by Ivanna Pinyak<\/p>\n
Such a variety of identities is hard to imagine elsewhere. One of the biggest cities in the world, Istanbul nowadays counts from 14 million to 20 million people according to non-official records. With its outstanding historical and cultural blend, Istanbul represents almost a quarter of the country\u2019s population. Spiritually, it is the most \u201cEuropean\u201d side of Turkey. Would it mean the country is at least one quarter ready for EU membership?<\/p>\n
This non-capital megapolis at the crossroad of the two continents was chosen to be the European capital of culture \u2013 2010. It is in Istanbul that the final cycle of the COE \u2013 orchestrated European media encounter on diversity and anti-discrimination was held. During 2-3 days, media professionals and journalism students from all over Europe and Turkey were supposed to discover, to investigate and to cover all the possible minority, identity and discrimination issues in Istanbul. Then, in one day and a following night reports were to be edited in small teams, together with European and Turkish peers.<\/p>\n
What could you do in only few days in Istanbul? Is one day enough to feel the spirit of the city and appreciate people\u2019s help, to hop-into, hop-out of a couple of spiritual temples, and taste all the gastronomic chef-d\u2019oeuvres? Is it enough to visit the neighborhoods of Istanbul, to meet and talk to people, to get permissions from both public and private institutions? However, in one day, about 30 reports were realised for TV, radio, written press and multimedia. Follow some of them on <\/p>\n
One day was almost enough to zoom in on one very small part of thr population \u2013 in a city of 14-20 million people, to trace one fate, one fight, one hope.<\/p>\n
Ethnic and religious groups, women\u2019s representation and rights, tradition and contemporary society. While there\u2019s still a lot of work to be done on people\u2019s perceptions and attitudes, the city\u2019s industrial and commercial progress would create more facilities, but even more gaps and cleavages. If modernization brings a response to certain problems of discrimination, it also creates others. The question we asked ourselves was: being a disabled person in Istanbul, how does it feel? How comfortable is it? Could you love this city if you were mentally or physically disabled?<\/p>\n
In a big city like Istanbul, the challenges grow exponentially every year. I particularly thank my Turkish and Ukrainian colleagues for an excellent time together. Thanks to Alper Atak, journalist at Turkish Radio and Television Corporation for great work, interpreting and guiding us around your home city. Thanks to Tina Peresunko, expert from Ukraine\u2019s first Information Agency for Cultural Industries \u201cPRO\u201d. This joint work was not aimed at being critical about what\u2019s right or what\u2019s wrong in Istanbul, but to draw attention to a particular problem so as to develop a critical insight on oneself, comparing other\u2019s discourse on diversity and discrimination to ask how tolerant I am myself.<\/p>\n
Follow our report and a number of others on the website and don\u2019t hesitate to add your comments! www.wix.com\/clarisca7\/fromistanbulwithlove<\/p>\n
via From Istanbul to Constantinople | Welcome to the Chatbella Multilingual Blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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