Past Articles by Peter Kenyon
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Anti-Government Protests In Turkey Reach Syrian Border The anti-government protests taking place across Turkey have not bypassed Antakya, down near the Syrian border. Nightly marches and demonstrations take place in the majority Alawite part of the city, but the protesters are a mix of minority Alawites and majority Sunni Muslims. In addition to the common complaints that Prime Minister Erdogan is growing more autocratic, some are convinced that the government's policies are pulling Turkey into the Syrian crisis and they fear more violence like the bomb attacks that killed at least 51 people in a border town last month. |
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Police Clear Protesters In Istanbul Park Turkish riot police have cleared protesters from Gezi park and Taksim Square in Istanbul. The move ends the 19-day occupation of the spaces. But as NPR's Peter Kenyon reports, protesters are saying they will return. |
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Police Clear Protesters In Istanbul Park Turkish riot police have cleared protesters from Gezi park and Taksim Square in Istanbul. The move ends the 19-day occupation of the spaces. But as NPR's Peter Kenyon reports, protesters are saying they will return. |
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In Istanbul's Taksim Square, Cue The Piano Man Amid the protests and clashes in Istanbul's Taksim Square, a pianist has been hauling in his instrument at night to entertain the crowds. Each time he does, the raucous crowd stills itself while he plays. In between tunes, chants rise up and he stands on his piano bench to conduct the crowd. |
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Turkish Protesters Refuse To Leave Gezi Park The Turkish government has offered to avoid bulldozing the park, but protesters say other demands have not been met. |
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Turkish Protesters Refuse To Leave Gezi Park The Turkish government has offered to avoid bulldozing the park, but protesters say other demands have not been met. |
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Some Turkish Protesters Optimistic After Meeting With Leaders Protesters in Istanbul are mulling an offer from Prime Minister Erdogan that could bring an end to the unrest. |
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Not Everyone Cheers Turkey's Move To Tighten Alcohol Rules Among the many reasons for ongoing riots in Turkey: A recent law restricting the advertising and sale of alcohol. Secular Turks see the new rules as the latest effort by the ruling AK Party to impose religious values on the population. |
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Not Everyone Cheers Turkey's Move To Tighten Alcohol Rules Among the many reasons for ongoing riots in Turkey: A recent law restricting the advertising and sale of alcohol. Secular Turks see the new rules as the latest effort by the ruling AK Party to impose religious values on the population. |
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The Changing Face, Perception Of Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be the most successful prime minister in modern Turkey's history. A deeply pious Muslim once jailed for his outspoken remarks, he has presided over a decade of democratic reforms and economic growth. But now he finds himself the target of angry protesters who call him a dictator and a fascist. |
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Opposition In Syria Stalls Peace Talks Decision Syria's fractious opposition is struggling to reach a consensus on peace talks with the Assad government, ahead of an international conference next month in Geneva engineered by the U.S. and Russia. Members have been arguing over who should hold the reins of power within the coalition. |
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Iranian Council: Ex-President Rafsanjani Unfit To Run Again The Iranian presidential election is just weeks away, and voters are faced with a very narrow range of pro-regime candidates to choose from. All the high-profile or independent candidates have been eliminated by the Guardian Council. One man considered unfit to run has already held the post of president. |
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Iran's 'Zahra' Tells Alternate Tale Of Presidential Campaign What do you do when you can't openly wage a campaign for the presidency? Some Iranians inside and outside the country have turned to the heroine of an online graphic novel who has embarked on a virtual campaign. |
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Iran's 'Zahra' Tells Alternate Tale Of Presidential Campaign What do you do when you can't openly wage a campaign for the presidency? Some Iranians inside and outside the country have turned to the heroine of an online graphic novel who has embarked on a virtual campaign. |
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A Sign Of Disunity? Iranian Candidates Jockey For Position The country is gearing up for a presidential election next month, and the lack of a clear front-runner, analysts say, is a sign the political elite isn't united behind a single candidate. The late entrance of a former president, in particular, will likely alter the shape of the race. |
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A Sign Of Disunity? Iranian Candidates Jockey For Position The country is gearing up for a presidential election next month, and the lack of a clear front-runner, analysts say, is a sign the political elite isn't united behind a single candidate. The late entrance of a former president, in particular, will likely alter the shape of the race. |
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Kurdish Militants Begin Historic Withdrawal From Turkey In a landmark first step, thousands of militant Kurdish fighters of the PKK are pulling out of Turkey and into northern Iraq. There's cautious optimism about the process, which has failed before. Kurds say unless Turkey reforms its policy toward Kurds, the militants won't disarm completely. |
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Kurdish Militants Begin Historic Withdrawal From Turkey In a landmark first step, thousands of militant Kurdish fighters of the PKK are pulling out of Turkey and into northern Iraq. There's cautious optimism about the process, which has failed before. Kurds say unless Turkey reforms its policy toward Kurds, the militants won't disarm completely. |
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Kurdish Militants Begin Historic Withdrawal From Turkey In a landmark first step, thousands of militant Kurdish fighters of the PKK are pulling out of Turkey and into northern Iraq. There's cautious optimism about the process, which has failed before. Kurds say unless Turkey reforms its policy toward Kurds, the militants won't disarm completely. |
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PKK Fighters Begin To Withdraw From Turkey In a landmark step, militant fighters from the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party, are beginning to withdraw from Turkey back to northern Iraq. The withdrawal will take months and the peace process will likely collapse unless Ankara enacts significant changes recognizing Kurdish rights within Turkey. But for now, people are allowing themselves to hope that this time it might work. |
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Foreigners At Home: Turkey Beckons To Germany's Turks After years of being treated as second-class citizens in Europe's economic powerhouse, large numbers of Turks — descendants of the first wave of immigrants — are returning to Turkey. Prospects in their homeland are looking up, while times are harder in Germany. |
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Foreigners At Home: Turkey Beckons To Germany's Turks After years of being treated as second-class citizens in Europe's economic powerhouse, large numbers of Turks — descendants of the first wave of immigrants — are returning to Turkey. Prospects in their homeland are looking up, while times are harder in Germany. |
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New Aid To Syria Comes With Fear Of Funding The Wrong Opposition The Obama administration is doubling its non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, Secretary of State John Kerry announced at an 11-nation "Friends of Syria" meeting in Turkey this weekend. The aid comes amid concern about the rising presence of Islamist fighters among the opposition. |
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New Aid To Syria Comes With Fear Of Funding The Wrong Opposition The Obama administration is doubling its non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, Secretary of State John Kerry announced at an 11-nation "Friends of Syria" meeting in Turkey this weekend. The aid comes amid concern about the rising presence of Islamist fighters among the opposition. |
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Prisoner Release May Aid Ceasefire Between PPK, Turkish Government A fragile peace process between the Turkish government and the PKK, the militant Kurdistan Worker's Party, got a boost with the release of several Turks who had been captured by PKK fighters and held in northern Iraq. It's the latest sign of goodwill in a rapprochement effort that many in Turkey hope will lead to a PKK cease-fire and a halt to Turkish military operations. |
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Release Of Turks Could Speed Ceasefire With PKK A fragile peace process between the Turkish government and the PKK, the militant Kurdistan Worker's Party, got a boost with the release of several Turks who had been captured by PKK fighters and held in northern Iraq. It's the latest sign of goodwill in a rapprochement effort that many in Turkey hope will lead to a PKK ceasefire and a halt to Turkish military operations. |
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Syrian Rebels Describe Fight As Revolution For Justice, Not A Civil War The opposition Syrian National Coalition's new interim prime minister says the world must acknowledge that Syria is undergoing a "revolution for justice and freedom, not a fight between two teams." Ghassan Hitto says he'll attempt to form an interim government as violence continues across the country. |
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Interim Prime Minister Elected By Syrian Opposition Syria's main opposition group elected a naturalized American citizen as the first prime minister of their interim government. Ghassan Hitto is expected to pick a Cabinet in the next two to four weeks. |
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Iran's Political Infighting Continues, Despite Calls To Maintain Calm Iran's raucous political infighting shows no sign of calming down, despite the best efforts of the political leadership. With presidential elections slated for June, new competitors are applying to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while the president continues to lash out at the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps and, indirectly, at supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Meanwhile, a riot among farmers in Isfahan recently suggests that public unhappiness with the economy will be an important issue in the campaign. |
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In Kazakhstan, No Horror At Horse Meat Horse meat may strike horror in Great Britain. But in Kazakhstan, horseflesh isn't just acceptable, it's a traditional treat. Visitors can eat spicy horse meat sausage and drink fermented mare's milk — the same fare that fueled Genghis Khan's marauding army as it swept across the steppe. |
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In Kazakhstan, No Horror At Horse Meat Horse meat may strike horror in Great Britain. But in Kazakhstan, horseflesh isn't just acceptable, it's a traditional treat. Visitors can eat spicy horse meat sausage and drink fermented mare's milk — the same fare that fueled Genghis Khan's marauding army as it swept across the steppe. |
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Iran Nuclear Talks Set Stage For Future Bargaining Another round of talks on Iran's controversial nuclear program ended Wednesday in Kazakhstan. There were no breakthroughs but Iran's envoy suggested cooperation is possible on at least one of the item in the latest offer from the P-5 plus Germany. |
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Iran's Presidential Election Could Interfere With Nuclear Talks As another round of nuclear talks approaches, Iran is again blowing hot and cold on the prospects for progress. After officials signaled a willingness to talk directly with U.S. negotiators, Iran's supreme leader quashed that idea. |
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Turks Desire 'Reversal' In Olympic Wrestling Move The International Olympic Committee's unexpected move to eliminate wrestling as of the 2020 games was a particular shock to Turkey. Turks love the ancient sport, and two-thirds of Turkey's Olympic medals are in wrestling. |
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Iran's President Draws Long-Simmering Feud Out Into The Open With Iranian presidential voting just over four months away, it's clear that top politicians are not heeding the supreme leader's call to maintain decorum. Recent days have seen a long-simmering feud between the Parliament speaker and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad erupt into the open with secret videos alleging corruption by the speaker's powerful family and the brief arrest of a key Ahmadinajad ally. Analysts wonder, if the gloves are coming off this early in the campaign, what the coming weeks will bring. |
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In Syrian Conflict, Real-Time Evidence Of Violations There are growing calls for Syria's leaders to face war crimes charges for the assaults against rebel targets and civilian areas. If that happens, veterans of past war crimes prosecutions say, Syrians will have one big advantage: the widespread gathering of evidence across the country. |
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In Syrian Conflict, Real-Time Evidence Of Violations There are growing calls for Syria's leaders to face war crimes charges for the assaults against rebel targets and civilian areas. If that happens, veterans of past war crimes prosecutions say, Syrians will have one big advantage: the widespread gathering of evidence across the country. |
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Iran's Leader Embraces Facebook; Fellow Iranians Are Blocked Ayatollah Ali Khamenei turned to social media recently. Meanwhile, Iran's government has stepped up efforts to identify and target online pro-democracy activists. Analysts say the government is using increasingly sophisticated methods to shrink the online space for free expression. |
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Iran's Leader Embraces Facebook; Fellow Iranians Are Blocked Ayatollah Ali Khamenei turned to social media recently. Meanwhile, Iran's government has stepped up efforts to identify and target online pro-democracy activists. Analysts say the government is using increasingly sophisticated methods to shrink the online space for free expression. |
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Suicide Bombing At U.S. Embassy In Turkey Kills Security Guard A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the U.S. embassy in Ankara, Turkey, on Friday. One embassy guard was killed and several other people were wounded. No party has claimed responsibility. |
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Iran's 2009 Crackdown Resonates With Exiles Iran is preparing for June's presidential election. It's the first since the controversial 2009 vote sparked massive protests when the government declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner. Thousands of Iranians have since fled the country. A number of exiles in neighboring Turkey have little optimism for the coming election campaign. |
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Turkey Promises Peace Talks With Kurdish Militants, Despite Paris Killings For years Turkish leaders vowed they would never negotiate with "terrorists" — their term for the militant PKK separatists who have been battling security forces for decades. So many Turks were startled to learn that the head of the intelligence service had been holding disarmament talks with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Faced with uncertainty in Kurdish northern Iraq and rising Kurdish strength in parts of Syria, Ankara seems motivated to respond to some of the demands from its own Kurdish population. And many Turks, weary of the violence that has claimed an estimated 40,000 lives, are rallying behind the effort. But the government's previous Kurdish initiative was sabotaged by violence and a nationalist backlash, and analysts hope Turkey's leaders have learned some lessons from that failure. |
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Turkey's AK Party Still Defies Easy Categorization It's been a decade since a coalition of Islamic and secular political parties formed the AKP, or Justice and Development Party, and swept to power in Turkey. Warnings from secular Turks about a secret agenda to impose Sharia law on the country proved groundless, and yet ten years into AKP rule, secular unease is on the rise again. European Union-style political and social reforms have ground to a halt in the past 18 months, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems bent on converting Turkey to a strong presidential system with himself at the helm, possibly for another decade. |
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Prime Minister Finds Soap Opera's Turkish Delights In Bad Taste The Magnificent Century, which explores the Ottoman Empire in all its 16th-century glory, is a big hit in Turkey. But the country's prime minister, an Islamist, is angry that the program focuses on palace intrigue involving the sultan and his harem. |
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Prime Minister Finds Soap Opera's Turkish Delights In Bad Taste The Magnificent Century, which explores the Ottoman Empire in all its 16th-century glory, is a big hit in Turkey. But the country's prime minister, an Islamist, is angry that the program focuses on palace intrigue involving the sultan and his harem. |
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Head Of Military Police Defects To Syrian Opposition Twenty Syrian civilians were killed in an army attack in the northeast on Wednesday. The latest bloodshed came as the general in charge of Syria's military police force announced his defection to the rebels. |
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No Breakthrough In Sight For Peaceful Transition In Syria Amid continued bloodshed in several parts of Syria, international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held another round of talks with President Bashar Assad in Damascus. But there was no sign of progress toward a peace deal. |
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Relentless Syrian Violence Drains Hope For Solution There were reports of explosions in Damascus Monday, where international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was due to meet with Syrian leaders. He's there at a time of heavy bloodshed as government forces battle rebel fighters, and civilians continue to perish in large numbers. |
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In Istanbul, A Byzantine-Era Fleet Surfaces Again In Istanbul, construction of much-needed transit projects was halted when astonishing archaeological treasures began turning up. Now, archaeologists are poring over a stunning trove of artifacts, including some three dozen Byzantine-era ships. |
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In Istanbul, A Byzantine-Era Fleet Surfaces Again In Istanbul, construction of much-needed transit projects was halted when astonishing archaeological treasures began turning up. Now, archaeologists are poring over a stunning trove of artifacts, including some three dozen Byzantine-era ships. |
