Istanbul on the foreign eye

ISTANBUL ON THE FOREIGN EYE

Inspiration, enjoyment, passion, mess, love, hate, problems, people, naivety... among many other terms and adjectives that would never be enough to describe in barely ten minutes what goes through the heads of the foreigners living in the, colourful, exotic and always addictive Istanbul... 
We explore the feelings from differently aged random foreigners from countries such as: Canada, Austria, Iran, Britain, Finland and Sweden... We will analyze the feelings of a bunch of foreigners from the perspective of teachers, students, social workers, artists, and architects. And understand how their clean look adopts different angles of vision at the face of a completely different world. 
This video is presented as my own perception of the town and its people... However this is how I pay homage to the beautiful city I live in; I do so through the words of those going through the same experiences Im living now. 
The concept of this project is simply to compose a descriptive, dynamic and humble material in order to portrait how Istanbul taste on a foreign eye.

Behind the cameras (TeleSUR)

Riots in Istanbul (TeleSUR)

Pressure on Syria mounts as Turkey ups the ante (SES Türkiye)

Picture: SES Türkiye / Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

Read this article in SES Türkiye clicking HERE



With international pressure on Syria mounting, some question whether foreign military intervention is on the horizon.


By Ara Aydin for SES Türkiye in Istanbul -- 01/12/11

Following the Arab League's decision to slap Syria with a set of sanctions for failing to implement an initiative to quell ongoing violence, Turkey announced it would follow suit Wednesday (November 30th), freezing the Syrian government's assets and suspending all financial transactions with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

At the Wednesday press conference, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that as Syria's largest trading partner, Turkey would try to avoid causing harm to civilians.

For now, electricity, water supplies and flights between Turkey and Syria would not be cut. Meanwhile, the chief executive of the Turkish oil refiner Tupras, Yavuz Erkut, said his company has ended an oil purchase deal with Syrian state company SYTROL.

Davutoglu said all weapons and military equipment would be blocked from entering Syria.

In a blow to what were once close relations, Davutoglu also announced the High-Level Strategic Co-operation mechanism between the two countries would be suspended until the formation of a new government in Syria.

Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels on Thursday (December 1st) to review a raft of new sanctions.

In response to international sanctions, Assad vowed that "Syria's war on terror would continue," while his foreign minister, Walid al-Moalem, accused the Arab League of "economic war" and "pursuing foreign intervention in Syria".

Sanctions come amid fears the country could be sliding towards civil war, prompting some to question whether international intervention, such as the creation of a buffer zone, is on the horizon.

Speaking to Kanal 24 on Tuesday (November 29th), Davutoglu said he hoped military action would prove unnecessary, but signalled that as a contingency plan the creation of a buffer zone is on the agenda.

"If tens, hundreds of thousands of people start advancing towards the Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey borders, not only Turkey but the international community may be required to take some steps such as a buffer zone. We don't want that to happen but we must consider and work on that scenario," he said.

Tensions along the Turkey-Syria border have been increasing, with reports of Turkish military exercises and similar deployments by Syria.

In response to Turkish support for the Free Syrian Army -- an armed opposition group based in Turkey -- and the Syrian National Council political opposition, media and intelligence reports indicate Syria is turning a blind eye to PKK activities on its side of the border. Turkish President Abdullah Gul has warned Syria not to play "the Kurdish card".

Soner Cagaptay, from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), told SES Türkiye that although avoiding conflict is the dominant attitude in Ankara, "the world might soon be witnessing a Turkish military operation in Syria."

However, Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Selcuk Unal told SES Türkiye "tension is on the other side of the border."

"We cannot predict what is going to happen but think this situation is going to normalise at some point. The presence of Syrian troops alongside the border does not represent a threat," said Ünal.

Calls from the Syria opposition in Turkey for quicker action and broader support are increasing pressure on both Syria and Turkey.

Molham al-Drobi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a prominent figure in the Syrian National Council, told SES Türkiye he "would prefer Turkey to move much faster".

"We in Syria would like to resolve all issues peacefully. Having said this, it sounds like Assad is not willing to do so. He has missed all offered opportunities," al-Drobi said.

"Assad, by refusing to fully co-operate with the Arab League initiative, is effectively provoking the international community to interfere in order to protect civilians," he added.

Haldun Sölmaztürk, a retired Turkish military officer and political analyst, says a Turkish military intervention is "extremely unlikely".

"Foreign, especially Western intervention, as witnessed in Libya, would have unforeseeable consequences and is no longer supported in the region. The whole issue has become part of Turkish domestic politics. Erdogan wants to avoid being seen as a 'puppet' of the West," Sölmaztürk said.

"Intervention in Syria by Turkey, even if it is supported by the West and based upon a UN Security Council resolution, which is unlikely, would not solve the problem but invite involvement of other actors. Especially after what happened in Libya, which set an example for later interventions, Turkey would not like [to set another precedent for foreign intervention]," he said.

Cuando volvió el Mavi Marmara

Turkey and Israel: Slow moves to reconstruct broken ties

Photo: Atlantic Council. ACUS.ORG. Turkish Foreign Minister

Lucas Farioli / Istanbul

"A new era has started in Turkey-Israel relations after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent two aircrafts to Israel to join efforts to extinguish a major forest fire in Haifa," Turkey new agency Anadolu reported Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu saying this during a press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem in Ankara.
Turkey-Israel relations between once close allies have deteriorated in recent years and have reached the lowest point last 31st May when nine Turkish citizens were killed when Israeli naval commandos attacked in international waters a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
Following Turkey's decision to send the aircraft, Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to end the diplomatic crisis with Ankara sent the Israeli representative on the United Nations committee investigating the Gaza flotilla incident, Yosef Ciechanover, to Geneva in order to meet with Feridun Sinirlioglu, an undersecretary at the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Israeli diplomats have said that the initial proposal made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's envoy included an expression of "regret" over the killings of the activists and agreement to compensate the families of the nine Turkish citizen shot during the attack offering around 100.000 dollars for each of them, Reuters informed.
In return, Israel wants Turkey to assure indemnify for Israeli military personal involved in the killings against lawsuits in international forums, and to normalize ties with steps like a new exchange of ambassadors.
In this respect Davotoglu also clarified that “The reports regarding the developments are speculative. Talks are continuing,” at a joint press conference in Ankara Turkish paper Hürriyet reported.

Women's organizations fear a wave of 'femicide' in Turkey

Photo: unknown photomontage

Lucas Farioli / Estambul

The Women and Ethic Commission of the Turkish Physicians’ Chamber said in a press conference last Saturday in order to prevent the killing of women in Turkey,
-Where it is estimated that three women are killed every day- the state needs to provide more instruments to de dominant mechanism, which aim at assisting and protecting the women, such as the judiciary or medical services.
At this respect several women’s organization have demanded from the government an “urgent plan of action” to stop the “increasing cases of femicide in Turkey.”
Müge Yetener, women’s organization activist and a member of the chamber alleged that between January and August, last year 953 women and this year 226 women were murdered, conservative Turkish paper Zaman said.
According to Turkish information wire Bianet News in October of this year 23 women were killed and 16 wounded. Also in October 15 women were raped and 7 of them were under eighteen.
According to several women’s organization the reasons behind the killings are diverse: wearing “provocative” clothes, sending a text message, or simply for jealously.
Pinar Illkaracak, member the Turkish women’s right organization of Women for Women Human Rights has said that “honour crime” is on the rise.
“There are two main types of murder against women, one is domestic violence against wife or girlfriend which happens in everywhere, and the other is honour killing which unfortunately is on the rise”, Illkaracak said.
“Our organization and several 14 other women’s right movements have initiated a tremendously vigorous campaign in order to rise the attention of the public and authorities about this issue”
“We have persuaded the authorities to modify 14 articles over the current legislation, making imprisonment sentences much tougher for those guilty of honour crimes family plotting, however there is still a lot of things to improve in terms of women’s right and equality in Turkey”
For a long time, women’s organizations have demanded more shelters, claiming that for every 7500 people there must be at least one women’s shelter house
Meanwhile, in an interview with Turkish paper Zaman, Meltem Agduk from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), argued that Turkey has been making some progress in this topic but there is more work to do:
“We believe that Turkey has been working on the honour crimes, early-age marriages and human trafficking that there is still a long way to go”
According to Illkaracak the passiveness of the cabinet is due to political reasons.
“The fact that current AKP Islamism rulers prefer not to deal with this problematic is not because of their religious background, as Quran disapprove this practice; it is due to the value of conservative Kurdish vote, in whose regions most of honour killing are being committed. This is simply unacceptable”
Meanwhile the construction of seven new shelters the UNFPA coordinated the EU and the Turkish Ministry of Interior have already been completed and hanged over this weekend in cities such as Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Izmir and Samsun.