Osman Sahin on Turkey’s Foreign Policy Shift
In the last week, Turkey has joined the fight against the so called Islamic State of Iraq, after the group it carried out a suicide bombing close to the Syrian border, killing 32 young socialist activists and students and injuring many more. Following that horrific tragedy, the Turkish government came under pressure to stop the free movement of ISIS fighters and operatives over the Syrian border. The AKP government has been often accused of active collaboration with ISIS fighters; allowing money, and munitions to move from one side of the border to the other.
Despite the bombing of a few ISIS targets, most of Turkey’s fire power has been directed toward the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). According to Al- Monitor “The attack on IS was a single sortie against limited targets and closer to the Turkish border, while the one against the PKK was much different… Some 300 smart bombs were dropped in 185 sorties against approximately 400 PKK targets.” This week, we have a conversation with Dr Osman Sahin, a political scientist and a lecturer at Koc University, about the Turkish government’s decided to start what has been presented as a concurrent two-pronged confrontation against PKK and Daesh (IS) and its effect on the future of Turkish politics.
Sally El Hosaini: My Brother The Devil
Welsh-Egyptian writer-director Sally El Hosaini’s debut feature film, My Brother the Devil, tells the story of two immigrant brothers growing up in the Hackney housing estate in East London. Mo is a bright young student living with his Egyptian family, and his older brother Rashid is a high ranking member of a small-time local gang. The film’s setting reflects the multi ethnic makeup of London’s housing blocks, where young immigrant kids are linked by poverty, alienation and gang culture. The film won the Best Cinematography award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. We speak with Sally El Hosaini about her experience entering this world to make the film.
Links
Al-Moniter on Turkey’s Foreign Policy shift