Mark LowenVerified account

@marklowen

BBC Turkey Correspondent. Previously based in Athens and Belgrade. All views my own.

Istanbul and beyond
Joined December 2010
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  1. 3 hours ago

    Too good

    3 retweets 5 likes
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  2. 6 hours ago

    falls another 2 places in press freedom index for 2018, to 157 out of 180. Just behind Rwanda and Belarus but happily beating Kazakhstan. "Turkey is again the world's biggest jailer of journalists. Rule of law is a fading memory":

    1 reply 75 retweets 36 likes
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  3. 7 hours ago

    Could the ploy of a snap election finally achieve that rare thing in : uniting a splintered opposition? accused them of "working in the dark by winking at each other" and being united "only in their enmity for Recep Tayyip Erdogan"

    Erdogan lashes out at opposition deals ahead of election
    4 retweets 4 likes
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  4. 8 hours ago

    . and tell the story of the longest-running language paper in the world

    2:19
    VIDEO: Jamanak - The newspaper preserving Armenia's cultural heritage.
    1 reply 3 retweets 7 likes
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  5. 24 hours ago

    . on the "Orwellian world" created in the place of 's democracy; collective self-lobotomy and a country where critics are jailed, media parrots the government, TV is awash with Ottoman grandeur dramas and the economy is sinking

    3 replies 15 retweets 21 likes
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  6. Retweeted
    Apr 24

    A reporter asked Trump if he would pardon Michael Cohen and he snapped back, "Stupid question." LOOK AT MACRON'S FACE.

    138 replies 804 retweets 1,637 likes
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  7. Retweeted
    Apr 22

    Shrewd move + a necessary one to avoid potential obstacles.Turkey's oldest party makes deal w/ its newest.CHP agrees to send 15 MPs to IYI, ensuring IYI will be on the ballot on June 24. Both party leaders have said their singular goal is to end the Erdogan era.

    , and
    16 retweets 26 likes
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  8. Retweeted
    Apr 19

    Din kültürü öğretmeni Merve: Tanrı var mı yok mu bilmiyorum İlahiyat öğrencisi Bekir: Eskiden IŞİD’i sempatiyle izlerdim. Bugün ateistim 11 yaşında kapanan Leyla: Dünya deizme kayıyor Muhafazakar gençlik dinden uzaklaşıyor mu? BBC Türkçe’ye yazdım

    61 replies 216 retweets 474 likes
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  9. Retweeted
    Apr 20

    On today will speak with about the latest news from Turkey

    2 retweets
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  10. Retweeted
    Apr 19

    It took 7 years of war in Syria for the French to remember they'd once given president Assad this award. When he heard they were thinking of rescinding the honor, he beat them to it. There's symbolism here too: the West is slow and overthinks and Assad&co are always 1 step ahead.

    Syria hands back Assad's 2001 Legion d'Honneur decoration before Macron could withdraw it, says no honour coming from a US 'slave' country
    2 replies 40 retweets 46 likes
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  11. Apr 19

    Very moving 'Thought for the Day' by Rabbi Lord Sacks on : "I've been doing 'Thought for the Day' for 30 years. Never did I think that in 2018 I'd be talking about anti-semitism...a society that doesn't respect difference is a society that doesn't respect humanity".

    1 reply 17 retweets 33 likes
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  12. Apr 18

    I'm going to make an early bet: that will be to this election what the was to the referendum. Fasten your seatbelts in Athens. It could be a stormy ride.

    20 replies 104 retweets 193 likes
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  13. Apr 18

    And, as if by magic, the stars are aligned

    State of emergency in Turkey extended for seventh time …
    9 retweets 17 likes
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  14. Apr 18

    Turns out there was a national university exam planned for 24th June, which has now had to be postponed because of that clearly urgent need to rush to an election on the same date. Ah well, it's only education.

    3 replies 13 retweets 31 likes
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  15. Apr 18

    There's debate over whether 's can even run. Under electoral rules, party can only take part in election 6 months after its first general congress. 24 June is before that - but she'll argue debut congress was in December. No chance she'll refuse to run.

    4 replies 18 retweets 18 likes
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  16. Apr 18

    Either way, this was a carefully choreographed 24 hours. Wheel out the coalition buddy to raise the idea of early elections after government ruled it out (inconceivable that it wasn't cleared with Erdogan first), claim it needs discussion and then magically confirm it

    2 replies 10 retweets 23 likes
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  17. Apr 18

    Critics would say this catches the opposition off guard, nips any growth in the bud and preempts an economic crash that many are forecasting. Erdogan supporters say it brings needed clarity after presidential referendum last year. Pick your side.

    2 replies 11 retweets 16 likes
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  18. Apr 18

    So yesterday, said he was "sad" at 's idea of early elections on 26 August and said it gave importance to elections being held on time. Today, the President made it even 2 months earlier than that. The sadness didn't last long.

    4 replies 68 retweets 74 likes
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  19. Retweeted
    Apr 18

    President Erdogan just announced that the govn agrees to hold snap elections on 24 June 2018

    4 replies 63 retweets 16 likes
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  20. Apr 18

    Interesting piece by on the growing numbers of religious Turks losing their faith, reacting against political and how it's been used by the , and turning towards deism

    2 replies 16 retweets 25 likes
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