Category: Non-EU Countries

THE TURKS ARE SENDING AWAY THEIR BEST MARATHON SWIMMER TO ENGLISH CHANNEL…

Alper Sunacoglu

THE MAN WHO SWAM ACROSS FROM TURKEY TO CYPRUS IS NOW READY FOR ENGLISH CHANNEL!

Alper Sunacoglu is a sportsman who will make a big splash and will be talked about alot in the sports community around the world soon. He is a legend of his country.

Erdal Acet, who is one of the trainers of Alper, was the man who broke the world record by swimming across English Channel with a record of 9 hours 2 minutes. Since his childhood, Alper who is a committed follower of Erdal Acet, now going to England to show his respect to his trainer and he is also determined to break the world record of Mr. Trent Grimsey, who also broke the record world record as well as Alper’s trainer Erdal’s record .

Now let’s have a look at what Alper has got to share with us 🙂

Who is Alper ? Alper is one of the most famous national swimmers of Turkey who swam the distance of 78 km from Anamur, from Turkey to Cyprus in smashing 26 hours 15 minutes and moreover he did not use the safety cage. He broke this world record by swimming in a perfect high speed on 4th of September 2010. On 23th of April, 2011 He also swam across Istanbul Bosporus top to buttom from Sarıyer to Üsküdar, a distance of 30 km in 2 hours 25 minutes. After all that he swam perpendicular Dardanel Bosporus from one end to another in 7 hours 12 minutes by ignoring the south wind storm blowing at 8 force. Related with above mentioned successes, he had many interviews, commentated on news both nationally and internationally. His records were also confirmed and announced by Wikipedia to all over the world. The record holder swimmer, Alper now has a target to break a world record by swimming English Channel in 6 hours 45 minutes. If he achieves this, he will gain the title of fastest marathon swimmer in the world, then again this will enable him to secure the world record on behalf of Turkey and Turks.

Here is the Exclusive interview with world famous swimmer, Alper Sunacoglu.

EDITOR: Could you please tell us little bit about yourself?

ALPER: Thank you. I was born in Istanbul and originally I’m an Albanian. When I was about five years old when we immigrated to Adana because of my father’s business. My father and my mother is from Istanbul, I’m from Adana due to the simple fact that I lived all my childhood there. J Currently I’m working in a corporate logistics company as a project manager/ coordinator, A degree certified customs broker and work as a consultant.

EDITOR: You undersigned records which requires significant performance and courage. To swim from Mersin to Cyprus in 26 hours, to swim the straits from the whole length even in the winter season, I mean all of these successes and records do not seem logically possible to many people around the world. I would like you to share with us your journey, your adventure starting from your childhood. How was Alper’s childhood? How was his youth? Why and how come you broke all this world records and accomplishments years after years ? We kindly appreciate If you could tell us all these processes.

ALPER: I had a very naughty childhood and youth with full of troubles which caused lots of complaints from our neighbors. One day I was at top of a roof with a cap, toy pistol and slingshot in my hands, another day I was on top of trees and sometimes even had a fight with gangs. Once upon a time, as far as I can remember I climbed on a pine tree and could not get down and had to wait for the fire brigade to come and rescue me. As you can clearly see, I had a childhood full of adventures. I learned and started to swim when I was five year old. I tried variety of sports such as karate, taekwondo, judo, handball, basketball. However due to my fickleness I did not continue all of these sports. Now as it stands, only pentathlon and swimming is an indispensable part of my sport life. I will still perform these two sports until my health, breath and my power enables me to do so. My grandfather had a major effect in my life and he always said that ‘ Your blood and soul is coming from Ottoman Empire and you are a core grandchild of the daughter of Magnificent Suleyman and Sokullu Mehmed Pasha and your forefathers are the people of that you should really feel full proud of ‘I think that those words were so powerful words which effected my unconscious mind’. I have also listened many of these narratives with a big pleasure J . My grades at school were not very good however I was more interested with history lessons. I thought that our forefathers ride on horses to many distant places, conquered so many countries and came back again by travelling over hundreds even thousands of kilometers. This meant to me that, humankind can walk, run and can even swim these distances if they really wish. Thus, this is how my idea of marathon swimming started. My courage comes from my genetic code and my success comes from the faith of the following sentence. ‘If mankind really and honestly wants to walk, run and swim those distances then this can be achieved.’ I’m also a little bit lucky because most of the famous marathon swimmers are from Adana and I had the chance to be inspired by those swimmers. I listened, watched them and prepared myself to do the best. Sanrı Kardesler who is the famous for the contribution to Adana swimming sports and the deceased swimmer Ayhan Karatas had a big efforts on me . In this regard, once more I want to express my gratitude to them.

EDITOR : Don’t you get bored and get hungry at sea over many hours of swimming and are you not really afraid of sharks? Did you ever face any dangerous circumstances at sea?

ALPER: Of course I did, while I was swimming long distances, I got bored , it is hard sometimes, I had a terrible headaches, sometimes toothache and sometimes I became semi conscious. So, you have different stages, the sportsmen who swim marathon know that after you swim three hours, you face up different stages both in your body and in your mind. If you have decayed tooth , first this starts to ache then headache starts and after that semi conscious and insobriety takes place. If you can not concentrate well enough then you will be defeated to the water and give up the marathon. However, I visit the place of where I will dive into the water and prepare my unconscious mind to the marathon by saying myself that ‘ I will enter to the water from this place and will rise across the seaside’ Unless any unexpected weather conditions occur or totally unexpected accident occurs, I never think to return back or dismiss the trial of record. You asked me whether if I get hungry at sea, and of course, I get hungry, there is a boat and team members that escorts me and my trainers calculate at what time I need to eat, they throw me liquid food bottle to the sea accordingly. When it comes to sharks they are the ruler of sea, so I am afraid of them and they are also stronger than me in the sea. But I never come up against such a life threatening danger up to now except some minor incidents.

EDITOR: Have you got any sponsorship?

ALPER: I had a lots of sponsorship up until now. Adana City Council, IHH Charitable Foundation of Humankind aid, Sisli Council and Mayor of Sisli – Mr. Mustafa Sarı Gul , Ünsped Gümrük Müşavirliği A.S – customs broker company and precious businessman Yusuf Bulut ÖZTÜRK are my sponsors from time to time.

EDITOR: So, what are your new projects that are coming soon?

ALPER: The first project is to swim across the English Channel in less than 7 hours and break the world record. Now the last world record on this belongs to Mr. Trent Grimsey.

Secondly, swimming Naples -Capri Marathon in Italy and swimming across from Izmir to Athens are my latest upcoming projects.

EDITOR: You were on headline news on many occasions but why are you not as famous as you could imagine expected from a person at your caliber?

ALPER: I have only tried to keep everything to myself, all trial of records, projects and I did not intend to become famous up to this date. I have never had focus on and an aim or dream to be famously recognized. Actually to become famous in Turkey is very simple fact if you are on news related to your private life with a model or with a girl who is famous, then you are on, now you’re famous. But this does not suit me, my style and I do not prefer this kind of life. On any given day, if people of my country would know me, I prefer to be remembered by what I have done, with my achievements, successes and my records. And as such all news about myself has been done by valuable media members like yourselves by investigating the real truth of the news in the world by providing access me with an interview. To summarize it all, I have the opinion that if a decent media group supports me that is more than enough for me.

EDİTÖR: A personal question comes to you. Is there a time for love in this busy life. You are a healthy person and why are you not married ?

ALPER: As you say I’m really busy. I always live in a rush between business life and sports life. I can not spare a time to my private life as much as I want. So the relationship is really difficult for me and even more difficult for the other side. In addition to that, I also got married and got divorced when I was very young. At least unless I fulfill my upcoming projects, I do not consider about marriage as for now. But still it is all about destiny in the end.

EDITOR : Why don’t you have a support from government authorities although you have a good relationship with them and sincere photos with a lot of political leaders? Is this related with the social messages that you give?

ALPER: Yes, actually your question has got the answer in it. Unfortunately, I could not get any support of government administration. If they have supported me, I would like to swim from Egypt to Gaza and protest the embargo. If they support me, I can represent my country at open water races hold in different countries. Maybe Turkey is the only country which do not participate in these races. Myself and Swimming Federation delivered our messages about this issue on several occasions to the related ministry but we could not get any reply at all.

EDITOR: You wanted to swim to Imrali Island by jumping from Istanbul Bosphorus Bridge and wanted to give a message that Single State, Single Flag and Single Nation aiming to curse of the terrorism. Even Ayşe Arman – journalist had mentioned about you and many discussions have taken place in the public. Is this project on stand still? Are you really going to jump from the Istanbul Bosporus Bridge?

ALPER: Let me ask you. Do you think, is it really necessary to give this message and make this attempt when you think about the position of Turkey now. As of now, there is no terror so I do not need to curse it 🙂 anymore. In the end, to swim to Imrali is cancelled, I won’t swim. But in coming days may be I can jump from the Bosporus Bridge to give a different message. You will also hear from me for sure 🙂

EDITOR: You’re recognized by your support to disabled children and children with down syndrome. Do you have a plan or dream for them ?

ALPER : I like children and especially girls. Disabled children or children with a down syndrome is very special for me. My biggest dream is to build an Olympic pool and activity rooms for them if I have the suitable support and financial back up accordingly.

EDITOR: Let’s say “Insallah”. I hope that someone sensitive could hear your message so that they could support you to enable yourselves to break the world records and help you to realize your dreams. I hereby wish you a real success and may I also take this opportunity thank you for your sincere answers to the questions which included your personal life.

May 15, 2013
Armless artist Karipbek Kuyukov ‘denied entry’ to UK

İstanbul’daki İngiliz Konsolosluğu kolları olmayan Kazak sanatçı’ya parmak izi bırakmadığı için vize vermedi!

Karipbek Kuyukov says he is disappointed he could not enter the UK

A Kazakh artist who was born without arms says he could not get permission to enter the UK last month because he could not give fingerprints.

Karipbek Kuyukov planned to attend an anti-nuclear conference in Edinburgh.

But he got a letter from the British Consulate in Istanbul saying his “biometrics were of poor quality” and asking him to resubmit his application.

The UK Home Office said his visa was not refused and it may have been the result of a “miscommunication”.

Mr Kuyukov, 44, who was forced to cancel his attendance at the conference, spoke of his disappointment.

‘Did not understand’

“Maybe they did not understand that I am disabled or check the information provided,” said the artist.

“But in my online visa application it was written that I am an artist and that I don’t have hands. I paint by holding a brush in my mouth and between my toes.”

Mr Kuyukov was born in the region of Semipalatinsk, the former Soviet Union’s main nuclear testing ground.

Many thousands of children were born with disabilities during the nuclear test programme.

Mr Kuyukov has used his painting to campaign for nuclear disarmament for the past 20 years.

May 7, 2013
Hilton London Metropole Unveils $9.1M Lobby Transformation

Hilton London Metropole has announced that it is undergoing a major $9.1 million lobby transformation, a move expected to revolutionize the arrival experience in one of the biggest conference and events hotels in Europe. The hotel will be the first UK property to incorporate the Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand’s new lobby design narrative, which provides what was described as “smartly designed and functionally relevant lobby spaces, for guests and locals to work, socialize and enjoy”.

According to Luxury Travel Advisort the two phase refurbishment, designed by Aukett Fitzroy Robinson, reflects the Hilton commitment to creating engaging spaces. The completed first phase sees a new lobby bar – EDG Bar & Lounge – and Whisky Lounge, while the installation of double-height glass entrances will mark the overall completion of the project in August 2013.

Phase one was already completed.

Ten British custom-made vanilla leather and fabric suspended lights form a focal point over the new double-height EDG Bar & Lounge, while muted grey fabrics, with splashes of yellow, adorning the venue. A feature wall behind the 20-foot long bar also forms a central part of the lobby bar and lounge design as fusions of color in night and day lighting effects are projected through cut-out sections in the wall sculpture. Free Wi-Fi and power sockets are available for guests.

The 22-cover Whisky Lounge encompasses black and mauve-grey furnishings, with hints of dark cyan and teal. The Whisky Lounge exhibits feature lighting in the form of suspended whisky decanters, while whisky display cabinets frame and showcase a collection of whiskies from around the world.

April 26, 2013
Fear is a very dangerous thing

Elif Shafak: ‘Fear is a very dangerous thing’

The voice of Turkish literature – tells Joy Lo Dico why Istanbul needs to make another great leap

JOY LO DICO

When I invited Elif Shafak to lunch at Julie’s, a smart London restaurant tucked between the Victorian town houses of Holland Park, I hadn’t considered the decor. Carved wooden panels, rugs and leather stools: it looked like someone had made a quick raid on the Ottoman Empire to furnish it. Would Shafak, who is from Istanbul, roll her eyes at the cliché of inviting her to a faux oriental den? She looks around. “How lovely,” she says, a little coolly.

Dressed head to toe in black (she claims that this is the only colour in her wardrobe) and with the looks of a French film star, Shafak is an easy choice to be the face for the London Book Fair, the special focus of which this year is Turkish literature. Her 2006 novel The Bastard of Istanbul was long-listed for the Orange Prize. She followed it with a retelling of the life of the 13th-century poet Rumi folded into the life of a bored Jewish-American housewife, in The Forty Rules of Love. And last year she published Honour, the story of an “honour” killing by a Turkish Kurdish family living between their home country and Dalston.

That diversity comes from her own internationalism. Born in Strasbourg, she’s lived across Europe and America and now divides her time between Istanbul, where her husband is editor-in-chief of a newspaper, and London.

“It’s like a compass,” she explains. “One leg of the drawing compass is fixed in one spot. For me that is Istanbul. The other leg draws a huge, wide circle around this one and I see myself as global soul, as a world citizen.”

Shafak’s writing is not high literature in the Nobel Prize-winning Orhan Pamuk vein: the prose is open, the pages turn easily, plots sometimes twist too conveniently and The Forty Rules of Love‘s spirituality brings to mind Paulo Coelho. But Shafak has big ideas – about women’s rights, identity, freedom of expression – that really challenge readers, and her novels work hard at bringing out unheard voices.

It’s reflected in her readership. The queues at her book signings, Shafak notes proudly, are made up of “people who normally wouldn’t break bread together: liberals, leftists, secularists, Sufis, conservatives; girls with headscarves but also women with mini skirts”.

As we pick over the skeletons of our grilled sardines, it occurs to me that Shafak makes waves with wide-selling literature – so popular that her books are pirated in Turkey – but that the forms and ideas are not so radical to Britons – an exception perhaps is her exploration of “honour” killings. Her real strength lies in her eloquence on politics and culture, she writes columns on both for the newspaper Haberturk.

It is 90 years since Kemal Ataturk declared Turkey a republic, and this past decade has seen it walking tall despite “being left in the waiting room”, as Shafak says, by the EU. The steady government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, economic growth, a grown-up regional policy and, as of last month, a ceasefire with the PKK (the Kurdish nationalist movement fighting for independence for the past 30 years), has returned Turkey as a significant player to the world stage.

Shafak welcomes reconciliation with the Kurds but is already thinking one step ahead: about changing the nature of modern Turkey. “What we need is a new constitution which is more embracing, not only of Turks and Kurds but also the minorities in Turkey who are not feeling comfortable: Armenians, Jews, Azeris, gypsies, and others,” she suggests, seeing this as a time when Turkey could reconstruct its whole self-image. “Our 600-year-old empire was multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, amazingly cosmopolitan. In 1923, the nation state was established and, throughout the republican era, the main discourse was that we are a society of undifferentiated individuals. No classes, no ethnicities. Seeing difference as the source of danger and looking for enemies within created a lot of fear in Turkey, and fear is a very dangerous thing because it produces authoritarian responses. I’m not saying Ataturk’s Turkey should be abandoned: I’m saying we need to take a step forward and have a far more egalitarian and democratic society. What I find frightening is top-down uniformity.”

The blooming of identities she talks of – she includes homosexuals and transsexuals – echoes the voices in her books. But Shafak, remembering how quickly her comments have been twisted in parts of the Turkish media, chooses her words carefully. In 2006, after writing about the Armenian genocide, an ultra-nationalist group had her put on trial under an archaic law for “insulting Turkishness”.

The Turkish Ministry of Justice now intervenes to prevent such trials but the law remains. Shafak drives it home with a British analogy. “The other day I was thinking, when Hilary Mantel was ‘criticising’ Kate Middleton, that there was a discussion in the UK media,” she says. “Everyone was asking, ‘Is she right or wrong?’ But as a Turkish writer, my main interest was not who was right or wrong but that this debate can be heard freely.”

We move on to the mint tea and Shafak points out that Britain and Turkey, both of which she calls home, have taken different routes out of empire. London remains a global crossroads but Istanbul risks forgetting the way porous boundaries helped it thrive. It is the subject of her next novel, which will be set in the 16th century.

Shafak will be taking part in a series of seminars and talks at the London Book Fair next Tuesday, along with other big hitters in the Turkish literary scene, including Perihan Magden, Ayse Kulin and Ahmet Umit. Shafak knows how to pitch to a bigger audience than just those who want to dabble in the Orient: “The conversations we are having about identity, amnesia, past and future don’t concern solely the society in Turkey but they resonate through the Muslim world, and the world in general.”

Honour by Elif Shafak

Penguin, £7.99

‘It was all because women were made of the lightest cambric, Naze continued, whereas men were cut of thick, dark fabric. That is how God had tailored the two: one superior to the other. As to why He had done that, it wasn’t up to human beings to question … ”

The Market Focus Cultural Programme at The London Book Fair is curated by the British Council and begins tomorrow. For more information visit: literature.britishcouncil.org

April 16, 2013
Istanbul INN London brings Istanbul to London

Aiming at bringing the best of a city’s contemporary culture to London, a four-day event titled “Istanbul INN London” in Victoria House in Central London’s Bloomsbury square started on Friday.

The event will focus on a different city from five countries; Brazil, Russia, India, China and Turkey. “It’s focused on the BRICT nations. The acronym has come into widespread use as a symbol of the shift in global economic power away from the developed G7 economies towards the developing world,” explains the curator of the art side of the event, Isabella Kairis Icoz, during an interview with Today’s Zaman.

“Istanbul INN London is a stunning four-day showcase of Istanbul’s contemporary culture, art, architecture, literature, food, fashion, film and design. It is the first of a series of annual events celebrating some of the world’s most compelling and intoxicating foreign cities and will offer visitors the chance to immerse themselves in the city’s culture, discover emerging creative talent and sample authentic food and drink,” Icoz explained.

The Istanbul installation of the event has four main parts based on art, design, food and fashion because these are the parts that make up Istanbul’s contemporary culture, according to Icoz. “For this event we decided to focus on Turkish galleries that show a strong mixture of emerging and established artists, the majority of whom are well respected and widely collected locally, but not yet outside of Turkey, and who we feel are the next generation of Turkish artists who will become increasingly known and sought after internationally, while at the same time showcasing several artists that have already exhibited and entered collections in the US and the Middle East, but who are keen to enter the European market. And with London being such an international hub, it seemed the perfect fit to push this dual agenda,” she elaborated noting that, for this project, her role as curator was more about selecting the galleries and making suggestions to them about which artists and works they felt would work well in London and would showcase their wider portfolio in the best light.

From the art aspect of the event, Icoz encourages visitors to look at Mehmet Ali Uysal’s mono prints, Gulay Semercioglu’s wire work at Pi Artworks, Gozde Ilkin’s fabric piece at artSumer, Ansen’s photograph at X-ist, Ahmet Dogu Ipek’s drawing from Sanatorium, Erol Eskici’s work on paper at Merkur, Kezban Arca Batibeki’s photograph at Leila Heller, Yusuf Sevincli’s photograph at Elipsis, Halil Vurucuoglu’s work on paper at Dirimart and an Azade Koker’s work on paper at Cda-Projects. “I have a much more extensive wish list than this, and will be happy to share my recommendations with visitors at Istanbul INN London,” she also stresses.

There is something for all Londoners at this event that will go until Monday explains Icoz. “For press, trade, collectors, fashionistas, foodies and more!”

Today’s Zaman

April 16, 2013
Wife of Swiss consul in İstanbul may face three years in prison

The wife of the Swiss consul in İstanbul, who hit a motorbike and fled the scene of the accident despite injuring the driver and the passenger, now faces charges that could result in up to three years in prison.

Wife of Swiss consulate and head of Chancery Andrea Köppel (L) allegedly fled the scene after hitting a married couple in Istanbul’s Bebek district. DHA photo

Driving a jeep, Andrea KOppel, wife of Consul and Head of Chancery Florian KOppel at the Consulate General of Switzerland in İstanbul, hit a motorbike driven by Dogan Durmus İnal in Bebek in February. The accident injured both driver and passenger. İnal’s wife, Filiz, sustained serious injuries and was hospitalized. KOppel fled the scene of the accident. She later went to a police station and told police she had panicked after the accident and had driven away.

İstanbul Public Prosecutor Resat Ugur Soysal has recently prepared an indictment, seeking a prison sentence of between eight months and three years for Andrea KOppel on charges of injury by conscious negligence.

Soysal said in the indictment that KOppel had drank too much alcohol, which led her to lose control while driving and hit a motorbike, leaving Filiz İnal critically injured.

Today’s Zaman

April 13, 2013