A taxi crosses Times Square after a snowstorm blanketed the eastern United States with as much as a foot of snow, in New York March 2, 2009. Credit: Reuters/Chip East (UNITED STATES)
By Bernd Debusmann Jr.
NEW YORK
(Reuters) The model V1 by Turkish automaker Karsan Otomotiv made the short list along with models by Nissan Motor Co and Ford Motor Co, the city announced.
The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission launched the “Taxi of Tomorrow” competition in 2007, searching for a fuel-efficient and wheelchair-accessible car to win an exclusive contract to provide cabs for at least 10 years. The city has not said how much the contact would be worth.
“The yellow cab is one of the most iconic symbols of New York City. Taxis have been an important part of our mass transit system and we are going to create a new taxi for our city that is safer, greener, and more comfortable than the ones we have today,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
The Turkish model V1, which also features a wheelchair ramp that can reach the curb, has its advantages but will have to overcome a lack of experience in producing and selling vehicles in the United States, said David Yassky, chairman of the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
The Ford entry, known as the Ford Transit Connect, is a compact van of the kind more commonly found in Europe. The Transit Connect was awarded the “North American Truck of the Year 2010” at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Nissan’s entry is similar to Ford’s in that it resembles a small van, based on Nissan’s NV200 model. Unlike the other two models, there are plans in the works to make it fully electric, Yassky said.
The city expects to announce the winner in early 2011 with the new vehicles on the road no later than 2014. The new taxis would be phased in as older models retire.
New York City has 13,237 licensed taxicabs with 16 different models from nine manufacturers.
The mayor-elect of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, on Friday announced plans to build a monument to the movement headed by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Yiannis Boutaris, the city’s first Socialist-backed mayor in 24 years, said he intended to build the monument on a square associated with the Young Turks, the movement that created the Turkish Republic in the early 20th century.
“Freedom Square took its name from Kemal Atatürk; this is where the Young Turk revolution began,” Boutaris told daily Eleftherotypia.
Atatürk was born in Thessaloniki, which until 1912 was part of the Ottoman Empire. The city had a large Jewish and Turkish population at the time but vestiges of their presence have all but disappeared since.
“You can’t deny history, these people lived here,” Boutaris said, adding that he also intended to build a memorial to the city’s Jewish martyrs on the square. Most of Thessaloniki’s Jewish residents, some 50,000 people, were removed to concentration camps and perished when Greece was conquered by Nazi Germany in World War II.
“We would like Turks and Jews to come to the city in a pilgrimage to their family heritage, in the same way as we go to Constantinople,” (sic.) said Boutaris, using the Greek name for Istanbul, the former capital of the Byzantine Empire.
A 68-year-old wine producer and ecologist, Boutaris will formally assume his duties Jan. 1 after his election this month. Greece and Turkey have been rivals for centuries, fighting several wars and nearly coming to blows in 1996. Relations have since improved but remain strained over territorial and airspace disputes in the Aegean Sea.
A provincial harbour town on the eastern coast of Turkey is not where you expect to attend a preview for one of Britain’s most illustrious contemporary artists. Yet here on the windswept esplanade of Canakkale, curators, critics and artists from across Europe have gathered to witness Mark Wallinger unveil his latest work.
Mark Wallinger’s ‘Sinema Amnesia’ showing his film ‘Ulysses’, on the waterfront at Canakkale, Turkey
Entitled “Sinema Amnesia”, it consists of a makeshift movie-house made from a rusting shipping container. Perched on the lip of the waterfront, the battered structure exudes the trademark downbeat poetry of this former Turner Prize winner. Beyond, a white-capped ribbon of ocean is traversed by tankers, trawlers, fishing craft and merchant vessels. On the far side, a headland is emblazoned with the painted image of a soldier and a verse of Turkish poetry.
via FT.com / Arts / Visual Arts – Mark Wallinger’s movie-house installation.
NELSONVILLE ” Stuart’s Opera House presents an evening of music with The Four Lads on Saturday, November 20 at 7:30 p.m. A legendary vocal group from the 1950’s that have sold millions of records, The Four Lads are still touring six decades after beginning their careers. With over 60 years in the music business, The Four Lads know a thing or two about making hit records. The group had huge hits including “Istanbul” and “Moments To Remember”. This performance will feature founding member Bernie Toorish. Tickets are available right now!
Beginning their career in their native Canada, The Four Lads were recruited to go to New York, they were noticed by Mitch Miller, who asked them to do backup for some of the artists he recorded. One of these artists, Johnnie Ray, became a major hit in 1951 with “Cry” and “The Little White Cloud that Cried” with the Four Lads backing him. The group struck out on its own and selling over a million records with a string of hits throughout the rest of the 1950’s. 6 of those 1950’s hits reached the top 10 in America, and The Four Lads hit the peak of their success with the singles “Moments to Remember”, “Istanbul”, “Standing on the Corner”, and “No, Not Much”. The group continued to earn gold records and hit singles throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s. With over 60 years in the music business, the Four Lads are continuing to tour with their live shows after a career of selling over a million records.
Stuart’s Opera House hosts an evening with 50’s legends The Four Lads on Saturday, November 20 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available right now! For tickets or more information call (740) 753-1924 or visit www.stuartsoperahouse.org.
Jackson County Times-Journal – Jackson, OH > Archives > Community > The Four Lads to perform at Stuarts Nov. 20.
‘Unutma Beni Istanbul’ (Do Not Forget Me Istanbul) is a new film project supported by the 2010 European Capital of Culture agency. Produced by Hüseyin Karabey, the film features the work of six directors, only one of whom has ties to Istanbul. ‘This film tells of those who left their traces in Istanbul and reminds us of our forgotten past,’ says Karabey
The project, which is being supported by the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture agency, features the work of Aida Begic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, among others.
The project, which is being supported by the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture agency, features the work of Aida Begic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, among others.
Istanbul, a capital of different empires over the millennia, will be the subject of an innovative new film combining the works of six international directors.
“Our main purpose in this film is to challenge those who have been forgotten [the past] and to highlight human values,” Hüseyin Karabey, a young Turkish director who invited the six to create “Unutma Beni Istanbul” (Do Not Forget Me Istanbul), recently told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
“The six directors will each tell their stories. Their spots are not the same but they will link to each other,” said Karabey, who is also producing the film.
The project, which is being supported by the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture agency, features the work of Eric Narzarian, an Armenian living in the United States, Aida Begic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hany Abu-Assad of Palestine, Omar Shargawi of Denmark, Stergios Niziris of Greece and Stefan Arsenijevic of Serbia.
Of the directors, only Nazarian has ties to the city. The script, meanwhile, was written by famous Greek screenwriter Petros Markaris.
“Do Not Forget Me Istanbul,” which will feature six 15-minute short films, will be released Dec. 15, with the world premiere planned for either the Berlin or Cannes film festivals.
“We think that Istanbul belongs to us only, but this is not true. We don’t realize that we lose our richness on this land; we ignore the ones who lived before us. This film tells everyone that left their traces in Istanbul,” Karabey said.
“My family roots have nothing to do with Istanbul or Anatolia,” Niziris, who was recently in Istanbul to shoot his part of the film, told the Daily News. “But I love this city; it is a unique and special city.”
Project evolved thanks to coincidence
According to Karabey, the idea for the film emerged thanks to a chance conversation at the Thessalonica Film Festival.
“I was speaking with Markaris and he asked me where I was living in Istanbul. I answered that I lived in Kurtuluş. Then he asked me where exactly my house was because he grew up in Kurtuluş. When I told him the name and location of my apartment, he was shocked because it was the building in which he had spent his childhood and youth,” he said.
Immediately after the encounter, he contacted the six directors, all friends, and began work on the present project.
Noting that he had Kurdish origins from the eastern Turkish province of Malatya, Karabey said: “I saw how cultures are ignored on this land. But it is of no use to act like a victim. I confronted myself, made peace with my identity and decided to progress. This point has inspired my film.”
Nazarian’s story, meanwhile, was one of the saddest of the six, according to Karabey. “Nazarian’s family had an oud store in Istanbul. The hero in the film will follow the traces of this lost oud store. Let’s see if he will find it or not.”
Another striking short is from Abu-Assad. “This is a very impressive story, too. The members of a family, which was shattered during the Israel-Palestine war, did not see each other again. Many years later, their meeting point will be Istanbul,” he said.
‘This region has a common language’
Niziris, who was hosted by Karabey while working on his part of the film, said he had accepted the proposal without hesitation.
“Whenever I go abroad, I am impressed by the fact that the closest friends of Greeks and Anatolian Greeks are Turks. Actually this is very natural. Our language is the common language of this land; nobody understands us better than each other,” he said.
Arnaudi José Llanes Torres teaches Cuban rumba, salsa and mambo in Istanbul.
Arnaudi José Llanes Torres teaches Cuban rumba, salsa and mambo in Istanbul.
Before being invited to teach Latin dance in Antalya, Arnaudi José Llanes Torres, affectionately known as “Pepe,” was only familiar with Turkey through two notable Cuban sayings, “Oye estás fumando como Turco” (Hey you’re smoking like a Turk) and “Por qué pones esa cara de Turco?” (Why are you frowning like a Turk?). After arriving in Antalya in 2003 and giving dance classes to tourists at various hotels, Torres made the decision to come to Istanbul in 2005. Now he is happily settled in the city and married to a Turk, with a 3-year-old son. He continues to give Latin dance classes.
Pepe Torres, born in Cuba’s fourth largest city, Camaguey, trained as a dancer and was working for a tourist company in Camaguey when one day a friend suggested that he give classes in Turkey.
“I was working for an Italian tourist firm giving dance classes when a friend suggested that I try my luck in Turkey. So I got a letter of invitation from Turkey and I arrived in Antalya in 2003.”
Although Torres enjoyed working in Antalya, the lack of a Cuban community in the region led him to expand his horizons and look further afield. After receiving an email from the Cuban Embassy in Ankara with the contact details of all the Cubans living in Istanbul, Torres wrote to a person under the name of “Azúcar de Cuba” (Cuban Sugar), as he suspected that she might also be giving dance classes.
“I saw that there was a Cuban girl with a name that sounded the most dance-related [Azúcar de Cuba], so I contacted her and it turned out that I was right. She told me to come to Istanbul.”
Torres teaches the Cuban rumba, salsa and mambo as well as the Dominican conga and merengue. He comments that dance is a corporal language and in this sense he experiences no communication problems with his Turkish students. Nonetheless, Torres notes the difficulty of the Turkish language.
“You have to pronounce Turkish as it is written, it’s not like that in Spanish. Sometimes it’s hard speaking because you have to pronounce words well in order to be understood.”
Torres notes that the first thing that struck him between Cuba and Turkey was the different modes of thinking between the two countries.
“Cubans have a slightly more open mentality when it comes to ‘living life’. There seem to be more rules here, there are things that one shouldn’t or can’t do because of religion or custom. In this sense, in Cuba I feel we have more freedom.”
