[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Turkey and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Turkey Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week`s roundup to turkey@jadaliyya.com by Sunday night of every week.]

English

Afrin

Erdogan rebuffs Moscow’s call to hand Afrin to Syrian government Erdoğan said that Turkey would hand back Afrin "when the time was right", and that the decision was Turkey's to make, not Moscow's. The Turkish defense minister claims that Afrin still poses a threat to Turkey, and that Turkey would remain there until the threat was gone.

Is Turkey Likely to Annex the Territory it Now Controls in Syria? Several experts weighed in on this question, with differing views: Kemal Kirişçi stated that Turkey's operations in Syria are driven by domestic political considerations ahead of national elections, while Gönül Tol estimated that Russia, Iran, and Syria were unlikely to tolerate a long term Turkish presence in Afrin.

The catastrophic situations of the displaced people of Afrin The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights alleges that hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living out in the open after being unable to return to Afrin following Turkey's Operation Olive Branch.

Academic Freedom

Families of Arrested Boğaziçi University Students: Stop Unlawfulness The families of nine Boğaziçi University students who were arrested for "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" made a press statement at the İstanbul Medical Chamber.

'Studying Islamophobia Has Been a Way for Me to Make Sense of Domination' Instead of her planned presentation for a conference at İstanbul Zaim University, American academic Dr. Nazia Kazi made an impromptu speech on her discomfort with Turkey's purge of academics, and the fact that those who are against repressive state practices and violation of academic freedom in the US must also be against these practices elsewhere in the world.

3 More Academics Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison Three Academics for Peace signatories have received 15 month suspended sentences.

Migration

Over 4,000 migrants held in 3 months off Turkish coasts A total of 4,000 mainly Pakistani and Afghan migrants have been arrested in the past three months while trying to cross the Turkey-Greece border.

Money, culture, language: barriers to Turkey’s bid to end refugee-only schools Turkey is attempting to integrate Syrian children into its own public school system, aiming to close refugee-only schools by the end of 2018. Some issues facing this initiative are language barriers, lack of capacity to accommodate a massive influx of children, and some refugee families' reliance on children as breadwinners.

Domestic Politics

Turkish TV paints Kurds as villains Mahmut Bozarslan argues that popular Turkish television series' portrayal of Kurds as backwards, criminals, and/or terrorists contributes to creating a negative perception of Kurds in Turkish society.

Kurdish issue is about democracy in Turkey: Figen Yüksekdağ The imprisoned former co-chair of the HDP said during an interview with Ahval that the HDP's central tenet is advocating for a shared national homeland, and that for the 2019 elections, the HDP would be open to fielding a joint candidate with other opposition groups that share its values.

AKP Shortens Parliamentary Speech Time, CHP, HDP Leave Parliament HDP and CHP members of parliament walked out of the general assembly after a motion to reduce parliamentary speech time on behalf of the group and government to five minutes, and personal speech time to three minutes.

Phone records show key ISIS man bargaining with Turkish soldiers Phone records have revealed conversations between Turkish soldiers and İlhami Bali, the alleged ISIS leader of operations in Turkey, such as one in which Bali tells an unidentified Turkish soldier “If you need anything from over here, all you need to do is ask”.

Bantboru, the SME that promotes gender equality Gila Benmayor writes on Turkish piping manufacturer Bantboru's efforts to promote gender equality through being a signatory of the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles, its goal of having both its blue and white-collar operations employ 50% women, and its sponsorship of women such as İlayda Hancı, Turkey’s only off-road racing driver.

Details emerge after Turkish researcher kills four at university campus Volkan Bayar, who shot and killed four staff members at Osmangazi University in Eskişehir, has been described by the university's dean of education as being a "frightening person" who was mentally unstable.

Polls show “yes” supporters moving into the “no” block Despite its alliance with the MHP, polls are showing the AKP may have difficulty surpassing 50% in the presidential elections, with estimates ranging between 43% and 52%.

Groom jailed for insulting Erdoğan, bride performs ceremony alone Sara Başak proceeded alone with her wedding ceremony, after her husband-to-be was arrested in Diyarbakir for insulting the president the night before the wedding.

International Politics

Turkish Secret Agents Seized 80 People in 18 Countries, Official Says Turkey's deputy prime minister said that Turkish intelligence had seized and brought back to Turkey 80 people suspected of having links to Fethullah Gulen. He did not disclose where these arrests took place, other than previously reported arrests in Bulgaria, Malaysia and Kosovo.

Verdict in Trial of Atilla Adjourned Due to ‘Dispute’ Judge Richard Berman has adjourned the summary judgement of former Halkbank Deputy General Director Mehmet Hakan Atilla to May 7th due to disputes between the defense and prosecution.

Turkish, Qatari firms ink $5.2B natural gas, petrochemical investment deal The deal consists of a natural gas-based chemical plant in the Trakya Basin and a natural gas combined-cycle power plant in Kırklareli and Karaman.

Turkish lawmakers to investigate Islamophobia abroad Ömer Serdar, the head of parliament’s Human Rights Committee, has announced that a group of senior lawmakers will hold meetings with ministry authorities and NGOs in Germany, France and Belgium to discuss the rise of Islamophobia in Europe.

Federation in Cyprus is dead and buried Yusuf Kanlı writes that recent Greek Cypriot unilateral drilling activities demonstrate not only the inability of Greek Cyprus to adhere to the terms of 1960 partnership, but also the difficulties that would face a federal partnership state shared between Greek and Turkish Cyprus.

Russia says it can pay for Turkey’s first nuclear plant by itself Russia has announced that if it is unable to find Turkish investors willing to finance 49% of the Akkuyu Nuclear Plant project, it would fund the entirety of the project itself.

Turkish

Osmangazi University Shooting

Eskişehir'de Katliam Yapan Öğretim Görevlisinin İlk İfadesi Ortaya Çıktı In his first statement to police, Volkan Bayar said that the motive behind the shooting was his anger after reading a letter from the ombudsman asking him to attend a meeting regarding allegations of physical and verbal abuse against his colleagues. The colleague who initiated the complaint was amongst those slain.

Prof.Dr. Ayşe Aypay: Volkan, fakülte koridorlarında "Bu mesele 24 kurşuna bakar" demişti Prof. Dr. Ayşe Aypay alleges that her and her spouse complained multiple times about shooter Volkan Bayar's conduct. She also alleges that Bayar had announced that the 24 people who complained about him would be met with 24 bullets. The university rector and the Council of Higher Education failed to take action against Bayar. Rather, he received perks for denouncing people as Gulenists, some of whom had been imprisoned or dismissed from their jobs.

Üniversitede katliam Yılmaz Özdil writes that it is only after the Osmangazi shooting that there is media outcry over a "university massacre" , however, he argues that this kind of physical violence is the natural result of a different kind of massacre occuring over the past 15 years: that of dismissing, censoring, and imprisoning academics.

Üniversitede cinayet: FETÖ mü bitmedi? Çamur atma mı? Necati Doğru argues that the current climate of fear over Gulenists in Turkey nourishes the delusions of those with mental disorders such as paranoia, and that this atmosphere could have contributed to Volkan Bayar reaching a breaking point.

Domestic Politics

Demirören'e devlet desteği Support from state-owned Ziraat Bankası formed a large portion of the funds Demirören Holding used to purchase Doğan Media Group: Before the purchase of Doğan Media Group, Ziraat Bankası provided Demirören with a 700 million dollar loan, whose repayments would not start until after 2 years.

Yine erkek adaleti Yasemin Çakal has been given 15 years in prison for killing her abusive husband, in what Seyhan Avşar terms another instance of "men's justice". Çakal's lawyers plan to appeal the decision.

Yeniçağ yazarı İYİ Parti'nin ittifak yapacağı iki partiyi açıkladı: Yüzde 90 oranında anlaştılar Yeniçağ journalist Batuhan Çolak has alleged that the IYI party will form an alliance with the Saadet and Demokrat Parties.

8 kişiye mezar olan 'ölüm kuyuları' yeniden açılıyor: Önlem alınmalı An HDP MP has called for action after a Şırnak mine in which 8 workers died last year was reopened without establishing new measures to ensure worker's safety, nor assigning responsibility for the deaths.

International Politics

Bakanlıktan Türk dizilerine ilk kez maddi destek: Yurt dışında gösterim şartı aranıyor The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism has announced that the production and international broadcasting of Turkish television series would be given financial support for the first time, citing the fact that these series help to increase overseas knowledge of Turkey.

El Ezher: Türk dizileri gerçek bir tehdit The assistant rector at Egypt's Al-Azhar university said that Turkish and Indian series are a serious threat to Egyptian society due to their effects on Arab cultural identity and language.

Hollanda'dan görülmemiş Türkiye uyarısı The Dutch foreign minister has warned travelers to Turkey, Iran, Russia, and China to avoid storing sensitive information in their phones or laptops, and to use VPN while browsing the internet, since their information risks being accessed by third parties.

Hasankeyf ve Sur için 20 ülkede eş zamanlı eylem Several Turkish NGOs have called for a demonstration to take place across 20 countries on April 28th to protest against the destruction of the ancient Hasankeyf archaeological site and the historic Sur district, both in Turkey's Southeast.