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Interview with Kerem Öktem

Farewell to the "Islamic Vatican"?

Diyanet, Turkey's state-run Directorate General for Religious Affairs, is often referred to as a kind of Islamic "mini-Vatican". The Ankara-based authority seeks to shape the religious lives of Turkish Muslims living in Western Europe. In Germany, the Turkish Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), a federation of almost 900 mosque communities, is closely allied with Diyanet. Claudia Mende asked German scholar Kerem Öktem of St Anthony's College Oxford to what extent Ankara influences debates about religious matters in Germany
Öcalan Announces PKK Peace Plan

Too Good to Be True

The offer of a ceasefire made by Abdullah Öcalan, the incarcerated head of the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), has been welcomed by the Turkish government. But how can there be real peace when the conflicts of the past are glossed over instead of being openly discussed and addressed? A commentary by Ömer Erzeren
Turkish Television Series: Muhteşem Yüzyil

Too Much Sex, Too Little Heroism

Millions of viewers in Turkey are hooked on a television series about the Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent. Prime Minister Erdogan, on the other hand, wants the series taken off air. Jürgen Gottschlich reports from Istanbul
The Turkish Oriental Dub Band "Baba Zula"

Music from the Fringes with a Rebellious Soul

The Turkish band Baba Zula ushered in a new style in Turkish music: oriental dub. The band with its rebellious spirit goes way back in the contemporary Turkish music scene. Grit Friedrich reports
Repression and legitimation in Egypt

The world as Sisi sees it

A policy formula that only recognises two distinctions – those who are "for the regime" and those who are "against the regime", with the latter arguably grouped under the heading "potential terrorists" – is leading to widespread human rights violations and the persecution of those who hold different political views. A commentary by Thomas Demmelhuber
Interview with Hani Shukrallah

"Egypt's Media Are Propaganda Machines"

In this interview with Andrea Backhaus, the renowned Egyptian journalist and political scientist Hani Shukrallah criticises the way the Egyptian military is using the media to its own political ends and the blatant opportunism of many of the country's journalists
Islam and violence

Conservative Muslims refute the violence of IS

Does Islamic theology have the argumentative resources to counter the claim that violence perpetrated in the name of Islam is covered by verses from the Koran? Yes, says the Islam expert Katajun Amirpur, pointing to an open letter from Muslim scholars
Interview with Maha El-Kaisy-Friemuth

"We urgently need reform within Islam"

What is the focus of a feminist Islamic theologian's work? And what is the best way to deal with controversial Koran verses in the modern day? Claudia Mende talked to Maha El-Kaisy-Friemuth, professor of Islamic Religious Studies at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Interview with Turkish theologian Ihsan Eliacik

The Koran and social justice

Ihsan Eliacik is the first proponent of an "Islamic socialism" in Turkey. In his teachings, he criticises the neo-liberal policies of the AKP and calls for a socialist reading of the Koran. Interview by Ceyda Nurtsch
Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan

Erdogan's Kurdish Gambit

Turkey's prime minister Erdogan envisions a new regional order under Turkish leadership, based on a realignment between Turks and Kurds that underpins a strategic partnership for exploiting the region's last untapped energy resources. By Sinan Ulgen