19 January. Friends of Hrant invite you to remember the assassination

19 Jan 2007: Hrant Dink was killed by an armed attack he was exposed to at around 15.00 hrs on his way out of Agos newspaper on Halaskargazi street, Istanbul. His friends invite you to commemorate in front of the Agos newspaper on Jan 19. More possible info in English here.

Introducing Turkish Cybersphere (3)- Turkish online news sites and more

A list of Turkish online news sites. Not necessarily the completed list. All new additions are welcome. Aktif Haber Açık İstihbarat BIANET Boyut Haber Cafe Siyaset Dünya Bülteni En Son Haber EtikHaber GazeteDergi.com gazetem.net Gazeteport Gazeteciler Gerçek Gündem: Haber3.com Haber7 Haberkenti Haberler.Com HABERTÜRK haberciler.com Haber Vitrini Haber X Haksöz Haber İnternethaber iyibilgi.com Kodadimedya.com Leyditurk.com MEDYATAVA … Read more

Turkey is not heading towards civilian fascism…

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As the military tutelage is under heavy assault, another wave of counter-attack comes from the pro-military circles. That definitely does not mean anyone suspecting of a possible civilian fascism era is pro-military. But hegemonic issues are complicated and thus it is hard to detect who is who in these hegemonic struggles. A sincerely concerned columnist’s ideas may easily be manipulated. Like Şerif Mardin’s ideas on “neighborhood pressure” before, some sincere ideas seems to be manipulated these days. My brief ideas for the moment:

1. It is a normalization baby.In many fronts. Turkey’s leadership was so distanced from the ordinary citizens. A total separation of worlds. Now it looks a bit similar. Is this good? I don’t know. But arrogant materially westernized but mentally oriental and distanced Turkish elites are replaced arrogant materially local and mentally local and seemingly less distanced elites.This annoys circles associated with older elites. These maybe sincerely democratic in thought but class counts. Social class reflexes rise unconsciously as the transformation of elites continue…

2. Just having a larger historical perspective: Was there any time in Turkish Republican that is better than now? This strongly worded “civilian fascism” always existed if one has to admit its existence. But there was always a military tutelage to this civilian fascism. (As if military tutelage was possible without civilian backing). Now the latter is gone (I am still not sure about that, too), civilians can enter into intelligible communication about democratization. Now that some parties will not call the Army for help!

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Who will stop the Edirne lynchers?

In the last two weeks, there have been at least three incidents of communal lynching attempts in Turkey. Lynchers are frustrated and but coward people. They act only after they feel they will not be punished. Security forces in these incidents prove the theory that they are late to react… Today same group of lynchers … Read more

T. Boellstorff: Coming of Age in Second Life

I recently finished reading Tom Boellstorff’s Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. As an anthropologist Prof. Boellstroff added another site to the Archive of anthropology. It surely became a must-read in the growing anthropological literature on cybercultures. My major concern is what he repeatedly insists (also in the quotation … Read more

Deserved buzz for Flashforward

Just finished watching the first 10 episodes of Flashforward. A Serial that got quite a buzz around me. Most of the people got an interest in it because of its relatedness (thru producers and casting) to the TV Series Lost. Well, Lost remains to be one of my all time TV series favorite. Flashforward remains … Read more

A documentary on Hrant Dink

[links updated] A documentary by Ümit Kıvanç. “Justice for Hrant Dink” Check out the channel for Dink: vimeo.com/channels/hrantdink And more info about the documentary here.

Erkan’s collection of year lists: 2007-2010

Update: 3 Jan 2010 Some links may not work. 2007 2008 2009 2010 caricaturque has a great collection of New year greeting e-cards: Greeting e-cards arrived on the New Year’s Eve and more here New Year 2010 greeting e-cards most recently received From the anthro world: Happy New Year with lists!

Erkan’s Field Diary wishes a happy 2010…

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VIA

Special days like New Year’s Eve make me so tense. Social pressure. Such alienation, such loneliness. It all comes back to Durkheim’s arguments in Suicide. I hope it passes very quickly. As a man of ordinary life and finding bliss in it, it is very hard to go through these days. Yesterday we had a Faculty happy new year cocktail. I found refuge in my office and out of frustration, I did this silly thing of collecting interesting happy new year images in the web while checking my emails and finding tens of  new year greetings. Yes, I have my own resolutions and plans and hopeful indeed but of course happiness and peace of mind are not something planned to happen… In this sunny Istanbul afternoon, I meet with Çetin and other friends to make the final decision on Milli İstirahat’s template. We re-launch our old fanzine as a a web-zine any time now. This might make me happy.

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VIA

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Ertuğrul Özkök resigns.

update: 05 Jan 2010 (Aydın Doğan is gone, too) Probably one of the most reviled Turkish journalist, Ertuğrul Özkök resigned from his position as the Chief Editor of Hürriyet. His Wikipedia portrayal is ironic: Ertuğrul Özkök is a Turkish journalist and a daily columnist, currently the editorial writer for Hürriyet, a daily newspaper published in … Read more

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:

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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