Thousands demand ouster of Yemen's president

Yemeni students chant slogans calling on their president Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave the government and follow Tunisian ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile during a protest in Sanaa, Yemen. AP photo

Drawing inspiration from the revolt in Tunisia, thousands of Yemenis fed up with their president's 32-year rule demanded his ouster in a noisy demonstration that appeared to be the first large-scale public challenge to the strongman.
Saturday's protests in Yemen appeared to be the first of their kind. The nation's 23 million citizens have many grievances: they are the poorest people in the Arab world, the government is widely seen as corrupt and is reviled for its alliance with the United States in fighting al-Qaeda, there are few political freedoms and the country is rapidly running out of water.
Still, calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down had been a red line that few dissenters dared to test.
In a reflection of the tight grip Saleh's government and its forces have in the capital - outside the city, that control thins dramatically - Saturday's demonstration did not take place in the streets, but was confined to the grounds of the University of San‘a.
Around 2,500 students, activists and opposition groups gathered there and chanted slogans against the president, comparing him to Tunisia's ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, whose people were similarly enraged by economic woes and government corruption, reported the Associated Press. "Get out get out, Ali. Join your friend Ben Ali," the crowds chanted.
On Sunday, about 200 journalists marched in the capital to demand the release of press freedom activist Tawakel Karman and other detainees, while witnesses said student protesters clashed with police in San‘a.
One of the organizers, Fouad Dahaba, said the demonstration was only a beginning and they will not stop until their demands are met. "We will march the streets of San‘a, to the heart of San‘a and to the presidential palace. The coming days will witness an escalation," said Dahaba, an Islamist lawmaker and head of the teachers' union.
Making good on that pledge will be difficult. Like other entrenched regimes in the Arab world, Yemen's government shows little tolerance for dissent and the security forces - bolstered by U.S. military aid intended for fighting the country's virulent al-Qaeda offshoot - are quick to crack down.
Police fired tear gas at Saturday’s demonstrators, whose grievances include proposed constitutional changes that would allow the president to rule for a lifetime. Around 30 protesters were detained, a security official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
On Sunday, clashes broke out as security forces tried to disperse the students in the capital, Agence France-Presse reported, citing witnesses. A cameraman for Al-Arabiya satellite channel who was filming the clashes was briefly detained, his station said. And a cameraman for Al-Jazeera was beaten by police, the Qatar-based station said.
Since the Tunisian turmoil, Saleh has ordered income taxes slashed in half and has instructed his government to control prices. He also ordered a heavy deployment of anti-riot police and soldiers to several key areas in the capital and its surroundings to prevent any riots.
Nearly half the population lives below the poverty line of $2 a day and doesn't have access to proper sanitation. Less than a tenth of the roads are paved. Tens of thousands have been displaced from their homes by conflict, flooding the cities.
The government is riddled with corruption, has little control outside the capital, and its main source of income - oil - could run dry in a decade.
Protests were also held in the southern port city of Aden, where calls for Saleh to step down were heard along with the more familiar slogans for southern secession. Police fired on demonstrators, injuring four, and detained 22 others in heavy clashes.
Military forces responded harshly to two similar protests a day earlier in four cities in the nearby southern province of Lahj, even firing mortar shells that killed one woman. The response forced residents to flee.
Besides the battle with al-Qaeda's local franchise, which has taken root in the country's remote and lawless mountains, Yemen's government is also trying to suppress the secessionist movement and a separate on-and-off rebellion in the north.
Adding popular street unrest to that mix could present the government with a new challenge, though it has shown itself to be resilient even to the occasional al-Qaida attacks to penetrate the capital's defenses.

Top British economist says banks need major revamp

John Vickers, chair of the UK's Independent Commission of Banking, is seen speaking at a news conference in London in this file photo. Bloomberg photo

Britain's banks need major reforms as their failure to manage risks had been "spectacular," the chair of the Independent Commission on Banking said on Saturday.
Economist John Vickers, who heads a body reviewing whether to split banks' investment and retail entities, said taxpayers should not have to provide "a generous safety net" to stop banks from collapsing.
"For the most part, retail customers have no effective alternative to their banks for vital financial services, and hence there is an overriding economic, social and political imperative to avert any disruption to the continuous provision of those services," Vickers said.
"The task is to find better ways of ensuring this, if possible, while allowing unsuccessful individual institutions to fail safely," he said during a speech at the London Business School. "Ultimately, financial risks have to be borne, and in a market system they should not be borne by the taxpayer providing a generous safety net."
Vickers is a former chief economist of the Bank of England who served on the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee from 1998 to 2000. He was then head of the Office of Fair Trading until 2005.
"If the probability and/or impact of bank failure particularly of retail service provision can be reduced by forms of separation between banking activities, then so too might capital requirements," he said. "If so, the case for structural reform might be greater the higher is the cost of bank capital."
Just six banks control almost 90 percent of all deposits in Britain, a far higher figure than in Germany or the United States.
The fear that British banks have become "too big to fail" was fuelled by the financial crisis when the government had to bail out Royal Bank of Scotland, Northern Rock and the Lloyds banking group.
The commission is due to publish interim proposals in April, with a final report to follow in September.

Turkish Press Scan for Jan. 23

Sabah

-- Family waits 9 years for justice

Hüseyin Ateş, whose son was killed in a traffic accident in 2002, has spoken out in protest over the lengthy court process in the case, the daily Sabah reported Sunday. Ateş’s son was hit by a bus going the wrong way down a road closed to traffic.
“My son Ali Can, 14, was run over by a bus going the wrong way on a closed road and died in front of our house in 2002. The year is now 2011 and our pain hasn’t diminished because nobody is getting any punishment. It’s not observing the trials from the balcony which makes me relive the accident every day, it’s the case process continuing for years,” said Ateş, criticizing the case, which has been overruled twice and resulted in an inconclusive verdict three times.
The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against the driver, Mehmet Atar, and engineer Mehmet Ali Akyan for “causing death due to negligence and inattentiveness.” The driver and the engineer were given a sentence of two years and a fine during the case, which concluded in 10 months. Afterwards, the family appealed. While the decision was waiting at the Supreme Court of Appeals, the family learned that Ali Can’s autopsy hadn’t taken place and the doctor who allegedly did the autopsy didn’t take an oath.
The Supreme Court of Appeals sent the file to the local court so they could make a decision in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedures, or CMK, law passed in 2004. When the doctor confirmed that the signatures in the autopsy report belonged to him, the suspects were given the same penalty but then appealed. Then, the Supreme Court of Appeals overruled the decision. When the suspects also appealed this decision, the file was sent to the Supreme Court of Appeals in 2008 and was given to the Criminal Division in 2010. However, the Supreme Court of Appeals still hasn’t made a final ruling.

Radikal

-- Hydroelectric power plants threaten rafting championships

Rafting championships will be threatened if a hydroelectric power plant project in the Fırtına Valley of Rize province goes ahead, daily Radikal reported Sunday. “European and world rafting championships are planned to be hosted by Turkey in the next several years. If these dams are built, then it won’t happen,” Erdoğan Bucan, national rafting team couch of Turkey told daily Radikal.
“When we went to Bosnia and Herzegovina for the world championships, they proposed to organize the European championships in Turkey. They said the world championships could then be hosted by Turkey,” Bucan said.
Saying Fırtına Valley was unprecedented in the world for rafting conditions, Bucan stated that they were against building dams in the region. “Rafting cannot be done without water.” He said foreigners were interested to the valley. “Fırtına Valley is very close to the city center, to the hospitals. You can also go rafting in Dalaman, but only helicopters can intervene in case of need,” he said.
Ömer Şan, from the Rivers’ Brotherhood Platform, said seven of 123 hydroelectric dam projects in Rize would be built in Fırtına Valley. Şan noted that the hydroelectric dam projects were being developed even though Fırtına Valley was a protected area.

Cumhuriyet

-- Draft law to protect women stalled by ill staff

A draft law on protecting families cannot move forward because staff members at the Prime Ministry are ill, daily Cumhuriyet reported Sunday. The law was brought to the agenda after the death of Ayşe Paşalı, whose death at the hands of her ex-husband allegedly stemmed from the state’s failure to protect her. The draft law is being prepared by the Prime Ministry’s directorate that is responsible for women’s affairs. The extended law will protect women who do not have a formal marriage, women who are living common-law with their partner, as well as those who are divorced, from domestic violence. The draft law will also include “threats of violence” as a reason for the state to protect women. But there has been no progress on the draft law for the past 20 days because the relevant personnel are ill and no one else is in a position to handle the matter, the daily said. Civil society organizations have said there are a number of shortfalls in the law and have demanded the name of the law be changed to solely “protecting women.” They also said the number of women’s shelter was limited and that first response stations were needed to protect women.

Vatan

-- The camera records refuted the proceedings of police

Police officers’ accounts of a traffic accident in Istanbul’s Kayışdağı neighborhood involving two sisters were proven to be false after camera recordings of the incident refuted the officers’ narrative, reported the daily Vatan on Sunday.
After the traffic accident, in which two sisters narrowly escaped death, police officers wrote an official report saying that the accident happened 30 meters from the pedestrian crossing. However, camera recordings showed that the accident actually happened at the pedestrian crossing.
Hafize Başkaya, 19, and her sister Kadriye Başkaya, 17, were hit by a car driven by Ender Zini, a student at Yeditepe University’s Business Administration Department, while trying to cross the street at a green light. The two sisters were heavily injured and taken to Göztepe Education and Research Hospital afterwards.
Policemen making investigations at the incident scene said the accident happened 30 or 40 meters away from the traffic lights, in their report. After Hafize Başkaya claimed that the accident didn’t occur in the way that was stated, their lawyer asked for camera footage.
He was told that no records could be found as the camera located 100 meters away from the light was broken. After searching for witness accounts, the lawyer and the girls’ father managed to find camera records proving that the incident happened exactly at the spot the girls had alleged.

From Anatolia News Agency:
HÜRRİYET
-- THOSE WHO ATTEMPT TO TAKE PEOPLE'S LIVES CANNOT BE MUSLIM
Attending the inauguration ceremony of several facilities in southeastern Batman province, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the issue of the Kurdish Hizbullah without mentioning the group's name. "Nobody can associate his/her personal desires and wrong opinions with this religion. Nobody can have the courage to present Islam and murder as two close notions," Erdoğan said. The Turkish prime minsiter attended the collective inauguration of 69 facilities in Batman where Hizbullah has a certain influence.
-- NO RESULT IN NUCLEAR TALKS
The Istanbul summit on Iran's nuclear program held between Iran and five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (P5+1) did not yield to any results. Catherine Ashton, European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said that they had aimed at having a constructive meeting, however, it had become clear that the Iranian side had not been ready.
MİLLİYET
-- AIR OF STRAIT DID NOT EASE
Representative of European Union (EU) Catherine Ashton, head of the P5+1 delegation at the nuclear talks in Istanbul, said it was not possible to make cooperation.
Talks carried out between Iran and P5 1 countries (United States, Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany) for two days ended on Saturday. EU Representative Catherine Ashton pledged to support Iran's peaceful nuclear projects and to remove the sanctions in case enriched uranium is delivered to them. However, Iranian party did not give the expected reply.
-- EVEN I DON'T KNOW WHY I KILLED HIM
Mustafa Duyar, gunman of Özdemir Sabancı assassination, married with Semra Duyar in prison in July. Duyar told his wife what had happened. Semra Duyar said, "Mustafa did not like to tell much about his action. We have talked about this only for two times. He told me they were used. He said, 'I killed, but even I don't know why I killed him.'
SABAH
-- NO COMPROMISE, BUT THE DOOR IS OPEN
Talks carried out between Iran and P5+1 for two days remained inconclusive. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu separately met with EU Representative Catherine Ashton, and Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council five times. Both parties departed saying, "doors are open to meet again".
-- PRESIDENT GÜL TO RESPOND EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARIANS
President Abdullah Gül will address the first plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , or PACE, in Strasbourg which will take place in January 24-26.
President Gül is expected to respond to questions of parliamentarians after addressing the plenary session on January 25.
Gül is scheduled to meet Council of Europe's Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland and PACE President Mevlut Çavuşoğlu during his stay in Strasbourg.
VATAN
-- MEDVEDEV'S SUPER YACHT FROM TUZLA
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev purchased a Tuzla-made 53-meter long super yacht to host his guests. The yacht, which was built by Turkish businessman Cefi Kamhi's company Proteksan-Turquoise, had been sold to Italians 1.5 years ago. It passed into the hands of Russians last month and they bought the yacht for 30 million Euros. Officials said Medvedev would use the yacht to host world leaders during the winter games to be held in Sochi in 2014.
-- OPERATION ON JUDICIARY IS GREAT DANGER
Speaking on his way to western Denizli province, Republican People's Party, or CHP, chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said, "They are establishing their own law for an oppressive regime".
"They will have their own judges and prosecutors, moreover, decisions will be taken by the political authority and will be approved by the judiciary. This is the biggest danger in the history of the Republic," Kılıçdaroğlu said.
CUMHURİYET
-- TANRIKULU OF CHP PROPOSES FORMATION OF PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSION TO PROBE MURDERS BY UNKNOWN ASSAILANTS
Republican People's Party, or CHP, deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu held his first news conference in southeastern province of Diyarbakır after becoming deputy chairman responsible for human rights.
Tanrıkulu proposed "Truth Commission" to be established to create belief in justice. Tanrıkulu said he made the proposal on behalf of his party. He said the commission should be established with the laws and should be independent and should have broad authorities.
Tanrıkulu said mission of the commission should be defined as "probing the murders by unknown assailants and missing persons since the coup on September 12, 1980."
-- NO SOLUTION IN ISTANBUL
No result could be obtained from the talks carried out in Istanbul regarding nuclear program of Iran. EU High Representative Catherine Ashton said Tehran put forth removal of sanctions and uranium enrichment right as precondition, whereas Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the talks remained inconclusive as there was not "common logic" between the parties.
RADİKAL
-- STATE DO NOT HEAR US
There are millions of hearing-impaired people in Turkey. These people cannot enjoy their education, health and communication rights, as well as their freedom of expression. They have only 60 schools 15 of which are high schools and the rest offering primary school education. They have no kindergartens. They say that they are concerned, insulted and not understood by others. However, their wishes are simple: doctors, nurses and civil servants who understand the sign language.
-- SABANCI, THE SUPER WOMAN OF ANATOLIA
German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has described Güler Sabancı, chairperson of Turkey's renowned Sabancı Holding, as the "Super Woman of Anatolia." The paper said Sabancı was an indispensable figure for the Turkish public and economy, adding she had been listed among the world's most powerful and successful women several times by prestigious publications.
TÜRKİYE
-- ERDOGAN: MOVE WILL CONTINUE
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed people in southeastern province of Batman. Erdoğan said, "we will maintain national unity and fraternity project without stepping back, without bowing to provocations and without falling into the traps into the gangs."
Erdoğan said, "we will act altogether against those who are against our growth and development."
-- WAVE OF "ONE MINUTE"
On the second anniversary of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's "one minute" reaction in Davos, number of countries recognizing Palestine exceeded 120. Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chili, and Russia were included among the countries recognizing Palestine.
-- TIME FOR ERZURUM
Meteorology gave good news as there are a few days to the 25th Winter Universiade Games that will take place in eastern province of Erzurum. Snow is expected on Wednesday.
Snow will continue on Thursday and Friday.
ZAMAN
-- NO RESULT IN NUCLEAR TALKS, BUT DOOR STILL OPEN
Nuclear talks held in Istanbul between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany did not yield to any results. Parties held each other responsible for the process, however, they agreed that the door to diplomatic solution was still open. Catherine Ashton, European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said that "their proposals remained on the table and their door remained open". Iran's chief negotiator for nuclear talks Saeed Jalili said that "their rights should be respected first".
-- INDIVIDUAL APPLICATIONS TO CARRY TURKISH JUDICIARY TO EUROPEAN STANDARDS
In an interview with Zaman daily, Ayşe Işıl Karakaş, the Turkish judge of the European Court of Human Rights, commented on important issues such as the new constitution and latest amendments opening the way for individual applications to Turkey's Constitutional Court. Noting that she did not agree with the concerns of Council of State and Supreme Court of Appeals regarding "the right to file individual applications with the Constitutional Court", Karakaş said such implementation would carry the Turkish judiciary system to the court’s standards.
YENİ ŞAFAK
-- THAT IS ENOUGH
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said some circles were trying to disrupt tranquility in eastern provinces. "We will never allow those that are afraid of freedom and democracy," he said.
Attending the inauguration ceremony of several facilities in southeastern Batman province, Erdoğan said some specific circles started to take action again as time of elections was getting closer. Erdoğan called on people to be more aware against those who apply to anti-democratic oppressive methods.
-- SUPERWOMAN OF ANATOLIA
Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung introduced Guler Sabanci as the "Super Woman of Anatolia." The newspaper said Sabancı was a rarely seen example in Turkey.
-- THERE IS NO RECONCILIATION BUT HOPE
Meeting of P5+1 group in Istanbul regarding Iran's nuclear program ended without yielding an outcome.
EU Representative Catherine Ashton said, "We are disappointed. Iran's conditions can not be accepted, however, the talks will continue."

Southeast Australia set for another week of floods

Rising flood waters start to engulf roads in the Victorian town of Horsham. AFP photo

Rural Australian towns braced for another week of flooding Sunday as a vast lake continued to spread across the country's southeast and a potential tropical storm threatened the northeast.
The flooding began more than a month ago in Australia's northeast Queensland state, where 30 people have died, more than 30,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed and at least 3 billion Australian dollars ($3 billion) in crops and coal exports have been lost.
Record rains have shifted the flood emergency focus to southeast Victoria state, which is usually parched during the southern summer.
Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan said in a statement Sunday that the floods will rank as one of the most costly natural disasters in Australian history and its impact on the economy will be felt for years. The government will announce its first cost estimates on Friday, he said.
The State Emergency Service has warned that a lake about 90 kilometers long northwest of the Victorian capital of Melbourne will continue coursing inland for the next week until it spills into the Murray River.
Emergency services were focusing their efforts 340 kilometers northwest of Melbourne at Swan Hill, a town of 10,000 where the Murray meets the swollen Lodden River and flood waters are expected to peak mid week, SES spokesman Sam Bishop said Sunday.
SES said 75 towns in the state have been affected by flooding and another five to 10 towns are still in the floodwaters' northern path across flat wheat-growing country.
Almost 2,000 homes and businesses were flooded or isolated and close to 5,000 people have been evacuated, SES said.
Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology warned Sunday that a low pressure system off the north Queensland coast could develop into a cyclone over the next few days.
The bureau rated the chances of a cyclone - which could lash the coast with gale-force winds and torrential rains - at between 20 percent and 50 percent.

Deal on Afghan parliament opening 'in question'

Afghan men shout slogans during a demonstration against paliamentary election results in Kabul. AFP photo

A deal between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and rebel lawmakers on opening the country's new parliament looked in doubt Sunday amid disagreement over a special tribunal on electoral fraud.
It had seemed that a constitutional crisis in the war-torn country had been averted after lawmakers said late Saturday that Karzai, under heavy pressure from the West, had dropped a plan to delay parliament's opening by a month.
But now lawmakers are threatening to reject a key condition of Karzai's for opening it Wednesday instead - that they recognize a special tribunal on fraud in September's parliamentary polls which many say is unconstitutional.
An official source, speaking anonymously, said Karzai was unlikely to open parliament Wednesday, as agreed under the deal, if the lawmakers did not promise to respect the tribunal.
The disagreement between the lawmakers and Karzai centers on the fact that the Pashtuns, Karzai's traditional power base and Afghanistan's biggest ethnic group, were left under-represented in parliament after September's elections.
The polls were hit by massive fraud - around a quarter of the five million votes cast were thrown out and 24 early winners disqualified. MPs fear that the tribunal will oust some of their number, paving the way for their replacement by Pashtun candidates.
"What's being said about the opening of the parliament on Wednesday, that's conditional," the official source told AFP. Asked if Karzai will open the parliament Wednesday if the MPs fail to accept his condition over the tribunal, the source added: "I don't think so."
He continued: "The MPs said that they will accept the outcomes of the legal process that is currently underway. The president sent them to write this down, sign it and bring it back to him. So far, they have not returned."

Fresh talks to start

Meanwhile, lawmaker Molawi Rahman Rahmani said a fresh round of talks between Karzai and MPs was set to be held Monday, adding that most lawmakers wanted to see the special tribunal abolished.
"The same 38 people (who held talks with the president Saturday) are going to talk to Karzai regarding the abolishing of the special tribunal," he said. "We are going to inaugurate the parliament on Wednesday" with or without Karzai, Rahmani added, while saying he thought Karzai would "probably" be there.
Highlighting wider tensions caused by the long-running saga, up to 150 losing candidates and supporters from the September elections held a protest in Kabul against any opening of the parliament Sunday.
They want Karzai to cancel their election results and hold recounts. One losing candidate, Najibullah Mujahid, told AFP: "This agreement is the result of pressure by drug dealers and foreign embassies. "We don't accept it. We tell the president we support you and you, president, should follow constitutional law."
Early Sunday, around 200 out of 249 members of the Wolesi Jirga - the lower house - gathered in Kabul for talks after announcing Saturday that Karzai had agreed to open parliament Wednesday, a U-turn on a previous plan to delay for a month.
This averted a potential clash with MPs Sunday, the date originally slated for the inauguration, when they had planned to open parliament without Karzai in defiance of his authority.
In the wake of the deal, lawmakers were debating whether to agree that Afghanistan's Supreme Court rather than the tribunal can rule on electoral fraud, as Karzai stipulated.
They later agreed to go back for more talks with Karzai on this point.
One leading MP, Mohammad Younus Qanooni, said: "We're against the special tribunal and we only recognise the regular Supreme Court. "We're working to convince the president to agree to scrap the electoral tribunal."

Ahmadinejad says Iran open to more nuclear talks

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivers a speech during a press conference. AFP photo

Iran is open to holding further talks with world powers over its nuclear programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday, a day after the failure of the latest round of dialogue.
"They have talked for a few rounds, but we never expected that issues would be resolved during these few sessions because of the record and mentality of the other parties," the hardliner said in a speech aired live on state television from the nothern city of Rasht.
"But if the other side is determined and committed to justice, law and respect, one can hope that suitable results could be achieved in future sessions."
Talks held in Istanbul on Friday and Saturday between Iran and the six world powers - Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany - failed to yield results.
The dialogue was aimed at ascertaining whether Iran's contentious nuclear programme masks a weapons drive as suspected by the West, but staunchly denied by the Islamic republic.

Turkey’s agriculture outpaced by population increase, says chamber head

Turkish Agriculture Engineers’ Chamber Chairman Turhan Tuncer warns that although there was no risk of famine, agricultural production being outpaced by the overall population increase marks a major problem. (AA)

The Turkish Agriculture Engineers’ Chamber is expecting the growth of Turkey’s agriculture production in 2010 to fall beneath the country’s population increase, as is always the case, according to Chamber Chairman Turhan Tuncer.
Tuncer said agriculture has forever had social, economic and political importance in Turkey, creating 25 percent of overall national employment and providing 10 percent of gross domestic product. Speaking at the opening of an agriculture symposium held to celebrate the 165th year of the launch of agriculture education in Turkey, he warned that although there was no risk of famine, the failure of agricultural production to keep up with the overall population increase marked a major problem.
Tuncer said a food shortage never broke out in Turkey even though the country’s population increased from 13.5 million to 73 million between 1927 and 2010 because of the success of agricultural engineers. He also said in recent years wheat, potato, sugar beet and tobacco cultivation drastically decreased in Turkey, pulse and bean cultivation areas greatly shrank, the number of livestock fell from 85 million to 35 million and the per capita meat consumption fell from 10 kilograms to 6.5 kilograms, which has caused the country to need to import meat in order to meet its meat demand.
Stressing that it is unacceptable that Turkey to be left dependent on meat imports, Tuncer requested agricultural subsidies be increased to the level of 1 percent of GDP, the legal level, adding that as long as the appropriate subsidies were provided agricultural production capacity would continuously increase.
Tuncer said in the last two decades the number of farmers fell from 9 million to 6 million, and the 3 million giving up farming have moved to the suburbs and are unemployed.  “Therefore, we cannot dub the fall of agriculture labor modernization, nor industrialization.”
Tuncer demanded that the agriculture sector be granted informative, technical and machinery support and he criticized abolishment of the “responsible manager” practice with the new food law. “A lot of engineers were left unemployed due to this change, which also puts food safety and public health at great risk.”
He said with 100 million liras the obligatory responsible manager practice could be reinstated for food businesses.

3-D means headaches to many, yet companies push on

While Jeff Katzenberg, CEO of Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc., calls 3-D 'the greatest innovation that's happened for the movie theaters and for moviegoers since color,' optometrists say as many as one in four viewers have problems watching 3-D movies and TV, either because 3-D causes tiresome eyestrain or because the viewer has problems perceiving depth in real life

According to Roger Phelps, an optometrist, viewers who suffer the most are those who have trouble getting their eyes converge properly in normal life.

From Hollywood studios to Japanese TV makers, powerful business interests are betting 3-D will be the future of entertainment, despite a major drawback: It makes millions of people uncomfortable or sick.
Optometrists say as many as one in four viewers have problems watching 3-D movies and TV, either because 3-D causes tiresome eyestrain or because the viewer has problems perceiving depth in real life. In the worst cases, 3-D makes people queasy, leaves them dizzy or gives them headaches.
Researchers have begun developing more lifelike 3-D displays that might address the problems, but they're years or even decades from being available to the masses.
That isn't deterring the entertainment industry, which is aware of the problem yet charging ahead with plans to create more movies and TV shows in 3-D. Jeff Katzenberg, CEO of Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc., calls 3-D "the greatest innovation that's happened for the movie theaters and for moviegoers since color."
Theater owners including AMC Entertainment Inc. and TV makers such as Panasonic Corp. are spending more than a billion dollars to upgrade theaters and TVs for 3-D. A handful of satellite and cable channels are already carrying 3-D programming; ESPN just announced its 3-D network would begin broadcasting 24 hours a day next month.
Yet there are already signs that consumers may not be as excited about 3-D as the entertainment and electronics industries are.
Last year, people were willing to pay an additional $3 or more per ticket for blockbuster 3-D movies such as "Avatar" and "Toy Story 3." But that didn't help the overall box office take: People spent $10.6 billion on movie tickets last year, down slightly from the year before. People went to the theater less, but spent more.
3-D TV sets were available in the U.S. for the first time last year, but shipments came in below forecasts, at just under 1.6 million for North America, according to DisplaySearch. Nevertheless, TV makers such as Samsung Electronics Co. and Panasonic are doubling down on 3-D and introduced more 3-D-capable models this month at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Those models cost more than regular ones and require glasses, just like in theaters.
Research into how today's 3-D screens affect viewers is only in its early stages. There have been no large-scale scientific studies.
A study of 115 South Koreans watching 3-D screens close up found that 3-D caused more eyestrain than 2-D. The research prompted the Korean government to recommend that viewers take a break of up to 15 minutes after an hour of 3-D viewing. But that study was based on glasses with red and green lenses rather than the ones used in theaters and with TVs.
Based on an unscientific, online survey, the American Optometric Association estimates that 25 percent of Americans have experienced headaches, blurred vision, nausea or similar problems when viewing 3-D.
TV makers do their own testing, but don't publish results. Samsung warns on its Australian website that its 3-D TVs can cause "motion sickness, perceptual after effects, disorientation, eye strain, and decreased postural stability." The last part means viewers risk losing balance and falling.
"We do not recommend watching 3-D if you are in bad physical condition, need sleep or have been drinking alcohol," the site continues.
Nintendo Co. says children aged 6 or younger shouldn't play with its upcoming 3DS handheld gaming system with 3-D technology, because it might affect vision development.
3-D screens and glasses create the illusion of depth by showing different images to each eye. That simulates the way objects that are at different distances in real life appear in slightly different places in each eye's field of view.
That's enough for most of us to perceive a scene as having depth. But our eyes also look for another depth cue in a scene: They expect to need to focus at different distances to see sharply.
More specifically, our eyes track an approaching object by turning inward, toward our noses. Bring something close enough, and we look cross-eyed. 3-D screens also elicit this response when they show something approaching the viewer.
The problem is that as the eyes turn inward, they also expect to focus closer. But a screen isn't moving closer, so the eyes have to curb their hard-wired inclination and focus back out. This mismatch between where the eyes think the focus should be and where the screen actually is forces them to work extra hard.
"That causes at least part of the discomfort and fatigue that people are experiencing," says Martin Banks, an optometry professor at University of California, Berkeley.
The problem is magnified if the screen moves close to the viewer – exactly what's happening if 3-D viewing moves from the movie theater to living rooms to game gadgets like the 3DS.
There is at least anecdotal evidence of a growing problem. David Hays, an optometrist in University Place, Washington, says patients came in after seeing "Avatar," complaining of eyestrain or the inability to see the 3-D effect. He expects to see more as the technology spreads.
Roger Phelps, an optometrist in Ojai, California, says viewers who suffer the most with 3-D are those who have trouble getting their eyes to converge properly in normal life.
"If you tend to get carsick easily, you might be one of those," Phelps says.
Yevgeny Koltunov, a 39-year-old New Yorker, has gone out of his way to find theaters showing 2-D versions of such movies as "Iron Man 2" and "Alice in Wonderland." His daughter, 13, also refuses to see 3-D movies.
"It doesn't look all that spectacular to me," Koltunov says. "For the most part, they give me a headache and make me dizzy, by the end."
Moviemakers do hold back on 3-D effects to minimize eyestrain. "Avatar" avoided gimmicks such as objects suddenly appearing to jut out of the screen. Filmmakers also try to make sure that the most significant part of a scene, such as the lead actor's face, appear to be at the same distance as the screen. That way, the eyes are less confused.
But this approach also limits moviemakers' creative freedom, and it doesn't solve the eyestrain problem entirely.
Banks is working on a longer-term solution. He and his team at Berkeley's Visual Space Perception Laboratory have put together 3-D "glasses" – really, a desk-bound contraption – with lenses that accommodate the eyes' natural inclination to focus at different distances. He says the setup reduces eyestrain and mental fatigue from 3-D images, though it may not eliminate them entirely.
A reporter who tried the device found it provided a very lifelike illusion of a box coming toward him on a track.
At the University of Arizona, optical sciences professor Hong Hua is working on wearable, helmet-like displays that also allow the eyes to focus at different distances.
Commercial versions of these setups are at least several years away, and even then, are more likely to be professional tools for remote surgery or industrial design rather than consumer items.
Even further away is the prospect of live holograms, which could create 3-D images that could be viewed without glasses, from all angles.
Until then, Phelps recommends sufferers sit as far back as they can in 3-D theaters. Another solution: close one eye, or put a Post-It note over it like an eye patch. That way, 3-D goes back to being 2-D.

New record stores in Istanbul keep old music format spinning

ISTANBUL-Hürriyet Daily News
 Far from becoming obsolete in a digital era, as many expected, the record format for music has remained popular enough for brand-new stores to be opened in Istanbul specializing in new and used vinyl.
 Though sales can be slow, the collectors-turned-entrepreneurs who own these stores believe records will keep spinning well into the future.
 “Vinyl records has been in use for approximately 60 years,” longer than any other format, Mete Avunduk, owner of Vintage Plak in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. A record collector since the mid-1980s, Avunduk said opening the store was “a natural result of collecting” and the best way to get introduced to more records.
 Vintage Plak sells every type of record, at prices ranging from 3 to 300 Turkish Liras. Avunduk purchases records from antique shops domestically and from flea markets and tucked-away little stores abroad. The shop’s customers, he said, include “beginners, people who have advanced a bit [in their record knowledge] or believe they have, people who are just curious, people who love [records] and, of course, professional collectors and international DJs.”
 More than digital music sales, shop owners say, the lack of vinyl production in Turkey is the biggest problem for the record-collection culture, as is the competition their stores face from online auction sites.
 Musicians Deniz Bayrak and Cafer İşleyen are partners in the record store Plakhane on Hocazade Street in the Beyoğlu district. They started out as collectors before opening Plakhane in the fall. “We did not have the idea of opening a store at first, but then we [saw we] owned enough records to do so,” Bayrak told the Daily News. Asked if the need to sell records ever conflicts with their desire to collect them, İşleyen said it was hard at first but they are running a business now.
 Naturally, they purchase some records they want to keep, “but we do not have that luxury,” he said. The partners sometimes travel abroad, but the trips are not just for buying records, as the cost is too high. Friends from Europe bring them orders when they visit Turkey and Plakhane’s proprietors also buy secondhand records from collectors who want to sell.
 The increasing interest in vinyl among young people, combined with the continuous loyalty of older collectors, ensures the future of the format, according to Bayrak and İşleyen, who sell records at prices ranging from 3 to 150 liras. Old Turkish records are naturally more expensive, even if they are too damaged to be played.
 “Tourists searching for Turkish records come to the shop often. Domestic customers are more into alternative rock, but they also want old Turkish records too,” said DJ Ozan Maral, who has been running the Deform Müzik shop in Beyoğlu’s Çukurcuma neighborhood along with Tayfun Aras for the last three years. Though Aras believes music will survive outside the digital format in the form of vinyl, since the CD is already about to complete its lifespan, he said it is hard to making a living selling records.
 “We would not be able to survive if we did not also perform as DJs,” Aras said.
 According to Aras, Deform Müzik has 50 to 60 “serious customers” domestically, but their numbers are not increasing. So why do he and Maral continue with the business? In response, Aras said he has always been a record fan, collector and dealer and intends to remain one. “It is music mania,” he said. “At any given moment, somebody can walk in the door with great records to deal.”

Canadian politician encourages Turkey to leave past behind

Canada is looking to eliminate the shadows left by a 2004 parliamentary resolution regarding Armenian allegations of genocide in order to improve bilateral relations with Turkey. Turkish initiatives to normalize relations with Armenia are a good reason to develop common trade interests between Canada and Turkey, a Canadian politician says

'Turkey and Canada should now look forward,' says Noel Kinsella. Turkey-Canada ties were strained in 2004 after Canada recognized the so-called Armenian genocide DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Canada wants to improve bilateral relations with Turkey after they were strained following a 2004Canadian Senate resolution that referred to the 1915 events in eastern Turkey as the “Armenian genocide,” a senior Canadian political figure has said.
Admitting that Canada’s Armenian decision was a hot potato as far as bilateral relations between Turkey and Canada were concerned, both countries should now look forward to joint interests, Noel Kinsella, speaker of the Canadian Senate, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in an interview Thursday, adding that Turkey should be applauded for its efforts to normalize its relations with Armenia.
“Eyes, when god made us, he put them in front of us. Eyes are not on the back. So if we spent too much time thinking that we have eyes in the back and we look backwards, we’re going to fall and hurt ourselves,” he said.
Bilateral relations between Canada and Turkey were strained when Canada's House of Commons made a decision in 2004 to recognize as genocide the mass killing of Armenians during World War I. As Ankara condemned the decision, political contacts and economic relations suffered from the tension.
However, Turkish Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin visited Canada to attend a G-20 summit in 2010 and a couple of Canadian ministers paid visits to Turkey in attempts to calm the political atmosphere between the two countries. Kinsella visited Ankara on Thursday and met high-ranking figures, including President Abdullah Gül.
Asked what had changed since 2004 to open the possibility of further dialogue, Kinsella said: “The government of Turkey has been undertaking a number of measures in dealing with Armenia. We’re very impressed what the government of Turkey has been doing on that [Armenian] question.
“We must learn from the things of the past, but we cannot govern domestic or international relations by looking backwards,” he said.
“Some of us regret this particular historical event which occurred long before [modern Turkish founder Mustafa Kemal] Atatürk, that was an event of the past. We have many events in the past of Canada under the rule of the French or Britain. In northern America, both the U.S. and Canada have been through terrible slavery.”
Asked if Canadian politicians would make allegations regarding the events of 1915 an issue in the future, Kinsella said Turkey’s initiative to normalization relations with Armenia were a positive sign.
Supporting Turkey's proposal that a historical commission research the incidents of 1915, he said the technical aspects of such an investigation should be left to historical experts to deal with. “We know its complications because [Turkey is] a great nation like Canada.  It’s multicultural in many ways and any country that is multicultural is also multi-confessional.”
Kinsella said the best way the people of Canada and Turkey could come to understand each other was through education.
“Currently, there are approximately 1,500 students from Turkey studying in Canada. We’d like to double that number immediately. I’d like to see Canadian students come and have a semester or two, join a four-year university [course] in [a] Turkish university.”
The Turkish language is not only important for what it reflects as the heritage of the Turkish people but is an increasingly important trade language in the world, he said.  “Turkey is a member of G-20. Turkey connects so many civilizations. Some Canadian students come to Ankara University to study literature and linguistics, not just engineering, architecture or medicine,” he said.
Kinsella said a way to improve relations on practical business level was through increased sea traffic between the two countries. “For the boats going to North America it takes one less day to sail if they come to Canada. Atlantic Canada is an opportunity to be a new gateway to the entire North American continent. With less sailing time Canada is closer to Turkey than New York.”
“The sea traffic from Asia Pacific, China, India and other countries is going to increase dramatically. Obviously, Turkey is a maritime nation, a part of this tremendous growth that will occur, strategic relationship between us is necessary,” he said.
Kinsella also said Turkish-Canadian partnership in NATO was important. “Another factor relates to NATO and [the] partnership of Canada and Turkey in NATO. Today we are seeing obstacles in Somalia, [in] maritime piracy. The Turkish navy has been very active there protecting the sea vehicles. That will continue to be more [and more] important,” Kinsella said.

Congolese graduate prepares for elections from Turkey

The Turkish adventure of Seth Kikuni Masudi, 28, started thanks to his father, a former politician. A graduate of Ankara University’s Political Science Department, Masudi has been living in Turkey for 10 years and has formed an organization together with other Congolese students in different parts of the world. With the organization, he is preparing for elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Masudi is continuing his post-graduate studies in Istanbul. It was his father's idea to send him to Turkey to study. Hürriyet photo, Levent ARSLAN

At Galatasaray University, you can find Masudi with a glass of tea in his hand sitting at the canteen looking across the Bosphorus. Aside from the color of his skin, there seems nothing to distinguish him from the rest of students. Masudi, however, is a student with great aspirations.
He turned down our request to have the interview in French, saying, “Believe me, my Turkish is better than yours.” Indeed his Turkish is excellent. But what Masudi has to say is more fascinating than his fluency in Turkish.
Seth Kikuni Masudi’s father decided a decade ago to make his son the next president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. For that, he believed Turkey was the right place to come and study because the country bridges the East and West. “My father was a deputy labor minister. It was his idea to send me to Turkey. According to my father, Congo will be set free by the youth. Right now, I see how accurate he was to send me here. I am between the East and the West. I’ve had an excellent education. Thanks to Turkey, I feel that I am ready to take the road lying in front of me,” he said.
Masudi came to Ankara in 2000 to study political science. In addition to French and English, he learned Turkish in a short time. After earning a master’s degree in international relations at Galatasaray University, Masudi began a doctoral degree at the same department.
Two years from now, he will leave Turkey and gear up for the 2016 general elections in Congo. He started organizing a political grouping three years ago and Masudi said progressive politicians support them, as well as some ambassadors.
Congolese student diaspora
“Actually, we are a group of 110 [Congolese] studying outside Congo, in India, the Middle East, China and Cuba. We’ve connected through the Internet for the last two years. Once in a while, we secretly gather in Congo. For the moment our title is ‘Congolese Students Diaspora.’ The government is like a pawn of Belgium. We will be an alternative for our people,” he said.
Congo is being oppressed by the West, said Masudi. “We have to agree even if [the bosses] pay $1 million for $10 million of diamonds since we don’t have technology. We should put an end to colonialism.”
The only way out is to set a balance between the East and the West, said Masudi. “My brother in Sweden helps a lot with strategy. Our goal is to impose ourselves in the rural areas. We will have visits village by village, city by city and explain what a big lie they are living in.”
Masudi has plans to apply the Turkish education model. Whatever they will do, they will not call it a revolution.
“We are afraid to say ‘We will make a revolution.’ Because revolution for us means war, hunger, disease and ignorance. But we will change the entire country from top to bottom,” he said.
The population of the Congo is 65 million, and it is potentially one of the richest countries in Africa. “After we declared our independence from Belgium, a 32-year dictatorship period started. And then the 10-year war came in 1996-2006. There was devastation and a great deal of suffering. … Diseases turned into epidemics. And then for the first time in centuries, elections were held in Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said. Nearly 70 political parties participated in the race, but it was known all along who would be the winner,” Masudi said.
 “We will continue until we become successful. The sitting president was 29 when he came to power. And I will be 34 [for the elections],” he said.
Masudi lost his father in 2005. “I owe it to my father [to run for president]. I will have to come to power,” he said.
Africa is divided already; Congo belongs to men from Adana
Masudi’s views of Turkish policy in Africa are critical. “When President Abdullah Gül visited Congo, he said ‘Don’t worry, we are not colonialists.’ But everyone should be embraced. For instance, it was awfully wrong for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to begin his speech by saying ‘Salaam Aleykum.’ We are Christians. A big part of Africa is Christian or followers of some other religions. What about them?” asked Masudi.
He emphasized the presence of the Fethullah Gülen movement in many places of Africa, saying: “The businessmen coming [to Africa] for private schools and investments are all from the Gülen movement. They have divided the entire continent of Africa; those from Adana are in Congo.”

Experts call for debate before changing Istanbul's Taksim Square

Taksim Square is a central transit point, providing connections for buses, minibuses, taxis, the metro system and the funicular, says architect Ömer Yılmaz. DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIŞIK

Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş’s recently announced plans to pedestrianize the city’s central Taksim Square are lacking in specifics and should have been developed in consultation with experts and the public, architects and city planners have said.
“We learn of these decisions through press meetings,” said architect Ömer Yılmaz, the CEO of Arkitera Architecture Center. “Of course politicians will make administrative decisions about the city,” but such moves should be part of a larger decision-making process, he said, adding that no such process exists for public works in Istanbul.
Topbaş said in early January that work would begin this year to close the major square in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district to traffic, with numerous roads in the area moved underground and bus stations and metro entrances relocated.
Taksim Square is a central transit point, providing connections for buses, minibuses, taxis, the metro system and the funicular, Yılmaz said. “The most radical intervention could be the removal of the transit stations. But it is difficult to avoid [Taksim] being a center for vehicle traffic,” he said. “It is also difficult to imagine Taksim being like one of the romantic squares in Italy.”
In order to make Taksim a true public square, it would need to be developed in relation with the surrounding buildings, according to architect Haydar Karabey of Limited Architecture. “What kind of relationship will it have with an enclosed AKM [Atatürk Cultural Center]? Currently, police barriers are on one side and public toilets are on the other. It is the right decision to rearrange all these,” he said, adding that people, rather than traffic, should be the priority on the square. “But if you empty [Taksim], you risk turning it into [a vast Communist-style] square. At least two or three project contests were held [in the past] for Taksim. They might be put on display, or more modern ideas might be produced as well.”
Emphasizing that a city is a living organism, Karabey added: “A city might need something new. Arrangements can be done accordingly. We are not against this, but people in this city have a right to know when these [changes] will be done.”

More study needed

“Work to open Taksim Square to pedestrian traffic should be taken care of not by circles expecting money out of these arrangements but by a meticulous study by relevant professional associations,” said Şükrü Aslan, a sociologist from Mimar Sinan University. “The local administration should guide the process in this direction. I am concerned about Topbaş saying work will be launched in 2011.”
According to Aslan, the involvement of professional organizations, experts and local associations is especially crucial because of the important role Taksim has played as a political space in the social history of the city, and of the entire country.
“Taksim Square is not an ordinary square. The 1977 killing of dozens of people at May Day celebrations there has given a political identity to Taksim Square. To keep alive the political image in the minds of people walking by Taksim is also a requirement for our political confrontation with the past,” he said. “Discussion on Taksim Square without considering its political identity is incomplete right from the beginning. I call on the metropolitan municipality officials: It is only humane to lend an ear to institutions representing the workers who lost their lives here when you make an attempt to change anything in Taksim Square.”
Architect Karabey also criticized the way decisions are made about the city. “Around the world, these [decisions] are made through public consultations. Projects are put on display; people discuss and vote on them,” he said. “Taksim Square is ours. It is the Republic square, the May Day square. It is a place for protests and entertainment. Acting like a ruler and saying, ‘I am doing this in Taksim,’ without asking anyone about anything is extremely wrong. I, as an Istanbul resident, would like to know what will happen.”
Mayor Topbaş said in his announcement that both Mete Street, which runs in front of the Atatürk Cultural Center, and the street curving from Tarlabaşı Boulevard to Sıraselviler Avenue will be opened to pedestrians. Traffic will be moved to a lower level and metro exits will be relocated from the center of the square to side streets. City buses that currently stop in the square will be removed.
As this Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has provided no additional details, Aslan said he inferred from the mayor’s remarks that Taksim Square could become a footbridge rather than being totally opened to pedestrian traffic. He also noted the possible harm to the historical texture of the area.
“[Installing] tunnels everywhere irreversibly harms historical texture. A similar mindset killed a part of history in Tarlabaşı, next to Taksim Square, during the 1980s in order to open the square to vehicle traffic,” Aslan said.

‘Vehicle and pedestrian traffic to be integrated’

It is possible to transform Istanbul’s Taksim Square from a crossroads for traffic and give it a new appearance and function as long as the process is well thought out, according to city planner Faruk Göksu.
“Designing a square should begin with taking into consideration image, proportionality and public-usage criteria. Pedestrian access should also be increased,” Göksu said. Greek and Roman squares set an example in terms of scale, function, image and feeling, but Taksim has lost traces of its past, he said, adding that squares designed to answer today’s needs should be considered as examples instead.
“[These examples include] Times Square in New York; Potsdam Square in Berlin, with its new arrangement; or Konak Square in the province of İzmir. However, a unique arrangement is needed in Taksim,” Göksu said, identifying several strategies about design principles that should be utilized to reflect the identity and image of Taksim Square.
Image and identity strategy: As Taksim Square is redesigned, the Independence Monument in the center of the square, the Atatürk Cultural Center, İstiklal Avenue and the nearby church, cistern and park should be considered as main design data.
Accessibility strategy: Taking into consideration its location and its role as an intersection of so many transportation modes, work should be done to integrate uses for parking and both vehicle and pedestrian traffic, rather than opening the square to pedestrians only.
Integration strategy: An integration strategy will help with spatial, social and economic development. The new design needs to focus on nearby Tarlabaşı Boulevard, Sıraselviler Avenue, the Talimhane area and Gezi Park as an integrated whole.
Creating public areas strategy: The number of accessible public areas should be increased in order to encourage activities by social groups.

Iran nuclear talks 'disappointing,' says EU foreign policy chief

European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton gives a press conference after the second day of talks in Istanbul. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

Two days of nuclear negotiations between six world powers and Iran ended Saturday with no new talks appearing on the horizon and the European Union’s foreign policy chief expressing disappointment.
“We are disappointed” by the stance taken by Iran, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, told a news conference in Istanbul, the venue of the nuclear talks that began Friday in an attempt to defuse tensions over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
“The door remains open and the choice remains in Iran’s hands,” she said.
Ashton, who was heading the P5+1 group of U.N. Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, as well as Germany, said the West expected Iran to demonstrate “a pragmatic attitude” and respond “openly.”
It remained unclear if negotiations with Iran would continue. Ashton said there were no further meetings planned, but the door remained open for Iran. The Iranian side, however, said talks would resume, but no new date or venue has been fixed.
"If there were common will, we would continue the negotiations even this afternoon," Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, told a separate news conference following Ashton.
In defiance of world powers, Jalili said Iran was maintaining the right to enrich uranium.
The deadlock appeared to stem from Iran’s precondition that uranium enrichment would not be a matter of discussion in the negotiations and its opposition to sanctions. Ashton said Tehran’s preconditions were unacceptable.
"Is defending the rights of our nation a precondition?" asked Jalili, adding that representatives from 130 different countries inspected nuclear facilities in Iran last weekend while accusing the West of turning a deaf ear to Tehran's calls.
No separate talks with US
When asked if Iran had met with the U.S. delegation separately, the negotiator dismissed the idea, saying there was no reason for Tehran to do so. He also complained that there were no negotiations over "Israel's nuclear weapons."
Touching on Turkey’s efforts to bring Iran and the world together to the negotiating table, Jalili praised Ankara's role, saying it was "constructive."
"Mr. Davutoğlu did his best," said the negotiator, referring to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.
Turkey pleased parties leaving door 'open'
Turkey, meanwhile, expressed pleasure about the parties’ desire to leave the door open for further talks to settle the nuclear dispute and added that it expected they would evaluate in detail the proposals laid down during the Istanbul negotiations.
"Our country has been engaged in contacts with the parties throughout the negotiations upon request ... Naturally, what's essential in this process is that the parties find reconciliation among themselves," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement released later in the day.
"Our country, as it has done thus far, will continue exerting efforts for the continuity of the process and so that the issue is peacefully settled," it said, adding that the so-called Vienna Group – the United States, Russia and France – held a separate meeting with Iran for the first time on the sidelines of the Istanbul talks.
Though it had earlier pursued intensive diplomacy with the two sides, Turkey chose to adopt a more reserved position for the current talks after a swap proposal it made last year met with a cool reception from the West, which fears Iran’s growing low-enriched uranium stockpile and Tehran’s decision in February to escalate enrichment to 20 percent, an advance toward weapons-grade material.
Davutoğlu shifted his routine diplomatic contacts from the capital, Ankara, to Istanbul on Friday and Saturday while the two-day negotiations between Tehran and the P5+1 took place.
Turkish Foreign Ministry diplomats remained nearby so as to become involved if necessary. In previous remarks, Davutoğlu had said Turkey would be prepared to step in in the event that assistance was requested.

Saudi man dies after setting himself on fire

A Saudi man died after setting himself on fire in the southwestern town of Samta, local media said Saturday, in what could be the latest example of a rash of self-immolations sweeping the region following events in Tunisia.
It would be oil-rich Saudi Arabia's first such incident since an unemployed man set himself on fire in Tunisia last month protesting the economy and sparking riots which brought down the government.
Since that time there have been a wave of copycat immolations across the region, though with few fatalities.
Civil defense spokesman Capt. Yahia al-Qahtani said in a statement carried by Saudi newspapers that the man, in his sixties, set himself on fire Friday and died in the hospital.
No name or motive was given.
Saudi Grand Mufti Sheik Abdel Aziz Al Sheikh on Thursday condemned suicide even in response to harsh living conditions.
In Egypt, a 25-year-old unemployed man died in a hospital on Tuesday after setting himself on fire in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, while three others in Cairo also attempted to set themselves on fire, but survived.
Protesters in Mauritania and Algeria have also set themselves alight in apparent attempts to copy Tunisian Mohammed Bouazizi, 26, whose self-immolation helped inspire the protests that toppled Tunisia's authoritarian president.
These incidents, though isolated, reflect the growing despair among much of the Arab public which has no real means of expressing its dissatisfaction. They are deeply symbolic means of protest in a region that has little or no tolerance for dissent.

Tunisia braces for rallies as PM promises vote

Tunisia's acting President Fouad Mebazaa (L) and Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi pose during the swearing-in ceremony of his new transitional national unity government. AFP photo

Tunisia braced for fresh protests Saturday after the main trade union called for a new government of "national salvation," as the prime minister promised the first democratic elections since independence.
The rallies come on the second day of a national mourning period put in place by the new authorities for the victims of a bloody crackdown by 23-year president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali before his ouster on January 14.
Flags flew at half-mast and public television broadcast Koranic prayers.
The UGTT union, which played a key role in the protests, has rejected the government installed after Ben Ali's downfall because it has kept in place some of the same people in key posts despite unveiling huge democratic reforms.
Abid Briki, deputy head of the UGTT, told AFP on Friday, "The executive committee of the UGTT met today and called for the dissolution of the government and the formation of a new government for national salvation."
"The street is still boiling over," said the independent daily Le Quotidien.
Protesters "are determined to wipe out any trace of the old regime and its ideological instrument, the RCD" - the ex-ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally party, which has dominated Tunisian politics for decades, it said.
"It's clear that transition to a truly democratic regime will not happen without a hitch," it added.
Upheaval in the once tightly controlled state continued to bring change, with state media reporting that farmers in the Beja region west of Tunis had occupied land they said had been confiscated from them by Ben Ali's nephew.
The government in recent days said it had opened a vast investigation into the property and finances of Ben Ali's extended family, seized family assets and arrested 33 of the ex-president's relatives.
Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, who has kept his post despite the revolt, vowed to quit politics after the north African country's first fair polls since independence from France in 1956, in comments broadcast on Friday.
"After the transition, I will retire from political life," said Ghannouchi, who has been prime minister since 1999. He also said that like many Tunisians he was "afraid" under the Ben Ali regime.
"All undemocratic laws will be scrapped" during the transition to democracy, he added, mentioning electoral, anti-terrorism and media laws.
He did not give a precise date for when elections would be held, although he has previously said there will be a vote within six months. Under the constitution elections should officially take place within two months.
Protesters in Tunis on Friday called for Ghannouchi to resign and officials from his office threw out portraits of Ben Ali onto the street below.
The rallies in Tunis in recent days have been largely peaceful and are smaller than the ones seen in the final days of Ben Ali's rule.
Ben Ali resigned and fled in disgrace to Saudi Arabia after 23 years in power, felled by a populist uprising against unemployment, corruption and poverty that quickly spiralled out of control despite his crackdown.
Officials say that 78 people were killed in the uprising including five members of the security forces. The United Nations has said at least 100 died, including dozens of prisoners who died during an uprising in Monastir.
At the start of a three-day mourning period in the country, imams across Tunisia hailed the "martyrs" at the traditional Friday prayers.
The government has announced major democratic reforms such as the release of all political prisoners, complete media freedom and the registration of previously banned political movements - including the Islamist Ennahdha.
But there is still deep resentment in central Tunisia, where the protests began a month ago, over social and economic conditions there.
One protestor at a rally on Friday held up a sign reading "Our President" next to a photograph of Mohammed Bouazizi, the 26-year-old fruit vendor who inspired the uprising against Ben Ali by setting himself on fire last month.
Dissident journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, who lives in Paris, has said he would run in the planned presidential election.
Moncef Marzouki, another dissident who returned to Tunisia this week after years of exile in Paris, has also said he wants to run.

Discovering Gypsy tunes with Oi Va Voi

22-23 Jan
Oi Va Voi, a project of six soul-searching young musicians from London, is set to take the stage at Babylon.
It is possible to discover Gypsy tunes in the music of Oi Va Voi. With their albums “Digital Folklore” and “Laughter Through Tears,” they prove that they are firmly and confidently in the world of experimental music.
The group was inspired by their parents. The parents of Oi Va Voi’s members are Jewish immigrants; the term “Oi Va Voi” means “Oh My God” in Yiddish.
They stay connected with their roots to explain the modern world with their unique style. The group also performs for Jewish weddings. Their music meanders through the realms of soul, ska, trip hop, drum ’n bass and Balkan.
The group collaborates with musicians such as KT Tunstall, Earl Zinger, Majer Bogdansky Sevara Nazarkhan. Oi Va Voi will be at Babylon with the sponsorship of Burn.

Iran nuclear talks in Turkey end

AA photo

Two days of talks between six world powers and Iran to ease tensions over Tehran's controversial nuclear drive ended on Saturday, a Western official said without elaborating.
The leaders of the two delegations, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, were scheduled to hold separate press conferences.
Ashton headed the P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany.
Ashton says she is "disappointed" with Iran nuclear talks as there was no agreement between Iran and six powers, and no plans for new talks.
Six world powers on Saturday sidestepped Iran's refusal to discuss scrapping uranium enrichment, offering instead to revive smaller-scale talks in hopes they will lead to broader dialogue about Tehran's nuclear activities.
Tehran denies that it wants nuclear arms, insisting it wants only to make peaceful nuclear energy for its rising population. But concerns have grown - because its uranium enrichment program could also make fissile warhead material, because of its nuclear secrecy and also because the Islamic Republic refuses to cooperate with U.N. attempts to investigate suspicions that it ran experiments related to making nuclear weapons.
While the six nations went into the first day of talks Friday formally focused on freezing Iran's uranium enrichment program, Tehran has repeatedly said this activity is not up for discussion. Instead, Iranian officials came to the table with an agenda that covered just about everything except its nuclear program: global disarmament, Israel's suspected nuclear arsenal, and Tehran's concerns about U.S. military bases in Iraq and elsewhere.
As talks resumed Saturday, Iranian delegate Abolfazl Zohrevand said the atmosphere was "positive."
"Both sides showed the willingness that a solution can be achieved to reach active cooperation on various issues," he told AP Television News.
Diplomats from two other delegations familiar with the negotiations were less bullish. They said that the six - the U.S., China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany - were trying a new tack after a frustrating 14-hour round Friday that cast the two sides' different positions into sharp relief.
One of the diplomats said that on Friday Iran tried - and failed - to impose conditions on further talks that would have included a lifting of U.N. sanctions and an end to six-power demands that Tehran give up uranium enrichment.
With Britain, Germany and China standing by, the U.S., Russia and France were talking with Iran on Saturday about reviving an offer to exchange some of Iran's enriched uranium for fuel rods for Tehran's research reactor, said the diplomats.
First made in late 2009, that offer was supported by the six powers as a way of reducing Iran's enriched stockpile, thereby potentially delaying its ability to manufacture a nuclear weapon. But it lapsed over Iranian conditions and later the realization by Tehran's interlocutors that it no longer made sense to discuss shipping out the original amount as Iran continued adding to its enriched uranium trove.
One of the diplomats said any agreement to explore reviving those talks should be seen only as a confidence-building measure and should not detract from the ultimate goal of curbing Iran's enrichment activities. The diplomats asked for anonymity in exchange for discussing the closed meeting.
It could be conditioned on Iran stopping the manufacture of 20-percent-enriched uranium. Separate from its main enrichment program which is churning out low-enriched uranium, Iran started enriching to 20 percent after the fuel exchange deal was stalled, saying it would use the material to manufacture its own fuel rods for the research reactor.
That heightened international concerns, because it takes much less time to turn 20-percent-enriched material into use for weapons than low-enriched uranium.
Tehran is under four sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to cease enrichment and other activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Iranians must "show in these negotiations that they are prepared to discuss the whole of their nuclear program."
But Iran came to Istanbul warning it was in no mood to compromise.
Neither "resolutions, sanctions, threats, computer virus nor even a military attack will stop uranium enrichment in Iran," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told Iranian state TV as the talks began.
He was alluding to U.N. sanctions imposed on Iran, apparent damage to the enrichment program due to the Stuxnet malware virus - thought to have been created by Israel or the U.S. - and threats of possible military action by Israel or the U.S. if Iran remains defiant.

Tanzanian plays lead role in film on African immigrants

Nasa Sef Said plays the lead role in the film 'Joenjoy,' which is about immigrants in Turkey. Said's wife Nur Akalın, who is the director of the film, says they are trying to break prejudices about African immigrants.

Nasa Seif Said could not have imagined that he would one day play the principal role in a Turkish movie. But who could be better suited to the principal role in a film about immigrants in Turkey than the Zanzibar-born Said? The fact that he is married to the director of the film probably also helped him get the role.
Nur Akalın, the director of the movie “Joenjoy,” also plays in the film, though has a very small part. Her husband Said characterizes a man, Jo, from Tanzania and she plays the woman Jo falls in love with. With music from Tanzania in the backdrop of the movie, actors and actresses in the film “Joenjoy” speak both Turkish and Swahili.
Said, who has been living in Turkey for 10 years, came to study tourism at Istanbul University. “Before I started to work with Nur, I was in the textiles and food business,” said Said, who is currently working in the movie business.

Fighting prejudice

Akalın said they wanted to bring the issues of immigrants in Turkey to public attention. “How could we still, in the 21st century, ignore the death of a ship full of immigrants?” asked Akalın, adding that they intended to break the image of Africans in Turkey being either thieves or drug dealers. “Africans are viewed with prejudice in Turkey because of the image created in American films. I wanted to show the language they speak and what they do in Turkey.”
Said is disturbed by being cursed at while walking in the street. “They think I don’t speak Turkish. But I do. However, I don’t say anything. It is useless to quarrel with such a mentality,” he said.
The film is dedicated to their African friends who died in unknown ways. “Abdallag Mywinyi, one of the actors, saved his children and wife from a fire at his home but died in the incident. Doctors in the hospital said he smelled like paint thinner. They tried to create an image that he was addicted to thinner. But he was not. After him, another African friend was also killed in a traffic accident. It was said in the court that he was hit by a car driven by a drunken parking lot attendant who took a Ferrari without permission from the owner. I think some of those scenarios are much more imaginative than our movie is,” said Akalın.
“Joenjoy” is a story about a DJ at a bar, Jongo Maruni, and his friends who have moved from Tanzania to Istanbul. The name of the film is the nickname of Maruni, given by his friends. Jo’s love affair with a Turkish girl is a side plot in the film. Tanzanian music and dances are included in several scenes.
Although finished in 2008, the film came to the screen in late 2010. “There are no commercial qualities in the film. For this reason, we participated in film festivals. And as I started my second full-length film, this further delayed the release of the film,” said Akalın.
“Joenjoy was screened in Istanbul in late December. It will also be shown in İzmir, Ankara, Eskişehir, Mardin, Diyarbakır, Batman and Van. We want to show it in refugee camps, too,” Akalın said.

Socialist Feminist Collective challenges Turkey's big business

Established two and a half years ago, the Socialist Feminist Collective has 200 members in Turkey.

The Socialist Feminist Collective, or SFK, which was established 2.5 years ago to fight for the rights of working women, took the spotlight when it staged a protest at a conference by the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association, or TÜSIAD, entitled “Women in Working Life.”
“We see feminist tendencies with Ümit Boyner [president of TÜSİAD]. However, it is impossible for us to reconcile with TÜSIAD,” said members of SFK, which gathers professionals from different ages. Some employees of TÜSIAD member companies were among them.
With approximately 200 members in the country, SFK together with other feminist organizations runs two campaigns with the slogans “We rebel against Women’s Murders” and “Men owe us.” They also publish a quarterly titled “Feminist Policy” in addition to a bulletin, “The Witches Kitchen.”
‘We can meet as women’
“Our goal [during the protest] was to show how two-faced big capitalist groups are when it concerns women’s labor,” said the members, who are not well known in the media.
It is a positive thing that TÜSIAD has been managed by women during recent years, said Gülnur Acar Savran, yet she argued that from the perspective of SFK, the problems in women’s labor are related to gender and social classes.
“Personally, I find Ümit Boyner to be very smart. But in the resolution of women’s labor we have different opinions,” she said.
Savran said she believes Boyner’s approach to them during the protest – inviting them inside and mentioning SFK in the conference – was a feminist approach. “If men had made the protest and if the TÜSIAD chairperson was a man, he would have never invited protesters inside. This happened because we are women.”
When reminded that Boyner invited them to meet TÜSIAD’s Gender Equality Working Group, Selin Dağıstanlı of SFK said, “We prefer to meet her not as the TÜSIAD chairwoman but as a woman.”

Don’t be patient; rebel now!

Berrin Hatacıklıoğlu, another SFK member, said the flexible working model that the business community has been demanding would force women into cheap labor as well as jobs without security.
“We don’t think TÜSIAD members are sincere. Some TÜSIAD member companies only give a 10-minute restroom break to employees, we know that. Is this not a contradiction? Güler Sabancı said (when she addressed the conference), ‘In order to be successful in business life, grit your teeth and continue to smile.’ However, we say ‘rebel.’ This is the difference.”

Turkish director Sinan Çetin’s ‘Paper’ doesn't cut too deep

Filmmaker, movie mogul, commercial powerhouse and larger-than-life public persona Sinan Çetin has taken a break from making ads to return to the silver screen with ‘Kağıt’ (Paper), a not-so-subtle autobiographical metaphor about one man fighting bureaucracy to make a film. ‘Kağıt’ is the latest testament to Çetin’s contradictory stance toward the state

Sinan Çetin's 'Kağıt' (Paper) stars Öner Erkan as Emrah, a young man with a passion to make movies.

It would be unfair to call Sinan Çetin just a filmmaker, despite the broadness of the term. He has remained a hovering presence over Turkey’s pop culture for two decades whether he makes movies or, as is generally the case, does not. Çetin is a persona who is much larger than the sum of his parts.
It’s a rule of thumb that nearly all popular figures generate their unique brand of devoted fans and followers, along with haters of a similar fervor. With Çetin, the number of fans and followers has diminished and are arrayed against an impressive number of detractors that include other filmmakers, movie critics and viewers.
The director, however, has chosen to show the finger to anyone who deigns to tarnish his work and his persona and has managed to maintain his position in Turkey’s culture scene and his currency among the artistic elite.
Çetin is a director, producer, writer, actor, publisher, commercial powerhouse, movie mogul and a real estate mogul. His directorial debut, “Bir Günün Hikayesi” (Story of A Day), goes back to 1980, when he wowed critics and audience as a promising newcomer.
His subsequent films “Çirkinler de Sever” (Ugly But In Love) and “Çiçek Abbas” (Abbas in Flower), both in 1982, received positive reviews as well. Interestingly, the early 1980s is a period Çetin doesn’t much care to remember yet alone be proud of.
For many, his magnum opus was “Berlin in Berlin” of 1993 when he steered his camera toward Turkish immigrants in Germany, including the groundbreaking masturbation scene of its award-winning leading actress, Hülya Avşar.
Since then he has directed, produced and wrote the occasional blockbuster, as well as the flop. Çetin is now more associated with the hundreds of expensive, extravagant and award-winning commercials he directs and produces. He is also rumored to own half of Istanbul’s Cihangir neighborhood, where his production company Plato Film and film school Plato Okul are located.
Filmmaker in conflict with own history
His latest film, “Kağıt” (Paper), was released last week to audience and critics who had difficulty separating the film’s message from Çetin’s very public persona and personal history.
The film stars Öner Erkan as Emrah, a young man with a passion to make movies. As he directs his debut film, he hits bureaucratic roadblocks, first in receiving a certificate of eligibility to film on the grounds that it threatens the unity of the state, and later when he finally tries to release the film, the shooting of which proved so difficult.
Bureaucrat Müzeyyen (Asuman Dabak) becomes the symbol of Çetin’s dysfunctional and autocratic state, turning every stage of filmmaking into hell. Emrah takes revenge on the woman (i.e. Çetin takes revenge on the state) by kidnapping her.
“Kağıt” carries autobiographical elements from Çetin’s own early filmmaking ambitions, such as the problematic relationship with his strict father, and his mortgaging of the family house for funding. Similar to Emrah’s relation with his father in the movie, Çetin’s public persona has been somewhat built on conflicting dynamics of love and hate, along with authority and father figures.
With the message in “Kağıt” – as well as in all other interviews – Çetin spits venom on the state structure, as well as its destructive authority and control over arts and culture.
Çetin’s past, however, reveals some serious flirtation with the state, from being the advisor to Prime Minister Tansu Çiller in the early 1990s to recently flying with President Abdullah Gül on his business trip to establish relations with Bollywood. So much for boasting at the beginning of the film about not receiving any support from the Culture Ministry.
The film also participated at the recent Golden Orange Film Festival, garnering the best supporting actress award for veteran Ayşen Gruda – the success is an irony for many, however, with Çetin well-known for slinging mud at festivals and competitions.

No bridging fight over Istanbul's Golden Horn

If a new bridge is constructed over the Golden Horn with the plans approved in 2005, Istanbul's historic peninsula might be downgraded from a World Heritage Site to a place on the List of World Heritage in Danger. DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIŞIK

The controversy that has delayed construction of a new bridge over Istanbul’s famous Golden Horn shows no sign of abating, with the plans, intended to ease traffic, criticized on both aesthetic and cultural grounds.
Perhaps the greatest outcry has been over the design of the bridge, which features two shiny, 55-meter-tall towers with horn-like shapes, a nod to the waterway’s English name that detractors say will ruin the historical silhouette created by landmark architectural works such as the nearby Ottoman-era Süleymaniye Mosque.
“The planning of that area took 150 years and is the result of an extremely well-considered architectural design. This bridge is not compatible with that view at all,” said famous historian Cemal Kafadar, who teaches at Harvard University.
During an award ceremony last year, Kafadar told Turkish President Abdullah Gül that the bridge, which will connect Şişhane, the last stop on a metro line, to the Süleymaniye area, needs to be re-planned lest it damage Istanbul’s historical texture.
Members of UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage Committee are also among the critics of the design for the span across the Golden Horn, known as the Haliç (gulf) in Turkish. They warned Istanbul officials during a committee meeting in July that constructing the bridge using the current plans, which the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality approved in 2005, could cause the city’s historic peninsula to be downgraded from a World Heritage Site to a place on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
“The World Heritage Committee believes the cable-stay structures [the horn-shaped towers] might have the potential to irreversibly impact the outstanding universal value and integrity of the site,” Francesco Bandarin, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
“The three other bridges over the Haliç [Golden Horn] have solved their [design] problems without any towers. I wouldn’t choose to include towers on this one either,” architect Ömer Kanıpak said.
“We cannot progress with this kind of mentality,” architect Korhan Gümüş told the Daily News. “Officials want to interpret everything metaphorically. Just because it is called the Golden Horn, we cannot build giant horns there and ruin the view.”
The bridge’s architect, Hakan Kıran, disputes critics’ claims. “We have done many studies with local and foreign experts. The bridge will not affect the historic silhouette at all,” he said. The architect added that he participated in the meeting last year of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and received praise for his project.
“Our first project included 82-meter-high towers but after the warnings of UNESCO and the Turkish Conservation Board, we reduced this to 55 meters. The criticisms are exaggerated,” he said.

Lack of transparency in decision-making process

But according to Kanıpak, the main problem with the bridge is not its design, but the lack of transparency about the design process behind it. “The most important issue here is not the towers, but the decision process of how to build a bridge right in the middle of Istanbul,” he said. “How come this decision is kept from the public and made through a bidding process? Why was this person [Kıran] chosen as the architect of this bridge?”
People who live and work near where the bridge is being built seem more concerned about how the bridge will affect traffic, and the timetable for the project. Pointing out the construction near his electronics store in Istanbul’s Karaköy district, which he has run for more than 30 years, Murat Kaymaz said: “They are building a bridge as part of the metro system. I think it is really a good idea. It will help the flow the traffic.”
His friend Osman Tınar, who owns a fishing-gear shop, is curious when the bridge will be finished. “They have been talking about the bridge for so long. I wonder when it will be completed,” he said.
“Whether you find it aesthetic or not, the bridge will be a great solution to Istanbul’s traffic problem,” academic and city planner Murat Güvenç told the Daily News. “If the Turkish Conservation Board has approved it, why are we still discussing it?”
“Although the bridge considers the geological qualities of the city, it leaves out the cultural elements. Couldn’t they find another solution instead of digging right into the historical peninsula?” said city planner Eda Beyazıt from Istanbul Technical University.
“The authorities want to leave a glorious mark on everything,” said academic and columnist Cengiz Aktar, who writes for the Daily News. “But they might reconsider their plan depending on the UNESCO decision next month.”
UNESCO has charged Istanbul with preparing a new plan for Istanbul’s historic peninsula by February. The World Heritage Committee will examine the plan and discuss whether to keep Istanbul on the World Heritage List or move it to the List of World Heritage in Danger.