Month: February 2009

Abdi İpekçi, 30 years after.

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A few days ago, it was the 30th anniversary of Abdi İpekçi assassination. In one of the darkest days of Turkey, he was murdered. Milliyet’s then chief editor has been one of the best journalists in the history of Turkish journalism…May his soul rest in peace…

From Wikipedia entry:
On 1 February 1979, two members of the ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves, Oral Çelik and Mehmet Ali Ağca (who later shot pope John Paul II), murdered Abdi İpekçi in his car on the way back home from his office in front of his apartment building in Istanbul. Ağca was caught due to an informant and was sentenced to life in prison. After serving six months in a military prison in Istanbul, Ağca escaped with the help of the Grey Wolves and fled to Bulgaria, which was then a base of operation for the Turkish mafia.
 

 A journalism roundup follows:

 

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"Europe?s hierarchy of aliens

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Europe’s hierarchy of aliens

By Third Tone Devil

A few days ago Jovan wrote about Gabriele Marranci’s blog. When I was in Singapore I had a chat with Gabriele about xenophobia in Italy, and to my surprise he told me that the main xenophobic party, Lega Nord, which is part of the current government,  has recently upgraded Chinese immigrants to being as dangerous as Muslims. I had thought that in the last few years Muslims have become the unchallenged embodiment of the dangerous Other. This does have its flip side, though. At a conference today in Amsterdam I heard a paper by Gargi Bhattacharya denouncing Britain’s criminalization of forced marriage as a step to stigmatize Muslims/South Asians further. But, commenting on her paper, anthropologist Jacob Rigi reminded us that “slavery” (combatting which was one of the rationales for the legislation) really does exist; just look at all those trafficked Chinese. In other words, even those in the academia who are sensitive towards “security talk” about Muslims may not be so critical when the same type of rhetoric crops up with regard to other migrants.

 

A huge round up follows: 

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Soner Çağaptay's one-man crusade continues…

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Mr. Çağaptay has not written a single positive thing about the AKP government in 6 years. He is acting as if a deposed ruler in exile fighting back. His words could be more meaningful if he weren’t such a biased person. His reliance on neo-con anxieties of islamophobia is passé. The only loser in this game is these seemingly credible news media whose space he occupies…There is a quote from his latest bullshitting below. At the very end, there are two bullying views from Jerusalem Post.

In the mean time, Şahin Alpay writes Why do most Turks side with Erdoğan at Davos?

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R.I.P.: John Updike

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John Updike in 1955 Photo Credit: the Guardian

I have relatively recently discovered John Updike. His Rabbit character in Rabbit, Run was particularly influential for me. May he rest in peace…

John Updike, novelist, man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce, and life’s adventures, is dead… more»

John Updike dies at 76 Prolific chronicler of the loves and losses of small-town America dies after battle with lung cancer Martin Amis: Another plane of intimacy Editorial: In praise of … John Updike Obituary: John Updike


VIA TurcoPundit :

John Updike, novelist, man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce, and life’s adventures, is dead… AP … NYT … Telegraph … Guardian … NYT … London Times … WP … New Yorker … LA Times … Guardian … TPM … Boston Globe … London Times … National Post … WSJ … LA Times … Guardian … Forbes … SF Chron … Slate … Guardian … Philly Inq … TLS … Independent

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