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  • IPI decries censorship at Turkish political party convention in Ankara

    IPI decries censorship at Turkish political party convention in Ankara

    IPI decries censorship at Turkish political party convention in Ankara

    Dissident newspapers, television channels prevented from covering event

    By: Steven M. Ellis, IPI Senior Press Freedom Adviser

    Turkey’s prime minister and the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Recep Tayyip Erdogan, throws carnations to supporters as he enters the hall during his party congress in Ankara on Sept. 30, 2012. Photo: REUTERS/Murad Sezer

    VIENNA, Oct 1, 2012 – The International Press Institute (IPI) and its affiliate, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), today condemned reported instances of censorship by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) related to the party’s Congress yesterday in Ankara.

    Hürriyet reported that the party barred dissident newspapers and television channels from covering the event, including daily newspapers Cumhuriyet, Sözcü, Aydınlık, Evrensel, Birgün, Yeniçağ and Özgür Gündem, and broadcaster İMC TV. Other sources told IPI the broadcaster Ulusal Kanal was also barred from the convention.

    The AKP also reportedly prevented Habertürk TV from broadcasting a program in which journalist Utku Çakırözer, Cumhuriyet’s Ankara representative, was to offer live commentary from the convention hall on Saturday, the night before the convention took place.

    A source told IPI that an adviser to AKP Vice President Hüseyin Çelik threatened to cancel an appearance by Çelik on the channel if it broadcast Saturday’s program with Çakırözer. The source added that Habertürk TV acceded to the demand to cancel the broadcast with Çakırözer after the adviser produced a copy of a document prohibiting Cumhuriyet journalists from entering the empty convention hall on Saturday or during the convention on Sunday.

    IPI’s Turkish National Committee issued a statement yesterday on behalf of the Freedom for Journalists Platform (GÖP), an umbrella group representing local and national media organisations in Turkey.

    “The news that reporters and journalists from some press organs are not allowed to enter the AK Party’s Congress is very worrying,” the group said.

    “Monitoring this historical event of the ruling government party on the spot and transferring it to its readers and viewers are primary duties of news media.

    “We have previously protested the accreditation limitations at other institutions. But now, it is very disappointing that the same accreditation is being applied by a political party whose existence depends on democracy.

    “We wish to believe that necessary steps will be taken to correct this decision which will raise doubts among the journalists who will enter the congress.”

    via IPI International Press Institute: IPI decries censorship at Turkish political party convention in Ankara.

  • Turkey’s Erdogan flaunts democratic credentials in Muslim world

    Turkey’s Erdogan flaunts democratic credentials in Muslim world

    * Regional leaders among thousands attending party congress

    * Erdogan says Turkish democracy is example for Muslim world

    * Erdogan vows more pluralist constitution

    By Jonathon Burch

    ANKARA, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan trumpeted Turkey’s credentials as a rising democratic power on Sunday, saying his Islamist-rooted ruling party had become an example to the Muslim world after a decade in charge.

    Addressing thousands of party members and regional leaders at a congress of his Justice and Development (AK) Party, Erdogan said the era of military coups in the nation of 75 million people was over.

    He vowed to forge a more diverse constitution and turn a new page in relations with Turkey’s 15 million Kurds, in a speech lasting almost two and half hours and meant to chart the AK Party’s agenda for the next decade.

    “We called ourselves conservative democrats. We focused our change on basic rights and freedom,” Erdogan told thousands of cheering party members at the congress in a sports stadium in the capital Ankara.

    “This stance has gone beyond our country’s borders and has become an example for all Muslim countries.”

    Leaders including Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev and Masoud Barzani, president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, were among the guests.

    Under Erdogan’s autocratic grip, the AK Party has won three consecutive landslide election victories since 2002, ending a history of fragile coalition governments punctuated by military coups and marking Turkey’s longest period of single-party government for more than half a century.

    Per capita income has nearly tripled in that time and Turkey has re-established itself as a regional power, with its allies seeing its mix of democratic stability and Islamic culture as a potential role model in a volatile region.

    “Turkey has shown the bright face of Islam,” Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’s leader in exile, told the congress. “Erdogan, you are not only a leader in Turkey now, you are a leader in the Muslim world as well.”

    But critics denounce Erdogan’s authoritarian style, accusing him of stifling dissent and using the courts to silence his enemies. They also say he has failed to bring any hope of an end to a 28-year-old conflict in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

    via Turkey’s Erdogan flaunts democratic credentials in Muslim world | Reuters.

  • Daniel Craig’s James Bond Features In New “Underwater” ‘Skyfall’ Videoblog

    Daniel Craig’s James Bond Features In New “Underwater” ‘Skyfall’ Videoblog

    Daniel Craig’s James Bond Features In New “Underwater” ‘Skyfall’ Videoblog

    Daniel Craig James Bond Skyfall Daniel Craigs James Bond Features In New Underwater Skyfall Videoblog

    The official James Bond website – appropriately titled 007.com – has unveiled this new videoblog for the much anticipated 23rd James Bond adventure, ‘Skyfall.’ This latest instalement in a series of video’s takes us behind-the-scenes of the film’s underwater fight sequence, providing us with some excellent footage of Daniel Craig as James Bond in action and detailed insight from the crew of ‘Skyfall.’

    I’ve got incredibly high hopes for ‘Skyfall,’ I love the trailers for the film and I’m a huge fan of Daniel Craig’s more gritty and intense incarnation of James Bond. This latest 007 chapter was shot at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, Scotland, Whitehall in London, Shanghai and Istanbul. The screenplay is written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. The Director of Photography is Roger Deakins, a nine-time Oscar nominee who previously shot the films ‘Jarhead’ and ‘Revolutionary Road’ for director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Road to Perdition). Composer Thomas Newman will score ‘Skyfall.’

    ‘Skyfall’ sees Daniel Craig and Judi Dench continue their roles as James Bond and M. The cast also includes Naomie Harris as a field agent named Eve, Javier Bardem as Silva; the stories leering and sinisterly creepy lead villain, Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw as Q; MI5′s resident gadgets man, Tonia Sotiropoulou, Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner; the MI6 Chief of Staff, Ola Rapace, Bérénice Marlohe as the “glamorous and enigmatic” Sévérine, and Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory – who’s been described as “darkly complex.” ‘Skyfall’ will begin its worldwide roll-out in the UK and Ireland on October 26th, with a North American release following on November 9th. You can read the official synopsis and production notes for ‘Skyfall’ below the new videoblog.

    In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. SKYFALL marks the return of Daniel Craig as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007, as well as Judi Dench reprising her role as M. The film also stars franchise newcomers Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem and Naomie Harris. The film is directed by Sam Mendes from a screenplay written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan. Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are producers.

    ‘Skyfall’ will begin its worldwide roll-out in the UK and Ireland on October 26th, with a North American release following on November 9th. The Director of Photography is Roger Deakins, a nine-time Oscar nominee who previously shot the films ‘Jarhead’ and ‘Revolutionary Road’ for Mendes. Composer Thomas Newman will score the film. The Production Designer is Dennis Gassner, who previously designed ‘Quantum of Solace’ and collaborated with Mendes on the films ‘Road to Perdition’ and ‘Jarhead.’ The Editor is Stuart Baird, A.C.E., whose many credits include ‘Casino Royale.’ Jany Temime, whose many credits include the Harry Potter series, ‘In Bruges,’ and ‘Children of Men,’ is the Costume Designer. Action specialist Alexander Witt is the 2nd Unit Director. Gary Powell is Stunt Co-ordinator, Chris Corbould is SFX Supervisor and Steve Begg is Visual Effects Supervisor, all of whom have worked on previous Bond films.

    The IMAX release of SKYFALL will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images coupled with IMAX’s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

    via Daniel Craig’s James Bond Features In New “Underwater” ‘Skyfall’ Videoblog | Flicks and Bits.

  • Turkey and the EU – By Andrew Stuttaford – The Corner – National Review Online

    Turkey and the EU – By Andrew Stuttaford – The Corner – National Review Online

    Turkey and the EU

    By Andrew Stuttaford

    September 29, 2012 1:23 P.M.

    Andrew McCarthy has a piece on possible Turkish membership of the EU up on the homepage, very well worth reading in many respects, but not least for this observation:

    In Turkey, the administrators of the Kemalist governmental model — comprising Muslims who understood Islam intimately — suppressed Islam not to deny freedom of conscience but to enable it. They were trying to forge exactly the sort of secular civil society Europeans revere. They knew it could not coexist with sharia. Thus, the government assumed supervision of the country’s 80,000 mosques, vetted the imams, controlled the content of sermons and literature, and aggressively monitored the Islamic charities. The Muslims running the state realized that Islam would inevitably work against secular civil society if left to its own devices.

    If you want to understand why Mubarak’s approach in Egypt (political repression combined with the cession of large amounts of religio-social space to the imams) was, in the end, doomed to failure, that’s not a bad place to start.

    Andy explains how the incentive of eventual EU membership (forever being proffered, just out of reach, to the Turks) is being used to distort the (admittedly very far from perfect) Kemalist model in ways that could have very dangerous consequences.

    But at least we can for be sure (at least for now) that the French and German political elites are enough in tune with their electorates (for now) to stop, as they should, Turkish accession.

    With others the case is not so clear.

    Here’s what Britain’s David Cameron had to say two years ago:

    ANKARA – Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday he was angered by the slow pace of Turkey’s European Union accession talks and warned against shutting Ankara out because of anti-Muslim prejudice.

    Cameron’s strong support for Turkey’s limping EU bid puts him in stark contrast to fellow EU heavyweights France and Germany who argue against letting the mainly-Muslim country of over 70 million people to become a full member.

    Here’s part of what I wrote back at the time:

    That Cameron blames the Franco-German stance on “anti-Muslim prejudice” is an argument of the intellectually desperate. Then again, what else does Cameron have? As so often, he has failed to grasp just how deep the EU’s federalizing project has already gone. Even if we ignore the phenomenal cost (of which cash-strapped British taxpayers would pay a disproportionate share) of such a scheme, admitting Turkey to the EU would give a country now led by genuinely popular Islamist thug a real say in the everyday lives of the British people. And then there are all those other things that would go with Turkish membership in the EU, such as, oh, the ability of a Turkish court to order the arrest and extradition of a British citizen from the UK to a Turkish jail with little or no judicial review. So much for Cameron, protector of civil liberties.

    Oh, there’s also this (reported by the BBC in 2009):

    Mr Obama also said Washington supported Turkey’s efforts to join the EU.

    Smart diplomacy!

    via Turkey and the EU – By Andrew Stuttaford – The Corner – National Review Online.

  • Istanbul, An Enchanting Paradise – For Cats

    Istanbul, An Enchanting Paradise – For Cats

    Istanbul, An Enchanting Paradise – For Cats

    Istanbul, An Enchanting Paradise – For Cats Turkish delight – (laszlo-photo) By Boris Kalnoky

    DIE WELT/Worldcrunch

    ISTANBUL – Mornings around nine, when shop owners on Galip Dede Street open their doors, dozens of cats appear out of nowhere. They know it’s breakfast time. Not right away: the men first have to unpack new merchandise, stock the shelves, and check the till.

    But then they put out bowls of water for the cats, who have been waiting patiently and attentively, and strew generous amounts of dried cat food about. Only then do they drink their own morning tea, standing in front of their shops chatting with each other along the small cobblestone street. Sometimes they play with the animals, teasing them benevolently or stroking them.

    This is the time of day after I’ve dropped my daughter off at her school, stopped for a coffee on Istiklal Street and read the papers, and am now slowly wending my way home. And I never fail to be surprised by Istanbul’s animal-loving culture – or the huge numbers of street cats.

    A few summers ago the weather was particularly hot, and there was an Istanbul-wide campaign on both the radio and Internet encouraging everybody to put out bowls of water for the cats. Many thousands of people did just that, and water in small plastic bowls or yoghurt pots were everywhere to be seen in the city’s streets.

    Customs are different in different countries: in Germany, for example, many people have pets while relatively few have them in Turkey. But the Turkish look after street animals as if they were their own.

    Particularly in front of some of the mosques. On Galip Dede Street, a favorite place to stroll in the inner city, mosque cats have become an actual attraction, much caressed and photographed by tourists.

    All the benefits of a pet without the inconvenience

    This year, city residents for the first time provided their street cats with boxes where cat moms can raise their young. Children particularly get a charge out of this, running over from the playground to cuddle the tiny bundles of fur.

    But cats aren’t the only ones with fans among residents and tourists alike. Near the Galata Tower, focal point of my personal small world of narrow streets and aged buildings, along with the cats there’s also a pack of street dogs.

    Every morning the butcher next door throws them a massive beef bone that they work on for hours. When they’re done, they get drowsy and don’t budge even if you step over them or take pictures.

    All of this is actually a nice solution for parties concerned: people can do the things that are the reason for keeping pets in the first place – care for them, and make their daily lives a little more fun and friendly. And the animals get enough to eat, and learn to know the best places for a little grub.

    They also have a lot of freedom, and perhaps a much more interesting albeit harder life than if they were limited to a small apartment or courtyard as is so often the case in Germany.

    Read the article in the original language.

    Photo by – laszlo-photo

    via Istanbul, An Enchanting Paradise – For Cats – Worldcrunch – All News is Global.

  • R.I.P. – Başımız Sağolsun

    R.I.P. – Başımız Sağolsun

    Berkant Samanyolu – YouTube.