Constanze Letsch
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PhD, European University Viadrina. Anthropologist. Journalist.
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Articles by Constanze Letsch
Toen fabrieken sloten en vrienden vertrokken
Ruim de helft van de stemmers in Zeitz koos voor de extreem-rechtse AfD. Dat heeft alles te maken met de onvrede in het stadje over de ingrijpende veranderingen na de Wende. ‘De Treuhand heeft hier geen beste rol gespeeld.’ Dit artikel is voor abonnees. Verder lezen? Lees en steun De Groene 3 maanden voor slechts €1 per maand. Lees daarna verder met korting voor €9 per maand (maandelijks opzegbaar) Direct onbeperkt toegang tot alle artikelen, de app en luisterverhalen Lees en steun
Voor Oost-Duitse jongeren is het debat over Oost en West nog steeds urgent
Verder lezen? Probeer De Groene nu op proef met korting De Groene Amsterdammer is hét weekblad voor onafhankelijke, kritische en betrokken denkers. Met wekelijks diepgravende en gedurfde onderzoeksjournalistiek, essays en analyses en het beste over boeken, kunst en cultuur. Al sinds 1877 maken lezers zoals u De Groene mogelijk. Lees en steun De Groene nu 10 weken op proef met korting voor slechts €10. Het proefabonnement stopt na afloop automatisch.
Scholen die een gezonde maaltijd aanbieden: het is goed voor kind en ouders. Waarom gebeurt dat in Nederland nog zo weinig?
Verder lezen? Probeer De Groene nu op proef met korting inclusief het dubbeldikke winternummer De Groene Amsterdammer is hét weekblad voor onafhankelijke, kritische en betrokken denkers. Met wekelijks diepgravende en gedurfde onderzoeksjournalistiek, essays en analyses en het beste over boeken, kunst en cultuur. Al sinds 1877 maken lezers zoals u De Groene mogelijk. Lees en steun De Groene nu 10 weken op proef met korting voor slechts €10.
Auto-industriestad Zwickau lijdt onder de economische crisis. Hoe worden ongelijkheid én extreem-rechtse sentimenten bestreden?
Verder lezen? Probeer De Groene nu tijdelijk op proef met korting De Groene Amsterdammer is hét weekblad voor onafhankelijke, kritische en betrokken denkers. Met wekelijks diepgravende en gedurfde onderzoeksjournalistiek, essays en analyses en het beste over boeken, kunst en cultuur. Al sinds 1877 maken lezers zoals u De Groene mogelijk. Lees en steun De Groene nu 10 weken op proef met korting voor slechts €10. Het proefabonnement stopt na afloop automatisch.
Erich Kästner waarschuwde in zijn gedichten al vroeg voor Hitler, maar hij verliet Duitsland niet
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Het maatschappelijk middenveld in voormalig Oost-Duitsland vecht voor de beschaving
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In de Oost-Duitse deelstaat Thüringen dreigt de AfD de grootste te worden
Verder lezen? Probeer De Groene nu tijdelijk op proef met korting De Groene Amsterdammer is hét weekblad voor onafhankelijke, kritische en betrokken denkers. Met wekelijks diepgravende en gedurfde onderzoeksjournalistiek, essays en analyses en het beste over boeken, kunst en cultuur. Al sinds 1877 maken lezers zoals u De Groene mogelijk. Lees en steun De Groene nu 10 weken op proef met korting voor slechts €15. Het proefabonnement stopt na afloop automatisch.
Steeds meer bakkers, boeren en molenaars gaan weer écht brood maken
Verder lezen? Probeer De Groene nu tijdelijk op proef met korting inclusief de extra dikke boekenweek-special De Groene Amsterdammer is hét weekblad voor onafhankelijke, kritische en betrokken denkers. Met wekelijks diepgravende en gedurfde onderzoeksjournalistiek, essays en analyses en het beste over boeken, kunst en cultuur. Al sinds 1877 maken lezers zoals u De Groene mogelijk. Lees en steun De Groene nu 10 weken op proef met korting voor slechts €15.
Met het naziverleden is afgerekend, nu schiet Duitsland door in zijn loyaliteit aan Israël
Op een avond eind februari komen enkele tientallen mensen bijeen in de universiteit van Leipzig voor een conferentie over ‘De droom van Israël’ en zionistische ideologieën, als onderdeel van een door de vakbond georganiseerde lezingenreeks over antisemitisme. Alle tassen worden aan de deur doorzocht om te voorkomen dat iemand een spandoek, megafoon of een ander voorwerp meeneemt dat kan worden gebruikt om te protesteren tegen het evenement. ‘Een keffiyeh?’ grapt iemand.
Uithongering is een van de barbaarste oorlogswapens
Gaza wordt uitgehongerd. Elke dag worden de sociale media overspoeld met berichten over toenemende armoede. Wanhopige mensen graven wortels op en eten gras. Kinderen zeven granen uit besmet diervoer. Ouders lijden honger om het weinige voedsel dat ze kunnen vinden aan hun kinderen te geven. Zuigelingen worden ziek en verliezen door diarree snel gewicht, zonder beschikbare medicijnen of voldoende dokters om hen te behandelen.
Erdogan’s win poses challenge for human rights
By Constanze Letsch / The Guardian On Sunday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was declared the winner of Turkey’s presidential runoff elections. According to numbers reported by the state-owned Anadolu news agency, more than 27 million people cast their ballots in favor of Erdogan, who has been at the country’s helm for more than two decades. He entered the second round in the lead in the polls and was expected by most to emerge victorious.
Territorial Stigmatisation
€40.00 * $50.00 * 31 May 2023, 306 pages ISBN: 978-3-8376-6688-5 Payments in Euro can be made directly with us from destinations worldwide. Prices incl. VAT. Free delivery within Germany, for other destinations see details. If you would like to pay in US dollars, please purchase via the link to Columbia UP. All english print books are available at our partner Columbia University Press. More Information. * = recommended retail price
De Turkse oppositie geeft de strijd nog niet op
Een nieuwe ronde, een nieuwe video, maar vooral ook een nieuwe toon. ‘De grens is onze eer’, en die dient beschermd te worden, aldus Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. De Turkse oppositieleider en presidentskandidaat sprak van een ‘menselijke overstroming’ die ‘onze aderen binnendringt’. Drie dagen na de eerste ronde van de presidentsverkiezingen hervatte Kılıçdaroğlu zijn verkiezingscampagne met rabiate anti-immigratieretoriek.
Door hebzucht van politici en bedrijven zijn onnodig veel mensen onder het puin terechtgekomen
Verder lezen? Probeer De Groene nu tijdelijk op proef met korting De Groene Amsterdammer is hét weekblad voor onafhankelijke, kritische en betrokken denkers. Met wekelijks diepgravende en gedurfde onderzoeksjournalistiek, essays en analyses en het beste over boeken, kunst en cultuur. Al sinds 1877 maken lezers zoals u De Groene mogelijk. Lees en steun De Groene nu 10 weken voor slechts €15.
An act of God caused the earthquake in Turkey - murderous corruption caused so many deaths
Photograph: Nir Elias/Reuters The death toll from the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has now surpassed 37,000. Tens of thousands of people are still missing, and social media feeds are awash with examples of newly built residential complexes that have collapsed like sandcastles, burying occupants under the rubble. Many of these buildings were sold as luxury housing “compliant with the latest earthquake safety standards”. Some of the contractors responsible have tried to flee Turkey.
Facing discrimination, Kurdish football team withdraws from Turkish competition | Constanze Letsch | AW
ISTANBUL - Once again, politics in Turkey reached the football pitch. The team of the predominantly Kurdish border town Cizre, Cizrespor, withdrew from the Turkish football league, accusing the Turkish Football Federation of racism and discrimination. The club’s players and executives justified their decision with their unwillingness to further deal with the abuse of nationalist football fans and partisan referees.
Kurdish publishing house struggles with bans as state repression escalates
AMSTERDAM - A week before the Diyarbakir Book Fair, Abdullah Keskin received an unpleasant phone call. The head of the prominent Kurdish publishing house Avesta was told that another of its books had been banned by a Turkish court, raising the number of titles banned in the last 18 months to 14. Keskin founded Avesta Publishing in 1995, at a time of brutal state repression against Kurds in Turkey.
Istanbul memorial site prods Turks deal with painful past | Constanze Letsch | AW
ISTANBUL - A black memorial stone set in the pavement just outside of the old offices of the Armenian-Turkish weekly newspaper Agos in Istanbul reminds passers-by that, on January 19, 2007, well-known Armenian-Turkish journalist and intellectual Hrant Dink was assassinated there. The trauma of his death left a deep scar in the collective memory of Turkey. Twelve years later, justice remains elusive.
Turkey’s war on Arabic signs reflects intolerance of Syrian refugees | Constanze Letsch | AW
ISTANBUL - Amid flagging support and a worsening economic crisis, the Turkish Justice and Development Party government has singled out an unlikely enemy: Arabic-language shop signs. Hundreds of the banners have been removed from high streets across Turkey but critics warn the move would deepen the growing hostility against Syrian refugees. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced that “offending” Arabic shop signs across Turkey would be changed within six months.
Turkey Considering Chemical Castration of Sex Offenders
Turkey has opened the door – again – to the idea of mandating chemical castration for those convicted of sex offences against children, a wrongheaded and abusive approach to dealing with child sexual abuse. Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül told reporters on February 21 the government is considering this in the wake of public outcry over a string of sexual assaults of children. They also vowed to introduce heavier penalties for child sex abuse.
Turkey’s New Constitutional Crisis Could End the Rule of Law
While the Turkish military offensive in the Syrian-Kurdish enclave of Afrin is grabbing all the headlines, a constitutional crisis has erupted that could spell the end to the rule of law and the separation of powers in Turkey, legal experts and human-rights groups warn. The crisis began when Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled on January 11 that two journalists being tried on terrorism charges relating to the 2016 coup attempt must be released pending a verdict.
Will Abdullah Gul challenge Erdogan?
Istanbul - By challenging Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with tweets criticising the wording of recently issued emergency decrees, former President Abdullah Gul fired an opening salvo in a verbal duel. It might grow into an open battle between the founders of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of presidential elections in 2019.
In Turkey, Repression of the Kurdish Language Is Back, With No End in Sight
The space in the office is cramped. The walls are adorned with posters of sports cars and advertisements for insurance companies. Books cover the tables. Sami Tan, a linguist and a lecturer of Kurdish, apologizes for the improvised setting and the lack of more comfortable chairs.
New Turkish law on marriages alarms women’s advocates
Istanbul - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed into law a controversial bill that allows for state-registered religious scholars to conduct civil marriage ceremonies, a proposal slammed by critics for facilitating child marriages and abuse of underage girls. The law lets muftis, Sunni religious scholars who work for the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), perform and register civil marriages.
Turkey Is Sliding Deeper Into Dictatorship
“With the arrest ruling we have not only lost Osman Kavala’s freedom, but at the same time our hopes in democracy, peace and the rule of law.” These were the words with which Professor Ayse Bugra, a prominent Turkish scholar, reacted to the news of the arrest of her husband, well-known businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala.
Is Turkey Returning to Civil War?
On the evening of June 7, Ahmet Yildiz celebrated. The leftist, pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which he supported, had succeeded in breaching Turkey’s unusually high 10 percent election threshold—a remnant of the Constitution drawn up by the military junta after the coup in 1980—and entered Parliament with 80 MPs, granting Turkey’s large Kurdish minority an unprecedented political voice.
The last summer of Turkey’s Hasankeyf
Istanbul - Turkey has begun to collapse cliff faces around the ruins of the Hasankeyf Citadel, marking another step bringing the 12,000-year-old settlement closer to being flooded out of existence by a Tigris River dam about 80km downstream. Local authorities announced that rocks were broken off the honey-coloured walls “for safety reasons” and that 210 caves — a fraction of thousands of man-made caves in the area — would be filled in ahead of the town’s inundation to prevent erosion.
Ankara fears economic effects of crisis with Germany
Istanbul - After more than a year of rocky diplomacy, the relationship between NATO allies and major trade partners Turkey and Germany has come to a head over the arrest of IT consultant and German citizen Peter Steudtner. He was taken into custody during a crackdown on a human rights workshop on an island off Istanbul. Ankara fingered Steudtner, who was jailed with seven others pending trial, for links to unspecified terrorist groups, an accusation seen as “incomprehensible” in Berlin.
Flucht ins Exil: Akademiker verlassen die Türkei
Die Juraprofessorin - die in Wahrheit anders heißt, ihren richtigen Namen aber nicht veröffentlicht sehen will - gehört zum Netzwerk "Akademiker für den Frieden", das sich mit einer Petition für ein Ende der Militäreinsätze in den kurdischen Gebieten einsetzte. Jetzt lehrt Yildirim in Deutschland, ihren Studenten stellt sie sich als in der Türkei gelistete "Terroristin" vor.
The dramatic plight of academics in Erdogan’s Turkey
Istanbul - Formerly a sociology lecturer at a major Turkish University, Ayse Yilmaz said she did not plan to spend half the year in several European countries trapped between multiple visa applications and fearing having to return to Turkey, a country where, she said, she did not feel safe anymore. “I loved my students in Turkey. I had not planned to leave at all,” she said recently. “I miss it very much.” She was one of many caught in the maelstrom of Turkey’s ongoing crackdown.
With Qatar crisis, cracks grow in Turkish-Saudi relations
Istanbul- The diplomatic crisis in the Gulf has left Turkey in a delicate position and its relationship with Saudi Arabia unravelling over the Ankara’s decision to throw its full support behind Qatar. Saudi Arabia, several other Gulf countries and Egypt severed diplomatic ties and transportation links with Qatar over Doha’s alleged support for Islamic extremism and criticism that it maintains an inappropriately close relationship with Iran.
Taking sides with Qatar could adversely affect Islamist foreign policy
Istanbul - The dramatic political crisis unfolding between Qatar and several other Arab states might have negative implications for Turkey, the small Gulf state’s staunchest supporter, analysts said. “We will continue to support Qatar in every possible way,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told members of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) during iftar June 9 in Istanbul.
Rocky days ahead after Turkey referendum
Istanbul - One of the crucial questions after the narrow win of the “yes” camp in the referendum on constitutional change in Turkey is how the country’s relationships with foreign allies will proceed following the bruising election campaign. Election results show that 51.4% of voters in Turkey agreed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s long-time plans to greatly expand his powers and 48.6% voted against him. Turkey’s relationship with the European Union has reached an all-time low.
„Nein“-Lager will nicht aufgeben - Proteste in Istanbul und Hamburg | SHZ
Von Constanze Letsch, dpa | 17.04.2017, 10:01 Uhr Die Stimmung bei der Opposition in Istanbul bleibt nach dem Referendum kämpferisch - und gewinnt sogar neuen Auftrieb. Auch in Hamburg gibt es Proteste.
Turkish Women's Magazine Searches for Intersection of Islam and Fashion
The previously little-known magazine has begun outselling Vogue and Elle here, sparking a national debate over whether fashion and Islam can coexist The Turkish women's magazine Âlâ first gained notice in the summer of 2011 by putting the most controversial piece of fabric in Turkey, the Islamic headscarf, on its cover. Four months later, Turkish secularists and traditional Muslims alike are still debating: Can fashion and Islam comfortably coexist?
Kurdish group says it’s responsible for Istanbul bombings
ISTANBUL — A splinter group of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party claimed responsibility for Saturday night’s double bomb attack in Istanbul, in which 38 people died and and scores more were injured. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons said in a statement Sunday that the two attacks were timed to go off simultaneously near the Vodafone arena, home ground of Besiktas football club, which had just concluded a match.
battle for Aleppo is stirring a fresh refugee exodus
The battle for Aleppo, compounded by Russian airstrikes on the city, threatens to create a new refugee exodus from Syria, Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, has warned. Speaking after talks with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Davutoğlu called for action to prevent a new wave of refugees from moving north across the Turkish border. Aleppo is under assault both from Isis and from forces backing the Syrian government, including Iranian fighters and Russian aircraft.
Turquia adianta festa por batalha para dia dos 100 anos do genocídio armênio
"É uma manobra política muito indecente", comentou o pesquisador Ohannes Kiliçdagi, que escreve no semanário armênio "Agos". "É política barata tentar dissolver a pressão sobre a Turquia no ano do centenário, organizando esse evento em Galípoli.
Turkey: Could Closure of State-Run Brothels Endanger Sex Workers’ Lives?
The gradual closure of Turkey’s 52 state-run brothels is emerging as a controversial tactic in Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s declared war on prostitution. While Erdoğan’s supporters denounce brothels as a form of “slavery,” sex workers fear the campaign poses risks to their health and safety.
Medienprozess - Worte zu Gewehrkugeln
Medienprozess In Istanbul müssen sich seit Montag kurdische Journalisten wegen verschiedener Terrorismusvorwürfe vor Gericht verantworten Kurdische Frauen mit Fotos von inhaftierten Journalisten in Istanbul Foto: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images In der Türkei hat am Montag der bislang größte Medienprozess in der Geschichte des Landes begonnen. Menschenrechtler sehen dahinter einen Versuch der Regierung, die Presse einzuschüchtern und pro-kurdische Aktivisten abzustrafen.
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