tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281972172024-03-13T16:09:20.679+03:00Emrah's popdatePopdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.comBlogger306125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-54852007110751542542013-01-28T18:04:00.001+02:002013-01-28T18:04:50.399+02:00Vandalina: Ankara’s new street art collective<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>A new street art project, Vandalina, is taking to the streets of the capital city with stickers and posters. Team raises awarness to social issues</b></div>
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If you are a subway commuter in <b>Ankara</b>, you might have encountered stickers placed haphazardly in the trains, over the glass doors, and across the stations. They are not bright in color. In fact, most of them are black and white, with occasional red splattered on.<br />
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What is striking is the messages screamed through these stickers. Below a giant, red 5 is written, “Five women are killed each day in this country” over one of the stickers. On another one with the same hair-raising statistic, “Your mother, your sister, your daughter, your lover, your friend,” is written in a blurry font.<br />
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There are over 10 variations of these stickers with the same message directing the attention of the passer-by to the increasing number of <b>women’s murders</b>. “Research shows that women’s murders have increased 1,400 percent in seven years,” one of the members of <b>Vandalina</b>, the street art collective responsible for this sticky show across the capital city, told the Hürriyet Daily News.<br />
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Vandalina, a fresh street art collective initiated by a small group of friends in Ankara, hopes to raise awareness of social issues through the use of alternative media, stickers and posters being the initial choice. The name is a play on the Turkish word for tangerine, mandalina. “We actually wanted to be connected to the idea of vandalism when selecting our name,” said the member, the “Vandalinist.”<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/vandalina-ankaras-new-street-art-collective.aspx?pageID=238&nID=39927&NewsCatID=385" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-4035457439117602862013-01-28T17:57:00.001+02:002013-01-28T17:57:59.476+02:00Facebook censors Turkey’s biggest anti-racist initiative<b>Facebook’s confusing censorship policies have hit the Facebook page of ‘DurDe!,’ a grassroots initiative to fight racism, nationalism and hate speech in Turkey. ‘Facebook is contradicting itself,’ says one of the site’s founders</b><br />
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“As we know from historical experiences, racism is an ideological enemy to mankind, has always gone with bloodshed and has been used for the benefits of a small ruling minority.” So begins the founding call for <b><a href="http://www.durde.org/" target="_blank">DurDe!</a></b> (Say Stop!), or <b>Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism Initiative</b>, on the initiative’s <a href="http://www.durde.org/" target="_blank">website</a>. And it ends, “We wish to come together and take permanent steps with those who say ‘I’m against racism and nationalism.’”<br />
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<b>DurDe!</b> is a grassroots initiative with local groups that was founded in 2007 to fight racism, nationalism and hate speech in Turkey. The initiative has organized high-profile campaigns, such as the <b>Remove 301, Try Racists</b> campaign, referring to Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which led to a petition with 20,000 signatures, along with a visit to the Turkish National Assembly.<br />
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It also organized a commemoration for the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in Istanbul in 2010, drawing 2,500 people to the controversial event. The initiative has been holding events every year since its foundation on March 21, 2007. <b>DurDe!</b> is also a member of <b>United for Intercultural Action</b>, a European network that fights against nationalism, racism and fascism and supports migrants and refugees, as well as the <b>European Grassroots Antiracist Movement</b>.<br />
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With traffic of 25,000 monthly visitors to their website, 7,000 Twitter followers and 50,000 Facebook followers, <b>DurDe!</b> is the biggest initiative in Turkey advocating a strong stance in the fight against racism and nationalism. In fact, theirs is a fight that resonates with <b>Facebook</b>’s own community standards.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/facebook-censors-turkeys-biggest-anti-racist-initiative.aspx?pageID=238&nID=39462&NewsCatID=374" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-29154973414726726212013-01-15T20:53:00.001+02:002013-01-15T20:56:36.534+02:00Remembering literary giant Sait Faik<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>With a literary award, a museum, his work translated into many languages and an annual reading of his stories, Sait Faik Abasıyanık’s literary presence continues to hover over modern Turkey for nearly a century now</b><br />
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“Hisht, hisht! I wanted to turn around and look. Maybe because I wanted to so much I could not. Well, that could be it. Maybe a bird flew overhead, sounding hisht hisht.
Maybe a snake, a tortoise, or a hedgehog passed behind me. Perhaps there is a certain beetle sounding like hisht hisht.”<br />
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The above text was taken from a short story written in the 1950s by <b>Abasıyanık</b> and translated by Ufuk Özdağ. The longing to hear the “hisht, hisht” sound from anyone, any being, “from the mountains, from the birds, from the sea, from humans, from animals, from the grass, from the insects, from flowers,” says so much about the writer. It’s the epitome of Turkish writer Abasıyanık’s style, his intimate connection with his characters, nature and even a reference to most of his life spent in an island off Istanbul.<br />
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The above story, aptly titled <b>Hişt, Hişt</b>, was recently recited along with four others by Abasıyanık with an accompanying piano at <b>Istanbul’s İş Sanat</b>. This is the second time Istanbul’s renowned arts and culture center has held a reading of the literary giant’s short stories. Poetry reading is not unheard of in Istanbul, but this is the first time a reading of short stories was held as a testament to Abasıyanık’s prose, at once enrapturing and poetic.<br />
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With two novels and a compilation of his poems in his bibliography, Abasıyanık was known mostly for his short stories. He was one of the post-Republican writers of early 20th century, a unique voice among his peers. His short stories were more like episodes without necessarily having a conventional narrative. His short stories were about real people, mostly the underdog, the unemployed, the poor, children, local tradesmen and fishermen.<br />
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<b>Always an outcast</b><br />
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Sea was a recurring motif in his short stories, likely due to the fact that he spent the later half of his life in <b>Burgazada</b>, one of the Princes’ Islands located roughly an hour from Istanbul by ferry. Abasıyanık’s stories were never mere observations of people. He could magically get to the hearts of his characters and let the reader know more about a character then they had hoped for within the confinements of a few pages.<br />
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Abasıyanık was always <b>an outcast</b>. A strict, uninterested father and an overprotective mother set him on a course for living a life on the outside of society. He first studied his passion, turcology, only to switch to economics upon his father’s insistence. Early in life he even tried his hand in business to please his father.<br />
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Abasıyanık’s complicated relationship with his father is no more evident than in his constant play with his names. With the establishment of the Turkish Republic, people were required to have family names by law. Abasıyanık’s father decided on Abasızoğlu: aba being a cloak worn by the poor, and abasızoğlu meaning “son of a man without an aba.” This was most probably a reference to his family coming from upper class. Abasıyanık later changed his last name to Abasıyanık, which means “whom his aba is burned.” He also published using only with his first name <b>Sait Faik</b>, with his initials. A few works were also published under the name <b>Adalı</b>, which means Island dweller. <br />
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Since his death in 1954, Abasıyanık’s name has become an institution. He left his wealth to the Darüşşafaka School for Orphans, which then founded the Sait Faik Foundation, turning his house in Burgazada into a museum in his name, and kick starting an annual Sait Faik Short Story Award, which has been given to the year’s best collection of short stories since 1955.<br />
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Many of Abasıyanık’s collections of short stories have been translated into English, German and French, including “Sleeping in the Forest,” “A Dot on the Map” and “A Tea Urn.” More works are expected to be translated into English in 2013.<br />
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<b>Originally published in <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/literary-giant-sait-faik-abasiyanik-remembered.aspx?pageID=238&nID=38961&NewsCatID=386" target="_blank">Hürriyet Daily News</a> on Jan. 14, 2013</b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-54300736328718563012013-01-15T20:38:00.000+02:002013-01-15T20:38:17.148+02:0050 shades of Turkish censorship<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>In what amounts to a set of one irony after another, Turkey is freeing hundreds of books from decades of exclusion while simultaneously threatening to ban two world classics</b><br />
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Freedom of expression and censorship. It’s never been one without the other in Turkey. In a twist of irony, Turkey is at once celebrating the lifting of decades-old bans on 453 books and 645 periodicals while waiting for the fate of two classics whose fates are yet to be decided. One of these classics is <b>John Steinbeck</b>’s <b>Of Mice and Men</b>. The other one is the beloved children’s book <b>My Sweet Orange Tree</b> by Brazilian writer <b>José Mauro de Vasconcelos</b>.<br />
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As part of the third package of judicial reforms, Ankara’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office recently decided to lift bans on 453 books. Some titles like <b>Karl Marx</b> and <b>Friedrich Engels</b>’ <b>The Communist Manifesto</b>, <b>Lenin</b>’s <b>State and Revolution</b> or <b>Stalin</b>’s <b>The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)</b>, are understandable, given that they were banned in the late 1960s or early 1970s.<br />
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On the list are also books by Turkish authors like <b>Nazım Hikmet, Aziz Nesin, İsmail Beşikçi</b> and <b>Abdurrahim Karakoç</b>, whose books were banned due to the political atmosphere of the time. But there are also the titles that makes one scratch one’s head, such as the <b>National Geographic Atlas of the World</b>, banned as late as 1987, and an issue of the Italian comic book <b>Capitan Miki</b>, or known as <b>Tommiks</b> here in Turkey.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/50-shades-of-turkish-censorship.aspx?pageID=238&nID=38462&NewsCatID=386" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-43453743266201940512013-01-15T20:28:00.001+02:002013-01-15T20:28:46.223+02:00A good year in Turkish cinema, but for who?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Turkish movies have been winning awards at major international film festivals from Berlin and Montreal to Sarajevo and Dubai throughout the year. Box Office numbers show that seven out of the 10 top-grossing movies are Turkish. However, the fact is that none of the movies that brought crowds to theaters are award-winners</b><br />
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It’s been both a record year and a bizarre year for Turkish cinema. In September, an unknown Turkish name won the <b>Lion of the Future</b> award at the <b>Venice International Film Festival</b>. Director and writer <b>Ali Aydın</b> made many proud with <b>Küf (Mold)</b>, his debut feature and a poetic look at a father’s loss.<br />
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Then there were the award-sweepers like <b>Emin Alper</b>’s <b>Tepenin Ardı (Beyond the Hill)</b> and <b>Reis Çelik’s Lal Gece (Night of Silence)</b>, hitting the news with new awards at international film festivals all through the year. Another happy piece of news for Turkish cinephiles came two weeks ago when Turkish auteur <b>Zeki Demirkubuz</b>’s <b>Yeraltı (Inside)</b> won the Best Film and Best Actor awards in the <b>Dubai International Film Festival</b>.<br />
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<b>Box Office Turkey</b>’s numbers for 2012 is another success story for Turkish cinema, setting yet another record with seven out of 10 movies among the most-watched films being Turkish films. These all seem consistent at first glance, serving as testament to a wonderful year for Turkish cinema. While it was truly a wonderful year for Turkish cinema, at home at the box office and abroad in international film circles, there is still a catch.<br />
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None of the seven films that drew crowds to movie theaters in 2012 are the above award winners or others that wowed the audience from Tokyo and Sarajevo to Abu Dhabi and Montreal. The top three most-watched movies, according to Box Office Turkey, have attracted more than 10 million viewers, one out of seven people in Turkey.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/a-good-year-in-turkish-cinema-but-for-who.aspx?pageID=238&nID=37980&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-71187480803479106792013-01-15T20:16:00.000+02:002013-01-15T20:16:14.898+02:00Can Turkish artists be international figures?<b>Turkish actress Saadet Işıl Aksoy’s recent screen time with Penelope Cruz brings to mind the age-old question in Turkish pop culture: How is it that when Turkish directors and writers win awards in major international film festivals, there are only a handful international film stars from Turkey?</b><br />
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Turkish actress <b>Saadet Işıl Aksoy</b> won the Best Actress award at the <b>Sarajevo Film Festival</b> five years ago with her debut feature <b>Yumurta (Egg)</b>, the first film in director <b>Semih Kaplanoğlu</b>’s <b>Yusuf trilogy</b>. Now, the same city means something altogether different in her rise to international stardom.<br />
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Aksoy stars in Italian director <b>Sergio Castellitto</b>’s <b>Venuto al mondo (Born Twice)</b>, which takes place in Sarajevo. Featuring an international cast including <b>Penelope Cruz, Emile Hirsch, Jane Birkin</b> and <b>Mira Furlan</b>.<br />
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Having made its premiere last September at the <b>Toronto International Film Festival</b>, <b>Venuto al mondo</b> has now been released in Turkish theaters. The film, as well as Aksoy’s small but powerful role as the surrogate mother, has received good reviews. Aksoy also made headlines this week in the Turkish media, thanks to her role sharing the screen with Penelope Cruz, Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s muse and the former love interest of Tom Cruise.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/can-turkish-artists-be-international-figures.aspx?pageID=238&nID=37471&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-28037385852548127132013-01-15T20:07:00.001+02:002013-01-15T20:07:47.239+02:00Attack of the vampires in Turkey’s popular culture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Famous villain in Turkish history books, Vlad the Impaler inspires the Western culture but vampires have long passed their due date in Turkish culture</b><br />
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The last decade has seen vampires rise once again from their coffins. With the final movie in the epic teen vampire saga <b>Twilight</b> hitting theaters recently, along with cult-favorite TV shows like <b>The Vampire Diaries</b> and <b>True Blood</b>, there are plenty of examples around us. <b>Vampires</b>, in fact, have always been on the loose throughout the last century in Western culture, going back into their coffins occasionally only to wake up even hungrier.<br />
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With the vampire craze not losing any steam for decades, it’s quite surprising to see that the existence of original vampires in Turkish pop culture is next to none. Especially when you go back to the origins of vampires in Western fiction. The horror novel that opened the way to a plethora of fascinating blood-sucking characters in the decades to come was Irish writer <b>Bram Stoker</b>’s <b>Dracula</b>.<br />
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The inspiration behind the 1897 Gothic novel was <b>Vlad III</b>, the prince of <b>Wallachia</b> in Eastern Europe in the 15th century. Known posthumously as Vlad the Impaler, the ruler was known for his brand of cruelty across Europe, which included impaling his enemies. Vlad’s ultimate enemy was the Ottomans, hence depictions of his endless cruelty made history books, securing his reputation as one of the biggest villains in Turkey’s collective consciousness.<br />
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One would expect a whole list of inspired vampire stories from Turkish writers, filmmakers and cartoonists. Bizarrely, there are less than a dozen with hardly any that could be called inspired. The most recent example is this week’s release <b>Laz Vampir: Tirakula</b>, taking history as its cue but foraying into cheap laughs with outdated clichés.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/attack-of-the-vampires-in-turkeys-popular-culture.aspx?pageID=238&nID=36952&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-39502072646652386692013-01-15T19:58:00.000+02:002013-01-15T19:58:44.131+02:00Turkish cinema asks: Which human rights?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Celebrating global Human Rights Day, here is a look at human rights violations in recent history with a brief journey through Turkish cinema. Hunger strikes, political prisoners, war in southeastern Turkey and disappearances in custody are some of the subjects of these films</b><br />
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Today is <b>Human Rights Day</b> across the globe, the day we celebrate the proclamation and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For many in Turkey there isn’t all that much to celebrate these days considering the hunger strikes, imprisoned journalists, disappearances in custody and a growing perception that the rule of law is no longer the norm.<br />
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Perhaps the best way to take a look at human rights in Turkey - or rather the violation of human rights - is to remember some of the feature films and documentaries that have brought some of these violations into the spotlight in recent memory.<br />
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The obvious first choice is journalist <b>Ruhi Karadağ</b>’s documentary <b>Simurg (Simurgh)</b>, currently on release in theaters. The film focuses on hunger strikes, an issue that recently made the news, although the recent hunger strikes were different to the ones shown in the movie. What’s more, the recent ones did not end up with an infamous operation in which police and soldiers broke into prisons to halt the strikes.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-cinema-asks-which-human-rights.aspx?pageID=238&nID=36474&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-82640444803120008852013-01-15T19:50:00.000+02:002013-01-15T19:50:40.366+02:00Festival on Wheels, spreading love of cinema<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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“In its 18th year, <b>Festival on Wheels</b> is still a force to be reckoned with. Its humbleness continues to be coupled with its tireless fight against the system,” the famous film critic <b>Alin Taşçıyan</b> recently wrote. “Wherever the festival travels to, it takes pleasure in becoming part of that city, creating a new audience in each city.”<br />
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Beginning its 18th journey Nov. 30, the <b><a href="http://www.festivalonwheels.org/" target="_blank">Festival on Wheels</a></b> is much more than your regular film festival. It has been the place where generation after generation in distant parts of Turkey have had the magical chance to watch their first film on screen, it has helped cities open their very first movie theaters and provided the public with the chance to interact with filmmakers themselves.<br />
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The festival first hit the road in the winter of 1995, kicking off in Ankara then heading to İstanbul, İzmir and Eskişehir for a month. During its <b>17-year run</b>, Festival on Wheels shared the love of cinema with <b>19 cities from Sinop in the north to İzmir in the west and the eastern city of Kars</b>, even visiting some neighboring countries like Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Greece.<br />
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“By the festival’s 13th year, we had made one tour around the globe,” said <b>Ahmet Boyacıoğlu, General Secretary of the Ankara Cinema Association</b>, which has organized the festival for nearly two decades now. In 2003 and 2004, Festival on Wheels traveled to six cities in one go. “In 2004, it took 17 hours for us to travel from Van to Kayseri, making us realize how vast this country actually is.” He recalled how enthusiastic the audience was to experience the world of cinema in a way they never had before – some for the first time. <b>Festival Director Başak Emre</b> remembers “a woman among the audience in Artvin watching <b>Lars von Trier</b>’s <b>Europa</b>, knitting all throughout the film’s run.”<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/festival-on-wheels-spreading-love-of-cinema.aspx?pageID=238&nID=35940&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b><br />
<br />Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-15139905707480161252013-01-15T19:21:00.000+02:002013-01-15T19:21:47.291+02:00Fazıl Say attacks listeners of 'arabesk' music<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Twitter works as an outlet of rage against Fazıl Say. Say’s attack was on the listeners of arabesk' music, going so far as to call them ‘traitors’</b><br />
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<b>Fazıl Say</b> might just be the musician with the greatest global recognition modern Turkey has seen. He is definitely one the most accomplished composers and pianists. Say wrote his first piano sonata at the age of fourteen. He has played with the <b>New York Philharmonic</b> and the <b>Berlin Symphony Orchestra</b> and been making music for nearly three decades now.<br />
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In the isolated world of classical music, Say has managed with great success to incorporate themes that are culturally relevant to Turkish culture and history. The <b>Nazım Oratorio</b>, an ode to the famous poet who spent most of his adult life in exile only to become a national treasure after his death, the <b>Requiem for Metin Altıok</b>, another poet brutally killed in 1993, <b>Nasreddin Hoca’s Dances for Piano</b>, and <b>Silence of Anatolia</b> piano concerto are some of the renowned examples.<br />
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Say also served as the <b>ambassador of intercultural dialogue</b> in 2008. These all give the impression of a man who is finely tuned to the dynamics of his country, who has the necessary qualities to act as a bridge between the country he represents and the global culture he became part of a long time ago. Not exactly true.<br />
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Thanks to his <b>Twitter</b> account, which has been shut down and reactivated one too many times, Say’s name is now in danger of becoming synonymous with provocative, insensitive messages that raise quite the brouhaha in a country where people are far too easily offended.
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/say-attacks-listeners-of-the-arabesque-music-on-twitter.aspx?pageID=238&nID=35419&NewsCatID=383" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-35600255436652035962013-01-15T19:11:00.001+02:002013-01-15T19:14:54.052+02:00Documentary looks at a legend’s trio<b>A new documentary by young director Okan Avcı follows Turkish music legend Erkan Oğur’s trio, Telvin, their unconventional improvisations on stage, and conversations about their free-flowing music offstage</b><br />
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In <b>classical Sufism</b>, or <b>Tasavvuf</b>, the word <b>telvin</b> means a seeker’s quest to journey from one state of being to another. And if you begin the word with a capital letter, it becomes a musical trio from Turkey whose music is inspired by the literal meaning of the word.<br />
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<b>Erkan Oğur</b> is a musical legend in Turkey and around the world. He is the inventor of the first fretless classical guitar and is a master of kopuz and bağlama lutes. A virtuoso at reinventing Turkish folk music, Oğur is also one of the members of the <b>Telvin trio</b>, along with <b>İlkin Deniz</b> and <b>Turgut Alp Bekoğlu</b>.<br />
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Much like the transcendent journey the word refers to, Telvin’s music embodies a free-flowing style, blending Turkish folk music with improvisational jazz, refusing structured performances and predefined mechanics in making music. A new documentary, available with English subtitles on DVD, brings to light the inspirations behind their music, the unconventional working dynamics of the members, and how nature is a guiding light in their work.<br />
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The documentary <b>Telvin</b> is at once an unconventional tour video and an inspirational tribute by a devoted fan. The young director is <b>Okan Avcı</b>, familiar to some thanks to his roles in TV series (<b>Leyla ile Mecnun</b>) and movies (<b>Nefes – Breath</b>), and to others with his award-winning documentary of 2011, <b>Kadim (Venerable)</b>.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/documentary-looks-at-a-legends-trio.aspx?pageID=238&nID=34915&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-6380326677049671972013-01-15T19:04:00.000+02:002013-01-15T19:04:31.398+02:00History runs through ancient channels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations is home to a new exhibition that delves into some of the greatest monuments in the history of Constantinople, Istanbul’s predecessor. The ‘Waters for a Capital’ exhibition shares findings on one of the longest and most extensive water channels ever constructed in history</b><br />
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A new exhibition shines further light on the history of <b>Istanbul</b>, unraveling one of the biggest achievements in the history of <b>Constantinople</b>, the late Roman and Byzantine city.<br />
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The long title of the exhibition is <b><a href="http://events.ku.edu.tr/detail.php?i=5442" target="_blank">Waters for a Capital: Archaeological and Scientific Research into the Water Supply of Byzantine Constantinople / Istanbul</a></b>, and it uncovers some of the greatest monuments, sharing the history of the <b>Hagia Sophia</b>, the relics of the <b>Hippodrome</b>, and the walls overlooking the <b>Bosphorus</b>.<br />
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The exhibition, which opened Nov. 9 at <b><a href="http://rcac.ku.edu.tr/" target="_blank">Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (RCAC)</a></b>, reveals archaeological findings through photos and computer reconstructions of one of the longest and most extensive water channels ever constructed. Hidden in the dense forests of northern Thrace are the monuments to ancient water engineering, channeling and distributing water to Istanbul across hundreds of kilometers.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/history-runs-through-ancient-channels.aspx?pageID=238&nID=34408&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-11000677071264031182013-01-15T18:51:00.000+02:002013-01-15T19:04:48.837+02:00Obama vs. Turkish politicians: Who fares better on social media?<b>Thanks to effective usage of social media, 2008 elections wrote Obama’s name into history. Coming from one of the top countries in terms of social media, are politicians in Turkey able to use it to full effect?</b><br />
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“We just made history,” tweeted the campaign managers of <b>Barack Obama</b> four years ago, a reference, among other things, to the effective use of social media throughout the Obama campaign. If <b>John F. Kennedy</b> was the first American president to have used the new medium, television, to his advantage, Obama was the first one to use social media, successfully managing a flourishing grassroots campaign.<br />
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Regardless of who becomes the next occupant of the White House, the U.S. presidential elections tomorrow will not be the elections that made history. It was the 2008 elections. “If not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president or even the democratic nominee,” <b>Arianna Huffington </b>of <b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/" target="_blank">the Huffington Post website</a></b> boldly said following Obama’s win in 2008. <br />
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The Obama campaign had limited funding, which might have been a crucial reason for them to embrace social media from very early on. Instead of spending millions on TV ads, digital savvy cohorts of Obama energized their presence in social media. The estimated 14.5 million hours of viewing on <b>YouTube</b> during the campaign, according to American political consultant Joe Trippi, would have cost $47 million on TV.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/obama-versus-turkish-politicians-who-fares-better-on-social-media-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=33906&NewsCatID=374" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b><br />
<br />Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-56850296596743260262012-10-30T14:01:00.000+02:002012-10-30T14:01:17.152+02:00Turks and Greeks come together, even if on TV screens<b>The unprecedented popularity of the Turkish TV series ‘Yabancı Damat’ (Foreign Groom), featuring an intercultural love affair between a Greek man and a Turkish woman, seems to have opened the way for more intercultural stories on TV</b><br />
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“Greeks learn Turkish by watching TV series,” was the headline of a recent article in Hürriyet Daily News, alluding to the increasing popularity of Turkish series in Greece in the recent years. <b>Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century)</b>, the historical drama about the court of Süleyman the Magnificent that is broadcast with the title <b>The Magnificent Suleiman</b> in Greece, and “Sıla” have been the most popular series in Greece this fall.<br />
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Another indication of the popularity of Turkish series in the neighboring country are the dozens of Facebook pages and groups with names like <b>Greek fans of Turkish series</b> or <b>Turkish series on Greek TV</b>, with pictures of Turkish heartthrobs like <b>Kenan İmirzalıoğlu</b> and <b>Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ</b> splashed over the pages. But perhaps the extent of the popularity of Turkish series can best be seen in some of the backlash in Greece. Thessaloniki Metropolitan Bishop Anthimos recently warned his followers, saying “No one should watch <b>Muhteşem Yüzyıl</b>,” the metropolitan said, according to daily Hürriyet. “By watching Turkish series, we tell them that we have surrendered.”<br />
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Similarly, <b>Greek TV actress Nikoleta Karra</b> sent an angry <b>Twitter message</b> last month to Greek channels for broadcasting Turkish series instead of Greek Cypriot ones. The popularity of <b>Sıla</b> was the object of Karra’s outrage. “’Sıla’ in the morning, ‘Sıla’ in the afternoon. ‘Sıla’ 24 hours a day. Enough! We’ve made so many shows in Greek Cyprus. Why won’t Greek channels air Greek Cypriot shows?” read her Twitter message.<br />
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While there may be some animosity against the ubiquity of Turkish series in Greece from a few nationalistic voices, the popularity is not fleeting given the similarity of two cultures. In fact, TV producers in Turkey seem to be well-aware of the fact that including Greek culture and some Greek characters into their shows might be a way to delver further into the Greek market.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turks-and-greeks-come-together-even-if-on-tv-screens.aspx?pageID=238&nID=33418&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-65364106055582138992012-10-30T13:53:00.000+02:002012-10-30T13:53:26.684+02:00Highly effective ways of self-help books in Turkey<b>Publishing industry have been feeding on the frustrations of middle class, leading to a meteoric rise of self-help and personal development books</b><br />
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A recent Turkish movie playing in theaters follows the adventures of a hapless guy trying desperately to better his luck to no avail. In <b>Kamil Çetin</b>’s <b>Oğlum Bak Git (Dude, Move It)</b>, protagonist Orhan finds the ultimate solution to finding happiness and luck in consulting a self-help guru.<br />
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As a comedy hoping to appeal to a mainstream audience, it’s fair to say that the discourse of self-help, or personal development, has become an integral part of pop culture in Turkey. One look at the top 20 best-selling books on the bookseller <b>D&R</b>’s website shows as many as six books that offer advice, solutions and inspiration to readers who are presumably leading frustrating and unfulfilling lives.<br />
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<b>Beki İkala Erikli</b>’s <b>Meleklerle Yaşamak (Living with Angels)</b> asks its reader to open their heart to the miracles of their guardian angels. <b>İskender Pala</b>’s <b>Aşka Dair (On Love)</b> talks about the different stages of love and in <b>Mesnevi Terapi (Masnavi Therapy)</b>, <b>Nevzat Tarhan</b> offers ways to apply Rumi’s teachings and wisdom to everyday life.<br />
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In fact, the self-help and personal development genre takes the biggest slice of the publishing pie in Turkey, with more than 20 percent of all sales. There are around 2,000 books published within the genre in Turkey to date, with publishers like <b>Dharma, Optimist </b>and <b>Elma</b> specializing only in the self-help and personal development books. The Turkish translation of <b>Robin Sharma</b>’s international bestseller <b>The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari</b> reached one million readers a decade ago.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/highly-effective-ways-of-self-help-books-in-turkey.aspx?pageID=238&nID=32907&NewsCatID=386" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-50754208729718540632012-10-30T13:43:00.000+02:002012-10-30T13:43:06.335+02:00Incest: The last taboo in Turkish cinema and TV<b>The recent controversy around a Turkish film dealing with incest reminded many of a similar brouhaha over another film on incest two years ago, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç’s warning to TV producers to keep incest away from screens</b><br />
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Red flags were raised amid media delirium last week when the head of the jury for a national film festival openly condemned a movie on moral grounds, allegedly threatening to ban the movie from entering the national competition.<br />
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The festival was the <b>Golden Orange Film Festival</b>, the biggest one in Turkey. The head of the jury was the ever-controversial <a href="http://www.emrahguler.com/2012/08/controversy-starts-early-at-golden.html" target="_blank"><b>Hülya Avşar</b>, who had made headlines in the summer</a> when a member of the jury resigned in protest over her selection, questioning her judgment and knowledge of film.<br />
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The film, which became the most talked-about film of the festival, was director <b>Çağatay Tosun</b>’s sophomore feature <b>Derin Düşün-ce</b> (a word play that could mean “Deep Thought” or “When Derin Falls,” referring to the little protagonist’s name). And the controversial subject matter was <b>incest</b>, a no-go area in Turkish cinema, television, literature and pop culture.<br />
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At the film’s center is the 8-year-old girl, Derin. Growing up in a broken, dysfunctional family, Derin knows nothing about being a child. After her mother’s death, she tries connecting with her father in every possible way, which includes encounters with sexual undertones. At the film’s premiere, some of the audience apparently went berserk, with some accusing Tosun’s film of “bordering on child porn.”<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/incest-the-last-taboo-in-turkish-cinema-and-tv.aspx?pageID=238&nID=32388&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for the article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-51674595074726102012012-10-08T22:04:00.000+03:002012-10-08T22:04:12.642+03:00Turkish documentaries expose environmental mishaps<b>As Turkish-German director Fatih Akın’s anticipated environmental documentary, ‘Polluting Paradise,’ hits the theaters, we take a look at other recent Turkish documentaries that hope to expose potential ecological disasters in Turkey</b><br />
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Following a special screening at this year’s <b>Cannes</b>, another one at the recent <b>Golden Boll Film Festival</b> and a showing in front of a Turkish audience at the hip film fest <b>Filmekimi</b>, Turkish-German director <b>Fatih Akın</b>’s anticipated documentary, <b>Polluting Paradise (Der Müll im Garten Eden)</b>, hits theaters this week.<br />
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The paradise in question is Akın’s hometown, <b>Çamburnu</b>, a small mountainous town along the eastern shores of the Black Sea. The beautiful environment and its nature were threatened when the former copper mine right above the village was turned into a garbage landfill for the entire province of Trabzon by the government in 2007.<br />
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Akın learned about the potential environmental disaster when he was filming scenes for his 2007 feature <b>Auf der Anderen Seite (Edge of Heaven)</b>. In <b>Polluting the Paradise</b>, he documents the struggles of the residents and those working in the landfill over a period of five years, as well as the impact of the garbage on the streams, not to mention an overpowering stench in the area.<br />
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The film is less an objective documentary and more a passionate plea to stop the impending environmental catastrophe for the town and its people. And it seems that Akın’s plea seems to be working.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-documentaries-expose-environmental-mishaps.aspx?pageID=238&nID=31865&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-24507220189595696322012-10-02T23:00:00.000+03:002012-10-02T23:00:58.696+03:00Surge of films on Gallipoli Campaign<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>This week’s release of ‘Çanakkale Çocukları’ (The Children of Gallipoli) is just the beginning of a surge of films focusing on the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915</b><br />
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The <b>Gallipoli Campaign</b>, or the <b>Battle of Çanakkale</b>, is at once one of the most tragic battles of the 20th century and one of the greatest victories of modern Turkey. The attack of the Allied Forces in World War I to capture the Dardanelles, (the Çanakkale Strait), resulted in a huge defeat and lead to the death of more than 130,000 Turkish, British, French, Australian, New Zealand and Indian troops in eight months.<br />
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The campaign helped the Turks regain a confidence that would eventually inspire the Turkish War of Independence and the founding of modern Turkey eight years later. The <b>centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign</b> is just around the corner, and moviemakers look set to cash in on the nationalist tendencies invading Turkish cinema and TV screens in recent years.<br />
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Most of the recent historical dramas are examples of crude nationalism, most clearly seen in the recent box office smash <b>Fetih 1453 (Conquest 1453)</b> - an epic tale of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople - or the hit TV series <b>Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century)</b>, depicting the power games in the 16th century court of <b>Süleyman the Magnificent</b>. Even the upcoming adaptation of the 1960s comic book <b><a href="http://www.emrahguler.com/2012/08/karaoglan-turkish-comic-book-hero.html" target="_blank">Karaoğlan</a></b> features a young Turkic hero during the reign of Genghis Khan in 12th century Central Asia.<br />
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It is therefore no surprise that a big production on the Gallipoli Campaign is hitting theaters this week and another is on its way in less than a month. <b>Çanakkale Çocukları (Children of Gallipoli)</b> is directed by popular filmmaker <b>Sinan Çetin</b>. More a one-man-show than an auteur, Çetin directs, produces, writes and is the cinematographer of the war drama, while his wife and two sons star.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/surge-of-films-on-gallipoli-campaign.aspx?pageID=238&nID=31316&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-34399401209736363862012-10-02T22:53:00.000+03:002012-10-02T22:53:52.790+03:00Neşet Ertaş, 'Plectrum of the Steppe' passes away<b>An inspiration to generations of musicians and music-lovers thanks to his fresh take on the centuries-old Anatolian musical tradition, Turkish folk master Neşet Ertaş loses his battle with cancer</b><br />
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The message welcoming visitors to the official website of <b>legendary folk singer and poet Neşet Ertaş</b> seems even more heartbreaking today. “Dear beloved fans,” reads the message, originally from his Twitter account dating Sept. 18. “Rumors of my passing have been circulating once again. These rumors are making me very upset.”<br />
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Sadly, the rumors are now no longer rumors. Fans and lovers of Ertaş’s music woke yesterday morning to the sad news that he had lost his battle with cancer. He had been in the intensive care unit of a hospital in İzmir for the last two weeks. Ertaş was 74.<br />
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Ertaş’s inviting voice, accompanied by the strings of his bağlama, had made him a <b>modern-day “aşık,”</b> the <b>traveling bard of Anatolian Alevi tradition</b> of centuries, a historic image personifying Anatolian folk music.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/neset-ertas-plectrum-of-the-steppe-passes-away-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=30949&NewsCatID=383" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-43992182582001071052012-10-02T22:43:00.000+03:002012-10-02T22:43:18.532+03:00Remembering the ‘Sun of Art’<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>On the 16th anniversary of his death, Zeki Müren continues to stand tall as a legendary figure in pop culture. A career of over 200 records, films, concerts, spanning over 45 years, is only the tip of the phenomenon</b><br />
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It’s been 16 years today since <b>Zeki Müren</b>, Turkey’s <b>“Sun of Art”</b> and the <b>“Paşa of pop culture,”</b> died in İzmir at the TRT studios, the very institution that had kick-started his musical career half a century earlier.<br />
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Müren might just be <b>the most interesting figure modern Turkey has seen</b> in its short history. He was a singer, a songwriter, a composer, a published poet, a performer, an actor, a designer and an illustrator. He was also a visionary, an innovator and a revolutionary. Whatever Müren was, he sure was always larger than the sum of his parts.<br />
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Müren’s career in music began in 1951, when he recorded his first album and began performing on the state radio station <b>Istanbul Radyosu</b>. In 1955, he became the first Turkish singer to win a Gold Disc for a record that included the famous song <b>Manolya</b>. Having been chosen as <b>Artist of the Year</b> for many years, Müren made over 200 records and composed over 100 songs in the 45 years of his artistic career. His acting career began around the same time, with his debut feature of 1953, <b>Beklenen Şarkı (Anticipated Song)</b>, starring opposite the legendary actress <b>Cahide Sonku</b>, becoming an instant success, and opening the way for a movie career of 18 films, Müren writing the score for some of them as well.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/remembering-the-sun-of-art.aspx?pageID=238&nID=30773&NewsCatID=383" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-14629509413350613592012-10-02T22:25:00.000+03:002012-10-02T22:25:07.365+03:00Islamist salvation makes way to prime time with TV series<b>The popularity of the new TV series, ‘Huzur Sokağı (Serenity Street), adapted from a ‘salvation novel,’ is reviving a four-decade old Islamist narrative in Turkey’s pop culture: salvation stories</b><br />
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Tune in to <b>Turkish TV channel ATV</b>’s popular new series, <b>Huzur Sokağı (Serenity Street)</b>, to get a taste of how the never-ending debate over the public presence of Islam is reflected in pop culture. Read some of the comments made about the series by prominent columnists and writers, and you’ll get a feel of how the debate has evolved (and continues to evolve) in the last four decades.<br />
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<b>Huzur Sokağı</b> is an adaptation from <b>Şule Yüksel Şenler</b>’s bestselling novel of the same name, published first in 1970 and has been reprinted more than 100 times since then. The novel is one of the most popular examples of the <b>“hidayet romanları,” or the salvation novels</b>, that brought a new impact onto the literary scene in the 1980s.<br />
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The common theme of the salvation novel was a journey from the debauched ways of a secular/Western life style to salvation through the acceptance of Islam. As in many of the salvation novels, <b>Huzur Sokağı</b> features a young man idealized by his display of Islamic values, a perfect specimen of the hard-working, honest and loving family member.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/islamist-salvation-makes-way-to-prime-time-with-tv-series.aspx?pageID=238&nID=30261&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-59654536851282270562012-10-02T22:15:00.000+03:002012-10-02T22:15:21.938+03:001980 coup, in the eyes of filmmakers<b>It is over three decades since the military overthrow of the Turkish government on Sept 12, 1980, but the repercussions have been inspiring filmmakers ever since</b><br />
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This week marks the 32nd anniversary of the <b>1980 coup</b>, which kick started a military regime that would put 7,000 people in prison, execute 50, and have all opposition silenced for a long time to come.<br />
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The <b>Sept. 12, 1980</b> coup also inaugurated a period when Turkish cinema was silenced almost into non-existence, even going as far as to the burning of rolls of films. Arrests and imprisonments were common, with movie stars such as <b>Tarık Akan</b> and filmmakers such as <b>Şerif Gören</b> and <b>Ömer Uğur</b> serving their fair share of prison time.<br />
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Featuring the coup and its aftermath as the subject of a movie was unthinkable in the early 1980s. However, with filmmakers living through the direct consequences of the oppressive regime, the coup eventually became a regular subject. Now, a new movie exploring the coup and its aftermath hits the theaters every couple of years.<br />
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The first feature film to deal directly with the haunting effects of the coup was <b>Zeki Ökten</b>’s <b>Ses (The Voice)</b> of 1986. The film starred <b>Tarık Akan</b> as a young man who moves to a coastal town to start a new life after spending years in prison. Akan himself became familiar with prison life in the years following the coup.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/1980-coup-in-the-eyes-of-filmmakers.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29716&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-83369531521590662062012-10-02T22:08:00.000+03:002012-10-02T22:08:25.482+03:00Orhan Kemal’s works still in demand decades later<b>Orhan Kemal was a modernist pioneer of the Turkish novel whose works continue to be relevant more than half a century on. Producers cannot seem to get enough of his works, with two new adaptations</b><br />
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The frustrations of the working class, the changing face of feudal Turkey, the crippling effects of patriarchy over women and men, the ever-fascinating appeal of untamed chemistry between the sexes. All of these themes are the go-to material for TV producers trying to create the <b>next best TV series</b> in a period where dozens of new shows replace dozens of others.<br />
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All of these themes are at the core of <b>Orhan Kemal’s novels and stories</b>. Kemal is one of the greatest of Turkish writers and a modernist pioneer of the Turkish novel. His realist novels on class differences and the poor in Turkey left their mark on a period spanning two decades after the early 1950s, now called the Golden period in Turkish literature.<br />
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Meeting another great literary name, the “romantic revolutionary” <b>Nazım Hikmet</b>, in prison in the early 1940s had a profound effect on Kemal’s literary direction and social politics. He began writing poetry and stories, eventually trying his craft in novels and plays.<br />
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Kemal was one of the first authors to write about the working class, the alienation of immigrants in big cities, mass urbanization and the changing social structure of Turkey after World War II. He shed a realist light and took a brutal look at poor people living in dignity. Kemal’s stories, novels and plays also lent a voice to working-class women for perhaps the first time in modern Turkish literature.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/writers-works-still-in-demand-decades-later.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29201&NewsCatID=386" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-59547028743142956612012-08-28T23:39:00.000+03:002012-08-28T23:39:13.114+03:00Film takes a haunting look at arranged marriages<b>‘Lal Gece’ (Night of Silence), director and writer Reis Çelik’s Crystal Bear winner in this year’s Berlinale, hits theaters this week. Most of the story taking place in the bridal chamber, the film is a haunting look at arranged marriages in Turkey. ‘Lal Gece’ is a one of many in a string of Turkish films on arranged marriages </b><br />
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A young adolescent girl locked in a room to have sex against her will with a much older man would be the definition of rape in many countries. Yet in some parts of rural Turkey it is merely standard procedure for a traditional arranged marriage. <br />
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<b>Reis Çelik</b>’s latest feature and <b>Crystal Bear winner</b> in this year’s <b>Berlin International Film Festival</b> <b>Lal Gece (Night of Silence)</b> follows a traditional arranged wedding in which the 60-something-year old groom is sent off to the bridal chamber with his 14-year-old bride to consummate the marriage by sunrise the next day. <br />
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The marriage is an arrangement to end the blood feud between two families and the groom, played by veteran actor <b>İlyas Salman</b>, has spent most of his life in prison for the murder, done as an honor killing, of his mother. The film’s director and writer Çelik layers in a look at another patriarchal tradition accepted in certain rural parts of Turkey with the addition of the groom’s honor killing to the plot. The young bride, played by newcomer <b>Dilan Aksüt</b>, is a fresh-faced teenager under her bright red wedding veil.
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/film-takes-a-haunting-look-at-arranged-marriages.aspx?pageID=238&nID=28631&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28197217.post-70548729746626709682012-08-28T23:29:00.001+03:002012-08-28T23:29:55.133+03:00Acclaimed filmmaker Kutluğ Ataman funds next film via web<b>Acclaimed filmmaker and contemporary artist Kutluğ Ataman may have advanced to the next stage in arts funding for his new film, ‘South Facing Wall’: crowd funding</b><br />
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When <b>South Facing Wall</b>, the fifth feature film by globally recognized Turkish filmmaker and contemporary artist <b>Kutluğ Ataman</b>, hits the theaters some time next year, there will be at least 153 individual funders proudly watching the film, some who have contributed 2,000 dollars, others merely two dollars.<br />
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Ataman has chosen <b><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a></b>, <b>the U.S. crowd funding website</b> for creative projects, as a major source for his upcoming movie, which will be filmed in the <b>eastern province of Erzincan</b>. The contributions from individual film aficionados will go directly to funding development and pre-production, help the production team shape the project from rewriting and research and include other aspects like location scouting and production design.<br />
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When you check the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sae/south-facing-wall-guneye-bakan-duvar" target="_blank"><b>Kickstarter</b> <b>page</b></a> for the project, you won’t see much on the filming details, nor about the cast and the crew. What you will see is a detailed account of the film, the story, and how the funding will work, including a five-minute video of Ataman himself talking about what he wants to achieve with his film.<br />
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“I want to make a film that talks about the everyday lives of individuals who live here and have not found proper representation in Turkish cinema,” Ataman says in the video to the potential (and hopefully actual) funders, referring to the people of eastern Anatolia.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/acclaimed-filmmaker-funds-next-film-via-web.aspx?pageID=238&nID=28128&NewsCatID=381" target="_blank">Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)</a></b>Popdaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723696518087930932noreply@blogger.com0