MILITARISM: Technonationalism has strengthened Turkey's proactive foreign policy, promoted national pride and reinforced the image of a powerful state. The paradigm of "zero problems with the neighbours", which characterized Turkish foreign policy in the 2000s, has been abandoned in favor of a more interventionist approach under the doctrine of "security at any cost". In 2002, the total volume of defense industry projects was a modest $5,5 billion – By 2023, it rose to over $96 billion.
TURKEY: Last autumn, MODERN TIMES met two intellectuals in Istanbul regarding today's Turkey – and attended a major conference there on political economy. We look here at the use of force, at freedom of expression, the media, militarization and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's political pragmatism.
UNITED NATIONS: MODERN TIMES prints here Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's speech to the UN Security Council in New York on 20 September 2023. He emphasizes that the UN Charter is the cornerstone of today's international legislation – which has not been followed in terms of peace and security in Ukraine. Lavrov also points out that the Ukrainian constitution states that the state is obliged to respect the Russians and other ethnic minorities. In Lavrov's view, it is the Western countries that do not want to overcome the deep crisis that has arisen in international relations. Here you have the opportunity (and with ORIENTERING's several articles) to read and evaluate yourself.
MILITARISM: The Norwegian base declaration of 5 March 1949 was a first condition for Norwegian accession to NATO. Norway must deny the United States the base of armed forces on Norwegian territory in peacetime – The Storting must now reject the "supplementary agreement".
MODERN TIMES CONVERSATIONS: From someone who should know the intricacies of foreign policy and geopolitics: Thorbjørn Jagland on military rearmament and enemy images – when it comes to the USA, Russia, China, Turkey and Libya.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH: The opportunity to say something is always very limited, says MODERN TIMES's regular writer in this essay about different authorities' use of force. Away from today's mass media, an "underground" network of intellectuals has now emerged, including experienced journalists, intelligence officers, renowned professors and politicians.
TURKEY: The Erdogan Government reaches a new human rights low target with the lifetime sentence requirement for 16 prominent civilian leadership figures.
TURKISH FILM: Nuri Bilge Ceylan follows up Cannes winner Winter Sleep with a new drama about credible characters in everyday situations – without the result being trivial.
The man who founded Turkey as a modern state in 1923 did so on authoritarian grounds. Thus, Erdogan and Atatürk are just two cubits out of one piece, claims Halil Karaveli.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival introduces fresh talent and new voices during this year's festival, while reflecting the cultural diversity Edinburgh has to offer.
The international women's film festival Filmmor in Turkey may be seen as a drop in a male-dominated sea, but it is part of a feminist stream that is growing in strength and scope.