Turkey in Europe

A few more words on the "Kurdish Opening"

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Well, Turkish political agenda is full of new openings and summer was not a vacation time. Alas, I was in a sort of vacation and thus missed blogging about these openings (and crises, of course).

Brief ideas on the Kurdish opening:

1) High officials in the Turkish army backs the gov’t move. Without that backing, I do not believe AKP would be courageos enough to declare the move.

2) In the last elections, AKP realized that there is no way it can win hearts of CHP voting masses in Western, and Southern parts of Anatolia. Plus, despite the dose of rising nationalism, AKP lost votes to nationalist MHP in Central Anatolian towns. On the other hand, in Kurdish lands, AKP has a real chance. This opening may win some extra votes. This opening might be a "revenge" against nationalist Turks.

3) Nationalist reactions stayed at a ridiculous level. MHP leader’s too angry rhetoric reaches to absurdity instead of substantive opposition. CHP is already in an absurd situation since it now rejects what it had proposed as solution to Kurdish crisis decades ago…

Turkish army officers salute flag-covered coffin of Orhan Kilic, ...
Turkish army officers salute flag-covered coffin of Orhan Kilic, one of nine Turkish soldiers killed by Kurdish rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK at the Turkey-Iraq border two days ago, during a funeral service at the Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009.
(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

But of course, those opposing the opening, were quick to manipulate the funeral of killed Turkish soldiers… No surprise; hawks of both sides do not like an opening.

In the mean time, another opening comes with the Armenian side. And yet another comes with the EU as the wise men talk. Unfortunately, the gov’t scores miserably against the media. Even I am getting angry with gov’t moves against the Doğan Media Group. All about these can be found below…

 

Between social integration and political dissociation: Turkey’s Kurdish issue perception (1) by TAHA ÖZHAN

On Sept. 11, Armenian massacres, butterflies, the caliphate and the EU

 

 

 

 by ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ

Turkey hopeful on Armenia border

Turkey hopes to open its border with Armenia by the end of the year after the two countries announced they would sign accords to help end a century of hostility

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An anectode from the Victory Day celebration while 12 Days left…

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It is unbelievable but I have only 12 days left here. I do not have any night duties any more and thus I can sleep more and there is less physical work to do. I will probably be more online by next week. Last weekend there was the Victory Day celebrations and we were not … Read more

Last 24 days. Doable.

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I don’t like Nil Karaibrahimgil’s too girlish attitude much but I like this song as it bangs on my head in the internet cafe. Her summer hit.   There are 24 days to freedom. Now I am one of the closest ones to finish the service- called "tezkereciler". I am now bolder to ask for … Read more

Erkan has an unexpected half a day break

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From 10 am to  4 pm we are let to breath freedom again.

I had a good breakfast in the town center and then I rushed back to an internet cafe. I wasn’t expecting a break before 9 May but here we are. This is a short but still refreshing break.

As promised, our service time has become more comfortable. Our commanders tend to be more tolerant. However, some among us continously break rules which leads to collective punishment:(

Another film to remember: Das Experiment (2001) What happens when you gather and close down so many boys together…. Observable tension. Thanks god we will be distributed soon…

Yesterday, I could read nearly half of the day since it was an offical holiday (1 May- Labor Day). A very happy day.  I have three books that were confirmed by the officials here:

Romantic Motives: Essays on Anthropological…
Complete Short Fiction (Penguin Classics)
Oscar Wilde

 

In Kastamonu town center, I am in an internet cafe. I am so thirsty for metal music, so i decided to listen to i.e. Exodus’s "Pleasures of the Flesh" at Fizy.org. But since the album includes "obscene" keywords, I am not let to listen to this album. Cafe software is very alert… F**k this social conservatism!

First things in my life: I used a real gun for the first time in my life. It appears that I am not a good shooter at all:( I was not the worst one but my performance is certainly below the average. One out of 6 bullets could not be found at all.

I had to wash my socks since the canteen was out of stocks. However, they were still wet so I borrowed a new pair of socks from a friends.

There is the military accessoires industry here and I will buy what I need from those stores. They even rent cell phones!

Friends around me is the best thing here. I am making some life-long friendships.

We collected money for the poor young long-terms.

There is news that this short term military service will be cancelled and beginning with December 2009, there will be 12 month service…. I am glad I will be free before that. And in any case, that does not affect us. However, when you are contained and you have little access to news, rumors and speculations make life harder. In our ward, we did forbid talk of longer term service. even though a joke is intended. We do not need a joke that implies a longer service…

@hans: military life is the most difficult thing. I can live without being online for a while:) Although I could not think that before.

@ariane: Turks are best at making life difficult for themselves.

@celil: I am soooo glad to hear that. Forza Beşiktaş!

Opppsss Shuttle arrives soon. I have to rush.

See you on May 9!

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After Obama

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There is of course a huge flow of journalistic production. This is just a small bite. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to collect more links. In the very end, there are also a few links I had collected under the category "americana".

Taking it to the Kids

from Istanbul Calling by Yigal Schleifer


I had the chance yesterday to attend Barack Obama’s town hall meeting with some 100 Turkish university students. The event was broadcast live on Turkish television and seemed to me like another successful public diplomacy effort, particularly in a country where America’s image (or at least that of the American government) had sunk very low. Obama clearly has star power — "I love him!" one young woman told me — but listened carefully to the students’ questions and delivered serious, but down to earth, answers.

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Obama and me

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A message written by US president Barack Obama in the visitors' ...

A message written by US president Barack Obama in the visitors’ book at the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara. Obama, seeking to boost ties with a key Muslim ally, touted Washington’s strong ties with Turkey Monday and tread carefully on neighbouring Armenia’s decades-old genocide claims.

(AFP/Pool/Hakan Goktepe)

It is always a pity of a news junky like me not to be able to follow a great event properly. Mr. Obama is in town and it is no doubt that this is a historical moment and signifies the rightness of new Turkish foreign policy moves.

By this Sunday evening (12 April) my civilian lifes ends. By April 10, I will learn how long I will be in the army and where I will be stationed.

In the remaining days, I have to deal with tons of technicalities in addition to finishing up grading and extra classes.

Right at this moment, Tuesday morning before my 1st year course lecture, I have to thank Anthony Potoczniak, my dear friend from the department, who had sent me an email and told me that he will take care of my dissertation submission process. That has been a growing concern for me. I had to submit the hard copy of my dissertation to Graduate Office along with a series of formalities and right now I have this great relief that it can be done. Thank you very much Anthony!

As Taraf headlined stated yesterday Obama could win the elections in Turkey, too. Turks like him at many levels. One is certainly pragmatic. His visit means the real warming up of relations between Turkey and US. We had that tension since the beginning of Iraq War and now that we can be allies again:) It seems that like Mr. Clinton, Mr. Obama receives popular sympathy while Mr. Bush could not get any.

In the mean time, I have to deal with technicalities in my last days and I am really sad that I cannot follow this event properly…

For the news roundup: 

Turkish Digest

TurcoPundit

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As Mr. Obama comes to town…

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 Yuvakuran collects nearly all pieces on Turkey-US relations. Check out this blog for the latest… Talking to Turkey, but Islam is listening Mr. Obama and Turkey  

Franco-German pressure on Turkey for the NATO chief selection…

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I am watching the discussion on Turkey’s opposition against Mr. Rasmussen’s candidacy to head NATO in NTV news channel. It seems that even the former diplomats whom PM Erdoğan does not like, are supporting Turkey’s opposition… 

Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the Nato summit, 3 April

BBC: Anders Fogh Rasmussen had been the odds-on favourite

It looks like major EU powers were not too diplomatic; they nominated Mr. Rasmussen  without getting consent of Turkey. Turkey may not be a major power in EU but a major contributor in NATO. She probably contributed for NATO more than Germany and France did together. Here in Turkey, a consensus emerges: Franco-German alliance is an ill-intentioned move to isolate Turkey and weakend the already weakend TR-EU relations.Turkey accuses Mr. Rasmussen not being able to handle Danish Cartoon crisis but also ROJ TV’s position. ROJ TV is a TV channel organically linked with PKK and the channels still broadcasts from Denmark. Turks are probably angrier because of that and Cartoon crisis comes only as a second issue…

With the support of domestic consensus, PM Erdoğan may not give in. Today will be an exciting day for the news junkies:)

Turkey blocks Denmark’s Nato hopes

Turkey has blocked Europe’s candidate to head Nato, souring a summit marking the military alliance’s 60th anniversary and opening a new rift between Ankara

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Obama will be in town- soon

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Classy advertising magazine MediaCat has this cover for April. In my Facebook news-stream, I observe a reaction from Kemalist friends. They call for a protest against the magazine because it replaces Atatürk’s face from this classical photo in which Atatürk teaches the new alphabet to citizens…Title says "An educating leader and his constituency"

 

 an older roundup follows:

 

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Towards the service (Part II)- "8,6 liras"

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Jan Claire made this to cheer me up:) I could still not get my “dispatch” document from the military office. In fact, last week I was at my military office in Yeni Bosna, to where it takes half an hour to reach by Metrobüs, but I was told the bring the official copies of my … Read more

President Gül's historical visit to Iraq; another taboo broken

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Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul (L) and his wife Hayrunnisa Gul (C) pose with Iraq’s President’s Jalal Talabani and his wife Hero Ibrahim Ahmed (2nd L) during a welcoming ceremony at Salam Palace in Baghdad March 23, 2009. Talabani said on Monday the Turkish separatist guerrilla group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) must lay down its arms or leave Iraqi soil. The comments by Talabani, a Kurd, were some of the toughest made recently by an Iraqi leader against PKK rebels, who have used northern Iraq as a base to launch attacks in Turkey, straining ties between Baghdad and Ankara.REUTERS/Mohammed Jalil/Pool (IRAQ POLITICS)

 Apart from the expected protesting cries from die-hard nationalists or opposition, I observe that there is even a relief. Finally we did. Turkey had to recognize the regional Kurdish government in Northern Iraq and had to start relations with it. Even in pragmatic terms, this could be the next stage. Finally, Turkish State initiates a new era, in the mean time, the President uses the word "Kurdistan". I don’t personally believe this recognition helps separatists. It is an initiative for a friendly era. Separatists might even be upset. Because all parties, all hawks from all sides, seemed to have relied on some nonnegotiable positions. What to do with a not hostile but friendly Turkey? 

Yet another taboo dies in ’Kurdistan’

ANKARA – President Abdullah Gül’s first official uttering of the word ’Kurdistan’ in relation to the regional administration in northern Iraq sends shockwaves through the opposition, which fears this could encourage calls for more concessions and reveals foreign meddling.

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Peaceful Newroz this year…

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I am very glad to see that we have lived through a peaceful Newroz day. Although Turks in Turkey forgot to celebrate this Iranian- Central Asian event, Kurdish nationalism reminded us fast in the last decades… This is a scene of major administrators of Istanbul. from left to right, a commander- I don’t know his … Read more

"Turkish PM Erdogan confirms U.S. President Obama visit on April 6-7

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The New Wave of Foreign Policy Activism in Turkey

DIIS This 40-page Danish report investigates continuities and ruptures in Turkish foreign policy, with special reference to Europeanization

 

A round up in Turkish foreign policy… 

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"?Journalist?: the curious case of Mustafa Balbay

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‘Journalist’: the curious case of Mustafa Balbay

………………….

Let us examine the most spectacular case to date: the curious case of Mustafa Balbay.

I do hope you read his story in today’s paper. A colleague (daily Cumhuriyet) and a suspect in the Ergenekon case, Balbay, earlier taken into interrogation for alleged activities for being part of a terrorist organization with the aim of overthrowing the constitutional order and toppling the government, was recently detained again.

Immediately after the arrest, protests were heard: How dare you arrest a man who does his job, some columnists objected. Some of Balbay’s documents were taken to the prosecutor’s office and the protesters argued that he was entitled to keep secret documents at home. What’s wrong with that? some of his colleagues asked. Then, the entire episode developed into an action: A group of columnists gathered some days ago in what they call a "historic act" at Cumhuriyet and signed Balbay’s books for the public. "We are all Balbay!" they declared. According to the Press Council’s chairman, Oktay Ekşi, this act was to "defend the freedom of expression."

Then, on Monday, the Tempo weekly published the diaries of Balbay. He thought he had deleted them before the police raid and was surprised when the police told him that they had "saved" the entire text.

It is a document of shame: As you can read today, the diaries tell how deeply a "journalist" was involved in clandestine activity — as an accomplice, not as a covert reporter — to provoke top military officials to a coup.

"We are all Balbay," claimed the signatories: Ironically, it is true. The tragic fact is that when I look at them, I see only a mental impasse. The precedent they set in their capacity as leaders of journalistic organizations allows the invasion of Balbays to continue.

By the way, Chairman of the Press Council Ekşi is well known for his constant efforts in the 1990s to issue report after report to refute international organizations as CPJ, Reporters sans frontières, etc., which published lists of jailed journalists. Ekşi fully devoted his energies to tell them they were "terrorists," not "journalists." Those poor colleagues worked for small, leftist and fundamentalist journals. They were not entitled to be Balbays.

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Towards the service (Part I)

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My dear readers,
In less than a month, I am joining the mandatory military service. Every male Turkish citizens has to do the service and it is time for me now. After finishing the dissertation I have no more excuses and I have to do that.

There are several unknownables in the process. It is sort of a public secret. All served people know something but no one can know what expects you there. There is a great deal of arbitrariness. I will write about my curiosities until I join the service and in the mean time, we can discuss about these…

First of all there is the Turkish Penal Code (TCK 318): "Alienating people from military service". If one discusses about the military service in Turkey, s/he should bear in mind that you can be sued because of this article. This is already an issue between Turkey and EU but relatively minor one compared to other articles. Honestly, I do not believe I might be subject to this article anyway, but still it exists there as a check point:)

One frequent metaphor that comes to my mind is prison. Your freedom to act like in your daily life is temporarily lifted. To what extent, I have no idea. Can I continue to read? How much I can read? Can I be online? Only in weekends? Will I have permission to have weekends off? I know that service men are given temporary leaves in weekends. But how much? You sexual life is stopped. It is not very active anyway but still you know that even masturbation is hard to perfom among tens of men you will live with. Will I have any privacy at all? Your eating and sleeping patterns are also controlled. You have to sleep with tens of other fellow service men in the barracks. My hobbies, like cinema or music will also be abrupted. My means of communication will also be limited and controlled to a large extent. And of course my scholarly studies will also be paused. I will lose my salary, and I may even lose my job….

However, these questions may partially be answered in the first days of April where I will attend a symbolic test in the recruitment center somewhere on the far end of Istanbul and it will be determined: a) whether I will serve for 5.5 months as a private or will serve 12 months as a sort of lietunant. If I become a private, which I want because it is shorter, I will certainly lose most of my freedoms and prison analogy will work just fine. If I serve for the longer term, it will be like a civil servant and I will probably have my nights and weekends back and i will also be paid. Still less than my salary but better than nothing. b) where I will serve. Anywhere in Turkey possible at the moment. c) as what I will serve. Which section of the Turkish army I will be in…

to be continued.


Turkish army posters for Women’s Day. "How happy is the Turkish woman who gave birth to Atatürk." Two more posters can be found here .

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