Reactions to Erdoğan’s reaction

 It seems that government had decided not to rely on Jewish lobby in the US. Against the Armenian Genocide claims, Jewish lobby was a constant helper. Israeli officials themselves downplayed the crisis, but not the diaspora.

I believe PM Erdoğan consolidates his domestic power. But I don’t think this was a staged event as some commenters claim. They have wild imaginations. Too much belief in conspiracy theories.

Turkey’s image? Hmmm when was it good anyway? 

 

 

According to a poll, made in 30 cities and 1200 citizens by MetroPoll, 78.3 % agrees with PM Erdoğan’s reaction while 13.7% disagrees.

 

 

 

However, this does not mean, all those agree think this will have good consequences for Turkey. Still, that’s 55.7 %. On the other hand, 21% thinks this is not good for the country.

[roundup updated]

As of tonight, Erdoğan becomes a political legend….

Whatever the diplomatic consequences of Erdoğan’s reaction (or whether it is right or wrong) in the Davos panel, he becomes a legend for masses.

Thousands are driving to Atatürk Airport to welcome PM Erdoğan’s arrival at the moment…. Now I hear that subway services are extended to 3 am so that people can go to airport…

All photos here from Hürriyet website. 

Apart from hard core anti-AKP citizens, and retired diplomats whose minds belong to Cold War era, who immediately reacted negatively, we try to understand the situation.

* at one level, it is a matter of pride. Turkey’s PM stood against disrespect.

 

 

Diplomatically unimaginable happens in Davos

PM Erdoğan walks off the panel on Gaza in Davos after a harsh exchange of words with Israeli president Mr. Peres….

Turkey PM storms off in Gaza row

Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries to have dealings with Israel, but relations have been under strain since the Islamist-rooted AK Party was elected  

Here is the video

A report on Turkish bloggers

I stumbled upon a report that outlines the profile of Turkish bloggers. At this level, it is all about statistics and unfortunately it is in Turkish. But I guess graphs and tables might give you an idea?… It depends on a survey that took place between 1 December 2008- 15 January 2009. 717 bloggers attended the survey… 

Ergenekon, March elections, TRT Şeş

Doğan Media Group (DMG) now recognizes that there is something called Ergenekon and they shift their energy to emphasize the failures in the legal process. This is healthier.

March elections for municipalities becomes a hotter topic day by day. CHP nominated Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as the CHP mayoral candidate for İstanbul. This is possibly the best candidate against AKP. Although AKP’s mayori Kadir Topbaş is still more advantageous, it is possible that AKP may lose Istanbul. I have noted several times that I do not like Mr. Topbaş as a mayor. I don’t believe he would have any chance if he wasn’t an AKP candidate…

TRT’s Kurdish channel experiment continues to receive new feedback. A friend of mine is involved in a relatively popular sit-com in that channel. I have just heard…

A&G Survey, according to Milliyet, shows AKP is far ahead in competition for Istanbul mayor’s office.

Toby Miller on Trends and Issues in Cultural Studies

Wolf Vostell, Coca-Cola, 1961 FOUND IN LACMA Features First U.S. Exhibition to Examine Art Developed During the Cold War

Erkan looks at Turkey’s news channels…

As a news junkie, I may live in the right country. At the moment, there are at least 6 TV channels that specialize in news, that they call themselves as news channels.
After bought by Ciner Group, which is heading towards to rebuild its media conglomerate and possibly becoming the second biggest one again, Haberturk became my favorite. In hard news, in breaking news, i guess they invest and succeed more than all others.

NTV used to be my favorite since I arrived back to Istanbul in summer 2004. No other channel could challenge them. However, the channel began to introduce some very good talk shows and football programs etc- and it also plays for the high cultural consumption such as Sunday classical music concert programs- gradually although its ratings rose, it lost its power a little bit as a news breaker.

Kanal 24 as a hard news channel is trying hard and I rely on them more and more.

TGRT Haber is a full time news channel. Their style is a bit boring and but they are better at local news.

Sky Turk is never my first choice. But they sometimes offer better and additional coverage.

Ah poor CNN Turk. It is a proper news channel but always remained under the shadow of NTV and now it has more rivals and it never excites me. Despite the CNN partnership, it has a low profile in Turkey…

Erkan finishes up the Guardian movie list…

Just finished watching up the Guardian’s 1000 films to see before you die list. Not exactly; I could not find 40-50 films to watch but i guess it is still all right. I can die in peace.  As a movie buff, I started following IMDB lists with the IMDb Top 250 Then followed many other lists in addition to watching on what hit theatres. I ended up voting 2135 titles in IMDB.

Two scened from The Wicker Man (1973), one of the influential movies I watched recently. And its remake The Wicker Man (2006) fails gigantically….

a short break

I haven’t turned on my laptop in one and half day. A record:)

Ultimate commercialization: Slayer’s Valentine’s Day Bundles

I had subscribed Official Slayer Store mailing list ages ago. I receive band information from time to time. Since last Christmas, Slayer store’s email notifications are attracting my interest. How come such a band can market its products like the one I quote here. In fact, I am not too surprised. Commodification and commercialization is everywhere and Slayer is not an exception. Still, a band whose

lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as death, deviants, suicide, genocide, necrophilia, insanity, Nazism, religion, Satanism, serial killers, and warfare have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and strong criticism from religious groups and the general public (via )

prefers such a marketing is funny, at least…

here is a link to Valentine day campaign:)

Slayer • Valentine’s Bundles