İsrafil Özkan

İsrafil Özkan is the Director of the Freedom Research Association (FRA) and the Individual Choice Initiative (ICI) co-founder. He focuses on democratization, civil society, liberalism, lifestyle freedom, and harm reduction policy.
7 Articles

2024 Local Elections: The Future of LGBT+ Rights Under Turkey’s Political Alliances

During the recent elections in Turkey, there was a lot of hate speech about the LGBT+ community. This…

Attention for Sale: The Hidden Democratic Price of Surveillance Capitalism

Surveillance capitalism, a term coined by Shoshana Zuboff, refers to the monetization of personal data collected through digital…

Spicing Up Policy: Kokoreç, Snus and the EU’s Cultural Dilemma

However, the EU has invested considerable time and effort in avoiding learning from the Swedish case. Let's go…

The Dilan Polat Case: A Spotlight on Turkey’s Struggle with the FATF Grey List

Polat, along with her husband, sister, father-in-law, and others, faces accusations ranging from tax evasion to money laundering.…

A mob boss sets the political agenda in Turkey

Ankara (Brussels Morning) Sedat Peker, who has had an Interpol red notice issued about him on the grounds of…

Turkey’s alcohol ban falls outside the law

Turkey’s creeping alcohol restrictions are disproportionate and lacks legal grounds, writes Israfil Ozkan. Istanbul (Brussels Morning) It’s well-known…

The bells toll for Turkish civil society

Turkey's new laws could spell disaster for the country's civil society, writes İsrafil Özkan. Istanbul (Brussels Morning) The proposal…