January 31st 2008 | Ankara and Diyarbakir | From The Economist print edition

The AK government uses Islam to win over Kurdish support

A SIGN adorned with Ataturk's favourite adage, “Happy is he who calls himself a Turk”, hangs in Diyarbakir, south-east Turkey, as a reminder of Turkey's decades-old policy of forcibly assimilating the region's Kurds. The ruling Justice and Development (AK) party might prefer “Happy is he who calls himself a Muslim”.

Tuesday January 29, 2008 | Liz Ford and agencies

A political science professor convicted of insulting the founder of modern Turkey is saying academics are finding it increasingly difficult to criticise the government.

Monday January 28, 2008 | Richard Lea

Thirteen people have been arrested in Turkey as part of an investigation into an ultra-nationalist gang reported to be planning the assassination of Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk.

January 28, 2008 | By SABRINA TAVERNISE

ISTANBUL — In one of the biggest operations against Turkish ultranationalists in decades, the authorities announced on Saturday night that they had arrested 13 people who were part of a criminal group that was suspected of carrying out political killings and having shadowy ties to the Turkish state.

January 27, 2008

(CBS) For a man who drew America into two wars and countless military engagements, we never knew what Saddam Hussein was thinking. But you are going to hear more than has ever been revealed before.

After his capture, Saddam met every day with one man, an American he knew as "Mr. George." George is FBI agent George Piro, who was the front man for a team of FBI and CIA analysts who were trying to answer some of the great mysteries of recent history. What happened to the weapons of mass destruction? Was Saddam in league with al Qaeda? Why did he choose war with the United States?

As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, Piro is the man who came to know Saddam better than anyone, as they sat face to face in a windowless room.

21 January 2008

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

With heightened security in the “red zone” of Baghdad and on its streets, a drastic drop in violence, good economic growth prospects and a warming of political relations between the majority Shiite and minority Sunni religious groups, the chances for a stable and unified Iraq were encouraging, Staffan de Mistura, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for that country, said at a Headquarters press conference today.

January 25, 2008 | By SABRINA TAVERNISE

IZMIR, Turkey — When Atilla Yayla, a maverick political science professor, offered a mild criticism of Turkey’s first years as a country, his remarks unleashed a torrent of abuse.

Friday, 25 January 2008 | By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad

The Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, caused anger among Iraqis this month by saying during the New Hampshire primary that US military forces might stay in Iraq "for 100 years". Mr Zebari, asked by The Independent in Baghdad if the American army would be in Iraq in 10 years, said: "Really, I wouldn't say so."

Friday, January 25, 2008 | AFP

Turkey and Russia were easily the worst offenders in a league table of the European Court of Human Rights judgments for 2007, released Wednesday by the European court's president.

January 23, 2008 | By Kimi Yoshino | Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi lawmakers approved a new flag Tuesday, defusing a long-simmering dispute with the country's northern Kurds, who had refused to fly the national banner because of its connection to Saddam Hussein.