Van-Yerevan flights to commence soon
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Over two years of efforts by Van businessmen to start flights between their hometown and Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, have yielded results that may shift shuttle trade from Istanbul to the eastern province as well as boost local tourism revenues.
Round-trip flights between the two cities will kick off in two weeks, Ayhan Fidan, a businessman and member of the Van Industry and Trade Chamber (VATSO), told the Daily News.
VATSO has completed legal procedures regarding aviation regulations and a plane will be rented from the local Bora Jet firm. “The land border between Turkey and Armenia is closed, despite the fact that air entrances and exits are free. This is a clear contrast. We want the border gates to open,” said Fidan.
The Turkish border has been closed since 1993, when a war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, there are regular flights from Istanbul to Armenia twice a week in the winter and from the southern province of Antalya and western tourist resort of Bodrum in the summer. There are also regular bus services.
“The land distance between Van and Yerevan is 230 kilometers. It is possible to cover this distance by car if the border was open. Now you have to fly this [short] distance. It will take 25 minutes for a plane to take off in Van and to land in Yerevan. The total trip will take one hour at the most. Isn’t that a contradiction in itself?” said Fidan.
A total of 30 tourism firms based in Van have created package tours that will support air travel between the two cities, he said. “We aim for 79 percent occupancy rates in the flights,” Fidan said, adding that tickets prices would be 120 Turkish Liras. The shuttle trade in Istanbul may shift to Van as a result of the flights, thanks to its lower transportation costs, Fidan said.
Van is a significant destination for Armenians both from Armenia and the Diaspora, due to the once-a-year church service at the Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Lake Van’s Akdamar Island.
Flights are very important for economic relations to improve as well as for entrepreneurs in Van, Bitlis and Kars, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Armenia President Arsen Ghazaryan said, according to the news portal Panarmenian.net. The flights will receive substantial interest in Armenia and contribute to regional tourism, Ghazaryan said.
November/28/2012
28 Kasım 2012 Çarşamba
27 Kasım 2012 Salı
‘Last Ottoman’ disputes PM Erdoğan on TV series
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent remarks criticizing a popular television series on the life of an Ottoman sultan have drawn a reaction from one of the last surviving members of the Ottoman dynasty.
Osman Selaheddin Osmanoğlu, son of the last Şehzade (prince) in the Ottoman Palace, told the Hürriyet Daily News that even though he did not appreciate the way his ancestors were represented in the highly-rated Turkish soap opera, Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century), which portrays the life of Ottoman Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, he did not take it seriously as it was only a fictional work.
“I am following the series, but I don’t take it seriously since it is only a soap opera. Still, on the other hand, portraying Süleyman the Magnificent while cutting jewelry or involved in intrigues is not a decent thing,” Osmanoğlu said about the popular series.
When reminded of Erdoğan’s harsh criticism of the series during his recent speech in Kütahya, Osmanoğlu said: “I didn’t listen to the prime minister’s remarks. However, the prime minister’s ancestors are our grandfathers, as well. Of course, we also don’t appreciate the way our ancestors are represented,” Osmanoğlu said.
Erdoğan said in his speech on Nov. 25 that the series portrayed “a Süleyman that I don’t know about ... We have alerted the authorities about this and we await a judicial decision on it. Those who toy with these values should be taught a lesson within the premises of law.”
Muhteşem Yüzyıl is a popular T.V. show in Turkey and abroad, which follows the lives of the Ottoman ruler Süleyman and his love Hürrem Sultan. The show focuses particularly on Süleyman’s personal and palace life, portraying characters from the harem as well as from the royal family.
A book
The popularity of Muhteşem Yüzyıl and similar T.V. shows has inspired a renewed interest in the Ottoman Empire in Turkey.
Not only soap operas and films, but also new books written on the empire are arousing a new curiosity. Osmanoğlu’s memoir, “Bir Şehzadenin Hâtırâtı Vatan ve Menfâda Gördüklerim ve İşittiklerim” (Memoires of a Şehzade – What I Saw and Heard at Home and in Exile), which was recently published by Yapı Kredi Publishing, is among these titles. There are also plans to translate the book into English.
In the memoir, Osmanoğlu narrates the story of his father Ali Vâsıb Efendi, who was the last Şehzade in the Ottoman Palace. He witnessed the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Osmanoğlu said only his mother had read the notes Ali Vâsıb Efendi had taken before his death.
“With the help of Seyit Ali Kahraman from Ottoman archives, the notes written in the Arabic alphabet were transcribed into the Latin alphabet. John Dyson from Cambridge University provided great support for the works,” he said.
Feridun Emecen:
Saying Süleyman the Magnificent spent all his life on a horse is a symbolic approach. He had 13 large expeditions. He traveled and fought between 1521 and 1548. It is not necessary to say 10, 20 or 30 years to define this time. History has already shown that he was on expedition most of the time. In the series, we see a different [sultan] that has nothing to do with the reality. This is only fiction and should be perceived as fiction.
Vahdettin Ergin:
Of course, the real [sultan] and the [sultan] in the series are very different from each other. On the other hand, we do not have enough information on the [court] life of that era. People staying at the [court] are a part of the palace and they are among the servants of the [court]. It is impossible that [the sultan] spent his whole life [plotting] conspiracies. The prime minster said 30, but it was only 10 to 15 years of that [the sultan] spent on horseback at war. We cannot learn history from the series.
Nurhan Atasoy
Süleyman the Magnificent is a sultan that was noted for his military genius only, but he also did exceptional things in terms of culture and the arts. Nobody talks about this side of him, and this is unfair to him. This TV series shows the [court] all the time. Of course, this is not a documentary, but a fiction. But there are many mistakes. It misinforms people.
Cemal Kafadar:
There is no doubt that he had a life both in the [court] and at war. I think that this is an unnecessary discussion. This issue should not be discussed politically because, willingly or unwillingly, the statements of politicians exert pressure on those who will write new books or make TV series about this issue. This discussion should be left for the masters of arts and culture.
Who was Sultan Süleyman?
Süleyman I was the 10th and longest-reigning Emperor, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Süleyman the Magnificent and in the East, as “The Lawgiver” (Kanuni), for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system. Süleyman became a prominent monarch of 16th century Europe, presiding over the apex of the Ottoman Empire’s military, political and economic power. He personally led Ottoman armies to conquer the Christian strongholds of Belgrade, Rhodes, and most of Hungary before his conquests was checked at the Siege of Vienna in 1529. Under his rule, the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. At the helm of an expanding empire, Süleyman personally instituted legislative changes relating to society, education, taxation, and criminal law.
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent remarks criticizing a popular television series on the life of an Ottoman sultan have drawn a reaction from one of the last surviving members of the Ottoman dynasty.
Osman Selaheddin Osmanoğlu, son of the last Şehzade (prince) in the Ottoman Palace, told the Hürriyet Daily News that even though he did not appreciate the way his ancestors were represented in the highly-rated Turkish soap opera, Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century), which portrays the life of Ottoman Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, he did not take it seriously as it was only a fictional work.
“I am following the series, but I don’t take it seriously since it is only a soap opera. Still, on the other hand, portraying Süleyman the Magnificent while cutting jewelry or involved in intrigues is not a decent thing,” Osmanoğlu said about the popular series.
When reminded of Erdoğan’s harsh criticism of the series during his recent speech in Kütahya, Osmanoğlu said: “I didn’t listen to the prime minister’s remarks. However, the prime minister’s ancestors are our grandfathers, as well. Of course, we also don’t appreciate the way our ancestors are represented,” Osmanoğlu said.
Erdoğan said in his speech on Nov. 25 that the series portrayed “a Süleyman that I don’t know about ... We have alerted the authorities about this and we await a judicial decision on it. Those who toy with these values should be taught a lesson within the premises of law.”
Muhteşem Yüzyıl is a popular T.V. show in Turkey and abroad, which follows the lives of the Ottoman ruler Süleyman and his love Hürrem Sultan. The show focuses particularly on Süleyman’s personal and palace life, portraying characters from the harem as well as from the royal family.
A book
The popularity of Muhteşem Yüzyıl and similar T.V. shows has inspired a renewed interest in the Ottoman Empire in Turkey.
Not only soap operas and films, but also new books written on the empire are arousing a new curiosity. Osmanoğlu’s memoir, “Bir Şehzadenin Hâtırâtı Vatan ve Menfâda Gördüklerim ve İşittiklerim” (Memoires of a Şehzade – What I Saw and Heard at Home and in Exile), which was recently published by Yapı Kredi Publishing, is among these titles. There are also plans to translate the book into English.
In the memoir, Osmanoğlu narrates the story of his father Ali Vâsıb Efendi, who was the last Şehzade in the Ottoman Palace. He witnessed the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Osmanoğlu said only his mother had read the notes Ali Vâsıb Efendi had taken before his death.
“With the help of Seyit Ali Kahraman from Ottoman archives, the notes written in the Arabic alphabet were transcribed into the Latin alphabet. John Dyson from Cambridge University provided great support for the works,” he said.
Feridun Emecen:
Saying Süleyman the Magnificent spent all his life on a horse is a symbolic approach. He had 13 large expeditions. He traveled and fought between 1521 and 1548. It is not necessary to say 10, 20 or 30 years to define this time. History has already shown that he was on expedition most of the time. In the series, we see a different [sultan] that has nothing to do with the reality. This is only fiction and should be perceived as fiction.
Vahdettin Ergin:
Of course, the real [sultan] and the [sultan] in the series are very different from each other. On the other hand, we do not have enough information on the [court] life of that era. People staying at the [court] are a part of the palace and they are among the servants of the [court]. It is impossible that [the sultan] spent his whole life [plotting] conspiracies. The prime minster said 30, but it was only 10 to 15 years of that [the sultan] spent on horseback at war. We cannot learn history from the series.
Nurhan Atasoy
Süleyman the Magnificent is a sultan that was noted for his military genius only, but he also did exceptional things in terms of culture and the arts. Nobody talks about this side of him, and this is unfair to him. This TV series shows the [court] all the time. Of course, this is not a documentary, but a fiction. But there are many mistakes. It misinforms people.
Cemal Kafadar:
There is no doubt that he had a life both in the [court] and at war. I think that this is an unnecessary discussion. This issue should not be discussed politically because, willingly or unwillingly, the statements of politicians exert pressure on those who will write new books or make TV series about this issue. This discussion should be left for the masters of arts and culture.
Who was Sultan Süleyman?
Süleyman I was the 10th and longest-reigning Emperor, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Süleyman the Magnificent and in the East, as “The Lawgiver” (Kanuni), for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system. Süleyman became a prominent monarch of 16th century Europe, presiding over the apex of the Ottoman Empire’s military, political and economic power. He personally led Ottoman armies to conquer the Christian strongholds of Belgrade, Rhodes, and most of Hungary before his conquests was checked at the Siege of Vienna in 1529. Under his rule, the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. At the helm of an expanding empire, Süleyman personally instituted legislative changes relating to society, education, taxation, and criminal law.
25 Kasım 2012 Pazar
Syrian refugee children at camps face trauma
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News-Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Thousands of Syrian children staying at camps in Turkey after fleeing their country face major psychological problems and get very little help, according to a research by Bahçeşehir University
Syrian children living in refugee camps in Turkey face severe psychological problems, according to research made public Nov. 23.
According to official records, the number of Syrian refugees arriving in Turkey has reached 125,000, while 60,000 of them are children under the age of 18.
A group from Bahçeşehir University’s Psychology Department observed the psychological conditions of 300 children in Gaziantep’s Islahiye Camp for three months and issued a report titled “Syrian Children and Families” based on their observations.
According to the report, prepared after face-to-face interviews were conducted with 300 children, the children have spent on average eight months in Turkey, coming mainly from Aleppo and Idlib.
The education level of the refugee families is generally on the level of secondary school.
Fifty-three percent of the children replied positively to the question, “Did your family face a serious problem last year?” while 31 percent left their families without their consent and 74 percent lost at least one family member.
Also, 59 percent of the children positively replied to the question “Have you ever witnessed a physical or armed attack against someone in your life?” The mental conditions of the children, on the other hand, are thought-provoking. Serap Özer from Bahçeşehir University and Dr. Selçuk Şirin from New York University, who joined the fieldwork, spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News about the research.
Researchers implemented a method used in clinical psychology during the fieldwork, asking the children to draw pictures with themes of war and peace, Özer said.
“They drew dead children, babies drenched in blood, families and war crafts. Boys are more aggressive, while girls mostly reflect the sorrow of immigration and death. In the peace pictures, on the other hand, there are non-destroyed houses and green parks,” Özer said.
“We observed severe psychological disorders; this is threatening for the children’s future,” Özer said.
Girls under more pressure.
Şirin said there are 1,110 children in Gaziantep’s Islahiye Camp and they observed 300 children within three months, adding that the majority of them were from Sunni Muslim families, while the rest were of Shiite or Catholic origins.
Özer also indicated that the refugees’ education was at a secondary school level. “Only 4 percent of them answered positively to the question of whether they had need to visit a doctor due to psychological problems since they came to Turkey,” Özer said. “When asked if their children were diagnosed to have some psychological disorder, only 2.6 percent of the childrens’ parents said yes,” Özer said, adding that these numbers are also quite thought-provoking.
“In conservative families, girls are under more pressure when compared to boys, so feelings of melancholy and loss prevail among girls,” Özer said, adding that they would share this research with the international public. “These children are the future of the Middle East. Their traumas must be immediately cured and our works will continue [in that regard],” Özer said.
November/24/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News-Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Thousands of Syrian children staying at camps in Turkey after fleeing their country face major psychological problems and get very little help, according to a research by Bahçeşehir University
Syrian children living in refugee camps in Turkey face severe psychological problems, according to research made public Nov. 23.
According to official records, the number of Syrian refugees arriving in Turkey has reached 125,000, while 60,000 of them are children under the age of 18.
A group from Bahçeşehir University’s Psychology Department observed the psychological conditions of 300 children in Gaziantep’s Islahiye Camp for three months and issued a report titled “Syrian Children and Families” based on their observations.
According to the report, prepared after face-to-face interviews were conducted with 300 children, the children have spent on average eight months in Turkey, coming mainly from Aleppo and Idlib.
The education level of the refugee families is generally on the level of secondary school.
Fifty-three percent of the children replied positively to the question, “Did your family face a serious problem last year?” while 31 percent left their families without their consent and 74 percent lost at least one family member.
Also, 59 percent of the children positively replied to the question “Have you ever witnessed a physical or armed attack against someone in your life?” The mental conditions of the children, on the other hand, are thought-provoking. Serap Özer from Bahçeşehir University and Dr. Selçuk Şirin from New York University, who joined the fieldwork, spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News about the research.
Researchers implemented a method used in clinical psychology during the fieldwork, asking the children to draw pictures with themes of war and peace, Özer said.
“They drew dead children, babies drenched in blood, families and war crafts. Boys are more aggressive, while girls mostly reflect the sorrow of immigration and death. In the peace pictures, on the other hand, there are non-destroyed houses and green parks,” Özer said.
“We observed severe psychological disorders; this is threatening for the children’s future,” Özer said.
Girls under more pressure.
Şirin said there are 1,110 children in Gaziantep’s Islahiye Camp and they observed 300 children within three months, adding that the majority of them were from Sunni Muslim families, while the rest were of Shiite or Catholic origins.
Özer also indicated that the refugees’ education was at a secondary school level. “Only 4 percent of them answered positively to the question of whether they had need to visit a doctor due to psychological problems since they came to Turkey,” Özer said. “When asked if their children were diagnosed to have some psychological disorder, only 2.6 percent of the childrens’ parents said yes,” Özer said, adding that these numbers are also quite thought-provoking.
“In conservative families, girls are under more pressure when compared to boys, so feelings of melancholy and loss prevail among girls,” Özer said, adding that they would share this research with the international public. “These children are the future of the Middle East. Their traumas must be immediately cured and our works will continue [in that regard],” Özer said.
November/24/2012
22 Kasım 2012 Perşembe
Istanbul’s fountains victim of projects for urbanization
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Historical fountains, once commonplace in many Istanbul districts, have fallen victim to the disputed urban development projects, neglect and ill-treatment.
One of these historical fountains had belonged to the Yeridz Mangants Church Foundation, and was built during the reign of Sultan Murad II in the Ottoman Period. It was regarded as unclaimed in 1936 because it was not registered in the 1936 Declaration, then the municipality took possession.
The head of the foundation, Nazareth Özsahakyan, told the Hürriyet Daily News they could not take any action for bureaucratic reasons and the fountain had been severely damaged.
The fountains are in a miserable condition, according to Aydın University Architecture and Restoration Department head Dr. Fatma Sedes, who has conducted comprehensive research on historical fountains.
Sedes said only monumental fountains and the ones located in squares have been restored. “They are restored, but some fountains sustained more damage during restoration,” Sedes said. The remaining fountains‘ pools have been drained and their inscriptions, lead plates and taps have been stolen, she said. “What is more, unfortunately, some fountains disappear under the foundations of huge construction projects,” Sedes said.
November/22/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Historical fountains, once commonplace in many Istanbul districts, have fallen victim to the disputed urban development projects, neglect and ill-treatment.
One of these historical fountains had belonged to the Yeridz Mangants Church Foundation, and was built during the reign of Sultan Murad II in the Ottoman Period. It was regarded as unclaimed in 1936 because it was not registered in the 1936 Declaration, then the municipality took possession.
The head of the foundation, Nazareth Özsahakyan, told the Hürriyet Daily News they could not take any action for bureaucratic reasons and the fountain had been severely damaged.
The fountains are in a miserable condition, according to Aydın University Architecture and Restoration Department head Dr. Fatma Sedes, who has conducted comprehensive research on historical fountains.
Sedes said only monumental fountains and the ones located in squares have been restored. “They are restored, but some fountains sustained more damage during restoration,” Sedes said. The remaining fountains‘ pools have been drained and their inscriptions, lead plates and taps have been stolen, she said. “What is more, unfortunately, some fountains disappear under the foundations of huge construction projects,” Sedes said.
November/22/2012
21 Kasım 2012 Çarşamba
Armenians to build school in Istanbul
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
The Armenian community in Turkey has received authorization to build its first school in Istanbul’s Bakırköy district, to be completed to house the historical Armenian Dadyan School within two years.
The community will build the school with their own funding in addition to monetary aid from the Bakırköy Municipality. The school, which is expected to cost 4.5 billion Turkish Liras, will be constructed on 1,750 square meters of land. The foundation of the school was laid on Nov. 18.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, Bakırköy Surp Asdvazsazsin Church Foundation Executive Board Chair Mesut Özdemir said they were very pleased to have obtained the proper authorization after 10 years of attempts.
“During the period of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, many steps have been taken in support of us. Now we can build a school,” Özdemir said.
Istanbul has an official Armenian population of 50,000, with 12 Armenian schools. Özdemir said another school was necessary. “We received some criticisms over it; however, the current school building is 166 years old and it is quite small. We have 400 students there and we want them to receive a modern education in a building that complies with today’s standards. More importantly, since the school building is historical, restoration is strictly forbidden. So we could not build additional classrooms there.
Consequently, we needed a new building.”
Even though the title of the land on which they would build the new school belonged to the Armenian community, it has been used by the municipality for years. “We could not claim the land as it was being used by the municipality as a green area but now they returned it to us,” Özdemir said, adding that the new building would be completed within two years and would serve as the new building of the Dadyan School. Some projects have been developed to preserve the old building as well.
The historical Dadyan School was built by the order of Sultan Selim III during the Ottoman period. Nubar Manavyan, who is planning the new building project, said, “We developed a plan taking the structure of the historical school building into consideration. It will be a modern school occupying over 1,750 square meters of land. It will have 16 classrooms, a kindergarten, an indoor sports hall, a library and a conference hall with 220-person capacity, which will meet the requirements of the new educational system.”
November/21/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
The Armenian community in Turkey has received authorization to build its first school in Istanbul’s Bakırköy district, to be completed to house the historical Armenian Dadyan School within two years.
The community will build the school with their own funding in addition to monetary aid from the Bakırköy Municipality. The school, which is expected to cost 4.5 billion Turkish Liras, will be constructed on 1,750 square meters of land. The foundation of the school was laid on Nov. 18.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, Bakırköy Surp Asdvazsazsin Church Foundation Executive Board Chair Mesut Özdemir said they were very pleased to have obtained the proper authorization after 10 years of attempts.
“During the period of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, many steps have been taken in support of us. Now we can build a school,” Özdemir said.
Istanbul has an official Armenian population of 50,000, with 12 Armenian schools. Özdemir said another school was necessary. “We received some criticisms over it; however, the current school building is 166 years old and it is quite small. We have 400 students there and we want them to receive a modern education in a building that complies with today’s standards. More importantly, since the school building is historical, restoration is strictly forbidden. So we could not build additional classrooms there.
Consequently, we needed a new building.”
Even though the title of the land on which they would build the new school belonged to the Armenian community, it has been used by the municipality for years. “We could not claim the land as it was being used by the municipality as a green area but now they returned it to us,” Özdemir said, adding that the new building would be completed within two years and would serve as the new building of the Dadyan School. Some projects have been developed to preserve the old building as well.
The historical Dadyan School was built by the order of Sultan Selim III during the Ottoman period. Nubar Manavyan, who is planning the new building project, said, “We developed a plan taking the structure of the historical school building into consideration. It will be a modern school occupying over 1,750 square meters of land. It will have 16 classrooms, a kindergarten, an indoor sports hall, a library and a conference hall with 220-person capacity, which will meet the requirements of the new educational system.”
November/21/2012
19 Kasım 2012 Pazartesi
Istanbul Book Fair looks to turn a new page in literature
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
The International Istanbul Book Fair will be held this year amid an atmosphere of rising political tension, leading to many crucial subjects such as hunger strikes, imprisoned journalists and tried authors to be discussed in a variety of panels and meetings during the event.
The theme of the 31st International Istanbul Book Fair, organized by the TÜYAP Fair and Exhibition Organization, will be “My Childhood Is My Homeland – Children’s and Youth Literature.” The fair will host a series of distinguished writers and illustrators within this theme at the TÜYAP Fair and Convention Center in Büyükçekmece between Nov. 17 and 25.
Gülten Dayıoğlu, a Turkish children and youth literature author, was chosen as the fair’s Honorary Writer, while the Country of Honor will be Netherlands. The fair will host more than 600 domestic and foreign publishers, non-governmental organizations, and copyright agencies.
Organizers said they’ve reached the point they had strived for when first launching the fair years ago. “We reached the point we desired, but Turkey has not reached a desired position yet. There was an overt pressure during the period after the Sept 12, 1980 military coup, since a fascist military dictatorship was in power. Though the current government is civilian, the same atmosphere of fear still prevails,” TÜYAP Culture Fairs General Coordinator Deniz Kavukçuoğlu said.
“Authors, journalists, students, and scientists are being tried. Even investigations are being launched against caricatures. They talk about judicial independence, but actually there is no such thing. When a musician criticized Islam a law case was opened against him, but such an action is not carried out for Christianity or Judaism The cult piece of Guillaume Apollinaire [Les Onze Mille Verges], which is a milestone in the world literature, was found ‘erotic’ and a law case was filed [for prohibition of the book]. The world follows all these incidents. Turkey’s progress in human rights and other cultural issues is a matter of interest,” Kavukçuoğlu said.
TÜYAP is closely following book fairs held in Europe, according to Kavukçuoğlu. “In European book fairs, the themes are generally issues such as women rights, nature, and environmental concerns. They left behind the issues we are currently discussing in Turkey. They do not need to talk about the subjects like human rights anymore, since these rights are already guaranteed,” he said.
In this year’s fair, a workshop titled ‘digital publishing’ will be opened for the first time in the fair’s history. Kavukçuoğlu said they wanted to follow the latest developments, adding that they were proud of being the biggest fair in Europe.
“The European fairs that we admired in the past now stay behind our book fair. They are organized in smaller areas and their numbers of visitors are less [than ours]. Recently, we went to the Barcelona Book Fair and it could be only compared to the Diyarbakır Book Fair in terms of its scale.”
Turkish literature
Kavukçuoğlu also mentioned the demand for Turkish literature abroad. “In the past you would never see a Turkish author on bookshelves [abroad], but now there are works by Orhan Pamuk, Elif Şafak and Yaşar Kemal.”
For Kavukçuoğlu, even though this picture is pleasing, it is necessary to beware of the fact that some Turkish authors trigger an Orientalist perspective on Turkey with their work. Kavukçuoğlu said there was a great increase in number and variety of the books published in Turkey when compared to the past, and Turkey comes in the second place after France in this respect, he said.
November/17/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
The International Istanbul Book Fair will be held this year amid an atmosphere of rising political tension, leading to many crucial subjects such as hunger strikes, imprisoned journalists and tried authors to be discussed in a variety of panels and meetings during the event.
The theme of the 31st International Istanbul Book Fair, organized by the TÜYAP Fair and Exhibition Organization, will be “My Childhood Is My Homeland – Children’s and Youth Literature.” The fair will host a series of distinguished writers and illustrators within this theme at the TÜYAP Fair and Convention Center in Büyükçekmece between Nov. 17 and 25.
Gülten Dayıoğlu, a Turkish children and youth literature author, was chosen as the fair’s Honorary Writer, while the Country of Honor will be Netherlands. The fair will host more than 600 domestic and foreign publishers, non-governmental organizations, and copyright agencies.
Organizers said they’ve reached the point they had strived for when first launching the fair years ago. “We reached the point we desired, but Turkey has not reached a desired position yet. There was an overt pressure during the period after the Sept 12, 1980 military coup, since a fascist military dictatorship was in power. Though the current government is civilian, the same atmosphere of fear still prevails,” TÜYAP Culture Fairs General Coordinator Deniz Kavukçuoğlu said.
“Authors, journalists, students, and scientists are being tried. Even investigations are being launched against caricatures. They talk about judicial independence, but actually there is no such thing. When a musician criticized Islam a law case was opened against him, but such an action is not carried out for Christianity or Judaism The cult piece of Guillaume Apollinaire [Les Onze Mille Verges], which is a milestone in the world literature, was found ‘erotic’ and a law case was filed [for prohibition of the book]. The world follows all these incidents. Turkey’s progress in human rights and other cultural issues is a matter of interest,” Kavukçuoğlu said.
TÜYAP is closely following book fairs held in Europe, according to Kavukçuoğlu. “In European book fairs, the themes are generally issues such as women rights, nature, and environmental concerns. They left behind the issues we are currently discussing in Turkey. They do not need to talk about the subjects like human rights anymore, since these rights are already guaranteed,” he said.
In this year’s fair, a workshop titled ‘digital publishing’ will be opened for the first time in the fair’s history. Kavukçuoğlu said they wanted to follow the latest developments, adding that they were proud of being the biggest fair in Europe.
“The European fairs that we admired in the past now stay behind our book fair. They are organized in smaller areas and their numbers of visitors are less [than ours]. Recently, we went to the Barcelona Book Fair and it could be only compared to the Diyarbakır Book Fair in terms of its scale.”
Turkish literature
Kavukçuoğlu also mentioned the demand for Turkish literature abroad. “In the past you would never see a Turkish author on bookshelves [abroad], but now there are works by Orhan Pamuk, Elif Şafak and Yaşar Kemal.”
For Kavukçuoğlu, even though this picture is pleasing, it is necessary to beware of the fact that some Turkish authors trigger an Orientalist perspective on Turkey with their work. Kavukçuoğlu said there was a great increase in number and variety of the books published in Turkey when compared to the past, and Turkey comes in the second place after France in this respect, he said.
November/17/2012
Minorities support right to defense in mother tongue
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
The debate over legal defense in Kurdish, currently one of the most controversial issues in Turkey, is spreading to include mother toungue defense for other ethnic communities.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, Caucasian Associations Federation Head Vacid Kadıoğlu said, “The right to defense and education in [one’s] mother tongue is everyone’s right. Manipulating this right for politics, as is done with Kurdish, is a wrong deed.”
“They made us forget our own mother tongue, the Circassian language. So we cannot bring the right to defense in mother tongue to the agenda,” Kadıoğlu said.
“First of all, we demand the return of our right to receive education in [our] mother tongue. The government put into force the law of elective mother tongue and dialect lessons, but also enacted a 10-person quota condition. They are not sincere,” Kadıoğlu said.
Mother tongue ‘a right’
The head of the Laz Culture Association, lawyer Mehmet Ali Beşli, touched upon a different aspect of the issue. “Mother tongue is a right, and the ability to defend [oneself] in one’s mother tongue, which one can speak most efficiently, has a crucial role. People must make their defense in the language through which they can express themselves the best,” Beşli said.“The state initiated elective mother tongue lessons in schools and opened a television channel [in Kurdish languages]; however, they do not approve mother tongue defense in courts. This is not understandable.”
If the right to mother tongue defense enters into force, translators will be assigned twice to those who cannot speak Turkish. Those who speak Turkish but demand to make their defense in their mother tongues will have to bring their translators with them. Referring to this decision, Beşli asked, “How will the court determine a person’s skills in Turkish grammar; how could it be measured?”
He added, “Mother tongue rights should not be shaped only through Kurds”
The founder of Anatolian Culture and Research Association (AKADER), Altan Açıkdilli, who presented a file titled “Research on Peoples’ Constitution,” to Ankara a few months ago, said they gave full support to the right to defense in mother tongue.
Açıkdilli also commented on the translator condition for those demanding to make defense in their mother tongue.
“This is a clear representation of a bargaining mentality. Freedom has no condition. A person makes defense in mother tongue or does not,” he said. Açıkdilli also said some technical problems might occur if the right to defense in mother tongue enters into force, adding that some measures should be taken against that.
“Translation of different dialects requires expertise. And there is a crucial point here; legal terms do not have equivalencies in some dialects, so a short-term training will be required for translators,” Açıkdilli said. Açıkdilli also touched upon the fact that the debates with regard to mother tongue are made only through Kurds. “The public is having the wrong debate; the government represents the rights regarding mother tongue as something only given to Kurds. However, various communities from different ethnicities live in this country,” Açıkdilli said.
“The rights of these communities should not be shaped through the policies implemented with regard to Kurds,” Açıkdilli said.
Hadig Hemşin Culture Sustenance Association head Hikmet Akçiçek also expressed the same concern. “When it comes to rights, a perspective covering all the communities within the country is required. Mother tongue defense and education are everyone’s right.”
November/19/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
The debate over legal defense in Kurdish, currently one of the most controversial issues in Turkey, is spreading to include mother toungue defense for other ethnic communities.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, Caucasian Associations Federation Head Vacid Kadıoğlu said, “The right to defense and education in [one’s] mother tongue is everyone’s right. Manipulating this right for politics, as is done with Kurdish, is a wrong deed.”
“They made us forget our own mother tongue, the Circassian language. So we cannot bring the right to defense in mother tongue to the agenda,” Kadıoğlu said.
“First of all, we demand the return of our right to receive education in [our] mother tongue. The government put into force the law of elective mother tongue and dialect lessons, but also enacted a 10-person quota condition. They are not sincere,” Kadıoğlu said.
Mother tongue ‘a right’
The head of the Laz Culture Association, lawyer Mehmet Ali Beşli, touched upon a different aspect of the issue. “Mother tongue is a right, and the ability to defend [oneself] in one’s mother tongue, which one can speak most efficiently, has a crucial role. People must make their defense in the language through which they can express themselves the best,” Beşli said.“The state initiated elective mother tongue lessons in schools and opened a television channel [in Kurdish languages]; however, they do not approve mother tongue defense in courts. This is not understandable.”
If the right to mother tongue defense enters into force, translators will be assigned twice to those who cannot speak Turkish. Those who speak Turkish but demand to make their defense in their mother tongues will have to bring their translators with them. Referring to this decision, Beşli asked, “How will the court determine a person’s skills in Turkish grammar; how could it be measured?”
He added, “Mother tongue rights should not be shaped only through Kurds”
The founder of Anatolian Culture and Research Association (AKADER), Altan Açıkdilli, who presented a file titled “Research on Peoples’ Constitution,” to Ankara a few months ago, said they gave full support to the right to defense in mother tongue.
Açıkdilli also commented on the translator condition for those demanding to make defense in their mother tongue.
“This is a clear representation of a bargaining mentality. Freedom has no condition. A person makes defense in mother tongue or does not,” he said. Açıkdilli also said some technical problems might occur if the right to defense in mother tongue enters into force, adding that some measures should be taken against that.
“Translation of different dialects requires expertise. And there is a crucial point here; legal terms do not have equivalencies in some dialects, so a short-term training will be required for translators,” Açıkdilli said. Açıkdilli also touched upon the fact that the debates with regard to mother tongue are made only through Kurds. “The public is having the wrong debate; the government represents the rights regarding mother tongue as something only given to Kurds. However, various communities from different ethnicities live in this country,” Açıkdilli said.
“The rights of these communities should not be shaped through the policies implemented with regard to Kurds,” Açıkdilli said.
Hadig Hemşin Culture Sustenance Association head Hikmet Akçiçek also expressed the same concern. “When it comes to rights, a perspective covering all the communities within the country is required. Mother tongue defense and education are everyone’s right.”
November/19/2012
15 Kasım 2012 Perşembe
RIGHTS > Death penalty brings memoirs from past
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent comments in support of reinstating capital punishment have reopened painful wounds for relatives of prisoners that were executed during Turkey’s darkest years.
“There should be no executions in Turkey, this is not the solution,” said Şahin Kambur, who was 12 when his brother Mehmet Kambur was executed by the junta that came to power in the Sept. 12, 1980 coup on accusations of being a member of an illegal leftist organization.
Şahin Kambur told the Hürriyet Daily News that he was only 12 when his 29-year-old brother was executed, adding that this incident affected a major part of his life.
“They were talking about it at home. I felt that something would happen, but I didn’t know what execution meant then,” Kambur said. Kambur said his brother’s body was not delivered to the family after the execution and that no religious ceremony was held for him, thereby causing great suffering to the family.
“Execution is not a disciplinary punishment; it is only a power play. Nobody should be executed whatever the reason is, it is a political murder,” he said. “The recent discussions on the death penalty have stirred the memories of my childhood. I don’t want to believe the prime minister’s statements. How can one who abolished the death penalty bring it back into force? I guess he is trying to threaten [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader] Abdullah Öcalan.”
In a speech delivered at the Bali Democracy Forum in Indonesia on Nov. 9, Erdoğan said capital punishment “is legitimate in certain situations.” Implicitly noting that Turkey had abolished the death penalty as part of its drive to join the European Union, Erdoğan said capital punishment existed in a number of countries around the world.
November/15/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent comments in support of reinstating capital punishment have reopened painful wounds for relatives of prisoners that were executed during Turkey’s darkest years.
“There should be no executions in Turkey, this is not the solution,” said Şahin Kambur, who was 12 when his brother Mehmet Kambur was executed by the junta that came to power in the Sept. 12, 1980 coup on accusations of being a member of an illegal leftist organization.
Şahin Kambur told the Hürriyet Daily News that he was only 12 when his 29-year-old brother was executed, adding that this incident affected a major part of his life.
“They were talking about it at home. I felt that something would happen, but I didn’t know what execution meant then,” Kambur said. Kambur said his brother’s body was not delivered to the family after the execution and that no religious ceremony was held for him, thereby causing great suffering to the family.
“Execution is not a disciplinary punishment; it is only a power play. Nobody should be executed whatever the reason is, it is a political murder,” he said. “The recent discussions on the death penalty have stirred the memories of my childhood. I don’t want to believe the prime minister’s statements. How can one who abolished the death penalty bring it back into force? I guess he is trying to threaten [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader] Abdullah Öcalan.”
In a speech delivered at the Bali Democracy Forum in Indonesia on Nov. 9, Erdoğan said capital punishment “is legitimate in certain situations.” Implicitly noting that Turkey had abolished the death penalty as part of its drive to join the European Union, Erdoğan said capital punishment existed in a number of countries around the world.
November/15/2012
9 Kasım 2012 Cuma
Syrian children need education ‘urgently’
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News-Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Recent reports that a school for Syrian students has been opened in Istanbul are untrue, a senior member of a Syrian NGO has said but added that many refugee children in Turkey were in desperate need of education.
“There are 1,500 families in Mersin alone, think of how many children there are if each family has one child. When we consider all the Syrian children across Turkey, this makes a huge number. These children lack education and they shouldn’t pay the price for these difficulties,” said the vice president of the Syria Solidarity Institution, Maher Isa.
Recently it was reported that a Syrian school providing primary and high school education to Syrian students living in Turkey was opened in Istanbul’s Esenler district. However, Isa said they applied to the governor’s office for a course, not a school.
According to information obtained from Esenler Municipality officials, the governor's office did not give approval for the education of Syrian children, adding that providing books that were compatible with the Syrian curriculum was not permitted.
The governor's office and the Istanbul Education Directorate have not commented on the issue.
November/09/2012
7 Kasım 2012 Çarşamba
Historic school returned
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
An Armenian foundation has received back an Istanbul school building, following a court case that lasted 30 years.
The historic Bomonti Mıhitaryan School in Istanbul’s Bomonti neighborhood, which belonged to the Surp Ğazar Armenian Catholic Mıhitarist Monastery and School Foundation but was not registered in the 1936 Declaration, was returned to the foundation after a trial held on Nov. 1.
‘Justice has been served’
“Justice has been served,” the foundation’s head, Rita Nurnur, told the Hürriyet Daily News, adding that the Director General of Foundations, Adnan Ertem, had first advised them to open a law case on the issue.
“When the foundation law entered into force, we filed two appeals with the Foundations Directorate General, but both of them were rejected. The esteemed Ertem then advised to us to open up a new case against the Directorate. Legally, the procedures should have progressed in that way originally,” Nurnur said.
Turkey’s minorities were obliged to declare their properties in 1936 upon a government request. However, many of the properties did not remain registered under the names of the minority foundations and many were even sold to third parties in subsequent years.
November/07/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
An Armenian foundation has received back an Istanbul school building, following a court case that lasted 30 years.
The historic Bomonti Mıhitaryan School in Istanbul’s Bomonti neighborhood, which belonged to the Surp Ğazar Armenian Catholic Mıhitarist Monastery and School Foundation but was not registered in the 1936 Declaration, was returned to the foundation after a trial held on Nov. 1.
‘Justice has been served’
“Justice has been served,” the foundation’s head, Rita Nurnur, told the Hürriyet Daily News, adding that the Director General of Foundations, Adnan Ertem, had first advised them to open a law case on the issue.
“When the foundation law entered into force, we filed two appeals with the Foundations Directorate General, but both of them were rejected. The esteemed Ertem then advised to us to open up a new case against the Directorate. Legally, the procedures should have progressed in that way originally,” Nurnur said.
Turkey’s minorities were obliged to declare their properties in 1936 upon a government request. However, many of the properties did not remain registered under the names of the minority foundations and many were even sold to third parties in subsequent years.
November/07/2012
After film, new book sheds light on Dersim Operation
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
The film-making couple behind the ground-breaking documentary film on the Dersim Operation, “Dersim’in Kayıp Kızları: İki Tutam Saç” (Lost Girls of Dersim: Two Strands of Hair) have recently published a historic book titled “Dersim’in Kayıp Kızları-Tertele Çeneku” (Massacred Girls).
Nezahat and Kazım Gündoğan’s book includes 150 different stories and historic documents detailing the experiences of soldiers and their families who adopted girls from Dersim.
“We are narrating the state’s Turkification and Islamification policies implemented in Dersim between 1926 and the 1950s with documents. We met the relatives of ranked soldiers’ families who took the girls away from their families in Dersim during the massacre period. They are now feeling a great sorrow since they felt responsible for their predecessor’s acts,” Gündoğan said in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News.
Gündoğan said many girls between ages of 5 and 10 were removed from their families by force and adopted by other families. “It is impossible for these children to forget the traumas they suffered. There are broken lives, lack of memory, rootlessness and the inability to speak there. We had great difficulty unveiling the stories,” Gündoğan said, adding that this book would fill a considerable gap. “We will be very pleased if we contributed even in a small degree to unveiling a bleeding wound, which is buried in the darkness of history,” he said.
In Dersim, now known as Tunceli province in eastern Turkey, Turkish Armed Forces launched an operation in 1938 in which over 13,000 people were killed, many people were exiled and numerous girls were taken away from their families by force.
The Gündoğans’ book was published by İletişim Publishing.
A man in search of his lost sister
In an exert from “Lost Girls of Dersim: Two Strands of Hair” Hıdır İlter tells the story of his search for his missing sister.
“My sister was 2 or 3 then. Her name was Xece, or Hacer. They collected us in Ovacık and were carrying us to Elazığ through Hozat in groups. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of people. They were all wounded, thirsty and hungry; in miserable conditions. I was 13 then and I remember everything as if it happened only yesterday. The military officers wanted to take beautiful girls with them and my sister was very beautiful. One officer forcibly attempted to take my sister from my mother, but my mother resisted and did not give her up. When we reached Pertek Bridge we stopped to take a break. The same officer came again and managed to take my sister from my mom by force despite my mom’s resistance and tears. The officer said “I will adopt and raise her” and gave his address to my mom, adding “you can come and see her.” But my mom tore the address paper into pieces out of helplessness and anger. There was a wound on my sister’s groin. The scar of that wound would hardly disappear. We could recognize her by that scar if we found her now.”
November/07/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
The film-making couple behind the ground-breaking documentary film on the Dersim Operation, “Dersim’in Kayıp Kızları: İki Tutam Saç” (Lost Girls of Dersim: Two Strands of Hair) have recently published a historic book titled “Dersim’in Kayıp Kızları-Tertele Çeneku” (Massacred Girls).
Nezahat and Kazım Gündoğan’s book includes 150 different stories and historic documents detailing the experiences of soldiers and their families who adopted girls from Dersim.
“We are narrating the state’s Turkification and Islamification policies implemented in Dersim between 1926 and the 1950s with documents. We met the relatives of ranked soldiers’ families who took the girls away from their families in Dersim during the massacre period. They are now feeling a great sorrow since they felt responsible for their predecessor’s acts,” Gündoğan said in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News.
Gündoğan said many girls between ages of 5 and 10 were removed from their families by force and adopted by other families. “It is impossible for these children to forget the traumas they suffered. There are broken lives, lack of memory, rootlessness and the inability to speak there. We had great difficulty unveiling the stories,” Gündoğan said, adding that this book would fill a considerable gap. “We will be very pleased if we contributed even in a small degree to unveiling a bleeding wound, which is buried in the darkness of history,” he said.
In Dersim, now known as Tunceli province in eastern Turkey, Turkish Armed Forces launched an operation in 1938 in which over 13,000 people were killed, many people were exiled and numerous girls were taken away from their families by force.
The Gündoğans’ book was published by İletişim Publishing.
A man in search of his lost sister
In an exert from “Lost Girls of Dersim: Two Strands of Hair” Hıdır İlter tells the story of his search for his missing sister.
“My sister was 2 or 3 then. Her name was Xece, or Hacer. They collected us in Ovacık and were carrying us to Elazığ through Hozat in groups. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of people. They were all wounded, thirsty and hungry; in miserable conditions. I was 13 then and I remember everything as if it happened only yesterday. The military officers wanted to take beautiful girls with them and my sister was very beautiful. One officer forcibly attempted to take my sister from my mother, but my mother resisted and did not give her up. When we reached Pertek Bridge we stopped to take a break. The same officer came again and managed to take my sister from my mom by force despite my mom’s resistance and tears. The officer said “I will adopt and raise her” and gave his address to my mom, adding “you can come and see her.” But my mom tore the address paper into pieces out of helplessness and anger. There was a wound on my sister’s groin. The scar of that wound would hardly disappear. We could recognize her by that scar if we found her now.”
November/07/2012
6 Kasım 2012 Salı
Schools in east face safety woes amid extra guard promise
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily New
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Teachers stationed in eastern and southeastern Turkey have expressed fears for their safety amid increasing attacks against schools by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) while noting their reluctance to abandon their posts.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News on the condition that their last names not be printed, three schoolteachers in the eastern province of Van said they were not being given enough protection.
Selim, a teacher who has been serving in Van for five years, said he had considered requesting a transfer to a western province due to the increasing attacks before abandoning the idea.
“Due to our worries, I considered demanding a reassignment to another province, like many of my friends. Then I decided to stay here since [the PKK] aims [to make us leave here],” Selim said.
“Teachers are never appreciated in this country. So, the effects of terror are reflected on us; [the state] does not protect us,” Selim said.
Selim said the PKK wanted the people in the region to remain ignorant since they knew ignorance triggered “terrorism.”
“We, as teachers, are following our path by giving priority to education and brotherhood. Most of the students are of Kurdish origin, and each one is like my own child. We do not side with separatism. We can only win over these children by not committing any discrimination. They are all brilliant kids, we need to protect them,” Selim said.
More security measures needed
Selim also said they were naturally worried about recent abductions, adding that they often traveled to neighboring villages during the day to guard against kidnappings.
Ekrem, another teacher who has been working in Van for three years, demanded the immediate increase of security measures.
Ekrem said most of his students were the children of Kurdish families that were victims of last year’s powerful earthquake.
“Some of them lost their families after last year’s earthquake. And they are now living in containers. Despite all the difficulties, they are all brilliant and successful. Terrorism aims to deprive these children of education, and we will never let this happen,” Ekrem said.
Another teacher, Reşat, who has been teaching in Van for two years, also said he was worried about security measures.
“Abduction cases have increased. I doubt whether the security measures taken are sufficient,” Reşat said.
Suspected members of the PKK have been abducting teachers and firebombing schools ostensibly as part of a campaign to demand Kurdish-language education.
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily New
Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
Teachers stationed in eastern and southeastern Turkey have expressed fears for their safety amid increasing attacks against schools by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) while noting their reluctance to abandon their posts.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News on the condition that their last names not be printed, three schoolteachers in the eastern province of Van said they were not being given enough protection.
Selim, a teacher who has been serving in Van for five years, said he had considered requesting a transfer to a western province due to the increasing attacks before abandoning the idea.
“Due to our worries, I considered demanding a reassignment to another province, like many of my friends. Then I decided to stay here since [the PKK] aims [to make us leave here],” Selim said.
“Teachers are never appreciated in this country. So, the effects of terror are reflected on us; [the state] does not protect us,” Selim said.
Selim said the PKK wanted the people in the region to remain ignorant since they knew ignorance triggered “terrorism.”
“We, as teachers, are following our path by giving priority to education and brotherhood. Most of the students are of Kurdish origin, and each one is like my own child. We do not side with separatism. We can only win over these children by not committing any discrimination. They are all brilliant kids, we need to protect them,” Selim said.
More security measures needed
Selim also said they were naturally worried about recent abductions, adding that they often traveled to neighboring villages during the day to guard against kidnappings.
Ekrem, another teacher who has been working in Van for three years, demanded the immediate increase of security measures.
Ekrem said most of his students were the children of Kurdish families that were victims of last year’s powerful earthquake.
“Some of them lost their families after last year’s earthquake. And they are now living in containers. Despite all the difficulties, they are all brilliant and successful. Terrorism aims to deprive these children of education, and we will never let this happen,” Ekrem said.
Another teacher, Reşat, who has been teaching in Van for two years, also said he was worried about security measures.
“Abduction cases have increased. I doubt whether the security measures taken are sufficient,” Reşat said.
Suspected members of the PKK have been abducting teachers and firebombing schools ostensibly as part of a campaign to demand Kurdish-language education.
4 Kasım 2012 Pazar
RIGHTS > Human rights activists seek ways to prison protests
ISTANBUL-Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Human rights activists, intellectuals and representatives of minority groups came together at a meeting on Nov. 2 in Istanbul in order to draw a road map to deal with the ongoing hunger strikes in prisons.
The attendants of the meeting, including lawyer Kezban Hatemi, the former chairman of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee Joost Lagendijk, a former head of the Turkish Medical Association Gençay Gürsoy, businessman İbrahim Betil, and southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Sur district mayor Abdullah Demirbaş, together called on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to find a way to put an end to the hunger strikes.
Demirbaş said this was the third wave of hunger strikes in recent Turkish history, referring to the two other hunger strikes that took place in 1996 and 2000.
“The mentality of different governments has remained the same in this country during these three waves,” he told the Hürriyet Daily News on Nov. 2.
If hunger strikes end in mass deaths, “affective breaks” will occur between Turkish and Kurdish people, said Demirbaş. “There is no doubt that the co-existence will decrease in Turkey. The supposedly democratic government would obviously be showing its dictatorial face,” he said.
Lawyer Kezban Hatemi, on the other hand, said she had faith in Erdoğan’ conscience.
“Our religious values emphasize the value of human life. Prime Minister Erdoğan’s position has importance, he must take the initiative.”
However, Joost Lagendijk said he opposed the method and added that other options should be adopted instead of hunger striking. This position contradicted with Professor Gencay Gürsoy, who said the inmates had no other option but to go on hunger strike.
“Some suspects have not stood on trial for five years. What else they could do to raise their voice,” he said.
Gencay also said the hunger strikes had reached a critical point as of yesterday, as previous strikes had only been held in a couple of prisons, but this time it was much more widespread. Some 683 inmates in 66 jails are currently on hunger strike.
Ezidi, Keldani and Syriac community representatives in the meeting also expressed their concerns about the strikes.
Yılmaz Demiray, from the Diyarbakır Ezidi Association, said their desire was for all inmates to stay healthy.
November/03/2012
ISTANBUL-Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Human rights activists, intellectuals and representatives of minority groups came together at a meeting on Nov. 2 in Istanbul in order to draw a road map to deal with the ongoing hunger strikes in prisons.
The attendants of the meeting, including lawyer Kezban Hatemi, the former chairman of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee Joost Lagendijk, a former head of the Turkish Medical Association Gençay Gürsoy, businessman İbrahim Betil, and southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Sur district mayor Abdullah Demirbaş, together called on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to find a way to put an end to the hunger strikes.
Demirbaş said this was the third wave of hunger strikes in recent Turkish history, referring to the two other hunger strikes that took place in 1996 and 2000.
“The mentality of different governments has remained the same in this country during these three waves,” he told the Hürriyet Daily News on Nov. 2.
If hunger strikes end in mass deaths, “affective breaks” will occur between Turkish and Kurdish people, said Demirbaş. “There is no doubt that the co-existence will decrease in Turkey. The supposedly democratic government would obviously be showing its dictatorial face,” he said.
Lawyer Kezban Hatemi, on the other hand, said she had faith in Erdoğan’ conscience.
“Our religious values emphasize the value of human life. Prime Minister Erdoğan’s position has importance, he must take the initiative.”
However, Joost Lagendijk said he opposed the method and added that other options should be adopted instead of hunger striking. This position contradicted with Professor Gencay Gürsoy, who said the inmates had no other option but to go on hunger strike.
“Some suspects have not stood on trial for five years. What else they could do to raise their voice,” he said.
Gencay also said the hunger strikes had reached a critical point as of yesterday, as previous strikes had only been held in a couple of prisons, but this time it was much more widespread. Some 683 inmates in 66 jails are currently on hunger strike.
Ezidi, Keldani and Syriac community representatives in the meeting also expressed their concerns about the strikes.
Yılmaz Demiray, from the Diyarbakır Ezidi Association, said their desire was for all inmates to stay healthy.
November/03/2012
2 Kasım 2012 Cuma
BDP MPs to join strikers as calls growing for end
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The BDP lawmakers are considering to join hunger strikers around Turkey while calls led by high-profile intellectuals are growing
A group of intellectuals gather in Istanbul’s Taksim Square to call for a dialogue to end the hunger strikes.
Turkish luminaries have demanded government action to end ongoing hunger strikes in the country’s jails amid suggestions by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) that it could soon bring the strike to Parliament.
If the government finds no formula to end the hundreds of ongoing prisoner hunger strikes by Nov. 5, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies may join the strike in Parliament Nov. 6.
The final decision will be made at a joint meeting of BDP deputies and Party Assembly (PM) members on Nov. 5.
“Yes, it is true. We will gather on Nov. 5, make an assessment of the issue and will accordingly make a decision,” BDP deputy parliamentary group chair Pervin Buldan said Nov. 1.
BDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş had already announced on Oct. 31 that, “as a party, we have been prepared for radical action.”
Buldan also said that as of Nov. 1, 683 prisoners in 66 prisons have been on indefinite hunger strikes, adding that the hunger strikes, which began on Sept. 12, entered their 51st day on Nov. 1 – a critical turning point. The first 63 inmates began their strike on Sept. 12 and dozens have gradually joined since then.
Intellectuals protest
A group of intellectuals gathered in Istanbul’s Taksim square to draw attention to the strikes yesterday.
Turkey’s government must immediately change its attitude to the widespread hunger strikes and death fasts in the country’s prisons before it is too late, a collection of intellectuals said yesterday, the 50th day of the action.
“Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, you must change your language and listen to the demands; otherwise, you will be responsible for the deaths,” author and musician Zülfü Livaneli said at a press conference at Istanbul’s Taksim Hill Hotel.
Turkish author Yaşar Kemal, who witnessed the previous experiences, remarked on the death fasts in 1996, saying: “They tortured those staging hunger strikes then. Some of them died, and the state was responsible for these deaths, as it always is.”
Also, Members of Parliament’s Human Rights Commission’s Prisons Sub-commission visited the Black Sea province of Bolu yesterday to meet 25 convicts who are staging a hunger strike in Bolu F-type and T-type prisons.
The Human Rights Commission head and the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Sakarya deputy Ayhan Sefer Üstün said they would listen to the 25 striking convicts and check the state of their health.
On a separate development, Health Minister Recep Akdağ yesterday noted that every inmate staging a hunger strike is being visited by doctors on a daily basis. However, some prisoners accept medical examination while others do not. “It’s up to inmates to accept or decline the medical examination, we cannot force them to accept,” Akdağ said yesterday speaking in a televised interview on private news channel NTV.
November/02/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The BDP lawmakers are considering to join hunger strikers around Turkey while calls led by high-profile intellectuals are growing
A group of intellectuals gather in Istanbul’s Taksim Square to call for a dialogue to end the hunger strikes.
Turkish luminaries have demanded government action to end ongoing hunger strikes in the country’s jails amid suggestions by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) that it could soon bring the strike to Parliament.
If the government finds no formula to end the hundreds of ongoing prisoner hunger strikes by Nov. 5, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies may join the strike in Parliament Nov. 6.
The final decision will be made at a joint meeting of BDP deputies and Party Assembly (PM) members on Nov. 5.
“Yes, it is true. We will gather on Nov. 5, make an assessment of the issue and will accordingly make a decision,” BDP deputy parliamentary group chair Pervin Buldan said Nov. 1.
BDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş had already announced on Oct. 31 that, “as a party, we have been prepared for radical action.”
Buldan also said that as of Nov. 1, 683 prisoners in 66 prisons have been on indefinite hunger strikes, adding that the hunger strikes, which began on Sept. 12, entered their 51st day on Nov. 1 – a critical turning point. The first 63 inmates began their strike on Sept. 12 and dozens have gradually joined since then.
Intellectuals protest
A group of intellectuals gathered in Istanbul’s Taksim square to draw attention to the strikes yesterday.
Turkey’s government must immediately change its attitude to the widespread hunger strikes and death fasts in the country’s prisons before it is too late, a collection of intellectuals said yesterday, the 50th day of the action.
“Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, you must change your language and listen to the demands; otherwise, you will be responsible for the deaths,” author and musician Zülfü Livaneli said at a press conference at Istanbul’s Taksim Hill Hotel.
Turkish author Yaşar Kemal, who witnessed the previous experiences, remarked on the death fasts in 1996, saying: “They tortured those staging hunger strikes then. Some of them died, and the state was responsible for these deaths, as it always is.”
Also, Members of Parliament’s Human Rights Commission’s Prisons Sub-commission visited the Black Sea province of Bolu yesterday to meet 25 convicts who are staging a hunger strike in Bolu F-type and T-type prisons.
The Human Rights Commission head and the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Sakarya deputy Ayhan Sefer Üstün said they would listen to the 25 striking convicts and check the state of their health.
On a separate development, Health Minister Recep Akdağ yesterday noted that every inmate staging a hunger strike is being visited by doctors on a daily basis. However, some prisoners accept medical examination while others do not. “It’s up to inmates to accept or decline the medical examination, we cannot force them to accept,” Akdağ said yesterday speaking in a televised interview on private news channel NTV.
November/02/2012
Assyriska, Anatolians in Swedish football
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The chairman of “Sweden’s Anatolian football team” Assyriska, Nail Yoken, has expressed his desire that a similar team of Assyrians could be formed in Turkey.
Founded by ethnic refugees from Turkey in 1971, Assyriska, which is currently in the Superettan - the second-tier division in Swedish football - is seen by many as the national team of Assyrians and Syriacs worldwide. Yoken said a similar club had originally been formed in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin, under the name Midsan, but added that it could only survive for six years.
“The 1980s were turbulent years for Turkey in terms of politics,” Yoken told the Hürriyet Daily News. “We were struggling for our existence in eastern Turkey with our Assyrian identity and struggled to stay as a unit. In the end the team disbanded.”
Yoken moved to Sweden and quickly became a part of the Södertalje-based Assyriska, one of the two teams sharing a similar fate in Turkey, along with Syrianska.
“The Swedish Football Federation gave us all opportunities, but one still asks why we could not do that in our own country,” Yoken said. “How I wish Assyriska could play in Midyat.”
He said the team boasted 500 athletes in its youth system, with the majority of them coming from Assyrian families that migrated from Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The rest of the players consist of Turks, Kurds, Arabs and Swedes.
“We are an Anatolian team in Sweden. The communication between our players is very good,” Yoken said.
The team has trained a number of important players for Swedish football, including former Ajax and Twente ace Kennedy Bakırcıoğlu, a player born to a family that migrated from Turkey in early 1970s, as well as FC Köln forward Mikael Ishak, who was signed by the German club earlier this year.
“We aim to raise more talented players,” Yoken said.
During his four-year spell as club chairman, Assyriska has come to Turkey on a number of occasions for training camps, but when asked whether Assyriska or another team with the same idea could be formed in Turkey, Yoken is not positive.
“I cannot stay away from Turkey. But we were forced to leave Turkey back then. Of course we would like to return, but not under the current conditions,” he said.
November/01/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The chairman of “Sweden’s Anatolian football team” Assyriska, Nail Yoken, has expressed his desire that a similar team of Assyrians could be formed in Turkey.
Founded by ethnic refugees from Turkey in 1971, Assyriska, which is currently in the Superettan - the second-tier division in Swedish football - is seen by many as the national team of Assyrians and Syriacs worldwide. Yoken said a similar club had originally been formed in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin, under the name Midsan, but added that it could only survive for six years.
“The 1980s were turbulent years for Turkey in terms of politics,” Yoken told the Hürriyet Daily News. “We were struggling for our existence in eastern Turkey with our Assyrian identity and struggled to stay as a unit. In the end the team disbanded.”
Yoken moved to Sweden and quickly became a part of the Södertalje-based Assyriska, one of the two teams sharing a similar fate in Turkey, along with Syrianska.
“The Swedish Football Federation gave us all opportunities, but one still asks why we could not do that in our own country,” Yoken said. “How I wish Assyriska could play in Midyat.”
He said the team boasted 500 athletes in its youth system, with the majority of them coming from Assyrian families that migrated from Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The rest of the players consist of Turks, Kurds, Arabs and Swedes.
“We are an Anatolian team in Sweden. The communication between our players is very good,” Yoken said.
The team has trained a number of important players for Swedish football, including former Ajax and Twente ace Kennedy Bakırcıoğlu, a player born to a family that migrated from Turkey in early 1970s, as well as FC Köln forward Mikael Ishak, who was signed by the German club earlier this year.
“We aim to raise more talented players,” Yoken said.
During his four-year spell as club chairman, Assyriska has come to Turkey on a number of occasions for training camps, but when asked whether Assyriska or another team with the same idea could be formed in Turkey, Yoken is not positive.
“I cannot stay away from Turkey. But we were forced to leave Turkey back then. Of course we would like to return, but not under the current conditions,” he said.
November/01/2012
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