Turkish politics roundup (3): Ergenekon trial/ Col. Çiçek sacrificied by the coup plotters?

The military?s weapons by MÜMTAZ?ER TÜRKÖNE Turks take pride in their military heritage and in being a ?people of the army.? However, debates on adopting a professional army reveal just how little Turks know about military matters. Assassination plans of “Sledgehammer” from Hurriyet Dailynews The indictment of the alleged coup plot known as Operation: Sledgehammer … Read more

Turkish politics roundup (2): CHP, Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu meeting, Internal struggle at SP…

Erbakan supporters call for new SP convention from Hurriyet Dailynews The recent Saadet Party convention failed to yield the expected solidarity, the founder of the party has said as his supporters call for a new convention. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and main opposition Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu shake hands during … Read more

Turkish politics roundup (1): Referendum and judiciary

ŞAHİN ALPAY – Referendum to further consolidate democracy The military in Turkey staged a coup d?état on Sept. 12, 1980, held power for nearly three years and adopted a highly authoritarian constitution that reinforced the tutelary powers of the military and judiciary over democracy before allowing elections and the reintroduction of multi-party politics. Turkey’s Prime … Read more

Cyberculture roundup: “Top 10 movies on Facebook” etc…

Top 10 movies on Facebook

from Facebook Statistics, Application Statistics, Page Statistics
Check all changes of Top 10 movies on Facebook out in last 6 months!

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Euro roundup: Euroblogging, incoming French Burqa ban and more…

Under the influence?

from Open Europe blog

The public affairs firm Waggener Edstrom issued their first ever study of the influence of EU affairs blogs yesterday, ranking the Open Europe blog 7th overall.

Here is the top ten:
BBC | Gavin Hewitt?s Europe
FT Brussels Blog
The Digger
Fistful of Euros
Jon Worth / Euroblog
Stanley?s Blog
Open Europe blog
Julien Frisch | Watching Europe
ECJ Blog
Neelie Kroes

The full study is available here:
http://www.openeurope.org.uk/docs/Waggeneredstromindex.pdf

We the Euroblogs

by Grahnlaw

What do they think about us?

Introspection seems to be a favourite among extroverts.

The Waggener Edstrom Brussels Blogger Study 2010 triggered talk among independent Eurobloggers ? on Twitter (as well as on blogs).

You?re reading the 5th most influential blog in Brussels (apparently)

Euroblogs debating Euroblogosphere: Navel-gazing? Professionalism?

by Grahnlaw

With the help of the Twitter discussion under the hashtag #bbs10 (now seven plus pages), let us track the discussion in and about the Euroblogosphere following the Waggener Edstrom Brussels Blogger Study 2010. In addition to the blog entries, remember to read the interesting comments, a sign of an emerging Eurosphere.

The EU and mobile phone / 3G data roaming

from Jon Worth

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Elif on the “moustache polemic”

It?s just the matter of ?moustache? These days, Turkey witnesses an interesting argument between Hüseyin Çelik (vice president of AKP) and Devlet Bahçeli (the head of MHP) which can be called as a ?moustache polemic? A few days ago, Mr. Çelik told that there were some people who look like militants with their long mustache … Read more

SETA report: “Arab Image in Turkey

Arab Image in Turkey
Source: SETA
Introduction:

Myths, stereotypes, prejudices and images increasingly exert their influence in international politics and transnational relations. Socially and politically constructed myths and stereotypes about the ?others? are being re-produced and re-circulated by the forces of globalization and used to legitimize policy options more than ever. In this context, increasing role of the public opinion and popular choices are being paid a special attention as ?images? become invisible actors in the international environment and in the making of alliances based on social, political and cultural approximation among the nation states. Growing use of myths, stereotypes, prejudices and images, whether historically rooted or recently constructed, in political and popular discourse, which is facilitated by the media and educational material, requires a closer attention. Derived from these considerations, this Policy Report focuses on the image of Arabs in modern Turkey. It explores the roots of prevailing and dominant perceptions, investigates how the media and popular culture contribute to the construction of images pertaining to Arabs and examines the current public opinion drawing upon a nation-wide survey.

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Greetings from Amasya

Things may have gone wild all over Turkey or in the world but i have had a lovely 3 day trip with two beloveds that ends today. I will arrive back to Istanbul Monday morning and resume my ordinary life – or maybe not. My life may have already started to change for better after … Read more

Erkan?s field diary: Top posts of the week and month

Top Posts for 7 days ending 2010-07-18 1- A video: Turkish Porn Star Şahin K?s comedy film trailer 2- the Saka family 3- Milli Motor/ Milli Tüp 4- Erkan, Çetin and Sarah, on their way to Samsun 5- Sonisphere Istanbul 2010 aftermath, photos, videos? 6- Elif: Aşk-ı Memnu: Forbidden love killed a woman and injured … Read more

Alice in Chains bullshitting about Istanbul in their blog

In their blog post about their Istanbul experience during Sonisphere 2010 the author bullshits (their software do not allow to give this link to this moronic piece of writing: Istanbul was unlike any city we’ve ever been to. It’s the fourth largest city in the world, so it’s huge, and culturally, it’s very different from … Read more

Sevcan Çelik on the March against Web Censorship

Protest against web censorship Today we walked from Taksim Square to Galatasaray in Istkklal street. Once again, I thought that we are not alone, and it was not a simple crowd. A good team was there from our limited cybersphere but it was not enough. [many of photos here are provided by Elif, our other … Read more

Erkan, Çetin and Sarah, on their way to Samsun

View Larger Map We start a trip from Istanbul to Samsun tomorrow morning. We will attend a friend’s wedding in a Samsun town, Çarşamba and then move to Eastern Black Sea towns for a few days… With two beloved persons, I am expecting to have a refreshing and memorable journey… a view from Çarşamba…

the Saka family

I am having extraordinarily busy days. So I could not keep up with blogging as much as I wanted. But I am mostly engaged with things I am really happy about. One includes the graduation ceremony of Nurdan, my younger sister. She has graduated from the Law School of Marmara University, Istanbul. This is a … Read more

Dervish House: A Sci-Fi novel that takes place in Istanbul

here is the Amazon link. I haven’t read it yet but I am looking forward to reading it… Ian McDonald’s DERVISH HOUSE, superb novel of the mystical nano future of Istanbul from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow I’ve just finished Ian McDonald’s new novel, The Dervish House. I know what to expect from Ian McDonald: … Read more

A campaign for İsmail Beşikçi

İsmail Beşikçi is tried again. A radical intellectual who spent a long amount of his life in prison (17 years)… There is a blog in Turkish (Gerçek İnatçıdır) for a campaign to support İsmail Beşikçi…