Turkey - Turkish Forum

ACTION Alert: Demand that Gaza’s borders be opened!

From: Maggie Coulter <mcpd1234@gmail.com>

Take Action:

Gaza is in the grip of a human-made humanitarian crisis. Thousands of tons of food, medical and emergency shelter aid including blankets and mattresses, donated by countries including the United States and aid organizations, is being denied entry through crossings by both the Israeli and Egyptian governments. The Israeli navy is blockading Gaza’s sea front, preventing boats from delivering supplies Gaza, including a Lebanese ship with badly needed plasma.

Call the White House, the Israeli Consulate, the Egyptian consulate, and Congress and demand that:
– Israel and Egypt open all border crossings to Gaza,
– Israel stop its blockade of the sea access to Gaza, and
– Israel end all military action against Gaza (and its occupation of Palestine).

Remind President Obama and Congress that a third of all U.S. foreign aid goes to Israel and Egypt so the U.S. is clearly in a position to put effective pressure on both countries to stop this ongoing assault on the people of Gaza.

White House
President Barak Obama, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111, Switchboard: 202-456-1414, FAX: 202-456-2461

Email through website:

Israeli Consulate
Consul General of Israel, 456 Montgomery Street #2100, San Francisco, CA 94104
Tel: (415) 844-7500 | Fax: (415) 844-7555,| sf@israeliconsulate.org
Consul General, Akiva Tor, (415) 844-7501, concal.sec@sanfrancisco.mfa.gov.il
For urgent press inquiries, IsraelConsulate.Press@gmail.com
Office of Public Affairs, (415) 844-7506, paffairs@sanfrancisco.mfa.gov.il

Egyptian Consulate
The Egyptian Consulate General, 3001 Pacific Ave., San Francisco, CA 94115
Tel: 415-346-9700 / 346-9702, Fax 415-346-9480, email: egypt@egy2000.com

Congressional Switchboard
All Senators and Representatives can be reached through 202-224-3121

More Information:

Urgent call from Gaza to all social movements: Open Gaza Borders!
International Solidarity Movement, 4 February 2009
Website: www.palsolidarity.org. Email: media@palsolidarity.org

We reiterate the need for a call from Palestinian community based organisations and the over 130 grassroots NGOs in the Palestinian NGO Network for an immediate opening of all border crossings currently controlled by Israel and Egypt.

Gaza is in the grip of a man-made humanitarian crisis. Thousands of tons of food, medical and emergency shelter aid including blankets and mattresses, donated by countries including the United States and aid organisations, is being denied entry through crossings by both the Israeli and Egyptian governments.

The United Nations has stated that 900,000 Gazans are now dependent on food aid following Israel’s 22-day assault on the tiny coastal territory. Only 100 aid trucks are being allowed into Gaza each day – 30 less than were being brought in last year and substantially less than before Israel’s operation ‘Cast Lead’: an attack that has left over 1,300 Palestinians dead, the vast majority of them civilians massacred in their streets and homes. With over 5,000 injured and 100,000 homeless, admittance of aid is crucial at this time.

This is a fraction of the estimated 500-600 trucks deemed necessary to sustain the population of Gaza according to the United Nations. According to UNRWA, food trucks are delivering enough food to feed just 30,000 people per day.

Hundreds of medical patients, the injured from this war and Israel’s previous invasions, are being prohibited from leaving Gaza for indispensable medical treatment. Over 268 people have died of preventable and treatable conditions after being denied access to treatment since the beginning of the ongoing siege two years ago.

Israel and Egypt have designated February 5th as the final day for all foreign nationals to leave Gaza through the southern Rafah border. Egypt has said it will close the Rafah border indefinitely. Despite a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Health that humanitarian cases will be allowed through, many patients have already been turned back, before the closing of the border. Hundreds of patients and some of those wounded from ‘Cast Lead,’ are still waiting for permission to exit Gaza through Rafah for medical treatment.

The Gazan community is concerned that Israel will be stepping up its’ economic, political, cultural and militarised stranglehold on Gaza in the upcoming weeks. Post Israeli elections, Gazans fear the Israeli government will
conduct extra judicial killings and continue their deadly strikes on Palestinian governmental figures, targeting of social and economic infrastructure and indiscriminate killings of civilians in the process. Actions that have proven to not only end lives but successfully cripple Palestinian development including reconstruction of homes destroyed by Israeli bombings and bulldozing during and before Operation ‘Cast Lead’.

Thousands of internally displaced people face an uncertain future residing in flimsy canvas tents reminiscent of the mass dispossession through the ethnic cleansing of 1948 when the state of Israel was first established on Palestinian land.

A de-facto land grab and re-colonisation of Gaza is underway, with the demolition of hundreds of homes and destruction of farms in the Israeli defined ‘buffer zone’ areas of Rafah, Eastern (Shijaye) and Northern (Beit Hanoun) areas of Gaza. Killings, shelling and shootings of farmers and residents in border areas are continuing.

The ‘buffer zone’ has been expanded to cut into Palestinian lands by one kilometre. Israeli occupation forces have shot at residents that have attempted to retrieve their belongings from the bombed and bulldozed remnants of their homes along the border of Beit Hanoun. The army also continues to fire at farmers planting their fields in village areas such as al Faraheen near Khan Younis.

The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture says Israeli occupation forces have destroyed 60% of Gaza’s agricultural land during this winter’s war.

Effective international direct action and an escalation of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction campaign is necessary to resist the intensification of the collective punishment, imprisonment and ongoing war on the people of Palestine.

The situation is worsening: the stranglehold on the people of Gaza is tightening, humanitarian relief is being deliberately choked, trauma is deepening, people are being humiliated on a daily basis and development is not just blocked but in the process of being actively reversed.

We call on social movements, particularly No Borders networks, and people of conscience to target Israeli and Egyptian embassies, institutions, and corporations. Particularly in the coming days of intensified border closure, we must work to pressure both governments to abide by international law and open Gaza for the free movement of aid, goods and people.

End the collective punishment of the Gazan people, open the borders.

February 5, 2009

Israel still dealing with international fallout

By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer Matti Friedman, Associated Press Writer – Thu Feb 5, 3:24 am ET

JERUSALEM – More than two weeks after halting its Gaza offensive, Israel is still dealing with the international fallout, including a very public spat with the leader of Turkey, a slew of war crimes allegations and broken ties with Venezuela, Bolivia and Qatar.

It’s not quite a major diplomatic crisis, but it is a serious public relations problem for the Jewish state, which once again finds itself on the defensive against an avalanche of accusations.

Israel’s defenders say the country was acting in self-defense and charge that no other country would be singled out for the kind of criticism that has been slung in its direction since the beginning of the Gaza offensive on Dec. 27.

The Foreign Ministry says Israel’s important relationships are unharmed and predicts the international mood will pass.

The three-week offensive, aimed at halting years of rocket fire at Israeli towns from Gaza, killed some 1,300 Palestinians, at least half of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians.

Perhaps the most noteworthy outburst was Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s spat with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum, usually a refined get-together for the world’s most powerful.

“You kill people,” Erdogan snapped at Peres, shortly after Peres offered an impassioned defense of the Israeli operation and shortly before Erdogan stormed off the stage.

Despite hurried attempts at damage control from both sides, the flap has further disrupted the close alliance between the two countries. The hordes of Israeli package tourists who vacation in Turkey are reportedly staying home.

The Davos incident came as a Spanish judge decided to open a war crimes investigation into a 2002 incident in which an Israeli F-16 killed a top Hamas mastermind in Gaza along with 14 other people, including nine children. Though it dealt with an earlier incident, the timing was clearly linked to the current violence.

Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela expelled the Israeli ambassador at the height of the fighting and Israel expelled the Venezuelan envoy in response. Bolivia couldn’t expel the Israeli ambassador because it doesn’t have one, but followed Chavez’s lead by announcing it was cutting off ties.

The small Persian Gulf state of Qatar said it was freezing ties and closed Israel’s representative office — a key Israeli foothold in the Arab world — while Qatar’s fellow Arab League member Mauritania suspended relations but let the Israeli ambassador stay. Syria called off the indirect peace talks it was holding with Israel through Turkish mediators.

Those incidents followed weeks of protests in European capitals and across the Muslim world.

The United Nations has called for investigations of Israel’s shelling of several of the organization’s compounds in Gaza, several rights groups have suggested Israel might be guilty of violating the rules of war and a group of U.S. professors is trying to organize an academic boycott.

The Palestinian Authority has now recognized the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, a move aimed at paving the way for a war crimes investigation, though Israel has not ratified the treaty that established the court and thus cannot be prosecuted.

On the other hand, Israel’s most important ally, the U.S., gave its backing, with both the outgoing president and his successor stressing Israel’s right to defend itself. Street protests aside, most world governments made do with only careful criticism.

Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, said Israel’s key international alliances were unaffected and called the outpouring of anger “a temporary phenomenon.”

“We have come under some criticism from some countries more than from others, but basically everything can be handled within the normal framework of normal relations,” he said.

Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov, a professor of international relations at Jerusalem‘s Hebrew University, called the current climate a “crisis situation” attributable largely to an international double standard.

“People are expecting from us to be more moral, more just, more nice in this kind of conflict and sometimes it’s indeed very difficult,” he said. He mentioned Russia’s war in Chechnya and Turkey’s war against Kurdish rebels as examples of conflicts that caused far higher civilian casualties but received less attention and criticism.

Many Israelis were especially rankled by Erdogan’s comments, both because Israelis generally regard Turkey as friendly and because of Turkey’s own spotty human rights record.

“It’s a shame to look at how this prime minister behaves. He doesn’t mention what he does to the Kurds,” the Turkish-born Bar-Siman-Tov said. The conflict between Turkey and Kurdish armed groups has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s, including thousands of civilians.

Israel has been in this position before, most recently after its 2006 war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. That war ended inconclusively, with some 1,000 Lebanese and 159 Israelis dead, and drew similar condemnations of Israel’s tactics and weaponry. Then, as now, Israel responded that it was attacked by guerrillas hiding among civilians and had no choice.

The criticism this time resembles that of 2006, said Jonathan Spyer, an expert on international affairs at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center near Tel Aviv. Israel receives “vastly disproportionate” attention worldwide even in normal times, he said, “and in times of conflict it becomes accentuated.”

There has been a slight change in tone, he said, because this time, unlike in the Lebanon conflict, Israel is not seen to have failed.

“This time Israel is being portrayed as the nasty neighborhood bully, rather than as an incompetent, flailing monster,” he said.

February 5, 2009

Washington Post: Turkey’s Turn from the West (Soner Cagaptay)

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Turkey’s Turn from the West
Soner Cagaptay

Washington Post, February 2, 2009

Turkey is a special Muslim country. Of the more than 50 majority-
Muslim nations, it is the only one that is a NATO ally, is in
accession talks with the European Union, is a liberal democracy and
has normal relations with Israel. Under its current government by the
Justice and Development Party (AKP), however, Turkey is losing these
special qualities. Liberal political trends are disappearing, E.U.
accession talks have stalled, ties with anti-Western states such as
Iran are improving and relations with Israel are deteriorating. On
Thursday, for example, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan walked out
of a panel at Davos, Switzerland, after chiding Israeli President
Shimon Peres for “killing people.” If Turkey fails in these areas or
wavers in its commitment to transatlantic structures such as NATO, it
cannot expect to be President Obama’s favorite Muslim country.
Consider the domestic situation in Turkey and its effect on relations
with the European Union. Although Turkey started accession talks,
that train has come to a halt. French objections to Turkish
membership slowed the process, but the impact of the AKP’s slide from
liberal values cannot be ignored. After six years of AKP rule, the
people of Turkey are less free and less equal, as various news and
other reports on media freedom and gender equality show. In April
2007, for instance, the AKP passed an Internet law that has led to a
ban on YouTube, making Turkey the only European country to shut down
access to the popular site. On the U.N. Development Program’s gender-
empowerment index, Turkey has slipped to 90th from 63rd in 2002, the
year the AKP came to power, putting it behind even Saudi Arabia. It
is difficult to take seriously the AKP’s claim to be a liberal party
when Saudi women are considered more politically, economically and
socially empowered than Turkish women.

Then there is foreign policy. Take Turkey’s status as a NATO ally of
the United States: Ankara’s rapprochement with Tehran has gone so far
since 2002 that it is doubtful whether Turkey would side with the
United States in dealing with the issue of a nuclear Iran. In
December, Erdogan told a Washington crowd that “countries that oppose
Iran’s nuclear weapons should themselves not have nuclear weapons.”

The AKP’s commitment to U.S. positions is even weaker on other
issues, including Hamas. During the recent Israeli operations in
Gaza, Erdogan questioned the validity of Israel’s U.N. seat while
saying that he wants to represent Hamas on international platforms.
Three days before moderate Arab allies of Washington, including
Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, gathered on Jan. 19 in Kuwait to
discuss an end to the Gaza conflict, Erdogan’s officials met with
Iran, Syria and Sudan in Qatar, effectively upstaging the moderates.
Amazingly, Turkey is now taking a harder line on the Arab-Israeli
conflict than even Saudi Arabia.

For years, Turkey has had normal relations with Israel, including
strong military, tourist, and cultural and commercial ties. The Turks
did not emphasize religion or ideology in their relationship with the
Jewish state, so Israelis felt comfortable visiting, doing business
and vacationing in Turkey. But Erdogan’s recent anti-Israeli
statements — he even suggested that God would punish Israel — have
made normal relations a thing of the past. On Jan. 4, 200,000 Turks
turned out in freezing rain in Istanbul to wish death to Israel; on
Jan. 7, an Israeli girls’ volleyball team was attacked by a Turkish
audience chanting, “Muslim policemen, bring us the Jews, so we can
slaughter them.”

Emerging anti-Semitism also challenges Turkey’s special status. Anti-
Semitism is not hard-wired into Turkish society — rather its seeds
are being spread by the political leadership. Erdogan has pumped up
such sentiments by suggesting Jewish culpability for the conflict in
Gaza and alleging that Jewish-controlled media outlets were
misrepresenting the facts. Moreover, on Jan. 6, while demanding
remorse for Israel’s Gaza operations, Erdogan said to Turkish
Jews, “Did we not accept you in the Ottoman Empire?” Turkey’s tiny,
well-integrated Jewish community is being threatened: Jewish
businesses are being boycotted, and instances of violence have been
reported. These are shameful developments in a land that has provided
a home for Jews since 1492, when the Ottomans opened their arms to
Jewish people fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. The Ottoman sultans
must be spinning in their graves.

The erosion of Turkey’s liberalism under the AKP is alienating Turkey
from the West. If Turkish foreign policy is based on solidarity with
Islamist regimes or causes, Ankara cannot hope to be considered a
serious NATO ally. Likewise, if the AKP discriminates against women,
forgoes normal relations with Israel, curbs media freedoms or loses
interest in joining Europe, it will hardly endear itself to the
United States. And if Erdogan’s AKP keeps serving a menu of
illiberalism at home and religion in foreign policy, Turkey will no
longer be special — and that would be unfortunate.

Soner Cagaptay is a senior fellow and director of the Turkish
Research Program at The Washington Institute, and author of Islam
Secularism and Nationalism in Modern Turkey: Who Is a Turk?

February 5, 2009

The Travel Advisory: Israeli tourism to Turkey plunges

Jan. 31, 2009 Mark Feldman , THE JERUSALEM POST

For many years, Turkey has been the most popular tourist destination for Israelis. Turkish resorts from Antalya to Bodrum have offered us first-class service at reasonable rates. At first, it was the casinos that attracted the tourists. Then, when the Muslim government closed them down, the resorts reinvented themselves. Luxury locations sprang up like mushrooms after the rain. Some resorts stayed traditional, while others became quite exotic, with one modeling itself on the Kremlin and another taking the Titanic as its vision. All exist to spoil tourists with their all-inclusive packages. A two-hour flight takes you to Istanbul. The charms of Istanbul, coupled with an exotic environment, has had Turkish Airlines and a multitude of Turkish charters flying more passengers to Turkey than any other foreign airline. No more. Although Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has since toned down his remarks, saying they were against the government and not the people of Israel, his repeated criticism of Israel during the recent war against Hamas has led to a severe downturn in Israelis flying to Turkey. Erdogan called Operation Cast Lead “a crime against humanity,” deploring what he saw as excessive force and suggesting that Israel be barred from the United Nations. He accused Israel of “perpetrating inhuman actions which would bring it to self-destruction,” adding that “Allah will sooner or later punish those who transgress the rights of innocents.”

There have been boycotts from the Israeli consumer in the past, but never on this level. The anger is both deep and palpable. Across the country, travel agents report, Israelis are voting with their feet and avoiding travel to Turkey. Wholesalers report a 70 percent drop in flight bookings, and reservations to the resorts have all but disappeared. Turkish Airlines has also been severely damaged. The national carrier of Turkey is known as an excellent airline with great security. It prides itself on its expansive network with three daily flights to Istanbul that also take passengers to other international destinations. Customers in the past have often flown Turkish Airlines to New York, Cape Town, all over Europe and the Far East. Turkish Airlines has been strident in keeping airfares very competitive and was used by clients seeking inexpensive prices to destinations beyond Istanbul. In fact, Turkish Airlines was quite proud of marketing itself with Istanbul as a hub for close to 100 cities to which it flies outside of Turkey. No more. Travel Agency executives report that clients are willing to pay more and fly another airline rather than transit Istanbul Airport. They view Turkish Airlines as a symbol of the Turkish government. There have been reports that Turkish consumer groups are calling for a boycott on Israeli products. This would obviously damage Israel’s business interests and put companies at risk. Trade between Israel and Turkey in 2008 was close to $3 billion. Over 500,000 Israelis chose to travel to Turkey in 2008. Dropping millions of hard-earned dollars and shekels, they thought the Turkish people were appreciating them. Officials from the Turkish Ministry of Tourism make constant visits to Israel, promoting more and more sites, to encourage the Israeli travel agents to sell more Turkey. We may be a thick-skinned people but when push comes to shove, Israeli consumers, along with their western counterparts, take such criticism and actions seriously. The results in the last few weeks have been surprising. It’s gratifying to see that some principles remain sacrosanct and that the lure of an inexpensive trip is not inviolable. Israeli travelers are electing to take off at the last minute for cities in Europe rather than patronize these resorts. With prices falling dramatically due to the fall in the price of oil, keeping airfares and packages at bargain basement levels, Israelis are choosing to go elsewhere.

Skiing in the mountains of Turkey is no longer an option. Israeli bloggers are doing their best to keep this issue in the forefront. Keeping in mind that we’re in the middle of the winter and the start of a recession, the question is how long will this anger last? Gauging the intensity of the people writing blogs leads me to believe that it could be a long hard winter. When consumers feel so insulted and an Israeli basketball team is forced to forfeit a game in Ankara due to the unruly and threatening behavior of the crowd, memories remain vivid. El Al stopped flying to Istanbul last year, citing security costs and the inability to make money on the route. Israeli charter companies have also curtailed their flight schedule. This means that until the Turkish government makes amends or warmer weather leads to cooler minds, Istanbul will revert back to Constantinople and be only a pleasant memory for that most demanding client – the Israeli traveler.

Mark Feldman is the CEO of “Ziontours”, Jerusalem.

For questions and comments email him at mark.feldman@ziontours.co.il

This article can also be read at

https://www.jpost.com/ /servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304644824&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
[ Back to the Article ]

Dear Mr. Feldman,

I read your article in the JPost about the economic retraction of the Israelis in regards to their vacation and trade choice of Turkey. May it be, but it is never the one way road. If that is the true attitude of the people of Israel and the government, please announce tomorrow that your defense companies are withdrawing their business deals with the Turkish Military. I don’t think so. Because the money is so sweet in these deals.

Your writings sounds like what your government wants to say to Turkish government, but won’t say it out loud. At this point, your expression of “when push comes to show” is also true for the people of Turkey. I know that your lobbyists are sending messages to the Turkish government saying that unless what Mr. Erdoğan has said and done is somehow retracted by him or his government, you will support the Armenians in their never ending quest of passing so called “acknowledgment of Armenian genocide” through the American Senate. So it may be. But, that even, as you might very well know, will not changed the fact that the so called genocide is no more than the exaggerations of Armenians’. They know very well that they “bit the hand that fed them” by revolting against the Ottoman army which they were the soldiers of. If the genocide was true, why rest of the Armenians did not suffer of the same fate.

My dear friend. No one on these day and time is “special” as a human race, including your people. Everyone has a right to live in peace and prosper through their own abilities, including you, me, people of Palestine and everyone else on the face of the earth. Unless you stop your own acting of “us and only us, no one else matters” attitude, what happens over there will never stop. No one is cheering when Hamas send rockets over, but no one is also not cheering when you send over your bombs either. The only winner is the creators of the war machines. You know this as well.

In between the lines you are saying (and threatening) that you will not commerce with Turkey anymore. Fine, then the people of Turkey will not commerce with Israel either. The people of Turkey will put pressure on the government and the military not to buy any Israeli products, and we both will be fine. People of Turkey will not suffer without the Israeli products just as Israelis will be OK if they don’t vacation in Turkey. For the Turkish Airlines, they were doing just fine before and will do so after the flight are reduced to 1 a day.

I worked with the Jewish doctors for about 10 days when the earthquake happened in my hometown in 1999. They were just fine people. My father was even treated in the military hospital that was erected. And, I appreciated very much. The doctors there were just fine people. It was an humanitarian act that was appreciated very much. I am sure the Turkish doctors will be there if needed as well. What is wrong with that? When the life as we know comes to an end, where will be the Jewish people? Left alone by the almighty God? I don’t think so.

Mr. Feldman, this is an e-mail from a layman in Turkiye to a layman in Israel. My wish is for you to respect the right to life of Palestinians just as it is my wish to Palestinian people to respect the right to life or your people. There is no other way for peace which serves for you and me.

Regards

Shamil

Assoc.Prof.Dr.Gül Celkan
Eastern Mediterranean University
Coordinator for the Rector’s Office
Faculty Member, Department of ELT
Gazimagusa, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
+903926301538
gul.celkan@emu.edu.tr
Mersin-10, Turkey

February 5, 2009

TURKEY DECODED by: Ann DISMORR

Immediate Media Release –
“TURKEY DECODED” with Ambassador Ann DISMORR
Date: On Wednesday, February 25, 2009, NYC.
Today’s Date: January 28, 2009, NY
For INVITATION of the Program>

LIGHT MILLENNIUM in collaboration with the COLUMBIA University Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures, Middle East Institute, and the Consulate General of SWEDEN in New York, proudly presents:

A Book Presentation and Signing:

TURKEY DECODED
by:
Ann DISMORR
Swedish Ambassador to Turkey from 2001-2005

Introduction of the author by:
Ambassador Ulf HJERTONSSON

Moderator:
Professor Peter AWN
Dean of General Studies and Director of MEI at Columbia University

WHEN:On Wednesday, February 25, 2009
TIME: Registration & Reception 6:30 pm, with program to follow

WHERE:Columbia University, International Affairs Building (IAB room 1501, 15th floor)
Located at 420 W. 118th Street (at Amsterdam Avenue)

Please RSVP by: February 24, 2009, 5PM.

Please RSVP to> contact@lightmillennium.org

Web site:
– This event is free and open to the general public.

Ann DISMORR’s book, “Turkey Decoded”, examines Turkey’s foreign policy, ties with the US and the Middle East, as well as troubled relations with the EU.

Some of the twenty-first century’s greatest challenges are reflected in Turkey-EU relations: the widening gap between the West and the Muslim world, terrorism, and the struggle for human rights and democratization. Although membership talks were launched more than three years ago and are anticipated to finish in 2014, fully fledged membership is far from certain. There is growing concern in both Turkey and the West about Turkey’s “Islamization.”

Ann DISMORR examines the implications of Turkey’s affiliation with Europe while also addressing its role in the Middle East and its complex relationship with the U.S. She pays particular attention to the sweeping reforms initiated by the Justice and Development Party, and to the career and policies of one-time political prisoner and current Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

From the unique view point of one of the few female ambassadors to Turkey, DISMORR describes a country in transition, covering topics from the Kurds to the Iraq War, women’s rights, the crisis over Cyprus and the polarizing presidential election of 2007.

“Turkey Decoded” includes the following 12 chapters:

1) Turkish Identity;
2) Turkey in the Waiting Room of the European Union;
3) Changing EU-Turkish Relations, 1999-2007;
4) Pro-Islamic Party Gained Power and Succeed in Historic EU Breakthrough;
5) From Human Rights Deficit to Progress;
6) The Kurdish Question: A Roadblock to Turkish EU Membership?;

7) Women Between Tradition and Transformation;
8) Changing US-Turkish Relations and their Impact on the EU Process;
9) Turkey’s Role in the Middle East: Possibilities and Limitations;
10) Turkey: Bridge or Barrier Between East and West?;
11) Turkey’s Future: EU Success Story or Unfulfilled Promise?;
12) The Beginning of a Post-Kemalist Era.

Following the presentation, there will be an open discussion moderated by Prof. Peter AWN.

The American Turkish Society(www.americanturkishsociety.org), as a part of its Meet the Ambassadors program, will host a reception in honor of Ambassador Ann DISMORR and guests at the event’s venue.

* * * * *

About the Author:

Ann DISMORR has extensive knowledge
DISMORR’s other key Swedish Foreign Ministry 1981
Senior advisor on Parliament’s Ambassador in Turkey and Azerbaijan Ambassador in Lebanon 1999-2001
Counsellor, Swedish UN Mission in Geneva Deputy Director, Foreign Ministry in Diplomatic Advisor to Sten Andersson, Executive assistant to Foreign Minister Negotiating EU-EFTA affairs, Foreign Embassy in the UK; first secretary, Embassy in Zimbabwe; second secretary, Chairperson of the Friendship Association Author of the book “Turkey Decoded” Co-author of the book “Plikten PhD studies at Yale University, Connecticut, Postgraduate studies (political science), Bachelor of Arts, University Lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 1979-1981,

style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">About Ambassador Ulf HJERTONSSON:

As of March 1, 2006, Ambassador Ulf HJERTONSSON is the Consul General of Sweden in New York. Ambassador Ulf HJERTONSSON has worked for the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs since 1965. His career in the Swedish foreign service has included a number of key appointments, both in Stockholm and abroad.

Most recently, from 2001 to 2006, he was Ambassador of Sweden in Helsinki, Finland. Prior to this, he served as Special Adviser to the Foreign Minister and Chairman of the EU-US Task Force during the Swedish EU Presidency in 2001.

Previous appointments include Director General for Political Affairs at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm in 1995; Ambassador of Sweden in Madrid, Spain, in 1989; Minister at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington DC in 1985; Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1984; and Assistant Under-Secretary for Political Affairs in 1983.

His first diplomatic assignment was at the Swedish Embassy in Santiago de Chile, followed by the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations in New York in 1967, and the Swedish delegation to the European Communities in Brussels in 1978.

Ulf HJERTONSSON has a special interest in language and literature and has published a number of literary translations, including works by Pablo Neruda and Michel Tournier.

About Professor Peter J. AWN:

On July 1, 2008, Professor Peter J. AWN took up his three-year term as Director of the Middle East Institute. He also continues to serve as Dean of the School of General Studies at Columbia.

Peter J. AWN is Professor of Islamic Religion and Comparative Religion in the Department of Religion. He received his Ph.D. in Islamic Religion and Comparative Religion from Harvard University in 1978, at which point he joined the Columbia faculty. Previously he earned degrees in Philosophy, Classical Languages, and Christian Theology. Professor AWN‘s book, “Satan’s Tragedy and Redemption: Iblîs in Sufi Psychology“, received a book award from the American Council of Learned Societies. In 1984 he was the first recipient of the “Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Award” for distinguished teaching and research. In 1995 Professor AWN was awarded the “Great Teacher Award” from the Society of Columbia Graduates. Professor AWN has received numerous grants including a Fulbright and several grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was also a Principal Investigator on the Muslim Communities in New York City research project, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. In addition to his work at Columbia, Professor Awn has been Visiting Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Professor AWN has traveled widely in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Iran, and South Asia.

In addition to his service as Dean of the School of General Studies (GS), Professor AWN currently serves as Acting Dean of the School of Continuing Education (SCE). He has served as chair of the Department of Religion, chair of the Steering Committee of the Chairs of the Arts & Sciences Departments, and chair of the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences. In addition he has served as Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Religion, and Arts & Sciences Faculty Liaison to the Office of University Development and Alumni Relations.

Producers of the program: Bircan Ünver, Light Millennium & Prof. Etem Erol, Columbia University &
Martina Högberg, Consulate General of Sweden in New York

For more information: contact@lightmillennium.org, ee2105@columbia.edu, martina.hogberg@foreign.ministry.se or/ martina.hogberg@gmail.com

– For INVITATION> https://www.lightmillennium.org/events/ann_dismorr_turkey.html

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has become associated with the Department of Public Information of the United Nations effective December 12, 2005, and member of the Non-Profit Coordination Committee of New York. – – . Based in Queens, New York – On the Web since August 1999…
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February 3, 2009

ATTENTION TO OUR MEMBERS

RECURRING SYSTEM RELATED DIFFICULTIES DID NOT PERMIT US TO UPGRADE AND EXTEND OUR SYSTEMS.

INSUFFICIENT TF FUNDING APPEARS TO BE MAJOR PROBLEM IN THIS CASE.

Our Life Long address www.turkishforum.com is now being changed for English News Pages to www.turkishnews.com/en/content and similarly for Turkish news pages to www.turkishnews.com/tr/content

All our daily distribution will immediately switch to the www.turkishnews.com address. Our web entry addresses will soon be adjusted from www.turkishforum.com to www.turkishnews.com , PLEASE MAKE A NOTE OF THIS UPCOMING CHANGE.

WE UNTICIPATED SOME OF THE PROBLEMS DURING THIS CHANGE and We are working on them. WE ARE ALSO WORKING HARD TO MINIMIZE UN-UNTICIPATED PROBLEMS.

THE MAJOR REASON FOR INSUFFICIENT FUNDS ARE: WE HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN ONGOING AND WEB POSTED PROGRAMS AND THE TF’s WEB AND NEWS DISTRUBUTION LINES SET UP FOR MEMBERS.

THE APPERENT REASON FOR INSUFFICIENT FUNDS ARE DELAYS IN RECEIVING MEMBERSHIP DUES AND DONATIONS FROM ALL MEMBERS. PLEASE MAKE AN EXTRA EFFORT TO SEND YOUR DONATIONS AND MUCH NEEDED MEMBERSHIP DUES TO TURKISH FORUM. By using the addresses given at OUR CONTINUING SERVICE TO YOU AND TO THE TURKISH COMMUNITIES THROUGH OUT THE WORLD DEPENDS ON YOUR SUPPORT

WE DEEPLY THANK FOR ALL MEMBERS, WHO SENDED THEIR MEMBERSHIP DUES AND DONATIONS FOR 2009.

REPRESENTING TURKISHFORUM BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dr. Kayaalp Buyukataman

President CEO, TurkishForum

February 2, 2009

Category: Turkey

ACTION Alert: Demand that Gaza’s borders be opened!

Israel still dealing with international fallout

Washington Post: Turkey’s Turn from the West (Soner Cagaptay)

The Travel Advisory: Israeli tourism to Turkey plunges

TURKEY DECODED by: Ann DISMORR

ATTENTION TO OUR MEMBERS