amounts to the case being dropped.
(AP, 6/23/06)
2006 Jun 25, An explosion in the
popular Turkish Mediterranean resort town of Antalya killed three
people and injured about 25 others.
(AP, 6/25/06)
2006 Jul 13, The presidents of
Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia formally opened a pipeline designed to
bypass Russia and bring Caspian oil to Europe, a route that President
Bush said would bolster global energy security.
(AP, 7/13/06)
2006 Jul 16, Turkish PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan signaled that his government was planning a tough
response to mounting violence by Kurdish rebels after 13 members of the
security forces were killed in the southeast over the past week.
(AFP, 7/16/06)
2006 Jul 21, Turkey killed 4
Kurdish rebels after a soldier died in an attack.
(WSJ, 7/22/06, p.A1)
2006 Jul 22, President Bush in
Texas conferred with PM Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey about how to help the
Lebanese people caught up in the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah.
(AP, 7/22/06)
2006 Jul 30, Duygu Asena (60), a
best-selling writer and crusader for women's rights in Turkey, died
after a two-year battle with a brain tumor. In 1978 she founded the
first women's magazine in Turkey. Asena was the first Turkish writer to
explore such topics as women's rights, sexuality and wife-beating. Her
1987 book “Woman Has No Name" broke sales records when it was printed,
but was soon banned by the government which found it to be too lewd and
obscene. The ban was lifted after a two-year court battle. A film
adaptation of the book broke box office records in Turkey.
(AP, 7/31/06)
2006 Jul 31, Turkey named Gen.
Yasar Buyukanit as the new military chief. He favored a tougher line
against Kurdish rebels and negotiations on joining the EU.
(AP, 7/31/06)
2006 Jul, Istanbul’s seventh high
court reopened prosecution against Elif Shafak (b.1971), Turkish
writer, for “denigrating Turkishness” in her latest novel “The Bastard
of Istanbul.” Her trial was set for Sep 21, 4 days she was due to give
birth.
(http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1815420,00.html)
2006 Aug 4, In Turkey 2 explosives
detonated within minutes of each other in a southern city of Adana,
seriously wounding one person and injuring 16 others.
(AP, 8/4/06)
2006 Aug 8, Turkey battled the
largest recorded outbreak of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, which has
killed at least 20 people this year, and experts said more cases of the
Ebola-like disease are inevitable in coming months.
(AP, 8/8/06)
2006 Aug 13, In Turkey the PKK
killed 2 policemen in a bomb attack near Tunceli.
(Econ, 9/2/06, p.48)
2006 Aug 18, A bus carrying
Iranian tourists crashed into a truck in eastern Turkey, killing 18 and
injuring 29.
(AP, 8/18/06)
2006 Aug 19, The Turkish Foreign
Ministry said that it had forced two Syria-bound Iranian planes to land
and be searched for rockets and other military equipment, one on Jul 27
and the other on Aug 8, during the conflict between Israel and
Hezbollah.
(AP, 8/19/06)
2006 Aug 19, A suspected Kurdish
rebel attack caused an explosion and huge fire on a natural gas
pipeline in eastern Turkey.
(AP, 8/19/06)
2006 Aug 23, A leader of Kurdish
rebels battling Turkey's government said in a rare interview that his
guerrillas will not give in to US pressure to disarm without a
"political project" that fulfills their calls for autonomy. PKK party
officials met with a group of journalists in the rugged, isolated
Qandil Mountain in Iraq's northeast corner where the group is based.
(AP, 8/24/06)
2006 Aug 27, In Turkey a bomb on a
minibus injured 21 people including 10 British tourists. The explosion
was in the popular Mediterranean resort town of Marmaris. 2 other bomb
blasts hit at the same time in garbage cans on the main boulevard.
(www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14546503/)
2006 Aug 28, In Turkey a bomb in
the resort city of Antalya killed 3 people and injured 18. A group
calling itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons claimed responsibility.
(AP, 8/28/06)(Econ, 9/2/06, p.6)
2006 Aug 29, An extremist Kurdish
militant group warned that "the fear of death will reign everywhere in
Turkey" and it urged tourists to avoid travel to the country.
(AP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug, In Turkey a
parliamentary report found that 1,091 honor-related crimes had been
committed over the last 5 years. Blame for many honor of the killings
was placed on the patriarchal and feudal system entrenched in the
Kurdish provinces.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.62)
2006 Sep 1-2006 Sep 2, Separatist
Kurdish guerrillas killed 7 Turkish soldiers and wounded two in
stepped-up attacks against the military in southeastern Turkey.
(AP, 9/3/06)
2006 Sep 3, In southeastern Turkey
a remote-controlled bomb exploded in a tea garden, killing two people
and wounding seven.
(AP, 9/4/06)
2006 Sep 5, Turkey became the
first Muslim country with diplomatic ties to Israel to pledge troops to
an expanding international peacekeeping force that will monitor a
fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
(AP, 9/6/06)
2006 Sep 12, In Turkey a bomb
exploded near a park in a primarily residential area of Diyarbakir and
10 people were killed. 7 children were among the dead. The bomb was
made by hand, placed in a thermos and went off as it was being
transported.
(AP, 9/13/06)
2006 Sep 14, Turkey's top Islamic
cleric asked Pope Benedict XVI to take back recent remarks he made
about Islam on Sep 12. He unleashed a string of counteraccusations
against Christianity, raising tensions before the pontiff's November
visit.
(AP, 9/14/06)(SFC, 9/15/06, p.A17)
2006 Sep 18, The 184-nation IMF
approved reforms to increase the voice of China, South Korea, Turkey,
and Mexico to reflect their growing economic sway.
(SFC, 9/19/06, p.D2)
2006 Sep 21, Elif Shafak, one of
Turkey's leading authors, was acquitted of "insulting Turkishness" in
her novel "The Bastard of Istanbul," that touched on the mass killings
of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire. The
University of Arizona assistant professor gave birth to a daughter on
Sep 16 and did not attend her trial.
(AP, 9/21/06)
2006 Sep 23, In eastern Turkey
suspected Kurdish guerrillas set off an explosive-laden minibus across
from a police guest house, injuring 17 people.
(AP, 9/23/06)
2006 Sep 26, In Turkey 56 Kurdish
mayors stood trial, accused in a freedom-of-speech case on charges of
helping terrorists by arguing to keep a Kurdish TV station on the air.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 28, Jailed Kurdish rebel
leader Abdullah Ocalan has appealed to his Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) to call a ceasefire in its separatist campaign against the
Turkish government.
(AFP, 9/28/06)
2006 Sep 28, An explosion on a
natural gas pipeline outside Bazargan, an Iranian border city, shut
down the flow of gas to Turkey. Officials believed the explosion was an
act of sabotage by separatist Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 9/29/06)
2006 Oct 2, Turkey’s PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan began his latest push to keep EU membership hopes on
track with a visit to Washington, where he received a key endorsement
from the Bush administration. Turkey was the largest supplier of
non-combat equipment to American forces in Iraq.
(http://tinyurl.com/gvg4s)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.62)
2006 Oct 3, A Turkish Airlines
plane carrying 113 people from Albania to Istanbul landed in Italy
where a Turkish man surrendered and released all the passengers
unharmed. The Turkish army deserter who hijacked the airliner sought
asylum because he feared persecution in his Muslim homeland after his
conversion to Christianity and wanted Pope Benedict XVI's protection.
(AP, 10/4/06)(AP, 10/3/07)
2006 Oct 9, Turkey called on the
EU to oppose French legislation that would outlaw denials that World
War I-era killings of Armenians amounted to genocide.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 12, Turkish novelist
Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel literature prize for his works dealing with
the symbols of clashing cultures. His uncommon lyrical gifts and
uncompromising politics have brought him acclaim worldwide and
prosecution at home.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 12, French lawmakers
approved a bill making it a crime to deny that the 1915-1919 mass
killings of Armenians in Turkey amounted to genocide. It was thought
unlikely that Jacques Chirac’s government would forward the bill to the
Senate.
(AP, 10/12/06)(SFC, 10/13/06, p.A21)
2006 Oct 14, French leader Jacques
Chirac told Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan he is sorry French lawmakers
approved a bill making it a crime to deny Armenians were victims of
genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
(Reuters, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 31, Flooding from
torrential rains killed 22 people across Turkey, including 14 who died
when a minibus carrying wedding guests was swept away.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Oct, Adnan Oktar (b.1956), a
Turkish preacher who writes under the name of Harun Yahya, published
his “Atlas of Creation.” The book offers over 770 pages of images
comparing fossils with present-day animals to argue that Allah created
all life as it is and evolution never took place. In 2009 Oktar
continued work on a the 5th volume of his planned 14-part masterwork.
(Econ, 4/21/07,
p.23)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Oktar)(Econ, 3/7/09, p.A1)
2006 Nov 1, In Turkey a court
acquitted a 92-year-old retired archaeologist who was put on trial for
writing in a book that Islamic-style head scarves date back more than
5,000 years, several millennia before the birth of Islam, and were worn
by priestesses who initiated young men into sex.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 4, Thousands of
nationalist Turks marched in Ankara, vowing to defend the secular
regime against radical Islamic influences and urging the government not
to make too many concessions in order to gain EU membership.
(AP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 5, Bulent Ecevit (81)
former 4-time Prime Minister of Turkey (1973-2002), died. Ecevit was a
political force in Turkey for almost half a century. He had ordered the
invasion of Cyprus and later pushed his country toward the West.
(AP, 11/5/06)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.97)
2006 Nov 8, The European
Commission set Turkey a mid-December deadline to open its ports to
shipping from Cyprus or face consequences for its troubled EU
membership bid.
(Reuters, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 10, Asian nations reached
their first international agreement to implement what has been dubbed
the "Iron Silk Road." Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia,
Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and seven other
nations agreed to meet at least every two years to identify vital rail
routes, coordinate standards and financing and plan upgrades and
expansions, among other measures. The UN first conceived the
Trans-Asian Railway Network in 1960.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 15, Turkey suspended
military relations with France in a dispute over whether the mass
killings of Armenians early in the last century amounted to genocide.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, Turkey's PM Erdogan
offered training for the Iraqi police and army, and he urged
power-sharing among ethnic groups in the Iraqi oil center of Kirkuk.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 20, In Turkey police
arrested 29 leftist activists who broke into The Associated Press
office in Ankara to protest alleged mistreatment of prisoners.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 26, More than 20,000
Muslims in Istanbul held the biggest protest so far against Pope
Benedict's controversial visit to Turkey this week.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2006 Nov 28, Pope Benedict XVI
began his first visit to a Muslim country with a message of dialogue
and brotherhood between Christians and Muslims in an attempt to ease
anger over his perceived criticism of Islam. In Turkey Benedict urged
all religious leaders to "utterly refuse" to support any violence in
the name of faith.
(AP, 11/28/06)(AP, 11/28/07)
2006 Nov 30, Pope Benedict XVI
visited Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque in a dramatic gesture of outreach
to Muslims.
(AP, 11/30/07)
2006 Dec 4, Turkish security
forces clashed with an angry crowd trying to lynch a man accused of
raping several girls and killing two of them in southeastern Turkey.
One person was killed in the violence, and at least 22 were injured.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 5, The EU presidency
backed a proposal to partially suspend EU membership talks with Turkey
because of Ankara's refusal to open up to trade with Cyprus.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 7, Turkey offered to open
a major seaport and an airport to longtime foe Cyprus to try to keep
its EU entry talks on track. The EU called the step positive but
insufficient.
(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 7, Ali Reza Asgari, a
retired general who served in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, arrived in
Turkey on a private visit from Damascus, Syria. He had become involved
in the olive business after retirement. Iranian officials later said
that he disappeared on Dec 9. In March, 2009, a former German Defense
Ministry official said Asgari had defected and was providing
information to the West on Iran's nuclear program. Asgari allegedly
told the West that Iran was financing North Korean steps to transform
Syria into a nuclear weapons power, leading to an Israeli airstrike
that targeted a site in Syria on Sept. 6, 2007. In November Iranian
news Web sites reported that Asgari had been abducted by Israeli agents
and is now being held in Israel.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2006 Dec 9, In Turkey the
state-run Anatolia news agency reported that police had detained 10
suspected al-Qaida militants, including a lawyer who identified himself
as the group's leader.
(AP, 12/9/06)
2006 Dec 11, In Turkey a boiler
explosion knocked down part of a five-story building housing military
families in Diyarbakir, killing at least four people and trapping about
four others.
(AP, 12/11/06)
2006 Dec 11, European Union
foreign ministers decided to suspend 8 out of 35 parts of entry
talks with Turkey over Ankara's refusal to open its ports to trade with
EU member Cyprus.
(AP, 12/11/06)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.53)
2006 Dec 19, A Turkish court
acquitted Ipek Calislar, a writer of insulting the country's founder,
amid calls from the EU to change repressive laws curbing freedom of
expression. The book was the first comprehensive biography of Latife
Ussaki, who was married to Ataturk for about two years until he
divorced her in 1925.
(AP, 12/19/06)
2006 Dec 31, Over a thousand Turks
spent the first day of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha in emergency
wards after stabbing themselves or suffering other injuries while
sacrificing startled animals.
(AP, 12/31/06)
2006 In Turkey Fethullah Gulen, a
Muslim preacher, was cleared in absentia on charges of undermining
secularism. Gulen had emigrated some years earlier and set up residence
in Pennsylvania, from where he led a network of followers active in
education.
(Econ, 3/8/08, p.67)
2007 Jan 9, Iraqi and US soldiers,
backed by American warplanes, battled suspected insurgents for hours in
central Baghdad, and 50 militant fighters were killed. A cargo plane
carrying Turkish construction workers crashed during landing at an
airport near Baghdad, killing 32 people and injuring two.
(AP, 1/9/07)
2007 Jan 19, Hrant Dink (53), a
Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, was shot to death at the entrance
to his newspaper's offices. The journalist had faced constant threats
and legal proceedings as one of the most prominent voices of Turkey's
shrinking Armenian community.
(AP, 1/19/07)
2007 Jan 20, Istanbul police
arrested Ogun Samast, a teenage boy (16-17), for the fatal shooting of
Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian journalist. Samast confessed to the
murder.
(AP, 1/20/07)
2007 Jan 22, In Turkey police said
Yasin Hayal, a nationalist militant convicted of bombing a McDonald's
restaurant in 2004, had confessed to inciting the killing of an ethnic
Armenian journalist last week. Hayal said he provided a gun and money
to the teenager who is suspected of carrying out the Jan 19 shooting.
(AP, 1/22/07)
2007 Jan 29, Turkish police
arrested 46 suspected Islamic militants in operations in five provinces
across the country.
(AP, 1/29/07)
2007 Jan 31, A special committee,
invited by IMF managing director Rodrigo de Rato, proposed new ways for
the IMF to fund itself. A loan to Turkey at this time accounted for
two-thirds of the IMF’s outstanding credit.
(Econ, 2/3/07, p.75)
2007 Feb 16, A Turkish court
sentenced seven suspected al-Qaida militants to life in prison for a
pair of 2003 suicide bombings in Istanbul that killed 58 people,
attacks prosecutors said were ordered by Osama bin Laden.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 21, A 5.7 magnitude
earthquake shook southeastern Turkey. A five-story apartment building
collapsed in Istanbul, killing at least two people and injuring more
than two dozen others.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 23, In Turkey Hilmi
Aydogdu, leader of the Democratic Society Party's branch in the mainly
Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, was charged with inciting hatred and
threatening public safety after suggesting that fellow Kurds would rise
against the state and fight if Turkey ever attacked their Kurdish
brethren in neighboring Iraq.
(AP, 2/23/07)
2007 Mar 5, In central Turkey a
rock fall caused the roof of a hillside nightclub to collapse in the
Cappadocia area, killing three people.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2007 Mar 7, Turk Telekom blocked
access to Google's YouTube video-sharing site after a court ruling over
videos deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern
Turkey.
(AP, 3/7/07)
2007 Mar 9, Turkey lifted its ban
on YouTube two days after a court ordered the Web site blocked because
of videos that allegedly insulted the founder of modern Turkey.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 9, A prominent Turkish
politician was convicted of breaching Swiss anti-racism laws by saying
that the early 20th-century killing of Armenians could not be described
as genocide. Perincek was charged with breaking Swiss law by denying
during a visit to Switzerland in 2005 that the World War I-era killings
of up to 1.5 million Armenians amounted to genocide. He was ordered to
pay a fine of $2,450 and was given a suspended penalty of $7,360.
(AP, 3/10/07)
2007 Apr 6, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped two Turkish engineers from their car in Port Harcourt.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 12, Turkey's army chief
said the military had launched several "large scale" offensives against
rebels in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, and he asked the
government for approval to launch an incursion into neighboring
northern Iraq.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 14, More than 200,000
Turks protested against Turkey's Islamic-rooted PM Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, demonstrating the intense opposition he could face from
Turkey's secular establishment if he decides to run for president next
month. A bus full of second-graders crashed into a truck in central
Turkey, killing at least 32 people, most of them children.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 18, In central Turkey
assailants in Malatya tied up three people at a publishing house that
distributes Bibles and then slit their throats. Tilmann Geske (46), a
German missionary, and two Turkish Christians were killed. Five young
men were detained and charged with murder; they allegedly said they
killed to protect Islam.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Turkey's foreign
minister Abdullah Gul was named as the ruling party's candidate for the
presidency, a decision that will maintain continuity in EU reforms but
fails to resolve a fight between the country's secular and Islamist
camps.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Turkey an
eight-story apartment building collapsed in Istanbul, and some people
were reportedly buried under the debris.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 28, Turkey's
Islamist-rooted government called the army to order, saying it is
answerable to the civilian authority, after the military threatened
action to defend the country's secular system.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 29, Some 700,000 Turks
waving the red national flag flooded central Istanbul to demand the
resignation of the government, saying the Islamic roots of Turkey's
leaders threatened to destroy the country's modern foundations.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 30, The Turkish stock
market plunged, reacting sharply to political tensions as the
Islamic-rooted government comes under strong pressure from secular
circles to call parliamentary elections.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, The presidents of
Afghanistan and Pakistan, a meeting arranged by Turkish leaders, agreed
to share intelligence on extremist groups to bolster efforts to deny
sanctuary, training and financing to terrorists in both countries.
Hundreds of British troops swept into the lush poppy fields of southern
Afghanistan, drawing hostile fire at the start of a NATO operation to
expel the Taliban from a valley stronghold.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 May 1, Turkish police charged
into crowds of leftist protesters marking the anniversary of a deadly
May Day rally in Istanbul, spraying tear gas and kicking and clubbing
demonstrators as they fled.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 2, The US and EU warned
Turkey's military to stay out of the country's political showdown
between the Islamic-rooted government and those in the secular
establishment who fear the country will shift toward Islamic rule.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 3, Turkish lawmakers
moved up elections to July 22, after the Islamic-rooted ruling party
and its secular opposition agreed that an early ballot was the only way
out of their standoff over political Islam.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 5, Tens of thousands of
secularist flag-waving Turks rallied for the third big anti-government
protest in a month as conflict rages over the role of religion in the
Muslim country's politics.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 6, Turkey’s Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul withdrew his candidacy for presidential elections
after Parliament failed for the second time to vote him into office.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 7, Turkey's
Islamic-rooted government, whose presidential candidate dropped his bid
in the face of protests from pro-secular lawmakers, pushed for a
constitutional amendment that allows the president to be elected in a
popular vote rather than in a parliamentary poll.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 10, Turkey's parliament
approved a major constitutional amendment to allow the president to be
elected directly by voters, a move that could fan fresh tensions
between the Islamist-rooted government and secularists.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 12, In the Turkish port
city of Izmir a bicycle bomb exploded in a market, killing one and
injuring 14 people on the eve of a planned mass anti-government rally.
(Reuters, 5/12/07)
2007 May 13, Hundreds of thousands
of Turks streamed into this port city of Izmir in an enormous show of
opposition to the pro-Islamic ruling party, saying it threatened to
destroy the country's modern foundations.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 20, Thousands of
flag-waving Turks demonstrated in the Black Sea port city of Samsun
against the Islamic-rooted government, which they fear is undermining
Turkey's secular system.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 22, Guven Akkus (28), a
suicide bomber, carried out an attack that killed six people and
injured dozens in Ankara, using methods similar to those of a Kurdish
rebel group. Akkus had spent two years in prison for hanging illegal
posters and resisting police.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 25, Turkey's president
vetoed a newly passed constitutional amendment that would have allowed
the people, and not Parliament, to elect the new president.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Kurdish guerrillas
bombed and derailed a Syria-bound train from Iran near the town of Genc
in Turkey’s southeastern Bingol province. Turkish authorities later
seized weapons hidden among construction materials found on the train
following the attack.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 26, In Turkey thousands
of flag-waving protesters filled streets in Denizli, accusing the
government of trying to impose Islamic values on the country's Western
way of life.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 27, Floods in eastern
Turkey killed 10 people including six children aged between 18 months
and 12.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Officials said heavy
storms, landslides, flash floods and lightning have killed at least 23
people in Europe and Turkey.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)
2007 May 30, Turkish police
captured 11 suspected al-Qaida militants who allegedly were planning to
stage terrorist attacks in Istanbul.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 31, Turkish lawmakers
approved again a constitutional amendment that would see the president
elected by popular vote, a change vetoed last week by the outgoing head
of state. Turkey's top general said the military was ready to stage a
cross-border offensive to fight Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq and that he
already had sought government approval to mount military action.
(AFP, 5/31/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 Jun 1, In southeast Turkey
soldiers killed two Kurdish militants overnight in Tunceli, where
troops massed along the border threatened an incursion into Iraq.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 3, Turkish troops shelled
a border area in northern Iraq in an attack on Kurdish rebels based
there.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 4, Seven Turkish
paramilitary police were killed when Kurdish militants attacked their
headquarters in eastern Tunceli province.
(AP, 6/4/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.58)
2007 Jun 6, A premature report
said several thousand Turkish troops had crossed into northern Iraq to
chase Kurdish guerrillas who operate from bases there. Turkey declared
several areas near the border with Iraq to be "temporary security
zones" in a sign of increasing activity by the military in its campaign
against Kurdish rebels. Turkey's foreign minister denied there was a
cross-border operation.
(AP, 6/6/07)(AP, 6/7/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.58)
2007 Jun 7, The roadside bomb
targeted a Turkish military vehicle near Siirt, a city 45 miles north
of the Iraq border. It killed four soldiers and wounded five other
security personnel, including pro-government village guards.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 10, A small bomb exploded
outside a clothing shop in Istanbul, injuring 14 people and shattering
nearby windows.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 11, In Ankara, Turkey,
funerals for three soldiers killed in a roadside bombing by Kurdish
rebels turned into anti-government protests as thousands of mourners
called on leaders to resign over their failure to rein in the violence.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 12, Kurdish separatist
rebels declared a "unilateral cease-fire" in attacks against Turkey and
said they were ready for peace negotiations, but the group maintained
the right to defend itself.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 13, In southeastern
Turkey Kurdish guerrillas killed a Turkish army major and injured two
other soldiers in a roadside bomb attack.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Turkey a
separatist Kurdish rebel and a civilian were killed in a botched
suicide attack in the eastern province of Tunceli. Paramilitary troops
opened fire on the truck as it was approaching a military outpost at
which point the vehicle exploded. Fighting elsewhere left five rebels
and a government militia member dead.
(AFP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 27, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit,
Turkey's military chief, asked his government to set political
guidelines for an incursion into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish
guerrillas.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jul 6, Turkey's foreign
minister said his government and military have agreed on plans for a
possible cross-border operation against Kurdish rebels based in
northern Iraq.
(AP, 7/6/07)
2007 Jul 11, Turkey's ambassador
to Washington said that US weapons have been turning up in the hands of
Kurdish guerrillas staging attacks in Turkey.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2007 Jul 22, Turks voted for a new
Parliament in a contest viewed as pivotal in determining the balance
between Islam and secularism in this nation of more than 70 million.
The Islamic-rooted ruling party won parliamentary elections by a wide
margin. The Justice and Development (AK) party won 47% of the vote. AK
secured 341 of 550 seats in the parliament. Deniz Baykal’s
pro-secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) won 21%. Sebahat Tuncel
(32) walked out of jail after she was elected to parliament along with
18 fellow members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party.
(AP, 7/23/07)(Econ, 7/28/07, p.51)(Econ, 8/4/07,
p.45)(Econ, 5/3/08, p.60)
2007 Jul 26, Turkish police
arrested Maksym Yastremskiy (24), a Ukrainian data-theft suspect. The
US Secret Service had been investigating him since 2004. Losses to US
individuals from identity theft thieves, online and offline, totaled
$49 billion in 2006.
(WSJ, 8/10/07, p.A6)
2007 Aug 5, An official said
Turkey's secular military expelled 10 officers for being "reactionary,"
a euphemism for Islamist activities, along with 13 others accused of
lack of discipline.
(AP, 8/5/07)
2007 Aug 7, Kurdish guerrillas
killed a Turkish lieutenant in the southeast, as the Iraqi prime
minister arrived for a visit. Turkey and Iraq agreed to try to root out
a Kurdish rebel group from northern Iraq, but Iraq's prime minister
said his parliament would have the final say on efforts to halt the
guerrillas' cross-border attacks into Turkey. Iraq's semi-autonomous
Kurdish government approved a regional oil law, paving the way for
foreign investment in their northern oil and gas fields even as similar
US-backed legislation for the entire country remained stalled. Two US
Marines died west of Baghdad, one in fighting and the other in a
non-combat incident that was under investigation.
(AP, 8/7/07)(AP, 8/9/07)
2007 Aug 12, In southeast Turkey
12 were injured, three of them seriously, when Kurdish guerrillas
detonated a roadside bomb.
(AP, 8/12/07)
2007 Aug 14, Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul, a former Islamist, filed his candidacy for
president, risking a fresh government showdown with army-backed
secularist forces.
(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Aug 18, Two men hijacked a
Turkish passenger plane from Cyprus bound for Istanbul, holding several
people hostage for more than four hours before surrendering.
(AP, 8/18/07)
2007 Aug 20, In Turkey Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul won most votes in the first round of a
presidential election, but did not secure the two-thirds majority
needed in parliament for an outright win.
(Reuters, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 24, Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul failed to win enough votes in the second round of
a presidential election, but is expected to clinch the post next week.
A clash between troops and Kurdish rebels near Turkey's southeast
border with Iraq left 10 rebels and two soldiers dead.
(Reuters, 8/24/07)(AP, 8/25/07)
2007 Aug 28, Turkey’s Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul (56), a devout Muslim with a background in
political Islam, won the presidency, in a major triumph for the
Islamic-rooted government after months of confrontation with the
secular establishment.
(AP, 8/28/07)
2007 Aug 30, Turkish legislators
said that American weapons have been turning up in the hands of Kurdish
guerrillas staging attacks in Turkey.
(SFC, 8/31/07, p.A17)
2007 Aug 31, Turkey's PM Erdogan
laid out a policy vision for the next five years that focuses on
pursuing EU membership and defending the state's secular and democratic
principles.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug, Iran and Turkey
concluded a number of energy deals including the establishment of a
joint company to carry Iranian natural gas via Turkey to Europe and the
construction of three thermal power plants by Turkish companies in Iran.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.49)
2007 Sep 11, Turkish authorities
thwarted a bombing, possibly timed to coincide with the sixth
anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, as police found and defused more
than 600 pounds of explosives in a minibus parked near an Ankara market.
(AP, 9/11/07)
2007 Sep 12, Turkish troops killed
4 Kurdish guerrillas in a the southeastern province of Siirt.
(AP, 9/12/07)
2007 Sep 19, Turkey's devout
Muslim PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the constitution should be
changed to remove a ban at universities on head scarves, the most
potent symbol of the national divide over the role of religion in
politics.
(AP, 9/19/07)
2007 Sep 26, Officials said Turkey
and Iraq have agreed to sign a counterterrorism deal cracking down on
separatist Kurdish rebels holed up in bases in northern Iraq.
(AP, 9/26/07)
2007 Sep 28, Turkey and Iraq
signed a counterterrorism pact aimed at cracking down on separatist
Kurdish rebels who have been attacking Turkey from bases in Iraq.
(AP, 9/28/07)
2007 Sep 29, In southeastern
Turkey Kurdish rebels ambushed a minibus carrying pro-government
village guards and civilians and killed 12 people.
(AP, 9/29/07)
2007 Oct 7, Kurdish rebels killed
13 Turkish soldiers in a clash in the country's southeast, and troops
responded by shelling an area near Iraq to try to stop the rebels from
escaping across the border.
(AP, 10/7/07)
2007 Oct 9, Turkish PM Tayyip
Erdogan gave the green light for a possible military incursion into
northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels hiding there after several deadly
attacks on Turkish security forces.
(Reuters, 10/9/07)
2007 Oct 10, It was reported that
Turkey had begun shelling suspected Kurdish rebel camps across the
border in northern Iraq. The government appeared unlikely to move
toward sending ground troops until next week.
(AP, 10/10/07)
2007 Oct 10, The US House Foreign
Affairs Committee voted 27-21 to label as genocide the deaths of
Armenians a century ago at the end of the Ottoman Empire. The Bush
administration planned to pressure Democratic leaders not to schedule a
vote, though it is expected to pass.
(AP, 10/11/07)
2007 Oct 11, Turkey swiftly
condemned a US House panel's approval of a bill describing the World
War I-era mass killings of Armenians as genocide, and newspapers
blasted the measure on their front pages. Turkey also recalled its
ambassador to Washington and warned of serious repercussions if
Congress labels the killing of Armenians by Turks a century ago as
genocide.
(AP, 10/11/07)(AP, 10/12/07)
2007 Oct 17, Turkey’s Parliament
gave the government a one-year window in which to launch cross-border
offensives against Turkish Kurd rebels who've been conducting raids
into Turkey. The vote removed the last legal obstacle to an offensive.
(AP, 10/18/07)(AP, 10/20/07)
2007 Oct 17,
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on a visit to Turkey, said that
Damascus would back a possible Turkish incursion into northern Iraq to
crack down "against terrorist activities" there.
(AP, 10/17/07)
2007 Oct 18,
Thousands of Kurds and supporters took to the streets in northern
Iraq to protest the Turkish parliament's decision to authorize the
government to send troops across the border to root out Kurdish rebels
who have been conducting raids into Turkey.
(AP, 10/18/07)
2007 Oct 21, Kurdish rebels
ambushed a Turkish military convoy less than three miles from the Iraqi
border, killing 12 soldiers with 8 missing. The rebels said they are
holding them hostage. Turkey shelled the border region in response to
the attack, and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, ordered
the rebels to lay down their arms or leave Iraq.
(AP, 10/21/07)(WSJ, 10/22/07, p.A1)(AP, 10/25/07)
2007 Oct 23,
Turkey's foreign minister rejected any cease-fire by Kurdish
rebels as he met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad to press them to crack
down on the guerrillas. Turkish forces massed on the border and
tensions rose over a threatened military incursion.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 24, Turkish warplanes and
helicopter gunships reportedly attacked positions of Kurdish rebels
just inside Turkey along the border with Iraq, as Turkey's military
stepped up its anti-rebel operations. Masoud Barzani, president of
Iraq’s Kurdish region, called on the PKK to end its violence in Turkey.
(AP, 10/24/07)(Econ, 10/27/07, p.61)
2007 Oct 24, Al-Sadr renewed his
appeal to his followers to uphold the six-month cease-fire announced in
August and threatened to expel those who do not. Nearly simultaneous
bombs struck commuters in a predominantly Shiite area on the
southeastern edge of Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding
about two dozen.
(AP, 10/24/07)(AP, 10/26/07)
2007 Oct 26, A high-level Iraqi
delegation held talks with Turkish officials to try to defuse tensions
over Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq. Turkish helicopters and
fighter jets pounded Kurdish rebel positions as diplomatic efforts
began in Ankara.
(AP, 10/26/07)(Reuters, 10/26/07)
2007 Oct 28, Turkish troops killed
some 20 Kurdish guerrillas in fighting in eastern Tunceli province.
Turkey's PM Erdogan called for unity between Turks and Kurds against
the rebels.
(Reuters, 10/28/07)(AP, 10/29/07)(WSJ, 10/29/07,
p.A1)
2007 Oct 29, Turkey's state-run
news said soldiers battled separatist Kurdish rebels across southeast
Turkey, trapping about 100 in caves near the Iraqi border after
blocking escape routes across the frontier. Helicopter gunships bombed
Kurdish rebel positions in southeast Turkey and the government flexed
its military muscle with big national day parades and flypasts in major
cities.
(AP, 10/29/07)(Reuters, 10/29/07)
2007 Oct 30, Turkish Cobra attack
helicopters blasted suspected Kurdish rebel targets near the
southeastern border with Iraq in a second day of fighting in the area.
PM Erdogan said an escalation of military action was unavoidable.
(AP, 10/30/07)
2007 Oct 31, The Turkish army said
it killed 15 Kurdish separatists near the Iraqi border, as ministers
discussed possible economic sanctions against Iraq's autonomous Kurdish
government.
(AFP, 10/31/07)
2007 Oct 31,
The US acknowledged that it had undertaken military moves against
Kurdish rebels in Iraq, including spy planes and providing Turkey with
more intelligence.
(WSJ, 11/1/07, p.A1)
2007 Nov 2, Iraqi police found
only six bodies dumped in three Iraqi cities, and no reports of
shootings or bombings. The prime minister of Iraq's northern Kurdish
region condemned attacks by Kurdish rebel fighters inside Turkey and
said he hopes a weekend summit in Istanbul will reduce the threat of
Turkish military strikes inside Iraq.
(AP, 11/2/07)(AP, 11/3/07)
2007 Nov 3, Some 5,000 Turkish
Kurds protested against a military incursion into Iraq, saying such a
move would enflame ethnic tensions in the region and plunge the local
economy into ruin. Iraq said it was ready to hunt down and arrest
Kurdish guerrilla leaders responsible for cross-border raids into
Turkey in an effort to avert a major incursion by the Turkish military.
(AFP, 11/3/07)(Reuters, 11/3/07)
2007 Nov 4, Two carloads of gunman
ambushed a top aide to Iraq's Finance Ministry in Baghdad, killing him
and his driver. The two were among 15 people killed or found dead in
Iraq. Kurdish rebels released eight Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq
two weeks after they were captured in a deadly ambush that intensified
pressure on the Turkish government to attack the guerrillas in Iraq.
(AP, 11/4/07)
2007 Nov 9, Turkey's parliament
approved a bill allowing for the construction of nuclear power plants
in the country, despite opposition from environmental groups.
(AP, 11/9/07)
2007 Nov 13, Turkish helicopter
gunships attacked abandoned villages inside Iraq, the first such
airstrike since border tensions have escalated in recent months.
Kurdish guerrillas killed four Turkish soldiers in a clash in
southeastern Turkey.
(AP, 11/13/07)
2007 Nov 13, Shimon Peres became
the 1st Israeli president to address the parliament of a Muslim
government when he spoke to Turkish deputies.
(Econ, 11/17/07, p.60)
2007 Nov 16, Turkish authorities
took steps to ban the country's leading pro-Kurdish political party and
expel several of its lawmakers from parliament on charges of separatism.
(AP, 11/16/07)
2007 Nov 21, The presidents of
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey launched the construction of a railroad
that will link ex-Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia
with Europe, bypassing Russia.
(AP, 11/21/07)
2007 Nov 30, Turkey’s government
authorized the military to launch a cross-border offensive against
Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq at any time.
(AP, 12/1/07)
2007 Nov 30, In southwest Turkey
an Atlasjet plane crashed on a rocky mountain shortly before it was due
to land, killing all 57 people on board.
(AP, 11/30/07)
2007 Dec 1, The Turkish military
said it fired on 50 to 60 Kurdish rebels inside Iraqi territory,
inflicting "significant losses." Turkish troops killed four Kurdish
rebels in fighting near its border with Iraq.
(AP, 12/1/07)(AP, 12/2/07)
2007 Dec 4, Greece and Turkey
agreed to joint military measures aimed at easing tensions and
improving ties.
(WSJ, 12/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Dec 5, Turkish soldiers
killed eight Kurdish rebels, increasing the rebel death toll to 14 in a
two-day clash near the border with Iraq.
(AP, 12/5/07)
2007 Dec 8, An overcrowded boat
carrying at least some 85 illegal migrants sank off Turkey's Aegean
coast and at least 43 died. The migrants were mostly Palestinians,
Somalis and Iraqis.
(AP, 12/10/07)
2007 Dec 16, Turkish warplanes hit
Kurdish rebel targets, marking an escalation of force against the
outlawed separatist group. An Iraqi official said the planes attacked
several villages, killing one woman. Turkey’s military later said up to
175 rebels were killed on this day. A Kurdish leader said the figure
was exaggerated.
(AP, 12/16/07)(AP, 12/25/07)
2007 Dec 18, The Turkish army sent
soldiers about 1.5 miles into northern Iraq in an overnight operation.
A Turkish official said the troops seeking Kurdish rebels were still in
Iraq by midmorning.
(AP, 12/18/07)
2007 Dec 22, Turkish warplanes
bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq in the third confirmed
cross-border offensive by Turkish forces in less than a week.
(AP, 12/22/07)
2007 Dec 23, Turkish fighter jets
bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq.
(AP, 12/23/07)
2007 Dec 26, Turkish warplanes hit
eight suspected Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq, the third
cross-border air assault in 10 days. Troops killed 6 rebels near the
Iraqi border.
(AP, 12/26/07)(WSJ, 12/27/07, p.A1)
2007 Dec 30, Turkmenistan turned
off gas supplies to Iran, citing technical problems, after Iran balked
at a price increase to $140 per thousand cubic meters, almost double
the contracted rate. The move had a domino effect causing Iran to halt
gas shipments to Turkey, which in turn cut off gas to Greece.
(WSJ, 2/4/08, p.A2)(http://tinyurl.com/3xmzam)
2007 The Kurdish population in
Turkey numbered about 14 million.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.60)
2008 Jan 3, Turkey’s Parliament
approved a law extending a smoking ban in this tobacco-growing nation
to all bars, restaurants and coffeehouses by mid-2009.
(AP, 1/3/08)
2008 Jan 3, In Turkey a car bomb
exploded in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern city of Diyarbakir,
killing 6 people, including 5 students. 67 people were wounded,
including military personnel.
(AP, 1/3/08)(Reuters, 1/4/08)(AP, 1/8/08)
2008 Jan 7, In Turkey an accused
Kurdish rebel suspected of detonating a deadly car bomb last week in
Diyarbakir was captured. Six other suspects also were detained.
(AP, 1/8/08)
2008 Jan 8, Pres. Bush met with
Turkey’s Pres. Abdullah Gul to discuss US policy on Turkey's fight
against Kurdish rebels. Bush prepared to leave later in the day on his
first major trip to the Mideast to try to build momentum for peace.
(AP, 1/8/08)
2008 Jan 15, Turkish warplanes
bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq in the latest in a series
of cross-border air strikes.
(AFP, 1/15/08)
2008 Jan 16, Turkey's PM Erdogan
challenged a ban on women wearing head scarves in universities and
public offices, saying there is no need to wait for a constitutional
change to remove the ban.
(AP, 1/16/08)
2008 Jan 23, PM Costas Karamanlis
became the first Greek premier to pay an official visit to Turkey in
nearly 50 years, reflecting warmer ties between two countries that have
come close to war several times.
(AP, 1/23/08)
2008 Jan 24, Turkey's
Islamist-rooted ruling AK Party and a key opposition party agreed to
cooperate to lift a ban on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in
universities, a move sure to anger the secular elite.
(AP, 1/24/08)
2008 Jan 27, In central Turkey a
passenger train derailed, killing at least nine people and injuring
dozens of others, possibly due to ice on the tracks.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 31, In Turkey an
explosion ripped through an unlicensed fireworks factory in an
industrial section of Istanbul, killing 20 people and injuring 117.
(AP, 1/31/08)
2008 Feb 2, In Turkey tens of
thousands of secular Turks rallied against a plan by the government to
allow women students to wear the Muslim headscarf at university, a move
they say will usher in a stricter form of Islam.
(Reuters, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 4, Turkey’s warplanes
bombed some 70 Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 7, Turkey’s lawmakers
voted to approve a constitutional amendment allowing female students to
enter universities wearing Islamic head scarves, a move that many
secular Turks view as an attempt to impose religion on their daily
lives.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 9, Turkey’s parliament
voted to amend the constitution to lift a decades-old ban on Islamic
head scarves at Turkey's universities, despite fierce opposition from
the secular establishment.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 15, In southeast Turkey
hundreds of Kurdish protesters battled police, leaving a young
demonstrator dead and dozens injured on the ninth anniversary of
guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan's capture.
(AP, 2/16/08)
2008 Feb 21, Turkish troops
launched a ground incursion across the border into Iraq in pursuit of
separatist Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 2/22/08)
2008 Feb 23, Turkish troops
pressed their offensive against Kurdish PKK guerrillas in northern
Iraq, two days after crossing the mountainous border.
(AP, 2/23/08)
2008 Feb 24, Turkey's military
said that eight more soldiers were killed in combat during its
cross-border ground operation in northern Iraq, raising the death toll
to 15. Turkish troops and Kurdish PKK rebels fought close battles in
northern Iraq that left scores dead on the fourth day of a major ground
offensive Baghdad and Washington fear could further destabilize Iraq.
(AP, 2/24/08)(Reuters, 2/24/08)
2008 Feb 25, Turkey's military
said it had killed 41 more separatist Kurdish rebels in clashes in
northern Iraq, raising the reported guerrilla death toll in a
cross-border operation to 153.
(AP, 2/25/08)
2008 Feb 26, The Iraqi government
demanded for the first time that Turkey immediately withdraw from
northern Iraq, warning it feared the ongoing incursion could lead to
clashes with the official forces of the semiautonomous Kurdish region.
(AP, 2/26/08)
2008 Feb 27, Turkey said the death
toll for rebels reached 230 during the operation in northern Iraq that
began last week. The death toll for soldiers stood at 24. Troops killed
77 Kurdish rebels in night-long clashes with 5 Turkish soldiers killed.
(AP, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 29, Turkey's military
said it has ended a ground offensive against Kurdish rebels in Iraq,
but said that foreign influence did not play a role in its decision.
(AP, 2/29/08)
2008 Feb, Turkey and Pakistan
signed agreements to produce cluster bomb munitions.
(Econ, 5/24/08, p.80)
2008 Mar 4, Officials said Turkey
is ready to take part in a planned Mediterranean Union after winning
assurances that it is not meant as a substitute for Ankara's eventual
EU membership.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 6, A Kurdish demonstrator
wounded a day earlier in clashes with police in eastern Turkey died of
his injuries.
(AP, 3/7/08)
2008 Mar 6, About 700 Turkish
school children were hospitalized for apparent food poisoning.
(AP, 3/6/08)
2008 Mar 7, Suspected Kurdish
rebels killed a civilian and took another hostage in a southern Turkish
province near the border with Syria.
(AP, 3/7/08)
2008 Mar 8, In Turkey Iraq's Pres.
Jalal Talabani, on the 2nd day of his visit, said he wants a
"strategic" partnership with Turkey, including getting the neighboring
nation's businesses to invest in his oil-rich but war-torn country.
(AP, 3/8/08)
2008 Mar 12, Turkish troops killed
11 Kurdish rebels during clashes near the border with Iraq.
(WSJ, 3/13/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 20, Turkish warplanes
bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq.
(AP, 3/20/08)
2008 Mar 21, In Turkey unrest
erupted when celebrations marking Newroz day, or the Kurdish new year,
degenerated into demonstrations in favor of the armed separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara lists as a terrorist group.
(AFP, 3/22/08)
2008 Mar 22, In Turkey dozens of
people were injured and scores detained as police used truncheons and
tear gas to break up violent Kurdish protests in several eastern cities.
(AP, 3/22/08)
2008 Mar 23, In southeast Turkey
Kurdish protesters clashed with police for a 4th day. Two people have
been killed In the clashes and dozens injured.
(WSJ, 3/24/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 27, Turkey's armed forces
killed 15 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in
northern Iraq using long-range land weapons.
(Reuters, 3/29/08)
2008 Mar 28, Turkish warplanes hit
Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq.
(AP, 3/29/08)
2008 Mar 31, Turkey's top court
decided to put the Islamist-rooted ruling party on trial for alleged
anti-secular activity, in a case that could threaten national stability
and Ankara's bid to join the EU. Clashes between Turkish troops and
Kurdish rebels left nine rebels and three soldiers dead in Turkey's
southeast.
(AFP, 3/31/08)(AP, 4/1/08)
2008 Apr 3, A group of about 200
Uighur Muslims demonstrated against China before the Olympic torch
ceremony near Istanbul's Blue Mosque, one of Turkey's most famous
tourist destinations.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 12, Thousands of
secularist Turks rallied in Ankara against the ruling AK Party, which
is facing a high court challenge by a prosecutor who wants it shut down
for alleged Islamist activities.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2008 Apr 12, Investigators in
Turkey found the body of Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo (33), an
Italian artist known as Pippa Bacca. She was last seen on March 31
hitchhiking in a wedding gown. She was on her way to Israel in a plea
for peace. Police detained a man suspected of killing her. In June,
2009, Murat Karatas was sentenced to life in prison for her rape and
murder.
(AP, 4/12/08)(SSFC, 6/28/09, p.A4)
2008 Apr 16, Turkish warplanes hit
a group of Kurdish rebels reportedly trying to infiltrate Turkey from
the Avasin-Basyan region of northern Iraq. A clash between Turkish
troops and Kurdish rebels near Turkey's southeastern border with Iraq
left a Turkish soldier dead.
(AP, 4/17/08)
2008 Apr 25, Turkish warplanes and
artillery units struck Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq who were
preparing to cross the border to carry out attacks. The strikes
continued the next day.
(AP, 4/26/08)
2008 Apr 26, Turkey's PM Erdogan
was in Syria in a bid to restart peace negotiations between Damascus
and its Mideast foe, Israel.
(AP, 4/26/08)
2008 May 2, A rebel spokesman said
Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel bases deep inside Iraq for three
hours overnight. The Turkish military said the raid in northern Iraq
killed more than 150 Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 5/2/08)(AP, 5/3/08)
2008 May 9, In southeast Turkey a
land mine explosion killed 3 people and injured 3 others. Air strikes
launched in retaliation for a rebel raid killed 19 Kurdish fighters.
Six soldiers died in the violence. The PKK denied the military's claims
of 19 rebel deaths saying "not a single guerrilla was killed."
(AP, 5/9/08)(AP, 5/10/08)
2008 May 10, Turkish warplanes and
artillery units destroyed key Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq,
including a communications center, in a second day of raids on rebel
positions.
(AP, 5/11/08)
2008 May 12, Iraqi Kurdish
officials said Turkish jets overnight struck suspected Kurdish rebel
targets close to the border in northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/12/08)
2008 May 17, In eastern Turkey a
clash between soldiers and Kurdish rebels left 6 rebels dead in Van
province.
(AP, 5/17/08)
2008 May 19, In Turkey a law
extending a smoking ban to most enclosed areas — including taxis,
ferries and shopping malls — came into effect in the nicotine-addicted
nation.
(AP, 5/19/08)
2008 May 22, Two Turkish soldiers
were killed in an overnight clash with Kurdish rebels in southeastern
Turkey. Troops killed two Kurdish rebels near the southeastern city of
Sirnak.
(AP, 5/22/08)(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 23, In Turkey one rebel
and one village guard were killed in a clash near the border with Iran.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 28, Turkey's state-run
media said soldiers killed two Kurdish rebels during a clash near the
border with Iran.
(AP, 5/28/08)
2008 May 29, Turkish warplanes
attacked several Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq. No casualties
were immediately reported. Air raids destroyed 16 Kurdish rebel
facilities.
(AP, 5/29/08)(AP, 5/31/08)
2008 Jun 5, A Turkish TV station
quoted a senior military commander as saying that Turkey and Iran have
carried out coordinated strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 Jun 6, Turkey's ruling AK
Party held an emergency meeting after the top court overturned a
government-led reform which lifted a ban on Muslim headscarves at
universities.
(Reuters, 6/6/08)
2008 Jun 15, Israeli officials
said that indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria have resumed,
with Turkish mediation.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2008 Jun 16, The Turkish military
opened fire on 21 Kurdish PKK fighters trying to enter Turkey from
northern Iraq. Most of them were "neutralized."
(Reuters, 6/17/08)
2008 Jun 16, Officials said 2 days
of peace talks in Turkey involving Israel and Syria had concluded and
more talks were planned.
(AP, 6/16/08)
2008 Jun, Turkey’s police arrested
some 50 people said to be involved in Ergenekon, an ultra-nationalist
gang bent on overthrowing the AKP government. Veli Kucuk, a retired
general arrested last January, was alleged to be one of the ringleaders.
(Econ, 7/19/08, p.34)(WSJ, 7/2/08, p.A1)(Econ,
1/31/09, p.58)
2008 Jul 8, In eastern Turkey
Kurdish guerrillas kidnapped three German tourists on a climbing
expedition. The Germans were released on July 20.
(AP, 7/20/08)
2008 Jul 9, In Istanbul, Turkey,
men armed with pistols and shotguns attacked a police guard post
outside the US consulate, sparking a gunbattle that left 3 attackers
and 3 officers dead.
(AP, 7/9/08)(Reuters, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 10, In Turkey authorities
detained four suspects in connection with the July 9 attack on the US
consulate in Istanbul which left 3 policemen and 3 assailants dead.
(AP, 7/10/08)
2008 Jul 10, Iraq's Oil Ministry
said that it is close to signing contracts to build two new oil
refineries in southern Iraq. Turkey's PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan became
the first Turkish leader to visit Iraq in nearly 20 years.
(AP, 7/10/08)
2008 Jul 11, A Turkish news agency
reported that army troops clashed with Kurdish rebels in the southeast
and that 10 of the rebels were killed.
(AP, 7/11/08)
2008 Jul 14, In Turkey prosecutors
indicted 86 secular Turks, including high-ranking ex-military
officials, on terrorism charges for their alleged involvement in plots
to topple the Islamic-rooted government. They were suspected of being
part of Ergenekon, an ultra-nationalist gang bent on overthrowing the
AKP government.
(AP, 7/14/08)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.34)
2008 Jul 15, Turkey’s military
said aircraft and artillery units had shelled rebel positions in Sirnak
province, killing 22 rebels.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 16, Turkey’s military
said 11 Kurdish rebels were killed in an ongoing operation in Hakkari
province, near the border with Iraq.
(AP, 7/16/08)
2008 Jul 18, In southeastern
Turkey 10 members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were
killed in clashes with Turkish military forces.
(Reuters, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 23, Turkish warplanes
bombed 13 Kurdish rebel targets in the Zab region of northern Iraq.
(AP, 7/24/08)
2008 Jul 27, In Istanbul, Turkey,
bomb blasts killed 17 people in a crowded square in the residential
neighborhood of Gungoren. 5 of the dead were children. Turkish
warplanes bombed 12 Kurdish rebel targets on Mount Qandil in northern
Iraq.
(AP, 7/28/08)(AP, 7/27/08)
2008 Jul 29, Turkish warplanes
attacked Kurdish rebels in Iraq's north, killing a group of guerrillas
gathered at a mountain cave.
(AP, 7/29/08)
2008 Jul 30, Turkey’s high court
narrowly voted against disbanding the ruling Justice and Development
Party, but cut off millions of dollars in state aid to the
Islamic-oriented party.
(SFC, 7/31/08, p.A12)
2008 Jul 31, Turkey’s Deputy PM
Cemil Cicek signaled the government would not push for a fresh round of
legislation to lift the head scarf ban.
(AP, 7/31/08)
2008 Aug 1, In central Turkey a
three-story girls dormitory collapsed, killing at least 18 students and
setting off a search for a half dozen people believed to be under the
rubble in Balcilar. A gas leak from kitchen pipes caused the powerful
explosion, leaving another 27 people injured. 3 dormitory
administrators were charged on August 3 with "causing death through
negligence."
(AP, 8/1/08)(AP, 8/2/08)(AP, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 5, In Turkey an oil
pipeline that has allowed the West to tap the rich fields of
Azerbaijan, bypassing Iran and Russia, was set on fire. A Kurdish rebel
organization later admitted sabotaging the pipeline.
(AP, 8/7/08)
2008 Aug 7, In Turkey a series of
explosions at a municipal government building in Istanbul slightly
injured three people. Shells from a mortar-like mechanism were fired
from a cemetery near a municipal government building.
(AP, 8/7/08)
2008 Aug 8, In Turkey Mehmet
Dursun Uygurturkoglu (35) doused himself with gasoline and set himself
alight during a protest by ethnic Uighurs outside the Chinese Embassy.
Other demonstrators jumped on the man and quickly extinguished the
flames with a blanket.
(AP, 8/8/08)
2008 Aug 11, A roadside bomb
exploded in eastern Turkey, killing nine soldiers who were on their way
back from an operation against Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 18, Heads of state and
other dignitaries from African countries and Turkey started an economic
cooperation summit in Istanbul.
(AP, 8/18/08)
2008 Aug 19, Turkey's President
Abdullah Gul urged Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, during talks at a
summit of African leaders, to act responsibly and to end the suffering
in the devastated Darfur region. A suicide bombing wounded 13 policemen
outside the southern city of Mersin.
(AP, 8/19/08)(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, In Turkey Sudan's
indicted president denied that his regime is orchestrating genocide in
the troubled western region of Darfur, and offered hope for an end to
the violence and the dawn of reconciliation by promising free and fair
elections next year.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Sep 4, Syrian President
Bashar Assad announced that his country has handed over proposals for
peace with Israel to Turkish mediators and would wait for Israel's
response before holding any face-to-face negotiations.
(AP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 6, Thousands of Armenians
lined the streets of the Yerevan to protest the first-ever visit by a
Turkish leader and to demand that Turkey acknowledge the World War I
massacres of Armenian civilians as genocide.
(www.interfax.com/3/425662/news.aspx)
2008 Sep 10, Turkish Cypriot
leader Mehmet Ali Talat said he accepts a reduction of Turkey's
military contingent but that his side will still need security
guarantees from Ankara as part of a deal to unite the divided island.
(AP, 9/10/08)
2008 Sep 14, A Turkish ferry
carrying some 100 people sank in the Sea of Marmara, killing at least
one person. At least 23 more were missing.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 17, A German court
convicted 3 Turkish men of siphoning $25 million from the Deniz Feneri
charity, which raised fund to ostensibly help needy Muslims.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.69)
2008 Sep 21, In western Turkey 13
newborn, premature babies died over the weekend at Izmir's Tepecik
hospital. In August, investigators looking into the deaths of 27
newborns at an Ankara hospital concluded that a staff shortage had
increased the risk of infection. Tainted IV treatment was later
suspected.
(AP, 9/22/08)(AP, 9/27/08)
2008 Sep 25, Turkish warplanes
bombarded Kurdish rebel territory in northern Iraq, damaging a school
and wounding three people.
(AP, 9/26/08)
2008 Oct 3, Fighting between
Kurdish rebels and Turkey's army and air force in southeastern Turkey
and northern Iraq killed 15 soldiers and at least 23 insurgents, in the
deadliest battle between the longtime enemies this year.
(AP, 10/4/08)
2008 Oct 5, In western Turkey a
truck packed with illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and Myanmar
overturned, killing 18 people and injuring 23.
(AP, 10/5/08)
2008 Oct 6, Turkish warplanes
bombed a Kurdish rebel hideout in northern Iraq, the third air strike
in retaliation for an attack that killed 15 soldiers three days ago.
(AP, 10/6/08)
2008 Oct 7, Turkish warplanes
bombed suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq and southeast
Turkey, in new air strikes responding to an attack that killed 17
soldiers at a military outpost four days ago.
(AP, 10/7/08)
2008 Oct 8, In Turkey rebels
ambushed a police bus, killing four policemen and the driver in the
Kurdish-dominated city of Diyarbakir, further escalating tensions.
(AP, 10/11/08)
2008 Oct 11, Turkish warplanes and
artillery bombed dozens of Kurdish rebel targets overnight in northern
Iraq following an escalation in rebel attacks. Engin Ceber (29), a
left-wing activist, was tortured and beaten to death in an Istanbul
prison.
(AP, 10/11/08)(Econ, 10/18/08,
p.61)(http://erkansaka.net/blog2/2008/10/engin_ceber.html)
2008 Oct 15, Turkish media
reported that a hijacker attempted to commandeer a Turkish Airlines
plane over Belarus but that he was overpowered by passengers.
(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 15, The Turkish military
clashed with Kurdish rebels near the Iraqi border in battles in which
four soldiers and five rebels were killed. A Turkish helicopter crashed
during the clash. A soldier was killed and 15 security personnel were
slightly injured in the crash.
(AP, 10/16/08)
2008 Oct 17, Turkish warplanes
carried out successful airstrikes inside Iraq on the main bases used by
Kurdish rebels. The air strikes on Qandil Mountain killed 25 Kurdish
rebels and wounded many more. Earlier in the day, the military said it
intercepted Kurdish rebel radio chatter indicating that up to 35
guerrillas had been killed in clashes with troops earlier this week in
southeastern Sirnak province.
(AP, 10/17/08)(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 17, The UN added Japan,
Austria, Turkey, Mexico and Uganda as members to the 10 non-permanent
seats of the Security Council, replacing Belgium, Indonesia, Italy,
Panama and South Africa.
(AP, 10/17/08)
2008 Oct 19, Turkish warplanes
again bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts across the border in northern Iraq.
The bombings targeted four towns near the Turkish border.
(AP, 10/19/08)
2008 Oct 20, A Kurdish
demonstrator died after a clash with police in eastern Turkey. Kurdish
protesters staged demonstrations in many parts of Turkey over the
weekend following allegations that Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan
was mistreated in prison.
(AP, 10/20/08)
2008 Oct 21, Turkish soldiers
killed two Kurdish guerrillas during a clash near the village of
Dallitepe in the country's southeast.
(AP, 10/22/08)
2008 Oct 28, Turkey's warplanes
and artillery struck Kurdish rebel targets inside northern Iraq.
(AP, 10/28/08)
2008 Oct 29, Pirates hijacked the
Turkish freighter MV Yasa Neslihan with a crew of 20 off the coast of
Somalia. Pirates freed the Yasa Neslihan freighter on Dec 6 after
paying a ransom.
(SFC, 10/31/08, p.A8)(AP, 1/7/09)
2008 Nov 12, Pirates commandeered
the Karagol, a Turkish chemical tanker, off the coast of Yemen. 14
Turkish personnel were aboard the tanker. The Russian frigate
Neustrashimy and the British frigate Cumberland foiled pirates who
fired automatic weapons toward a Danish ship and twice tried to seize
it in the Gulf of Aden. The Karagol was released on Jan 12, 2009.
(AP, 11/12/08)(AP, 1/13/09)
2008 Nov 19, Turkey’s central bank
cuts its core overnight borrowing rate by .5% to 16.25%.
(WSJ, 11/20/08, p.A15)
2008 Dec 5, The leaders of
Pakistan and Afghanistan met for Turkish-sponsored talks aimed at
reducing tensions over militant attacks along the countries' lawless
border.
(AP, 12/5/08)
2008 Dec 7, A Kurdish rebel group
declared a nine-day holiday cease-fire in their fight against Turkey,
calling it a "first step toward peace."
(AP, 12/7/08)
2008 Dec 15, A group of about 200
Turkish intellectuals issued an apology on the Internet for the World
War I-era massacres of Armenians in Turkey.
(AP, 12/16/08)
2008 Dec 24, The prime ministers
of Turkey and Iraq vowed to step up their cooperation in the fight
against Turkish Kurdish rebels whose presence in northern Iraq has cast
a shadow over relations.
(AP, 12/24/08)
2008 Dec 27, Turkey's parliament
reduced the budget allocations of most ministries by up to 16 percent
to cut overall spending as the country seeks a loan deal with the
International Monetary Fund.
(AP, 12/27/08)
2008 In Turkey working women were
able to retire at age 43, and men at age 47. A newly adopted retirement
age of 65 was set to become effective in 2048.
(Econ, 8/9/08, p.50)
2009 Jan 4, Russia asked the EU to
provide monitoring of Ukraine's gas transit system and charged Ukraine
was stealing gas bound for Europe, as Kiev leveled its own charges.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said that the state-controlled company wanted
$450 per 1,000 cubic meters, up from its last offer of $418. The
reductions in gas supplies spread to the Czech Republic and Turkey.
(AP, 1/4/09)(Reuters, 1/4/09)
2009 Jan 5, Turkey restored the
citizenship of its most famous poet Monday in a symbolic step meant to
show it was addressing criticism of its human rights record in hopes of
joining the European Union. Turkey had stripped Nazim Hikmet of his
nationality in 1951 at the height of the Cold War because of his
communist views, branded him a traitor and imprisoned him for more than
a decade. He died in exile in Moscow in 1963.
(AP, 1/5/09)
2009 Jan 6, Turkey held a shipment
bound for Venezuela from Iran saying it contains equipment that can
make explosives.
(WSJ, 1/7/09, p.A1)
2009 Jan 6, A natural gas crisis
loomed over Europe, as a contract dispute between Russia and Ukraine
shut off Russian gas supplies to six countries and reduced gas
deliveries to several others. Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania,
Croatia and Turkey all reported a halt in gas shipments.
(AP, 1/6/09)
2009 Jan 7, Turkey’s state news
said police had detained about 40 people, including 3 retired generals,
in a probe of an alleged plot to overthrow the Islamist-rooted AK Party
government.
(WSJ, 1/8/09, p.A1)
2009 Jan 11, A Turkish court
formally arrested 12 more people for ties to an alleged secularist plot
by ultranationalists to bring down the Islamic-rooted government,
bringing the total of people implicated in the case to more than 100.
(AP, 1/11/09)
2009 Jan 19, In Turkey Abdulkarim
Kirca committed suicide. He was found shot in the head in his apartment
in Ankara, following allegations in the Turkish press that he had been
involved in extra-judicial killings of Kurds.
(Econ, 1/31/09,
p.58)(www.journalistinturkey.com/date/2009/01/)
2009 Jan 22, Turkey’s police
detained 39 more suspects in a new wave of arrests connected with
Ergenekon, an alleged secularist plot to bring down the Islamic-rooted
government.
(AP, 1/22/09)(Econ, 1/31/09, p.58)
2009 Jan 23, Iraqi Foreign
Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said Turkey, Iraq and the United States have
agreed to set up a joint command center in northern Iraq to gather
intelligence to fight Kurdish PKK rebels in the region.
(Reuters, 1/23/09)
2009 Jan 25, An avalanche slammed
into a group of Turkish hikers on a trip to a remote mountain plateau,
dragging them more than (1640 feet) 500 meters into a valley and
fatally burying 10 of them.
(AP, 1/25/09)
2009 Jan 29, At the economic forum
in Davos, Switzerland, Israel’s Pres. Peres (85) traded accusations
with Turkey’s PM Erdogan, who declared: “You kill people,” and
criticized Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Erdogan stalked off stage after
being cut short during the exchange.
(SFC, 1/30/09, p.A4)(WSJ, 1/30/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 5, Turkey's parliament
approved the Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The
parliament voted 243-3 after the Cabinet signed the protocol.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 15, In Turkey police
clashed with stone-throwing demonstrators across the country's
predominantly Kurdish southeast during protests marking the 10th
anniversary of a separatist rebel leader's capture.
(AP, 2/15/09)
2009 Feb 22, In Turkey Aydin Dogan
(72), chairman of Dogan Sirketler Grubu Holdings AS, a conglomerate
that controls 7 newspapers, 28 magazines and 3 Turkish television
channels as well as energy interests, accused PM Erdogan of seeking to
muzzle criticism. Dogan was recently hit with a corporate tax bill of
around $500 million. Most of the bill centered on the 2007 sale of a
stake in Dogan to Germany’s Axel Springer AG.
(WSJ, 2/23/09, p.A9)
2009 Feb 24, A Kurdish politician
spoke to lawmakers in Turkey's parliament in the Kurdish language,
openly defying the law, to celebrate UNESCO world languages week.
State-run television immediately cut off the live broadcast.
(AP, 2/24/09)
2009 Feb 25, A Turkish Airlines
plane with 135 people aboard slammed into a muddy field while
attempting to land at Amsterdam's main airport. Nine people were killed
and more than 50 were injured, many in serious condition.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Mar 5, The Israeli and
Turkish foreign ministers met secretly on the sidelines of a NATO
conference, the first high-level contact between the countries since
friction erupted over Israel's recent offensive in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 3/5/09)
2009 Mar 10, Turkey indicted 56
more people on charges of plotting to topple the Islamic-rooted AK
Party government. The 56 suspects, including 2 retired four-star
generals, were formally indicted on March 25.
(WSJ, 3/11/09, p.A11)(WSJ, 3/26/09, p.A8)
2009 Mar 12, Turkish warplanes
carried out new bombing raids against Kurdish rebel positions in
northern Iraq. The strike targeted hideouts of the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) in the Zap-Avashin region of the Kurdish-held autonomous
north of Iraq.
(AFP, 3/13/09)
2009 Mar 16, In Turkey a UN global
forum on water opened in Istanbul. The UN said global demand for water
is rising as access to safe drinking water remains inadequate in much
of the developing world.
(SFC, 3/17/09, p.A2)
2009 Mar 19, Pirates off the coast
of Somalia seized the St. Vincent-flagged Titan, with 24 crew members
on board, including a Greek captain and 3 Greek crew members. A Turkish
warship foiled a pirate attack on a Turkish commercial ship in the Gulf
of Aden.
(AP, 3/20/09)
2009 Mar 23, Turkey's president
began the first visit to Iraq by a Turkish head of state in more than
30 years, seeking to press Iraqi leaders to stop Kurdish rebels from
launching cross-border attacks on Turkey. In northern Iraq a suicide
bombing against a Kurdish funeral in Jalula killed 27 people. 8 people
were killed in a bombing at a bus stop west of Baghdad. A suicide blast
in Tel Afar killed police officer and wounded 8 people.
(AP, 3/23/09)(AP, 3/24/09)(SFC, 3/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Mar 24, Kurdish rebels
rejected calls by Iraq's president to stop fighting against Turkey and
leave Iraqi territory as the visiting Turkish president stepped up
pressure on the Baghdad government to act against the group.
(AP, 3/24/09)
2009 Mar 25, In Turkey a
helicopter crashed in the snow-covered mountains of southern Turkey.
Muhsin Yazicioglu, leader of the small conservative Great Unity Party,
was one of six people on board. Authorities the next day released a
recording of an emergency call made after the crash by journalist
Ismail Gunes, who said he thought he was the only survivor. Rescue
workers found the wreckage on March 27. All 6 people aboard were found
dead.
(AP, 3/26/09)(AP, 3/27/09)
2009 Mar 29, Turks voted in local
elections. PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-oriented party emerged as
the leading party in local elections, but saw a slide in its support
compared with a landslide victory two years ago.
(AP, 3/29/09)(AP, 3/30/09)
2009 Apr 4, In Turkey several
thousand leftists staged anti-U.S. and anti-NATO protests, with shouts
of "Yankee Go Home!" the day before President Barack Obama's visit.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 6, In Turkey Pres. Obama,
making his first visit to a Muslim nation as president, declared that
the United States "is not and will never be at war with Islam."
(AP, 4/6/09)
2009 Apr 7, In Turkey Pres. Obama
wrapped up his first European trip as president with a request of the
world: Look past his nation's stereotypes and flaws. "You will find a
partner and a supporter and a friend in the United States of America."
(AP, 4/7/09)
2009 Apr 11, Turkey’s agriculture
ministry said 11 people have died in Turkey over the past three weeks,
including three young Germans, after drinking bootleg spirits.
(AP, 4/11/09)
2009 Apr 16, Turkey’s central bank
cut is interest rate to 9.75% from 10.5% in a bid to combat a record
surge in unemployment.
(WSJ, 4/17/09, p.A8)
2009 Apr 18, In Turkey thousands
of people marched to the mausoleum of the country’s secular founder to
protest the arrests of university professors and other secularists
accused of involvement in an alleged plot to topple the Islamic-rooted
government.
(AP, 4/18/09)
2009 Apr 18, About 140 migrants
remained stranded aboard a Turkish cargo ship for a third day as Malta
and Italy argued about which country should accept them.
(AP, 4/18/09)
2009 Apr 19, Italy agreed to
accept 140 migrants stranded aboard a Turkish cargo ship that rescued
them in the Mediterranean, ending a four-day standoff with Malta about
who would take them in.
(AP, 4/20/09)
2009 Apr 21, Turkish anti-terror
police detained 37 suspects accused of links to the al-Qaida terror
network.
(AP, 4/21/09)(WSJ, 4/22/09, p.A10)
2009 Apr 22, The Turkish Foreign
Ministry said Turkey and Armenia have agreed on a roadmap for
normalizing relations and reaching reconciliation, but it wasn't
immediately clear how they would tackle their bitter dispute over
Ottoman-era killings of ethnic Armenians.
(AP, 4/22/09)
2009 Apr 27, In Turkey a five-hour
police shootout with a leftist militant in Istanbul left three people
dead, including the militant described as a top member of a group tied
to the Kurdish separatist PKK. The militant was identified as Orhan
Yilmazkaya, one of three top members of the Revolutionary Headquarters.
(AP, 4/27/09)
2009 Apr 29, In southeastern
Turkey suspected Kurdish rebels detonated a roadside bomb that killed
nine soldiers in a US-made armored personnel carrier.
(AP, 4/29/09)
2009 Apr 30, Turkey's military
said its warplanes struck Kurdish rebel targets overnight in northern
Iraq.
(AP, 4/30/09)
2009 May 1, May Day protesters
clashed with riot police in Germany, Turkey and Greece, while thousands
angry at the government's responses to the global financial crisis took
to the streets in France. Riot police battled 700 stone-throwing
left-wing militants in Berlin for more than five hours in May Day
clashes that stretched into early pre-dawn hours.
(Reuters, 5/1/09)(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 4, In Turkey masked
assailants with automatic weapons attacked an engagement celebration in
the village of Bilge, near the city of Mardin, fatally shooting 44
people.
(AP, 5/5/09)
2009 May 5, Turkish security
forces detained 8 gunmen suspected of fatally shooting 44 people at an
engagement ceremony in the southeastern village of Bilge. PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said "the result of a feud between two families" had led
to the deaths of six children, 17 women and 21 men.
(AP, 5/5/09)
2009 May 18, A Turkish court ruled
that President Abdullah Gul should stand trial for a fraud case dating
back to the late 1990s, when the Welfare Party, a predecessor to the AK
Party, was accused of misappropriating funds from the Treasury. A court
of appeals will have the final say on the case.
(Reuters, 5/18/09)
2009 May 26, A fire at a western
Turkish hospital killed eight patients in an intensive care unit.
(AP, 5/26/09)
2009 May 28, Turkish warplanes
attacked Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, hours after a land mine blast
on the Turkish side of the border killed six soldiers.
(AP, 5/28/09)
2009 Jun 12, In Turkey the liberal
Taraf newspaper published a copy of “Plan to Combat Islamic
Fundamentalism,” an alleged military plan hatched last April to
overthrow the AK party and to incriminate Turkey’s largest Islamist
brotherhood, led by Fetullah Gulen. It was signed by Dursun Cicek, a
colonel serving in the army’s psychological warfare unit.
(Econ, 6/20/09, p.56)
2009 Jun 13, A Turkish soldier and
a Kurdish rebel were killed in fighting in the southeast of Turkey near
the border with Iraq.
(AFP, 6/14/09)
2009 Jun 26, Turkey's parliament
passed legislation aimed at meeting European Union membership criteria
to ensure military personnel are tried in civilian courts during
peacetime rather than in military courts.
(Reuters, 6/27/09)
2009 Jun 30, In Turkey a civilian
prosecutor charged and briefly arrested Col. Dursun Cicek for his
alleged involvement in a plan to overthrow the AK party. The army
ordered an investigation but declared the colonel innocent.
(Econ, 7/4/09, p.49)
2009 Jul 8, Somali pirates seized
a Turkish ship with 23 crew and were being shadowed by a Turkish
warship in the Gulf of Aden. The pirates first surrounded the Horizon-1
in speed boats and then boarded the ship, which was carrying sulfate
from Saudi Arabia to Jordan.
(AP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 13, Turkey and four EU
countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary) formally agreed to
route the Nabucco natural gas pipeline across their territories,
pushing ahead with a US- and EU-backed attempt to make Europe less
dependent on Russian gas.
(AP, 7/13/09)(Econ, 7/18/09, p.47)
2009 Jul 19, In Turkey patrons of
a usually smoke-filled hookah bar stepped outside to light up as a ban
on indoor public smoking extended to bars, restaurants and coffeehouses.
(AP, 7/19/09)
2009 Jul 21, In Turkey a father
and two sons allegedly opened fire in the eastern village in Elazig
province, killing six people and wounding seven others. They were soon
captured.
(AP, 7/22/09)
2009 Jul 24, Turkish commandos
captured five pirates in the Gulf of Aden as part of an international
mission to curb piracy off the coast of Somalia.
(AP, 7/24/09)
2009 Jul 29, Turkey's government
said it is prepared to grant more rights to the nation's Kurds in an
effort to end the 25-year insurgency by Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 31, Turkey's navy
commandos aboard a frigate captured seven pirates in the Gulf of Aden
off Somalia's coast. Turkish commandos had captured five other pirates
in a similar operation in the Gulf of Aden a week ago.
(AP, 7/31/09)
2009 Aug 6, Russia’s PM Putin and
his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, signed an agreements in
Ankara that included the construction of part of the South Stream gas
pipeline through the Black Sea.
(AP, 8/6/09)(Econ, 8/15/09, p.47)
2009 Aug 25, Turkey's military
indicated that it would back government efforts to grant more rights to
Kurds and improve the economy of their region. The military, however,
drew the line at moves that would involve negotiating with Kurdish
rebels, harm Turkey's unity or make Kurdish an official language.
(AP, 8/25/09)
2009 Aug 25, An international
forum in Turkey sought to boost aid and investment in Pakistan as a way
to support its democratic institutions and curb violence there.
(AP, 8/25/09)
2009 Aug 27, A Turkish train
collided with a construction vehicle during a journey from Ankara to
Istanbul, derailing several carriages and leaving many people injured.
(AP, 8/27/09)
2009 Aug 28, NATO’s Sec. Gen. Fogh
Rasmussen ended a 2-day visit to Turkey where he got a commitment for
more Turkish troops to work on reconstruction projects in Afghanistan.
(Econ, 9/12/09,
p.57)(www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=107181)
2009 Aug 28, Mehdi-Muhammed
Ghezali, a Swedish national and former Guantanamo detainee, was
arrested on the outskirts of Dera Ghazi Khan in southern Pakistani town
along with a group of foreigners, including 7 Turks and 3 other Swedes,
who lacked proper immigration stamps. They were allegedly trying to
join al-Qaida in the lawless tribal areas.
(AP, 9/14/09)
2009 Aug 31, A Georgian court
sentenced a Turkish cargo ship captain to 24 years in prison for
smuggling and border violations.
(AP, 9/3/09)
2009 Sep 3, A water rights battle
over the historic Tigris and Euphrates rivers simmered, as Iraq and
Syria appealed for increased water flows to cope with severe drought
but Turkey said it was already too overstretched.
(AP, 9/3/09)
2009 Sep 7, Turkish military
police stormed an Istanbul villa to rescue nine captive women whose
scantily clad images were posted online after they were recruited for a
television reality show. The women had been held captive for about two
months. About 14 people had been working on the show for the Istanbul
Grup Bilisim Electronic, Trade, Communication and Advertisement company.
(AP, 9/10/09)
2009 Sep 8, The Turkish
conglomerate, Dogan Yayin, was slapped with a 3.75 lira ($2.5 billion)
fine for allegedly evading taxes in the transfer of assets from one of
its companies to another. This followed a $609 million fine levied in
February against Aydin Dogan’s conglomerate.
(http://tinyurl.com/mkkebw)(Econ, 9/12/09, p.72)
2009 Sep 8, In northwestern Turkey
flash floods triggered by torrential rains killed six people and left
swaths of lands awash. At least three people were reported missing.
(AP, 9/8/09)
2009 Sep 9, In Turkey flash floods
roared across a major highway and a commercial district in Istanbul,
killing at least 32 people and forcing dozens to scramble onto the
roofs of cars and trucks. Some of the dead drowned inside their
vehicles.
(Reuters, 9/9/09)(AFP, 9/10/09)
2009 Sep 15, In Turkey security
talks failed over Syria's refusal to extradite some suspects accused of
deadly bombings in Baghdad. Senior Iraqi and Syrian diplomats attended
the talks.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 16, Syrian President
Bashar Assad met with Turkey's PM Erdogan in Istanbul to discuss ways
to revive the stalled peace process between Syria and Israel, a day
after security talks with Iraq collapsed.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 18, Turkey's military
said it was planning to spend close to $1 billion (euro680 million) for
its first long-range missile defense system.
(AP, 9/18/09)
2009 Sep 23, In Turkey heavy rains
in the northeast triggered floods and a landslide that killed 4 people.
One person was reported missing.
(AP, 9/24/09)
2009 Sep 26, Turkey's navy
commandos aboard a frigate captured seven pirates in the Gulf of Aden
off Somalia's coast.
(AP, 9/26/09)
2009 Sep, Turkey banned MySpace,
an Internet-based social networking site.
(Econ, 10/3/09, p.67)
2009 Oct 6, Turkish police used
water cannons, tear gas and pepper spray to disperse hundreds of
demonstrators protesting against the annual meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank held in Istanbul.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 7, In Turkey protesters
hurled firebombs at banks and police and smashed shop windows in a
second day of protests against the International Monetary Fund.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 10, Armenia and Turkey
signed a deal in Switzerland to establish diplomatic ties ending a
century of enmity. To take effect, the agreements must be ratified by
the Turkish and Armenian parliaments, but it faced stiff opposition in
both countries.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Turkish PM Erdogan
called on Armenia to withdraw from the disputed enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that a deal to establish diplomatic ties,
signed a day earlier, cannot come into force until that happens.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 14, Armenian President
Serzh Sarkisian arrived in Turkey to attend a World Cup football game
as the two nations pressed ahead with painstaking efforts to overcome a
bloody history.
(AFP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, Israel's foreign
minister has ordered ministry officials to summon Turkey's ambassador
in Israel and protest to him over a Turkish TV series that reportedly
portrays Israeli soldiers murdering children.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 15, Turkish police
detained over 30 suspects allegedly linked to Al-Qaida, saying they
were planning to stage attacks on NATO facilities as well as US and
Israeli missions.
(SFC, 10/16/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 15, Iraq’s PM Nouri
al-Maliki warned Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stop conducting
military operations across Iraq's northern border targeting Kurdish
rebels and stressed that Iraq's sovereignty can not be violated. The
two met in Baghdad and were to sign agreements boosting economic ties
between their countries. A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol in
Baghdad, killing one Iraqi soldier.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Turkey tens of
thousands of Kurds flocked to the Iraqi border to greet 34 PKK fighters
and their sympathizers, who gave themselves up following a call by PM
Erdogan to return home.
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.63)
2009 Oct 20, Turkish prosecutors
sought charges against 5 Kurdish rebels who surrendered in a peace
gesture, raising questions about whether thousands of other guerrillas
can be persuaded to end their decades-long fight. The 5 were later
released on the orders of a judge.
(AP, 10/20/09)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.63)
2009 Oct, Turkish ministers
traveled to Baghdad and Damascus to sign a package of 48 co-operation
deals with Iraq and 40 with Syria, covering everything from tourism to
counter-terrorism and joint military exercises.
(Econ, 10/31/09, p.57)
2009 Nov 6, Turkey rebuffed an EU
call to reconsider its decision to allow Sudanese President Omar
al-Beshir, who is accused of war crimes in Darfur, to attend a summit
in Istanbul. Turkey has not signed the Rome Statute which set up the
ICC and has said previously the ICC arrest warrant for Beshir could
hurt moves to end the conflict in Darfur.
(AFP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 8, Turkey said that
Sudan's internationally indicted leader, President Omar al-Bashir, will
not attend the Nov 9 Istanbul summit of the 57-nation Organization of
the Islamic Conference.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 13, Turkey's government
announced new measures aimed at reconciling with minority Kurds and
ending a 25-year-old insurgency, but there was no mention of the
sweeping amnesty sought by Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Dec 1, Turkey's government
approved a plan to open the country's first Kurdish-language department
at a university as part of its efforts to reconcile with the Kurdish
minority. Small scale violence continued for the third day in a row as
stone-throwing Kurdish militants clashed with police across the nation
in the wake of last week's anniversary of the 1978 founding of the PKK
rebel group.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 2, Turkish diplomat Ahmet
Uzumcu was elected to be director of the 188-nation Organization for
the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague. He takes over
next July. He said that he will pursue the last seven holdouts (Angola,
Egypt, Israel, North Korean, Myanmar, Somalia and Syria) to get them to
sign a disarmament treaty and submit weapons stockpiles for inspection.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 7, In Turkey a Kurdish
rebel group, acting on its own initiative, carried out an assault in
the central city of Tokat killing 7 Turkish soldiers. 3 soldiers were
also wounded in the rebel ambush on a military vehicle.
(AP, 12/10/09)
2009 Dec 7, Pres. Obama met with
Turkey’s PM Recep Erdogan, who stressed the role of diplomacy in
persuading Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. Erdogan made clear
his unwillingness to back new coercion and said he was willing to
mediate negotiations.
(SFC, 12/8/09, p.A9)
2009 Dec 10, In Turkey an
explosion caused the collapse of an underground chamber of a coal mine,
killing 19 workers in western Bursa province.
(AP, 12/11/09)
2009 Dec 12, In Turkey angry Kurds
battled Turkish police with rocks and firebombs to protest a decision
by the country's top court to shut down a pro-Kurdish political party
on charges of ties to militants.
(AP, 12/12/09)
2009 Dec 13, Turkish nationalists
and Kurdish activists clashed in Istanbul, leaving at least one person
injured from a gunshot during street battles.
(AFP, 12/13/09)
2009 Dec 15, In Turkey two Kurds
were killed in Bulanik after a shop-keeper fired on protesters.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.91)
2009 Dec 24, Turkish police
detained 31 people, including eight Kurdish mayors, in a sweeping dawn
operation targeting Kurdish separatists.
(AP, 12/24/09)
2009 Dec 26, Turkey's military
arrested eight of its officers in connection with an alleged plot to
assassinate Bulent Arinc, the country's deputy prime minister.
(http://tinyurl.com/yhgzlkp)(Econ, 1/2/10, p.38)
2009 Dilip Hiro authored “Inside
Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Iran.”
(Econ, 9/26/09, p.98)
2009 Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk,
2006 Nobel literature prize winner, authored his 8th novel: “The Museum
of Innocence.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2010 Jan 3, In northwestern Turkey
a passenger train crashed head-on into another train, killing one of
the engine drivers and injuring 14 other people.
(AP, 1/3/10)
2010 Jan 17, Israel's Defence
Minister Ehud Barak began a one-day visit to Turkey. Israel and Turkey
said they had smoothed over differences following a diplomatic spat and
were working to develop relations and further military projects.
(AFP, 1/17/10)(AP, 1/17/10)
2010 Jan 18, Mehmet Ali Agca (52),
the Turk who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, was released from prison
after more than 29 years behind bars. Doctors at military hospital
concluded that he was unfit for compulsory military service because of
"severe anti-social personality disorder as Agca proclaimed that he was
a messenger of God and that the world will end in this century.
(AP, 1/18/10)
2010 Jan 18, The OSCE, Europe's
main security and human rights watchdog, said that Turkey was blocking
some 3,700 Internet sites for "arbitrary and political reasons" and
urged reforms to show its commitment to freedom of expression.
(Reuters, 1/18/10)
2010 Jan 22, Turkish police
launched a nationwide crackdown on suspected militants linked to the
al-Qaida terror network, rounding up 120 people in simultaneous
pre-dawn raids.
(AP, 1/22/10)
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