NEWS

European Parliament passed the resolution stipulating the suspension of EU membership talks with Turkey.

The regulation that would pardon men accused of sexually abusing underage girls is removed from the bill by the majority of the vote in the Justice Commission. The regulation has caused outcry in the society.

HDP had decided to withdraw from parliamentary committees after the co-chairs and 7 MPs of the party were arrested on November 6. HDP Spokesperson Ayhan Bilgen announced that they have changed their mind and they will take part in the committees once again.

With the recent emergency decree that is published in the Official Journal today, Istanbul Fertility Center, which was shut down on July 25, is reopened.

Two new emergency decrees are published in the Official Journal of Turkey.

Mehmet Polatel, PhD candidate in Boğaziçi University, gave a presentation titled as “Demographic and Socioeconomic Outcomes of Hamidian Massacres in Van” in “The Social, Cultural and Economic History of Van and the Region” conference organized by Hrant Dink Foundation. We talked to Polatel focusing on his presentation.

“The Social, Cultural and Economic History of Van and the Region” conference organized by Hrant Dink Foundation was held in Anarad Hığutyun building on November 11 and 12. We talked to Dr. Yektan Türkyılmaz, who was the keynote speaker of the conference, about Van's importance in Armenian and Ottoman history.

Ali Yamaş and Bülent Erdem are engaged in caving. They have a cave research group called “Obruk” (sink-hole). We wanted to talk to two experienced cavers about the works in this field. However, we found ourselves talking about the underground cities in Turkey. They say that there are many underground cities that were built by Christian peoples especially between 6th and 11th centuries.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan spoke about Armenian-Turkish relations. Sargsyan stated that the preconditions propounded by Turkey halted the relations.

Raymond Kévorkian attended “The Social, Cultural and Economic History of Van and the Region” conference organized by Hrant Dink Foundation. We talked to him about the course of genocide studies and his recent works.