Holland European Champion football under 21 year

Holland brushed aside Serbia to retain the European Under-21 Championship title with a convincing victory.
Last year the Dutch became European champion under 21, in Portugal. This year again, but now playing in the Netherlands.

Interesting ads

These ads are made by Lara Sao Paulo.

Should we stay or should we go now?

Meetings and meetings. Announcements, warnings, threats, statements, counter threats and counter warnings. And so on. Is Turkey going into Iraq or not? I thought that a regular army can not win a war if the enemy are guerrillas. Take a look at Baghdad. 100.000 USA troops and still everyday suicide bombings etc. Will Turkey make the same mistake?

Kunta Kinte, 'Armenian Seed', the Denial of Racism!

This is Orhan Kemal Cengiz. A columnist for Turkish Daily News. And who writes every week on Friday a column. I must say, his columns are really newsworthy and excellently written, and for sure, lots of Turks don't like what he writes. I think, when written in Turkish and in an ordinary daily such as Sabah or Hurriyet, the nationalists will lynch him. The hunt is already started in Turkey by some people. Since the (ultra) nationalists most of the time don't understand another language than Turkish, it's safer for him to publish his comments in Turkish Daily.

Here is the start of the article, further reading link below the article.

Friday, June 22, 2007
By Orhan Kemal Cengiz

ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

If you asked a man in the street in Turkey what racism means, you would probably receive a vague answer and some random examples rather than a conceptual definition. These examples most probably would refer to other countries, like the United States and European countries, but not Turkey at all!
For us, racism is what the white man did to the black man. Racism is just an image for us haunting our memories from the film “Roots”. It is the picture of the white man who was whipping a black guy: “Say your name nigger”, “My name is Kunta Kinte”, “Your name is Toby boy”, until at last, after hours of lashing, Kunta Kinte gives in and says “my name is Toby sir!” This is the only form of racism we know.
I have never come across any Turkish person who considers himself a racist. However, racist remarks are just flying in the air in the daily conversations in this country. Our language is full of racist remarks. For example, Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, is called an “Armenian seed” (Ermeni Dölü). If you consider how much Öcalan is hated in this country then you can imagine how “flattering” being an “Armenian seed” may be. “Jews are cowards!” “Arabs are back stabbing people”! Not to mention very offensive vocabulary about the Roma people!

Continue reading here.

ING and Oyak, be Happy

The ING group bought yesterday Turkish Oyak bank. A Turkish friend of mine challenged me by saying: ING is German. Holy Cow, the Orange lion is our national symbol. Some other people were saying that this is bad for the Turkish national interest. I don't think ING won't sell it back to Turkish investors if they get some good net profits. But are there any?

These pictures are of ING headquarters in Amsterdam. Yes, the Netherlands is well-known for its architects, only of course among other architects and project developers around the world...


We call this organic architecture. Lots of space for the employees, green, light and water.


This building replaced the old headquarters in 2002. There are 120.000 people working for ING worldwide.



The entrance already gives a good impression of the interior, it looks friendly.


An open garden 'inside' the building!


The Berlage meeting room, where they planned the 'coup' in Turkey..)) The interior, in contrast with the exterior, is 'antique'.

Retirement

On the left the house I want to buy...hehehe..))

Doing PR for free...

Just added some people to my blog. Of course my Super Hero in Istanbul.
But also Derya, a Turkish woman in Dubai, and Bertus from the Netherlands (you have to learn Dutch - easy language if you understand English).
And a friend from India, on duty to get his MBA in Canada: Great blog Priyank.
And then the Turkish invader in Moscow... Bad, bad, they are Slavic, Christian Orthodox... and we Dutch invaded already Russia..)) But at least, it's fun to read your blog. And in case you don't know it: I invaded Istanbul...can you stop me..))

Hamas in action...

Hamas took over control in Gaza. After opening the prisons and by setting rapist, thieves and killers free, they first started looting and destroying Christian churches and schools. Then they looted the house of former president Arafat. Disgraced all of his work, awards e.g. the Nobel Price for Peace. The next step they took was the announcement that Christians can only continue living safely in the Gaza Strip if they accept Islamic law, including a ban on alcohol and on women roaming publicly without proper head coverings. Including teaching of Islam law and religion at Christian schools. Read it here.
Not that long ago Hamas was on an official visit in Ankara. On invitation by R. Erdogan. Do you think they still have contact?

A shot from Beirut

I could not resist to upload this picture here. It's made in Beirut, Lebanon, yesterday. This image is priceless. Although there is some kind of civil war going on, these people look feeling confident.

Good ads

These ads are made by DDB London. Good ones. Turkish advertisement lacks creativity, although its level is increasing.


I can tell you that it takes weeks to produce these pictures.


Click on the images to enlarge them.

Women in Iran

I got some shocking pictures of Iran. The most disgusting was a woman hanged on the street. This picture was taken 2 months ago. Between the time this picture was taken and my putting it on my blog are 2 months. Since then, 67 people have been executed. 17 on the street...
Do you want to see more? Interested in how women are beaten up? Or do you want to hear the stories in the Gaza strip, where women are now 'protected' by men?....

What I don't like

is another question...
The winner takes it all, was and still is the case in Turkish politics.
AK party got 31% of the votes and ruled the country 'regens a terra per propositum'.
The winner takes it all. Compromize and learn what consensus means, if you want to enter the EU. Dictating is a no donner (kebab)....

I love AK party

Yesterday, some people accused me that I love AK party.
Do I? No, I don't love them, but I agree with them.
Tried to explain why, and then, the same rhetoric as ever: 'You Europeans like AK party since they want to use the EU to get their Islamic agenda through'. I replied: 'Which agenda'? And: 'Who is your informant there?'. The last question was a little bit too much for them, since they don't know how to handle these kind of questions. Merely, the answer is like this: 'Uh, I read it...somewhere'. Come on guys (and girls), use your senses: who benefited the most of the last five years of reforms? Yes, you...
And five years ago you considered EU citizens as holy, now I am a piece of shit...
Do I love AK party, no, I only agree with them...that's all. And for your information, I don't tell you 'shit'. Capite?

EU bashing: narro quisquam, tantum sermo ut vos teneo qua vos sermo super

And more to follow...I promise...

Real men don't cover their faces

These are Hamas 'free fighters', looting the Gaza strip with the help of their clans, notorious about their drugs trade, slavery, women trafficking and everything Moses once forbids. And, they opened all the prisons as a sign of good governance. Well, ladies, don't go on the streets uncovered, and without at least 5 male body guards. Don't think that it's about religion there, it's all about the tribes and clans.

Women can not show their faces anymore under Sharia law, but are men now subject to these laws as well? Looks like the first group are 'friendly' forced and the second group doesn't want to be recognized...Maybe they forget to shave themselves? Or do they have something really to hide...their identity? Or is it simply macho behavior?

Speculations and rumors

Came across an article today about Turkish decision makers and the Hudson Institute in Washington DC. You can read it here. Do we have to take this seriously? We call this time of the year in the Netherlands 'komkommertijd', which means, journalists don't have anything to write about - because of the summer season - so they write stories. Always good to read nonsense on the beach, on holiday, or lazy at work.

Anyway, now Turkey will go to the polls on July 22, still no interesting news about their programs, since the political parties in Turkey are fighting with each other more than planing an appropriate Campaign. None of my business, but since EU biasing is Turkey's favorite sport, I am here, standing strong.

The USA, country where investigation journalism has a good history and reputation - think about Watergate, Iran gate, Abu Ghraib prison, Guantanamo bay, is still setting the benchmark worldwide. Al Jazeera is challenging them, but only with horrible pictures and shootings.

The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal, Washington Post and many more are covering world affairs more sincerely than in Turkey, which is drowning itself in Capitals, Colors and screaming headlines. In EU countries, and merely the USA journalists, conduct ethics and how to interpret news these days. And they separate facts from fiction. Here is a good site about that. And I recommend each Turkish journalist to read this book. The Elements of Journalism. Also Le Monde and El Pais are worth reading.

In general, bloggers are considered as more reliable than newspapers. Many journalists have their own blogs these days. Since they have to follow their newspapers' policies, blogging became another outlet for them. I found an interesting blog about the Middle East, where people from Palestine, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq etc. are talking like good neighbors. Please, visit that blog. You will get the latest updates about what is going on over there, in particular: Gaza strip and on the West Bank.

And Turkey, yes, there is a boom in blogs. Some interesting, some informative, some give a different perspective than main stream media, and some are boring. But what bothers me is the level of news: too often I see articles starting with: When, If, Why, Where...exactly that leaves too much room for speculations. And besides this, most journalists are badly informed. Especially about world affairs since they are monolingual.

Amsterdam Airport

Don't get married in Vegas, get married at Schiphol Airport...

And take off for Vegas, to get divorced...a new business line created by Hans A.H.C. de Wit..

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is voted as the best European Airport.
Yes, they are doing a good job.
Please let KLM follow this trend, especially after their merger with Air France...!!

Teach your children well

I am always surprised how quick foreign media are reacting about developings in Turkey; their Turkish counterparts can learn a lesson from them. Even Al Jazeera is quicker. There is no 24-hrs up to date web site based newsletter, only Zaman is doing okay with a quick update.

Erkan, on his blog already made us aware that President Sezer of 'valede des republica of Turkey' vetoed the new package of elections reforms the current government proposed. And Sezer will bring this package to the public, which means: are the people of Turkey intelligent enough to vote for their president or a bunch of fist fighting deputies? Maybe an intelligent test for wannabee's politicians would help? Just an idea...))

The current government is an legal elected one, but some people in the opposition have the arrogance that people, who voted for AK Party are stupid and ignorant, that they even don't deserve to vote. Right, they are poor, but what have that to do with democracy? Okay, everybody must follow the military and their imposed military doctrine (started at pre-elementary schools, and ends the last year at one of the non top 500 universities in the world). Auw...

Would love you to show trembling children at the age of 9, who on 'Children's day (a day for Children not for the military) who are reciting Ataturk his words. Poor confused kids. Looking to their moms and dads if they fail 'Ataturks test'. Ataturk would be worried by so much idiotery. Child, be child and don't take too much crab for granted.

Ha, therefore, a lot of Turkish students get educated abroad. Molding is an important process in students life: be critical, find your own way, and think freely. Not in Turkey. Get your grades and leave the rest to Father State. So Turkey is still holding up with North Korea and Myanmar. Bravo!

Now, I am waiting until the Turkish mobs, or Turkish 'Gestapo' picks me up...just missed (on invitation) the high level security and democracy seminar in Istanbul. At least, I feel some protection by the NPD...

Like father, like son...?

Yesterday, the Sisli court in Istanbul, found several journalists of Agos, Armenian/Turkish daily, not guilty of trying to create undue influence on the judiciary for articles criticizing the conviction of former editor-in-chief of the paper, Hrant Dink.
In the meanwhile, Hrant Dink's son, Arat Dink, will be prosecuted for insulting under penalty code 301, 'Turkishness'. Arat republished an interview of his father, where he talked about the Armenian Democide...exactly the reason why he was killed...
Will he follow his father? During the funeral of Hrant Dink, while passing the MHP party building, there were sounds of Cat calls coming out these 'nationalists' buildings...Yes, wolfs playing for cats...

Turkish NGO's active in Europe - part 1

Yes, this will be a long story how Erbakan's Milli Gurus just ripped off 20.000 Turkish people of their savings, how the fascistic MHP likes to play for police agent in the Ruhr area, Hamburg, East of the Netherlands by selling women, fraud, provocations and intimations, and last but not least, how the Turkish government tries to influence the Dutch, Belgium, French and German politics. This will be an unheard story. Hope to silence all the 'followers' of the main stream Turkish press (looks like high school newspapers - but I have a special taste).
Than, only than, after you see what is going on, you can comment and call me a bastard, imperialist, asshole, colonialist etc. Enfin, the usual words I get...

Wanted

This is Vedat, a good friend of mine...and wanted by many men and women, for different reasons. Anyhow, he is for sale now..)) And I have 24 hrs. to collect some money out of this. He is a Dental surgeon, speaks fluent English and German, and of course Turkish, 38 years already, no kids, no history of broken marriages...
Please contact me if you are interested. You have exactly 24 hrs...time is ticking...))

Women rights in Turkey

Last week, my blog friend Erkan and I had a tough discussion with a pretty well educated Turkish girl, staunch Kemalist. According to her, women got less rights in Turkey under the current government. We argued that the opposite was true, and she became furious. If we both men were supporting the Sharia?! In the end, we put some facts of the European Stability Initiative (ESI) report on the table: Sex And Power In Turkey: Feminism, Islam and The Maturing of Turkish Democracy. Read it here.

Today, Mustafa Aykol, an Islamist Capitalist writer - see picture above, and a person I met a couple of times, wrote an excellent story about the myths of Kemalism. Read it here.

It's always a pleasure to read his stories. For sure one of the few independent thinking columnists in Turkey. Another one is Orhan Kemal CENGIZ.

Fly Pink

Always thought that pink was the color of gays. But the new airline Fly Pink also hijacked this color for them (read: women).
What happened. An English airline is offering tailor made 'shopping breaks' (yes, you can not shop in the plane, only drink pink champagne and get your pink nails manicured) from John Lennon Airport Liverpool to Paris: for women - or girls, depends how you describe yourself - only. Shopping, shopping, shopping...and who is paying for this..))
Good, it's now waiting on a carrier which flies men only. That would be fun...A nice Boeing 747, in Black and Yellow colors. And the stewardesses, they can be female...

What I missed in the Turkish press

The hero of Turkey, the new elected French President, Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, had a meeting last week at the G-9 with the President of Russia, Putin. Sarkozy arrived too late at the press conference, forgot to put in his ear the device for translation, and was significantly in a good mood. For sure, he didn't drink water, but some strong liquor. Nothing bad about that, but it was all over the news in Europe, except not in Turkey, where the guy is considered as a hero..))

Fun stuff

This picture is for all the lonely Turkish men. Made in a suburb of Rio! What can you find then downtown...up to your imagination guys...



Stole this picture from a blog of SA, yes, Turkish people have to laugh more. Therefore I put this one here. What can a banana do to your soul?

Two Gentlemen

You see, they look serious, as they both met at so many occasions. And I bet you, Jaap rather talks with politicians than with generals. And Gul is right that in the NATO-EU conferences, Turkey can not be left out.
What bothers me are the senseless accusations by Turkish generals, that European countries are financing and helping the PKK.
And last but not the least, Cyprus can never be a member of the NATO as long as there is no settlement. It would paralyze the NATO completely. Enough problems already within the EU.
And Jaap knows this...

Blogger's Code of Conduct

The Blogger's Code of Conduct is a proposal by Tim O'Reilly for bloggers to enforce civility on their bloggers by being civil themselves and moderating comments on their blog. The code was proposed due to threats made to blogger Kathy Sierra[1]. The idea of the code was first reported by BBC News, who quoted O'Reilly saying, "I do think we need some code of conduct around what is acceptable behaviour, I would hope that it doesn't come through any kind of regulation it would come through self-regulation."
O'Reilly and others came up with a list of seven proposed ideas:

.Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
.Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
.Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
.Ignore the trolls.
.Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
.If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
.Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

In later comments, O'Reilly gave a tacit endorsement of Jon Garfunkle's Comment Management Proposal: "Jon, your post at Comment Management Responsibility: A Proposal is very detailed and thought provoking, as well as way more comprehensive than anything I'd thought so far."

Two old 'friends'...

This is 'Jaap', Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. A Dutch and the Secretary General of the NATO since December 2003. Until then he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. In December 2002 at an EU conference he met Abdullah Gül, by then Prime Minister of Turkey. I remember a meeting they both had. Jaap came out that meeting and had 'red ears'. The only thing he wanted to say about his meeting with PM Gül was that in his whole career he never heard such a 'language' . That's all he wanted to say. Now Jaap is the boss of the NATO and Abdullah Minister of Foreign affairs of Turkey. And they met today. Jaap urged Turkey not to interfere in Iraq. We will see...

Last year they met in Sofia at the NATO summit, and it looks like that they can smile about what happened in 2002.

The same occasion: The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn and Abdullah Gül.

Here with The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Eduard Kukan, and you see, Gül can make jokes...

Presenting...

The son of my oldest brother...Joeri...a model for Prada and many other

fashion brands. Doing shows in Paris, New York and Milan.

Don't think that the whole family looks like him...

Btw, he is still a kid!

A beach in Athens: Glyfada

As I wrote in my post of 14 April, I had a nice, free of business break in Athens and Thessaloniki.
Ten days away from the craziness of Istanbul. Spent some time with friends in Thessaloniki and drove from there to Glyfada, Athens; a suburb with many water sport accommodations of the Summer Olympics 2004.

Exactly there on the beach was my hotel: nice sunrise and sunset every day. Weather was great: 21 - 23 degrees.


The road from Salonika to Athens is beautiful, only an area of 50 km, where the EU sponsored project of 600 million Euros, reconstructing the road, leaves the driver stuck in massive traffic jams. But the view, when you are waiting and waiting, is spectacular. Not the Amalfi coast but there is a lot to see and watch.


And yes, the Greeks know how to put their country on the agenda. Turkey is still doing bad regarding PR and advertisement. The last attempt was almost copy paste of the Greek commercial. The only difference: the Greek commercial is still running and the Turkish one is out the air, for 2 months now. Turkey gets enough attention I guess, so why bother about some good promos? The answer 'lies' in the mouth of the Turkish bureaucrats...

Bush as God's messenger...sounds like O.B. Laden

For sure, many of you, American Turks, don't like Bush, but he is a hero in Albania. You all know that the Bush family is of Dutch descent, maybe that softens the pain...)) When the 'old Bush' came to the Netherlands he was so pleased by the welcome..)) Bush Jr. will frame the above picture...sure?!


Watched it live, and he looked like 'this can not be true': shaking hands with everyone and everybody. At least there is a country which is proud of its relations with the USA (besides, of course, the Philippines, Moldova, Georgia, Latvia, Poland etc.)


The Albanian variant of Uncle Sam?!

Auw

Is there a Texan who ever did this with G. Bush...just curious...

Paris Hilton on the front page

Finally, Dutch quality newspaper nr. 1 www.nrc.nl put a picture of Paris Hilton on the front page: a black and white one as you can see. But the heading was tough: Paris back in jail, Mama, this is not fair. Anyway, I don't think that Dutch are that much into celebs etc. We don't care about the private lives of politicians, judges, artists etc. Of course we have our tabloids. But privacy is a value for the Dutch which can not be paid in dollars! Even not in euros...

New blogs on the block

Yesterday and today added some new blogs to my favorite blogs list.
Especially the blog from Myrthe, a Dutch, now living in Yerevan, and Vassili who is trying to survive in Athens are nice blogs. Also another Dutch, Sietske, living in Beirut created an interesting blog.
None of them are propaganda blogs, but about life and love and the countries they are living in.
Found also a feature which doesn't allow 'anonymous' comments anymore. At least you must leave your name or blog name now.

Poem Five - Soul Draws

Soul Draws
(can çizer)

öptüm evet. boyunca.
cam üfler gibiydim. can çizer.
parmak izlerim de cin ali çiçeğim de
gülen kadın: derin üstünde. hoh de.
tinin söyler. ten tarih tutar.
dil en tende çizelge.

ölümü gördüm evet. kente dönmüş
film festivalinde jüri üyesi.
önden seyrediyor sahneler güneşinmiş
ölümüm yaman bir sarıkanlı. deliye yakın
veliden gün almış doru bir sıcak.
kanımca birkaç gün daha kalacak.

özledim evet. sinema diyorum izle sen.
benim sanrım susamayan ateş,
alacağı var da ondan! diyor dinmeden,
yağdıkça yağıyor annem.
özverin burada geçmiyor desem. süzülecek.
doyunca sevsem tek, göğsüne sinsem…

evet geçtim. yler üstü bir hayattı.
Y üstüne bir sevi. o seçmedi.
uyumuştum oysa. geldikçe düşüm.
aktım suyunca, dağ ve şirin ne demek.
ölümse şimdi, şu öpüşen, ölümsem demin bu
günü sürme çekmişim üzülme gözlerime.

Nurduran Duman

Typical Turkish or Turkishness...what's the difference?

One of the things I don't understand in Turkey is the word 'Turkishness'.
I know what is 'typical Turkish', like hospitality, pride, raki or baklava, but asking around, nobody could give a clear answer. If someone is telling me "you are typical Dutch (stingy, multi lingual, or whatever)", I respond: "Yes, so what?".
Turkishness sounds also something like some kind of race, and then not the inferior one...
Anyone out there to give me an answer on this?

More about Nebahat Albayrak

Studied International law in the Netherlands. And was one year guest student in Ankara, and two years in Paris.

Her father was a wharf builder, both her grandfathers were farmers in Turkey. She is not married. And she doesn't have children.

Interesting to mention that the party she is elected for strongly urged Turkey for an independent research about the Armenian democide: if this can be called Genocide in the sense of pure legal terms. Also, the outcome of this research must be accepted by Turkey and Armenia.

Promotion pictures of Turkey

The famous Janissary Band if front of Dolmabahce Palace. Where dinner will be served on the first evening of the conference!

On the right the silhouettes of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

Below on the left, the city of Ankara.

Pictures are made for the booklet of a conference which I will attend next week in Istanbul: 2nd Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Global Security. Organized by the Turkish Police Force: NPD.

Censorship

Last year the New Church Amsterdam organized an exhibition The Sultan and the City. The exhibition was opened by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and many art pieces were shown until April the 5th of 2007. Topkapi palace gave a helping hand.

The two main sponsors KPMG and Fortis held a symposium, for relations of the 2 firms, just days after the opening. Mainly Turkish banks and business leaders. I was there as well.
After the interesting speeches a cocktail, and by leaving, you got a present: a book about Istanbul, with an introduction by Mr. Koç, Minister of Tourism. But there was a problem: the Turkish government didn't allow that in the book the name of Constantinople was mentioned, and that Armenians lived in the area. After a lot of threats by the the Turkish government, KPMG removed the names 'Constantinople' and 'Armenians'. But as revenge, they put a map of Constantinople anno 1410 inside the cover.
That the Turkish government censors in its own land, a la, but that it wants to dictate its views on countries like the Netherlands is offensive.