Enver Aydemir needs help

“conscientious objector Enver Aydemir is in military prison under torture” Enver Aydemir, Turkey’s first conscientious objector based on religious reasons, has been arrested and sent to a military prison. Military prisons are already notarious places and it is very likely that Mr. Aydemir is exposed to torture… Bianet news in Turkish. A Facebook support group … Read more

Rakı industry strikes back, Rakı viral ads in the net

Since advertising of alcoholic beverages are very limited, more video ads are circulating thru social media. Here is the latest one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf-IyC-zKNw

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Turkey’s (another) shame

Elected Kurdish mayors are handcuffed while taken to the court. That was not necessary. Probably it is the work of an officious local police chief….

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And Muslim Turks make peace with Christmas

My older sister loves all kinds of decorations on special days. This was always an annoyment for the rest of kids in the family. Now she is married and I hear that she takes her hobby to a new level.  They have a Christmas tree and had worked on decorating it. Of course, they do this to welcome the new year. Christmas and new year practices are blended in many Turkish minds into new year celebrations. Surprisingly enough, my sister always criticises me for consuming alcohol. She is not veiled at all but she is quite a practicing religion woman and I am frequently subject to her anger that I am not a good Muslim. Funny.

Santa movie spotlights Turkey’s east-west divide
CNN
ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) — It may be the first modern Christmas movie ever made for audiences in Turkey, a mostly Muslim country that does not celebrate

EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight – Turkey: Istanbul Gets in the Christmas Spirit

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Avatar, the movie

last updated: 06 March 2010 On a stormy Sunday night, I rushed back to Mecidiyeköy to meet with Özgür and watch Avatar. The film started at 21 and at 20 I was still Bahçelievler and my car’s alarm system was suddenly broke. I and dad disabled the alarm system so I could drive and be … Read more

Community news: Ömer Heval is 32 days old today.

32 days ago, my dearest friend Çetin became a father. The parents named the new born, Ömer Heval. (Heval is comrade/friend in Kurdish). It was a cesarian birth. So we could meet on time to wait for the new arrival:) So far so good. Mum is good, son is healthy. Today, Ömer accompanied us to … Read more

Mavi Boncuk: EU and "ahde vefa" [pacta sunt servanda]

EU and “ahde vefa”

The recommendation adopted by the European Commission on July 15 2009 allows the citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia with biometric passports to enter the Schengen area visa-free from January 2010
Mavi Boncuk |

Pacta sunt servanda L./Ahde vefa TR /agreements must be kept ENG., is a basic principle of civil law and of international law.

( EU must explain this part to Turkey)

In its most common sense, the principle refers to private contracts, stressing that contained clauses are law between the parties, and implies that non-fulfilment of respective obligations is a breach of the pact. The general principle of correct behaviour in commercial praxis ? and implies the bona fide ? is a requirement for the efficacy of the whole system, so the eventual disorder is sometimes punished by the law of some systems even without any direct penalty incurred by any of the parties.

EU Places Early Member Candidates at Head of Line, Snubbing Turkey

from Kamil Pasha by Jenny White

The EU lifted visa restrictions Saturday for citizens from Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, even though these are in the early stages of the EU membership process, while not extending this Schengen privilege to Turkey, which began accession talks in 2005 and has opened 11 out of 35 chapters in its membership negotiations. Turkey protested and has asked to be included in the Schengen regime, pointing out that, of the Balkan states affected, only Macedonia has attained the status of EU candidate. Serbia has yet to submit a formal application and its entry has been stalled due to its failure to arrest ex-Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, who has been charged with war crimes in the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo.

Trust in EU drops in Turkey: Survey [ WORLD BULLETIN- TURKEY NEWS, WORLD NEWS ]

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Thus spake Öcalan, DTP MEPs shall not resign!

So DTP MPs decided not to resign because PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan said it was not all right. Some dailies quoted peaceful messages from Mr. Öcalan today. I wonder what he was thinking in the last two months. Because he also contributed by his statements sabotage of Democratic Initiative that lead to the closure of DTP. Now he talks again about peace. Pro-Kurdish politics is as dirty as Turkish Nationalist politics. That’s certain…

After Fenerbahçe, Before Manchester United game, best Beşiktaş videos…

Last Saturday we had an unexpectedly good win over Fenerbahçe: 3-0. Today we meet against Manchester United in an away game. Although our defensive line is surprisingly successful in the Turkish Super League (the least goal conceding team at the moment), I just hope we won’t concede more than 5 goals tonight:) At the very end, there is roundup on both games and of course any video recommendations are welcome…

Pyroshow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmbrvV3Y1hU

 

A good collection of Beşiktaş songs/chants:

 

Beşiktaş fans in FB away game:

 

 

Besiktas' supporters club - Carsi

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Museum of Innocence is out in English…

Museum of Innocence
Museum of Innocence

last updated: 30 Oct 2010

I have read the novel, The Museum of Innocence,  in Turkish last year. In strictly literary terms, this is his weakest novel. However, a very different sort of project intended here. An actual museum has been built in Istanbul and will be opened soon. This book  is a novel-catalogue that actual museum and a great documentary of a particular section of Istanbul’s everyday life. Another intervention to the lives of republican Turkish elites. In the mean time, I have a plan to assign the first 100 pages to my first year students which has a very rich account of approaches to relations, sex and gender roles which are still valid in contemporary Turkish lives.

I was not in love with the literary level of narratives particularly but towards the end I fell in love and in the last pages  I remember feeling sad and crying… Thank you Orhan Pamuk. You do enrich our lives.

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Farewell to our beloved, Dicle Koğacıoğlu

Funeral services will take place at lunch time, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 at the Zincirlikuyu Mosque; burial services will be at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. There are two persons whom I will always be grateful for my academic survival. Prof. Aydın Uğur who employed me as a teaching assistant at Bilgi U. in 2000 and Prof. Nükhet … Read more

Days before the defense

Despite several attempts I could not go back to writing and I did not hear from my professors. Because there are sections that need more work, my readers’ feedback could be overwhelming. I have to do some preemptive work, but so far I could not do. I did some more reading. I did have a … Read more

New Orhan Pamuk novel released today and Erkan republishes his piece on Pamuk novels

Turkey’s Nobel laureate Pamuk to release new novel

World-famous Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, who was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, focuses on love as well as details in daily life in his latest novel ‘Masumiyet Muzesi’, (the Museum of Innocence).”

Originally published on October 20, 2006

A brief -recent- history of Erkan thru Orhan Pamuk’s novels…

Here is my most personal take with Orhan Pamuk. I had always a particular taste for his literary talents- I know this will annoy some of my loyal readers though:(- and here is an experiment of writing inspired by Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch

I don’t exactly know when the first time I read a Pamuk novel. It was probably in my first or second year in college and I should have worked hard to go beyond the intellectualist consensus not to read him. That is, there was already a Pamuk buzz and? intellectuals? do not read the popular. His current publisher in Turkey, Iletisim, had transferred him from another, Can, and though I hadn’t read him yet, I already heard the transfer price, that was a first in the history of Turkish literature I guess, and this had a negative effect on some of his would-be readers. But things change and I have a taste for the popular anyway. When I started to read Pamuk I had realized that he didn’t deserve to be popular (!), and hence Erkan’s infatuation with Pamuk novels begins.

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