EUROPEUS

The Fener-Balat Project that we have heard about for some time finally has come to a conclusion. Let's take a look at the process now for an assessment of the project. The Fatih Municipality eagerly became a partner in the Rehabilitation Project for the Fener-Balat Neighborhood, which was supported by the European Commission and the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, when it was brought to the agenda. After all, the ruined neighborhood was to be restored. Plus, this was not to be a mere construction process but to have a social component in order to bolster women and youth projects. The project may possibly set precedent for other districts in Istanbul included on the UNESCO World Culture Heritage List.

(By Yusuf Kanli / Source: Turkish Daily News - Turkey) The secularists have now become the "mad minority" according to radicals and Islamist media. So said one of those newspapers propagating the replacement of the secular lifestyle in the country with an Islamic one from top to toe: Mad minority engulfed in panic! Reports in other Islamist media were no different... They were all stressing one common new perception: The naughty minority secularists... The prime minister was talking at the inauguration of the "political academy" of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul... "It's not us, it is those who create this atmosphere of confrontation with the assumption that allowing turban in universities will pose a threat to their lifestyle... The AKP is the guarantee of secularism..." Military is the guarantee of democracy.... The AKP is the guarantee of secularism... Why worry, let's relax and sit back!

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