by the way, Istanbul’s Capital of Culture game ends:)

That was frustrating. Always trying to understand if Istanbul does it good or not or enough for the Capital of Culture thingie:)

Istanbul hands over title European Capital of Culture to Finnish citie
www.worldbulletin.net
Yazici said that the main target of the events was to leave a mark on Istanbul’s culture and art life and make the projects sustainable in this aspect

Istanbul 2010 Capital of Culture prepares to sign off

Film celebrates Istanbul’s hidden history
CNN International
Welcome to Istanbul as seen through the eyes of six young directors in a new film that attempts to reveal the city’s many faces, as well as its forgotten

Istanbul reborn in photographs by Tahsin Aydoğmuş
Today’s Zaman
The history, the modern aspect, the people and the nature of İstanbul have come together in one book: ?Bu Şehr-i İstanbul? (İstanbul: A Timeless Journey)

Until Dec. 23: Ghost Buildings of Istanbul

[I didn’t bring my camera this go-around, and apparently there are no real good exhibition pictures online. So I’ll update this with pictures when I have better ones]

When you walk into a widely-advertised art exhibit, the last thing you expect to smell is?cardboard. Lots of cardboard. The Cumhuriyet Sanat Galerisi smelled like someone was packing it up and moving it out of its wonderfully understated locale. The first reaction an attendee has is that he must have gotten there too late.

An Artist Once Shunned, Now Celebrated at Istanbul Museum – NYTimes.com

By SUSANNE FOWLER

With his first retrospective in Turkey ? ?The Enemy Inside Me,? which runs through March 6 at the Istanbul Modern ? the artist and filmmaker Kutlug Ataman has come full circle.”

ABBA hits entertain Istanbul audience

ISTANBUL’S EXTREMES | More Intelligent Life
By Claire Davenport
Orhan Pamuk, the city’s Nobel-winning native son, rarely misses an opportunity to declare that Istanbul is a ruined and defeated place. Yet the city, with its romantic “end-of-empire melancholy”, is the site of his best work

Istanbul’s culture blues
Art Newspaper
Istanbul (population upwards of 13 million) has, nonetheless, shared this Euro-accolade for the last 12 months with Essen, Germany (population 600000) and

An İstanbul tea house
Today’s Zaman
The Dolmabahçe Çay Bahçesi (Dolmabahçe Tea Garden), which hosted President Abdullah Gül last Friday, is one of the few remaining old-style İstanbul gardens

Violin and harp tunes echo in İstanbul halls
Today’s Zaman
This concert marked the İstanbul debut of a recently made violin by Hans Pluhar, who was in the audience that night. I asked Horvath-Kisromay what concerto

İstanbul to become regional fiber optic Internet center
Today’s Zaman
Turkcell’s CEO Süreyya Ciliv unveiled the project, called Regional Cable Network (RCN), during a press conference in İstanbul on Thursday

Istanbul’s Capital Of Culture Year – ArtsJournal: Daily Arts News
By ArtsJournal
Istanbul’s Capital Of Culture Year – Why So Underwhelming? “Declaring a millennia-old city that had been a capital of both Christian and Islamic empires as a European Capital of Culture (Ecoc) is akin to calling Venice a place with good

Ashura in Istanbul
Monthly Review
In Istanbul — capital of the former Ottoman Empire and last seat of the Sunni caliphate — Ashura processions drew tens of thousands of Turks into the

The Book of Istanbul, edited by Jim Hinks and Gul Turner ? review
The Guardian
Istanbul spans the largest metropolitan area in Europe, so it’s hardly surprising that most of the 10 authors represented in this anthology express concerns

Holiday spirit comes to Istanbul’s historical Eminönü district
Hurriyet Daily News
The display windows on Hasırcılar Street, in Istanbul’s conservative Eminönü district, are colorful with Christmas and New Year’s decorations as the

VIDEO: Istanbul Sapphire Tower Tallest skyscraper in Europe …
By trendy
270m Istanbul Sapphire or Sapphire is a skyscraper and tallest edifice of Istanbul’s Levent main business district and the 2nd tallest building in Istanbul and Turkey after the Diamond of Istanbul located in the not far-off Maslak

Little America in heart of İstanbul: Kemerburgaz
Sunday’s Zaman
Kemerburgaz is the latest address of choice for those seeking a peaceful lifestyle away from the traffic jams and noise of İstanbul. It is a sub-district of

‘Emergence of İstanbul as int’l financial hub a must’
Sunday’s Zaman
Zeki Şahin says Turkey’s foreign policy is propping up its quest to make İstanbul a regional financial hub. Efforts to make İstanbul an international