Month: September 2009

"Protest schedule" for World Bank/IMF meetings

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This blog author is one of the selected bloggers accredited for the annual World Bank/IMF meetings that will take place in Istanbul, Oct 6-7. This has been a fancy turn in the history of Erkan’s Field Diary. I hope to do substantive blogging inside the meetings. In the mean time, I will try to cover what happens outside. A friend of mine promised me to send photos and news briefs while I follow the meetings. Here is a protest schedule and other news from what activists are up to…

Global elites will meet in Istanbul between 28th September ? 7th October to discuss  their new plans for exploiting all humanity and the world. For this reason we organized an extremely festive action programme.We?re inviting everyone -who has a problem with capitalism and the global destruction it created ? to the streets and calling everyone to make Istanbul hell for the IMF & the WB!

RIOT TIME FOR ISTANBUL!

1st October ? We?re in the streets against the Social Security Law!Place: Taksim Gezi Park Time: 11:002nd October ? Global resistance day against the ecological destruction of capitalism !Place: Galatasaray SquareTime: 15:003rd October ? Global resistance day against Urban Transformation, Gentrification,  and Homelessness !Place: Taksim SquareTime: 15:004th October ? Global insurrection day against capitalismPlace: Tunnel SquareTime: 15:006th ? We?re shutting the IMF & the WB meeting down! Place: Tunnel Square
Time: 10:00 7th October ?We?re shutting the IMF & the WB meeting down!Autonomous Actions Place: Everywhere
Time: Any time THE STAGE IS YOURS, ISTANBUL!

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The ban itself sued, Petition campaign and web censorship in Turkish humor magazine covers.

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More than 6 thousand sites are banned in Turkey...
More than 6 thousand sites are banned in Turkey...

Academic asks Turkish court to overturn Myspace and Last.fm blocking decisions

Yaman Akdeniz, an Associate Professor of law at the Faculty of Law, Istanbul Bilgi University today (29 September, 2009) made an appeal to the Beyoğlu Criminal Court of Peace to overturn the blocking decision involving both myspace.com and Last.fm from Turkey. The blocking decision was enforced by the Turkish ISPs since Friday, 18 September, 2009 by the order of the Beyoğlu Chief Public Prosecutor?s Office (order no 2009/45 dated 26.06.2009).

Petition against Internet Censorship in Turkey here.

Cover page of Penguen magazine’s latest issue satirizes the ban.
and these are from the older covers that were related to previous bans…

My new office, new officemate

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post-service settlement -Part II As of September 29, Prof. İsen and Dr. Saka become officemates. A power team emerges! 🙂 I had been a TA for Prof. İsen before and I owe him lots about socialhacks I have now and his great help in the last minutes of dissertation writings.

Conan the Barbarian

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post-service settlement -Part I Conan the Barbarian was the most fascinating comics for me when I was a kid.  When I was serving, one day I thought to read all Conan series I can find when I am free again. (I could not read most of it when I was a kid) (The other comics … Read more

Burqas and anthropologists

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France asks anthropologist for advice on burqa-ban

by Lorenz

France banned burqas in public schools in 2004. Now, a parliamentary commission is investigating a possible ban on burqas in public places and anthropology professor John Bowen was asked to testify on this matter, Student Life and New York Times report.

And older round of anthro news and unrelated images from the web:

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Turks may not have liked the German election results

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source: Hürriyet
source: Hürriyet

updated: 28 Sept 2009- 18:20

Turkish newspapers lament the results as triumphant center-right coalition means continuing obstacle to Turkey’s EU membership (see Hürriyet)

Victorious Merkel vows recovery

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledges to focus on reviving Europe’s largest economy after winning a second term in office.
A good round up by Grahnlaw:

German elections and the European Union

by Grahnlaw

The German elections have caused a shift in the federal parliament Bundestag, and they will bring in a new government coalition (Bundesregierung). The conservative parties, the Christian Democratic CDU and the Bavarian CSU, suffered some vote losses, but remain the largest group by far.

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A new academic blog on Turkey

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Turkey's first lady Emine Erdogan arrives at the Andy Warhol ...
Turkey’s first lady Emine Erdogan arrives at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Friday, Sept. 25, 2009, for a luncheon hosted by first lady Michelle Obama for the spouses of the visiting heads of state attending the G-20 Summit. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Dear scholar,
We have established a new research group, namely ‘Changing Turkey in a Changing World’ affiliated with the Centre for Global and Transnational Politics led by Prof. Chris Rumford and Prof. Sandra Halperin. (Please, see the announcement at: http://cgtp.rhul.ac.uk/changing-turkey-in-a-changing/ )

This group starts by setting up a new blog. The blog address is:
http://changingturkey.wordpress.com

We are looking for valuable contributions from researchers on Turkish society and politics. Could you help us to disseminate this information? Thank you very much for your interest and valuable collaboration….

Here are two posts from the blog:

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Chatting about Kurdish initiative?

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Obama and Erdogan chat at G20 meeting. This photo hit the first pages of many Turkish dailies today...
Obama and Erdogan chat at G20 meeting. This photo hit the first pages of many Turkish dailies today...

The rumor is that they talk about the Kurdish initiative…

Nimet Çubukçu (Minister of Education)
Nimet Çubukçu (Minister of Education)

Mrs. Çubukçu, the new minister, started new school year with a course on “discrimination”. A great symbolic move.

In the mean time,

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So did you do it?

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Ergenekon prosecutors asked the Office of Chief of Staff what they knew of coup attempts between 2000-2009:) News in Turkish. here and here.

According to an Hürriyet news, Turkish Armed Forces began to use its new slogan in army premises: “Strong Army, Strong Turkey”. This slogan has been debated recently. Pro-army people loved it, others questioned what that really means. Some suggested a change in places. Strong Turkey will provide a strong army not the other way. Not to mention the fact that Strong Army nations mostly remind dictatorships whose societies are indeed weak…

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Live and notes from "Netdaş" [Netizen] meeting at Istanbul Bilgi U.

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Netdaş is a Friendfeed group that is organized by Turkish netizens to challenge web censhorship issues in Turkey. This has been the most qualitative blogger/web  producer meeting. Still, it could be more productive. Anyways, here is a few notes:

Presentation by Özgür Uçkan can be found here.

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Güler Zere (and more judicial news)

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Güler Zere
Güler Zere

Last evening, in Istiklal Street, Taksim, I happened to witness around a thousand demonstrators protesting Güler Zere’s situation. She is a detainee in Adana prison ill with fourth stage cancer and if she is not released she may die.  A web report claims that Ministry of Justice has just started the release process; let’s hope for the best.

“Stop Sexual Harassment in Police and Gendarmerie”

Bianet – Emine Özcan – ?Aug 31, 2009?

Güler Zere is a detainee in Adana prison ill with fourth stage cancer. According to a medical report, Zere is in danger of dying and the hospital’s prison

Unfortunately, not good news follow:

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Meet Sevil Atasoy: "An Agent Professor" according to some…

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Sevil Atasoy

Sevil Atasoy

Ergenekon trial yet uncovers another dirty relationship in “Turkish deep state.”  Ergun Babahan named her as an “agent professor” who seemed to have worked for military intelligence and filed scandalous reports when she was the director of Forensic Science Institute.

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I want an e-reader!

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iRex Digital Reader 1000S
iRex Digital Reader 1000S

iRex has released a new e-reader. Last December I was too close to buy Amazon’s Kindle but because of Christmas time it was all sold out and I got back from US without much dreamed Kindle. Since then I haven’t been thinking about e-readers but a reader friendly e-reader will make my days, I know.

E-Readers: An eco-friendly way to secure the future of newspapers?

by Jennifer Lush

E-readers have had somewhat hesitant popularity to date. There is a clear interest in the developing technology, but steep price tags ($399 for a Sony Reader, $489 for a Kindle DX) have meant that they haven’t exactly taken off.

Notable readings on web-related issues:

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When struggle for rights turns into violation of rights

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Bülent Forta, the president of MÜYAP, defends himself here (in Turkish). He has become the main target of protesters against the MySpace and LastFm ban. He says they did not intend the ban itself but protect musicians’ rights. His was a “struggle for rights”. In fact, Mr. Forta is known to be decades-long leftist activist. … Read more

Patriot missiles and more on Turkish foreign policy

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Patriot issue came out of blue and we will see where it will lead to.. Yigal’s substantive piece and a more provocative link in addition to other issues in Turkish foreign policy..
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he speaks ...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he speaks about Turkey’s global priorities to a gathering at Princeton University Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009, in Princeton. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Patriot Games

by Yigal Schleifer

There’s a certain feeling of Cold War déjà vu in Turkey these days. Back then, NATO ally Turkey was seen as a front line state in the standoff against a dangerous nuclear power and was even home to American missiles (the intermediate range Jupiters, quietly removed as part of the deal made to end the Cuban missile crisis). Cut to 2009, when western ally Turkey is again being viewed by some as a front-line defense against a (potential) nuclear power — this time around Iran — and might soon be home to an American-made long-range missile defense system.

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