Germany's Problem Is Not Merkel

Tonight, any German whose political opinions are progressive enough would appreciate the words of Umberto Eco.

Like I had done after Tayyip Erdogan won the latest elections in Turkey and Nicolas Sarkozy was elected as the President of France...

What did Eco say?

"Italy's problem is not Silvio Berlusconi. (...) If society has permitted him, why should we blame the man rather than the society which has allowed him to have his way?"

PS: The Blogger access seems normal now, but I won't be posting for a week. I'll be in Brussels for a European Commission programme.

Islamist Aesthetics

This is the family photo of the first ladies at G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh. The only first lady with a headscarf was Emine Erdogan, the wife of Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan.

I won't talk about how the popular evolution in Turkey have happened, wiping off the modern, secular women values for sake of a medieval mentality, as it had been experienced in Iran with a popular revolution.

Not politics, but aesthetics is what concerns me most here. Beyond the troubled waters of objectivity, this shabby attire doesn't represent anything about Turkish or Islamic culture. It is just kitsch without any character.

Isn't Indonesian First Lady Muslim enough for not covering her hair? Why these Islamists copy either the Saudi or the Iranian conservative life style and their postmodern attire which was inspired by no one but Christian nuns?

Maybe because they don't have a root in their own culture...

Shortly, I would argue that the problem is not about Erdogan's wife. The problem is about the tastelessness of almost all Islamists in Turkey and the reason is the foreign substance of their perverse interpretation of the religion...

PS: According to the Quran, the headscarf is not an obligation. The Quran only suggests that the women should cover their 'precious ornaments'. As some perverts can only think about sex, they defend that this verse refers to women breasts. Like all normal people, I believe that this verse doesn't have any figurative meaning. During the time of Prophet Mohammed, many Arab women were showing off their jeweleries. It was one of the worst trends of the time, damaging the social cohesion.

The Last of the Ottomans

Osman Ertugrul, the head of the Ottoman dynasty and the last pretender to the abolished imperial throne, has died aged 97 following a long illness.

What I most like about him was that Ertugrul had never ever criticized Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who led the republican revolution which deposed his family. In an interview for Al Jazeera television in 2008, Ertugrul had refused to say an unkind word about Ataturk.

He would have been known as Ertugrul I or Osman V if he had ever ascended to the throne of the empire that ruled for more than 600 years.

* * *

I am against any kind of monarchies and I find the concept of dynasties or social classes as the result of a quasi-racist mindset, whether in the UK or in the caste system of India.

At the same time, I am kind of sad for what the last Ottomans experienced after they were sent to exile. They should have been repatriated long ago.

Having only returned to Turkey in the early 1990s at the invitation of the government, Ertugrul was a true gentleman, who went to Dolmabahce - the palace by the Bosphorus where he had played as a child, and opted to join a tourist group in order to avoid any red carpet treatment.

Political opinions and humane feelings are two different things.

Rest in peace.

A Giant Leap for Turkey

Two good news:

1) I've found a way to login to my Blogger account and keep posting. That's a small step for a man.

2) And I've learned that the first satellite manufactured in Turkey was launched from a base in India yesterday.

A giant leap for Turkey? But why? To universalize our government's Youtube-MySpace-LastFm ban?

MySpace and LastFm is Banned, And Blogger?

I can't post regularly nowadays because there is a serious problem with Blogger in Turkey. The company announced that they are aware of this problem and investigating the issue.

I hope this is not another Blogger ban in Turkey, as we have all signs that the censoring behaviour disorder of the AKP government persists as can be seen from the latest access restrictions.

It is unbelievable but MySpace and LastFm are banned in Turkey now. And some people still defend that AKP has been building a better democracy in this country for the last eight years...

The newspaper I work for faces a 2.5 billion dollar worth tax penalty and I don't have access to my blog, my social and musical profiles anymore... Yeah, a democracy can't be better under this Islamist rule...

PS: I'm using http tunneling to send this post, although it's very inconvenient. If the problem is not solved, my post frequency will naturally be reduced.

EuroBasket Quarter Finals

I'm passionately following European Basketball Championship 2009. After Turkey qualified from the second group stage, the Quarter Finals match-ups seem -by chance- like a regional Eurobasket pair-off. Check it:

France - Spain (as if it is the final of the Western European Conference)

Turkey - Greece (the Southern European Conference)

Slovenia - Croatia (the Central European Conference)

Russia - Serbia (the Slavic Conference)

Power Broker or Pawn?

Turkey's new foreign policy is on the spotlight again, following the recent efforts of regional mediation.

Unfortunately, I can't see anything to celebrate here. Turkey seems like a pawn, not a power broker.

The procedure on the upcoming negotiations between Iran and the West proves that the AKP government functions as a front for the United States.

I'm not anti-American, but I know that as a sovereign nation-state, your interests cannot completely match up with any other state. At some point, they surely contradict.

However, whatever AKP does (the Kurdish Gambit, Armenian reconciliation, etc) are perfectly in line with the US policies nowadays.

Not only the 8-billion-dollars worth gift from Ankara to Turkey, but also the latest contradictions and the inconsistency in the statements of Turkey's foreign ministry prove it.

Check two flash stories of the last three days:

1)

Turkey says wants to help, not host Iran nuclear talks

ANKARA, Sept 13, 2009 (AFP) - Turkey wants to help overcome differences between world powers and Iran over Tehran's latest proposals to resolve a nuclear row but not to host a meeting with that aim, Ankara said on Sunday. The declaration came after Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying that Ankara was ready to host such talks.

2)

Iran nuclear talks likely in Turkey

ANKARA, Sept 15, 2009 (VOA) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told a group of reporters that talks between world powers and Iran will "very likely" be held October 1 in Turkey. Turkey is seen as an ideal host, says co-executive director of the British-American Information Security Council Paul Ingram. "I think it is keen to be seen to be player. It is probably a good thing that the West has chosen to take Turkey up on its offer to play this sort of role."

* * *

So Turkey offered to host these talks, then denied it, then the visitors somehow accepted the non-existing invitation, then Turkey thanked them and started to prepare for the talks.

A determined, independent foreign policy under AKP?

You gotta be kidding.

AKP's Istanbul: The Metropoolis

This is the highway that links Istanbul's main airport to the Trans-European Motorway. Hurriyet Media Towers, a 13-storey office building where I work, is located just a few hundreds meter away from the point that this photograph was taken three days ago. Istanbul was chosen for the Top Ten Cities of the world by Time Out last week.

Three days ago, flash floods claimed 31 lives in Istanbul. The rain was devastating (three times more than the average rainfall for whole September was recorded in the city in just 48 hours), but it was not unprecented. It happens at least once almost in every decade.

The deaths were almost completely localized. Sleeping drivers in a trailer park, women textile workers who couldn't swim but were brave enough to head into the flood with a shuttle without a windshield!..

But why localized? The answer is simple: The flood happened because of certain creeks which overflow their banks even when it drizzles. So the disaster area was made up of the districts around these rehabilitated creeks.

The numbers, other than the ones for the casualties, tell about it all: The flood effected 1534 homes and 846 business premises. 33 buildings are completely destroyed and 53 of them are now inhabitable.

So the people who are responsible because of this disaster and who should resign is obvious: The city officials, especially the mayor, who couldn't avoided a disaster that could indeed be avoided. And what does the mayor do? Here is the answer:

Kadir Topbas, Mayor of Istanbul and the "elder brother" of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, firstly accused the people who died. Then, while showing a diagram that resembles a kindergarten drawing (below), he put the blame on previous city administrations. And finally, he accused the military for hosting a overflown pond, even though this little reservoir was 2 km away from the flood!

So here we have another example of AKP hypocrisy. I've never seen the Islamists admitting their mistakes...

The tragicomic reality lies in the history of Istanbul. AKP and its Islamist predecessors have been ruling Istanbul for the last 15 years. Moreover, the mayor who opened today's flooded basins to residential and industrial buildings was no one but Tayyip Erdogan himself.

They are not only shamelessly lying profit-seekers, but also ignorant amateurs who try to manage one of the most beautiful cities of the world without knowing anything about its history. Otherwise they should have done what the legendary Ottoman architect Sinan had done.

I gave an example of Sinan's genius in the past. To conclude, I added another one to the list, concerning Istanbul floods:

450 years ago, Sinan built a bridge over the lake in Buyukcekmece district. As can be seen from the satellite photos, he chose to use a few islets as natural piers. In this way, the cost of the bridge rose up, but there was a good reason for that.

Thanks to this trick, the bridge lets all the extra water to reach the sea through the channel and never experiences a flooding.

And what about 10 years old bridge right next to it? The architects should be much more clever than Sinan, because they took the shorter path to bridge the gap between shores. Moreover, they didn't even put modern floodgates on the new bridge. So, three days ago, the new bridge was flooded completely and collapsed partially. But who will take a lesson?

Oddly Turkey

I'm an ardent follower of Reuters's compilation of odd news. As far as I know, today is the first time that Turkey, as a truely odd country, has been featured on the main page twice. Here are those stories:

* * *

Police free 9 from fake Big Brother house

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Nine women tricked into thinking they were reality TV show contestants and lured into an Istanbul villa were rescued by Turkish military police after two months confinement, a police spokesman said Thursday. Cameras in the villa filmed the women 24-hours a day, providing a live stream of images for Internet users who had paid to access the footage, the spokesman said. READ THE REST

* * *

Court delays ruling on woman in penis-chopping case

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish woman accused of cutting off her lover's penis must wait 18 months for a verdict and sentencing while a court determines whether his re-attached penis still functions, a court source said Thursday. The criminal court in the Black Sea town of Trabzon will wait for a medical report assessing whether the 28-year-old victim has regained full use of his organ or if he is permanently disabled, an official involved in the trial said. READ THE REST

The Quote of the Week

"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Source of Inspiration for Wall-E?

The Boy Is Free, The Press Is Not

Two important stories from today's Turkey, both are reported by Reuters, tell a lot about the AKP government and its sense of democracy:

* * *

Judges drop case against boy accused of insulting Erdogan

A Turkish court threw out Tuesday a case against a 13-year-old boy accused of insulting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saving him from a jail term of up to three years, the Anatolia news agency reported.

In the first hearing of a case that has raised questions about the state of Turkish democracy, a panel of judges decided there was no ground for sanctions after defence lawyers pleaded for the court to take the boys age into account.

The prosecutor had been demanding that the boy be sentenced to one to three years in prison for insulting the prime minister on March 9 in the western city of Aydin where Erdogan was campaigning for local elections.

The boy, reportedly upset over his fathers business going badly due to the economic slowdown, shouted "God will punish you" as Erdogans bus was passing.

According to news reports, Erdogan stopped the bus and asked his body guards to bring the boy over.

The prime minister then talked to the boy -- holding him tightly by the neck and leading to bruising, according to defence lawyers -- before letting him go.

Erdogan, known for his low tolerance of criticism, did not file a complaint against the boy, but a state prosecutor in Aydin took the matter to court, triggering harsh criticism.

(...)

The bruise on the neck of the 13-years-old boy.

* * *

Turkey government hits media group Dogan with tax fine

Turkey's biggest media company said on Tuesday it was fined $2.5 billion for unpaid taxes, sending its shares 20 percent lower and raising fresh questions about press freedom and the investment climate in the country.

The record tax fine could add to concerns that fear of reprisal is keeping a lid on media criticism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's administration, in a country that has pledged to improve political standards to join the European Union.

(...)

It was the second major fine this year for Dogan Yayin, which controls more than half of the non-state media market and has been at odds in recent years with Erdogan over its coverage of the Islamist-rooted government.

"Given the context, this penalty ... does raise concerns," said Anthony Mills, spokesman on press freedom for the Vienna-based International Press Institute. "It comes within a climate of concern in general about media freedom in Turkey."

Turkish media has become increasingly polarised between those in favour of the government and those critical of it, and the European Union, which Turkey is seeking to join, and the United States have voiced concerns that criticism is being stifled.

Erdogan has publicly criticised billionaire media magnate Aydin Dogan, and earlier this year he called on ruling AK Party members to refrain from buying his group's newspapers.

Dogan has claimed it faces unprecedented tax penalties because of its newspapers' and television stations' critical coverage of the government last year, particularly over corruption allegations.

Tayyip Erdogan as the Prime Minister, President, Governor, University Rector, Police Chief, Head of Religious Affairs and Media Watchdog of Turkey.

* * *

The boy with a neck bruised by the Prime Minister and the media being persecuted unfairly because of its coverage...

Can you see the parallelism between two cases?

A Goal That Erdogan Conceded

More football&politics...

Turkish national football team won 4-2 the World Cup qualifier match against Estonia yesterday.

I won't talk about football, but I'll tell you an interesting anectode about the match that I couldn't read in any newspaper today:

The game was played in the brand-new stadium of Kayseri, the home of Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

Just before the kickoff, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan arrived in the stadium. His name was announced and something unexpected happened.

The majority of the crowd booed the PM while only a few people applauded. And right afterwards, a defeaning cheer started. Thousands of spectators were shouting:

"Martyrs -the soldiers who were killed by PKK- never die, the country never splits up."

We could hear it happening in the political fortress of AKP and even though the TV station that aired the match was an extremely biased pro-government channel, as could be understood by the choices of the director who made us watch the Prime Minister for more time than the footballers.

To conclude, the football match against Estonia was an alarm bell for the AKP government. It was the first time that the AKP leaders confronted a huge public reaction, following the Kurdish Gambit. They will have to consider it before the upcoming elections.

Fatih Terim, Manager of Turkey's national football team (left), PM Tayyip Erdogan and Mahmut Ozgener, President of Turkish Football Federation (right).

Football Solidarity Against Fascism

Adana Demirspor, a Turkish 3rd Division club, hosted Livorno, the Seria A side, yesterday. The match ended as friendly as it started: 0-0.

Concerning the rules of today's football industry, the match, with all of its political connotations, was as surreal as a miracle.. The Italian dock workers against the Turkish railroad laborers?..

Demirspor fans had contacted Livorno fans a couple of months ago, stating that they might not be a top division club like the Italian side, but their souls are alike: Being two clubs of the working class, they would like to have a match with Livorno for sake of international solidarity, so that they can give a strong message against fascism.

Surprisingly, Livorno fans had managed to convince their board of directors. The Tuscanians have arrived in Adana with all their key players. They had a dinner with the Turks, preferring the famous chili kebab of Adana before the most spectacular football match in Turkey this week.

Unfortunately, the match was not televised, but I collected the following notes from various fans who were in the stadium:

* "Forza Livorno," the group of Italian fans, watched the match alongside the "Blue Thunders," their Turkish comrades. The stadium capacity was exceeded. There were almost 20.000 fans to watch a 3rd Division friendly game.

* Cristiano Lucarelli, the legendary Livorno player, approached the stands before the match and gave a communist salute. Turkish fans responded by singing for him: "Alemin krali geliyor" (The king of this world is coming)!

* Livorno cheerleaders commanded the whole stadium to sing "Bella Ciao" during the match. All those red banners that the fans waived flashed sickles and hammers, Soviet and Cuba flags, Che Guevara images and various leftist slogans in Italian and in Turkish.

* A 10-years old boy who wore a Demirspor jersey was showing a placard, reading, "In this country, the media imposed us to support three bigger clubs. We're proud to resist against this sportive imperialism."

* It was so hot that the firefighters sprinkled water over the fans, after they begged for it to complete the festival. Luckily, the water didn't doused the torches, which would be burning soon to make a dramatic scene in the stadium, even though they were legally banned in stadiums.

The Conclusion:

* By accepting the invitation of a minor Turkish club, Livorno has showed once again that it is a club of consistency and loyalty to its aspirations and fans. They believe in solidarity without giving a damn about the size of their counterparts.

* Adana Demirspor, too, demonstared the same spirit. One example was the fact that the club board didn't increase the ticket fees for this big match. It was as cheap as a match against a 3rd Division team.

* The match was the symbolic showcase of joga bonito against the fake glitter of industrialized football. It was a match of another world. We saw that football is really not just a game. After all, if the Italians have Silvio Berlusconi, the Turks have Tayyip Erdogan. Like cancerous cells, both of them nurture hostility against the Other. The medicine could be Livorno Demirspor.

Censoring A Bikini

Taraf, has published the photo of a famous Turkish model only after censoring her couture clothing.

Following their dangerous Xerox journalism, this is the second scandal that zeroed the already-tarnished reputation of this so-called liberal newspaper.

It supports the people who allege that Taraf has got nothing to do with liberalism as it is a newspaper funded and controlled by closet Islamists who have links to shadowy groups.

"The page operator did this alone, considering the religious sensitivities of Ramadan (the Muslim holy month). We should have either printed the photo as it was or just didn't publish it at all" Ahmet Altan, the chief editor of the newspaper, said.

In Turkish, there is a saying: His excuse is worse than his fault. Altan confirms it with his explanation.

First of all, which page operator can be free to manipulate images without the approval of the editor?

And the second question is even more tragic: If you print this image now, you consider it newsworthy. However, you still talk the option of not publishing it because it is Ramadan. If this is not news, then why did you print it? If this is news, then why wouldn't you print it considering whatever condition you look for? Are an independent newspaper as you claim or are you an Islamist-funded publishing organ that others claim?

To conclude, the story about the transparent pareo of Tugce Kazaz is a lecture about the pro-government media. It should be read alongside the hidden bias in Taraf's Xerox journalism, as well as which parties it favored and which parties it impaired.

Moreover, it tells a lot about the mindset of the AKP et al: Censor anything that you don't like and/or that you don't find appropriate... And then, for seven years, keep complaining about the anti-democratic opposition and just keep talking and talking...

PS: I don't say that Ahmet Altan is a closet Islamist. Altan is just a liberal figure who lacks a distinctive character and respectable principles. What can you expect from a man who says that "he can sell the country for a boob?"

AKP's Make-Believe Politics

The AKP government has introduced a new methodology to Turkish politics:

If there is a political problem, admit it overeagerly, start voicing your opinions about it publicly, present this process as a "democratic debate."

The key part is: You shouldn't do anything tangible about the problem anytime.

No plans, no schedules, no timetables, no concrete steps. Just keep talking and talking and talking...

You shouldn't stop talking until everyone forget the fact that the solution should be something more than fruitless talk.

After eight years, AKP has perfected its sui generis political method to cling on the power.

I must admit that this repeated tactic, which we see in AKP's Kurdish Gambit as well as its latest Armenian initiative, is skillful.

Several weeks passed and we still don't know even one concrete step that AKP will take to solve the Kurdish problem. We just keep listening to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's rumble-mumble sessions: "Mothers will stop crying, we'll solve it, there is a historical opportunity, it's time to solve it," bla bla bla...

Nowadays same thing applies in international arena. The Turkish government has announced that the border with Armenia may open before New Year. And surprise surprise! This time, there is a concrete document, two protocols which are prepared together with Armenia. However, consequently, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan consoled us: "Don't worry, the protocols are nothing but a piece of paper unless they are approved by the parliaments of each country."

Erdogan, fearing that he may lose lots of conservative votes, should be trusting in the Turkish opposition or maybe the Armenian ultra-nationalists to veto the deal, saving him from this mess, which he must have forced his way into anyway because of the pressure from the US and the EU, who both try to secure their energy routes.

It's a funny situation indeed: There is no risk for AKP on the Kurdish Gambit yet, because that's mostly a domestic issue and they are free to keep doing absolutely nothing. However, the shadowy deal with Armenia can be realized by a surprise support from the opposition and it would probably be the end of AKP domination in Turkish politics.

Erdogan should be praying in this holy month for CHP to walk its line and make him able to sustain AKP's make-believe politics...