MESOP : STUDIES ON TURKEY UP TO DATE – (Watch full texts)

 

Domestic Politics –  The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Turkey should abolish compulsory religious education at state schools. Christian and Jewish students are already exempted from religious education if they wish so, however, Alevi and Atheist pupils have to attend these classes. Read more

Foreign Relations – Turkey was not on the original list of countries in the US-led coalition that would cooperate against Islamic State’s (IS) advancement in Iraq and Syria. The main reasons that Turkey offered for its distance to the coalition was the fact that IS held 49 Turkish hostages in Iraq. However, these hostages were freed last week. Read more

Economy – Budget data, unemployment and survey of expectations from the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) shaped the course of domestic markets last week along with the comments from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Head of the Under-secretariat of Treasury Ali Babacan and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek. Read more