iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 30/03/2026

New autocorrect in Windows 11 and I don’t approve

Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 15/02/2026

A pro-Kurdish demonstration in central London, complete with flags of Abdullah Öcalan, the YPG, the federated Iraqi region of Kurdistan – but not, as was so often the case in previous years, the PKK.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 23/04/2025

You don't really need subtitles to see how well presenter Meltem Bozbeyoğlu handles the moment a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Istanbul struck live on CNN Türk, but here they are in any case.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 28/03/2025

In Turkish North Cyprus, an education ministry official is turned away from a school barricaded by parents who don’t want to admit a pupil who wears a headscarf. It appears they’re fighting Turkey’s battles of the 1990s, but in the social media age. Via HaberKKTC

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 19/03/2025

“The terrorism charge is particularly serious because it could allow him to be removed from office. It means that by the end of the day Ekrem İmamoğlu may no longer be mayor of Istanbul.” Me on the BBC World Service a little earlier.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 18/03/2025

A lengthy post from Ankara's mayor Mansur Yavaş, another possible candidate against Erdoğan, who comes out for İmamoğlu. Notably, Yavaş himself declares he won't stand for president "while this unlawfulness persists".

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 18/03/2025

We've now had the response from Ekrem İmamoğlu. He calls the verdict "unlawful" – and that only the board of the faculty that give him his diploma could decide to annul it. This evening's announcement was made by the board of the entire university.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 18/03/2025

A new page in a long-running row: Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu's university diploma has been annulled. It means that if a presidential election were called now, İmamoğlu – who is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's foremost challenger – would not be able to stand as a candidate.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 27/02/2025

‪And now in Turkish, where the top line is confirmed:‬ ‪The PKK has lost relevance in the socialist struggle and must abolish itself. ‬

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 27/02/2025

History in the making in Turkey, where a message from PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan – apparently calling for peace and an end to an armed conflict lasting nearly half a century – is being read out live. But it’s in Kurdish first, so most of the country doesn’t know what’s in it yet.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 30/11/2024

Just to illustrate how much a step change this is for UK police, here’s some (admittedly not very good) photos I took during Newroz in Finsbury Park, north London, seven years ago. Note the PKK and Abdullah Öcalan flags.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 27/11/2024

Take this example from Haringey in north London – the graffiti is from another proscribed Turkey-based group, the leftist DHKP-C. Removing this was not a priority for the local authorities in the same way another more “threatening” group’s propaganda might have been.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 27/11/2024

The PKK is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK – it has been for roughly 25 years – but the group barely hides its presence. Here, just for example, is a copy of the party’s newspaper I found in my (Turkish) barber’s shop last month.

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Michael Sercan Daventry @michaeldaventry.com · 23/10/2023

“A Future Searching For Its Story” or “The One Looking For His Story Will Arrive”. Bekir Ağırdır’s book is just confusing.

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