253 Turks were saved in Istanbul from drowning last weekend

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Hot and humid weather frustrate Istanbulians and they rush towards water but without much swimming skills (or hygienic conditions). A Hürriyet report states 253 were saved from drowning last weekend… photo from haberciniz.biz and a ROUNDUP Professional army still in planning stages, Turkish defense minister says from Hurriyet Dailynews Responding to reports that the military … Read more

Such a frustrating day…A few words on manners and Open source in academy (!)

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I was accused of Piracy today by a quite well-known scholar on web censorship issues.  Not publicly though. In a previous post I gave a link to his book whose link I found through my friendfeed news flow. I admit it was my mistake to give link to a piratedly submitted copy of the book. … Read more

Human Rights roundup. Where were we? At least as a good sign, the State remembers the Sivas massacre

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What was Sivas Massacre? here Massacre photos here and here. Turkey commemorates Sivas massacre from Hurriyet Dailynews Turkish government authorities joined Friday for the first time ceremonies commemorating a massacre 17 years ago in the central Anatolian province of Sivas. Feminists from 22 Countries Meet in Istanbul from Bianet :: English Feminists from Greece and … Read more

Can Erol: [in Quarter finals] Is there any surprise? Certainly not!

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Uruguay’s Sebastian Eguren carries Luis Suarez (top) as they celebrate after the team won a penalty shootout against Ghana in a 2010 World Cup quarter-final soccer match at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg July 2, 2010. REUTERS/Henry Romero Is there any surprise? Certainly not! The quarter finals were really amazing and past with remarkable games … Read more

Elif: Why Kemal Sunal?

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Why should we mention Kemal Sunal? In his 10th death anniversary, Kemal Sunal who is  one of the best comedy actors in Turkish Cinema history and who is humorously nicknamed as ?İnek Şaban? was alone with his family. Despite the common view that Kemal Sunal played in the movies that didn?t contribute to ,  Mr. … Read more

Against the current: The Times charges its readers

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They could not find a new business model and instead they charge us. I can just skip the Times. Journalistic elitism will only satisfy journalistic elites…. Times now charging online readers from BBC News | Europe | World Edition The Times becomes the biggest UK newspaper to begin charging its readers to access its online … Read more

Three coverpages that parodizes web censorship (by Selçuk Erdem)

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Selçuk Erdem was kind enough to offer these three coverpages he had prepared to be used in campaign against web censorship. Well, I am lazy to translate but google translation will help, I believe… RSF Campaign in defence of online free expression Court Insists on YouTub Censorship from Bianet :: English An Ankara court has … Read more

Unirock 2010: Metal Storm is not over yet

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Well, I have the festival fatigue now (!). After Sonisphere, now we have Unirock festival. It is unfortunate that this great event comes only a week after the mega great event, Sonisphere. I could not not attend the Friday night concerts thus missing Overkill. An old time favorite for me. People told me they had … Read more

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

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http://subnetwork.posterous.com/read-more-books-than-blogs found in Read more books than blogs *************************** Top Posts for 7 days ending 2010-07-04 1- A video: Turkish Porn Star Şahin K?s comedy film trailer 2- Sonisphere Istanbul 2010 aftermath, photos, videos? 3- Elif: Aşk-ı Memnu: Forbidden love killed a woman and injured the rest 4- A video: We are Turkish Airlines, We … Read more

FP roundup: ‘Secret’ talks with Israel, that everybody knows, New chapters opened in the EU negotiations etc

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Turkish Foreign Policy continues to surprise many as they are determined to think in old terms. Turkey does not aim to leave its place in “Western” world. She just diversifies and empowers its role. Thus, she can still continue to talk to Israel and she will… Israel’s Trade Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer, seen here in … Read more

Web Censorship in Turkey: An Impasse due to a Minister who takes it personal, Kemalist complicity with the politically conservative judiciary and Indifferent user base

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http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_O0ah_LO3LiI/SnsGDJ2cHLI/AAAAAAAAN1Y/Db0I4-0bcSc/s400/sansur.jpg

I feel that Mr. Yıldırım takes the web censorship issues in a very personal level in his continuously apologetic speeches. Maybe indifference of Google administrators made him angry and he is also annoyed by netizens who criticize him of web ignorance. He keeps on using nationalistic arguments, he acts as if he is the minister of finance and he keeps telling his successes in infrastructural developments and in the mean time he builds an alliance within the information technology community (see the infotech awards below). His road-making etc is all right but I wish he wasn’t involved in information highways. Yes, during his ministry Turkey succeeded to contain all fiber highways in and out of Turkey so that all web flow can be controlled. Now private companies are not allowed to have their own. All submits the central authority. Very successful Mr. Yıldırım…

In a recent BBC news (see below) head of the Ataturk Thought Association defends their position in complaining about videos etc that insult Atatürk. Her mindset is so small that she cannot see that this in long turn weakens Atatürk’s image. She and her crew live so far away from fellow netizens…

And users are quite tech savvy. They can still access Youtube etc. and they don’t need to protest in any way. I saw tons of videos about Sonisphere are already uploaded to YouTube, which is banned for more than 2 years… But the growing censorship begins to threaten digital economies. That’s what I hear. but this does not have an impact on ordinary users yet…

These are Turkish ways sometimes I like (having such ridiculous situations is not easy to achieve) and mostly I hate…

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Report: Ergenekon is our reality

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Turkish NGOs defend Ergenekon investigation with report from Hurriyet Dailynews The legitimacy of the Ergenekon case has now been defended on a point-by-point basis by two civil society organizations that published a report Thursday supporting the investigation. complete report can be accessed here. politics roundup: Bulwark polemic in Turkish politics (!) TESEV?s Kurban: Solving Kurdish … Read more

A Campaign: Play for Nature

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There are funny and beautiful videos sent by users.. check out the site: official site Play for Nature is a project of agaclar.net. The consequences of what?s being done to the world are obvious. The earth and the atmosphere are sending us warning signals. Global climate changes, with floods, melting ice glaciers, rising sea levels … Read more

An Academic Job Satisfaction survey etc..

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No, Turkey is not in it. 18 countries included: Worldwide Academic Job Satisfaction July 2, 2010 A study of academics in 18 countries has highlighted disparities in the satisfaction levels among university staff around the world. Job Satisfaction on Scale of 1-5 by Academics in 18 Countries 2.5 Britain 3 Portugal, Australia, China 3.5 Finland, … Read more

Euro roundup: Belgian EU Presidency begins

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MAIN FOCUS: Divided Belgium takes over EU presidency | 01/07/2010

from euro|topics

Belgium takes over the EU Council Presidency for six months today, Thursday. But the country is deeply divided politically and has only a provisional government led by former Premier Yves Leterne, who was voted out of office in June. The press, however, is confident of the strength of the EU and believes the current Belgian regionalism is a model for Europe.

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