samedi, 09 février 2008

LETTERS FROM ISTANBUL: MEDIA, TURBAN AND BAN

ce3e492a3faf8252bf7dbd8e128f5f51.jpg9h20. Phone’s calling. “Mr. Nonnenmacher? Hi, I’m Irem from the Turkish Daily News. I had to pick you up at your hotel. I’m sorry but i’ll be 10 to 15 minutes late. Trafic is horrible today”. Just time for a quick coffee break. Taking the elevators to the lobby. Sitting there, facing the street. Turning the computer on. Quick look at gmail. Then to the Six35’s yesterday edition. Some people look at me wondering: “God, who’s that guy with its Macbook, camera and digital handycam. Is that hotel not supposed to give place first to tourists?” Phone’s ringing again. Irem’s there. Following her. Leaving the hotel. Crossing the street. Few meters further, on the left inside, the Otopark, a kind of very Turkish car park, settled in the middle of nowhere. Conversation really starts. About who Irem is, about her job. She recently joined the Turkish Daily News (TDN). A week ago. She’s a kind of project officer dedicated to new web plateform of the newspaper. She wants the TDN website to be more interactive, more «opened» to the readers. “You have a blog she says. What’s its name, already? Europeus?”. “Yes”. “I had a look at it.” I’m curious. How did she managed to watch it. For several weeks Europeus is no more accessible from Turkey. Reason of it: a wave of uninterrupted spams coming from that country. Philippe Pinault, the founder of the plateform said he had no other choice than taking that decision. “This should not time”. Well, you never know…

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lundi, 04 février 2008

TURKEY: SECULARISTS - MAD MINORITY

4eeaba1392080148a74e95898cf4c04b.jpg(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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