Ruth Michaelson

Istanbul

Freelance Journalist at Freelance

Journalist covering Turkey & the Middle East. Bylines @guardian, sometimes others. [email protected] | [email protected] | PGP:0x000C3381

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Articles

Kurdish militants PKK to disarm after decades of attacks against Turkey

2 days ago | theguardian.com | Ruth Michaelson

A Kurdish militant group whose attacks and insurgency against Turkey have spanned more than four decades has declared it will disarm and disband, after a call from its jailed leader earlier this year. The Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) announced the decision to dissolve its guerrilla forces, heeding a watershed announcement from Abdullah Öcalan three months ago.
‘Not a crumb left’: Gaza fears new military push as Israeli aid blockade bites

4 days ago | observer.co.uk | Ruth Michaelson

A dearth of food has led to intense civilian suffering, with plans for a US-led distribution programme to replace the UN’s efforts proving controversial At the children’s ward in the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society (PFBS) hospital in Gaza City, hungry mothers who come to give birth are given a single meal of rice. In local markets across Gaza, supplies of canned food, as well as bags of rice and lentils have started to disappear completely.
Turkey’s strongman president is looking much weaker - even in his own backyard

1 week ago | observer.co.uk | Ruth Michaelson |Ayça Aldatmaz

Everyone has shaken Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s hand in his ancestral hometown. But recent mass protests suggest they no longer all want him as president Two gigantic portraits of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tower over Rize town square on Turkey’s Black Sea coast. The president looks younger than his 71 years, with poreless skin and a slight smile, framed by the crimson of the Turkish flag and the gold stars of the presidential seal.
Boycott and resistance tear through Turkey’s cultural life

2 weeks ago | observer.co.uk | Ruth Michaelson

Actors, singers and drag performers are railing against authority Spy dramaThe spy sitcom Teşkilat (The Shadow Team) about Turkey’s feared intelligence agency has been making waves, but for events off-screen. State broadcaster TRT fired actor Aybüke Pusat who features in the series, after she issued a statement of support for an opposition-led economic boycott, connected to the recent anti-government protest movement.
Fears for health of Alaa Abd el-Fattah and mother as hunger strikes take toll

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Ruth Michaelson

The family of the imprisoned British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah say they fear for his health along with that of his mother, Laila Soueif, with both on hunger strike to demand his freedom. Relatives of Soueif said they were worried she was “dying in slow motion” after eight months on full or partial hunger strike. “What are we supposed to do, just sit around and wait to die?” said Soueif.
Erdoğan lambasts Israel for undermining stability in Syria

1 month ago | msn.com | Ruth Michaelson

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Erdoğan lambasts Israel for undermining stability in Syria

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Ruth Michaelson

The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has lambasted Israel for undermining stability in neighbouring Syria during a diplomatic forum, days after the two countries held talks aimed at defusing an escalating conflict between them on Syrian soil.
Turkish opposition leader criticises Starmer for ignoring arrest of Istanbul mayor

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Ruth Michaelson

The leader of Turkey’s largest opposition party has hit out at Keir Starmer, accusing the British prime minister of ignoring the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul and democratic backsliding in Turkey. Speaking to the Guardian, the leader of the left-leaning Republican People’s party (CHP), Özgür Özel, said he was disappointed that Starmer had failed to speak up about attacks on a “sister party”.
Israeli airstrike on tent camp in Gaza hospital complex kills 10 people

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Ruth Michaelson

An Israeli airstrike on a tent camp within a hospital complex in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis killed 10 people, including a journalist, while seriously injuring dozens more after their encampment caught fire. Images and video from the courtyard of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis showed people desperately attempting to extinguish the fires as flames burned through a row of tents.
Turkish protesters are in a vocal fight for democracy

1 month ago | tortoisemedia.com | Ruth Michaelson

Global forces mean the rest of the world is keeping silent Hundreds of thousands of people attended an opposition rally in Istanbul on Saturday to protest the arrest of its mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. They are expected to do the same this weekend. But many demonstrators are making bigger demands. So what? They are worried about democracy under President Erdoğan, who after ruling Turkey for more than two decades is now tipping his country towards autocracy. But he is being met with stiff resistance.