Turkey’s national soccer team coach Fatih Terim talks during a press conference in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008. Turkey will play Armenia in a World Cup qualifier in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Sept. 6.
(AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta)
Turkey in Europe
Should I stay or should I go?*
* A Clash song.
Latif Demirci. 2 September 2008 Hürriyet VIA
RT Erdoğan: "you are attending the game in Erivan, ok?
A. Gül: "oh I don’t know. Would that be right?
President Abdullah Gül shouldn’t hold back and go to Armenia. It is congruent with AKP policies and with the EU process. Turkey should end this blind hostility anyway. Concessions to ultranationalists did not work so far. There must be a progressive move. Let’s see what happens in a few days as Mr. Gül willdeclare his decision…
Should Gül go to Yerevan?
As President Abdullah Gül continues to consider whether to accept an invitation from his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan, to go to Yerevan to watch a World Cup qualifying game between the national teams of the two countries, debates have intensified over the possible consequences of his Yerevan visit.
"Our generals? selectivity of security threats
Turkey’s new Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug, center, is flanked by President Abdullah Gul, right, and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, during the Victory Day reception in Ankara, Turkey, late Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008. The celebrations marking an 86-year-old victory over Greece which was considered crucial in Turkish Independence War which led to the foundation of modern Turkish republic.
(AP Photo)
Our generals used an updated terminology in which even Habermas was quoted but continued to maintain 1930s rhetoric. What I feel is that those anti-postmodernist, pro-status quo Turkish scholars might now be providing service to our generals. Better than nothing (!)
Some journalists like Ruşen Çakır read between the lines and provide a more positive outlook. But of course Mr. Çakır has shown signs of anti-Ergenekon case during summer. So it is your choice. I still liked some of his commentaries in NTV and I believe at the least the Chief of Staff- though classified as an hawk- will prefer not to explicitly intervene in politics.
As I noted before, I believe, as long as civil political authority is powerful, whatever rhetoric the military has, politics will be not be interfered…
Our generals’ selectivity of security threats
Today, telecommunications technology, globalization and increased education have transformed Turkey and provided it a level of transparency, leading many people to not be convinced by demagogic rhetoric.
"Between the bear and the elephant
I don’t know why but i cannot take the new cold war tension in Black Sea very seriously. My mind is somewherelse. But there is certainly some tension.
Between the bear and the elephant
Turkey is trying to tread a fine line of diplomacy between Russia and the West. As an American ally, Turkey has trained and partially equipped the Georgian armed forces under American guidance that aimed to encircle growing Russian power in the Caucasus.
"Montreux And Turkey
Montreux And Turkey
BY NASUHI GUNGOR
STAR- We should be watching developments in the Caucasus more closely. Yesterday Russia officially recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in response to requests from the two breakaway Georgian provinces, according to President Dmitry Medvedev. Considering the developments beginning with Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia earlier this month, this latest move might not seem surprising. But in terms of the bigger picture, one can say that through its recognition Russia took a risky step in a thorny area."
This might never happen:
EU waits for Turkey to break its political crises cycle
Now is the time for Turkey to eliminate obstacles and to continue on its path to European Union accession, said the EU enlargement commissioner in an article he wrote for Turkish daily Milliyet,
I am not sure what Mehmet Ali Birand means. Just listened the speeches of new generals. Not a single change in their discourse. Anti-globalist, anti-EU, anti postmodern. Yeah the new Army general accused of postmodern thought that are a threat to nation-state!!! :
New era at the TSK
Mehmet Ali Birand
"Nosemonkey interviewed: On EU blogs and Russia
Nosemonkey interviewed: On EU blogs and Russia
Believe it or not, from time to time people actually ask me for my opinion on things, rather than me just spouting out unsolicited words into the electronic ether and hoping that someone may spot them and correct my mistakes.
As such, this evening I’ll be doing the talking head thing on the BBC World Service’s World Have Your Say, trying to come up with a coherent theory about Russia’s current plans and how the rest of the world should respond. (Likely argument? Russia’s being childish and throwing a tantrum, and there’s usually two responses to tantrums: smack them or ignore them. Unfortunately, neither option’s really possible in this case.) Any suggestions much appreciated.
The Caucasus war viewed through Europe’s blogs
Blogospheres are vibrating in the aftermath of the war in the Caucasus. The need to understand and debate is huge, as spin doctors have been manipulating the news on both sides
NEXT NEWS IS WRONG. YOUTUBE STATED TODAY THAT THE BAN CONTINUES; Erkan now believes only a YouTube generation can save Turkey. So far, I haven’t heard a single person who defends the ban. Only after the system does not support any more those unique cases who goes to court for a ban and of course those backward-minded judges who support the unique cases…As you can see if these were particular, exceptional cases there would not be a ban. There is something more systemic.
YouTube returns after three-month ban
Access to YouTube, a popular video sharing Web site banned in early May by a controversial court decision for broadcasting videos deemed insulting to the nation’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was reinstated on Saturday night."
JITEM Linked To Human and Arms Trafficking…
Ergenekon divides Kurdish politicans, too.
Ergenekon Investigation: Military Unit Linked To Human and Arms Trafficking
Documents seized in a police raid on the house of an executive of a TV station as part of the ongoing Ergenekon operation have revealed that a secret and illicit military intelligence unit known as JITEM was engaged in several illegal acts, including drug and human smuggling and arms trade with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)….
"Anti-Turk Biden's Pelosi impasse
If things continue like this, Turkey-US relations will have tense moments. Mr. Bidden is good for Mr. Obama but not for Turkey. Or is it really the case?
An anti-Turkish vice president according to Hürriyet. He is known to defend Armenian, Greek, Cyprus lobby theses. But Foreign Policy experts state that Turkey is already changing is foreign policy attitudes and there won’t much new tension btw Turkey and US….
Barack Obama chooses Senator Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential running mate for 2008
Anti-Turk Biden’s Pelosi impasse
It is impossible to expect that Ankara will welcome Barack Obama’s decision to appoint Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.
Turkey's Third National Program
The Third National Program
Though the Third National Program declared last Monday by government spokesperson and State Minister Cemil Cicek raised hopes among the pro-EU intellectuals of Turkey, many are skeptical about the program’s prospects….
"Ergenekon: worries and hopes
last week something like a minor judiciary coup happened within judiciary circles. I realize today that I have not emphasized that enough. A prosecutor from Ankara ordered the search of Ergenekon’s Istanbul based prosecutor’s headquarters. The claim was that Ankara prosecutor believed there was illegal phone listening happening in Istanbul prosecutor’s office. So like an ambush, some officials visited the Istanbul office, then began to have a look who was being listened. This is a giant scandal. Some officials were found to be listing those who was being listened. This is a scandal. This is a judiciary intervention to an ongoing trial by another section of Turkish judiciary. I hear that some bureaucrats in Ankara are very anxious because of the Ergenekon trial.
I hear that there are already new ‘understandings’ after the AKP closure case. One shouldn’t be very hopeful any more (!).
Ergenekon: worries and hopes
What will the outcome of the Ergenekon case be? This question alone is sufficient to explain the hopes and worries about the future of Turkey.
Elder brother caught in Dink case
The older brother of one of the main suspects in the murder of journalist Hrant Dink was detained by police yesterday. Osman Hayal was detained for being in Istanbul when a teenage nationalist
Ergenekon questions in Malatya massacre case
The lead suspect in the Malatya massacre case denied any connection with retired Maj. Gen. Levent Ersöz, who was arrested in relation to the Ergenekon case, in a trial at Malatya’s Third Court
"853 Websites Banned in Turkey
FT.com / World – Turkish bloggers censure the censors
By Alex Barker in Ankara and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York
Turkish bloggers are closing their websites to protest against courts banning dozens of mainstream sites for carrying content deemed “immoral” or insulting to Turkey’s founding father."
853 Websites Banned in Turkey
There are currently 853 Web sites banned in Turkey, including video-sharing site YouTube and dailymotion.com, placing Turkey in the league of countries such as China and Saudi Arabia, famous for restricting freedom of speech.
Web sites are most often banned on grounds that they insult the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, contain vulgarity, enable gambling or promote suicide. Many sites have also been banned for crimes covered under the Internet Security Law. But a number of sites are banned for no apparent reason. The latest Web site to be banned was gundemonline.com, which was blocked by Ankara’s 11th High Criminal Court without any justification. VIA
"What did you do for the EU today?
This is a column title by İsmet Berkan but it well portrays my state of affairs; sort of. For the last few days, I am satisfied with the pace of writing and unfortunately these lonely office hours in evenings do not help. I would prefer a crowded and noisy office to this silent and being-alone office. I am glad this damn summer is ending. and here comes a round up mostly on Turkey’s fantasies with all-track diplomacy…
"Treatment of Widows and Divorced Women
In the following text, you will find a huge round up on Turkish society. I highlighted Jenny White’s emphasis on a particular section of Turkish women but there is also stuff on the threat of a new earthquake in Istanbul, Tuzla disasters, Turkish academia and in the mean time Istanbul is burning with heat and humidity. Boy, I am doing my best to ignore the evil weather!
Turkey's "'all-track' diplomacy"
AKP leaders are taking a risk by this all-track diplomacy. They might win big or lose big.
They have many in their cadres which could trigger this shift from traditional Turkish foreign policy and there have been signs of it already. Now, they are relieved of the closure ban and they are pushing for it.
After the visit of Iran’s leader, now there comes the mini African Summit and a notarious African leader, Bashir comes to Turkey second time in less than a year. As part of a grand plan, these risky visits might work but they are just too risky. The plan is to create independent good, powerful and profitable relations with neigbours. The plan is very innovative. After the 2nd WW, traditional Turkish foreign policy depended on its geostrategic importance for US. This symbolically ended in the first Gulf War where Turkey lost great and it became one of the sources of economic crisis in 2001. Major reliance on EU process in recent years also ended when AKP could not get enough of the process. Since 2004, AKP lost its belief in EU in general. I don’t think this means hostile thinking against EU or US. Although ideologues of the new FP attempt might be uneasy with them, their main goal seems to make Turkey a more equal partner in relations with EU or US.
However, even for those who try to be more neutral to AKP, there is the problem of substance. Is there any substance in possible relations with the new ‘allies’? Like it or not, TR has been part of the Western system since 2WW. Political, cultural, economic relations all depended on this system although they were never satisfying. Can there be sustainable relations with others? Particularly when some of the others are subject to systemic hostility?
The ideologues of the AKP Foreign Policy (first person to come to my mind is Prof. Ahmet Davutoğlu, is known to have Neo-Ottoman tendencies. However, he and others seem to be realistic, too.
A new art of ‘all-track’ diplomacy
Relieved by a Constitutional Court ruling against a ban that helped it avert a political crisis, it was natural for the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, to expect a few days of relaxation.
The Associated Press: Turkey’s Gul urges Sudan leader to end suffering
Sudan’s Bashir on visit to Turkey
Sudan’s president makes his first foreign trip since he was indicted on genocide charges by the International Criminal Court.
"Web Censorship Is So Bad in Turkey That Blogs Are Shutting Themselves Down In Protest
View of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. EFE/Emilio Naranjo. found in Chinese Director Zhang Yimou Presents Dazzling Opening Ceremony at The Olympic Games
I was not aware of this campaign as my life was disrupted by Yahoo! But probably I would not hear it on time. As usual, there is also a blogger community which is reclusive in some sense and I am an outsider. I realized this in a recent Turkish blogging awards stuff. I heard about the competition when the list of candidates were released. I compared mine and others in many categories and could not know why I wasn’t there. Most of blogs are in Turkish of course and blog networks are based on some sort of friendship networks. If you are not in it, then you are out. This is the same for many issues (like cinema circles) and not different in new media stuff. Otherwise, mine is known, too but only needed when they need a sample for ‘English language’ blogs:) Still the campaign is good though ‘authorities’ will only be happy to see more closed websites (!)
Web Censorship Is So Bad in Turkey That Blogs Are Shutting Themselves Down In Protest
Erick Schonfeld
It doesn’t take much to get your Website banned in Turkey. Pretty much any complaint to a lower court can get a Website blocked in the country. Websites including YouTube, DailyMotion, Alibaba, Slide.com, and some WordPress blogs have all been banned, usually because of some purported slight to the Turkish government or Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.”
148 Turkish websites in protest against government ban
This week 148 153 (the number is rising) Turkish websites are shut down as a protest against the government ban. The Turkish government blocks YouTube since January this year. And in the last few weeks various other international websites like DailyMotion are also blocked. The 148 website as listed here show this text at their frontpage:
Bu siteye erişim kendi kararıyla engellenmiştir