Fulbrighters Hounded Out of Karabük University By Spy Allegations
Americans Rachel Smith and Hayfa Aboukier have been teaching English at Karabük University under the Fulbright exchange program, like many other teachers around the country. (I was a Fulbright research fellow in Turkey in 2008.) Turkish teachers, students and researchers come to the US under the same program. On December 24, a Turkish journalist, Banu Avar, attended a local meeting of a Karabük tradesmen?s association and announced that she had come to warn everyone that the two Fulbrighters were spies, agents of the US government. The president of the university, Professor Burhanettin Uysal, announced that the Fulbright Program was vital to the university?s language program and that the two teachers were valued for their work and were not spies. Nevertheless, Smith and Aboukier got permission from Fulbright to take a leave of absence and went to Cyprus. It?s not certain when or if they will return to Karabük or to Turkey.
Does America pose a threat to Turkey?
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and his wife Emine Erdogan look out from a balcony of in Erzurum, eastern Turkey, January 7, 2011. Erdogan is in Erzurum to participate in the Turkish ambassadors summit.? Read more »REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Turkish fans gather to celebrate Elvis’ birthday in Istanbul
Hurriyet Daily News
On Friday, his Turkish fans will come together to commemorate Elvis’ life and music with an event in Istanbul. The fan group is helping to keep alive the
A tangled web: the politics of gender in Turkey, Deniz Kandiyoti
On 18 July 2010, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held a consultation meeting with women?s non-governmental organisations in the context of the ?Democratic Initiative and National Unity and Brotherhood Project?, also dubbed ?the Kurdish Initiative? in the popular press. This initiative aims to resolve the conflict that has plagued the South-east of the country, pitting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) against the Turkish military. The PM addressed the women in attendance as mothers ?whose voices would drown out the sounds of bullets? ? thus enlisting them to the cause of peace. Among the 80-odd attendees were members of NGOs with established feminist credentials such as KA-DER and the Foundation for Women?s Solidarity, among others. This goes some way towards explaining why some participants took the PM to task during the question period for addressing them exclusively as mothers, overlooking the fact that they are fully fledged economic, political and juridical personae. It is at this point that the PM apparently interjected: ?I do not believe in the equality of men and women. I believe in equal opportunities. Men and women are different and complementary?.
Soccer in Turkey as a source of social cohesion
Jeux et ?talk shows? TV inspirent aussi les humoristes de Turquie -(Bkm Mutfak et autres)
L?émission Izdivaç est un peu l?équivalent de Tournez manège. Des âmes esseulées espèrent y trouver le conjoint de leurs rêves (et leur quart d?heure de célébrité). Mais dans l?émission turque le public participe et prodigue conseils et avis. Il faut dire que le mariage est toute une affaire en Turquie. Et puis le dedikodu ( cancans) est indissociable de ce genre de programme.