A Report From the Borderlines: Where Tourists and Refugees Share an Island

by Nomad

The Greek island of Chios lies at the far east edge of Europe. Beyond that is Turkey and the rest of Asia and the Middle East. This island is also one of the corridors through which thousands of refugees and migrants are risking their lives in a bid for a new life in Europe.

The reaction to the viral- indeed iconic- photo of a dead child on the beach in Bodrum in Western Turkey has ignited a worldwide discussion about the plight of the refugees and migrants attempting to enter into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa. A collective conscience has apparently awoken from its slumber.

It's been a long time in coming. This sudden reaction to the death of one child seems a little hypocritical. Especially when refugee families and their children have been dying in the wine-dark sea for months now.

Although the struggles of refugees to cross into Europe has been going on for years now, the wave of illegal migration from Turkey really cranked up at the beginning of summer.

This tragedy didn't begin in Turkey, however. The roots go back years and a lot of children and families have suffered and have died without much notice.
Before this present crisis, it was Syrian children and entire families huddled in tents during the dead of winter on the border of Syria and Turkey. At that time, European leaders paid the minimal amount of lip service.
Before that, dead children at school being shelled by mortars in Damascus.
All of these children too were innocent casualties of a needlessly prolonged war.  

The Crossing

Last week I made a similar crossing from Turkey to Greece. Similar perhaps, but certainly not the same.  I came as a welcomed tourist with Euros in my pocket, not a desperate refugee in shabby clothes.  

Actually, every summer for the past few years, my Turkish friend, Inan and I have made the journey to the quiet relief of Chios. to escape the overcrowded, noisy and generally insufferable tourist "hotspots" back in Turkey.  

Turkish Court Delivers Surprising Verdict to Negligent Gynecologist

by Nomad

After a gynecologist  at a private hospital in Istanbul  failed to successfully perform tubal ligation,  the Turkish courts have handed down a surprising verdict. The doctor has been ordered "to pay all expenses for a child, born after the failed operation, until it reaches adulthood."

Back in 2008, a 37-year-old woman, (identified only by the initials S.I,) told her doctor that she and her husband did want any more children. At that time she was carrying her second child. The physician advised her that, following the birth, he would conduct a tubal ligation operation. Following the operation, that seemed to be the end of the story.
However, a year later, much to the woman's dismay, she learned that, she was once again pregnant despite the sterilization.

Leftovers: Hard Times for Syrian Refugee Children in Turkey

by Nomad

An unfortunate incident in an Istanbul fast food restaurant highlights the plight of refugee children in Turkey.

Last week, Turkish newspapers reported on an incident in Istanbul which you might not have heard about. It was pushed as one of those sign of the times stories.
According to one article, a young Syrian boy was assaulted by a manager at a branch of Burger King in an Istanbul neighborhood. Why?

The hungry child was seen eating french fries left over by a previous patron.

Eyewitnesses said the boy, who was apparently homeless, was eating french fries from discarded trays and collecting leftovers when the manager of a Burger King in Şirinevler on Istanbul's European side approached him and started slapping him before throwing him out.

Customers at the fast food restaurant were appalled by manager's reaction. They immediately recorded the details and used social media to publicize them. The photos showed the child with a bloody nose, sitting outside the establishment.  

How the Reactions to Charlie Hebdo Events Reveal Fault Lines in Turkey

by Nomad

Reactions to the Paris attacks on Charlie Hebdo underscore deep divisions in Turkish society where some say freedom of the press and freedom to mock are under attack.

A cartoonist for a Turkish newspaper Daily Hürriyet, Latif Demirci, cartoonist  gives his own take on the deadly Jan. 7 attack on Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine.

When it came to the events in Paris. the Turkish reactions revealed hidden fault lines.  Officially, there was widespread condemnation for the attack. Yet a certain minority of the 99% Muslim nation seemed to suggest that the cartoonists had brought it upon themselves for mocking the prophet Mohammed. 

According to an earlier Hürriyet article:

Two Islamist newspapers in Turkey have drawn ire on social media with their headlines that “justified” the deadly attack on a French satirical newspaper.

Facebook pages for one of the two newspapers had supportive comments from its readers. One particular comment expressed the hope the attackers would "continue [to kill] infidels" and gave "thanks to those who did it.”

Türkiye, another newspaper close to the Turkish government, chose the headline: “Attack on the magazine that insulted our Prophet.”

The headlines provoked a wave of public condemnation on Twitter. Many Turks accused the editors of the newspapers of “justifying a terror attack,”
.

A Winter without Hope: Why Time Has Just Run Out for Syrian Refugees

 by Nomad

As you read this, the refugees of the Syrian civil war are facing yet another challenge in the wake of an intense snowstorm that hit the region this week. Resources of aid agencies are dwindling fast and time is running out for families who have been left without food and heat.

Back in early October, we reported in a blog post how things were going to get worse for Syrians who fled their country and who now live in refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq.

At that time, an official at the UN warned that As things stand at the moment. The World Food Programme (WFP) would no longer be able to distribute food and water to Syrian refugees.  Without new funding, officials warned, the program could remain operational for only the next two months. After that, the refugees would be on their own.

That was three months ago.

The Storm 

This week the situation has gone from miserable to catastrophic. Having faced the loss of everything they own, faced with life in a tent and having endured a brutally hot summer, Syrian families might have thought that things could not get much worse.
They were absolutely wrong.

An unusually intense winter storm has swept across the region, with temperatures well below freezing, winds up to 55 miles an hour. For people reduced to living in the most primitive of shelters, a heavy blanket of snow threatened to destroy what little they have now.

Why the Turkish Lifting of Head Scarf Ban and New Student Dress Code Has Secularists Shuddering

by Nomad

Turkey's long-standing headscarf ban has been the bane of conservative religious groups for years. The ruling party has just issued a new dress code for public school students which will finally see the end of the ban.
Here's why a lot of people aren't very happy about the new dress policy. 

To understand the news about Turkey's headscarf controversy, it is helpful to realize how important symbolism can be. Especially the religious kind.

Back in the 1920s, when Mustafa Kemal established the modern Turkish Republic from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, he was determined to break with the theocratic tendencies of the past. 

The so-called "Father of the Turks" believed the excessive influence of religion in all aspects of life, but especially in politics and in state affairs had led only to backwardness. Secularism, Kemal believed, was the solution.

In his effort to set up a secular forward-thinking republic, he banned most of the articles of religious symbolism, like the wearing of the fez and beards for men and the Islam-mandated covering for the women. In all public buildings and government schools, fezzes and headscarves were formally banned. 

(If that sounds incredible or high-handed, remember this is a man who changed the Turkish alphabet from Arabic script to Latin letters practically overnight.) Until the religious-based AKP party took the reins of government, that ban had gone unchallenged.

The Headscarf Cultural War

Like all government workers, public school teachers and students were forbidden to wear headscarves in school. In the private sector had for the most part followed suit with its employees.

For religious conservatives this headscarf ban has long been a thorn in the side. They have successfully defeated the ban. And they couldn't have done it without the help of Europe.

Tourism, Islam, and Bikinis: Culture Clashes on Turkish Beaches

by Nomad

Turkey's culture clash between Islam and the West may have found a new battlefield: the nation's sunny beaches. And women could be caught in the middle.

Money Maker

To say that tourism is a big money maker in Turkey is an understatement. With more than 31.5 million foreign tourists, the nation ranks as the 6th most popular tourist destination in the world. 

This year, according to Turkey's largest travel agency association, it will see tourists spending a staggering US$35 billion. That's nearly a 10% increase in both the numbers of visitors and the amount of revenue. Most of those tourists will come from Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, Georgia, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. 

In some of the touristic resorts, summer in Turkey means fun and frolic, a lot of youthful (and not so youthful) wildness. Most of this frivolity involves rivers of alcohol. That situation has left some resorts with a bad reputation with tourists because of the general "anything goes" atmosphere. 

But then, drunkenness, occasional fights or public indecency have always been written off as just part of the drawbacks to mass tourism.

Interestingly, according to the association, this year there will also be a significant increase in the number of Iranian tourists. Given the diversity of cultures, you'd think it would be a challenge to accommodate every taste. Well, it often is.
Surprisingly it hasn't as a major problem as you'd think, mainly because of Turkey's high level of hospitality and tolerance.. and patience.

For Iranian tourist, the main attraction is, in a word, shopping. Iranians can buy hard to find brand names in shopping areas in Istanbul and other major cities that would be impossible to buy in Tehran. That's very good news for the Turkish economy.

As far as Turkish businessmen, Iranian visitors, generally speaking, have an excellent reputation. And they do not tax the patience of the natives like many overzealous Europeans do.

Iranian tourists are well-liked, not just because they are big spenders but because they are polite and rarely make trouble. They generally travel as families, not as gaggles of friends, and a loud, drunk Iranian would be highly unusual sight.

Be that as it may, Turkey has to constantly walk a fine line to please everybody.

Turkey and the Soma Mining Disaster: How Not to Deal with a National Tragedy

by Nomad

The downside to a photo-op is, of course, that something unexpected or embarrassing might happen. That's unfortunately exactly what occurred when the Turkish Prime Minister traveled to Soma, the site of the nation's worst mining disaster.

In the aftermath of the historic mining disaster in Soma, Turkey, the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan promptly journeyed to the area, supposedly to give comfort to the grieving relatives of the over 300 victims.

In what could be considered phenomenally poor judgement, the Prime Minister delivered a speech to the crowds in which he told the crowds that mining disasters happen all the time. Even, in more developed countries, he said, such unfortunate things occur. It was, he implied, simply a risk that miners take.

He then cited examples to support his contention.. from 100 years ago. In fact, critics pointed out- nearly instantaneously- that Turkey's record for mining disasters outranks other nations.

Chilling the Messenger: Turkish Officials Fine News Channel for Reporting Child Murder Case

by Nomad

Turkish media watchdog agency fines TV news channels for broadcasting "disturbing" news in child murder case. What does this mean for press freedom in Turkey?

In Turkey the ministry in charge of overseeing broadcasting, RTÜK, recently issued fines on two TV channels totalling 500,000 Turkish Liras - or around 175,815 Euros or $241,000. At issue, according to the watchdog agency, was the manner in which news of child abuse/ murder case was covered. 

According to an article in the English-language Hurriyet

Kanal D was fined 342,000 liras while Show TV was fined 157,000 by the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) for their coverage of the murder of a 9-year-old boy in Kars last month.

In that incident, a 9-year-old boy was found dead in the northeastern province of Kars last month. Police arrested a suspect in the case, a man acquainted to the family.

The story explains the rationale behind the imposition of fines for the coverage.

Ali Öztunç, a RTÜK member from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said news stories about child abuse created public pressure on the possible criminals but may also encourage criminals to commit similar acts. He said the news channels must be very careful and act appropriately while delivering such stories on TV.

Eurovision's Conchita: The Face that Launched a Thousand Russian Rants

  by Nomad

Austria's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest has created quite a controversy. In fact one Russian politician has called for a boycott and for the singer to be banned from this year's program. What does this really say about Russia today?

Eurovision Song Contest

Most Americans have probably never heard of the Eurovision song contest. It's kind of a shame. Then again, most Americans probably wouldn't appreciate the fun of it. 

That aspect of the long running song contest is a little hard to describe. Not a lot of people take it very seriously- as a contest of real talent. Practically every year, the best performer is passed over for something a little more trite, or silly or bland. It can be so cheesy that it borders - and often goes beyond the borders- on farce. 

Nevertheless, Eurovision pretends to take itself very seriously. And it is certainly entertaining. Since it began in 1956, the basic formula has been the same. Each member country (including for some peculiar reason, Israel and Turkey.) submits a song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition.

The elaborate voting process nearly always falls along predictable political lines, with nations throwing their votes to their national pals, instead of the best performance.
Cyprus votes for Greece but Greece never votes for Turkey. Germany- with it large Turkish population- generally votes for Turkey. Macedonia never votes for Greece and so on and so on.
Talent isn't really much of a factor in the voting process. 

For that reason, the results provide a good argument about what's wrong with the idea of European Union. 

In spite of that, it's fun to watch.. in a weird sort of way.

Even before the contest kicks off this month, one candidate has already caused a stir. You only have to look at the photo above to understand why.

Gender-bending singer from Austria, Tom Neuwirth, (stage name: Conchita Wurst) could never be accused of taking himself too seriously. In one interview, he revealed that his look was only a way of getting attention. (Implying perhaps- in a rather covert way - that talent alone won't do it at the Eurovision contest.) 

His over-the-top get-up is what Kim Kardashian would look like after two weeks on a testosterone skin patch.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's Warning to The Turkish People

by Nomad

Amid Nationwide Protests, Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan Faces His Moment of Truth

Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Events in Turkey took an unexpected turn last week. It may be a bit premature but some are already calling the wave of civil unrest that erupted in every major city- and continue- as “The Turkish Spring.” 

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) suddenly found themselves the object of public scorn and open revolt. By Friday night and Saturday, demonstrations had begun to spread to every major city and even into small towns and villages. That included the more conservative regions thought to be AKP strongholds.
The most amazing thing of all was how quickly and to what extent things began to unravel.

The Park that Wouldn't Die

For a city with a 3000- year-old history, Istanbul’s Gezi Park -ground zero for this week’s protests -doesn’t have a great deal of historical value. The park, designed as “lungs of the city” was built as part of an earlier urban development plan back in 1939 and was constructed upon the ruins of the Ottoman Artillery Barracks (and before that, an Armenian cemetery.)

For many residents of the area, the park’s value had nothing to do with history. When it was decided that the park had to go in favor of an urban development scheme, they objected on purely environmental grounds, noting that the small park was one of the last remaining green areas in the neighborhood. In addition, they objected to how the decision was made- without any local input- to destroy a park in favor of a shopping mall.

Municipal leaders (all AKP members) and the local police so clumsily handled what had began as a peaceful protest that it unexpectedly led to something that few could have imagined- a national revolt against the ruling party.

After protesters were warned about continuing their camp to defend the park, early Thursday morning police marched in with tear gas and routed the group.

Under police protection, city workers immediately collected the tents and belongings and burned them. When heavy equipment was brought in to begin the park's destruction, the protesters returned to defend the park. This time with additional supporters. In response greater numbers of police, wearing full body armor, were sent in to seal off the area.
In fact, a judge had already issued a halt to the project until the matter could be settled. 

And that was that, so the Istanbul mayor thought, so the police commissioner of the city thought. However, by Friday afternoon, people from all over the city- some even crossing the Bosporus Bridge from the Asian side- marched into the downtown area to join the protesters.