barkingsparrows

2012-01-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

I speak to TJ and The Tux about Turkey - NYC's politics for derelicts, as they describe it. This was an interview following former US presidential candidate Perry's comments on 'Turkey being run by Islamic terrorists'.

Jody Sabral talks Turkey to NYC's TJ and the Tux by jodysabral

Full show here: http://www.tjandthetux.com/category/episodes/

2012-01-12T14:15:00.000-08:00

Turkey's supreme leader

Tonight I attended the Doha Debates in Istanbul. The motion was 'This house believes Turkey is not a good model for Arab countries'. There was a variety of voices on display, and, it was, a timely discussion with over 70 Turkish journalists in prison.

As Arab countries seek to build new democractic futures, Turkey has been held up by many as a model democracy that perhaps could be applied to neighbourong countries. And why not? What alternatives are there? 'Turkey has been successful in intergrating Islamist-parties into the democractic system', said one panelist. 'The Turkish model just provides a mask for Islamists to enter parliament', said another from the opposing side.

Listening to this debate, I wondered, and have wondered for some time, 'Can an Islamist party be truly democractically-minded?' I asked the question to the panelists, who answered by saying that the model does not revolve around one particular party.

I myself am not sure that AKP are true Islamists in the Muslim Brotherhood sense. Many of us who know Turkey well, also know that fascism is a huge threat to democracy here, as it was in second world war Germany. Or even in today's America where the 99% feel disenfranchised from the democractic process.

I write this in response to a question I was posed by one of the speakers on the panel, Sinan Ulgen, who spoke against the motion. His argument was that Turkey is a good model, 'It has flaws and short-comings, but overall it is a good model for Arab countries'. He then mentioned Iran, which caught me off guard.

Having missed my opportunity to really respond to the question he raised on Iran, I will now address it. Sinan asked whether Iran was a better model. At the time I pulled the debate back to Turkey's anti-democractic movement citing freedom of speech as a fundamental element of democracy that seems to be under attack here. However, let me now respond to this comparison.

The Turkish prime minister well aware that he can not run again for the prime ministry wants to secure his grip on power and has proposed a presidential system, which many say, he will bring forth via writing a new constitution. AKP having already changed the law on presidenital elections in 2008 will be prepared to take it to a public vote.

Under the old law, the parliament elected the president. Under the new law, the public will. This would allow Erdogan to run for the top post. Most believe he would likely be elected going by the last election results. Running in 2011 - his third term for power - he got the highest YES yet in general elections ever, demonstrating the power of his popularity.

My question then to Sinan Ulgen is, how is this different from the democractic-autocracy next door in Iran? How would Erdogan's presidential grip be different from the supreme leader?

Many Iranians I know always say, 'Be mindful of your democracy, we weren't and look what we got! We were fighting against oppression in 1979, but then Khomeni came along and appointed his men in powerful positions, and look at our democracy thirty years on.'

They have a point. We are seeing the same kind of trend in Turkey where university posts are now being appointed by AKP guys, rather than democratically elected as they were in the past from within the academic community.

These institutions that Sinan Ulgen talks about as being part of the Turkish model are all good and well when you have a democractic-mindset running them. But in this region it's hard to see where that will come from with no real reform still taking place across the education system.

We foreigners are often accused of being Orientalist by raising the issue of Islamist-politics Vs secularism. But there needs to be an understanding of this definition. Yes the majority of AKP guys are Muslims, this is not the complaint I raised. I have no complaint with spiritual Islam, religion, faith of any denomination. But when religion is used in popular political discourse it becomes anti-democractic.

Erdogan said prior to the elections, 'You're either with us or against us'. May nature forbid such a thought if he gets his way and reaches the top post. As the 2011 campaign posters eerily displays, Erdogan has a long-term vision of his power which stretches till 2023. If he makes it, he'll have secured two-decades in power. So by then, will he have earned the title of Turkey's supreme leader?

Will air on January 21st http://www.thedohadebates.com/pages/?p=3285

2011-12-23T04:45:00.000-08:00

Silencing dissenting voices will not solve the problem

Surrounded by a group of Turkish students in a car park at a university in south east Poland where I recently did a guest-lecture and book reading, I felt the full weight of controversy in talking about the creation of a Kurdish state - a concept that has been around since the Treaty of Sevres in 1920 as the Ottoman Empire collapsed and the Turkish Republic was established in 1923.

At least nine or ten Turkish students had gathered to inform me that a map, which I use as the plot in my novel Changing Borders was not real. I replied in Turkish ‘it’s a novel!’

‘You do know that map is not real, don’t you. Our friends were very sad when they saw you talk about it,’ a young Turkish girl said in her best English, currently on an Erasmus exchange. ‘We wanted to tell you it’s not real.’

No matter how surreal this incident was, it exposes a worrying mentality of how Turks approach the Kurdish issue. It’s better to reject the notion of the ‘promise’ than consider what went wrong. It is widely reported that Kurds number an estimated 30 million across the region, the largest ethnic population without their own country, although Northern Iraq goes by the name of Kurdistan and is fast becoming the defacto state for Kurds in the region.

The wave of arrests that took place in Turkey yesterday, in which an estimated thirty journalists were detained, their offices ransacked by police, and camera equipment confiscated is just part of a ‘pre-planned campaign to silence critical voices from within the Kurdish community,’ an MP from the Kurdish bloc told me by phone.

Police began their dawn raids at around 5 am, and proceeded to copy the hard drives of computers, confiscate cameras because memory sticks ‘couldn’t be copied on site’, and then detain those who work at news agencies of mostly Kurdish origin, although the local AFP photographer Mustafa Ozer was also taken under custody.

The pretext was that these people are suspected of being members of the Kurdish Communities Union or KCK, ‘the urban arm of the PKK’ as the police describe it. However, the KCK has yet to be proven as an illegal entity, so these journalists were arrested for what exactly? For reporting on the ongoing trial into the KCK, which has according to some estimates seen 3900 people detained, some sentenced, some still held without charge.

The idea that the KCK is ‘setting up a parallel state’ has yet to be proven by the courts, but having spoken to MPs from the main opposition party, the CHP, this case seems to have no grounds. Turkey is now discussing a new constitution, which would include more autonomy for the Kurds in the south east, which proposes local government on a municipal level be managed predominantly by Kurds. So what was the motivation behind these arrests?

Turkey ranks one of the highest jailers of journalists in the world. In 2011, the International Press Institute published the findings from a report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that placed Iran, China, and Turkey at the top of the list of most journalists in prison. The report by OSCE found that Turkey topped the list with 70 journalists in jail, but that Iran and China also ranked among the worst for journalists behind Turkey. Should these 30 arrested journalists remain behind bars, it has put Turkey way ahead of the competition.

Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener, two highly respected investigative journalists have been held in prison since March without charge. Last month they were up in court and to the press community’s dismay, they were not released as was expected. The two are accused of being a member of a terror network, aka Ergenekon, plotting to bring down the government. Ironically it has been their investigative work that has gone some way to expose the alleged military plot, so whose side are they on? It’s widely known that Ahmet was arrested for a controversial book he was planning to publish on religious communities within the police force, who follow one of Turkey’s most powerful and untouchable Islamic scholars.

Having lived in Turkey for ten years, and watched three terms of the ruling AKP governance, I can say that yes many things have improved. A Kurdish party is now in the parliament, Kurdish language is no longer banned. A Kurdish channel, although state-run broadcasts, and private channels are set to follow. Kurdish language once banned is now being offered in universities, but freedom of speech is being slowly ebbed away at.

Perhaps we need to start understanding the mentality that is behind this new crackdown in which 30 journalists were arrested.

As offices were raided yesterday and cameras confiscated, I cast my mind back to the car park in Poland. If a tale of fiction can cause such a reaction, what hope is there for real conversation about solving Turkey’s chronic problem of its Kurdish identity, and the military’s intervention in politics.

Journalists feel afraid, ‘my phone number is on Mustafa (Ozer’s) phone,’ a photographer I know confessed to me as the news of the raids broke - wire-tapping is the usual evidence used against the press. Perhaps there will be an explosion of novelists in Turkey as journalists practise many layers of self-censorship to ‘stay safe’, although this has also proven not protective.

With almost 100 journalists in jail, Turkey really should start to question what kind of democracy it wants to be?

2011-10-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

CHANGING BORDERS a novel by J A Sabral

The US book review

"What is the real value of exerting western influence in the fast-changing, difficult to predict Middle East? This is a smart, sexy, international intrigue that raises questions and sheds light on many issues of this part of the world."

Todays Zaman

"A political tale of scandal and intrigue, Sabral exposes the sordid underbelly of Western policy in a fast-paced novel aimed at questioning the value of and motivations behind Western interference in the Middle East."

ebook - International intrigue on Iran-US-Turkey relations https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005NBLMVC

paperback :http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/changing-borders/15843818

http://www.theusreview.com/reviews/Changing-Sabral.html

2011-10-12T12:59:00.000-07:00

Find what makes you tick and save time on it.
21.12.2012

Is the end of the world near as predicted by some astrologists? Or, is it just hype falsely distributed? Seemingly, the world will be passing through mass changes in the next twelve months, which will culminate, according to these scientists, in a prophetic revelation - or - the end of the world.

A list of disaters are being pitched as the catalyst for the most catastrophic event in documented history. Take your pick; climate change, Tsunamis, earthquakes, the Freeze, volcanic ash, plagues and The Economy. The word on the street, is, however, that the world will go through a "major shift". And don't we need one? Aren't we all secretly dreaming of a world in which we do business differently?

We are so busy documenting what is happening now, that we are not discussing what comes next. Or, what kind of economic model(s) would suit this new visionary world - a world in which we've stopped to think how our spending affects our future. Is there anyone out there really talking about this? Or are we all too consumed by trying to make a buck out of someone else's misery?

Much cynicism is circulating in European and Middle Eastern intellectuals circles towards the Wall Street protests."It's become a bitching fest" was one comment I read on Facebook this week. But isn't it Wall Street where this all began?

The Wall Street protesters have an historic right to protest the way America educates future economists? The notion that we must find a rational way to live with capitalism is starting to resonate with many American consumers. And, it will be consumer patterns that dicates how globally dominant the US government may be. The narrative that consumerism takes a way the pain is changing.

America has been known to innovate through history because of people's movements, and this is not to dismiss its war like policies. But many of the interventions and occupations were tied into economic theory. On human rights, positive discrimination for minorities has pushed reform in many corners of the world. Perhaps, the US just needs to stop intervening in other countries economies? Wouldn't that be the end of the world as we know it?

The globalised world must find a way to regulate itself, while providing enough free space for innovation and creative action that can be admired by people and aspired to.

"Tactical Camoflauge" the name of a group action to dress Occupy Wall Street protesters in suits, is an astounding example of creative thinking. This is an admirable example of peaceful demonstration based on self-reflection. It pokes fun at "The capitalist" silently with visual aesthetics.

If the state continues to write off corporate debt and exclude people from this bonus scheme run by a group of bandits a deeper crisis may occur, say some economists. This kind of ignorance practised by the government could trigger millions of people to use traditional methods such as bankruptcy to write off personal debt, say the same economists.

It may not be a bad thing. This kind of revolt against the credit system needs to happen before a real "shift" can take place. Will it be the end of the world as we know it? Of course! But what will come next? The upside? We have at least twelve months to prepare, but who knows how many will survive.

2011-09-09T21:47:00.001-07:00

The real threat to Turkey and the missile shield

On May 29th, 1910, Britain's embassy staff in Istanbul compiled a report for power brokers back in London about who were to be the new leaders of the soon-to-be-formed Turkish republic. What became known as the FitzMaurice and Lowther report, David Fromkin writes in his epic book "A Peace to End All Peace" concluded that "the Young Turks leaders were foreigners, not Turks, and that they served foreign interests". Fromkin also writes, "This was the opposite of the truth, and led British observers to miscalculate what the Young Turk government would do."

As Oscar Wilde wrote, "Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing." So if history has anything to teach us, it is that in times of conflict, national interest will always come first and that Western diplomats stationed in Turkey are not so apt at reading between the lines. The Wikileaks cables demonstrate these miscalculations. There have often been wrong assumptions when it comes to Turkey, a country that is constantly criticised from within for not setting its own agenda but rather following one that is spoon fed by Washington. But is it time to perhaps turn this myth on its head? Sure Turkey can not act alone, its geography dictates that it must form an alliance of sorts in times of conflict. During both world wars of the twentieth century, Turkey chose to remain on the side of caution until it was forced to choose - a wise decision for a country that straddles Europe and Asia, bordering Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Syria and Iraq not to mention Russia two days north by Sea and Egypt to the south.

The deployment of the NATO-led missile shield (worth an estimated 4 billions dollars) in Turkey with little or no opposition by a public who are seemingly anti-interventionalist - Turkish public outcry prevented the US from forming a northern front during the Iraq war - begs one question. Where does Turkey see, in the words of the US administration,"an imminent threat of incoming missiles"? An American lobbyist earlier this week claimed that Turkey was deploying the early-warning missile system against Iran. Tehran as expected reacted with harsh words of criticism stating its national interest will not be threatened by any country. But Turkey has not reacted to either commentary and why?

This week Turkish-Israeli relations reached an historic point of potential conflict after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan promised to deploy the Turkish navy on the Eastern Mediterranean to escort aid ships trying to reach Gaza. In response, Israeli Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor described the comments as "grave and serious". And all of this because Israel arrogantly refuses to offer a simple apology for the deaths of nine Turkish activists who were slain onboard an international aid flotilla last year that attempted to break the blockade on Gaza.

Speaking to the vice-president of IHH charity, the organisation that lead the aid-flotilla, may provide some insight into why Turkey has not reacted to the Iranian posturing and rather is seeking to deploy the missile shield with little or no public opposition. Who do Turks view as the aggressor here? Their Islamic neighbour or the rogue state who seemingly doesn't respect the lives of nine of its citizens.

Huseyin Oruc, the vice-president of IHH, explains why he thinks Israel used such brute force against the Turkish ship."Maybe there are many answers. But from our side as a humanitarian organisation it is impossible to answer. We don't think like them. If they had an ounce of humanitarian thought they couldn't act like this. Therefore I couldn't understand. But what we have realised is that there is a very significant level of hostility against the Turkish nation. They are always talking about the friendship betweeen the Turkish government and the Israeli government, the Turkish nation and the Jewish people. But what we realise is that it's not true."

IHH has been accused by some Western governments of supporting a radical Islamists agenda, one that rejects Western ideals. Whether this is a fair assessment is not my argument. It simply can not be ignored that the charity does provide aid to millions of vulnerabe people world-wide from Somalia to Palestine and has a popular international following. It is this position that has exposed Israeli aggression to a mass audience for the first time. It can also not be ignored that people on the street in Turkey feel pretty much the same as Huseyin. Here are some voxpops we gathered on Friday from pro-secular non-AK party voters.

"I don't find them honest, I expected them to be more honest. They are not our friends," Ayse, 44-years-old.

"The US and Europe haven't criticised Israel enough. Israel tortures Palestinians, and Israel effects the world badly," Murat, 25-years-old.

"Israel is trouble for everyone. I think Turkey shouldn't have a relationship with Israel. We don't need them," Ahmet, 52-years-old.

Turkey recognised Israel in 1949, but the relationship has never been easy. And since Erdogan's AK Party come to power in 2002, it has taken a decidingly downward trend. Having improved some of its human rights issues while growing its economy, emboldened with a new confidence, Turkey no longer feels the need to heed Israeli policies in the region as it once did. Whether this translates into Turkish perceptions over an Israeli threat rather than the US driven narrative that Iran poses the problem is difficult to assess. But one only needs to listen to the many voices in Turkey to understand where Turks think the conflict resonates from.

Turkey feels Israel has reached a point of no return. The arrogance of Israeli hardliners is a sentiment that Turkish diplomacy can no longer stomach. It pains Turkish culture for the Israeli governent not to mourn the dead nine young peace activists who died on that fatal night.

James Baldwin wrote, "People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them." Is Israel to be trapped by the modern history it is effortlessly now writing? The events of the past twenty-four hours should serve as a warning. Scenes of Egyptians storming the Israeli embassy in Cairo are quite telling. Protesters tore down the newly built security wall with their bare hands. Is this the new Middle East Israelis want to live in? One where their allies are no longer able to ignore the outpouring of popular protest and the hypocrisy of ambivelance.

2011-09-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

ISTANBUL: Pro-Kurdish rally ends in chaos - filmed by me.

2011-06-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

The age of consensus; a pipe dream.

Grey skies linger over a pro-Kurdish demonstration in Istanbul. Police used pepper gas and water cannons against the peaceful protestors.

Just two weeks after parliamentary elections were held, Turkey finds itself more divided than ever. Will this sentiment play into the hands of the ruling conservatives who are looking more decisively ready to go it alone on ushering in a new constitution? And what does this say about the state of democracy in this burned out EU candidate member state?

The prime minister has ignored the calls of the opposition to find a way out of the current stalemate brought about because independently elected MPs were not freed from prison to take their oath in parliament on Tuesday.

"Whether the opposition comes to parliament or not, there is no legal obstacle preventing parliament from functioning. They will see how parliamentary commissions work," Erdogan is quoted as saying in Today's Zaman newspaper.

The prime minister it seems has no intention in solving the current stand off with the main opposition party and the pro-Kurdish bloc, both of whom boycotted the oath taking ceremony in protest that their deputies are still behind bars.

Has the opposition miscalculated their political power again? Supporters of the CHP were almost ecstatic when the party leader announced, he and his party, would not take the oath on Tuesday. The decision was hailed as a courageous principaled step. However, on reflection these same supporters now question whether it was a bold move or just plain stupidity.

"They didn't take the oath, but they were in parliament on that day. So there was enough quorum. If they really wanted to protest what were they doing in the parliament? That would have been a much bolder protest that would have held more meaning," one supporter told me.

While confusion reigns over whether the independently elected MPs should have been released from prison in time to take the oath, as was, Sebahat Tuncel in the 2007 elections - she was elected from prison. The so-called consensus that Prime Minister Erdogan offered on election night seems further away than ever.

The question over whether convicted MPs such as Hatip Dicle should have been released apparently pertains to their sentence time. Dicle recieved a one-year eight-months sentence for making propaganda for a terrorist organisation. The labyrinth of Turkish law, which no one seems able to make any sense of, as is usually the case in Turkey, I believe, states that candidates serving more than a one-year prison sentence do not qualify to run in the elections. So why did Dicle apply for candidacy? And why did the Supreme Election Board permit him to run?

In contrast, Sebahat Tuncel, an independent MP, who was convicted of belonging to a terrorist group - a much more serious crime in the judicial sense - was able to seek re-election, after her 18-month sentence was reduced to six months by an Istanbul court, two months ahead of the elections.

Confused? The Turkish judicial system is clearly disfunctional. But this disfunctionality it seems could play further into the hands of the ruling conservatives, who are looking more and more likely to go it alone on rewriting the consitution.

"They may be looking to strike while the iron is hot," a Turkish journalist told me.

Although AKP lost seats in the June parliamentary election, the prime minister's party recieved 50 percent of the popular vote. In the eyes of the ruling party, this may be all the validation they need to hold a public referendum on Turkey's long awaited constitution. It clearly signals a YES vote at the ballot boxes.

But could they? And would they go it alone? The AKP only need to rally an extra four MPs in the legislature to vote on taking the new consitution to a public referendum. Hatip Dicle's seat has already been given to an AKP candidate, so now they need three. The MHP took their oath on Tuesday and have promised to back AKP's consitution. And, the markets have shown no reaction to the current political stand off in Ankara, which pretty much paves the way for AKP to confidentally get on with the job at hand.

A draft constitution has been knocking around for a few years, so why not just get on with it? Do AKP supporters care whether there is consensus?

What does this mean for the future of Turkey? The prime minister wants to bring in a presidential system that would seal his ultimate grip on power. Are we watching an autocratic regime in the making, as others in the region fall? Does Europe understand what's at stake here? Do Turks understand what this means in the long-term? Are fears that the secular state will be undermined legitimate in this context? Is the prime minister sincere in his claims of wanting to solve the Kurdish issue?

"I will seek consensus with all parties. The nation has spoken and called for a negotiated constitution. I am the negotiator of the new consitution," the prime minister said on election night in his victory speech. We the foreign press reported it, hoping that finally Turkish democracy would be propelled forward and that real negotiations would start.

"Both the main opposition CHP and AKP don't want to take responsibility for making amendments to the law now that would free these MPs. Because these changes may, later down the road, pave the way for the likes of Abdullah Ocalan (the imprisoned leader of the PKK) to stand in parliamentary elections, and no one wants to take responsible for that," a friend commented.

So where do we go from here? The parliament will elect a speaker of the house on Monday. How will the CHP act? The parliament will then go to summer recess, probably at the end of this month. This will provide Prime Minister Erdogan a couple months to plot his next move. Will he seek consensus and deliver an inclusive consitution? Or will he as many opposition supporters now fear, go it alone?

2011-06-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

The Istanbul Roma that once were...... Sulukule

2011-06-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

What started out as a peaceful demonstration beneath the Ottoman minarets of Sisli mosque quickly spun into a day of anger and frustration for Istanbul's Kurdish residents. The contrast between young Kurds dancing for peace and police regiments putting on their gas masks was a stark reminder that Turkey has a long way to go in resolving the Kurdish issue.

Having reported from hundreds of protests in central Istanbul over the past four years, both I and my cameraman, watched knowingly as the police decisively put on their gas masks in preparation of the end game. Even we were surprised by the sheer force that was used against the demonstrators.

What had started out as a sunny Sunday of peaceful protest ended in tears and fear. A five-year old boy, who lost his parents in the pepper gas panic, was scooped up off the street and carried to safety by a policeman. The limp body of the boy was snatched back from the strong arms by a demonstrator and passed from one person to another until he reached the safety of a cafe. The policeman was verbally ridiculed for his actions that had led to the child trauma. One woman even dared to hit him with her handbag, she was so enraged. An angry group of elderly people protectively pushed the police back away from the cafe.

Forty minutes before the brutal "clearance strategy" was unleashed, we were in a different world, smiling and enjoying the carnival atmosphere - weaving in and out of lines of young and old Kurds holding hands and dancing to traditional folk songs. We asked people how they felt. One after another they lined up to talk to us.

"We came here for peace, but there is a lot of pressure everywhere. We don't want to feel under pressure. Our elected representatives got thousands of votes, but he's not free. We want peace, democracy and our own language rights."

The elected MP this woman was talking about is Hatip Dicle, who ran as an independent candidate backed by the pro-Kurdish Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc. Hatip Dicle is serving a prison sentence. He is charged with supporting a terrorist group. However, in Turkey, parliamentary candidates can run from prison in general elections. And, if elected, they are granted parliamentary immunity, which effectively postpones the charges until they are no longer an MP. Dicle was not granted this immunity, and has not been released from prison. He has instead been disbarred and stripped of his deputyship. His seat has been given to a member of the ruling party AKP, a move that has further angered the Kurdish community.

"We are here for our representative Hatip Dicle. We support his freedom and rights. The prime minister has stolen our 80,000 votes. It's shameful that AK party gave Hatip's seat to a member of their party."

While there has been a lot of commentary over an apparent YSK "decision" that disqualified Dicle from entering the election race. Ertugrul Kurkcu, a newly elected independent MP, refuted these claims. Kurkcu pointed out that Dicle's name was on the ballot papers, which facilitated his candidacy. Kurkcu was also at the demonstration.

"The Supreme Election Board accepted his candidacy. So for this reason, the responsibility belongs to the the board not Hatip Dicle. He entered the election, and won the votes. They didn't say anything. Now they've disbarred him."

The pro-Kurdish bloc has taken a collective position by refusing to enter the parliament. Sebahat Tuncel, an independent MP, who ran from prison in the 2007 elections and was re-elected on June 12th, explained the delicate position the block now finds themselves in.

"We got a good result in the election, but the decision of the YSK has put pressure on the Kurdish people. The reason we are in parliament is to solve the Kurdish issue, to promote democracy and contribute to the new constitution. But if we enter under these circumstance it won't be valid."

Tuncel's comments some up the intricate politiking that Kurdish politicians must tread. She knows that parliament is the platform where the Kurdish issue can be solved. But at the same time, she also knows that she can not ignore the feelings of those who elected her. There has also been rumours that the Kurdish block plan to veto parliament until bi-elections are held, effectively creating a political crisis for Turkey. Tuncel rejected these claims.

"We are not going to resign. There is no bi-elections. Our people gave us this duty. Only, we will not go to the parliament. If we resign at this time there could be a bi-election. But it's not useful to us. There would be no benefit for Turkey or for us. We don't want to create a larger political crisis."

The government must act swiflty to resolve the stand off. If it doesn't, the state will have won. It's no coincidence that the YSK allowed Dicle to run and then disbarred him after thousands of people cast their votes. This incident shows the cracks in Turkish democracy, where the militarised state is still grasping for control. The agenda is to protect the status quo.

Kurdish politicians must be supported in their political endeavours or there will be a return to violence, which no one wants. AKP have a historic chance in this term to fight back and resolve this chronic problem through democractic moves. Images of a five-year-old boy being gassed will not help.

Standing along side the demonstrators, we too felt the powerful effects of pepper gas. Our eyes were stinging, our throats contracted. We were gagged and blinded by the state.

2008-05-07T15:20:00.001-07:00

2008-05-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

May Day, oh May Day

May 1st was a total disappointment for anyone hoping for a sensible reaction from the government to requests by the Labour Unions to celebrate Labour Day. It was a day that ended in more anxiety than anyone could have imagined.

I also became a victim of this anger and pent up frustration over how the government handles things. Late in the evening after the traffic had finally begun to flow through Taksim square, I was sitting in my local neighbourhood bar with some friends glad that peace had finally been restored to Cihangir.

It had been a long day for anyone involved in reporting on it - like myself - or those who were trying to celebrate.

While sitting there feeling relieved that the day had finally come to an end without major casualties (a cameraman I know was hospitalised from tear gas, but survived), I saw a new aquaintance sitting a couple tables down from me and decided to do the neighbourly thing and say "Hi".

As soon as I approached the table I was immediately harassed by his dining companion. This was the following coversation as I remember it:

"I don't agree with what you said," the female diner said one minute after being introduced to me for the first time.
"What exactly don't you agree with?" I said, NOTE: I had never spoken to this woman before in my life.
"What you said about the government having made an offer to the unions," she said.

Not being prepared to encounter such a hostility, I immediately went on the defensive.

"Well the government did make an offer," I said. (which was to hold the rally in a different place in the city, somewhere "that would be more appropriate without disrupting business.")
"But what kind of offer," my acquaintance said.

I then told the hostile female diner that "as a reporter I have a responsibility to not have an opinion." It was a stupid thing to say, but I just wasn't expecting to be dressed down so publically by someone I don't even know.

Upon reflection, I have wondered just how she could have had an opinion on something I've said when we've never even met. I imagined that the only possible reason could be that I had talked to a colleague on the telephone, and asked him why in their report they hadn't mentioned the fact that the government had made an offer to the unions. And that I thought the report was slightly biased because of this omitted information - I thought she must have over heard me, perhaps I had been speaking quite loud.

The whole issue has bothered me ever since, so much so that I have actually had to sit here and write about it.

My response to this mystery diner is as follows:

Yes, the government made an offer. The problem with the offer, which I did actually say in my live televised report on May 1, is that the reasoning they gave was not the reality. The government said that they wouldn't allow Taksim Square to be used for the celebrations because it would disrupt a work day, and the economy was in no shape to handle that. As it was, the economy took a beating on May 1 anyway, why?

1 - All stores in and around the Taksim area were closed afraid of unrest.
2 - At least 60 schools were closed. Causing a cost to those children who lost a day of study.
3 - The cost of 30,000 police and few hundred village guard deployed to keep people out of the square all day long ironically may have totalled more than the so-called cost to the Turkish economy, which I also said in my live televised report.
4 - The damage that it has done to Turkey in terms of foreign investors perceptions of what type of country Turkey is, is immeasurable.
4 - AKP have lost, everyone has lost.

I stated that there had been an offer by the government in order to present the context of why there was so much frustration from those who simply wanted to hold a rally for one hour, and perhaps seek some closure for the terrible events of 1977. I don't agree with what the government's response was, but I am also realistic in the sense that public gatherings in Turkey do sometimes descend into a separate issue - that's because I actually attend many of them. This doesn't make me pro-government.

I have joined all the workers protests on the streets in Istanbul in the run up to the social security reform bill, and most of the people there I saw were 20 plus in age. Not 17 year old university students. This does leave the question: What exactly is labour day in Turkey really about? And how is the government going to deal with it in the future?

We will see next year I expect. But to the lady who quite rudely shot me down before asking me why I had thought it important to point out the government's offer - namely because it does more to present the real politics of AKP and indeed the current state of Turkish politics - then I ask you to read this and next time ask "why" before you jump to conclusions based on a sound bite that you overheard without knowing what that sound bite was really all about.

I empathise with your frustration, I feel it too, which is why I delivered a report that may actually have added more context to Turkey's image abroad.

2008-03-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

Turkey’s Christians are they really in danger? And from who?

At what point does a sensational sentence become more important than the personal safety of the subject it contains?

The recent case of Aljazeera English on “Turkey’s Unsafe Christians”, March 10, 2008, is an example. The opening sentence, “Christians in Turkey are living under a shadow of fear and insecurity due to a violent backlash by nationalist hardliners”, is a head turner, the reader is hooked immediately, it plays on our sympathy and compassion.

The report was shocking. It tells of a Christian missionary who is taunted by “conservative, nationalistic, religious angry young men who have a deep-seated aversion to being told to change their ways”, and was even kidnapped. This is sadly all too common in Turkey where Christian missionaries are seen by a staunchly nationalist youth as agents of the West sent to undermine the Turkish state.

The problem with the story is that it presents the argument as a religiously and culturally motivated one that is rooted in history: “Mistrust and hatred of Christianity has been embedded in the culture of the Black Sea region of Turkey for decades some say centuries.” It equates today’s nationalist youth with “the crusades and the First World War when the Christian minority in Turkey sided against the then Ottoman empire.”

This report then links this deeply rooted Black Sea nationalism with an horrific incident in a southern Turkish city over 500 kms away: “Recent attacks on Christians in Turkey have been very ferocious, including the torture and killing of a group of missionaries in the town of Malatya. Three youths currently face trial on charges relating to those attacks.”

The report failed to mention the recent arrests of over 30 members of an ultra-nationalist group called Ergenekon with alleged links to the Malayta killings and is believed to operate out of the Turkish Patriarchate, a Christian church in Istanbul.

Mustafa Akyol, an editor at the Turkish Daily News wrote on February 3: “It appears that the church might not only be linked to Ergenekon but could actually be its very base. According to the prosecutor, the church has been “the headquarters and the financial hub” of the covert gang.”

Today’s Zaman, Turkey’s leading conservative English language newspaper reported on January 29, that “Leaders of the Ergenekon gang had jointly decided to “OK”, the murders of three Christians in Malatya.”

The group are also allegedly linked to the slaying of Hrant Dink, an Armenian Turk, who was gunned down outside his office in February 2008 by a nationalist youth.

Ergenekon is suspected of shady links to groups hidden within the state. These groups are commonly referred to as Turkey's "deep state," a phenomenon in which individuals and groups occupying various state positions take justice into their own hands to shape Turkey in accordance with their political convictions.

Today’s Zaman also states: The Ergenekon organisation was working to create a chaotic atmosphere so that its counterparts in the military could overthrow the government, charges brought against the group by a law court in Istanbul has confirmed.”

If it is proven that Ergenekon, is linked to these killings, then the report on Turkey’s unsafe Christians by Aljazeera English takes on a different light.

On March 6, Bianet, an independent Turkish news portal, cited links to the “Susurluk incident”, a scandal that proved for many Turks the existence of the deep state in Turkey: “The roots of the gang are said to go back to the Susurluk case of 1996. A car accident in that city which shook Turkey because it revealed connections between the state, the mafia, and nationalist hit men.”

Cengiz Candar a columnist for the Turkish Daily News, states the importance of rooting out such organisations in Turkey. “Leaving things half-done will also prove how impossible it is to firmly attach Turkey within any particular structure of the “modern world” or of the European Union. The Ergenekon investigation is indeed one of the “most important incidents” of recent Turkish history toward securing the country's future.”

Fetiye Cetin, Dink’s family lawyer agrees and explains that proving the involvement of nationalist elements of Turkish security services in Dink’s murder will be a similar test: “If the government really wants democracy and rule of law, it has to solve this murder case. Because Turkey's enlightenment partly depends on the clarification of this case. It all comes down to some security forces. They should investigate and see if there was negligence or purposeful act.”

Turkish police were repeatedly warned of death threats to Dink, but failed to protect him.

The report therefore failed to look at why Turkey’s Christians are taunted and how Turkey’s youth, especially outside the commercial hubs such as Istanbul and Ankara are also victimised by such groups because the dire situation they find themselves in. Turkey suffers from high unemployment, 10 % nationwide but it doubles in areas like the Black Sea where at least 50 % of the population are below the age of 30 with little or no job prospects. They are swept into an unregistered economy, which creates a sense of failure and despair. The national education system itself is staunchly nationalist in nature and contributes to these feelings.

The sad fact that this reporting is still practised in Turkey means that it is a nation that is still deeply misunderstood

2008-01-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

The headscarf, the headscarf, the headscarf. This is just a fraction of the times I've heard this small item of clothing mentioned this week. Turkey is spinning from the headscarf frenzy, which has given me a chance to meet some women that perhaps I wouldn't have had the chance to otherwise.

I live in a relatively trendy neighbourhood and live a very Western life-style as do many of my Turkish friends. I'm not saying they are all big drinkers many of them are not, but for ease of understanding they live very secular lifestyles. But hang on a minute, what does a "secular life-style" mean? And here we are again, right back to redefining the definitions in Turkey.

A practising Muslim woman gave me her take on Turkey's secularism this week:

"The government should be impartial. It shouldn't violate the rights of its citizens who wear the headscarf by always taking the side of those who don't wear it. If it describes itself as secular, and if we define secularism as the separation of state from religious affairs -this is the typical description in Turkey- yes these two are separated. But the government always had the authority to organize and direct religious affairs. In Turkey, religious life, religious beliefs have always been oppressed."

Pretty articulate don't you think? She is one of the millions of women who lost the chance to further their studies after the headscarf ban in universities was implemented over a decade ago. It's a sad story. She moved away from her hometown to find a better life and get herself a higher education, only to find it was all shattered after the ban came in.

The woman I met is an example of why women need to have an education, because it gives them more choices and as some experts have been saying in the Turkish media this week, could prevent extremism in the future. The only problem now is that women are still discriminated against once they leave university as the headscarf is also banned in public office.

Regardless of the hype and the inevitable lifting of the ban, another interesting development is going on in Turkey. The constitutional package that has been agreed on by the ruling AK Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is slated to include a clause on the type of headscarf that will be permitted.

This for me is an extremely curious development. It could be Turkey defining its own Islamic dress code aimed at keeping a more extremist type of Islamic expression at bay. Or a promotion and institutionalising of it, depending on which way you're looking from.

The clause is said to allow "the traditional scarf tied under the chin in universities but not the veil, chador or burqa".

The headscarf has been worn in Anatolia for thousands of years, and will be for many more I expect. This could therefore be seen as a revival perhaps of the "Turkish headscarf".

I tried to also interview a more secular Turkish woman this week so that I could profile these two women back to back. But I couldn't find a more secular woman who wanted to go on the record about their fears. Why not? Even the more religious conservative Turk has fears of extremism. They don't necessarily want to live with Sharia. They have lived with the imposition of not being able to attend university for over a decade now, and say that they don't want to impose anything on anyone.

The problem here is that both sides aren't talking to each other. The woman that I interviewed, who is now the mother of 4 because she was deprived of her education is hoping that her kids will get the opportunities she once took for granted.

I hope that Turkey is able to make this transition smoothly, I think it will, most people you talk to are not against the lifting of the ban but they are against extremist politics. So an education may be the best preventative measure to fight against such issues anyway.

And as my subject told me this week, it is a personal choice to practise Islam and how to practise it.

"We wear the headscarf and the reason is our belief in Allah. Since we believe Allah ordered us to cover our heads, we wear it. I don't see myself in a position to order anyone to cover their heads if they are not believers. If they do, it wouldn't mean much. If they believe, they would voluntarily cover their heads. If she thinks the headscarf is unnecessary, she wouldn't wear it. But it is unacceptable to forbid people to go to school or to work with their headscarf on with a presumption that one day those who wear the headscarf will force others to do so. They act with pure prejudice. And honestly, they impose their prejudices on the other side as a cruel act. I don't think it is right when a person who doesn't wear the headscarf says 'I am not wearing it,
so you shouldn't wear it either'. I mean, people say they are Muslim. But if they don't fulfill the requirements of their belief, the
responsibility belongs to them. "

This statement is an open desire for equality but at the same time denies it, which is the precise issue more liberal Turks have with the more religious conservatives.

Do I have to cover my hair to believe in God? Not at all. And as an Iranian friend recently told me the enforcement of the Islamic dress code in Iran has lead to a less sincere faith in some young Iranians. Covering the hair in Turkey dates back beyond Islam, but was a cultural identity that has been accepted for thousands of years.

Live and let live, but don't be complacent.

2007-08-23T04:09:00.000-07:00

Nationalism V Patriotism

By Jody Sabral

Does being a nationalist make you a fascist? For those who do not know Turkey, it might. Recently I was challenged by a Turkish colleague that in Turkey being a “nationalist” does not mean the desire for a pure “Turkic” race.

He explained: “If you say ‘Turkish-nationalist’ then it’s different, this could be used to describe a kind of fascism. But the prefix “Turkish” is important here. This kind of nationalism is one that is built on an idea of ethnicity perhaps. I can say I’m nationalist ‘milliyetciyim’ but I say it because I love my country, not because I hate people who have a different ethnic root than I. My country is a mosaic, which is why I love it.”

By definition in English, nationalism can mean: The desire for and the attempt to achieve political independence for his/her country, according to the Cambridge dictionary. It can also describe someone who loves their country “too” much.

This “too” much, is always a worry when we talk about nationalism in English, but my friend went on to explain.

“Why can’t we say we love our country. It’s a regular healthy expression. It doesn’t mean that I hate all other races that are different than me.” he said.

It was then that I realised there must be a different word to describe him in Turkish, although he still insists that nationalist is ok.

The word I was looking for was “vatan sever”, which means patriot. By definition, according to the Cambridge dictionary, it means someone who loves their country and is prepared to die for it.

So what is the difference then between patriot and nationalist? Not much according to the dictionary, but it is a widely held common idea that a patriotic person is not as threatening as a nationalist to a multi-ethnic society.

So, is this why the West have hyped the “rising nationalism” in Turkey? Is there really a rise in nationalism, or has it always been like this? And have we just got it wrong by definition?

In recent polls less than 10% of Turks said that they supported US policies. This is then translated into a “new nationalism” in Turkey.

It may be more accurate but less provocative to say that there has been a “rise in patriotism as Turks look to their own government to solve their problems from within.”

And after the Iraqi invasion, which happened right next door – who would blame them?

It’s all too easy to categorize people according to our own perceptions and politics, especially when it suits our own cause.

I hate definitions in all their forms although I am forced to apply them because I work in the media. Television does not allow you time to explain, so labels and adjectives are used to simplify the message. But then it becomes distorted, squeezed between media organizations

Facts speak for themselves, don't they?

Turkey is a multi-layered society, in which labels get distorted. These labels divide and conquer, they do not harmonise or even get close to the root of the problem.

Many Turks choose a lifestyle when they choose an ideology - it is not always a political statement. It can be the difference between getting a regular salary, or not, or working in a building that has a bar in its basement or not - very simple things.

Turks are tolerant, which is sometimes a curse, but at the same time it can be a blessing. Turkey is a nation that was built from a crumbling empire. It was saved from the invaders. Its identity is built on this notion, but we now see that it is moving to a new era, one that is not based on fear.

It was built on its own defense, when are we going to stop giving "it" such a hard time, and allow it time to breathe and catch up to where it needs to be. It has the ability, it has the academics, yes, and now it seems that there is some revitalized political will. It has a wealth of cultures, it is still for me a mini-empire where multitudes of cultures intermingle as one.

I have fascinating conversations with friends about their origins, which are hardly ever Turk by ethnicity. What is Turk anyway?

No wonder Turkey is still defending itself.

This week, a colleague in France, who was to host a programme on Abdullah Gul’s candidacy asked me: “But why is everyone so sure that he will secure the presidency? Especially now that there is a nationalist party in parliament?”

My answer: “Being Muslim is part of the Turkish identity, not all nationalism is Turkey is built on what we know it to be in the West. The MHP is a nationalist party yes, but it also has religious roots too.”

“Oh, that is strange,” she said.

“Yes, but that’s Turkey,” I said, “which is why it’s so fascinating.”

AND HERE'S THE TURKISH
http://www.boyuthaber.com/haber/20070823/Milliyetcilik-ve-Vatanseverlik.php

Milliyetçilik ve Vatanseverlik
“Evet, burası Türkiye, işte budan dolayı burası büyüleyici”
23 / 08 / 2007 02:28
jodysabral@boyuthaber.com

Milliyetçi olmak bir insanı faşist yapar mı? Türkiye’yi tanımayanları evet yapar. Geçenlerde bir Türk meslektaşım bana Türkiye’de “milliyetçi” olmak için illa da saf “Türk” ırkından gelmek gerekmediğini söyledi.

Bana aynen şöyle bir açıklamada bulundu “Eğer “Türk-Milliyetçisi” dersen bu farklıdır, bu ifade bir tür ırkçılık olarak tanımlanabilir. Ancak burada “Türk” öneki önemlidir. Bu tür bir milliyetçilik muhtemelen bir etnisite fikri üzerine inşa edilmiş olabilir. Ben “milliyetçi” olduğumu söyleyebilirim, ancak bunu sadece vatanımı sevdiğim için ifade ederim yoksa benden farklı etnik kökenden gelen insanlardan nefret ettiğim için değil. Ülkem bir mozaik gibidir ve bunun için onu seviyorum”.

İngilizce tanımıyla “milliyetçilik”; Cambridge sözlüğüne göre şu anlama gelir: “bir kişinin ülkesinin siyasi bağımsızlığını gerçekleştirmek için beslediği arzu ve girişimdir.” Bu tanımın devamı olarak da “milliyetçi” bir kişi ülkesini “çok fazla” seven kişi olarak tanımlanabilir.

Bu “çok fazla” ibaresi, İngilizcede milliyetçilikten bahsederken duyduğumuz bir kaygıdır her zaman. Ancak arkadaşım açıklamasına şöyle devam etti:

“Niçin ülkemizi çok fazla sevdiğimizi söyleyemeyelim ki? Bu, gayet düzenli ve sağlıklı bir ifade. Bunu söylemem benim benden olmayan diğer tüm ırklardan nefret ettiğim anlamına gelmez”.

İşte o zaman onu Türkçede başka bir kelime ile tanımlamak gerektiğini fark ettim gerçi o “milliyetçi”nin uygun olduğunu düşünse de.

Benim aradığım kelime İngilizcede “patriot” olarak ifade edilen “vatansever”di. Yine Cambridge sözlüğüne göre vatansever: “ülkesini seven ve onun için ölmeye hazır olan kimse”dir.

O zaman vatansever ve milliyetçi arasındaki fark nedir? Sözlüğe göre pek fark yok, ancak geniş kesimlerce benimsenen ortak fikre göre vatansever bir insan çok ırklı bir toplumda milliyetçi birisi kadar tehdit unsuru olarak algılanmaz.

İşte bundan dolayıdır ki, Batılılar Türkiye’de “yükselen milliyetçiliğe” aşırı dikkat çekmeye uğraşırlar. Milliyetçilikte gerçekten bir yükseliş var mı, yoksa her zaman böyle miydi? Yoksa biz aslında sadece tanımdan dolayı mı bu yanılsamaya düşüyoruz?

Son yapılan kamuoyu araştırmalarına göre Türklerin % 10’dan daha azı ABD politikalarını destekliyor. Yani % 90’dan fazla bir ABD karşıtlığı var. Böyle olunca bu durum Türkiye’de “yeni milliyetçilik” olarak değerlendiriliyor.

“Türkler kendi hükümetlerinin kendi meselelerini çözmesini istedikçe vatanseverliklerinde bir yükseliş var” demek daha dikkatli ve daha az provokatif bir ifade olabilir.

Özellikle de hemen yanı başlarında cereyan eden Irak işgalinden sonra, onları kim suçlayabilir?

İnsanları kendi algılamalarımıza ve politikalarımıza göre kategorize etmek, özellikle de işimize de geliyorsa çok kolay ve basittir.

Ben, medyada çalıştığım için sıkça kullanmam gerekse de, tüm tanımlamaların her çeşidinden nefret ediyorum. Televizyon açıklama yapma imkânı vermiyor size, böyle olunca da etiketler ve sıfatlar mesajı basitleştirmek için kullanılıyor. Ama bu durumda da her şey medya kuruluşlarının arasında eğip bükülüyor ve tahrif ediliyor.

Hakikatler yalnız kendileri için konuşurlar, öyle değil mi?

Türk toplumu, etiketlerin tahrif edildiği çok katmanlı bir toplum. Etiketlemeler bölüyor ve fethediyor, uyum sağlamıyorlar ve sorunun köküne bile yaklaşamıyorlar.

Türklerin çoğu illa siyasi olmasa da, ideoloji seçerken hayat tarzlarını da seçiyorlar. Burada, düzenli bir maaşı olup olmamak, oturduğu binanın altında bar bulunup bulunmamak gibi çok basit şeylerden dolayı farklılıklar oluşmakta.

Türkler hoşgörülüdürler, bu bazen bir lanet gibi görünse de aynı zaman da rahmet olarak da algılanabilir. Türkler batmış bir imparatorluğun küllerinden inşa edilmiş bir millettir. İşgalci ve istilacılardan kurtarılmış bir millet. Kimliklerinin aslında bu nosyon ve kavram üzerine inşa olduğunu, ancak bununla birlikte korkuya dayanmayan yeni bir çağa ve aşamaya doğru ilerlenmekte olduğunu görüyoruz.

Çok zor, artık “vermekten ve kaybetmekten” ne zaman kurtulacağız denilen bir dönemde nefes alacak ve olması gereken yere gelecek biçimde kendi savunması üzerine inşa edilmiş bir toplumdur Türk toplumu. Yeteneği vardır, bilim adamları vardır ve yeniden canlanmış bir siyasi iradesi vardır. Kültürel serveti vardır, bana göre Türkiye hala benzersiz bir biçimde kültürel birikimlerin harman olduğu bir mini imparatorluktur.

Etnik olarak çoğu saf Türk dahi olmayan Türk arkadaşlarımla çok sürükleyici konuşmalarım oluyor. Bu arada anlam olarak Türk ne demekti?

Türkiye’nin hala kendini savunuyor olması şaşılacak bir şey değil.

Bu hafta Abdullah GÜL’ün adaylığı ile ilgili bir program sunacak olan Fransa’dan bir meslektaşım bana şunu sordu: “Ama neden herkes GÜL’ün cumhurbaşkanlığına kesin gözüyle bakıyor? Özellikle de şimdi mecliste bir milliyetçi parti varken?”

Benim cevabım aynen şöyle oldu: “Müslüman olmak Türk kimliğinin bir parçasıdır, Türkiye’deki milliyetçiliğin tamamı bizim Batıda algıladığımız anlam ve değerler üzerine kurulu değildir. Evet MHP, milliyetçi bir partidir ama dini kökleri de vardır”.

“Ya öyle mi, bu çok ilginç” dedi.

Ben de: “Evet, burası Türkiye, işte budan dolayı burası büyüleyici” dedim.

Fotoğraf İkizdere Ovit Şenliklerinde Jody SABRAL tarafından çekilmiştir.

-----

Jody SABRAL'ın yazısı Yavuz Selim KURT tarafından tercüme edilmiştir.

2007-08-03T23:06:00.000-07:00

Divide and conquer; Gul's candidacy

Choices... choices... choices...

With the news that there will be no alternative to Abdullah Gul’s presidency from AKP, we can expect more tensions ahead. One of the most hotly debated topics in Turkish homes is the issue of whether Gul can be Turkey’s next president.

Mathematically he can, he needs 367 deputies present in the first two rounds, something that seems easy now with the support of the MHP announcing that they would attend the session, although possibly not vote. But it is surely bound to cause more tensions. As Yusuf Kanli put it in his column in the TDN yesterday: “It’s not the headscarf Turks have an issue with, it’s what it symbolises – political Islam.”

Why then is AKP pushing ahead with Gul for president. They say that they can not head the calls of the public on the issue of Gul’s presidential bid citing the election results as a reason to push on. But would AKP really have won 50% of the vote had the polls been held in November as planned, a summer of no action in northern Iraq, may well have garnered more votes to the MHP, many people voted for them on issues of national security.

And just two months before the elections, and before the famous military memo of April 27th, AKP was running at about 35% of the vote. So, what makes them think that a reaction by the public against military intervention means that there is overwhelming support for Gul for president. No one can say give a reason why military intervention is good for Turkey, but many can say why Gul's candidacy is causing problems.

Gul’s candidacy threw Turkey into a period of turmoil, which resulted with a more moderate AKP in fact [200 new MPs were brought into the party, some cite military intervention her in fact]. But what makes AKP think that it won’t cause the same tensions again. Of course, technically Gul can win, but what about the other 50% of the country who didn’t vote for AKP.

AKP should be cautious over this issue, and also act politically mature in relation to the presidency. There is an opposition to Gul, and it’s a strong one, the military.

Is it politically realistic for the military to accept Abdullah Gul’s wife as the first lady. I will refer back to Yusuf Kanli’s statement again. “The headscarf is not the issue, it’s what it symbolises, political Islam.”

He has a point, Turkey is a secular, democratic country, where religion is a personal choice, and the type of headscarf that Mrs Gul wears does symbolise something political in Turkey, this fact can not be avoided.

Mrs Gul has the right to chose, this is true, it is her personal choice. But to become the first lady, as with any job, also comes much responsibility. So, when then does personal choice come before your responsibilities to public service, it is also a choice to accept the responsibilities that come with this position, which in Turkey means representing an image that doesn’t project any type of religious statement – as it is a private thing.

The reality that the president is the top commander of the military – overseeing the security council – should surely be recognised by AKP, as a source for tension over this issue.

Why then do they push on with these actions. To create more change in the political system, to further democratise Turkey?

Some members of the Kurdish camp are supporting Gul’s candidacy. Why? Because they are simply against the military and CHP or anything related to Ataturk and Turkish nationalism, not necessarily because they really want Gul as president. Is this the right reason to give support? AKP should understand this, and note that it could divide Turkey further. Some, of course are supporting the bid because of religion, which therefore makes the issue of support on religious grounds politicized. Isn't that what Turkey is trying to stay away from, political Islam.

Of course, with any type of change in a political system – moving away from a military constitution to a civilian one – there must be tensions. But have we had enough already this year in the past few months? We now have a system that looks more like a western democracy with a one-party government returning to power, which can bring more stability and reforms.

But, there must at some point be a consensus reached between all parties, in order to set an example to the ordinary voter on the street that consensus can be reached in Turkey.

There are so many different groups in Turkey, as I wrote in my previous article, perhaps 6, 7, 8 or more Turkey’s, and these Turkeys need its leaders to set an example of peace and harmony and consensus between all sides.

For now, the question in my mind is still open on Gul, he has yet to confirm his candidacy. If AKP does push on with Gul, I would hope that it would then go to a referendum rather than divide parliament, and the voters further.

But time will tell, only time will tell.

2007-07-27T15:13:00.001-07:00

Polarisation; myth or fact?

I have lived in Turkey for almost six years now, and it still teaches me something new every day. Istanbul, Turkey’s largest commercial hub, is a labyrinth that embodies a romantic old Europe with mounds of eastern history to unravel. Once you start peeling back the layers, it becomes an obsession that most of us foreigners can’t live without.

People always ask: “Why Turkey?” My reply: “Why not?”.

If truth be told the first time I came to Turkey I hated it. I landed in a conservative neighbourhood of Istanbul, and, was in complete culture shock for at least ten days. There were no women on the street after 9pm. My apartment was about 20 metres from a very noisy mosque. No one spoke English. I didn’t understand the public transport. I felt as if I’d landed on the moon. I remember calling my mother, after I’d figured out the awful public payphone system, and pleading with her to rescue me from this backwater place.

I returned six months later and haven’t been able to leave since. It’s not like I haven’t tried. I have left Turkey at least five times, but I always return. So, why is Istanbul so attractive to us foreigners? It’s the village syndrome. Istanbul is a city of almost 17 million people. It has everything anyone could want, culture, the arts, nightlife, hidden away pockets of nature, the hustle bustle of any worldly metropolis. It is a city that is constantly moving, but, it is one of the only cities in the world in my opinion – I’ve travelled from the US to South East Asia – where one feels like you’ve known your taxi driver forever. I live in a city, but it feels like a village, and my taxi-driver lives on the next street.

Turkish taxi-driving hospitality

Recently I had to attend a live programme on Turkey’s ongoing elections cycle. Already ten minutes late I ran out of the house and hailed a taxi on the street. When we got to the studio I reached into my bag for my wallet, but found myself in a very awkward position, I'd left it at home. Oh no, I thought "What should I do?"

Seeing my dispair, my taxici simply shrugged his shoulders and said casually: “No problem, you can pay me later, it’s OK.” My taxici was a stranger to me, but he wanted to help solve my problems.

Although we live in a vast city, there is always someone who wants to help, be it because they are nosey, or bored or for whatever reason. But Turkish people still have time for each other. This is something to be applauded. There is this feeling that “we are in this together”. It’s something quite remarkable to me, still, after all this time, because I come from a world where people make appointments two weeks ahead just to have dinner with a personal friend.

So if people still extend a helping hand to each other, is Turkish society really becoming more polarized as many analysts say? The recent crisis over the presidential elections have been cited as proof of this polarisation – millions of people took to the streets to protest against an “Islamic lifestyle”. The western media played a great role in fostering tensions by talking about “two Turkeys”. But, since when has there only been two Turkeys? At my last count there were at least 6, 7 , 8 or even more Turkeys. It is a complex social fabric of many religions, ethnicities, and cultures that even an expert anthropologist would have a hard time counting.

Tough measure

I personally attended both the Ankara and Istanbul protests, and there is no doubt that they were absolutely huge. There were masses of people on the street, but were the numbers honest? News services claimed that turn out in Istanbul had been larger than that of Ankara. In my opinion, and the opinion of the two handsome policemen who were standing next to our SNG truck, there were actually less people on the streets of Istanbul than Ankara.

I remember it very clearly, because I and a couple of colleagues were discussing this throughout the day. The general consensus among us was that people had stayed away from the Istanbul protests because of the military memorandum issued just one week earlier. When you look at the election results this week, our conclusions on that day made perfect sense. So, were the numbers inflated and why? Was this to add to the ongoing polarisation of Turkish society. Turkish friends tell me: “We don’t talk to each other anymore, there is even an eye of suspicion towards a stranger.”

But, from where I’m standing conversation has never been so lively in Turkey. Even the taxi driver has something to say on the country’s future. The question everyone is asking now is: “Will the new government be able to please the ordinary taxi driver that still wants to help you.”

This will be the new government's toughest challenge, to transfer the recent economic boom of the financial markets into something that helps the ordinary Turk. Unemployment and underemployment are issues that will need tough measures. But, finding help when you need it in this city needs absolutely no measure at all.

2007-07-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

My oh my... will he or won't he?

Foreign minister Abdullah Gul did a little tap dancing for the press, who were eargerly gathered around his podium at the ministry for the first time since his party won a stunning victory on Sunday. The journalists readied themselves for shameful interrogation over the upcoming presidential race. During the questions and answers session, Gul requested that all enquiring journalists "get off the subject of the presidential elections". This after at least five reporters had not been able to ask him anything else. Smiling as they continued to fire away, I'm sure he wondered to himself "Are these people hard of hearing, or am I speaking Japanese?" They wouldn't let it go. And quite rightly so, his candidacy is the reason that we have just been through a general election, so of course he deserved to be grilled over his next plan of action.

Well, as ever he was graceful and calm. He talked of democracy and played it cool: "The decision should reflect the will of the people, and all parties should consider that."

What a guy, it is particularly weird, when I think that one in every two Turks voted for AKP. I have many friends in Istanbul who are die hard CHP supporters, and well, they did what they had to do - they voted CHP. It is a curious phenomenom that AKP gathered voters who are not as Islamic looking as their leaders' wives - this is such a devisive issue in Turkey. I'm guessing that they didn't gather votes from the CHP, these people really couldn't ever vote AKP, but rather from the centre-right who only two months ago I said would run into trouble by not attending the presidential vote back in April. They just couldn't get themselves together after that - they were another party that missed the boat, as did the CHP with all the secular rallies - they just didn't use them to their political advantage.

Now we have to wonder, will the independents support Gul's presidency? Or will the MHP? Apparently the MHP have already said they will attend the vote, whether they will participate is not clear. And depending on who the next speaker of parliament will be, we'll have to see if only attending the session is enough to hold qorum (of 367 deputies to pass the first round). I feel I'm going to be living in a parallel world soon enough, only this time it's going to be hotter.

The independents are a new force in parliament, and I'm happy that Kurds finally have some representation, at least 24 deputies I believe. It may take the fire out of the fight by PKK militants that come down from the mountains every year. From my understanding the fight here in Turkey is not really about separatism anymore - most of the Kurds I have met in Diyarbakir look to Istanbul culturally, not to the east. But, the fight is more about representation and rights. Well, if the Kurdish deputies play a more moderate card rather than that of Zana, AKP may just be able to talk to them. Possibly they will strike some sort of deal, should AKP need their support. If the chance arises I hope they use it well. I guess it really depends on the MHP. These two groups - the MHP and the DTP - are not famous for getting along. They may at least have to change the seating plan in parliament. I believe independents will sit next to the MHP under the present plan.

Whatever happens, we are definitely in for further fun. If you are a colleague and you plan to holiday this summer, best to head out now, as I don't think the presidential election is going to be as simple as we all expected it to be. There is still room for political errors, as we have seen already this year. Although AKP does have a good knack at learning from its mistakes - but with the proper backing, they might just get what they want this time - their guy in Cankaya. I personally think that it would be best to have a president from outside the parties, but we will have to wait and see, what the parliament want.

One thing I'm pretty sure on, and will predict with a clear conscience - the list of candidates will be a little longer this time, if Arinc doesn't come back to his former glory! Hey, perhaps he'll get his day to run for presidency this time around.

And to Deniz Baykal, when are you going to admit defeat? It is not "you" personally that can protect the state, but the party. CHP is in desparate need of new leadership - one that talks democracy and reconciliation. If you're not careful, perhaps MHP will garner your voters in the name of national security. You have five years to work hard on changing your image, as we are seeing that the current one doesn't fit the new Turkey - one that is much more confident than it has been in years.

2007-06-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

Oh Turkey... where are you headed?

It's the question everyone is asking. Why? Because it seems it is at a crossroads yet again in the history of the Cumhurriyet.

This beautiful land is grappling with its own identity, but not as it is perceived. It is grappling with a change of identity. Today's Turkish society is more educated, more world savvy. But this is not the image that is projected to the world. Why? Because Turks really don't know how to explain themselves to the world let alone their own patriots. But for what it's worth there are still some shining moments that touch the heart of every foreigner living here, and if you haven't experienced this Turkish hospitality then you are surely missing the essence of Turkish living itself.

Situation: Last weekend I was shopping for a wedding present for a couple of friends who celebrated their respect for each other by tying the knot.

A raki drinking Budhist from Belgium and a Euro savvy and expert analyst from Turkey, who wed.

I browsed a few stores in my neighbourhood looking for the perfect gift. I wandered into a small store that was full of curios. A small item in the window caught my eye - a money box, but no ordinary money box. A small tin from the '60s, shaped like a house and painted like one with a slot in the top. It was old and funky and had a practical function, given it would not hold enough money for the house they will one day buy, but perfect in metaphor for a newly wed couple of friends.

The vendor asked for 50 YTL, I had 40 YTL in my wallet. I asked if I could bring him the extra 10 YTl later on in the day. I promised to bring it at 6pm. He looked at his watch and said, "I'll be counting the minutes, if you're a minute late I'll have to set the dogs on you." This was followed by a coy smile.

I left the shop with a nicely wrapped gift that I hand't completely paid for. I dropped the money off two days late, and he smiled and said no problem, see you soon.

What a nice man. These are the things I really love about Turkey.

Two weeks ago, I had to be at the studio for a live transmission at 6am. I hopped into a cab hoping to get some money from the ATM on the way to the studio. Every ATM I stopped at was empty after the weekend. The taxi driver said, "No problem drop it by later."

You have to understand that at this point the guy didn't know me from Adam. He had no idea of where I lived etc. as I'd hopped in on the street. The fair was not just a drop in the neighbourhood, it was a large sum, as I had to travel right across town.

And I thought this is why I live in Turkey and if only everyone could experience this Turkish culture.

I've always been welcomed and treated like a local.

When my colleague asked me in Qatar, "Why Turkey?". My reply was simple, "It's like a village, the guy in the cornershop will pass a message to his neighbour for you, even though he's never met you before."

I guess we all find this in our own environments eventually when you live somewhere long enough - but I've never been able to find it from a complete stranger no matter how long I've lived in a city.

This is one side of my Turkey that I truly admire and is why I still live here. What a place, a city of almost 17 million people, but who still have time to help a stranger, because the gesture is more important than the transaction itself.

Happy long life to the Turkish-Belgium marriage!

2007-05-10T04:01:00.000-07:00

It's official, we are now in the midst of a political crisis.

While the world media watches and tries to get to grips with Turkish politics, newsrooms in Turkey are also trying to figure out what is going on here.

During the failed presidential elections, I spoke to a friend who is a producer on a newsdesk at a Turkish TV channel regularly to mull over what the hell was going on in Turkey. There was one sentence that rang clear in my mind for days after, "You should see our daily news meetings, no one knows what the hell is going on, there just seem to be too many IFs."

And he was right:

If the government doesn't reach the 367 seat mark in the parliament, we will petition it to the constitutional court and get it annulled.

If the government thinks they can change this country into an Islamic state they have another thing coming.

Even if the government doesn't reach the 367 as stated by the constitutional court, we will still hold the second round.

If they reach 367 on the reform package then it will go direct to public vote and the people will elect their own president.

If they don't reach 367 then it will go to the public who will vote on the amendments.

After speaking to Journalists, professors and law students, it seems there is so much confusion over the constitution in Turkey that no one really knows what is going on. Not surprising as law is an abstract thing by nature.

But I'd like to put the record straight. Although it is seen as an historic event by the eyes of the foreign media, most of us living in Turkey know sadly that it is a bit of a futile attempt by the ruling party to go on with trying to elect their candidate to Cankaya, the presidential palace.

The reality is that we will probably not see three ballot boxes as Zaman newspaper claims in the elections. One for the referendum on voting for the president by popular vote, one for reducing the parliamentary term from five to four years, and one for the prime ministry. No it is much more likely that the Turkish president Sezer will veto the motion once the bill is passed today, and Turkey will be right back to where it was three weeks ago.

Sezer can veto the bill and send it back to parliament for reconsideration, and the government will then have to start the process again. Sezer has 15 days to react, which would mean that if the bill does go back to parliament it would put us somewhere in the beginning of June before the process is restarted.

Then Sezer can once more react, and it is likely that he will by calling for a public referendum on the ammendments, which should be held 120 days after the decision.

We will by now be well into July, election month, which means that all parties will be far too busy with trying to secure their votes to deal with the referendum - this is a personal opinion, but a likely one nonetheless.

So, the referendum on constitutional amendments will probably be voted on by the public in September/October. This also means that the new parliament will probably elect Turkey's next president.

Now, the problem with this scenario is that as we have seen with the current power sharing in parliament, AKP can not expect to put forward another Islamic-looking presidential wife, it has caused just too much controvery and and oppostion by Turkey's secularists and more importantly the military.

AKP may not be able to try and pull such a stunt again, as it also depends on how other parties fair in the upcoming elections. There are alliances now happening on the left and the centre-right, which may steal some seats from AKP. This would force them into chosing a much more conciliatory figure.

Either that, or we will find ourselves back in the same position two months down the road.

Are you confused??? You should be. Basically the fun stems from the fact that the constitution that we are now grappling with in Turkey was written by the military! Yes, the military left Turkey with a constitution that doesn't seem to fucntion too well, following the 1980 coup.

The curious thing about the military is that most Turks I've spoken to were upset about their intervnetion, even if they don't support the ruling party. They feel that Turkey should be able to decide by itself through democratic means and not those of a dictatorship or the militant type.

I personally think that these decisions and the failed presidential election are really part of a wider plot to keep Turkey at bay and keep her subserviant. There are too many interests in the region by outsiders and who wants a dynamic Turkey which you can't predict to meddle in such things.

The question that most Turks have been asking over the past week is: "Who exactly does the military work for? For Turkey?"

Hmmmmmmm

2007-04-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

First round of presidential elections in Turkey - we are slowly slipping into political crisis.

2007-04-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

Children of Diyarbakir...

Thought...

Does being a nationalist make you a fascist? For those who do not know Turkey, it might.

Does being patriotic make you fascist? No, but it might make you a nationalist. For those who do not know America, it might.

Describing the degree of nationalism and patriotism may then qualify as fascism - "extreme".

It is all too easy to categorise people according to our own perceptions and politics, especially when it suits our own cause.

I hate definitions in all their forms although I am forced to apply them because I work in the media. Television does not allow you time to explain, so labels and adjectives are used to simplify the message. But then it becomes distorted, squeezed between media organisations, but what can one do. You look forward to those opportunities when for a fleating moment you might speak on the behalf of someone who doesn't have a voice, and that millions of people might hear it.

Facts speak for themselves, don't they?

Turkey is a multi-layered society, in which labels get distorted. These labels divide and conquer, they do not harmonise or even get close to the root of the problem.

Many Turks choose a lifestyle when they choose an ideology - it is not always a political statement. It can be the difference between getting a regular salary, or not, or working in a building that has a bar in its basement or not - very simple things.

Turks are tolerant, which is sometimes a curse, but at the same time it can be a blessing. Turkey is a nation that was built from a crumbling empire. It was saved from the invaders. Its identity is built on this notion.

It was built on its own defense, when are we going to stop giving "it" such a hard time, and allow it time to breathe and catch up to where it needs to be. It has the ability, it has the academics, yes, there is no political will, this is sure. But it has a wealth of cultures, it is still for me a mini-empire where multitudes of cultures intermingle as one.

I have fascinating coversations with friends about their origins, which are hardly ever Turk by ethnicity. What is Turk anyway?

I'm aware of its problems, but I personally feel after many years here that it should be able to deal with these problems by itself. Why do we come here thinking we can change it. The debate has been unleashed, there really is no way back. But it needs to happen on its own terms.

No wonder Turkey is still defending itself. Separate the politics from the people, then and only then, will you really ever see the beauty of the place, and only then will you be able to participate in the internal debate. The external one is fueling the nationalism that killed a man because of what he believed. May your soul be at peace dear Hrant Dink.

For photos of Newroz see here - copy and paste the link: http://www.worldpicturenews.com/web/ShowLightbox.aspx?driverid=378687
Video report to be published.

2007-04-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

This is the most insightful analysis I've seen on the matter so far - so thought I'd share it with you folks. Terry Jones apparently speaks Turkish, according to an old friend of mine and Cihangir resident who says he was more than impressed when he heard Mr Jones speaking to people in eastern Turkey during a documentary on the crusades, which makes him even cooler in my book. Enjoy!

Call that humiliation?

No hoods. No electric shocks. No beatings. These Iranians clearly are a very uncivilised bunch

By Terry Jones

03/31/07 "The Guardian" -- -- I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our naval personnel accused by Iran of illegally entering their waters. It is a disgrace. We would never dream of treating captives like this - allowing them to smoke cigarettes, for example, even though it has been proven that smoking kills. And as for compelling poor servicewoman Faye Turney to wear a black headscarf, and then allowing the picture to be posted around the world - have the Iranians no concept of civilised behaviour? For God's sake, what's wrong with putting a bag over her head? That's what we do with the Muslims we capture: we put bags over their heads, so it's hard to breathe. Then it's perfectly acceptable to take photographs of them and circulate them to the press because the captives can't be recognised and humiliated in the way these unfortunate British service people are.

It is also unacceptable that these British captives should be made to talk on television and say things that they may regret later. If the Iranians put duct tape over their mouths, like we do to our captives, they wouldn't be able to talk at all. Of course they'd probably find it even harder to breathe - especially with a bag over their head - but at least they wouldn't be humiliated.

And what's all this about allowing the captives to write letters home saying they are all right? It's time the Iranians fell into line with the rest of the civilised world: they should allow their captives the privacy of solitary confinement. That's one of the many privileges the US grants to its captives in Guantánamo Bay.

The true mark of a civilised country is that it doesn't rush into charging people whom it has arbitrarily arrested in places it's just invaded. The inmates of Guantánamo, for example, have been enjoying all the privacy they want for almost five years, and the first inmate has only just been charged. What a contrast to the disgraceful Iranian rush to parade their captives before the cameras!

What's more, it is clear that the Iranians are not giving their British prisoners any decent physical exercise. The US military make sure that their Iraqi captives enjoy PT. This takes the form of exciting "stress positions", which the captives are expected to hold for hours on end so as to improve their stomach and calf muscles. A common exercise is where they are made to stand on the balls of their feet and then squat so that their thighs are parallel to the ground. This creates intense pain and, finally, muscle failure. It's all good healthy fun and has the bonus that the captives will confess to anything to get out of it.

And this brings me to my final point. It is clear from her TV appearance that servicewoman Turney has been put under pressure. The newspapers have persuaded behavioural psychologists to examine the footage and they all conclude that she is "unhappy and stressed".

What is so appalling is the underhand way in which the Iranians have got her "unhappy and stressed". She shows no signs of electrocution or burn marks and there are no signs of beating on her face. This is unacceptable. If captives are to be put under duress, such as by forcing them into compromising sexual positions, or having electric shocks to their genitals, they should be photographed, as they were in Abu Ghraib. The photographs should then be circulated around the civilised world so that everyone can see exactly what has been going on.

As Stephen Glover pointed out in the Daily Mail, perhaps it would not be right to bomb Iran in retaliation for the humiliation of our servicemen, but clearly the Iranian people must be made to suffer - whether by beefing up sanctions, as the Mail suggests, or simply by getting President Bush to hurry up and invade, as he intends to anyway, and bring democracy and western values to the country, as he has in Iraq.

· Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python - www.terry-jones.net

© Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

2007-02-28T11:31:00.000-08:00

Good to be home..

I dedicate this post to a friend who I met shortly before I left Qatar... but has recently reminded me that we share time with those who challenge us. Yes, you are right, which is why I returned to Turkey - to challenge the train of thought that exists here without belittling it or generalising it. To contribute to the continuing debate that challenges the state and support the internal democratisation, and be a sounding board for those who wish to discuss where Turkey is heading and how we can get there together.

Last weekend, I attended a two-day conference organised by the Heinrich Boll Stifling Dernegi. It was an enlightening two days in Turkey. A forum where the words "attrocities against Kurds".. "vicitimisation of Turks by the state".. "systematic forgetfulness".. were banded about freely. What a refreshing change to see Turks speaking like this openly. Only ten years ago, it would have been impossible to hold such a gathering.

A journalist friend also attending the conference, spoke of her ups and downs with regards to optimism and pesimism in Turkey. It's an easy one to fall into when you live here. Just when you think Turkey is making some ground, it seems to loose more than it has gained. Two steps forward, one step back is how I would characterise it. It's the uneasy kind of emotional attachment you can fall into when you live in a place that is as complex as Turkey. It swings from east to west regularly. With a secular political system which is very much built on the "nation state", somewhat democratic to the outside world with regards to civil society [although a military state, it is by no means a dictatorhip, there is a somewhat free press], and yet a Muslim majority, one may wonder how on earth did all of these elements ever come together. By the military elite, that's how, who are still very much in control of the modern republic. Woe behold the politician that tries to tame the Security Council (MGK), who protect Turkey from becoming an Islamic republic or at least that's the mandate. The generals are revered to be the most educated peoples in the land, so it would be difficult for the peasants to pull the wool over their eyes.

The push between east and west can also been seen by Turkey's ambitions to join the EU, which date back to Ataturk times, the founding father of the republic in 1923. He changed the alphabet to that of western script from Arabic. Although hailed a hero and quite rightly so as Ataturk saved Anatolia and gave women rights long before the Europeans did, this basically left a generation of Turks "illiterate overnight", according to a friend. At this time there was a separation from the past - a severence that Turkey never really mourned. The Ottoman empire was less Turk than any other ethnicty, it was Armenian, Jewish, Christian and so on. The republic did away with this and brought Islam to be the state religion to raise the status of Anatolian Turks who really made up a small proportion of the empire and what better way to unify a society than with religion. This is why there is a real separation from the Ottoman past in some areas [such as the Armenian genocide -'we didn't do it, it was the Ottomans'], and the associations are presented only when necessary - tales of victory.

At the same time, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, traveled to Pakistan last week, and invited the Iraqi VP to Ankara on his private plane. He also suggested sending a team of experts to inspect the Al-Aqsa mosqe in Jerusalem, placing Turkey in the heart of a sensitive issue - the Arab-Israeli conflict. Last week, a headline in a news body I am affiliated with read "Turkish prime minister denies anti-Shia bloc".. It seems that everyone is confused about Turkey. Anyone that knows Turkey and its history with Iran, knows that the two share a history that is fraught but one of mutual respect. The two have shared a border for hundresd of years have common interests in fighting the PKK and also have trade relations. Why on earth would Turkey turn against Iran. No, Turkey's dream is to be the BRIDGE. Seen as the occupying force by the Arabs for hundreds of years... [funny that as the Turkish republic seems to have no association to the Ottoman empire] the feeling generally is that Turkey does not have the credibility to achieve such an ambition.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the conference. I will simply list a few ideas that were discussed without going through everything and hope that those who are at all interested in Turkey and its complex identity may look for more information into the debate of Turkey's human rights.

The conference was called "From the Burden of the Past to Societal Peace and Democracy", and I know it sounds a bit wishy washy, but it was actually well worth sitting for hours and listening to the crammed programme of speakers.

The reason I believe that the organisation held such a conference in Istanbul was to get Turks talking about its forgotten history of human rights violations and present suggestions for ways of dealing with it. This was in the wake of the recent tragic killing of Hrant Dink, a prominent Turkish-Armenian editor, who was gunned down on the street in Istanbul in late January for his outspoken words on Turkish identity and the Armenian genocide.

The conference was useful as it was a place where Turks could interact with international experts who were experienced in areas of Truth and Reconciliation to international law. Guests varied from Marrianne Birthler, from the Federal Commission for the records of the National Security Service of the former German democratic Republic of Germany, to Ronit Lentin, of Trinity College Ireland, a political sociologist who was born in Haifa Israel but lobbies for the freedom of the Palestinians. Also there was Alex Borraine, International Centre for Transitional Justice from South Africa and Sezgin Tanrikulu, Bar association of Diyarbakir, who set up the Diyarbakir branch of human rights and has been persecuted for cases he has fought for in Turkey.

As there was so much covered I think in order to keep it short I will simply list some key quotes and allow you to ponder them as to whether or not you agree. I was able to ask two questions in a forum of 400 people, which opened up a debate on superpowers and the inequality that countries like Turkey constantly use as a tool for overlooking past human rights violations. Because surely if the US won't sign up to the International Criminal Court, well I think that in itself demonstrates the hyprocracy of the world we live in.

The topic of discussion was how and where do we start to look at Turkey's violations of human rights.

Mithat Sancar, professor of faculty of law at Ankara University and brains behind the conference: "In the last two decades the world has been discussing the issue of coming to terms with its past. During the same time, in Turkey the conspiracy theory was dominent. As we are uninformed we are going ahead in a stumbling manner. After 1945, the world started to comes to terms with its past. Turkey has still not come to terms with its violent past."

Murat Belge, columnist for Radikal daily and lecturer on English literature at Bilgi University Istanbul: "Turkey has suffered from a systematic forgetfulness. If we say that the killing of Hrant Dink did not happen, then we are distorting the point from the beginning. The reality that we are establishing between truths creates a pathology in our mind. Who did it? A group? Organisation? Individual? The instinct of self survival condemns us to a pathology that is the basis of this structure. How can a community be saved by denial or acceptance. On the Armenian genocide, a student doctor once asked me: 'do you believe in the genocide?' When I answered him positively, he told me that as I am not a historian I couldn't say such things. I responded I was not involved in the French Revolution, but I know it happened. I can read. This type of academic pathology exists in Turkey. So there is a man who has been killed [Hrant Dink] and there are people who say they can die the same and others that empathise with the killer. If we start from mentality of pathology it is a dangerous beginning. This is an artificial surrounding, having empathy for a killer or killed. We have to setp out of it. The values that are defended as nationalist are inhumane. Hrant Dink was the victim of this pathology that is being reflected on the outside."

Murat Paker, clinical psychologist and assistant professor at the psychology department at Bilgi university Istanbul: "We are at a critical point in our history. We have a political framework, we have not lost any wars [suh as we can see in Africa], no one is pushing us to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. So we are trying to solve things on our own. It is happening slowly, which is why the national identity is being upset. We are starting to realise what lies we have been fed. The problem is that those of us who have lived through these lies, won't have a basis for our lives. We need a more systematic way of coming to terms with it. On the Armenian-Turkey issue of 1915, both sides are in tangent with each other. 'You have a loss of 1 million but we have a bigger loss in the Balakn wars fro example'. People talk like there is emotional baggage involved I put this down to the loss of the Ottoman empire. This paranoia can be easliy mobilised and activated in Turkey. To understand the nationalist we must come down to their level. So where do we start to mourn our pain. Do we go back to the oldest problem? Or go from the new traumas to the old. We haven't come to terms with Semdinli, Susurluk, 12 September. So I don't think we can explain to the masses that 1915 is the priority. If we are looking for social transformation we must take up issues that impact our lives today. This is striving towards democracy. The EU deadlines are creating difficulties for us and we have to explain this to our foreign partners. We should talk to the victims of the 1980 coup and document it. We need to be organised and persistent in our collection of data to make it available for younger generations."

Ayse Hur, columnist: "We have a perculiar type of truth because of our pathological relationship with it. Forgetfulness is occupying key positions that mobilise our nationality. We severed our relationship with the Ottoman empire, so we have had to build our identity. This identity design has some problems. The approach of the intellegencia should be one of self criticism for having such a mentality. The intelligencia have been the managing elite in Turkey for the past 90 years. This has continued to play a negative role. The intelligencia should question themselves 'why did September 12 happen?'. The ideas of forgetfulness and forgiveness have been taken from the west from Christian values, the public does not take this on board. They are perceiving this from an Islamic keyhole and culture they have taken on. The public while looking back do this from one of Islamic and Turkic culture. The past is the past. Pathology is something that concerns the intelligencia not the masses. The public from elementary school are not exposed to critical thinking. We have an inheritance from the Kemalist movement, we have survied on forgetfulness. Disturbingly there is a xenophobic intellectual group to whom everything on a foreign level looks like a conspiracy. There is external interest on the Kurdish issue and we must stand up and beg for forgiveness in the Christian sense, while we are leaping over the faces of natoinalism. Turkey is disturbed because there "can not be a Kurdish state", we have reached this critical point late. Perhaps we need to think quiet inside from the beginning. We can't keep rediscovering the wheel we must open the archives and besides other archives are now open."

I will add more tomorrow - there were some scarily old school comments also. I'll add two more speakers tomorrow. Tired of typing. I hope that the statements give some insight into the debate in Turkey presently. This is why I did not give any analysis, I wanted the statements to stand alone, as I think they say enough by themselves.

2007-02-11T04:09:00.000-08:00

The face of Aljazeera English 2006-2007, we saw the launch of the new channel. It was stressful at times, but highly rewarding because everyone mucked in when necessary - a team I can say I was proud to work with and to know.

The journalists/writers

Me and my editor

The editors

The newsroom on the nightshift a few days before launch

2007-02-09T15:16:00.000-08:00

Cultural diplomacy, social interaction and cliches.

I have not written anything for a while. "WHY?" you ask. Well, I just find that everything I want to say seems to belong to another person. These days you can't say anything right it seems or anything original. People are always quick to tell you what you don't know, instead of asking what it is they don't know. If you offer your opinion on a subject that is personal to the listener, which is highly likely given the fact that two parties generally talk about something relative to their own lives - it is quickly seen as a criticism and/or a provocation. You just can't seem to do or say anything right or original in today's world. There's always someone who knows better or pretends that they do. When did we all become so jaded? When did we become so intolerant? Or arrogant? Or have we always been this way?

I grew up in a village in the UK in the seventies and eighties. Life was simple - I shared a universal beginning. There were the seasons, my older brother's teasing and bullying, and my twin sister's company and competition. Sometimes I wish I could go back to that world, but then I remember that I have a responsibility because of the chances I have been given to probe areas of society and make the connections for those who don't have a voice.

Life was simple when I was young. I didn't even know where London was - it was a million miles away - in reality it was only 200 miles away. But there was a desire for adventure and discovery. So, what went wrong?

Today, we seem to be living in a world that has become overly xenophobic and insular, although it is the easiest time in the history of human existence to travel and touch the lives of other cultures. You'd think that we'd be much closer to each other with today's technology and knowledge transfer being accessible within minutes, but we are not. It seems that we are further away than I was from London when I was a teenager growing up in the UK.

I despise cliches after having been an expat living in Turkey for a while, and try to stay away from them in discussions and also try to question every statement that is made by assumptions in people's live, in order to become closer to those who I am talking with - when you do this regularly with a cross section of any culture then it is a fantastic way to understand the complexities without having to define them constantly to the world, and hopefully it brings you closer to the issues that need to be addressed all over the world.

There are fat, short, thin, tall, stupid, smart people all over the world. Why do we love labels? Because people like them, they use them to define their lives in the eyes of others. Labels, labels, labels... "international community".... "terrorist".... "war on terror"... there are plenty of them floating around... "socialist"... "conservative"... "liberal"... "believer"..."non-believer"... "traitor"... "victim"... the list is endless.

Last night I was sitting in a bar and the man across the table asked me: "What do you do?"

I responded in kind and then returned the compliment by asking him: "What do you do?"

Now whether he understood the question or not I don't know, or whether it's because I said I was a journalist I don't know.. but the exchange that came after that initial social interaction left me surprised and a little sad to say the least.

"I'm ANTI internet," he said. The response was slightly aggressive I thought, maybe he was trying to make some sort of political statement, trying to impress me as men so often do when talking to the female sex... especially the foreign type.... but when he said he was an "IT manager", I posed the idea that just maybe the internet could be used for good instead of evil. BUT he freaked out and became VERY aggressive and said, "You are not listening to me," at which point I quietly thought to myself... hang on BUT I didn't realise it was a MUST to listen to a guy who had been sitting across the table from me for only one hour and who had made a social gesture by starting up a conversation with me. Are we not all "adults" here?

Let's just rewrite this situation:

An English woman has been verbally assaulted in a bar in Istanbul after she commented on a bold statement that a Turkish man made about his character, according to local drinkers. The man, who said he was frustrated that the woman did not listen to him, said he thought she was ignoring him because he was Turkish and she was a foreigner.

"She ignored me, because she thought she was better than me. I don't know why she is here in my country, she should go home, we don't want her type here," he said.

The police were called by the owners of the bar who said that the man was causing a disturbance for no reason at all. Witnesses said that the man had started on the woman for no reason at all.

"I believe that he asked her a question and she responded as one would," a man on the scene said.

The woman decided not to press charges as she did not want to be the target of further abuse and said that she thought he was just a man with bad manners.

"He obviously has no social skills," she said.

The two shook hands after the man apologised for the incident. He said that he felt embarrassed after the woman forgave him.

Now, back to the reality.....

He then gave me his business card and TOLD me to call him, so that he could explain himself. WELCOME BACK I thought. Yep, back in Turkey the land of the WILD WEST where absolutely anything is possible. Just an hour before I had been talking to a good friend about the politics and history of the region in particular the claim of Kirkuk and Portugal's 5% interest in the oil revenues thanks to one of the last Sultans of the Ottoman empire, according to my friend's theory.

This incident took place in a bar, in central Istanbul while I was having a drink with a friend. I didn't ask for it - and I have no idea why this guy behaved in such a rude manner, other than he felt that he had to prove something, or that because I am a foreigner he felt he had a right to have a go at me - I here, by saying this out loud become a victim to racism and fall into the cliche of rationalising why he behaved so aggressively to me by putting it down to the polarisation of Turkish culture that seems to be happening day by day, which saddens me deeply.

I wish that his friend standing across from me had intervened, but he just stood there and saod nothing.

Isn't it nice to be polite to your peers? And I don't mean in profession, or financial earnings - but those who are of a similar age, and social set - due to the fact that we were in the same bar.

Wouldn't it be nice to first learn about someone before jumping in with some half-concocted statement about who you are. Maybe the person you are talking to doesn't really want to listen anyway.

My friend said later as we left the bar: "You are wrong if you try to teach someone about something who doesn't have the capacity to know." And I thought... hmmm.. he is right, but then I also thought that in itself is a sad statement - do we just give up?

It was a mix of defense, national pride - which I also have.. I'm the first to admit it, I love my history and culture, but not to the extent that it stops me trying to understand another person when faced with a question that I don't know the answer to.

Onward I walk through the windows of humanity - and all I can hope for is that one day this man will know how it feels to be screamed at for no reason at all.

2006-10-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

Pakistan, North Western Frontier Province

Pakistan welcomed me with open arms. There to observe the reconstruction one year on from the earthquake that destroyed an entire village, I set about getting to know the lives of those I'd come to visit and listen to. The quake which struck northwestern Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on October 8, 2005 at 8.52am killed up to 73,000 people making it Pakistan's worst ever natural disaster.

My trip was facilitated by the International Federation on the Red Cros, who are doing a fantastic job at helping children process the trauma. I gained uncompromised access to both men and women, through the IFRC, who have developed very strong relationships with the local communities by respecting local cultures. One thing I didn't expect was that the locals were absolutley stunning, very light skinned with green eyes, not what I had expected at all.

A 12 year old girl (wearing green) told me how much she loved Shiria, the local IFRC representative, and then told me all about her experience during the earthquake. She said,"I was so afraid, all the children were so afraid during the earthquake. We didn't know what was happening. A lot of my friends died." It was good to see a little girl who had obviously been through a lot of trauma was able to talk about it openly, she has been helped to process it through activities that the IFRC are undertaking.

The level of education was quite astounding. The girl mentioned above was from a remote village in the NWFP and she sat down and spoke in English with confidence and she spoke it well. I was able to gain access to the women's prayers on the anniversary of the earthquake. I found myself sitting on a prayer mat, with women and children eyeing me suspiciously from either side. Before I knew it, the circle had completely changed shape and they were all sitting around me. A woman, who was a teacher tried to tell me about her situation through the help of the girl mentioned abouve, who translated for us. She told me how she had lost 120 students in the earthquake and two teachers.

The problem many school face now is the recruitment of teachers, many died in the quake and those who survived have migrated to other cities where facilties are better such as Mansehra.

There are at least 300 government schools in Balakot - the epicentre of the quake - that have no drinking water, electricity. Many of them are studying in tents atop the rubble where their classmates are buried. But the enthuiasm for knowledge was still there.

I went to a village school were I was asked to give a speech to 250 teenage boys. My intial reaction was no no no, please no. But as the head teacher delivered his speech about how much foreign aid had helped them and how he wanted to send his regards to the western powers that had really given their community so much post quake, I felt it was the last thing I could do. It was not I who was important, I was merely a symbol of hope to these small faces so I obliged the school. It was a very moving experience and the last thing I expected to find in Pakistan. This is what I said, while my stomach was churning: "On this day my heart goes out to all of you who have suffered great loss. But although you have been through great loss, you must know that you were saved. With this comes great responsibility to live an honest life and work hard. Work hard by helping each other and you will see that you can acheive many things." The IFRC translated my words. After the teacher Rifaq Ali said a proverb in Urdu, which read: "Dear Ms sabral, you will live in a world of sorrow and grief, but let it make you stronger and bring you a deeper understanding with compassion."

The northwestern landscape was one of natural beauty, rich green forests littered the mountainous view. Landing in Islamabad you would think that Pakistan is economically doing ok, then when you venture out you realise that the capital city was a city built for the country's elite. The ministers all live in their own enclave, which screams corruption as you drive by and admire the huge luxurious homes they live in protected by high walls and security guards.

There are many words in Urdu that are the same in Turkish such as "rahat" which means comfort/comfortable. This was very strange to me as I recognised many words and thought.. wow.. maybe I could learn Urdu!

I ate Afghan food, which went by the name manti and kofte, which are also Turkish dishes.. they were just served slightly different.

All in all, Pakistan was a trip to remember. I found the people to be very friendly and warm-hearted and not as conservative as I had imagined, mainly I guess as the level of education wasn't all that bad, a step towards stamping out fundamentalism. I hope the people of Balakot reconstruct their homes and are able to start living a normal life again soon.

If you would like to see my coverage of the trip (this is really for you pops) you can find it here:
www.worldpicturenews.com type Pakistan into the "image search" box on the homepage.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2033267A-BBA6-42E7-A841-3368CDC560BC.htm (if the link doesn't open, copy and paste it).

2006-08-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka
Just 35 km south of India in the Indian Ocean is a small island known as Sri Lanka. One of the most bio-diverse islands in the world, it boasts rich tropical vegetation in the mountains and soft sandy beaches which circle its shores. The island gets a generous amount of monsoon rain and within two hours you can experience a rapid change in climate.

Rice paddies line the roads that lead down to the coast from the the mountains. A uniforminty amongst this lush landscape, a greenery that dazzles the eyes and soothes the mind.

The rain is heavy, but comes and goes quickly. Umbrellas quickly double up as parasols to provide shade from the mid day heat, as well as protection from the rain, not that it matters... weary feet find the cool sensation of fresh puddles.

There are people everywhere on the streets, walking from one place to another. In the mountians, the rain smells fresh and romances the senses. It jogs the memory and reminds one of how utterly wonderfully nature is.

The country is for the most part poor and according to the World Bank 23% of people still live under the national poverty line: "Between 1990/91 and 2002 per capita consumption increased by 29% in real terms. The average consumption for the richest 20% of the population increased by 50%, while that for the poorest 20% barely increased by 2%. Inequality between urban and rural areas has been also widening with residents in rural/remote areas being left out of benefits from economic development."

Time stands still in Sri Lanka, a barber shop in the capital Colombo harks back to the 1950s. This barber shop is located one block from the presidential residence and the central bank, which was blown up in 1996, causing an eleven storey building to collapse and killing at least 50. Photos are forbidden on the street outside, but the barbers didn't seem to mind.

Central Colombo away from the bright lights of prosperous development.

Colombo airport is locked in the 1970s.

The sign is written in Sinhalese, English and Tamil.

But among the beauty and memories of decades gone by, there is a terrible tragedy, the displacement of thousands of people. Firstly by the tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004, killing over 30,000 people. And now by the war that is raging in the north east of the country - some of the worst hit areas by the tsunami.

Two years ago, a new government was elected and critics say that the recent upsurge in violence from the Tamils, which started over a water supply to Muslim farmers two weeks ago, is due to the way in which the government has been dealing with the Tamil Tiger rebels (LTTE) - or not dealing with them. As is always the case with any type of resistance, when negotiations and dialogue disappears from the spectrum the more radicalised the resistanc becomes and not without reason. Although, Tamils do experience rights, what they want is their own homeland - an autonomous area in the north east of the country, much of which is currently under LTTE rule.

Two weeks ago, the military launched an offensive on the LTTE in order to get back the water supply to civilians on humanitarian grounds. This fighting spilled over to Muttur, a city with a population of about 68,000 civilians. Sri Lanka is home to mix of Sinhalese (approx 72%) and Tamil (approx 18%), of different religions; Buddists, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians, all of whom lived in the city.

The residents of Muttur fled south after hiding in schools for 24 hours to escape the shelling and artillery fire. Co-ordinated, by ordinary people, an exodus of civilians to get out of the city to safety headed south. It took them a journey of three days on foot to reach Kantale, a village with a population of 2000 people, where they finally found refuge. Needless to say refugee camps have gone from 4 to 26 in four days. There are some 30,000 people now in refugee camps in kantale, so where are the rest of the civil population? Lying dead on the road inside the conflict zone? Or still hiding without water?

Eye-witness reports say that on the way out of Muttur as people were passing the checkpoints, young Muslim men were being targetted by the LTTE. Singled out they were shot at point blank range (seen as government informers), while some of them were recruited by the LTTE.

It's difficult to say who started what, and who is to blame. Yes, the government has done well at not dealing with the issue, and the water supply fude seems to have been a pretext to a planned war from the LTTE to recover their so-called homeland. Either way, many people are suffering - a human population who have already been through so much because of the tsunami are now suffering the agreesion of war. Whether the peace will come back remains to be see, but with the world not seemingly bothered by the conflict, it does look like it will conitnue for some time.

2006-06-21T01:35:00.000-07:00

Soweto thirty years on... with funding being cut this year in the area of HIV prevention, the issue of HIV/AIDS in South Africa needs the attention it deserves.

While on an assignment in South Africa Jon and I produced a short piece on the AIDS epidemic. We wanted to show what local communities are doing in the fight against AIDS, and not what "famous westerners" do.

Of course any effort whether it be from the west or from local communities is extremely important in the fight against AIDS, but it always seems that the issue only gets covered when either Prince Harry or Bono jet into South Africa.

This report takes a look at the youth of Soweto and what is being done to combat the epidemic. It addresses the confusion created by the political leadership in today's South Africa and touches on the reasons behind the rising figures of HIV patients.

We found an enormous amount of optimism and hope in the children of today's South Africa and it was inspiring to talk to these youths and discover that once again, the children of South Africa really are the catalyst for change, just as they were thirty years ago.

Alternatively, if it doesn't load from here, go to: http://www.current.tv/studio/media/7044967

2006-05-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

After many requests I have finally caved in again and am posting something personal. Me on the job! Just so you know that I do still exist. Miss you all...

Photo was taken by Yeliz Oz, Hurriyet journalist and colleague at the Shiite conference in Istanbul on May 14,2006.

2006-05-14T02:08:00.001-07:00

A: Where do you really want to be in five years?
B: Sitting in a bar somewhere in the developing world, Africa perhaps or South East Asia, the Caucasus sipping a beer discussing local politics with a colleague, a local expert or simply listening to a local resident, in hope that someone in a position of power reads or sees my report and takes action that could aid someone less fortunate than themselves.

Life is weird, you win some and you loose some. People come and go, we all I guess hope that we have “made a difference” and affected someone in some shape or form. Why is there so must discord in the world? Is it because we are just sick animals who know how to talk, but yet have forgotten that this simple tool which allows us to convey complex ideas, was developed over thousands of years and is the origin of development as we know it today. These days we use this tool loosely and don't think about the consequences or outcome of telling a simple lie for example. The wheels of development keep on turning and have as no one denies had a hugely positive affect on societiy by offering up a certain level of economic freedom to individuals.

But development at what cost? The selfish behaviour that affects societies of a developing nature demonstrates peoples utter desperation to not understand what it is they are developing for.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on this subject, but I do know that getting to know the world we live in and fully understanding ourselves shows a level of commitment that we bring to our communities where and whoever they are. This does not just simply mean lowering our individual consumption, but it also means honouring people that we interact with.

The nature of a developing economy, is that it seeks out opportunity at any cost. This transcribes into the behaviour of individuals and manifests itself in a “survival” culture. Survival of the fittest. Why? Because there is no alternative. This is the divide that affects us all, and breeds with it a deep cynicism in society which encourages selfish acts that have massive repurcussions on others.

The resource rich countries house the highest rates of poverty in the world. The “resource curse” leads to opportunity being a priority over true progress and commitment. Governments who hold a large percentage of the world’s oil wealth don’t know how to maximize their revenues which should largely benefit their own citizens. Large corporations exploit this “opportunist” mentality and the “opportunists” lap it right up. The nature of oil markets – the boom bust scenario – mean that government, whose main revenues are tied up in it, need better financial planning in order to plan national budgets for health and education better.

There are not only problems of budgeting involved when thinking about resource rich countries, but cultural traits that have implications on how systems develop. Culture must be taken into consideration when wanting to understand the problems of any society. The Aids crisis in South Africa has been the biggest health risk in the 21st century. Yet, no one recognises it still, even the former-prime minister Jacob Zuma brushed it off this week when he was acquitted of rape charges as if it were a mildly dangerous disease. The reality is that 25,000 to 35,000 individuals are dying every month and this figure will rise to 40,000 say experts. A health crisis of epic proportions, an epidemic is gripping South Africa.

In Soweto alone the estimated rate of infected people is 63%, according to a local AIDS activist. When we spoke to Jacob, a 19 year old Soweton resident who lives with HIV, he answered candidly. Saying it out loud is a nerve racking thing. Can you imagine knowing that at least six of your neighbours have HIV/AIDS, but are not getting the necessary treatment, and therefore will be dead within a few years. This is the scary reality of what is happening in Soweto.

The generation of positives are fighting back and taking action by running prevention campaigns that are run by the youth and administered to it. The push to keep South Africa’s youth “negative” is working. The rate of negatives in 12 to 15 year olds is at an all time high of 97%. Higher rates of infection occur when girls reach 17 years. Economically challenged they have unprotected sex for money as men prefer not use condoms. In Zulu culture men get what they want when it comes to sex as demonstrated by the Jacob Zuma trial. Young girls then fall pregnant and are discovered to be HIV positive after being tested for pregnancy.

Use the gift of speech to do good, act with a level of sincerity and thought. Discuss, discuss, discuss and allow others to express their thoughts, and listen openly without judgement. Development often by-passes the "process". It is in the process that we appreciate the development. South Africa's youth are using this tool to teach their peers and young neighbours about the risks of HIV/AIDS and they are doing it extremely well.

2006-05-12T03:13:00.000-07:00

"Ali" 1956 to 2006

In memory of Mohammed's uncle, who died in hospital April 2006. We hope you are now at peace and free from the pain you have suffered over the last 20 years. I thank you for allowing me into your home, and also for allowing me to listen to your story. May Allah be with you and your family. And may Bahrain further its mission to forward the implementation of fair and democratic treatment for all by ratifying the convention on human and political rights.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6DCB87E6-2C0A-4944-BD8A-AE7DBFBAB5E6.htm

If the link doesn't open up immediately, copy and paste it into your browser.

2006-05-02T02:59:00.000-07:00

FIGHTING AN INVISIBLE WAR
Written by me, commissioned by the Oxford Business Group,

South Africa is finally getting to grips with it’s AIDs pandemic, but there is still a long way to go before the battle will be won.

The HIV/Aids epidemic in South Africa has reached that of epic proportions, the consequences of which are also expected to be unthinkable. Thankfully this epidemic has reached a plateau, so the experts say, and with many campaigns being run not only on HIV prevention, but also on treatment, those on the inside say it is finally reaching a manageable state when compared with five years ago.

Other changes taking place are that corporate South Africa is finally taking some responsibility in the treatment of Aids for its labour force by initiating policies that deal with the problem in terms of treatment. And in addition, programmes targeting the youth population are bringing about changes in cultural stereotypes, needed in order to combat the virus, while creating a fundamental change in educating a nation that is believed to have an infection rate of up to 21.5% in adults between the age of 15 to 49 years according to an independent survey by ORC Macro, a research corporation based in Calverton, Md, the study was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, other international donors and various national governments in the African countries. Estimations have been widely debated and a study conducted by the Department of Health in 2005, reported that 10.8% of all South Africans over the age of 2 years were living with HIV in 2005, with those between 15 and 49 years old estimated at having a HIV prevalence of 16.2% in 2005. The reason for such widely debated numbers are that there is still a large proportion of the population who have not been tested.

In 2005, it was widely documented that by the age of 21 years one in every four women are already HIV positive, and the statistics on men are not far behind. The study by the Department of Health reported that among females, HIV prevalence is highest in those between 25 and 29 years old; among males, the peak is in the group aged 30-39 years. According to these results, males aged 15-49 years old are 58% as likely to be infected as are females in the same age group (11.7% in men versus 20.2% in women). Theses rates are down on 2004, where HIV prevalence according to the Department of Health Study was 24.6% amongst people aged 15-49 years old.

In 2006, deaths from HIV were set at around 1000 people per day, and although the epidemic has stabilized in terms of infection in the period 2003-2006, there has been a rising phase in mortalities with approximately 25,000 to 30,000 deaths being recorded on average per month, this figure is expected to rise according to Professor Andre Roux, Head of the Institute for Future Research told OBG in April 2006, “With the current rates on infection we estimate that within five years the total number of deaths from HIV/Aids will reach 40,000 per month.” Of course with such statistics now very much a reality corporate South Africa is having to take notice as the future productivity of the country is very much at stake. Roux added that the expected rise in mortalities will shave .5% off GDP.

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY: The first company to pioneer a HIV/AIDS treatment programme for its employees was Anglo American, South Africa’s leading mining company. Understanding that there was a problem due to high turnover of staff and absenteeism the firm took action. The initiative to conduct an employee survey in order to secure a labour force that is sustainable began in 2000. The latest surveys conducted in Eastern and Southern Africa by the firm in 2004, showed that almost 23% of the company’s work force, including all subsidiaries, have a HIV prevalence. The decision pushed through by Dr. Brian Brink to develop a way of saving lives at Anglo American seems to have paid off with absenteeism having been reduced from an all time high of approximately 6600 days per month for employees who were HIV positive in 2000, to around 2000 days per month in the first year of the programme.

With 80% of South Africa’s mining population living away from home it created an environment which was perfect for the spread of AIDS, and with no health insurers recognising HIV or even STDs in medical-plans, as is the case in most countries throughout the world, there was a definite problem in ignoring the issue. This helped the epidemic take hold, along with the general unhealthy living that these labourers practise.

Anglo American aware of the country’s Aids crisis started its campaign for prevention as early as 1986, however, the programme for treatment was not introduced until 2000. At that time Anti-Retroviral Treatments (ARTs) were showing positive signs in clinical trials and it was then that Anglo American committed itself to developing a programme to deal with its own crisis of sorts.

The programme entails that all employees who tested positive for HIV be offered enrolment in a wellness programme, which supplies treatment in the form of ART, therapy and advice on healthy living. The total number of employees who enrolled in the wellness programme as of April, 30 2005 was 7358. While 4459 employees began preventive therapy for opportunistic infections. These numbers have huge implications in terms of financial commitment from employers, however, with future productivity at stake, as well as a high absenteeism seen in pre-ART companies simply could not ignore the problem anymore. Although it does require a serious investment, Anglo American claim that over the first 12 months of introducing the treatment programme, up to 70% of its cost were covered by the reduction in absenteeism.

These days the firm actively promotes Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) to normalise the stigma which surrounds HIV/AIDS in South Africa. This is being realised, says Anlgo American, by creating an environment which is conducive to testing. This requires developing a climate of trust, non-discrimination, confidentiality, empowerment, efficiency, caring and access to treatment.

With programmes such as Anglo Amercan’s being a positive step towards creating a work force that will ecru higher productivity, many companies have followed suit. One particular sector which has also dealt with the crisis in a similar vain is the automobile industry. South Africa has the tenth biggest automobile sector in the world and in terms of GDP has a worth of 7% to country’s economy. BMW and Vaults Wagon followed in the footsteps of the Anglo American model and also introduced healthcare plans for all employees to cover HIV/AIDS. In fact industry insiders say that Anglo American has revolutionised the way in which corporate South Africa is investing in the crisis, and maybe in the way the world at large will make up health care plans in years to come.

STARTING AT THE GROUND UP: The other aspect of the crisis is one that begins at an earlier stage, that of the country’s youth population. South Africa recognised that it not only had to treat its aging workforce but would have to focus on prevention in order to create a generation of negatives that would boost productivity in the future.

Among teenagers infection rates are still fairly low, but when girls leave school there is an explosion in infections. A national survey of HIV and sexual behaviour among 15-24 year olds conducted by LoveLife in 2003, South Africa’s youth campaign for prevention of HIV/AIDS, showed that HIV prevalence in girls aged 15-19 was 7.3% where as the rate in 20-24 year olds was much higher with some 24.5% recorded. Boys on the other hand were much lower with all 15-19 year olds surveyed having a HIV prevalence of 2.5% and 20-24 year olds 7.6%. Looking at these figures the over all negativity in children aged 15-19 regardless of age is 95.2%.

The campaign exclusively targets 12-17 year olds and seeks to build on the high negativities in this age range. LoveLife told OBG in April 2006, that in 12-17 year olds there is a 3.7% prevalence of HIV, which although lower than the older generation is still ten times higher than rates recorded in Western Europe and ten times higher than that of the United States.

A late starter due to government being slow in the recognition of the extent of the crisis, LoveLife began campaigning in 1999. Major funding initially came from the Henry J. Kaiser family Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with additional funding from the South African Government, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. LoveLife has gone through cuts in funding over the last 12 months with funding from the Global Fund being cut from some 200m Rand in 2005 to 140m Rand in 2006.

Today LoveLife reaches millions of young people through a number of different vehicles: television programmes reach a weekly audience of 4m teens; radio programmes have an estimated 6m listeners; UNCUT, LoveLife’s national newspaper has a circulation of over 1m; Tetha Junction helpline receives an average of 25,000 calls per month; an estimated 50,000 young people participate in activities each month at the 16 Y-centres across the country; 900 adolescent-friendly health services service local communities; Over 100,000 children are reached through school-based outreach programmes every month; and over 1m young people participate in activities related to the LoveLife Games – a year-long sports programme which builds confidence, competitiveness and motivation in young people.

“The most vital part of getting the message to the youth was to communicate with them on their level by creating a youth friendly environment where we could meet face to face with our target audience.” said CEO of LoveLife David Harrison.

OUTLOOK: If South Africa can keep the epidemic in check as it seems to being doing, the future of the country lies on a very different path. Harrison told OBG in April 2006, “We must focus on keeping this level of negativity high,” adding that, “If we do this then we will change the future of South Africa.”

2006-04-30T12:07:00.000-07:00

Nuclear "No Thanks"

Thousands of anti-nuclear activists and environmentalists alike gathered in Sinop on Saturday for a peaceful demonstration against the planned nuclear power plant that the government say will be built on the Ince peninsula. It was an inspiring weekend in Turkey, a weekend where a group of people, who care not only about their own country, but about the world as a whole, took to the streets and committed their time to making a stand against their own government while supporting the locals in their battle against Turkey's nuclear aims. One journalist there told me of how in his opinion there is no energy crisis in Turkey, but they are clouded in their vision by industrialisation of any type at any cost.

The convoy carrying activisits from all over Turkey was greeted with smiling faces and welcoming waves as it rolled into town. Those who did not know about the nuclear ambitions of their government became better informed, which may add some value to stopping the Turkish government from building a nuclear power plant in one of the country's most bio-diverse areas. The landscape we passed was breath-taking and rich in flora and wildlife.

Up to 10,000 people marched through the Black Sea fishing village of Sinop in protest of the government's plans to build the plant not far from the town. The rally marched through the streets and congregated in the town square shouting anti-nuclear slogans and sang environmentalists songs. Members of the main opposition party CHP were present, although no representatives of the ruling Justice and development Party (AKP) came.

Residents joined Turks, who had traveled from all over Turkey, and marched through the streets in protest of the government's nuclear plans. Buses traveled from Istanbul and Ankara carrying many NGOs such as "The Greens" and "Anti-Nuclear Platform". The trip was organised by the Chamber of Electric Engineers (EMO). The event was a peaceful one with low police presence on the ground – all demonstrators passed through a check point before entering the town square.

Following a meeting on April 14, of Turkey's top energy officials and representatives of 14 firms, statements circulated in the Turkish media that the government had confirmed Sinop as the site of where the new nuclear plant is to be built. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by the Turkish media on April 14 as saying the Black Sea coastal town of Sinop was "the one".

Sinop has been chosen from eight possible locations based on a list of criteria which include seawater temperature, climate, wind and general weather conditions, according to Turkey's Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK).
TAEK's president, Oktay Cakiroglu, announced on April 14 in a speech to a parliamentary commission that technical studies conducted countrywide had shown Sinop to be a good location to build the plant based on the agency's criteria, and that a technology centre would soon be established there.
The region surrounding the Sariye Dam was also thought to be a candidate for the facility, but was later found to be unsuitable due to transportation problems in the area.
In the latest report by TAEK, dated March 15, plans on where to construct the facility in Sinop were laid out, with the Abali village on the Inceburun, Turkey's northernmost point, noted as the site.

A second rally is planned for June, but the location is not yet known.

For a look from an economical and political standpoint with a little more regional background, here's an article I wrote two weeks ago:

http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/weekly01.asp?id=1937

2006-04-26T02:09:00.000-07:00

Chernobyl 20 years on...

Remembering the liquidators – hundreds of firemen lost their lives as they bravely battled against the reactor.

Radioactive rescue vehicles dumped in a field in the zone.

Pripyat city, home to 45,000 people at the time of the disaster.

The town square which once housed the laughter of a young rising middle class.

Party sign which sits on the top of the highest buidling in Prpiyat city. The power of the party looms over the city.

Signs that a healthy lifestyle was appreciated in the zone at one time. Remains found in the kitchen of an apartment building.

Peeling walls of an apartment building in Pripyat city.

Billboard which ironically reads "To Your Health", there are lots of these dotted around the zone, a pretty green landscapes against a backdrop of radiation.

Signs of a comfortable lifestyle. Electric goods were something of a luxury in the 1980s.

Screaminghead highlights the disaster.

Artists have highlighted the victims of the disaster – the children.

2006-04-24T17:14:00.000-07:00

I never include personal items, but this was too good to miss. My rock and roll dad on the left and his aptly named band. I finally understand why I feel like this often.

2006-04-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

Click on picture to see real size

2006-04-16T06:57:00.000-07:00

Johannesburg, the walled city

www.flickr.com

More of Sabral Circle's photos tagged with johannesburg

2006-04-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

Africa
Watering hole 80km from the Swaziland border

Logging up in the mountains on the Wild Frontier

Lonely House in Swaziland

Public rest stop

Headline News

Mining village on the Wild Frontier

Aids orphans living on the land

2006-04-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

Swaziland... the greenest country in the world... and a nation hooked on football with the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. UNICEF estimate that 700,000 children in a population of one million have already lost at least one parent to the disease and that 15,000 now live in child-headed households. It is however, the most beautiful countryside I've ever seen – one big mountain range of rolling green hills.

Florence was hanging out with her friends at the regional telephone booth when the car of whiteys stopped. The air was dry, and the sun was in its usual position scanning the mountain range. She was secretly glad that the red peugeot with a Johannesburg registration had pulled over, the others, in opposition, were much more suspicious.

"Look, here they come again, ask them for 20 Rand this time," Said the telephone attendant's daughter as she folded the hotel's laundry into neat squares that would fit in the canvas bag she had just found on the road from Piggs Peak.

Florence didn't care about the money these foreigners had. She had been wondering for the last three hours how she was going to pick up her youngest daughter from school today. It usually took her hours to walk across the mountain.

As the not unfamiliar white tourists armed with cameras stepped out of the car she felt she might be one step closer to collecting Mutanga on time today. It was Mutanga's sixteenth birthday. Today her youngest daughter would become a woman. She couldn't be late for the birthday celebration. There was to be a party after school, everyone would be there. It would be shameful to be late. She watched as the foreigners got back into their car satisfied with the pictures they had taken. The struggle with her inner-conscience and self confidence began.

"Should I ask them? Should I ask them? I can't. Just do it! No, why would they help me? I am nobody to them. They are rich white people. Why would they help me? But I am desperate if I miss Mutanga's birthday she will be so sad. She has never been the same since her father died three years ago."

Florence looked at her watch, the watch her husband had given her for the last Christmas they had shared together. Time was running out, there was nothing more to do, plus she had nothing to loose, she had already lost everything to an unknown force, that of Aids, a killer that she could neither understand or comprehend.

It was now or never. Now she thought or never. Approaching the red car she spoke in her best English, "Hey, can you give me a ride?" She said nervously, not knowing whether her badly spoken English would be understood.

"Sure, hop in, where are you going?"

She couldn't believe her luck. She would be on time today, on time for her daughter's birthday. They had no idea of what they had just done for her, she could never repay them. Some things are unquantifiable in this life she thought and the smile across her face was evidence of just that.

After the twenty minute car journey of pleasant conversation, they dropped her off. Florence cried as she walked into the school yard as did Mutanga, happy that her mother was on time today, while knowing that she was really the only person who could ever understand the loss of her father dying.

"Here, my daughter. This is for you on your very special day."

Florence gave Mutanga a beaded necklace that she had just spent the last four hours collecting.

"Thank you mother, I know the road is not easy with your bad knees. I love it, but I love it more that you are here."

Mutanga's class mates came running across the yard singing the sweet Umhalanga and there was in that moment nowhere else in the world that she wanted to be, she only wished that her father could have been there to see her reach womanhood.

"You will be a great doctor," said Mutanga's science teacher, "You will honour your father, we are all proud of you."

"Yes, we are," said Florence.

The dance had already surrounded them. Lost in the chanting they forgot for a moment the loss of their beloved father, husband, source of discipline and inspiration. Today was a day to celebrate life, so they gave in to the party and danced the Umhalanga until the sun went down and it was time to go home.

2006-04-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

My driver, who lives in Soweto, told me of how his brother was shot on his way to work two weeks ago. His brother, 42-years-old, was on his way to the train station in the morning (on his way to work) and was shot by two youths. When I asked him if he knew who had done it, he said "No", and that, "It was some youths just trying to rob him, and he probably put up a fight so they shot him."

A 42-year-old man on his way to the train station in a poorish neighbourhood was shot for not handing over his wallet. The family were left behind to mourn the tragic death of their brother, uncle and son, for no real reason beyond the fact that he probably put up a fight over not very much money. A random and tragic killing, something that is not uncommon in South Africa, although, locals will tell you it's not as bad as it used to be before...

2006-04-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

"Memory waits quite often, like a train in a tunnel, until it senses a green light. Memory is alive, hunkering sometimes submerged, but often not. It is just kept in the dark. When it re-emerges.... reality is re-evaluated."

Wilde-Menozzi, 2001:44

Taken from "Childhood" a book compiled of South African writers and public figures, some known some not known - Mandela and JM Coetze - all of whom were asked to recall their childhood in a country that has sometimes not documented the lives of its children so well.

We as humans are exceptionally good at distorting moments in our lives. The realisation sets in, when the memory fades and a passing moment, music, smell or image reminds you of the times spent earlier - and how great or horrific they were.

In 1976, 30 years ago, the children of a South African township - Sowetto - rose up and protested the enforced learning of Afrikans in their schools. A 13-year-old boy, Hector Pieterson was shot by police in the chaos. This moment recorded changed the future of South Africa forever.

Children have sometimes been responsible for South Africa's changes, and now lie victims to the worst war of all - that of Aids. Companies are now starting to understand that for any kind of long-term growth plan they must offer healthcare packages in order to treat their sometimes 30% infected workforce as well as their families.

It is a difficult topic for the government to deal with, although constitutionally every South African citizen has a right to healthcare, however, with the current rate of AIDS and HIV positive patients, this would bankrupt the country. The cost of ARTs is not cheap, and these meds must be perscribed to a patent forever - implications of which dictate a sincere committment by all involved.

A lifetime promise must be made by each employer to his or her employee. It is already happening, thankfully, there are a few industrialists who are leading the way in HIV treatment for South Africa's labourforce.

Today many companies have healthcare programmes for their employees, but it is still not enough. The government must take some action over ARTs. I imagine that the new dispensing fees for pharmacies, which are aimed at reducing the price of medicine by up to 15% may be a drive in this area. But, at this point it is purley speculation, hard evidence will follow. It may also of course, be merely a concern by the drug companies in their fight against counterfeit meds - we will see?

2006-03-17T00:57:00.000-08:00

Plovdiv, a city of good wine, music and historical battles.

Plovdiv can lay claim to being one of the oldest cities in Europe, even older than Rome, Athens, and Istanbul (Constantinople). The first traces of civilization date back to the Mycenaean period.

I was posed the question by a friend far far away, "Do Gypsies still exist in Bulgaria?", Here's your answer. Yes, Gypsies still exist, and are these days employed by the municipality – not directly I suspect but most likely by a contractor of the government. On the one hand it was good to see that this group, which lives on the outside of society, is in Plovdiv working within it, but at the same time what other job could they really do?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsies

Under Ottoman rule, Plovdiv was a center of the Bulgarian national movement in Eastern Rumelia. While the city was liberated from the Ottomans during the Battle of Plovdiv in 1878, it was not originally part of the newly established Principality of Bulgaria. Instead it was the capital of the semi-independent Region of Eastern Rumelia, until that area finally joined Bulgaria in 1885 after the Unification of Bulgaria. Plovdiv is the original capital on Bulgaria.

Today the city is rich in music, arts and culture. Take a walk through the old city and as you pass the Academy for Arts and Music, you can hear a violin singing softly. The notes seep out of the classroom and down into the old cobbled streets.

A man winds his music box for pennies in the Old City.

Under communist rule since the end of World War II, Plovdiv was the center of that country's democracy movement, which finally overthrew the pro-Soviet regime in 1989. Many battles were waged in Bulgaria, which is why the people say these days there is peace – "a tired nation", a man who works at the Ministry of Agriculture said. The great Turkish-Russian War was fought at Plovdiv.

Murals are commonly found in and around the city...

As are street buskers...

The windy streets of downtown are home to cute cafes, boutique clothing stores, mosques and churches alike. A church bell rings followed by the Namaz, evidence of the peacful existence between both Muslims and Christians.

Well worth a visit...

2006-03-16T02:19:00.000-08:00

Bar Talk

“Life is like Carrefour, you place your order and you get what you want.” Hagen said taking a swig from an oversized pint of Danish beer.
Running through Farah’s mind was the old proverb “behind every strong man is a strong woman”, but she didn’t dare say it, a little clumsy perhaps to say such a gender centric cliché to a European, so instead she said, “Two heads are better than one.”
“Exactly! The Clintons, they’d never have made it alone, it takes two to be successful, a counterpart is all I want. I have one but sometimes she is strong, but sometimes it's not enough.” Hagen said in a weary watered down Hanover accent.
Zac stretched out his hand, “Zachary, nice to meet you.”
“When you find that woman, don’t let her go. That’s my advice from 46 years of experience.”
Farah smiled and thought back to last summer and remembered the feelings of sharing her utmost self with the only man she’d ever truly loved. Then she wondered why she was still thinking about him at all and consoled herself in the fact that he just wasn’t experienced enough to understand what had been on offer.
“The Queen speaks German, she’s German, we are a nation of thinkers, we want to solve problems. We may not have any resources, no steel, nothing in the ground. But we have our minds.”
Zac moved closer to Farah in a naturally protective fashion.
“I don’t want to think German anymore, I am ready to give up my German and become European. We are European, and the British and the French are just fucking that up.”
Farah finished off her side dish of sautéed vegetables.

“I learned in the US to survive, I didn’t learn any facts in my university years in Germany, but I learned to survive, to be an individual. These people here they don’t want to be individual,” Hagen said.
A Brit, an American and a German, sipping from their drinks at staggered intervals in a central location, downtown Sofia – what a bunch Farah thought, what a bunch!
“No one wants to take responsibility, they want the power but not the responsibility,” Zac at long last had joined the conversation.
Farah said nothing but just listened, attentively, and knowingly that the German sitting to her right would surely have some answers to her many questions, the questions she had been trying to ask the ministries repeatedly for the past month. What a spot of luck she thought to have ended up sitting next to a German businessman who was working on the government deal with Siemens to supply the much needed rolling stock, the deal she had to write about. The ministries had proven themselves useless at offering up information, but a German, what a spot of luck she thought.
“All I want is a house on a hill, with some steps down to a private beach, just two metres, doesn’t matter, with a wife who I can have sex with three times a day,” Hagen was voicing his ambitions.
“It’s not about the result, it’s about the journey,” Zac’s mum with her masters in therapy, was quite clearly a huge influence in his life.
“Isn’t that what every man wants,” Farah joined the conversation again having finished her side orders.
“Yes, a simple life,” Hagen added. “What is that not what you want? No it’s not is it, a woman wants more brain.”

Farah smiled and again thought back to her last relationship, which she thought had been based on “brain” as Hagen put it, but then she thought that’s probably why it had all gone wrong. Of course, she thought, that’s not what he had wanted. It had been his initial face, it had to be. An intellectual himself, but at the same time it went against everything that made him a man according to his dad’s outlook. It had been drummed into him by his father for 25 years, “don’t listen to your mother, she’s just a woman”. He had no respite she thought. We were doomed from the start.
“Do you know how you are going to pay your bills for May?” Hagen said.
“No, I don’t, honestly I don’t, but I’m doing what I love and it’s just kind of moving.” Farah realized that for the first time in her life, she was completely free. Her job was as mobile as the cell phone tucked in her jean pocket. She could absolutely move with the wind, or the story more importantly.
Hagen looked puzzled, but at the same time a certain respect washed over his face.
“No planning? No planning at all?”
“None, it’s been this way for the past year. I can’t explain it, but for some reason, it’s kind of working out. That’s all I can tell you.”
And it was she thought. It was somehow. Somehow it was.

2006-03-12T05:56:00.000-08:00

Shooting Sofia

The sun was shining on Sofia for the first time in months. The never ending rain and snow filled pavements made it sometimes difficult for Bistra to walk, which had these days, just become a good excuse for her to stay at home. The icy paving slabs were her first line of defence when asked to venture out, since the slaying of her only son, Georgi, some six years ago. At the time of the hit Georgi was driving a black mercedes in rush hour traffic. Not acknowledging this vital piece of evidence, Bistra had convinced herself it was a hit which had "gone wrong", and that 19-year-old Georgi was an innocent bystander in the crime. In reality, everyone knows that mafia hits rarely "go wrong" in Bulgaria. And innocently wounded bystanders were not common in this town.

Just last week a guy had been hit clean in the head while tucking into a medium-rare Beef Rosini at his favourite restaurant. They say that the killer hit the target from a range of up to about 50 metres. A sniper, so they say. Guess it doesn't pay to have a favourite restaurant in this city. There had been some 150 killings within the last three years with zero prosecutions, Georgi knew what he was doing, either that or he had just got himself in too deep.

The 48-year-old Slav, had peered out of her window often, but just couldn't bring herself to venture out, constantly living in fear that she would have to revisit the site of the killing. It was easier to stay inside and remember the happy days of walking arm in arm along Vitoshe Street with her son. But today, looking at the sunshine, she ached to go out, to feel the warm rays on her pale skin.

"Let's go sell some gravy in the market, " Radistina said – Bistra's best friend. The best friend who had for the past six years been her lifeline to the outside world. Radistina would sit and read the newspaper everyday at 2pm to Bistra, and then discussions would follow. However, she was always careful to censor the weekly "mafia hits", which occurred in the Bulgarian capital.

"OK, let's go out," said Bistra in a somewhat unfamilar tone.
Radistina quickly got the coats from the hallway, not wanting to make a big deal out if it, for fear that Bistra would change her mind.
"Let's go to the market and sell gravy like we used to," Bistra said.
Radistina quickly went to the pantry and gathered a few jars from the overstocked and collapsing shelves, that were also laden with cartons upon cartons of cigarettes.

Standing in the market like they used to, Bistra placed herself in the sunshine, it felt good.
"When will I stop thinking about it," she asked her best friend, "it just seems like yesterday that we were walking through these streets together, me and my Georgi."
"It's always going to feel like yesterday, I'm afraid to tell you. You loved him. Love doesn't just disappear, not real love."
"Let's talk about the people we see, I want to think of something different today."
Radistina smiled and thought maybe her best friend was finally starting to free herself from missing Georgi. While she knew it would never leave her, it was good to see her oldest and dearest friend bathing in the Sofia mid-afternoon sunshine.

Things are going to be better she thought, better, better, better. The sun was at least shining again.

2006-03-07T23:53:00.000-08:00

Bahrain government purchases 22 Cobras from Turkey

The Bahrain government has recently purchased 22 Cobras from Turkey, and at $400,000 a pop that's no small amount of petrodollars we are talking about. Designed and produced in Turkey, the Cobra comes complete with an amphibious kit. "An optional amphibious kit consists of double hydraulic thrusters with joystick control and closing louvres. The system allows the vehicle to enter water without preparation," reads the the sales jargon.

Currently the Turkish military have four, so the nautical engineer, who works for the company told me, on my return journey from Bahrain. However, this report states that there are five currently in operation in Turkey. "The Cobra family of light armoured vehicles is manufactured by Otokar Otobus Karoseri Sanayi in Turkey. The Cobra designs incorporate the mechanical components of the HMMWV vehicle from AM General of the USA. Cobra vehicles are in service with the Turkish Army (five vehicles) and the Maldives (three vehicles)."

Interesting that Bahrain with a population of 707,000 people should need 22 of the beasts. The engineer I sat next to on the plane, said that there are currently only two people in the kingdom that can drive these great contraptions. Personally I'd like to drive one down Istiklal on a Saturday, it would certainly cut down on parking problems – you could just roll on up and roll on over – what ever gets in your way!

The King of Bahrain was in Turkey only three weeks ago, although it was not widely publisized, was he inking the deal? And why was he inking such a deal? The editor at Al-Wassat newspaper, Bahrain, wrote up a piece based on the information I'd gathered on my trip back to Turkey – my source: I saw the photos of the damn things being driven around like rally cars on the mudflaps of Bahrain and spoke to the engineer who had gone there to train the drivers. Straight from the horses mouth as they say.

The official word is "No response from the government yet".

For more info on these fun little rides:http://www.army-technology.com/projects/cobra/

2006-03-06T10:54:00.000-08:00

Central Market, Bahrain 5.30 a.m. Beyond the skyscrapers that house the region's financial centre, Bahrainis go about their business as usual...

2006-03-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

The results of reporting in Bahrain:

Dear Jody,

It was great meeting you and thanks for your e-mails. The eldest son of the tortured man visited the society and I filed his case with full information. I transferred his case to Karama Centre and the doctors will follow it up.

A. Alderazi

Abdulla Alderazi is the Deputy Secretary General of the Bahraim Human Rights Society

Unfortunately I received a phonecall on Friday night from Mohammed who told me that his uncle was now in the IC unit, barely breathing. Mohammed also told me that he had to lie and say that he was from the UN in order to get in to see his uncle. It seems that we may have got to his uncle too late. While this family suffers the pain, which their own country has inflicted on them, all I could do was try to reassure them that at least his uncle was in the right place, and would hopefully have the drugs needed in order to reduce the physical pain. Although the trauma will never find closure.

2006-02-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

Bad News...

The winds were blowing at a rate not seen in over fifty years, or so the weatherman said. Neither of us had bothered to check the forecast that morning, both wearing flimsy springtime jackets which were of no protection, but it didn’t matter anyway – loss masks the senses, and allows for a type of self annihilation. The spray off the Bosphorus blowing across the tea garden shooting directly for us was the least of our worries. Our bones soaked up the damp cold. Couples and old men ran to the warmth of their cars, while we sat paralysed by the news we had received just hours earlier, the wincing cold was nothing compared to how we both felt. The tea helped somewhat towards us both not getting pneumonia. Sitting in silence, staring at the steam evaporating from the small bevelled tea glass, we couldn’t even speak, for speaking would drown the reality that our best friend was not coming back, ever. Locked in a moment not wanting to move forward we both sat there remembering the times that had gone before. The silence was deafening. A balmy summer day, was the last day we had all been together, laughing about how ridiculous life is. Life had moved on, a kind of manufactured reality, a new environment had surrounded all of us, and everything was fine, but we knew somehow that this day would come, the day when we would see each otehr again to address the fears of what had gone before. We knew why, but had managed to store it in the deepest parts of our consciousness. The months rolled by, until one morning, one spring morning we had received the news that our friend would not return from his last asisgnment. There it was, the final arrival of bad news, and all we could do was sit there for hours, just sipping hot tea, being pelted by the salty spray from the Bosphorus, hoping it would wake us up, from the numbness of the loss we both felt.

Barking Sparrows 2006

2006-02-23T14:20:00.002-08:00

Journalism has many purposes, this is one of them...

It's not the publishing. It's not the finished product pretty and complete. It's asking questions – lots of them, and being impartial. It's curiosity and listening to the everyday story that lives in the streets of every town, and then gathering the information like a spy, but further reporting it to the people who matter. The people who need to know.

Tonight I stood in a bar with the Deputy Secretary of a Human Rights Society, who had called me as word had got around that I was interested in the story of innocent people who had been victims to torture. My phone rang, it was the family of the victim of torture I had met four days previous. He wanted to say goodbye and to invite me to dinner in the village.

I passed the phone to my drinking partner. They spoke for a few minutes. The phone was passed back to me. He thanked me again. I hung up. I had made a connection between a man who was desparate for advice, and someone who could help. The outcome of the series of events that I have been party to on my trip to Bahrain is as follows:

A family who had been so scared and lost over where to go will now receive medical help from the society. And another case of torture will be registered that will add to the campaign against the government to offer some real kind of reconciliation. These families, and there are many, are lost over how to deal with the stigma and fear of coming forward and seeking real help.

A doctor will go to the village and visit the victim. The case will be assesed. The government will not publish all cases, and this is another step towards these cases being aired. Hopefully the society will be able to aid with medicince through the volentary medical teams they have working on their programmes.

The Human Rights friend, said that he may now even put an advertisement in the newspaper callinng for all torture victims to come forward and get the help that they didn't know existed, and with a dilay newspaper now running a daily campaign on the subject,which started this month, it is finally being aired, and the government can not ignore it anymore.

The fact that these victims can now get help – recent development since 2001 – means that a mood is changing. The main problem is the stigma attached to seeking psychiatric help. Trauma is sometimes harder to see than the physical disability. Another case to add to the campaign and a person who will at long last get some recognition and the medicare he needs.

This the real joy in reporting, is reporting the stories to the people who matter.

2006-02-20T12:57:00.000-08:00

Violation of Freedoms

A man so badly beaten by prison guards that he was permanently damaged at the age of 36 years old. His passport reads born in 1956, but he looks like it should say '36. Taken from his house one night twenty years ago, he was held in prison for two years with no charge. Only that he had helped raise money to buy food for his brother and other people he knew, who were being held as political prisoners. He is so scarred from the beatings, he never recovered, bed ridden for twenty years, not able to work, deterioration has set it.

A room 2 metres x 2 metres with six inmates was his residence for two years. Taken daily for beatings, he was given a piece of meat a few times a week – cut to 1inch in diametre. Shower time was five minutes once a week. Made to stand for 24 hours sometimes with no food, or often thrown old chicken bones. Torture and humilation wore him down eventually. He is home now and his family surround him.

Once he was a model of good citizenship. Working in the national oil and gas company, but was held hostage for the good he did in his community. He is sick, and no body cares. No apology was issued. His colleagues forgot about him all too quickly. He has had no visitors beyond his family since his release. Yet, he still believes that helping the needy was worth it. He would do it again if he had a choice. He wants to get healthy. That's all he wants. He is afterall only 50 years old.

The political environment is shifting, a reason this family invited a stranger into their house to tell his story. The spies are gone now, and although it remains both faceless and nameless for fear that the the horror may return. It lurks on the horizon, but not in the village streets anymore.

2006-02-14T12:42:00.000-08:00

Asura Holiday Bahrain...

Even locals told us not to go, fear is ignorance. we went, we explored challenging the idea that two Westerners would not be welcome at a Muslim holiday, in a souq filled with 10,000 Arab men and women. It was moving and interestingly calm. Passionate, agressive and coordinated. The sounds were the most impressionable part of the long evening. It was difficult to take photos, while being sensitive to the events that were unfolding infront of us.... This is a small snapshot of what we saw.

Zeynep, 9 years old, two brothers a sweet smile.

The women...

The men...

The chains...

Yes, Islam is political; Yes Islam is passionate; Yes islam is violent at times...
I think we have to separate the politics from the faith, but how?
Islam does feel like it is under attack, the perpetrator of 911 is winning. The cartoons?
Sensitivity and an understanding of what this means to a diversity of cultures has been overlooked.
Is "Freedom of Speech" the new religion?
The West – another generalistion, that has many qualities which are sometimes overlooked.
We live in a world of generalisations, when will we stop and consider that people need people.
Separate the politics from the people, and start listening.
Understand the subtleties in what people say, and what their reference point is – and listen.
Somewhere in the Bahraini desert...

2006-01-22T02:19:00.000-08:00

The search for Turkish identity continues.. lonely Turks do exist.

"There's a fine a line between being kind and being weak, we are confused about the two" said a young Turkish youth in a bar one winter night.

Around three years ago a sighting of a UFO was reported in a village in Turkey, when the locals saw this spectacular vision they started throwing stones at it. A small glimpse of the need for an understanding of a needed education.

A British Airways aircraft was discovered to have a technical fault seconds before take off in January 2006. The British passengers on the flight said, "Well, I guess it's like a car, sometimes they go wrong, better to have caught the problem now before we were in the sky." A Turkish man on the same flight stood up and started cursing at the fact that the pilot had decided to return to bay, annoyed by the delay he shouted out loud in Turkish, "Disgusting." Of course there were other Turks saying, "Chill out man."

While the rising graduated middle class blame the west for the country's woes, at the same time embrace it, demonstrated by the way in which intellectuals are quick to quote western philosophers to explain themselves.

The following quotes were spoken by citizens of an educated Istanbul class:

"Turks came from central asia, a population of nomads carrying tents, this is why we don't have a strong architectural culture."

"We were a nation of nomads which is why we have so many social problems."

"Osman Bey collected the nomadic Turks and created the Ottoman Empire, so yes you can say we come from the Ottomans."

"The Ottoman ruling class were not Turkish, some born of Russian women, that is why you can not say we are Ottomans."

Ataturk unified the Turks under one national identity, a grieving nation that lost its sons and fathers in the great war of freedom was deeply scarred but proud to have finally found their rightful territory. Women of that time married with old men and the physically unfit to go to war. A new indigenous Turkish society was built from this gene pool.

Under the development of its new found motivation the country went through a renaissance period of tremendous growth, ambition and development. With this incredible growth outside forces noticed Turkey and the suppression began in order to formulate a sense of confusion and chaos – to stop reform, set up by the hanging Menderes. The prime minister in the early 1950s under the so-called pressure of western powers closed the village schools, which were accused of promoting leftist thought – something not encouraged under the umbrella of the cold war. However, a greater factor was in play here, the land owners who lived where these schools operated, the men of power, threatened by an evolving educated class were in actual fact a huge pressure in the closure of these schools.

In a country where the young population still depend on the support of their families for their personal sense of security, the break down of the extended family contract in some areas of urban living has led many independent Turks to feel lonely and on the outside of their own culture, as many westerners – in their twenties – struggle with everyday. Living away from their families is at times tough, but it builds character and an understanding for other independents, as shared resposibilities are understood. Quite often being independent in Turkey translates into being selfish, as independents usually put their own agenda first, generally because when you live alone it is necessary to do everything yourself – which can be quite time consuming.

"Searching for support means 'fighting' in Turkey," said another Turk when asked if it was just a foreign phenomenon of needing a support network of friends regardless of gender. In the US and the UK, the extended family contract has disintegrated into a nation of independents, which gives stronger reason for a group of friends honoring the moral actions committed to each other.

Such great acts of selfishness and disregard to acquaintances are washed over by the warm loving arms of a parent. Thus creating a type of egotistical existence. Children don't always understand the consequence of their actions. The republic is still relatively young.

Nowhere is this more prevalent in Turkey. A country that is searching for its own identity. A country that sometimes denies its Ottoman roots. A nation of padishas and princesses, who are happy to play eachother at their own game. A nation that was crippled by a stolen education – after the closure of village institutes in the 1950s, Turkey never really ever recovered so many say. This manifests itself in defensive behaviour and lies that are not thought to be of a moral disability in terms of a greater good for society, the society is much more selfish than an economically independent one in terms of how it interacts with itself daily.

In a nation where a large percentage have no regard for the law, where the word "bribe" is on the lips of many from professionals to students, it leads to a breakdown in a unified vision of the greater good. Survival of the fittest is the name of the game and stepping on someone or something to get what you need or want is acceptable. It is openly ok to steel from the government, but what would you think if your government was openly steeling from the you, why wouldn't you do the same? A unified society formulated with a social contract of responsibility to eachother needs to be led to a certain degree by a visibly more honest state.

"Turks think voting is a privilige, not a basic right," but what they are voting for no one is quite clear about. Voting is an act that one partakes in to try and affect the political policy of the society one lives in. Voting in Turkey is simply a pleasure given to the society.

All of these issues, and there are more, stated above, have led to a society of individuals who have to put themselves first to survive whether they want to or not. Survival.

The future? Communities must come together and understand their basic human rights as well as the laws of the republic so that some sort of effective change may start to take place and build a New Turkey, one that can look forward instead of back, and that can evolve into understanding its own rights under the law of the republic while applying them to its daily life – for the greater overall development of a sustainable equally modern population that can be allowed to breathe in its own way.

To feel the beauty and pain of this diverse although sometimes confused culture listen to: KAVAKLAR by Sezen Aksu

2005-12-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

Cambodia, a country of untold beauty, the confusion of unanswered questions, future hope in the eyes of children, the tragedy that has touched all and a story still unfolding..

Babies drip off every hinge and the hopes of Cambodia's future with them. More than half the population is under the age of 15 years. The Khmer Rouge – under the tyrant Pol Pot's leadership – with their brutal campaign managed to reduce the population of Cambodia from somewhere in the region of 7.3 million people to around 5 million. It is still not clear as to how many people actually died, as mass graves are uncovered around the country. DC-Cam is an NGO body that was set up to deal with the awesome task of documenting the affair.

Cambodian people are warm hearted and know how to enjoy themselves, the food and music culture is one to be admired, from light soupy coconut sauces to deep psychedelia. It is a truly untouched place that needs help. When you talk to Cambodians, they have the attitude of "survivors", not "victims", it is something quite remarkable after everything they have experienced in the not so distant past. A testament that humanity can recover from its ills, and look to the future. This is for Cambodia a country that will welcome you with open arms.

The road out to the killing fields, where thousands were taken from Toul Sleng Prison, many of who were buried alive. Khmer soldiers were beheaded by using the sharp edge of a carved palm – it was slower than dying by sword... A tranquility of natural beauty... who could have known...

Over 9,000 skulls have been recovered from the mass graves...

The mass graves... 86 in total, some of which are up to 5 metres deep. Stories of survivors escaping from the graves exist as they were buried alive. In the 1980s the government had to pay people "good money" to help uncover the graves, said the guide as the smell was so unbearable. Sometimes the lake floods as the Mekong River rises and some of the graves have been destroyed in the process.

The children who live next door...

The road back to town...

A school on the road back to town, no guesses what everyone's favourite subject is...

The tortured...

My guide, Sokha Mom, now in her 40s she is a "survivor" of the killing fields. She recalled working in a camp of 50 children, taken away from her mother and father. Sokha's father was a teacher, most of who were killed under the Khmer Rouge as they lead a campaign to eradicate any intellectual that might be a threat to the regime. She worked in the countryside as all city dwellers were turfed out of Phnom Penh.

Sokha found her mother in 1985 and they returned to the city to search for her siblings – four sisters and one brother. She lost one sister and her father under the regime, from starvation.

Able to trace all her sisters, apart from one. In the early 1990s a monk came bearing a letter. It was from her sister, who had been lucky enough to escape in 1973 to the US, due to the fact that her husband, a soldier in the military, was able to organise a route out of the country by boat.

These days her two children, 14 and 15 years old, live in the US. She misses them terribly but feels she has no choice as they will have ahead start in life.

Sokha told me of how she used to wake up everyday and check that the sun was above her, while showing me the scars on her feet from working in the field. This is not an uncommon story from the people you meet everyday in Cambodia. She shared her lunch with me and we hugged each other before I said goodbye. She cried as she recalled her life story, it is not so long ago that such a brutal force of humanity destroyed the beauty of the country which is today recovering by going through the motions of facing its past – although sometimes confused.

Nobody was immune to the torture that was carried out, even Khmer Soldiers were killed. The smiling face is a result of the photographer or his assistant tickling the young boy for the camera.

Today's beauty and serenity of a Cambodia, which is happy and willing to host a whole world of visitors..

2005-11-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

What is journalism?

"The strategic adversary is fascism... the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us." - Michel Foucault

In Azerbaijan 40% of the population live below the poverty line. The families we talked to get only $7 a month from the government, which they call "bread money". Did you know that these families soak the bread in milk, water or stock just to soften it, so that they don't break their teeth when they chew it. Or that they are afraid to go out to work – mainly on construction sites – because if they get injured they don't know how they will pay for medicine. When we asked a father how how his children's health is, he replied "healthy... the children are never healthy". But ironically the country holds 1% of the world's oil resources, which for a population of 8 million seems like quite a lot, don't you think?

Following the Azeri elections I have a new take on the whole media machine. I shadowed a good journalist around the event, lucky enough to be on the inside, and to watch the entire process unfold. There were interviews, conferences, demos (well we kind of missed the important one), but the highlight of the trip was a visit to a camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs as they call them in the land of NGOs).

The elections were covered, stories were filed, the world media was there and watching the political process take its due course in Azerbaijan. I was disillusioned by the whole idea of journalism that exists in the world today. Not by my colleague who did an amazing job of reporting the whole affair, namely because he got out there an spoke to real people about what was going on in the capital, but mainly by the fact that I saw the egos of the press who blew into town with the western wind and then blew back out again, not prepared to stick their neck out and tell the stories of the refugees that live below the poverty line in Azeri land. One in every eighth person you meet in the country is displaced or with refugee status. Doesn't anyone care about them? Who can help them? The world media?

One key moment for me was at the OSCE press conference, when a Turkish journalist, who must have been at least 55 years old – from Anatolian Ajans – stood up and told the members on the panel that he had never heard such a ridiculous ruling. This was with regards to the fact that the the committee had ruled the elections undemocratic, but that's all they did. It was good to see a a journalist criticize the panel and try to provoke a reaction. The microphone was quickly taken away from him and handed to the LA Times correspondant, who asked the US government official if he knew that he was wearing an orange shirt. The conference ended in an intellectual giggle, and the real issues were just swept away, forgotten to replies of, "I wouldn't like to make a comment on that, it's all in the press release."

I and my colleague, who had spent three days with young Azeris, felt sad for the lack of change any international body was able to make in offering Azeris a free and fair election.

When a journalist friend of mine commented on my photos from Azeri land, the only thing he could say was ..."What do you mean? Do I like the story? Or the quality of the photos?" My first reaction was one of disgust that he would ask me about the quality of the photos and not the quality of the children's lives. No, "So that's what Azerbaijan is like." Or "How old were the kids in the picture?" Or "Were they studying?" Or "How was your experience?". No, simply the comment I got was, "Well your Turkish is shit so how could you talk to them?"

I have lived in Turkey for five years, and while my Turkish is not the best. I did actually interview in Turkish to get the current jobs I hold within the Turkish media. Hmmm, do I speak Turkish. Well enough to talk to local Azeri children and make them smile at the shock that I am an English girl, who knew how to ask them: How are you? What is your name? Where do you come from? Where are you going? How many brothers and sisters do you have? Do you like school? What do you study? What is you dream? What do you want to be? Take care and work hard!

I mean isn't that enough to make a connection with these kids? Isn't it great that I could speak to them at all. Isn't that what humanity is all about? About trying to be understood and about trying to understand them?

Sure the definition of journalism is: style of writing for presenting bare facts to describe news events. The main issue lies with "what to report". The point is that unless you are within an organizationn then it is difficult to get your stories out. Not that I don't, I get my work published regularly and read by thousands of people. But I have still got a long way to go, the access I have in terms of telling the stories I want to tell is still very limited.

We pitched a story about IDPs to so many dailies back in the UK, that I forget who we talked to. First the FT, then the London Times, The Guardian... the list goes on. They liked the idea, there was a dialogue, but they didn't go with the story. It was so sad to see these people in desperate situations but with no voice to be heard. "Not really pressing for our readers," Or "We run mostly politics and economyy and softer stories on Saturdays. " Isn't this story all about economy and politics? Isn't it about the distribution of oil wealth and the ruling party's policy on the distribution of it. I don't really know how much more political and economic it could be? And nobody hears their voices. We thought that as Azerbaijan was in the news it would be a good way or time to bring this story out. But the only service that ran it, was the well-known Arabic service that everyone in the west knows for broadcasting tapes of America's favourite terrorist.

It just sickens me to know that people who could maybe put more effort into getting stories of unfortunate people out into the world for others to understand. And create some sort of change, regularly do nothing about it. Even if one person were to make a short film using the metaphor, it could maybe affect 200 people sitting in a western cinema.

I have seen the same story about "Istanbul Tourist Hotspot" on almost six sources (by the same writer a wire journalist) over and over in how many publications in the past two weeks. It's a well written piece, but just think of how many stories have been told about Istanbul being cool, and how many stories of displaced people are not told regularly.

The main problem I see in the world today is the unjust distribution of wealth. If only every person (who could afford it) gave $10 a month to reputable charity, then maybe we could create some sort of change in how the world's wealth is distributed.

In Azerbaijan 40% of the population live below the poverty line. The families we talked to get only $7 a month from the government, which they call "bread money". Did you know that these families soak the bread in milk, water or stock just to soften it, so that they don't break their teeth when they chew it. Or that they are afraid to go out to work – mainly on construction sites – because if they get injured they don't know how they will pay for medicine. When we asked a father how how his children's health is, he replied "healthy... the children are never healthy". But ironically the country holds 1% of the world's oil resources, which for a population of 8 million seems like quite a lot, don't you think?

It's only when we let go of our own egos that we will really ever be able to do anything for the people who need our help in the world. When we just for one second, stop and try to do a little something extra in journalism. When we use the media machine, should we be lucky enough to be inside it, to tell the stories of people who need the help of others. The key to getting an editor interested in a story is to be within an organization, or, and come up with an interesting angle on it all, which any good journalist working inside any organization can do.

I remember a friend saying to me once, "You only teach that poor kid to make yourself feel better," in fact maybe there is some truth in that, but the fact that I did take the time out of my incredibly expensive life to go and teach him, well let's just say it does take some effort, something that goes beyond one's self ego and when you're're sitting in a room with a 12 year old who doesn't speak your language, ego doesn't come into it, dancing and singing usually does, it's something that you do, because you really feel that you might make a difference. It's easy to look at someone and say these things, but only when you give one hour of your time to someone less fortunate can you really understand how much harder it is to actually participate in that one moment than it is to satisfy your own ego.

If you can donate anything to charity regularly, please make an effort to do so. Praying is not enough to make a change in the numbers of people living below the poverty line in today's unbalanced world.

Anyway, I think I said enough... for now .It's late.There is more... There's always more

2005-11-09T16:04:00.001-08:00

Azerbaijan Trip November 4-10, 2005

There to cover the elections, but discovered so much more...

Baku... hopes, fears, politics, oil, irony, disloyalty, corruption, disillusionment, life, love and humanity

In Azerbaijan 40% of the population live below the poverty line. The families we talked to get only $7 a month from the government, which they call "bread money". Did you know that these families soak the bread in milk, water or stock just to soften it, so that they don't break their teeth when they chew it. Or that they are afraid to go out to work – mainly on construction sites – because if they get injured they don't know how they will pay for medicine. When we asked a father how how his children's health is, he replied "healthy... the children are never healthy". But ironically the country holds 1% of the world's oil resources, which for a population of 8 million seems like quite a lot, don't you think?

This is where...

These kids live...

This is where they buy their sweets...

This is where...

This woman cooks...

This is her front door ... when it rains the kitchen area floods and the water reaches her 82 years old knees...

Do you think these poeple have ever met...

These little people... or

This little person...

Do you think these people stay in town long enough to visit...

Here... or to understand...

This...

...the best gift of all... dreams of our future... humanity reigns here...

2005-10-30T14:51:00.000-08:00

And as Otis said it so well, I will say nothing more than read it for yourself...

Sittin' in the morning sun
I'll be sittin' when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah
I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooh, I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay wastin' time

I left my home in the UK
Headed for the Bosphorus Straits
'Cos I've had nothing to live for
And look like nothing's gonna come my way
So I'm just gonna sit on the dock of the bay
Watching the clouds roll away
Ooh, I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay wastin' time

Look like nothing's gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same, listen

Sittin' here resting my bones
And this loneliness won't leave me alone, listen
2000 miles I've roamed
Just to make this lot my home
Now I'm just gonna sit at the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooh wee, I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay wastin' time

2005-10-23T00:10:00.000-07:00

sunny sunday

new places
model faces
weekend tequilla
best type of healer
life goes on
and on
and on
after you're gone
life can breathe
again

sunny skies
breezy garden greens
whispering leaves
no more whys
and what fors
opening of new doors
another day slips away
while you're too proud
to say
i love you more

ain't life grand
head up up up
out of the sand
i am the lucky one
now that you're
gone
gone
gone

Barking Sparrows

2005-10-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

Humans – Merely a step in evolution

A week of suicidal CEOs, monumental aid from Turkey to Pakistan and a realisation AGAIN that I'm living in the wrong century!

This week a touching story came in about a CEO of a Turkish holding group who took his own life after killing his wife on a regular working day, after eating breakfast together as usual. "The couple retired to their bedroom after breakfast" said the housekeeper, where the man shot his wife before turning the gun on himself. The housekeeper found the two dead shortly after. The woman had Alzheimers and was very sick according to the family and as the couple couldn't imagine living without each other they made a decision to take their lives on that cold sunny Istanbul morning. While there is something tragic about the people who are left behind to cope with the loss, there is something incredibly romantic about the death of the couple. I only hope that if there is an after life they are both together in peace and able to live out their love for eternity.

*****

A Noble Effort

Turkey joined along with the UN relief program and NATO this week to help in relief efforts for the victims of Pakistan's earthquake that hit two weeks ago. Ankara has facilitated the airlift of hundreds of tons of supplies, including nearly 10,000 desperately needed tents (although some may say that the tents are old and useless), from the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey to the earthquake zone in northern Pakistan.

Prime Minister Erdogan also travelled to the quake-stricken region on Thursday and took a helicopter tour to see the damage for himself. Erdogan also delivered the news that Turkey would pledge $150 million in aid – this is single largest donation to date. Something which is quite outstanding for a country that is seen to have high debt and that also suffers from quakes. In fact as the prime minister was in Pakistan Turkey was hit by an earthquake that measured 5.9 on the Richter scale. The quake sent panic through the western Aegean city of Izmir, which resulted in one person dead from a heart attack at the age of 38 and others were injured as they jumped from their balconies. A noble effort for Turkey to help in aiding Pakistan.

Erdogan spoke out on the subject of lacking aid to the region. "By the end of 2004, the world had put one trillion U.S. dollars into weapons and we have to ask how much the world has put aside for this disaster in Pakistan," he said after a helicopter flight over the shattered region.

"We have to open our hands more. Today it's Pakistan, tomorrow it can somewhere else," he told reporters through an interpreter in the destroyed city of Muzaffarabad.

"We have to feel what they are a feeling. And as people who are in a responsible position we have to take responsibility for this," he said a day after the United Nations said the world was not doing enough to help.

Although UNHCR has worked closely with non-combatant NATO forces in Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia during the Kosovo crisis, this is the first time the UN refugee agency and NATO have mounted a joint airlift of this size.

Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said, "In all, we have about 860 tonnes of supplies in our warehouse in Iskenderun, Turkey, that we're going to rush to Pakistan with the generous help of these two partners," adding that, "This part of the airlift will deliver nearly 10,000 family tents – enough for 100,000 people – 103,675 blankets and 2,000 stoves from our stocks in Turkey."

Dozens of planes are expected to be sent from the NATO alliance, so far a total of 11 C-130 planes have been offered by the UK, Italy, France, Turkey and Greece. With the Turkish government offering 40 trucks to transport the supplies from the UNHCR warehouse to the airbase in Incirlik. Seven trucks arrived in Incirlik on Tuesday carrying stoves and some 45,000 blankets.

The Turkish effort has been at the forefront of this relief effort with the local governor close to where the air base is located going all out to help by assigning some military troops to move aid supplies. "The governor of Adana, where Incirlik is located, is assisting with the provision of military troops and equipment to help shift the supplies," Redmond added.

We should take out hats off to Turkey for getting involved! Bravo! A really humanitarian effort.

*****

The scariest piece of propaganda I came across this week was published on the US government website under the title of "National Security" (no surprises there). The is a whole page dedicated to the war on terror with ridiculous plans of actions and explanations as follows.

"Third, From Their New Base, These Militants Will Seek To Establish A Radical Islamic Empire. The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow moderate governments in the Middle East and establish a radical Islamic empire that spreads from Spain to Indonesia."

And who said I was paranoid about the US inventing just another reason to continue their fight against the lefties of this world:

"Like Communism, Islamic Radicalism Is Led By An Elitist Self-Appointed Vanguard That Presumes To Speak For The Muslim Masses. Bin Laden says his role is to tell Muslims "what is good for them and what is not." What this man who grew up in wealth and privilege considers good for poor Muslims is that they become killers and suicide bombers. He assures them that this is the road to paradise - though he never offers to go along for the ride."

Hmm. Communism and Islamic Radicalism in the same sentence. Interestingly put there! This is from a government who still hasn't got it that the cold war is over. Maybe they could have said:

"The wealth that we, the US government, gave Bin Laden obviously wasn't enough to persuade him into a life of TV dinners and submission to Western ignorant political values."

******

When asked what he thought the human race was in for, Mr Hartley from London said, "Capitalism will run its course - I still believe Marx was right in this + I still believe Nietzche was right in saying that humans were merely a step in evolution... "

Then he quite aptly went on to talk about his working week, "Sell soul, make money." A good example of a modern (how long has that phrase been coined for?) working class man. Ideas and capitalism all together in one fell swoop. What else is there to do in today's "modern" world. And how much more modern can we be?

Mr Dobis an American living in Istanbul said when posed on the question of why Americans cannot separate politics from their culture, “Americans are brought up to believe that the US is right and that we are saving the world for democracy, but in actual fact they are pushing in the direction of capitalism. And nine times out of ten capitalism is anti-democratic”

Question: The debate at the moment in the US is "What will we do when Castro dies?"
Answer: It's none of your god damn business! Spoken like a true American.

"The domino theory", a term coined by the US government to explain the effects of country by country turning (or as they said "falling") to communism, the thing that many US defense ministers never realised to understand was that most of these countries were more interested in a sustainable independence than communism. If only Macnamara had picked up and READ a history book on China and Vietnam, millions of lives may have been spared.

*****

Socially awkward or just a false impression?

Sitting at a dinner in a very shi shi restaurant this week, surrounded by young professionals who had all been through university education, some with masters degrees, others applying for grad school next year, the conversation consisted of name dropping, silly political quotes and stereotyped observations about people – supposedly aimed at being ironic. The surprising thing thought the observer (and diner among the group) was, "Don't these people have any information based on the theories that came up with the very stories they are quoting?" An egotistical exercise in seeing who knows more information than the other, but with no real depth of discussion introduced. The observer decided to jump in and comment on why the person to her right was talking utter crap. "Do you really believe that the free open economy of the world can be reversed?" His reply was,"Of course the economy of the world can be reversed? Anything is possible." Finding this to be a simple reply, the observer asked her fellow diner to expand on this statement, which, he was not able to do and instead ignored the request – cunningly in a quick maneuver to divert attention – he quickly jumped into a conversation across the table on the names given to US licence plates.

Is that a justfication in fighting for democracy on all fronts? Thought the observer. Hmm. And hasn't democracy been around since the Romans? It's not something that was invented by the US? Was it? Although the Romans were pretty good at sticking their nose in where it wasn't wanted. Sound familiar?

The observer not able to participate in the shallowness of the conversation sat tight, she would find another opportunity to join in, however, time passed and no opportunity presented itself, feeling under extreme pressure to get involved in the conversation, she tried again. But she couldn't. Would she be seen as a social faliure? A boring person of low intellect?

And then she reflected. Why was it that everytime she questioned the man to her right over his ideas, he replied with a look of puzzlement. The observer's first reaction was one of paranoia. She sat there for a while before excusing herself from the smiles and fake laughter.

Off she went to the bathroom and took a good look at herself in the mirror. "What am I doing here? I'm being relegated to the second division social club." Then the cloud of paranoia cleared and a smile of confidence looked back at her from the mirror. She realised that although he had been talking about politics, he didn't in actual fact know anything about the history behind his ideas. It reminded her of a t-shirt her cousin used to wear, "Keep us in the dark and feed us lots of bullshit".

She went back to the table, sat down, looked around and relaxed. A group of well-educated attractive people with well practised monologues surrounded her. What would they care if she said something or not. They probably hadn't even noticed she had been gone.

Isn't a dialogue much more interesting and benficial for all parties?
Isolation and Estrangement:If this is what being a democratically raised Westerner is, then I reject it.

2005-10-19T13:11:00.002-07:00

"Death is not the most tragic thing in our lives.
The difficulty is in the death of a person before death."
Yahya Kemal Beyatli, Turkish poet 1884-1958

Death is not the most tragic thing in our lives
The difficulty is in the death of a country before its population has had the chance to live, breathe and love it again

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in the death of an idea before it has been realised

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The tragedy is in the rationale we all use to justify our selfish behaviour

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The diffulty is in knowing that you'll never love like you once did

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in knowing that you are powerless to help people

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in the death of understanding

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in waking up tomorrow and knowing that the world will be changed forever

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in knowing that we cannot see every corner of the world at least once

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in an honest dream not being fulfilled

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in knowing you are powerless to create any kind of positive change

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in not being heard at least once by someone who understands you

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in the loss of our self against all our wishes

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in known failure before it has occurred

Death is not the most difficult thing in our lives
The difficulty is in knowing when to say enough is enough

Barking Sparrows, insignificant luxury afforded person 1974-now

2005-10-16T04:28:00.000-07:00

Don't you sometimes wish you were a resident of the animal kingdom? Wouldn't life be easier? Which animal would you be and why?