Cosmopolitan Turkey - July 2011 !!!!
…enter latest obsession…
Ankara Central Station
Opened in 1892, rebuilt in 1937
BUT…but here’s the curve ball. It’s not with hamburger meat.
It’s turkey meat. Whoop whoop, yess!! So. Much. Better.
Alright, that’s my fat ass post of the day. I’m going to go eat until I get past the fact that I’m so damn bored and just pass out in a bag of chips or something…
Empire: The new Ottomans?
One of the fastest-growing economies in the world Turkey gazes in many directions to become the superpower it once was.
Following another resounding electoral victory, Prime Minister Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party has been emboldened to further increase Turkey’s role on the world stage.
Ankara has rediscovered its global ambitions. This emerging regional power is now the fastest-growing G20 country after China, and has risen to be the 16th largest economy in the world.
The Turkish government prides itself on promoting a foreign policy as unique as the country’s geography. Straddling both East and West, it has tried to maintain good diplomatic relations with all sides. But when the European Union started moving the goalposts, Turkey began to look East.
Could this be Turkey’s moment in the limelight? Or has the Arab spring taken Turkey by surprise?
And how will it balance its NATO membership when its rhetoric is not aligned? What direction will Turkey take under a dominant AK party?
Much like its symbol, the two-headed eagle, Turkey gazes in many directions. Will it pick the right path to become the super power it once was?
Empire finds out.
Joining us to discuss the issues are: Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister; Professor Binnaz Toprak, member of parliament in the Turkish opposition; Suat Kiniklioglu, deputy chair, external affairs; Professor Soli Özel, international relations at Bilgi University.
Interviewees: Fadi Hakura, Turkey analyst at Chatham House; and Professor Sevket Pamuk, chair of Turkish Studies at the London School of Economics.
aljazeera.net
How to keep a turkey from being eaten on Thanksgiving.
Disguise it in a GAP sweater, OF COURSE!
I see what u did thur
Hamas head holds unity talks with Turkey officials | Occupied Palestine | ??????
lovely ^^A’jia Hotel
Istanbul, Turkey
Andrew, Noémie, Ilse, Anthony and I inside the ancient grave!
The way up to an ancient grave. Bit of climbing but nothing stressful.
apple tea by Sarah__McLean on Flickr.
The Sultan of Istancool,
Is Erdogan’s Success Pulling Turks Away from Europe?
In conversations, his voice has become quieter and quieter the longer he has been in power. Conversely, it sounds more powerful than ever when he speaks in public. He greets his audience, calling them “kardesler” (“siblings”), a word that implies a much stronger sense of familiar affection in Turkish than in English or German. Then he gets serious. He has a plan to announce, one that his campaign strategists have already characterized as an “insane project,” an idea that exceeds all “powers of imagination.”
…This new foreign and economic policy has been dubbed “Neo-Ottomanism,” another term that triggers anxiety in the West. Are the Turks trying to rebuild the empire that controlled the Middle East for 400 years?
See also: Turkey’s Rules: Foreign Minister Dovutoglu
Turkey’s relationship with Syria is complex, leading many to suspect great reticence in going too far in criticizing the Assad regime. Nevertheless: Turkish PM: Syria crackdown inhumane
me in a good mood because my next 3 weeks will be brilliant
Turkey. I have him some corn but he wouldn’t eat it till i walked away.
Turkish Elections: Flags & Minivans
Sunday is it.
With the end of the elections will come the return to the environment most Turks wish would come faster.
But for me, a foreigner and political junkie, I must admit I am a bit sad to see it all go. The election environment in Turkey is electric. Bright. Loud. Even music-filled.
And it’s a bit different than elections in the States. Here’s some small examples…
Of course there are also the typical billboard, newspaper, and TV ads that we all know and love back in the States.
While the environment certainly grabs my attention, for many Turks, it is the equivalent of NYT Square ad clutter. Just more noise.
“Why don’t politicians put the money they spend on flags to a project or something?” I have heard at least a handful of times.
We may not use tiny flags in the States, but maddening election costs are certainly something we know…
Linguine with homemade tomato sauce and turkey meatballs
It only sounds that way when I write it down. by EYLUL ASLAN on Flickr.
That Turkey raised Little Greece after Mama Greece died. I don’t see Turkey as the mushy-mushy feeling type so I think he was quite awkward around Little Greece which kind of scared the poor boy. This prompted Greece to stay as far away from his as possible making Turkey a bit bitter.
NOW that doesn’t explain the hatred for eachother they have now but this kind of might.
I also have another theory, extending off of my last, that one of two things could have happened that caused him to I guess adopt Little Greece. Either Turkey loved Mama Greece so after she died he decided to take in her child or he killed her and for WHATEVER REASON he took in her baby.(reasons being a. He planned on killing the kid later or putting him under his power. b. His Ottoman heart showed a soul and he took him in)
But I like to believe it was both. I haven’t worked out the details in my head but I think it was a mix of unrequited love, betrayal, and lust for power. He might of loved her but that doesn’t mean she loved him back. It also doesn’t mean love would stop him on his conquest to take over the world.
(IDK I DON’T THINK TURKEY IS HEARTLESS DON’T SHOOT ME)
Full Size Image
#Turkey #Bal?kesir #ye?illi camii (Taken with Instagram at Bal?kesir)
Iron door in Istanbul - Turkey.
Istanbul - Balat
The ‘Evil Eye’ hanging on a door in Istanbul.
Back in Istanbul. Cennet Gozleme- a Turkish pancake with potatoes, spinach, turkish cheese and sausage. Yum! #food #foodporn #travel #backpacking #turkey #Istanbul (Taken with instagram)
Senza titolo by Joe Nigel Coleman on Flickr.
The hotel (Kervansaray) we stayed in at Diyabakir, an old han, so it has been a ‘hotel’ for centuries!
Turkey Burger with sweet potato fries.
At Triptych.
this city never sleeps (by gokcen tunc)
Ottoman Coat of Arms
Ashley Smith in “Blondie” Vogue Turkey.
Selda Bagcan - Yaylalar. A great Turkish jam.
Ephesus Temple of Hadrian (by mbell1975)
untitled by chriskolos on Flickr.
Modern Art Gallery by chriskolos on Flickr.
untitled by chriskolos on Flickr.
i’d go back to this any day.
An Interesting Explanation about the Religious Dynamic in Turkey
princeconstantine awesome cosplay. You should follow him too, evet~ ;3
Arif Sag. Su Samsunun Evleri
…how many Turks were how high?! This is some more undeniably sweet ear goodness for your heads.
Julia Saner by Ahmet Polat
“Apart from One”
Vogue Turkey June 2011
Lesson for EU in election says Turkey’s EU Minister
http://ping.fm/9KS0T
Grilled Cheese and Turkey Ham
Meryem Erdogan of Turkey.
First place in the Women’s Under-23 race the SPAR European Cross-Country Championships in Albufeira (Portugal) on 12th December 2010.
Her time - 20:08 over 6km.
At first glance, the fox on the surface of the limestone pillar appears to be a trick of the bright sunlight. But as I move closer to the large, T-shaped megalith, I find it is carved with an improbable menagerie. A bull and a crane join the fox in an animal parade etched across the surface of the pillar, one of dozens erected by early Neolithic people at Gφbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey. The press here is fond of calling the site “the Turkish Stonehenge,” but the comparison hardly does justice to this 25-acre arrangement of at least seven stone circles. The first structures at Gφbekli Tepe were built as early as 10,000 B.C., predating their famous British counterpart by about 7,000 years
The oldest man-made place of worship yet discovered, Gφbekli Tepe is “one of the most important monuments in the world,” says Hassan Karabulut, associate curator of the nearby Urfa Museum. He and archaeologist Zerrin Ekdogan of the Turkish Ministry of Culture guide me around the site. Their enthusiasm for the ancient temple is palpable.
By the time of my visit in late summer, the excavation team lead by Klaus Schmidt of the German Archaeological Institute has wrapped up work for the season. But there is still plenty to see, including three excavated circles now protected by a large metal shelter. The megaliths, which may have once supported roofs, are about nine feet tall.
Gφbekli Tepe’s circles range from 30 to 100 feet in diameter and are surrounded by rectangular stone walls about six feet high. Many of the pillars are carved with elaborate animal figure reliefs. In addition to bulls, foxes, and cranes, representations of lions, ducks, scorpions, ants, spiders, and snakes appear on the pillars. Freestanding sculptures depicting the animals have also been found within the circles. During the most recent excavation season, archaeologists uncovered a statue of a human and sculptures of a vulture’s head and a boar.
As we walk around the recently excavated pillars, the site seems at once familiar and exotic. I have seen stone circles before, but none like these.
Excavations have revealed that Gφbekli Tepe was constructed in two stages. The oldest structures belong to what archaeologists call the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period, which ended around 9000 B.C. Strangely enough, the later remains, which date to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, or about 8000 B.C., are less elaborate. The earliest levels contain most of the T-shaped pillars and animal sculptures.
Archaeologist Klaus Schmidt downplays extravagant spiritual interpretations of Gφbekli Tepe, such as the idea, made popular in the press, that the site is the inspiration for the Biblical Garden of Eden. But he does agree that it was a sanctuary of profound significance in the Neolithic world. He sees it as a key site in understanding the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, and from tribal to regional religion.
Schmidt and his colleagues estimate that at least 500 people were required to hew the 10- to 50-ton stone pillars from local quarries, move them from as far as a quarter-mile away, and erect them. How did Stone Age people achieve the level of organization necessary to do this? Hauptmann speculates that an elite class of religious leaders supervised the work and later controlled the rituals that took place at the site. If so, this would be the oldest known evidence for a priestly caste—much earlier than when social distinctions became evident at other Near Eastern sites
Before the discovery of Gφbekli Tepe, archaeologists believed that societies in the early Neolithic were organized into small bands of hunter-gatherers and that the first complex religious practices were developed by groups that had already mastered agriculture. Scholars thought that the earliest monumental architecture was possible only after agriculture provided Neolithic people with food surpluses, freeing them from a constant focus on day-to-day survival. A site of unbelievable artistry and intricate detail, Gφbekli Tepe has turned this theory on its head.
Schmidt believes the people who created these massive and enigmatic structures came from great distances. It seems certain that once pilgrims reached Gφbekli Tepe, they made animal sacrifices. Schmidt and his team have found the bones of wild animals, including gazelles, red deer, boars, goats, sheep, and oxen, plus a dozen different bird species, such as vultures and ducks, scattered around the site. Most of these animals are depicted in the sculptures and reliefs at the site.
There is still much that we don’t understand about religious practices at Gφbekli Tepe, Schmidt cautions. But broadly speaking, the animal images “probably illustrate stories of hunter-gatherer religion and beliefs,” he says, “though we don’t know at the moment.” The sculptors of Gφbekli Tepe may have simply wanted to depict the animals they saw, or perhaps create symbolic representations of the animals to use in rituals to ensure hunting success.
Schmidt has another theory about how Gφbekli Tepe became a sacred place. Though he has yet to find them, he believes that the first stone circles on the hill of the navel marked graves of important people. Hauptmann’s team discovered graves at Nevali Cori, and Schmidt is reasonably confident that burials lie somewhere in the earliest layers of Gφbekli Tepe. This leads him to suspect the pillars represent human beings and that the cult practices at this site may initially have focused on some sort of ancestor worship. The T-shaped pillars, he points out, look like human bodies with the upper part of the “T” resembling a head in profile. Once, Schmidt says, they stood on the hillside “like a meeting of stone beings.”
