On a stormy Sunday night, I rushed back to Mecidiyeköy to meet with Özgür and watch Avatar. The film started at 21 and at 20 I was still Bahçelievler and my car’s alarm system was suddenly broke. I and dad disabled the alarm system so I could drive and be on time. It was so rainy that I even stopped listening to music and fully concentrated on the road because the visibility was very low. Anyway it was all worthy.

1. It was the first 3D movie I watched and I loved it. See, the plot is somewhat cliche and there are many movies with cliche plots but have great visuals. Still they are not good for movie buffs. Here, despite a level of cliche you can find in the movie, you will still love it because of the visuals. Boy, they have created really glorious 3D stuff.

2. A very realistic narration of colonial invasion in a Sci-Fi form. White Man exterminating the Indian… However, relatively happy ending here. So not all realistic.

3. The first half: think of it as an anthropologist doing traditional fieldwork among natives, trying to get the native point of view and gone native in the end.

4. Add to the narrative a new Sci-Fi element. Avatar usage. A similar practice seen in Snow Crash and in some other new Sci-Fi novels.

Avatar earns $232.2m in opening weekend

That’s the biggest ever for a non-sequel. It earned $73m in the U.S, the rest abroad. The LA Times points out that many on the east coast were snowed in by the worst blizzard in a decade,….

That’s how we were waiting for Ömer to be born…

Ömer is half an hour old here.

The recommendation adopted by the European Commission on July 15 2009 allows the citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia with biometric passports to enter the Schengen area visa-free from January 2010
Mavi Boncuk |

Pacta sunt servanda L./Ahde vefa TR /agreements must be kept ENG., is a basic principle of civil law and of international law.

( EU must explain this part to Turkey)

In its most common sense, the principle refers to private contracts, stressing that contained clauses are law between the parties, and implies that non-fulfilment of respective obligations is a breach of the pact. The general principle of correct behaviour in commercial praxis — and implies the bona fide — is a requirement for the efficacy of the whole system, so the eventual disorder is sometimes punished by the law of some systems even without any direct penalty incurred by any of the parties.

EU Places Early Member Candidates at Head of Line, Snubbing Turkey

The EU lifted visa restrictions Saturday for citizens from Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, even though these are in the early stages of the EU membership process, while not extending this Schengen privilege to Turkey, which began accession talks in 2005 and has opened 11 out of 35 chapters in its membership negotiations. Turkey protested and has asked to be included in the Schengen regime, pointing out that, of the Balkan states affected, only Macedonia has attained the status of EU candidate. Serbia has yet to submit a formal application and its entry has been stalled due to its failure to arrest ex-Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, who has been charged with war crimes in the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo.

Trust in EU drops in Turkey: Survey [ WORLD BULLETIN- TURKEY NEWS, WORLD NEWS ]

“EU will only lose by leaving us behind” – Turkish PM – RT

EU Is A Strategic Target For Turkey, Davutoglu

Trend News: Turkey not to be EU member soon: Turkish expert

Interview: With the EU or Not, Turkey is European

* Interview on the Minaret Ban in Switzerland and Its Connection to Turkey-EU Relations

We talked about the future of Turkey-EU relations and the ban on minarets in Switzerland with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sedat Laciner, President of Turkey’s Ankara-based think tank USAK (International Strategic Research Organization).”

Swedish EU Presidency – Turkey and Croatia take further steps toward membership of the EU

Intergovernmental accession conferences at ministerial level are to be held with Turkey and Croatia on Monday 21 December in Brussels as part of the EU enlargement process. The meetings will be chaired by Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt.”

Period of qualified relations with the US

The last rendezvous of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with US President Barack Obama was the precursor of a new period in relations between Turkey and the US. While the two countries agreed on some points, they had different ideas on others. But this situation did not prevent relations from continuing strongly.

EU will lose if it leaves Turkey out (PanARMENIAN.Net)

The Orthodox Church: Turkish government seeks formulas to open Halki seminary

Afghan soldiers during military training at a Turkish commando training center in Egirdir, Isparta in southwestern Turkey, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009. Dozens of Afghan troops are undergoing training on explosives, mountain climbing and guerrilla warfare at a Turkish commando training center. Turkey, NATO’s sole Muslim member, has refused to send additional troops to Afghanistan for combat operations but said it would increase training of Afghan security forces. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

The Turkish-European Rift Widens

While most of the media coverage regarding Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s trip to the United States has looked east, to Turkey’s burgeoning relationship with Syria and Iran, the real breaking news may concern Turkey’s faltering relationship with the European Union.

Yigal has too posts about recent “Turkish openings.”.
The Closing of the “Armenian Opening”?
The Closing of the “Kurdish Opening”?

These are not easy issues to open, there will be myriad ups and downs. I preserve my hope.
still, Armenia Threatens To Annul Agreements With Turkey – «Ազատ Եվրոպա/Ազատություն» ռադիոկայան

Has the initiative process ended?

The Turkey-Cyprus debacle

Earlier this week EU foreign ministers deliberated what to do about Turkey’s failure to extend the Ankara Protocol to Greek Cyprus. Given that Turkey has had three years to comply, the Greek Cypriots went into the meeting in a bullish mood insisting that the EU freeze all chapters in 2010 for Ankara’s non-compliance.

Turkey and Israel: Ends and Beginnings / ISN

Netherlands – Verhagen: no measures against Turkey for the time being

Interview With Dr. GEORGE CHRISTOU on Cyprus, Turkey and the EU

George Christou is an Associate Lecturer in European Politics, Department of Politics and international
Studies, University of Warwick, UK, and has previously held positions as: a Research Associate at the Centre for Public Policy, Northumbria University, UK (2004-5); a Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK (2003-4); and as a Lecturer in European Politics at the Department of Government, University of Manchester (2001-3). His main research interests include: the EU’s role in conflict resolution/transformation, with specific interest in Cyprus and more recently, the frozen conflicts in the eastern neighbourhood ;

Turkey and Israel: ends and beginnings,

The states of Turkey and Israel have a lot in common, notwithstanding their many differences – in size, history, political background, social character, and religious composition:

European Literature Goes to Turkey

Mavi Boncuk |European Literature Goes to Turkey, Turkish Literature Goes to Europe

The Goethe-Institut Istanbul is very proud to be organizing, a large-scale, high-profile arts tour throughout Turkey and the EU from May 2009 until June 2010. Funded by the European Union’s Cultural Bridges program, the tour will bring 48 authors and countless musicians, photographers, filmmakers and artists from eight participating European countries (Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria) to 24 cities throughout Turkey. They will be accompanied by a bookmobile containing the showcased literature, internet terminals and audiovisual resources.

Egemen Bağış on the BBC: ‘HARDtalk’

It is not every day that a leading Turkish politician is a guest on the BBC’s television “HARDtalk” show. Early this week Turkey’s chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış answered questions from Stephen Sackur. The interview was held in Brussels and not in London or Ankara, perhaps a sign of a long-awaited EU rediscovery as implemented by the Turkish government.

Partial agreement between Obama and Erdoğan

by ABDULHAMİT BİLİCİ

If one were to scan through our newspapers right after the meeting between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Barack Obama, the headlines, written while the iron was hot, would suggest that the two leaders agreed on every topic. However, if the statements released after the meeting are evaluated from a more coolheaded perspective, it can be seen that this isn’t entirely true.

Ret. Ambassador İskit: Greek Cypriot block of Turkey’s EU talks is not well-intentioned

from Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news :: Interviews by YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN

Retired Ambassador Temel İskit has said that Greek Cyprus’ announcement that it will block six chapters in Turkey’s accession negotiations with the European Union is not in good faith considering the ongoing negotiations between the leaders on the divided island.

Relations With Turkey Kindle Hopes in Syria

For Syrians, the new relationship suggests an embrace of a more open society and holds the promise of a revitalized regional economy.

Syria, Israel and Sarkozy by ALİ YURTTAGÜL

I suppose there is no need to underline that Syria and Israel are determinative countries in the Middle East peace process.

Decoding Erdogan’s Washington Visit

The German Marshall Fund has a new briefing out looking at Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent visit to Washington. Written by Ian Lesser, a very astute observer of Turkish affairs, the briefing suggests that, “Overall, the experience has produced more open questions than answers regarding the future of U.S.-Turkish relations.”

European Parliament to question Bulgarian proposal for referendum on Turkish-speaking news programme

Today in Strasbourg Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE group leader, raised his concerns to parliamentary group leaders about plans in Bulgaria to hold a national referendum with a view to closing down a short news programme broadcast in Turkish for the benefit of the Turkish-speaking minority.  The initiative presented by the far right Ataka party was recently backed by Prime Minister Borisov and raises important questions about the country’s commitment to the protection of minorities since it became a full member of the EU in 2007.

Parliament worried about Bulgaria TV ban plan

Moving Kurdish Politics To The Mountains

The satirical magazine Leman shows the Constitutional Court (helicopter), with its decision to close the Kurdish political party DTP, moving the party to the mountains, which is slang for joining the PKK. The pilot says, “OK, leave it.” (click, in Turkish) The picture also implies isolation of Kurdish politicians, and banning them from civilization (house, parliament)…………..

Violence should not mar Kurdish initiative

Ongoing clashes in the streets between nationalist groups and supporters of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) protesting the closure of their party by Constitutional Court ruling last week on charges of ethnic separatism and links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have raised concerns among many about the prospect of the Kurdish initiative grinding to a halt.

Becoming a tool in the PKK’s game

The Constitutional Court’s decision to close down the Democratic Society Party (DTP) has covered up a very important incident. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) initially remained silent about the attack in Tokat’s Reşadiye district in which seven soldiers were killed and then later assumed responsibility for the bloody incident.

‘Why the DTP couldn’t exclude the PKK’

With a map of Turkey in the background, Turkey’s Interior Minister Besir Atalay speaks to the media about his government’s ‘ Kurdish initiative ‘ and security issues during a news conference in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. Atalay says the government will speed up reforms for reconciliation with Kurds despite a surge of violence by Kurdish rebel supporters and the closure of a pro-Kurdish party on charges of ties to Kurdish rebels.

(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Turkish fascists, Kurdish fascists

Turkish democrats and Kurdish democrats want the “nameless, low-intensity internal war” to be over. The idea that there is “no end” gained currency.

From ‘damn human rights’ to ‘damn the democratic initiative’

During the deliberations on the budget in Parliament on Monday, we saw once more that the leaders of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), who have opposed the democratic initiative from the very start, are holding the initiative responsible for both the increasing street demonstrations by supporters of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the killings of seven soldiers in Tokat’s Reşadiye district at the hands of a PKK-linked terrorist group.

PKK’s strategic calculation in killing 7 soldiers

EU criticises Turkey’s court ban of Kurdish party

Journalists Face 3 Years Imprisonment for “Respectable” Öcalan

DTP İskenderun District Mayor Mahmut Aydıncı and journalist Ersen Korkmaz face imprisonment of up to 3 years for addressing PKK leader Öcalan as “respectable”. The final speech of the prosecution will be presented on 26 January 2010.

Turkish workers protesting layoffs stand in a pool in cold weather after riot police used pepper spray to disperse them at a park in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. Riot police used pepper spray, truncheons and shields to disperse the workers of the Turkish state tobacco company Tekel on the third day of the anti-government protest. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Decision in Favour of Armenian Agos Newspaper Sparks Hopes

UN says Copenhagen deal ‘a start’

Activist-Journalists Bring Citizen, Pro Media Together at COP15

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — This past Saturday, on a crisp afternoon in Copenhagen, Jacob Wheeler and Rick Fuentes, two amateur journalists with the non-profit media start-up the UpTake, walked alongside a mostly peacefully stream of demonstrators. Roughly half of the total police force in Denmark followed in step. Conspicuous among the crowd were the hundreds of ad hoc reporters with serious-looking digital SLRs slung around their necks.

The Copenhagen Failure shows: There is no effective Global Politics!

In the early hours of this morning the news of the failure of the Copenhagen summit on climate change hit the news wires. I won’t repeat the individual disappointments as the papers will be full of it today. But I would like to comment on the political implications of this disaster. It shows that there is no effective global politics, only global problems.

Copenhagen & the incapable European Union

I wake up this morning and I see that yesterday’s minimal compromise in Copenhagen finished just close to a failure, in line with the failures of the European Union.

Climate deal disappoints EU

EU looks beyond ‘weak’ Copenhagen climate deal

The EU in 2010

As 2009 draws to a close, Open Europe today looks ahead to 2010 and what the EU has in store.
From 1 January 2010, Spain takes over the six-month rotating ‘presidency’, currently held by Sweden.

Spain vows to take backstage role as EU President

Deadlines for graduate school applications are coming up again. Last year I wrote some quick pointers on applying to graduate school but since then I’ve developed my boiler-plate for our school even more as additional requests for information have entered my mailbox. So here is the latest iteration of my advices for applying to graduate school. Although it is written for where I teach, most of what I say is applicable to anywhere. Good luck!

Not Just Drones: Militants Can Snoop on Most U.S. Warplanes

Yesterday, news broke that insurgents used a $25 application available online to hack into US military drone video feeds, and view, copy, and potentially distribute their contents. Hmmmm… Unauthorized copying of audio and video material? Some on Twitter have suggested that we might just send the MPAA or RIAA after them — then, for sure we’ll at last find Bin Laden. But Wired Danger Room’s Noah Shachtman says,

Herbert Brandl at Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman

Artist: Herbert Brandl

Venue: Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck

Exhibition Title: Spektrolith

Date: November 14, 2009 – January 29, 2010

Artificial intelligence reborn at MIT

MIT has launched a new $5 million, 5-year project to build intelligent machines. To do it, the scientists are revisiting the fifty year history of the Artificial Intelligence field, including the shortfalls that led to the stigmas surrounding it, to find the threads that are still worth exploring. The star-studded roster of researchers includes AI pioneer Marvin Minsky, synthetic neurobiologist Ed Boyden, Neil “Things That Think” Gershenfeld, and David Dalrymple, who started grad school at MIT when he was just 14-years-old. Minsky is even proposing a new Turing test for machine intelligence: can the computer read, understand, and explain a children’s book. More details after the jump.

Open Access Encyclopedias

In the age of Google and Wikipedia, can higher education create online reference works that are free, scholarly, and economically viable?

Science fiction fandom is 80 today

80 years ago today, the first ever science fiction fan group, the Scienceers, met for the first time at organization president Warren Fitzgerald’s apartment in Harlem (Fitzgerald, the first-ever big name fan, was black). Happy 80th, fandom!

Philosophy prof won’t go to jail for making unofficial Derrida translations available to students

Horacio Potel, the Argenine philosophy professor who was facing a possible prison sentence for posting unauthorized translations of unavailable Derrida works for his students to read, has been exonerated by an Argentine court:

Dianna Molzan at Overduin and Kite

Artist: Dianna Molzan

Venue: Overduin and Kite, Los Angeles

Exhibition Title: The Case of the Strand

Date: November 8, 2009 – January 9, 2010

NGO fury after Copenhagen ban

Yesterday’s decision by the UN to ban a large number of NGO delegates from the main summit venue for the Copenhagen climate change talks was, to say the least, unpopular on the ground.

Copenhagen climate talks: Main issues and state of play

Photos from Copenhagen protests

Swiss minaret ban goes to court

The US State Department on the Lisbon Treaty

We’ve seen all the intra-European arguments about Lisbon (now in force for a full fortnight) – what we really need is some expert extra-European opinion. So ta very much to Philip H Gordon, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the US State Department, for his handy overview.

Key points?

Second agency downgrades Greece

At Copenhagen, both rich and developing nations offer concessions

COPENHAGEN — As President Obama prepared to visit the historic climate conference here, there were signs Wednesday of a break in the impasse between rich and developing nations.

Slow progress at Copenhagen talks

Talks remain deadlocked at the protest-hit climate summit in Copenhagen as world leaders join efforts to seal a deal.

Copenhagen: climate countdown,

Copenhagen: climate countdown

The United Nations climate-change summit is a vital step in the world’s struggle to avert catastrophe. openDemocracy authors reflect on what needs to happen and how much Copenhagen can achieve.

Bloggingportal.eu

Many of you will be heading into the holiday season now and when you come back to life in 2010, you should become a fan of Bloggingportal.eu – if you haven’t been a fan until now!

The Bloggingportal is the most comprehensive and most useful compilation of blogs and blog posts focused on EU and pan-European topics and we are close to 500 blogs by now, in many European languages (although English is still dominating), including hundreds of topics and a diverse mix of bloggers.