Timeline Turkey 1961-2012
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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 26, In Turkey the
Islamic-oriented National Order Party was formed under the
leadership of Necmettin Erbakan.
(AP,
11/4/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Order_Party)
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 closed down the
Halki Theological School on Heybeliada Island, near Istanbul, to new
students under a law that put religious and military training under
state control. The school closed its doors in 1985, when the last
five students graduated.
(Econ, 6/25/05, p.50)(AP, 8/28/11)
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)
1982 Nov 7, Gen. Kenan Evren
was elected president of Turkey and continued to 1989.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenan_Evren)(AP,
1/3/12)
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)
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 applied 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)
1989 Dec 20, The European
Commission advised against Turkey’s membership in the EEC.
(Econ, 10/23/10, SR
p.8)(http://tinyurl.com/29sr46p)
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, In Turkey a gas
explosion in underground coal mine in Kozlu, near the Black Sea port
of Zonguldak, claimed 263 lives.
(AP, 3/3/02)(AP, 5/17/10)
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 13, The oil tanker
Nassia collided with an empty cargo ship at the entrance of the
Bosporus. 27-29 people lost their lives. 9,000 tons of petroleum
spilled and 20,000 tons burned for four days long affecting the
marine environment.
(www.bosphorusstrait.com/the-bosporus-strait/incidents/)(AP,
4/27/11)
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 21, The UN approved an
agreement for equitable use of waters that flow through more than
one country. Only China and Turkey refused to sign the key UN
convention on transnational rivers.
(SFC, 5/22/97, p.C2)(AP, 4/16/11)
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. By 2008 38 countries had
signed on.
(AP, 12/17/98)(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.14)(Econ,
5/1/10, p.73)
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 9, An explosion in
Istanbul left 7 people dead and many injured at a spice bazaar.
Pinar Selek was arrested by police two days after the explosion.
Four expert reports said the explosion was caused by a gas leak and
there was no evidence of a bomb. Selek was tortured and spent 2.5
years in prison, but was later acquitted when a Court for Serious
Crimes in Istanbul determined there was no evidence linking her to
the blast. In a separate trial, however, the court found her guilty
under Article 169, which covers the aiding and abetting of a crime
ring, on charges of carrying explosive material used to make a bomb
and keeping a bomb in her workshop. The court later dropped the
charge because of the length of the trial. In 2011 Selek (40) was
acquitted for a 3rd time.
(www.pinarselek.com/public/page_item.aspx?id=520)(AP, 2/9/11)
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, Turkey’s parliament
elected judge Ahmet Necdet Sezer (b.1941) as the country’s 10th
president. Sezer served until Aug 28, 2007.
(SFC, 5/6/00,
p.C1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmet_Necdet_Sezer)
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 In Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu
(b.1959) authored “Strategic Depth,” in which he set out a new
policy of engagement in the region. In 2009 he was named Turkey’s
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
(Econ, 10/23/10, SR
p.7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmet_Davuto%C4%9Flu)
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. Dink had called the
1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a genocide. In 2012
Yasin Hayal was sentenced to life in prison for masterminding the
killing, while another 19 were acquitted of charges of acting under
a terrorist organization's orders.
(AP, 1/19/07)(AP, 1/19/12)(Econ, 1/21/12, p.58)
2007 Jan 20, Istanbul police
arrested Ogun Samast, a teenage boy (16-17) and nationalist
hardliner, for the Jan 19 fatal shooting of Hrant Dink, an ethnic
Armenian journalist. Samast confessed to the murder. In July, 2011,
a juvenile court sentenced Samast to nearly 23 years in prison for
killing Dink. A prosecutor demanded life imprisonment for 7 other
men accused of involvement in the killing. 19 other people were on
trial, accused of instigating the killing.
(AP, 1/20/07)(AP, 9/19/11)
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 4, Iran’s President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad freed the 15 detained British sailors and
marines as an Easter holiday "gift" to the British people. Syria
said it played a key role in resolving the standoff over the 15
British sailors and marines held by Iran. Turkey brokered the
release of the British sailors.
(AP, 4/4/07)(Econ, 8/21/10, p.42)
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 20, In Turkey Festus
Okey (21), a Nigerian immigrant, was shot and killed while in police
custody.
(AP, 12/13/11)(http://www.hyd.org.tr/?pid=515)
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 Graham Fuller authored
“The New Turkish Republic: Turkey As a Pivotal State in the Muslim
World.”
(Econ, 10/23/10, SR p.6)
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 16, In Turkey Ahmet
Yildiz, a gay Kurd, was allegedly killed by his father for
besmirching the family honor. In 2011 the film “Zenne Dancer,” based
on his story, won 5 awards at the Golden Orange Film Festival.
(Econ, 10/22/11,
p.64)(http://ahmetyildizismyfamily.blogspot.com/)
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)
2009 The Turkish lira replaced
the New Turkish lira, in use since 2005. The exchange of New Turkish
lira for Turkish lira would continue at the Central Bank thru 2019.
(SSFC, 3/27/11, p.M3)
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 20, In Turkey the
independent Taraf newspaper exposed an alleged military plan,
codenamed “Sledgehammer,” which sought to create chaos and panic to
justify a military takeover of the government.
(Econ, 2/13/10, p.56)(http://tinyurl.com/yhwj9sb)
2010 Jan 21, In Turkey a July,
2009, constitutional amendment paving the way for military officers
to be tried in civilian courts was struck down by the constitutional
court.
(Econ, 2/13/10, p.57)(http://tinyurl.com/ybprno6)
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)
2010 Feb 4, Turkey’s government
scrapped its controversial security and public order “Emsya”)
protocol, which allowed the army to take charge in the provinces
when law and order breaks down.
(Econ, 2/13/10, p.56)
2010 Feb 22, Turkish police
detained more than 40 high-ranking military commanders for allegedly
plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government. The detentions
followed the gathering of wiretap evidence and the discovery of
secret weapons caches, revelations that dealt a blow to the
military's credibility.
(AP, 2/22/10)
2010 Feb 23, In Turkey
prosecutors interrogated 51 Turkish military commanders over alleged
plans to destabilize the country by blowing up mosques to trigger a
coup and topple the Islamic-rooted government.
(AP, 2/23/10)
2010 Feb 23, In Turkey 13
workers were killed after a methane gas explosion caused a coal mine
collapse near Dursunbey, in northwest Balikesir province.
(AP, 2/24/10)(SFC, 2/24/10, p.A2)
2010 Feb 24, A Turkish court
formally charged and jailed seven senior Turkish military officers
for allegedly plotting years ago to overthrow the country's
Islamic-leaning government.
(AP, 2/24/10)
2010 Feb 26, Turkey's PM
Erdogan vowed to put everyone who conspired against the country's
democracy on trial, as the number of military officers charged and
jailed for allegedly plotting a 2003 coup against his Islamic-based
government rose to 31.
(AP, 2/26/10)
2010 Mar 4, A US congressional
panel voted to label as "genocide" the World War One-era massacre of
Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces, prompting Turkey to recall its
ambassador from Washington.
(Reuters, 3/4/10)
2010 Mar 8, In Turkey a 5.9
magnitude, pre-dawn earthquake struck near the village of Basyurt in
the remote, sparsely populated area of eastern Elazig province. 51
people were killed as it knocked down stone and mud-brick houses and
minarets in at least six villages.
(AP, 3/8/10)(SFC, 3/9/10, p.A2)
2010 Mar 11, Sweden's
parliament narrowly approved a resolution recognizing the 1915 mass
killing of Armenians in Turkey as genocide, prompting the Turkish
government to recall its ambassador in protest.
(AP, 3/11/10)
2010 Mar 16, Pakistan and Iran
signed a $7.6 billion deal in Turkey paving the way for the
construction of a much-delayed pipeline pumping Iranian natural gas
to the energy-starved South Asian country.
(AP, 3/17/10)
2010 Mar 19, Turkish
authorities indicted 33 people in an alleged secularist plot to
destabilize Turkey and overthrow the government. The suspects
included three retired or active-duty admirals and dozens of other
military officers.
(AP, 3/19/10)
2010 Mar 27, Iran used an
ancient new year celebration to reach out to Afghanistan,
Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Turkey at a summit
meeting that projected Iranian leadership in the strategic region
straddling the Middle East and Central Asia.
(AP, 3/27/10)
2010 Apr 5, Turkish police
detained 19 officers, including four generals, as part of an
investigation into an alleged plot by elements of the fiercely
secular military seeking to topple the Islamic-rooted government.
(AP, 4/5/10)
2010 Apr 8, Greece and Turkey
agreed to strengthen contacts between their militaries to reduce the
chance of conflict between two countries that almost went to war in
the mid-1990s.
(Reuters, 4/8/10)
2010 Apr 18, Turkey's navy
commandos aboard the TCG Gelibolu frigate captured 13 Somali-based
pirates in the Indian Ocean. They destroyed two skiffs and
confiscated other pirate material.
(AP, 4/18/10)
2010 Apr 22, Armenia suspended
ratification of peace accords with Turkey, setting back to square
one US-backed efforts to bury a century of hostility between the
neighbors.
(Reuters, 4/22/10)
2010 Apr 30, Kurdish rebels
killed four Turkish soldiers and wounded seven others in eastern
Turkey in the largest attack on troops in several months.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 7, The Turkish
parliament narrowly approved a series of constitutional amendments
that opposition parties say are designed to give the Islamic-rooted
government leverage over the largely secular judiciary.
(AP, 5/7/10)
2010 May 7, The Turkish air
force struck Kurdish rebel hideouts in neighboring northern Iraq
after an attack inside Turkey left two soldiers dead.
(AFP, 5/8/10)
2010 May 8, Iran voiced
optimism about Turkish and Brazilian mediation efforts in its
nuclear dispute with the West, welcoming in principle ideas aimed at
reviving a stalled fuel deal with major powers.
(Reuters, 5/8/10)
2010 May 11, Volcanic ash from
Iceland wound its way down to North Africa and curled over to
Turkey, forcing authorities to shut down Casablanca airport in
Morocco as well as airports in Spain and airspace over Turkey.
(AP, 5/11/10)
2010 May 12, Turkey and Russia
signed agreements for the construction of Turkey's first nuclear
power plant and the development of a pipeline project to carry
Russian oil from the Black Sea, through Turkey to the Mediterranean.
(AP, 5/12/10)
2010 May 14, Greece and Turkey
held a joint cabinet meeting in Athens in a new effort to overcome
old grudges and economic cooperation amidst the Greek debt crises. A
powerful bomb exploded inside a courthouse in the northern city of
Thessaloniki, sending smoke billowing in the building and wounding
one person.
(AP, 5/14/10)(SFC, 5/15/10, p.A2)
2010 May 17, In northern Turkey
rescue teams strived to reach workers trapped hundreds of meters
underground after a powerful methane gas explosion in the Karadon
state-run coal mine near the northern Black Sea port of Zonguldak.
On May 20 rescuers found the bodies of 28 miners. 2 miners remained
missing.
(AFP, 5/17/10)(AP, 5/20/10)
2010 May 17, Iran agreed to
ship most of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in a surprise
nuclear fuel swap deal that could ease the international standoff
over the country's disputed atomic program and deflate a US-led push
for tougher sanctions. The deal was reached in talks between
Brazils’ Pres. Silva, Turkey’s PM Erdogan and Iran’s Pres.
Ahmadinejad.
(AP, 5/17/10)(SFC, 5/17/10, p.A2)
2010 May 20, Twenty Turkish
warplanes bombed Kurdish rebels in northwestern Iraq.
(SFC, 5/21/10, p.A2)
2010 May 22, Dozens of nations,
meeting in Istanbul at a UN-sponsored conference for Somalia,
pledged to help Somalia build a strong police and military, achieve
peace and stability and eradicate piracy that has plagued
international maritime trade.
(AP, 5/23/10)
2010 May 25, In southern Turkey
a bus carrying Russian tourists skidded off a highway and fell off a
bridge, killing 16 people and injuring 25 others.
(AP, 5/25/10)
2010 May 26, In Turkey four
rebels were killed in a clash in eastern Tunceli province, bringing
the overall rebel death toll to 23 since last week's air assault on
rebel camps in northern Iraq's Hakurk, Zap and Qandil Mountain
regions.
(AP, 5/27/10)
2010 May 27, In Turkey one
soldier was killed and four others were wounded in a clash near the
town of Uludere, close to the Iraqi border.
(AP, 5/27/10)
2010 May 29, Turkey’s military
said 3 security forces members were killed and two soldiers were
wounded in clashes with Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey.
(Reuters, 5/29/10)
2010 May 29, A Kurdish
newspaper said imprisoned Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan has
accused Turkey of ignoring his calls to establish dialogue with his
rebels and that he would withdraw from the process, leaving his
rebel command in charge.
(AP, 5/29/10)
2010 May 31, Israeli naval
commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of
pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip, killing 9
passengers on the Mavi Marmara in a predawn raid that set off
worldwide condemnation and a diplomatic crisis. At least 4 of the 9
dead were Turkish. A massive protest broke out in Turkey, Israel's
longtime Muslim ally, which unofficially supported the mission.
Ankara announced it would recall its ambassador and call off
military exercises with the Jewish state. The flotilla of three
cargo ships and three passenger ships carrying 10,000 tons of aid
and 700 activists was carrying items that Israel bars from reaching
Gaza, like cement and other building materials. Israeli police said
16 pro-Palestinian activists from the flotilla were sent to jail
following the deadly confrontation. Turkey sent three planes to
bring back some 20 Turks wounded during clashes that broke out when
Israeli commandos raided the Turkish vessel.
(AP, 5/31/10)(AP, 6/1/10)(Econ, 1/28/12, p.54)
2010 May 31, Kurdish rebels
launched a rocket attack on a military vehicle near naval base in
southern Turkey, killing six soldiers and wounding seven.
(AP, 5/31/10)
2010 Jun 1, Turkey's prime
minister declared that Israel had carried out a "bloody massacre" by
killing nine people on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship and said the
two countries had reached a turning point in their long-standing
alliance.
(AP, 6/1/10)
2010 Jun 2, France's former top
anti-terrorism judge said the Turkish Islamic charity behind the
flotilla of aid ships that was raided by Israeli forces on its way
to Gaza had ties to terrorism networks, including a 1999 al-Qaida
plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.
(AP, 6/2/10)
2010 Jun 3, In Turkey Luigi
Padovese, the pope's apostolic vicar in Anatolia, was stabbed to
death in his home in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun. Police
detained suspect Murat A, the bishop's driver who worked for him for
the past four and a half years.
(AP, 6/3/10)
2010 Jun 4, Turkey’s Deputy PM
Bulent Arinc said Turkey will reduce economic and defense ties with
Israel, but bilateral cooperation will not be entirely frozen after
the Gaza ship raid.
(AP, 6/4/10)
2010 Jun 4, Kurdish rebels
based in northern Iraq announced they had ended their unilateral
ceasefire with Turkey a day after Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud
Barzani met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and pledged
"all efforts" to stop rising rebel violence.
(AP, 6/4/10)
2010 Jun 7, Turkey and
Azerbaijan signed a long-awaited deal on the transit of gas to
Europe seen as crucial to plans to reduce the continent's dependence
on Russian gas.
(AFP, 6/7/10)
2010 Jun 10, Turkey called the
imposition of UN sanctions on Iran a "mistake" and said that it and
Brazil would continue to seek a diplomatic solution to remove
concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
(Reuters, 6/10/10)
2010 Jun 18, Turkey's military
said it killed as many as 120 Kurdish rebels in an air raid on rebel
hideouts in northern Iraq last month and a daylong incursion by
elite commandos into Iraq this week. Maj. Gen. Fahri Kir said
another 30 Kurdish rebels were killed inside Turkey since March in
anti-rebel operations. He said the Turkish losses were 43 in the
same period.
(AP, 6/18/10)
2010 Jun 19, Turkish warplanes
launched air raids at suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern
Iraq after a rebel attack on a military outpost in Turkey touched
off clashes in which eight soldiers and 12 PKK rebel fighters died.
(AP, 6/19/10)
2010 Jun 20, Turkish forces
pushed into northern Iraq, killing 4 people, including a girl (15),
as they hit back against hideouts of Kurdish rebels who killed 12
soldiers over the last 2 days.
(AFP, 6/20/10)
2010 Jun 21, Turkish commando
units rappelled down from helicopters and mechanized infantry units
blocked escape routes of Kurdish rebels in a major operation along
the Iraqi border.
(AP, 6/21/10)
2010 Jun 22, In Turkey Kurdish
rebels detonated a remote-controlled bomb in Istanbul, killing 5
people and wounding 12 on a bus carrying military personnel and
their families.
(AP, 6/22/10)
2010 Jul 1, The Turkish
military said fighting near the border with Iraq killed 12 Kurdish
guerrillas, 2 government soldiers and 3 government-paid village
guards. Clashes erupted after rebels fired long range weapons and
rockets at a military unit in Slirt province.
(WSJ, 7/2/10, p.A10)
2010 Jul 13, Turkey extradited
a man identified only as Salih S. to Germany to face charges of
supporting a terrorist organization and membership in a terrorist
organization. The German citizen, a member of the radical Islamic
Jihad Union, had trained at a terrorist camp in Pakistan. He was
accused of procuring GPS devices, night vision goggles and other
items for Adem Yilmaz, who was convicted with 3 others earlier this
year of plotting a thwarted attack that a judge said could have
killed large numbers of US soldiers and civilians in Germany.
(AP, 7/14/10)
2010 Jul 16, Turkey unveiled
its first drone airplane, a surveillance craft able to fly for
24-hour stretches over the rugged mountains where Kurdish rebels are
waging a deadly insurgency.
(AP, 7/16/10)
2010 Jul 19, A Turkish court
indicted 196 people, including four retired military commanders, of
conspiring in 2003 to overthrow the Islamic-oriented government in
an alleged plot that highlights tension between Turkey's pious
leadership and its secular opponents.
(AP, 7/19/10)
2010 Jul 20, Kurdish rebels
killed six Turkish soldiers and wounded 15 in an overnight raid on a
military outpost along the border with Iraq. Another soldier died in
a separate attack.
(AP, 7/20/10)
2010 Jul 20, Israel canceled a
warning to its people to avoid traveling to Turkey, citing an end to
stormy protests over Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
(AP, 7/20/10)
2010 Jul 21, The leaders of
Egypt and Turkey met in Cairo to discuss stuttering international
efforts to coax Israeli and Palestinian leaders back to the
negotiating table.
(AFP, 7/21/10)
2010 Jul 25, In Turkey foreign
ministers of Turkey and Brazil urged Iran to be flexible and open in
dealings with the West over its atomic program as Iran renewed its
readiness to resume frozen nuclear talks. Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu said Iran has expressed willingness to have talks
with the European Union on its nuclear program after the month of
Ramadan ends in early September.
(AFP, 7/25/10)(Reuters, 7/25/10)
2010 Jul 27, British PM David
Cameron visited Turkey, saying the world needs Turkey's help in
pushing Iran to address concerns about its nuclear program and
harshly criticizing Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that
killed nine Turkish activists.
(AP, 7/27/10)
2010 Jul 28, A Turkish tour
boat caught fire and sank in the Mediterranean. 18 tourists and five
crew jumped into the water after flames engulfed the Kayhan-9 on its
way from the Turkish resort of Marmaris to Fethiye. One Spanish
tourist was missing.
(AP, 7/29/10)
2010 Aug 1, Turkish media
reported that 4 civilians died when their vehicle hit a landmine
that Kurdish rebels are suspected of planting in southeastern
Turkey.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 2, UN chief Ban
Ki-moon announced a four-member panel, including an Israeli and a
Turk, to probe Israel's deadly raid in May on a Gaza-bound aid
flotilla.
(AP, 8/2/10)
2010 Aug 10, In Turkey
suspected Kurdish rebels blew up part of an Iraqi-Kurdish pipeline
killing 2 people and cutting the flow of oil in Sirnak province.
(SFC, 8/11/10, p.A2)
2010 Aug 11, Turkey said it
will support petrol sales by Turkish companies to Iran, despite US
sanctions that aim to squeeze the Islamic Republic's fuel imports.
(Reuters, 8/11/10)
2010 Aug 13, Turkish officials
said police have raided a house used by people suspected of digging
illegally for antiquities and discovered two tunnels leading to an
underground tomb that housed an ancient marble coffin and frescoes.
The tomb was believed to be that of Hecatomnus, satrap of Caria
(391BC-377BC).
(AP,
8/13/10)(www.livius.org/he-hg/hecatomnids/hecatomnus.html)
2010 Aug 27, In northern Turkey
overnight torrential rains triggered landslides and floods in
Gundogdu, killing at least 12 people.
(AP, 8/27/10)
2010 Sep 12, Turks voted on
whether to amend a military-era constitution in what the government
says is a key step in Turkey's path to full democracy, despite
opposition claims that the proposed reforms would shackle the
independence of the courts. Some 58 percent of voters approved a
package of 26 amendments to the constitution crafted after a 1980
military coup, making the military more accountable to civilian
courts, backing gender equality and other citizens' rights and
lifting immunity from prosecution of the coup leaders.
(AP, 9/12/10)(AP, 9/13/10)
2010 Sep 16, Turkey's PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said his country was seeking closer commercial ties
with Iran and aims to triple trade volumes in the next five years
while still respecting the limits set by UN sanctions.
(AP, 9/16/10)
2010 Sep 16, In Turkey a
roadside bomb attack killed 10 people traveling on a minibus near
the village of Gecitli in the rugged Hakkari province, where Kurdish
guerrillas have been fighting for autonomy for decades.
(AP, 9/16/10)
2010 Sep 19, Iraq signed a deal
with Turkey to extend for 15 years the use of the main pipeline
linking its northern oilfields to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
3 car bombs tore through Baghdad and the former insurgent stronghold
of Fallujah, killing at least 36 people. Al-Qaida's front group in
Iraq later claimed responsibility for the two Baghdad bombings that
killed at least 31 people at a government security agency and what
it called an "evil" mobile phone provider.
(AFP, 9/19/10)(AP, 9/19/10)(AP, 9/24/10)
2010 Sep 21, In Turkey a gang
of several dozen men with sticks and pepper spray moved methodically
from one art gallery to the next, assaulting overflow crowds that
had spilled into the streets during the joint opening of several
exhibitions in the center of Istanbul. Half a dozen suspects were
detained.
(AP, 9/26/10)
2010 Sep 30, The Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) rebel group extended a ceasefire with Turkey by
one month in a move it said is aimed at giving a chance to efforts
to end a war that has killed 40,000 people.
(Reuters, 9/30/10)
2010 Oct 20, In Turkey police
detained five people, including three university students, suspected
of providing financial and technical support to the al-Qaida network
in Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/22/10)
2010 Oct 30, Turkey said it was
lifting a ban on YouTube more than two years after it blocked the
site because of videos deemed insulting to the country’s founder.
(SSFC, 10/31/10, p.A2)
2010 Oct 31, In Turkey a
suspected suicide bomber wounded 15 officers and 17 civilians in
Istanbul's main square, as an extended unilateral ceasefire by the
separatist PKK came to an end. The radical Kurdistan Freedom Falcons
(TAK) later claimed responsibility.
(AFP, 10/31/10)(AP, 11/1/10)(AFP, 11/4/10)
2010 Nov 1, Turkey's main
Kurdish rebel group extended a truce until elections next summer,
denying responsibility for a suicide attack in Istanbul thought to
have been the work of its own hardliners.
(AP, 11/1/10)
2010 Nov 9, Turkey’s Pres.
Abdullah Gul received this year’s Chatham House prize from Britain’s
queen.
(Econ, 11/13/10, p.60)
2010 Nov 10, In an extensive
interview with the Die Presse daily, Ambassador Kadri Ecved Tezcan
said Austria was pushing people of Turkish origin to the fringes of
society instead of learning to live with them and benefiting from
their skills.
(AP, 11/10/10)
2010 Nov 28, More than 250,000
classified US State Department documents were released by online
whistleblower WikiLeaks. Among the leaked memos was information that
Iranian Red Crescent ambulances were used to smuggle weapons to
Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group during its 2006 war with Israel.
Memos said the "IRC shipments of medical supplies served also to
facilitate weapons shipments." Documents also detailed concerns by
US officials in Baghdad about Iran’s influence on Iraq. Memos also
said King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had repeatedly urged the United
States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program to stop Tehran
from developing a nuclear weapon. One cable revealed that the US
kept nuclear weapons in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and
Turkey.
(AP, 11/28/10)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.35)
2010 Nov 29, Turkey complied
with a European Court of Human Rights ruling and returned a
19th-century orphanage to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul,
the center of Orthodox Christianity around the world. Turkey took
control of the building in 1997, many years after it was abandoned,
on the grounds that it belonged to another foundation and had fallen
into disuse. The Patriarchate said the government had refused to
issue necessary permits for the maintenance and repair of the
structure, one of the largest wooden buildings in the world.
(AP, 11/29/10)
2010 Dec 1, Turkey’s PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said a US diplomat who reported claims in a State
Department memo that he has Swiss bank accounts should be punished
for making a false allegation. A classified cable, released this
week by WikiLeaks and dated Dec. 30, 2004, from then-U.S. Ambassador
Eric Edelman said: "We have heard from two contacts that Erdogan has
eight accounts in Swiss banks; his explanations that his wealth
comes from the wedding presents guests gave his son and that a
Turkish businessman is paying the educational expenses of all four
Erdogan children in the U.S. purely altruistically are lame."
(AP, 12/1/10)
2010 Dec 8, A top Israeli
official said his government is holding talks with Turkey aimed at
mending relations, seven months after a deadly Israeli raid on a
Gaza-bound flotilla sent ties into a chill.
(AP, 12/8/10)
2010 Dec 23, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joined regional leaders for a summit on economic
cooperation in Istanbul, just a month ahead of nuclear talks with
world powers.
(AFP, 12/23/10)
2010 Dec 24, The leaders of
Afghanistan and Pakistan met in Istanbul for a new round of talks
aimed at building trust between the two neighbors. Turkey’s Pres.
Gul said a railroad between Turkey and Pakistan should be extended
to Afghanistan and flights between the three countries should be
expanded for better cooperation.
(AP, 12/24/10)
2010 Dec 30, Turkey’s the
state-run Anatolia news agency said police have detained 10 people
suspected of links to the al-Qaida terror network and accused of
preparing to stage an attack before New Year's Eve.
(AP, 12/30/10)
2010 Stephen Kinzer authored
“Reset: Iran, Turkey and America’s Future.”
(Econ, 7/17/10, p.87)
2010 Mehmet Emin Karamehmet
(b.1944), founder of Turkcell and Turkey’s 2nd richest man, was
sentenced to almost 12 years in jail for having used Pamukbank as a
cash cow for Cukurova Holding, his family owned group. The sentence
was suspended pending retrial.
(Econ, 4/21/12,
p.83)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Emin_Karamehmet)
2011 Jan 5, In Turkey
authorities searching for mass graves of Kurds, who disappeared in
the 1990s, unearthed the bones of eight people in a field in Bitlis
province in southeast Turkey.
(AP, 1/5/11)
2011 Jan 9, In Turkey PM
Erdogan visited Kars and called for the destruction of a local
monument near the Armenian border. The monument featured a divided
human figure, with one half extending a hand to the other half. It
was meant to symbolize the pain of division and the hope of
reconciliation, and was sculpted from stone by Mehmet Aksoy, a
prominent Turkish artist. Local authorities halted its construction
on grounds that it was built on a historic military site, Timur
Pasha emplacement, used to defend the city in the 16th century.
(AP, 1/10/11)(Econ, 1/15/11,
p.56)(http://tinyurl.com/4g4kpya)
2011 Jan 18, It was reported
that around 187,000 women in Turkey are in polygamous marriages even
though polygamy is illegal.
(AFP, 1/18/11)
2011 Jan 21, Two-day talks
between Iran and six world powers started in Istanbul. A senior
Iranian official said suspending uranium enrichment is not up for
discussion.
(AFP, 1/21/11)
2011 Jan 22, In Turkey talks
meant to nudge Iran toward meeting UN Security Council demands to
stop uranium enrichment collapsed, with Tehran shrugging off calls
by six world powers to cease the activity that could be harnessed to
make nuclear weapons.
(AP, 1/22/11)
2011 Feb 3, In Turkey a
powerful explosion in Ankara collapsed two stories of a factory,
leaving at least six people dead and injuring some 30 others. Hours
later another explosion killed 6 more people at a paint shop in the
same industrial district.
(AP, 2/3/11)(SFC, 2/4/11, p.A2)
2011 Feb 7, Iran and Turkey
said they plan to triple two-way annual trade to $30 billion by
2015, ahead of a visit by Turkish President Abdullah Gul to the
Islamic republic.
(AFP, 2/7/11)
2011 Feb 11, A Turkish court
ruled that 133 current and former military officers must be jailed
pending the outcome of their trial on charges of plotting to
overthrow the government and issued warrants for the arrests of 29
other officers.
(AP, 2/12/11)
2011 Feb 13, Abdullah Gul
arrived in Tehran on his first trip as Turkish president aimed at
boosting economic and political ties with the Islamic republic.
(AFP, 2/13/11)
2011 Feb 14, Iran’s security
forces cut phone lines and blockaded the home of an Iranian
opposition leader in attempts to stop him attending a planned rally
in support of Egypt's uprising. Eyewitnesses reported sporadic
clashes in central Tehran's Enghelab or Revolution square between
security forces and opposition protesters. Turkish President
Abdullah Gul, who is on a visit to Iran, urged governments in the
Middle East to listen to the demands of their people. Student Sanee
Zhaleh (26) was shot dead during the opposition rally.
(AP, 2/14/11)(AP, 2/16/11)
2011 Feb 21, British-based
Diageo announced the takeover of Mey Icki, Turkey’s largest maker of
raki, an aniseed drink, for $2.1 billion.
(Econ, 3/5/11, p.70)
2011 Feb 27, In Turkey
Necmettin Erbakan (85), a longtime leader of Turkey's Islamic
political movement, died. He briefly served the country's prime
minister (1996-1997) in the first Islamic-led coalition in Turkey's
modern history.
(AP, 2/27/11)
2011 Mar 3, Turkish police
detained 13 people, mostly journalists, in a crackdown on an alleged
secularist network accused of conspiring to topple the
Islamic-rooted government. Critics say the case is part of a
government assault on press freedom. 4 of the journalists were
released on March 12, 2012.
(AP, 3/3/11)(AP, 3/13/12)
2011 Mar 4, In Turkey several
thousand demonstrators, some covering their mouths with black
ribbons, protested against the detention of eight journalists in a
case that has drawn expressions of concern from Western governments
and international media rights groups.
(AP, 3/4/11)
2011 Mar 6, A Turkish court
ordered Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener, two leading investigative
journalists, jailed pending the outcome of a trial into an alleged
plot to topple the Islamic-rooted government, raising further
concerns over media freedom in the country. Ahmet Sik was arrested
as he prepared a book about the alleged infiltration of Islamists
into the Turkish police, a sensitive theme in a nation divided over
the role of religion. Sener and three other journalists were freed
on bail in March, 2012.
(AP, 3/6/11)(Econ, 3/12/11, p.61)(AP,
4/14/11)(Econ, 3/17/12, p.63)
2011 Mar 13, In Turkey hundreds
of journalists, joined by members of some non-governmental
organizations, protested the detention of reporters that the
authorities allege were involved in an attempt to bring the
government down in 2003.
(AP, 3/13/11)
2011 Mar 16, An Iranian cargo
plane en route to Syria was forced to land in Turkey's southeastern
Diyarbakir airport for an inspection. The plane was found to be
carrying 150 tons of food but "no material contrary to international
standards.
(AFP, 3/16/11)(AP, 3/23/11)
2011 Mar 19, An Iranian plane
bound for Syria landed in Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir
for a search of its cargo. The plane carried light weapons,
including automatic rifles, rocket launchers and mortars, which were
seized. The plane returned to Iran March 22 without the seized
cargo.
(AP, 3/23/11)
2011 Mar 20, Britain said its
air and sea strikes on Libya had been "very successful" and stressed
it was doing everything it could to avoid civilian casualties as it
enforces a UN-sanctioned no-fly zone. at least seven demolished
tanks smoldered in a field 12 miles (20 km) south of Benghazi, many
of them with their turrets and treads blown off. Turkey was blocking
NATO action, which requires agreement by all 28 members of the
alliance.
(AFP, 3/20/11)(AP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 21, A Turkish court
ordered five military officers and two civilians jailed in a probe
into the 2007 killing of three Christians, including a German
national, over allegations that the attack was part of an alleged
plot to topple the government.
(AP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 21, President Barack
Obama, seeking to shore up participation and clarify leadership of
the military attacks on Libyan forces, spoke with Turkish and Qatari
leaders.
(Reuters, 3/22/11)
2011 Mar 24, Dubai police said
the Gulf emirate has seized thousands of small arms being smuggled
in a sea cargo shipment bound for Yemen. The weapons were discovered
in a Dubai warehouse about two weeks ago. The shipment originated in
Turkey.
(AP, 3/24/11)
2011 Apr 6, Turkey launched a
probe into allegations that the state agency which makes the
university entrance exams had devised a code so that students deemed
to be pro-government could score high points. Some 1.7 million
students took the exam March 27, and those who pass will take
another exam in June.
(AP, 4/6/11)
2011 Apr 11, Turkey said it is
willing to consider the idea of hosting a political office for
Taliban militants from Afghanistan in order to promote talks to end
the war there, and an Afghan official said Turkish planning is
already in progress.
(AP, 4/11/11)
2011 Apr 13, The presidents of
Turkey and Pakistan, meeting in Ankara, said they would support
initiatives designed to end the war in Afghanistan, but they
declined to confirm that a plan is under way to open a political
office for Taliban in Turkey to promote peace talks.
(AP, 4/13/11)
2011 Apr 18, In Turkey Bedri
Baykam, a prominent government critic, was hospitalized after a
stabbing assault, which followed a speech in which he condemned
plans to tear down the "Monument to Humanity," a sculpture near the
Armenian border.
(AP, 4/19/11)
2011 Apr 19, In Turkey Kurdish
protesters clashed with police in two cities and the main Kurdish
party threatened to boycott the upcoming election because of a
decision the previous day to bar some Kurdish candidates.
(AP, 4/19/11)
2011 Apr 20, In southeastern
Turkey one person was killed when police opened fire on Kurdish
protestors in Bismil town.
(AFP, 4/20/11)
2011 Apr 21, US helicopter
maker Sikorsky Aircraft won a Turkish contract worth $3.5 billion
(2.4 billion euros).
(AP, 4/21/11)
2011 Apr 26, Turkey began to
demolish the 100-foot "Peace and Brotherhood" monument near its
eastern border dedicated to friendship with Armenia after PM Erdogan
called it a "monstrosity" on Jan 9. The statue was commissioned in
2006 to highlight friendship between Turkey and Armenia, two
countries with a history of enmity and suspicion.
(AFP, 4/26/11)
2011 Apr 27, Turkey's PM
Erdogan announced what he called a "crazy and magnificent" plan to
build a new waterway to the Black Sea, to be completed by 2023,
promising that the tanker-clogged Bosporus through Istanbul would
soon be used for sports and boat trips.
(AP, 4/27/11)
2011 May 1, In Turkey activists
flooded Istanbul‘s Taksim Square and marked international workers'
day around the world with marches demanding more jobs, better
working conditions and higher wages.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 4, A Turkish police
officer was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the northern
city of Kastamonu, where PM Tayyip Erdogan had been speaking earlier
in the day.
(Reuters, 5/4/11)
2011 May 9, In Turkey a
five-day UN-backed conference of the 48-member "least-developed
countries" opened to address the problems of the world's poorest
countries. The last such conference was hosted by the EU in Brussels
in 2001. France hosted the two previous ones in 1990 and 1981.
(AP, 5/9/11)
2011 May 10, Two more top
Turkish opposition politicians resigned, a month before the
country's general election, over secretly filmed tapes posted on the
Internet that reportedly showed them having extramarital affairs.
(AP, 5/10/11)
2011 May 11, Turkey announced
plans to build two earthquake-resistant developments in the Istanbul
area to lure residents away from dangerous neighborhoods.
(AP, 5/11/11)
2011 May 11, In Istanbul 13
European countries signed a Council of Europe convention on
combating violence against women.
(Econ, 5/14/11,
p.68)(https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1785485&Site=DC)
2011 May 14, Turkey's military
in Sirnak province killed 12 Kurdish rebels over the last 24 hours
who trying to infiltrate the country from northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/14/11)
2011 May 18, A Turkish website
that posted compromising videos which forced four far-right
politicians to resign threatened to post new sex videos that could
hurt more opposition politicians ahead of next month's election.
(AP, 5/18/11)
2011 May 20, In western Turkey
a 5.9-magnitude earthquake damaged buildings in Simav. At least
three people were killed in the region.
(AP, 5/20/11)
2011 May 21, Six senior
politicians in a Turkish opposition party resigned amid a sex video
scandal that could have far-reaching consequences in elections on
June 12.
(AP, 5/21/11)
2011 May 26, In Turkey a bomb
mounted on a bicycle near a bus stop exploded during morning rush
hour in Istanbul, wounding eight people, including a police officer.
(AP, 5/26/11)
2011 May 31, Turkey's
government defended a new regulation that will filter the Internet
and restrict access to websites that show pornography, bomb-making
and violent content. The new regulation was set to come into effect
in August.
(AP, 5/31/11)
2011 May 31, The Syrian
military used heavy machine guns and artillery in renewed attacks on
Rastan, a town in the country's turbulent heartland. At least one
person was killed. Opponents of the Syrian regime gathered on
Turkey's Mediterranean coast for a conference aimed at overcoming
their differences and bolstering protesters who have endured a
bloody crackdown under President Bashar Assad.
(AP, 5/31/11)
2011 Jun 1, The Syrian
government freed hundreds of political prisoners in an amnesty and
the president set up a committee for national dialogue in an effort
to end the 10-week uprising. Syrian military forces killed 42 people
in raids around Homs. Over 300 Syrian exiles gathered in Antalya,
Turkey, to discuss alternatives to Bashar Assad’s rule.
(AP, 6/1/11)(AP, 6/2/11)(SFC, 6/2/11, p.A2)(Econ,
6/4/11, p.57)
2011 Jun 8, Turkey’s PM Erdogan
said he would scrap the ministry for women along with 7 other
cabinet jobs.
(Econ, 6/11/11, p.59)(http://tinyurl.com/3tw6omd)
2011 Jun 10, Libyan rebels
staged an uprising in the western city of Zlitan. 22 fighters were
reported killed. Turkey’s PM Erdogan said his country has offered to
help Khadafy leave.
(SFC, 6/11/11, p.A4)
2011
Jun 12, In Turkey PM Tayyip Erdogan and his AK party won a decisive
victory over rivals, as Erdogan was re-elected for the third
consecutive time. The AK took nearly 50% of the votes, but failed to
secure a two-thirds majority. This will force it to seek support for
constitutional changes. The Republican People’s Party, the main
opposition won 26%.
(Reuters, 6/12/11)(SFC, 6/13/11, p.A3)(Econ, 6/18/11, p.16)
2011 Jun 13, Police in Turkey
rounded up 32 alleged members of Anonymous, hacker group, which had
recently attacked a couple of official websites.
(Econ, 6/18/11, p.67)
2011
Jun 15, Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan held talks with an envoy
of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as a growing number of Syrians
fled their country seeking safety in refugee camps. Relations
between Turkey and Syria strained, as Turkey wants Syria to stop its
brutal crackdown on protesters.
(Reuters, 6/15/11)
2011 Jun 18, Syrian troops
backed by tanks and firing heavy machine guns swept into a village
near the Turkish border, the latest in a series of intensified army
operations in the northwest where there have been heavy clashes
between loyalist troops and defectors. The number of Syrians who
have taken refuge in Turkey to escape bloody unrest in their country
increased to about 10,100.
(AP, 6/18/11)(AFP, 6/18/11)
2011 Jun 22, In Turkey Hamas
chief Khaled Meshaal held talks with Turkish officials on efforts to
achieve Palestinian unity during a two-day visit to Istanbul.
(AFP, 6/22/11)
2011 Jul 3, Turkey's foreign
minister visited Libya and recognized the rebel leaders as the
country's legitimate representatives and promised them an additional
$200 million in aid.
(AP, 7/3/11)
2011 Jul 4, Turkey froze
Libya's holdings in a Turkish bank, a day after it recognized
Libya's rebel leaders as the country's legitimate representatives
and quietly removed its ambassador from Tripoli.
(AP, 7/4/11)
2011 Jul 14, An umbrella group
that includes Turkey's Kurdish party proclaimed Kurdish autonomy in
Diyarbakir, hours after a clash left 13 soldiers and seven Kurdish
guerrillas dead.
(AP, 7/15/11)
2011 Jul 15, Turkish
prosecutors launched an investigation into a Kurdish proclamation of
autonomy in the country's southeast as the military deployed elite
forces to the region where tensions are running high following the
deadliest clash between troops and rebels in about three years.
(AP, 7/15/11)
2011 Jul 15, A Turkish court
charged 14 suspected al-Qaida militants for allegedly planning to
attack the US Embassy in the Turkish capital.
(AP, 7/16/11)
2011 Jul 16, In Syria security
forces continued a weekslong operation in the restive Idlib
province, near the Turkish border. Authorities raided homes in the
village Kfar Nabl and made scores of arrests. A civilian was killed
in Al-Bukamal when security forces opened fire to break up a
demonstration against the regime of President Assad. 3 security
personnel were killed and two kidnapped in an attack on a government
building. An opposition conference in Turkey, called the National
Salvation Conference, was attended by some 400 dissidents looking to
form a unified opposition to Pres. Assad, whose family has ruled
Syria for more than 40 years.
(AP, 7/16/11)(AP, 7/17/11)
2011 Jul 29, Turkey’s top
commanders suddenly quit to protest the arrest of dozens of generals
as suspects in an alleged plot to overthrow the country's
Islamic-rooted government. Gen. Isik Kosaner resigned as the
military's chief of staff along with the commanders of the navy, the
army and the air force.
(AP, 7/30/11)
2011 Aug 3, Turkey said it
would put 106 more Kurdish politicians on trial for alleged
terrorist propaganda, choosing to go ahead with prosecutions despite
lingering tensions over the trial of dozens of others accused of
fanning separatist violence.
(AP, 8/3/11)
2011 Aug 4, Turkey appointed
commanders to posts left vacant by the resignation of the military's
top brass in a dispute with the government that showcased the
elected leaders' strengthening control over the once-mighty
military.
(AP, 8/4/11)
2011 Aug 17, In Turkey Kurdish
PKK rebels ambushed a military convoy in Cukurca township near the
border with Iraq killing 9 soldiers. Officials vowed strong military
retaliation. Turkey's air force attacked 60 suspected Kurdish rebel
targets in northern Iraq. The military it vowed to continue the
assault until the guerrilla group is "rendered ineffective."
(AP, 8/17/11)(AP, 8/18/11)(Econ, 8/27/11, p.43)
2011 Aug 18, In southern Turkey
the PKK attacked police and military stations in simultaneous
overnight rocket strikes in Siirt province, killing two soldiers and
wounding three civilians. Turkey's air force attacked 28 suspected
Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, in a second day of
cross-border strikes in retaliation for stepped up attacks by the
guerrillas.
(AP, 8/19/11)
2011 Aug 19, Turkey's military
hit 85 rebel targets with artillery fire. Warplanes bombed 20
suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq in a third day of
cross-border strikes.
(AP, 8/20/11)
2011 Aug 21, Turkish airstrikes
on suspected rebel targets in northern Iraq killed seven Iraqi
civilians, including five children and a woman, in an attack on
Kortak mountain. Police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse
Kurdish protesters who tried to march to a main square in Istanbul
to denounce the Turkish raids. In demonstrators marched to protest
the PKK.
(AP, 8/21/11)
2011 Aug 23, Turkey's military
said air strikes on suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq
this week have killed an estimated 90 to 100 guerrillas and warned
that it would press ahead with offensives against the group both
inside Turkey and across the border.
(AP, 8/23/11)
2011 Aug 29, Turkey’s military
said its air strikes and artillery fire on suspected Kurdish rebel
targets this month killed up to 160 guerrillas.
(SFC, 8/30/11, p.A2)
2011 Sep 2, Turkey expelled the
Israeli ambassador to Ankara and suspended all military ties with
its one-time ally after a UN report slammed the "excessive" force
used in the May 31, 2010, raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.
(AFP, 9/2/11)
2011 Sep 12, Kurdish rebels
attacked a police station and a paramilitary police headquarters
near Turkey’s border with Iraq killing 5 people including 3
civilians.
(SFC, 9/13/11, p.A2)
2011 Sep 13, Syrian security
forces riding in vehicles mounted with machine-guns raided
neighborhoods outside the capital, Damascus, before dawn as Turkey's
PM Erdogan said he was concerned Syria could descend into a
sectarian civil war. Pro-democracy activists called a "day of anger"
across Syria to protest against Russia's backing for President
Bashar al-Assad. More than 20 people were reported killed throughout
Syria. Syrian troops fired tear gas at a gathering of mourners just
hours after U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford and other Western diplomats
expressed their condolences to the family of a rights advocate
killed last week.
(AP, 9/13/11)(AFP, 9/13/11)(AP, 9/14/11)
2011 Sep 14, Turkey’s foreign
ministry announced that an early warning radar will be stationed in
Kurecik in the southeast as part of NATO's missile defense system.
(AP, 9/14/11)
2011 Sep 16, In Turkey 3
Chechens were gunned down near a park in Istanbul. Chechen groups
blamed Russia's secret service for the killings of the three, who
were allegedly involved with Chechen militants.
(AP, 10/12/11)
2011 Sep 19, Turkey escalated a
dispute with Cyprus over oil and gas drilling in the eastern
Mediterranean, saying that it would send warships to protect its
claims to resources off the coast of the divided island. US energy
firm, Nobel Energy, had just exploratory drilling for oil and gas
off the coast of Cyprus despite strong warnings from Turkey not to
do so.
(AP, 9/19/11)
2011 Sep 20, In Turkey a car
bomb went off near a high school in Ankara, killing 3 people in a
nearby building and wounding 34 others. Soon after 4 women died in
an attack Siirt province.
(AP, 9/20/11)(Econ, 9/24/11, p.63)
2011 Sep 21, Turkey’s Pres.
Erdogan signed a deal with Turkish-controlled north Cyprus to begin
drilling for oil and gas.
(Econ, 9/24/11, p.63)
2011 Sep 21, Turkey reportedly
bombed the main Kurdish rebel base in northern Iraq and chased
rebels in a mountainous area in the southeast in response to
escalated attacks by the autonomy-seeking guerrillas.
(AP, 9/21/11)
2011 Sep 24, Kurdish rebels
attacked a Turkish army outpost, killing 5 soldiers and wounding 10
in the country's southeast. Three rebels also were killed.
(AP, 9/25/11)
2011 Sep 28, In Turkey a
pro-Kurdish party said it is ending its four-month-old boycott of
parliament, even as tensions grew over a surge in attacks by Kurdish
separatist rebels.
(AP, 9/28/11)
2011 Oct 2, Syrian dissidents
meeting in Turkey formally announced the creation of a broad-based
council designed to overthrow President Bashar Assad's regime in
what appeared to be the most serious step yet to unify a fragmented
opposition. The 21-year-old son of Syria's top Sunni Muslim cleric
was killed in an ambush in a restive northern area.
(AP, 10/2/11)(AP, 10/3/11)
2011 Oct 4, Turkish police
detained over 140 pro-Kurdish political activists in a nationwide
sweep. The detainees included a number of elected mayors in the
Kurdish southeast.
(SFC, 10/5/11, p.A2)
2011 Oct 5, Turkey's PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said his government would announce a package of
sanctions against neighboring Syria despite a UN resolution blocked
by Russia and China.
(AFP, 10/5/11)
2011 Oct 10, Turkish air raids
in northern Iraq reportedly killed 7 Kurdish rebels including three
senior operatives.
(AP, 10/22/11)
2011 Oct 12, A Turkish court
began questioning a man and three alleged accomplices suspected of
attempting to kill Shamsuddin Batukayev (55), a former Chechen
separatist leader, in Istanbul earlier this week.
(AP, 10/12/11)
2011 Oct 13, Turkey's foreign
minister said that Iraq should move to prevent Kurdish attacks on
his country from Iraqi soil as the two countries renewed their
commitment to fight the rebels.
(AP, 10/13/11)
2011 Oct 18, Turkey shelled
northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, in the first report of
Turkish bombardment there in more than two weeks. The shelling began
the previous evening. A roadside blast killed five policemen and 3
civilians in Turkey's southeast Bitlis province.
(AFP, 10/18/11)(AP, 10/19/11)
2011 Oct 19, Turkish soldiers,
air force bombers and helicopter gunships launched an incursion into
northern Iraq, hours after Kurdish rebels killed 24 soldiers and
wounded 18 in attacks along the border. The United States and NATO
both issued statements supporting the offensive, the largest in more
than three years.
(AP, 10/19/11)(AFP, 10/21/11)
2011 Oct 20, About 10,000 elite
Turkish soldiers took part in a ground offensive against Kurdish
rebels in southeastern Turkey and across the border in Iraq, making
it the nation's largest attack on the insurgents in more than three
years.
(AP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 20, Albanian port
authorities said 3 sailors died and five others are missing after
their Turkish merchant ship, Reina 1, collided with a passenger
ferry and sank in the Adriatic some 20 miles (30 km) from the
Albanian port of Durres. No injuries were reported on the ferry
Ankara, which had left Durres en route for the Italian port of Bari
with about 200 passengers.
(AP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 21, Turkish jets kept
up bombing raids on Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq overnight,
as the rebels confirmed that some Turkish troops crossed into Iraq.
Turkey and Iran vowed to collaborate against the PKK and its Iranian
wing, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PJAK, during a visit
by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.
(AFP, 10/21/11)(AP, 10/22/11)
2011 Oct 22, Turkey’s military
said its troops over the last 2 days have killed at least 49 Kurdish
rebels in a valley near the Iraqi border, as hundreds of troops also
pursued Kurdish fighters within northern Iraq.
(AP, 10/22/11)
2011 Oct 23, A powerful
7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey, collapsing about 45
buildings. It was estimated that up to 1,000 people could have been
killed. The worst damage was caused to the town of Ercis, in the
mountainous eastern province of Van where 80 multi-story buildings
collapsed with people trapped in 40 of them. By Nov 4 the death toll
reached 603 with some 2500 injured and thousands homeless.
(AP, 10/23/11)(AP, 10/24/11)(AP, 11/4/11)
2011 Oct 25, In Turkey crowds
of Kurds pelted journalists and police with stones in the quake-hit
city of Van as their anger at the media's coverage of the disaster
boiled over. The stoning of the reporters in the eponymous
provincial capital, which left several people injured, was brought
to a halt only after police used pepper-spray.
(AFP, 10/26/11)
2011 Oct 29, In Turkey a female
suicide bomber killed two people in Bingol, in the southeastern
Kurdish region and wounded 12 others.
(AP, 10/29/11)
2011 Nov 1, Turkey hosted the
presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan for a trilateral summit
designed to reduce tensions and promote cooperation between the two
neighbors amid stepped-up Taliban attacks.
(AFP, 11/1/11)
2011 Nov 2, In Turkey regional
leaders pledged to find ways to improve security and economic
development in Afghanistan as international combat forces prepared
to leave by the end of 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his
Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, discussed a joint inquiry
into the Sept. 20 killing by a suicide bomber of Burhanuddin
Rabbani, a former Afghan president and peace council leader.
(AP, 11/2/11)
2011 Nov 9, In eastern Turkey
another earthquake, measuring 5.7, struck 9 miles (16km) south of
Van. A Japanese aid worker was among 39 people killed by the
earthquake. All the fatalities occurred in the Bayram Hotel and the
low-budget Aslan Hotel. It hit the same region slammed by an Oct. 23
temblor that left 600 people dead.
(AP, 11/10/11)(AP, 11/11/11)(AP, 11/13/11)
2011 Nov 12, Turkish commandos
in civilian clothes slipped onto the Kartepe, a hijacked passenger
ferry, and posed as hostages before fatally shooting a suspected
Kurdish rebel carrying explosives in a 12-hour drama that ended
before dawn.
(AP, 11/12/11)
2011 Nov 13, Turkish warplanes
bombed the Qandil border area in Iraqi Kurdistan for about an hour.
(AFP, 11/13/11)
2011 Nov 13, In Syria tens of
thousands of government supporters poured into the streets to
protest an Arab League vote to suspend the country's membership, as
Turkey sent planes to evacuate diplomatic staff and their families
after a night of attacks on embassies. Activists reporting at least
11 people killed in shootings by security forces in several parts of
the country.
(AP, 11/13/11)
2011 Nov 19, In Turkey
delegates at an international conservation meeting agreed on a
measure mandating that silky sharks accidentally caught in fishing
gear be released back into the sea alive. The 48-member
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas
(ICCAT) failed to reach consensus on other threatened shark species.
To fight illegal fishing, ICCAT members decided that vessels
measuring 12 meters or more, instead of the previous 20 meters or
more, would be inspected on arrival to port.
(AP, 11/19/11)
2011 Nov 20, Turkish President
Abdullah Gul in published comments said there was "no place for
authoritarian regimes" in the Mediterranean region, heaping more
pressure on the embattled Syrian regime.
(AFP, 11/20/11)
2011 Nov 21, Syria's security
forces carried out a "qualitative" operation in the Bayada district
of Homs in which they killed four terrorists and confiscated their
weapons. A "top terrorist" nicknamed Bandar was among them. Syrian
soldiers opened fire on at least two buses carrying Turkish
citizens.
(AP, 11/22/11)
2011 Nov 22, Turkey's PM
Erdogan said that Syria's Pres. Bashar Assad must step down over the
country's crackdown on dissent. 6 children and 5 mutinous soldiers
were among 34 people killed across Syria. 122 countries voted for a
resolution at the UN General Assembly's human rights committee
condemning the government crackdown.
(AP, 11/22/11)(Reuters, 11/23/11)(AFP, 11/23/11)
2011 Nov 23, Turkey's PM
Erdogan apologized for the first time for the killings of nearly
14,000 people in a bombing and strafing campaign to crush a Kurdish
rebellion in the 1930s. He offered his apology for the killings of
13,806 people in the southeastern town of Dersim, now known as
Tunceli, between 1936 and 1939.
(AP, 11/23/11)
2011 Nov 23, Turkish President
Abdullah Gul warned that President Bashar al-Assad's violent
crackdown on an eight-month-old revolt in Syria threatened to "drag
the whole region into turmoil and bloodshed."
(Reuters, 11/23/11)
2011 Nov 30, Turkey slapped
tough economic sanctions on Syria, freezing assets of officials
involved in the government's crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising,
suspending ties with the nation's central bank and banning all
military sales.
(AP, 11/30/11)
2011 Nov 30, In Turkey a
heavily armed man opened fire at Istanbul's Topkapi Palace, wounding
a Turkish soldier and a security guard before police snipers killed
the attacker. Hw was identified as Samir Salem Ali Elmadhavri (36),
a Libyan with Syrian citizenship.
(AP, 11/30/11)
2011 Dec 13, Turkey’s Anatolia
news reported that court has jailed a policeman for four years and
two months over the killing of Festus Okey (21), a Nigerian
immigrant, who was shot Aug 20, 2007, while in custody.
(AP, 12/13/11)(http://www.hyd.org.tr/?pid=515)
2011 Dec 19, A Turkish news
agency reported that security forces may have killed as many as 20
Kurdish separatist rebels in the country's southeast.
(AP, 12/19/11)
2011 Dec 20, Turkish police
detained 48 people, including journalists, as part of a growing
investigation into a Kurdish group that prosecutors accuse of links
to Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 12/20/11)(AP, 12/24/11)
2011 Dec 22, Turkey's PM
Erdogan said his country is recalling its ambassador to France and
halting official contact in retaliation for a vote in the French
Parliament making it a crime to deny the 1915 mass killings of
Armenians was a genocide. The bill, just passed in France's lower
house, still needed approval in the Senate.
(AP, 12/22/11)
2011 Dec 23, Turkey responded
to French genocide allegations with a charge of its own, accusing
France of committing genocide during its colonial occupation of
Algeria. He alleged that beginning in 1945, about 15 percent of the
population of Algeria was massacred by the French. He also said
Algerians were burned in ovens. Most historians contend the Ottoman
killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians constituted the first
genocide of the 20th century.
(AP, 12/23/11)
2011 Dec 24, Turkish
authorities released an AFP photographer, along with 12 other people
who were detained as part of an investigation into a group
prosecutors accuse of having links to Kurdish rebels. A court
ordered 35 other suspects formally arrested pending trial over their
alleged involvement in the Union of Kurdistan Communities.
(AP, 12/24/11)
2011 Dec 28, Turkish warplanes
killed at least 34 people in an air strike on the Iraq border in an
attack which a pro-Kurdish political party described as a "massacre"
of civilians. Ankara's joint military command said in a statement
that its jets bombed an area inside Iraq "regularly used" by PKK
rebels. Those killed were smugglers aged 18-28, who routinely
brought in Iraqi fuel and cigarettes with the full knowledge of
local authorities. On Jan 2 Turkey said it will compensate the
families of the civilians mistakenly killed in the airstrike.
(AFP, 12/29/11)(AP, 1/3/12)(Econ, 1/7/12, p.46)
2011 Turkey’s population was
about 73 million.
(AFP, 1/18/11)
2012 Jan 3, In Turkey Kenan
Evren (94), a former president (1982-1989), and former air force
commander Tahsin Sahinkaya faced charges of crimes against the
state. A court will now have to decide whether to accept the
indictment and order a trial. Their trial began on April 4.
(AP, 1/3/12)(AP, 4/4/12)
2012 Jan 6, A former Turkish
military chief, Gen. Ilker Basbug (68), suspected of leading an
Internet campaign to stir revolt, was jailed in a sweeping
investigation of alleged conspiracies to topple a civilian
government that has stripped the armed forces of political clout.
(AP, 1/6/12)
2012 Jan 12, A Turkish court
files charges against Britain’s Duchess of York for secretly filming
orphanages in the country in 2008 for a British TV program.
(SFC, 1/13/12, p.A2)
2012 Jan 19, Turkish
authorities exhumed the bodies of three Kurds near the village of
Yagizoymak as part of their investigation into alleged extrajudicial
killings by Turkish security forces in the 1990s. Lawyer Ridvan
Dalmis, who witnessed the excavation, said the remains allegedly are
those of civilians who were killed by security forces in June 1993
and hastily buried by Kurdish villagers before they were forced to
evacuate the area.
(AP, 1/20/12)
2012 Jan 23, Turkey threatened
more sanctions for France if the Senate in Paris votes later today
to make it a crime to deny the 20th-century killing of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks constitutes a genocide. France's parliament approved
the bill later in the day.
(AP, 1/23/12)(AP, 1/24/12)
2012 Jan 24, Turkey warned the
French president against signing a law that makes it a crime to deny
that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago
constituted genocide, saying such a move would deal a heavy blow to
the relations between the two countries.
(AP, 1/24/12)
2012 Feb 7, Turkey's PM Erdogan
announced a new initiative with regional players to halt the
violence in Syria, saying the veto of a UN resolution had given
President Bashar al-Assad a "license to kill."
(AFP, 2/7/12)
2012 Feb 10, Turkey Interior
Minister Idris Naim Sahin said that five Turks, including a former
intelligence officer, were being questioned for allegedly kidnapping
and handing over to Damascus Lt. Col. Hussein Harmoush, a Syrian
army officer, who had sought refuge in Turkey.
(AP, 2/11/12)
2012 Feb 11, Turkish warplanes
bombed suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq.
(AP, 2/12/12)
2012 Feb 13, A clash in
Turkey's mostly Kurdish southeast has left 15 Kurdish rebels and two
Turkish soldiers dead.
(AP, 2/14/12)
2012 Feb 24, In Turkey doctors
at Hacettepe University transplanted two arms and two legs on Sevket
Cavdar (27). He had lost his arms and legs in 1998 when he was
accidentally electrocuted. The world's 1st quadruple limb transplant
soon failed due to tissue incompatibility.
(AP, 2/27/12)
2012 Feb, In Turkey followers
of Fethullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-base imam, were said to have
infiltrated Turkey’s judiciary and police force. The Gulenists were
reportedly now targeting Turkey’s MIT spy agency.
(Econ, 2/25/12, p.61)(http://tinyurl.com/7fde22d)
2012 Mar 6, Turkish Airlines
started flying into Somalia's war-torn capital, becoming the first
international company to fly passenger planes into Mogadishu in more
than 20 years. Flights were scheduled for twice a week.
(AP, 3/6/12)
2012 Mar 8, Turkey's air force
carried out air strikes on border areas of north Iraq.
(AFP, 3/9/12)
2012 Mar 12, Four Turkish
journalists were freed from jail, a year after they were detained in
a case that has raised fears for press freedom in the country. Two
pledged to immediately tackle sensitive subjects again, including
the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist.
(AP, 3/13/12)
2012 Mar 15, Turkey’s deputy
prime minister said Syria has planted landmines near its border with
Turkey along routes used by refugees fleeing the regime's deadly
crackdown on dissent. The foreign ministry said Around 1,000 Syrian
refugees, including a defecting general, flocked into Turkey in the
last 24 hours.
(AFP, 3/15/12)
2012 Mar 16, Turkey urged its
citizens in Syria to return home, saying some consular services will
be halted in Damascus next week.
(AP, 3/16/12)
2012 Mar 16, In Afghanistan a
Turkish helicopter crashed into a house on the outskirts of Kabul,
killing 12 Turkish soldiers and two Afghan civilians.
(AFP, 3/16/12)
2012 Mar 18, In Turkey
thousands of Kurds massed in Diyarbakir and Istanbul to celebrate
the Kurdish new year (Nowruz). A Kurdish politician and Turkish
policeman died as riot police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds.
(Econ, 3/24/12, p.54)
2012 Mar 22, Turkish PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan on urged UEFA to award his country the right to host
the 2020 European football championships.
(AFP, 3/22/12)
2012 Mar 23, Turkish police
detained two people of Iranian descent after an attack on the
Iranian embassy in the capital Ankara. The suspects are said to have
carried out the attack because of slow processing of their visa
applications by the embassy.
(AFP, 3/23/12)
2012 Mar 23, Turkish forces
killed 15 female Kurdish rebel fighters in Bitlis province.
(SSFC, 3/25/12, p.A6)
2012 Mar 25, Pres. Obama met
with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of a nuclear security
conference in South Korea. Obama other key allies considered
providing Syrian rebels with communications help, medical aid and
other "non-lethal" assistance.
(AP, 3/25/12)
2012 Mar 26, Turkey closed its
embassy in Damascus and recalled its ambassador as relations between
the former allies continued to deteriorate.
(AFP, 3/26/12)
2012 Mar 29, Turkish PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan voiced his country's unwavering support for Tehran's
nuclear ambitions in a meeting with Iran's President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. Turkey relies on Iran for 30% of its oil imports, and
has refused to go along with sanctions imposed by the US and Europe,
saying it will observe only UN-mandated restrictions on Iran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran strongly supports
reforms in Syria under Pres. Assad, but visiting Turkish PM Erdogan
said Assad can't be trusted and must step down.
(AFP, 3/29/12)(AP, 3/30/12)
2012 Apr 1, Syria blasted an
international conference on the country's spreading crisis before it
even started in Istanbul, calling it part of an international
conspiracy to kill Syrians and weaken the country. Monitors said at
least 16 people were killed, including eight soldiers who died
during ambushes and gun battles in the east, northwest and near
Damascus. Participants at the 60-nation “Friends of the Syrian
People” meeting said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are
creating a multimillion-dollar fund to pay members of the rebel Free
Syrian Army and soldiers who defect from the regime and join
opposition ranks.
(AP, 4/1/12)(AFP, 4/1/12)(SSFC, 4/1/12, p.A5)
2012 Apr 2, In Turkey Neslisah
Osmanoglu (b.1921), an Ottoman princess who married an Egyptian
prince (1940), died. She was twice forced into exile when both royal
households were abolished.
(AFP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 4, British officials
said a new batch of counterfeit cancer drug Avastin discovered in
the United States was bought in Turkey and shipped through Britain
by a UK-based business. Avastin, made by Roche, is a complex
injectable biotech drug with annual sales of $6 billion.
(Reuters, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 5, In south-eastern
Turkey overnight blasts temporarily shut down a pipeline pumping oil
from Iraq. Kurdish rebels were suspected to be behind the
explosions.
(AFP, 4/5/12)
2012 Apr 5, In Syria fierce
clashes between government forces and rebels erupted near Damascus
ahead of an agreed truce. Some 2,500 crossed the border today,
bringing to 24,000 the number of Syrian refugees now in Turkey.
(AFP, 4/5/12)(AP, 4/6/12)
2012 Apr 9, Syrian forces fired
across the border into a refugee camp in Turkey, wounding at least
five people. Lebanese journalist Ali Shaaban, who works as a
cameraman for Al Jadeed TV station, was shot and killed as he was
filming in the northern Wadi Khaled area on the Lebanese side of the
border. 12 members of the Syrian security forces were killed as
clashes ensued in several regions. Human Rights Watch said it has
documented the killings by Syrian forces of 85 civilians, including
women and children, and the summary executions of at least 16
wounded or captured opposition fighters. The Syrian rebel army said
it is ready to respect an April 10 truce brokered by UN-Arab League
envoy Kofi Annan if the regime of President Bashar al-Assad abides
by the peace deal.
(AP, 4/9/12)(AFP, 4/9/12)
2012 Apr 12, Turkish
prosecutors ordered the arrest of dozens of former military
officers, including four retired generals, over their role in
forcing the resignation in 1997 of an Islamist PM Necmettin Erbakan.
(AP, 4/12/12)
2012 Apr 14, Iran and senior
diplomats from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and
Germany, known as the P5+1, gathered at the negotiating table in
Istanbul for their first meeting in 15 months hoping to ease
tensions over Tehran's nuclear program.
(AFP, 4/14/12)
2012 Apr 18, Turkey said it has
intercepted an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged vessel in the
Mediterranean suspected of carrying weapons and ammunition to Syria.
The "Atlantic Cruiser" belonged to a German company. The ship was
chartered by a Ukrainian firm, which said that the cargo contained
no weapons, but legal goods for civilian use.
(AFP, 4/18/12)(AFP, 4/19/12)
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