A Real Lady

This is Derya, one of the bloggers of this blog. Just get ready for work (she takes care of the properties of the rich and famous on this earth: from Dubai.
Just sitting in her Lincoln Navigator (little girls in big cars...I witnessed this phenomena the first time in Miami..). Check out her blog.

Day Opening - November 16

Portraits, women of the world...

Dutch Younsters are protesting

We Love in the Netherlands against everything which is wrong or right! Yes, Dutch have always an opinion, probably because of our educational system which encourage people on a young age to form an opinion on their own. In fact: place two Dutch in one room and you get three opinions...
Today LAKS (Landelijk Aktie Komitee Scholieren - National Action Committee of high school kids) were protesting in the northern city of Groningen. They requires of the Dutch Government to decrease the total of school hours from 1040 to 960 yearly. And then, its always fun to spar with the police who is the best in karate, judo etc.

Day Opening - November 15

Tuscany, Italy.

Turkish Stars

Our friend Murat of American Turk, like to post pictures of the almighty Turkish army. Especially those guys in the air...

Here we see the fastest Turkish jets (...) as shown on the Open day of the Dutch royal air forces in June of this year. They called the Turks: experienced and handsome fight pilots..))

The Dutch government decided this week Monday to get rid off the F-16, since they are out of date. The newest toy is the F-35.

The Chief-in-command of the Dutch army is...Crown Prince Alexander, something different than a General..

How to deal with the Taliban in Pakistan

Pakistani lawyers, human-rights activists and opposition-party members can scarcely ignore the irony of their situation: while thousands of them are being beaten and locked up under President Pervez Musharraf's newly declared state of emergency, his government has just let more than two dozen militant Islamists out of jail. Protesters might be even angrier if Musharraf disclosed the names of some of those freed militants. Taliban sources tell NEWSWEEK that the top man on the list was Mullah Obaidullah Akhund—the highest-ranking Taliban official ever captured by the Pakistanis. As one of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar's closest confidants and his defense minister until the post 9-11 invasion of Afghanistan, Obaidullah was No. 3 in the group's hierarchy and a member of its ruling 10-man shura (council).
For now, the people of Pakistan will have to take any comfort they can from knowing that Musharraf is protecting them from lawyers and human rights activists.

You can read more about the Machiavellian way how Musharrafs stays in power by reading the article below.
Newsweek.

Day Opening - November 14

See the similarities.

Good morning Armenia!!!

Lately, a lot of Turkish columnists and writers placed well written, open-minded and with sincere interest in the Armenian-Turkish conflict, columns in Turkish Daily News.
The last one, yesterday, came out the pen of a Turkish researcher who converted to Christianity.
Here the article:

Rehumanizing Armenians and Turks
Monday, November 12, 2007
Ziya MERAL

You are not alone if you have not heard the word ''rehumanization'' before. Unlike its twin sister ''dehumanization,'' rehumanization is not a popular tool in politics and identity construction. We would rather build identities or pursue political power by stripping the other from their humanity in order to legitimize our superiority over them. We are more inclined to demonize, discredit, and humiliate the other in order to win an argument or establish our ''rights'' over theirs. Rehumanization is restoring the other's dignity and humanity and attributing the other the same rights ''we'' have or demand. Without rehumanization, there can never be reconciliation simply because without accepting each other as human beings and acknowledging the other's voice, we can never expect that the other will hear our pain and concerns and be moved by it to act unselfishly. Dehumanization is plentiful in Armenian-Turkish relations as each side still wages war for the exclusive rights to be heard. That is why debating sides tend to channel their energy only to disprove the other's historical account in order to prove the world how ''immoral'' or ''deceptive'' the other is. Continue reading.

In fact, I expected tons of reactions on all these articles. But nothing. Until yesterday when Hovhannes NIKOGHOSYAN gave his opinion:

An Armenian responds to Birand, others.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Hovhannes NIKOGHOSYAN


Well, Armenian-Turkish relations seem to be the urgent issue in regional politics (in the South Caucasus) and even more urgent than the conflicts in this area. Some people think, and I will rank on a par with them, that within the resolution of this old controversy between two nations – Armenians and Turks – lies the key to other conflicts as to the Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) conflict – I will say for sure.
So, what exact prejudices have been preventing the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations? Here I want to reply to some arguments made by Mr. Birand (brought up in the TDN article on 16.10.2007) and other authors who have some judgments over the above mentioned issue.
At least under two statements by Mr. Mehmet Ali Birand I will sign in with no eye open: "Let's get rid of articles like the 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Let's convince our Azerbaijani brothers. Azerbaijani brothers should be made to change their mind.” These are the first obstacles for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. Continue reading

When I finished reading the last article, I thought: 'Is this all?', 'is there nothing more to answer, discuss'? Anyway I hope that in the future there will be a lively dialogue.

Day Opening - November 13

De Keukenhof, the Netherlands. The most beautiful spring garden in the world.

Conversations with God

Since I don't feel well, I hang around in the house, moving from bedroom to living room, and spent a lot of time watching movies. Up to 5 a day. Also because I am not inspired at all to write something - maybe - interesting.
Last Saturday, one of the movies was 'Conversations with God', which first didn't attract me at all: another lunatic who pretend to get his/her orders out of the universe! And it sounded something evangelic. No, not for me. But after a couple of minutes, I stayed watching, and I must say: incredible. A simple man, a simple story, but so powerful. No dictates how to 'believe', how to worship...
The movie was also down-to-earth, nothing sensational, over-emotional. No, a sober inspiring story.
You can read about Neal Donald Walsch more here. And his books are translated in Turkish (in fact, my wife told me to watch the show). So...enjoy.

Day Opening - November 12

Pantagonia, Argentina.
Penguins at Puerto Mardyn.

My time

Finally, Lancia start selling their cars in Turkey. For me are these the most beautiful cars. Perfect Italian design: exterior as interior as well. In Italy they always drove me around in these cars. So now for me: shopping time!!!
And I will be the Dutch Devil of Istanbul..))

Being a hostage and being stabbeb in the back

While in the whole world, your countrymen are ‘with you’ when they take you hostage, here in Turkey is that a different case.

On the 21th of October, 8 Turkish soldiers were taken hostage by the PKK. Earlier this week they were released. And then the problems started.
"No member of the Turkish armed forces should have found themselves in such a situation," the Turkish Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin began. "As a Turkish citizen I cannot accept the fact that they went with the terrorists (...) that night. Our soldier is prepared to die if necessary when he is protecting the country."

Comments left on the web page of Hurriyet, Turkey's most widely-read bourgeois newspaper, suggest precisely the same:
"Shame, shame, what shame! Eight weak soldiers. I wish they had stood and fought and become martyrs," reads one typical entry.
"What were they doing when their comrades were martyred beside them? If I were them I would be unable to look anyone in the face after this," says another.

Does Turkey want more killings? More blood?

Fortunate some read more into the near-silence;
"The reflex of the mainstream press here is to turn a blind eye to anything they see as humiliating to national pride," explains Burak Bekdil, of the Turkish Daily News.
"The military did not want this debated in public, because people had already started asking questions about how the hell it happened," says respected columnist Mehmet Ali Birand.
"Something went dreadfully wrong for the soldiers to be taken by the PKK - and that reflects badly on the Turkish military," he says. "The media played it down on purpose."

Gen. Büyükanıt - as usual the only one who knows what communication means - in his position as the Chief of Staff of the Turkish army says: 'accusations against eight soldiers released by PKK terrorist was inappropriate.' And regarding sensationalist coverage by the Turkish media of the funerals of martyrs, the top general said that showing grieving families repeatedly was making him feel very bad as well and upsetting the psychology of society as a whole inappropriate.

It looks like that the Turkish public wants soldiers dead instead of being taken hostage...
I simply don't understand this whole 'pride' thing. In fact all prisoners of war are traitors, in the mind of some Turkish people...how sad.
It is mission impossible to strenghten Turkey's imago abroad.

Day Opening - November 11

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Leaving Facebook behind me...

I admit that initially I had an aversion to the Facebook site, and refused to join, until the pressure became so high that I joined two weeks ago. Like every new toy in the beginning its fun, but the software is so slow, and to maintain you 'Face' their, takes time: time-consuming.
Okay, I got poked, bitten, chucked. Had vampires on my neck, slayers, zombies. So I lost a lot of blood...
As compensation I got 'virtual' drinks and so on. But in the end it resembles a cheesy Internet dating site designed specifically for people who have dated computers: high school kids, lonely housewives, wannabee computer kids, and troubled young men..)
I will poke one person on a daily base, and that's it for now...success you frenzy facebook freaks...

Day Opening - November 10

Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia

Poem Seven - treasure-trove, lake, g

gömü, göl, g.
treasure-trove, lake, g

dizelerim dayandı da söz ırmağına
harf bitti. yazı yok. göğe erdi ses telim.
benim. benim. benim. bu kar topunun
yuvarlayıcısı. eskinin esin avcısı.
gömüldüm kış koltuğuna
nerdeyim, kimim, neyim:

gül topladım: güllendim
g harfine su verdim
bittiğim killi toprakta
ben miyim asıl yara
bülbül mü yetim?

su topladım: göllendim
çektim yokluğu imbiğinden
sen dedim. sen dedim. sen.
yetinmedin, şiir dedim
şiir bitti. yetmedin.

asıl şimdi ser aklıma örtünü
ey aşk neşesi, acının müjdesi ey!
tara beni, dök terini tarlama
terin ince, tuzun zarif,
serp tuzunu… senin bu yara.

Nurduran Duman

you can reach Nurduran on: Nurduman@gmail.com

Diwali

Today most of my Indian friends will be celebrating their Diwali. My daughters had some celebration in the school yesterday to understand all different religion. Some were dressed up within Indian tradation costumes Saree and some brought some Diwali sweets. Let me give you some idea about Diwali:

Divali, or Deepavali (in Hindi - दिवाली or दीपावली), is a major Indian festival, significant in Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism. Celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe, as the "Festival of Light," where the lights or lamps signify the uplighting of darkness and victory of good over the evil within.

The day also commemorated the homecoming of King Rama of Ayodhya, after a 14-year exile in the forest[1], and thus the people of Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) welcomed him back by lighting up rows of lamps (deepa-wali), thus its name, Deepawali, or simply shortened as Divali.
The celebrations focus on lights and lamps, particularly traditional dīpa or deeya (earthen lamp), and fireworks. Though colloquially called Divali in North India, in South India it is called Deepavali.

Divali is celebrated for five consecutive days at the end of Hindu month of Ashwayuja (amanta). It usually occurs in October/November, and is one of the most popular and eagerly awaited festivals in India. Divali comes exactly twenty days after Dussehra. Hindus, Jains and Sikhs alike regard it as a celebration of life and use the occasion to strengthen family and social relationships. For Hindus it is one of the most important festivals, and beginning of the year in some Hindu calendars, especially in North India. for more info:

Happy Diwali

Day Opening - November 9

Hardangervidda Plateau Norway.

Educational battleground

A while ago i discussed a controversial issue here in Greece, namely the new Greek primary school books which were opposed by elements within the Orthodox Church and especially the right wing party LAOS. Faced with this opposition, the ruling party, despite lack of opposition from the major opposition party, withdrew the primary school book, marking a step backwards for history and independent thought.

Now doing the rounds is an email apparently quoting an investigative paper To Thema with excerpts taken from a Turkish school book. The context of the article is a little suspicious, as it starts of with a criticism of the progressive school book before launching into its 'revelations'. Sitting here in Athens it is of course difficult to verify its allegations, nor the context in which these selective phrases were chosen from. But to briefly summarise. It quotes a History Book it claims is taught in the Turkish school system, titled: Turkey's rights in the Aegean (Ege Denizinde Turk Haklari). Page 19 the article claims states 'The islands of the Aegean are currently under Greek occupation' Page 65 'Peace in the Middle East and security in Asia is possible with the return of these islands to Turkey' and on it goes.

My immediate reaction was one of disbelief an anger 'How dare they (Turkey) write and teach such things'. It was only when i reviewed the article later on that same day that i really started to question it and started to see the sub-context of the article. What the article is really saying was 'Look at what the Turks say, so why can't we say what we like in our history books!'.

This of course does history a disservice. A true historian has to painfully become dispassionate and see the events in history for what they are, without emotions or nationalism clouding their vision. So in any event, it is irrelevant what others say as long as Greek eventually does the right thing. It does show however that it is easier to 'do the right thing' when everyone is reading from the same page, denying extremists the opportunity to shift the focus.

Day Opening - November 8

Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

resting

I don't feel well since end of last week. Now resting.
Will write when fully recover. Maybe in a day, maybe in a couple.
Hope that the co-bloggers of this blog have more energy.

Day Opening - November 7

Borobudur, Indonesia.

Day Opening - November 6

Inside the Dolmabahce Palace, Istanbul.

Day Opening - November 5

Prague, Czech republic

Day Opening - November 4

River Walk, San Antonio, Texas, USA

The Palm in Dubai

As I am working in Palm now with Individual Property Management with one of well known Real estate and property management company here in Dubai.

I can see how much work has been done in Palm, and still under contraction. There is lots of work has to be done and still continuing. I have to drive with big pumper trucks, vans and dirt road everyday.

I remember first time when they launched the projects it is the first and only man made island, then other projects are added like: The World, Jebel Ali Palm and The Palm Deira and as well as Dubai Waterfront projects.

It is not easy to access to the Palm, you need to get Car access card which takes about a week to get. I guess there have a reason as there is lots of important clients all over the world bought and buys property from here. As well as contraction still on for safety reason they need to be careful. There will be Houses, apartment blocks, Hotels, Aqua Parks as well as famous Trump Tower:)

Amsterdam!!!!

Ozlem and I were in Amsterdam months ago. Now, before your mind gets to racing about all the debauchery in which we were engaged, let me assure you–we didn’t do anything more immoral than usual.
At one, rather memorable, meeting a couple who travelled through Amsterdam on their way to a mission trip to India they quipped, “Yeah, we got off the plane in Amsterdam–you could just smell the sin.”
I was confused, since my city, just some months before my schnoz was incredibly active desperately in search of the “smell of sin” and... I couldn’t detect it.
Admittedly, I was probably absent the day they taught the “good Christians” what, exactly, sin smelled like. I imagine it smells a little like a Kerusso T-shirt–fresh from the sweatshop, but I can’t be sure...

What we found, instead, was a city of wonderful people, like I use to hang around with...
Probably some of the kindest people in Europe...he he he...
To be fair, Ozlem told me that 'the wholesale lack of a language barrier probably helped'.

Still, we were on the hunt for sin in Amsterdam–surely and we missed some orgies and the like.
Every time we encountered a new person, we expected to see some sign of Satan–you know, maybe in a moment of indiscretion they’d slip out their forked tongues, or reveal that they actually had two sets of eyelids or gills or something.
Imagine our shock when on a worshipful Sunday morning canal boat tour we cruised past a church that was–gasp–just getting out of service. Imagine that, a church, filled not only with grandmotherly types, but young families too...! Quietly sipping their coffee (an after church ritual) and chatting–pausing only momentarily to kindly wave to friends passing by on their Sunday morning boat ride through the canals.
Sure, a prostitute in the red light district asked Ozlem and I if we’d like to “do it”, but when we politely replied, “maybe next time” she just sort of let us go on our way...ha...

In Turkey, we like to think of Amsterdammers and their ilk as the embodiment of Beelzebub. We speculate that any Christian who supports liberal Marijuana laws can’t really have God living in their heart. No people who make a space for, and–again, gasp–protect and care for their prostitutes could have God living side by side with them.

This is not all to say that all Amsterdammers go to heaven and all Turks are going to hell...))
Far from it. There, like here, there is a pressing need for the love of God to touch people. We all have a need to be transformed.

That’s the tricky bit. Here in Turkey we tend to surmise that transformation moves us in the direction of wealth–what with streets paved with gold and all. Yet, I’m not so sure wealth is the direction of God’s transformation. But we Dutch seem, knowingly or not, to be on to something with regard to being transformed by God’s grace.
While here in Turkey, we are working 60 hours a week in search of something approaching upward mobility, may just be moving us backward. In the meanwhile, we are just sitting and eating dinner with friends and sharing a bottle of raki isn’t such a bad thing., or not?

But in short, we Dutch, understood the meaning of rest. That rest isn’t so much something to be done passively–so that we can store up our energy to head back into the grind. We understood that rest is something to be done actively…riding your rowboat down the canals, sharing a dinner with friends, and generally stopping to smell the roses.

So, I guess we went to Amsterdam in search of the smell of sin. What we found, however, wasn’t sin–at least not in any more abundance than we find here. We found the smell of delight, the smell of patience, indeed, we found out what the roses smell like. And that, my friends, is not a smell we likely to forget...

Day Opening - November 3

La Sagrada, Barcelona, Spain.

All in the family..

My little nephew made it!

Day Opening - November 2

Taj Mahal, India

Stand and Deliver! Or i'll ketchup?

Reuters is reporting on a story crazier than fiction.
Here in Athens, a supermarket employee on the way to the bank was held up with ketchup by two robbers and robbed of 400 euros.
How desperate does one have to get before attempting such a heist? While i am not fond of ketchup, my fear of the condiment does not extend to handing over my wallet to complete strangers. Now if it was a jar of wasabi, maybe, but ketchup, no way.

Oh and no, the crime was not committed by Spanish group Las Ketchup. They are there just to add more spice to the story!

Ozlem/Hans are going Talk Turkey

After many (reconciliation) debates, Ozlem and Hans are going Talk Turkey.
We are used to watch movies wherein John Wayne speaks Turkish, so we will know our way into that airport. Metin already saved money for Christmas/Bayram...but, does he likes Dutch mayo?
Mark our agenda: 22 December! And we will give Metin a free trip to friends in Mexico..)

Day Opening - November 1

Mexico

Globalisation in the balance

A recent report released but the Pew Research Center on Global Attitudes has revealed waning support for economic globalisation in Europe and the USA, contrasted to Asia where support for globalisation is on the rise in the emerging economic giants of China and India. For some people this is easily explained, everything was fine when we locate manufacturing plants in Turkey or China, but not ok when the tables turn and Chinese and Middle Eastern interests buy into 'Western Interests'. The 'West' should be mature enough to realise that everything has costs and benefits. Check out John Ralston Saul , or Joseph Stiglitz for some meaningful insight into globalisation.

But perhaps the most interesting fact revealed by the report (for this blog at least) is the declining support for separation between church and state and an increased skepticism of democracy working in Turkey. The report indicates that this may just be a reflection of 'anti-western sentiment'. Both of these are causes for concern for Europe as well as Turkey, and if it is a reflection of anti-western sentiment, even more so. All too often Western countries just treat anti-western sentiment as an immutable fact of life as the air we breath. What Europe should be considering is what is causing this sentiment in the first place and what, if anything, could be done to resolve this perception. Turkey too, has to undergo some introspection and seriously decide how its future is going to look like.

Also, now is not the time for Europe to act like a spoilt schoolchild who takes his ball home just because he isn't winning the 'globalisation game', and instead it should take a more pro-active role in defining and shaping Globalisation without waiting for the US to take the lead. In so doing it can address both the concerns of its Member states, future and neighbouring states. In this way it can peel away that false divide that is West and East, in the same way it successfully peeled away the false divide between European Member states. A unique achievement. Hopefully, in this manner it can discover a unifying constant with Turkey that is in both regions interest. Of course in so doing, both sides have to understand that there are costs and benefits involved. But i believe the benefits of closer relations far outweigh the costs involved.

Lack of humor?

A man from the Aegean resort town of Bodrum is facing charges of “insulting the spirit of Turkishness” after being taken into custody by the police Monday for dressing his dog in a t-shirt that said “Turk.” Read this exiting news here..))

Day Opening - October 31

Miami Beach, Florida, USA

French fries, patates, and frites

If you are an American, reading this, when you think French fries, you think McDonald's.
Oh you poor, deprived people. I don't say this because I spent a lot of time in France—mais non, I have never tasted a fry a la Francaise.
I say this because I spent my childhood in Holland, where fries are a national treasure.
Known as "patat," Dutch fries are prepared fresh—not frozen!—at a variety of fries stands that, much like hot-dog stands in the Yankee New York, appear on street corners, in shopping malls, and anywhere else the fry urge could strike.
Perhaps it is not surprising that in Holland, where the potato is given almost as much reverence as the Dutch royal family, the number-one snack food would be crafted from the sleepy spud, while you there in the New World, who prefer to worship red meat, have made hot-dogs and hamburgers your fast food staples.
Whatever the case, you can be certain that if you are traveling to the Netherlands (or Holland, it's the same..) you will come upon the tantalizing scent of frying potatoes wafting around a corner and forcing you to follow your nose to its source. The fries you order there will be the thick, steak fry variety, and they'll be served to you in a paper cone and topped with a dollop of creamy mayonnaise (a distant relative of your Yankee globby mayo).
Fries are so commonly served this way that to order them one simply asks for patat "met", or "with." The fry stand will also have a menu of other toppings, including sate sauce, a chunky peanut sauce that we the Dutch discovered during our colonization of Indonesia and promptly incorporated into their fry culture.
French fries? Called frites in Northern Belgium (part of the Netherlands until 1873), the homeland of all this confusion.
And the British named it chips...food barbarians...a culture which they exported to your USA so easily....))

My little driver licence

Getting a driver licence is much easier to obtain in the USA than in the Netherlands, where you have take endless lessons to even get the 'right' to ask for an examination. Average time in the Netherlands from day 1 (you first lesson) and your first examination (don't think they let pass you the first time) is 9 months...ufff.
So, I got my driver licence, now in a cute credit card form, last time in Florida.
The problem now, I don't live in the USA anymore, nor in the Netherlands or any other EU country. And my driver licence is expired. And I as a Dutch with an Americam driver licence resides in Turkey, can not renew my American driver licence in a Dutch or American one.
I need a Turkish one! First task is to get my cute little driver licence credit card formmat translated into Turkish...
And I think I have to do a test as well: curious how the instructor drives..))

Day Opening - October 30

Praque, the Castle.

Stairvertising

Mind your step at Penn station, NYC.

What happens now in...

...Argentina, where the wife of the current president, Nestor Kirchner, will succeed by his wife Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, will maybe happen...

...in 2008 when the former First Lady Hillary Clinton will become the first female president of the USA. For her fans, here here MySpace and blog...

Erasmus - humanisme...and anti-semitisme

Most people know the name Erasmus of the European student network.
This network is named after the Dutch humanist, Desiderius Erasmus.
Erasmus was born at Rotterdam, October 28, 1466. He attended the school of the "Brothers of the Common Life" at Deventer. On his parents' death his guardians insisted on his entering a monastery and in the Augustinian college of Stein near Gouda he spent six years -- it was certainly this personal experience of the ways of the monks that made Erasmus their relentless enemy.
After taking priest's orders Erasmus went to Paris, where he studied at the Collège Montaigu. He resided in Paris until 1498, gaining a livelihood by teaching. Among his pupils was Lord Mountjoy, on whose invitation probably Erasmus made his first visit to England in 1498. He lived chiefly at Oxford.
In 1500 he was again in France, and for the next six years lived chiefly at Paris. To this period belong his Adagia and Enchiridion Militis Christiani. In 1506 he carried out a long-desired journey to Italy. His visit closed with a short stay in Rome, whence he carried away a far more friendly impression than did Luther when he made his visit.
The accession of Henry VIII, and the invitation of Lord Mountjoy, induced Erasmus once more to make England his home. In his satire, Encomium Moriae (1509), we have him in his happiest vein, as the man of letters and the critic of kings and churchmen.
Erasmus resided chiefly at Cambridge professor of Greek. After 1514 he lived alternatively in Basel and England, and from 1517 to 1521 at Louvain. In 1519 appeared the first edition of his Colloquia, usually regarded as his masterpiece. The audacity and incisiveness with which it handles the abuses of the Church prepared men's minds for the subsequent work of Martin Luther.
In 1516 was published his annotated New Testament, virtually the first Greek text, and in 1519 his edition on St. Jerome in nine folio volumes wherein he introduced a more rational conception of Christian doctrine. But when the Lutheran revolution came he found himself in the most embarrassing position. Those of the old order fell upon him as the author of all the new troubles. The Lutherans assailed him for his cowardice and inconsistency in refusing to follow up his opinions to their legitimate conclusions. In 1521 he left Louvain, and spent the rest of his life at Basel.
He edited a long succession of classical and patristic writers, and was engaged in continual controversies. With Luther himself Erasmus, after long hesitation, crossed swords in his De Libero Arbitrio (1523). Yet during his last years Erasmus enjoyed great fame and consideration. He died July 12, 1536.
More controversial was his anti-semitisme: He advocated setting synagogues on fire, destroying Jewish prayerbooks, forbidding rabbis from preaching, seizing Jews' property and money, smashing up their homes, and ensuring that these "poisonous envenomed worms" be forced into labor or expelled "for all time." He also seemed to sanction their murder, writing "We are at fault in not slaying them."

Erasmus stands as the supreme type of cultivated common sense applied to human affairs. He rescued theology from the pedantries of the Schoolmen, exposed the abuses of the Church, and did more than any other single person to advance the Revival of Learning.

Day Opening - October 29

Ataturk, Turkey, the founder of the Republic of Turkey (October 29, 1923) and its first President.

Day Opening - October 28

Lisboa castle.

A new approach

Gülen movement forms supranational new elite.

On the second day of a conference titled "Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement," inaugurated at the British House of Lords on Thursday, academics from around the world focused on Gülen's ideas and the impact of the Gülen movement on the Islamic world.

The conference titled about the Gülen Movement, inaugurated in the British House of Lords on Thursday, attracted hundreds of academicians and scholars.

In the morning session held Friday, titled "The Gülen Movement in Redefining Turkey and Anatolian Muslimness," Marie-Elisabeth Maigre, a researcher at the London School of Economics who presented a paper titled "The Influence of the Gülen Movement in the Emergence of a Turkish Cultural Third Way," said the Gülen movement had built a bridge between opposite poles in Turkey through its activities.

Maigre indicated that Gülen has undertaken a significant role as a "man of compromise and synthesis" to mediate between "local and global concepts" and the "Kemalists and Islamists." Maigre also stressed that the Gülen movement attached great importance to the multicultural tissue of Turkey by backing freedom of faith and expression, democracy and Turkey's EU bid. Urging the audience to question themselves by asking them whether the Gülen movement had an impact on the moderation of political Islam in Turkey, Maigre underlined that the greatest achievement of the movement has been to drag the Islamist movements and their supporters in Turkey to a moderate "third path."

William Park, a lecturer in the Defense and War Studies Group at London University, who presented a paper titled “The Fethullah Gülen Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon,” argued that the Gülen movement had created a new supranational elite through its education and dialogue activities. Park stated that this elite group assumed important responsibility to have a positive impact on relations between states. He also contended that the movement reflected “Turkish values” more successfully than any other groups, saying, “The Gülen movement presents different aspects of Turkey to the whole world successfully.”

Professor Marcia Hermansen from Chicago’s Loyola University presented her extensive ethnographic study that she conducted over the symbols of the Gülen movement in a presentation titled “The Cultivation of Memory in the Gülen Community.” She pointed out that words relating to space and water were selected as names for the companies and institutions that are linked to the Gülen movement, stressing that words connoting inactivity such as a name of a lake were not selected, which she showed as the dynamic character of the Gülen movement.

Journalist Mustafa Akyol, who stressed that Turkish history, experiences and sprit all differed from those of other Islamic countries, said it was possible to talk about a Turkish Islam, which he thought was represented by the Gülen movement. Akyol said the Gülen movement was one with roots that were established in a tradition dating back to Ottoman times and added that it showed how the Islamic world can be modernized in the real sense.
Meanwhile, Gülen sent a message to the participants of the conference thanking them for their contributions to an academic investigation of the problems of humanity and what Islam proposes as solutions. He also expressed his sadness at not being able to attend the conference due to health problems.

In his message Gülen said: “Through the endeavors of worthy people like yourselves, I hope that in the end we will be able to discover common values on which to establish a better world and to bring about peace and cooperation between peoples in the future. I hope that this altruistic movement, whatever it is called, will spread and will carry us to the desired horizon where cultures and civilizations can meet and reach a consensus. It is my perception that these activities, which have been put in action so far under the rubric of ‘understanding,’ ‘tolerance,’ and ‘dialogue,’ would be better if pursued from now on within the framework of emphasizing and gathering around universal human values and a framework of reciprocal respect for the position of those with different perceptions, beliefs and thoughts.”

Day Opening - October 27

Children, Peru

I Was Sure I Would Die

BBC journalist Alan Johnston has told of his fear of having his throat cut in a Jihadi-style video execution, in a revealing account of his nearly four months held by an extremist group in Gaza. I can't explain How happy I am that Alan Johnston is free finally. Journalist that trying to do his job and captured. Journalists who are working in Middle East and Africa really works under hard circumstances.

Johnston, who was the only Western journalist still based permanently in Gaza, was taken captive by Palestinian extremists, the Army of Islam, on March 12 as he returned to his flat. He was released on July 4. The 45-year-old told how he was kept in a room with “a narrow, sagging bed and two plastic chairs” and said that he had been stripped of his watch, and could only tell the time by the sun’s movements and sound of calls to prayer.

Nevertheless, it set his mind racing. “I was sure that if I was to be put to death, the act would be video-taped in the style of Jihadi executions in Iraq ... I imagined being put into that red suit that they would make me wear for any video work. I imagined perhaps one of them in a hood, imagined one of them stepping up, imagined having a knee in my back or the back of my neck and then my throat being cut.”Johnston said that one of the few bright spots was the fact that his guards allowed him a radio, with which he became aware of the BBC’s campaign to win his freedom, which he described as “an enormous psychological boost.”

Eventually, the politics of Gaza worked in Johnston’s favour, as the hard line Palestinian group Hamas seized control of the territory and negotiated his release. Since returning to Britain, Johnston said he dreams “sometimes that I’m in captivity again, and I cannot tell you how good it is to wake, and gradually realise that, actually, I’m free.

“The kidnap’s legacy is not all bad ... it was a kind of dark education,” he said. “I lived through things which before I would have struggled to imagine ... I’ve gained too a deeper sense of the value of freedom ... it can still seem faintly magical to do the simplest things - like walk down a street in the sunshine or sit in a cafe with a newspaper.”