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Turkey could be America’s most important regional ally, above Iraq, even above Israel, if both sides manage the relationship correctly.

  • This should be sent to all New World Order supporters-Viva Novus Ordo Seclorum, Viva Obama

    This should be sent to all New World Order supporters-Viva Novus Ordo Seclorum, Viva Obama

    From: Sam Dogan [mailto:ssdogan@msn.com]
    Subject: this should be sent to all obama voters
    Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:59:41 +0000
    Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach ‘Change’


    Editor, Times-Dispatch:

    Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America’s. This year is special, because it marks the40th anniversary of my independence.

    On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United Statesto stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmondon Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress.

    I’ve thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cubaand what transpired there. In the late 1950s, most Cubansthought Cubaneeded a change, and they were right. So when a young leader came along, every Cuban was at least receptive.

    When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love w ith him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said ‘Praise the Lord.’ And when the young leader said, ‘I will be for change and I’ll bring you change,’ everyone yelled, ‘Viva Fidel!’

    But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner’s guns went silent the people’s guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cubahad been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a milli on people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it to shore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I’m back to the beginning of my story.

    Luckily, we would never fall in Americafor a young leader who promised change , without asking what change?  And most important How will you carry it out?  What will it cost America?
    Would we?


    Sharon

    ——————-

    Subject:  this should be sent to all obama voters

     

    Aslinda baslik soyle atilmaliydi:

    “This should be sent to all New World Order supporters”

    veyahut da acikca,

    “Viva Novus Ordo Seclorum, Viva Obama”

    da denilebilirdi…

    Novus Ordo Seclorum tanimini, Yeni Caga Acilim olarak tanimlamaya calisacak, kuresel emperyalizme kulp bulmaya calisacak birileri cikarsa karsiniza, o zaman da, Zeitgeist’de anlatilanlarin dogru oldugunu kabul etmek zorunda kaldiklarini soyleyebilirsiniz.

    Saygilar,

    Gusan Yedic


     

  • Turkish man leaving U.S. gets probation for sexual assault

    Turkish man leaving U.S. gets probation for sexual assault

    By ADAM BENSON,

    BRISTOL – A Turkish national who allegedly fondled a developmentally disabled woman last month was given two weeks of probation Wednesday because he’s set to leave the country permanently Sept. 15.Umit Celik’s circumstance put Judge Joseph W. Doherty in an admittedly awkward position, but he was firm with the 27-year-old man after handing down the sentence.

    Celik was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault.
    “If there is a violation of these conditions, you’ll be here and stand trial, even if it takes 18 months to start your trial,” Doherty said.

    Prosecutors said Celik, who was in the U.S. on a four-month work visa working as an ice cream truck driver, reportedly approached a woman walking in her Bristol neighborhood on July 9.

    Celik offered her free ice cream and began complimenting her appearance before asking the 28-year-old woman if she’d help teach him English.

    Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Christian Watson said Celik “talked” the woman into his truck, where he offered her his name and phone number.

    He then parked the vehicle at a dead end and began caressing the woman’s thighs and “massaging” her breasts, Watson said.

    Celik later told police he put his hand on the woman’s leg and held her hand, but he didn’t realize the contact was inappropriate.

    He said through a translator his behavior was “customary” in Turkey.

    Matt Dyer, Celik’s public defender, said the man had no plans to return to the United States when his visa was up and has been cooperative.

    Watson said given the nature of the charges, putting Celik through an accelerated rehabiliation program wasn’t the right course of action.

    “I don’t think that from the state’s perspective, this is appropriate for acclerated rehabilitation,” he said.
    But Doherty said placing the man on a prolonged period of probation while he was living abroad was “ineffectual.”
    However, Doherty said, Celik can’t take any job that puts him into direct contact with women or children for as long as he remains in the country.

    Source : ©The Bristol Press 2008

  • Debut of ‘Istanbul: The City of the Sultans’ in New York

    Debut of ‘Istanbul: The City of the Sultans’ in New York

    Acclaimed Turkish designer Nedret Taciroglu will make her much-anticipated USA debut during New York’s Couture Fashion Week in September 2008 at the Westin Times Square in the heart of the Big Apple. Ms. Taciroglu will present her latest collection entitled “Istanbul: The City of the Sultans.”The inspiration for her Nedret Taciroglu’s latest collection is the highly esteemed and important “Sultans’ Signatures.” The Sultans’ Signatures were not created by the Sultans themselves, but by calligraphers during the Ottoman Empire.

    Each one is distinctive and reflects the ruler’s power through intricate designs featuring both letters and patterns. In order to introduce the Sultans’ Signatures to the world, Mrs. Taciroglu blended history with modernism over a period of five months to produce a 30-piece collection.

    She used the signatures of Mehmet the Conqueror and Suleyman the Magnificent, among others. The designs also feature Swarovski crystals, chiffon and draping as well as the use of red and beige emphasizing the glory of the Ottomans.

    Ms. Taciroglu’s creations are reminiscent of clothes worn during the Ottoman Empire, which lasted for 600 years and acted as an important geographical, cultural, political and social bridge between the East and the West. Her collections reflect the historical heritage left by the Ottoman Empire to modern day Turkey.

    After earning a degree in interior design at Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul, Nedret Taciroglu entered the fashion industry as a model in 1976, and few years later founded Nedo Leather, where she worked designing, producing and exporting fine leather garments to clients in Paris, New York, Dallas and Houston.

    Her loyal clientele numbers in the thousands around the world and she was proud to create an 18-piece collection for former First Lady Nancy Reagan.

    In early 2002, with the encouragement of many friends in the fashion business, Ms. Taciroglu launched Nedo Collection, which quickly came to be appreciated by international buyers for its special fabrics and accessories.

    She is the only Turkish designer to stage her own show in Milan for three consecutive years, where she received rave reviews.

    Nedo Collection is targeted at the elegant, confident, well-traveled and successful woman. Fabrics are predominantly fine all-natural wools, cottons and silks made in Turkey.

    Nedo Weekend is a complimentary line of casual wear consisting of linen suits, sporty shorts, bottoms, and jeans with a target customer that appreciates comfortable and elegant clothes for less formal occasions. Ms. Taciroglu also designs home accessories.

    Couture Fashion Week is a multi-day event showcasing couture and luxury fashion. It also includes exhibits of luxury brands and fine art as well as world-class entertainment and receptions.

    The event is held in top venues in New York City, Palm Beach, Florida and otherselected cities and is attended by upscale consumers, invited VIPs, the press and high-end store buyers. Couture Fashion Week offers unique branding opportunities for luxury products and services.

    Couture Fashion Week

    Source :

  • From Skaneateles to Istanbul

    From Skaneateles to Istanbul

    Forty-nine years ago, it’s possible no one involved in this story thought a relationship spanning the Atlantic would still be thriving.

    But friendship can span time and, as is this case, continents.

    The year was 1959, and Ann German Higbee was an American Field Service student from Skaneateles living with the Turkoglu family in Istanbul, Turkey. She spent the summer living with the family – a mother, father, older brother and sister, Selma.

    “While I didn’t choose (to go to Turkey), I was thrilled to be in the first group of AFSer’s to Turkey, truly a little known country in 1959, a country that literally joins Asia and Europe,” Higbee said. “(It was) a place totally foreign to almost anything I knew (or) had heard of at that point in my life.”
    Little would foreshadow the story that unfolded after her time in Istanbul.

    In 1962, Selma Turkoglu Ertuna was awarded a Rotary Club international scholarship to come to the United States as an exchange student to Keuka College. Selma said while she was a student here, she would spend weekends and vacations with Higbee and her family.

    There was love in the air when Selma was on her way back to college, though, and she met a man by the name Ozer Ertuna.

    “I met Ozer on the boat on my way to Keuka College,” she said. “In 1964 we got married. I joined him in Ithaca when he was working for his PhD degree in Cornell University.”

    Now, 49 years later, Ozer and Selma have returned to the U.S. to rekindle long-time friendships and to visit with their exchange relatives. Over the years, the families have been able to visit each other’s homes.

    Like Higbee and Selman, Ozer, too, was an AFS exchange student. He had come to the states 51 years ago as a student in Wells, Minn., for a year-long trip.

    “Our current visit to USA is a nostalgic trip to visit our friends. We started our trip visiting Ann and Jim,” Selma said. “We had a wonderful time with them in Skaneateles meeting the family and their nice friends. We enjoyed every moment of our stay.”

    Following their stay in Skaneateles, Selma and Ozer headed to Ithaca to visit with Ozer’s professors at Cornell University, then they took a flight to Minnesota to visit Wayne Unke and his family. Unke was Ozer’s math teacher and coach during his exchange.

    The couple’s trip also includes a drive to Grinnell College in Iowa where their grandson is studying. Like his grandparents, the Ertuna’s grandson came to the U.S. as an exchange student to Kansas through AFS.

    “We are happy that our grandson is studying in the USA. He is having the similar experiences that we have had,” Selma said. “We are sure that this opportunity will broaden his vision of the world.”
    Higbee and the Ertunas each have a deep understanding of the importance of organizations like Rotary and AFS. They enable people to understand one another despite cultural differences.
    “AFS was and is an incredibly powerful organization that has been bringing people from around the world since post WWII. Founded by Stephen Galatti, an ambulance driver during the war, its vision has always been to join people from all points on the globe into a harmony based on living side-by-side … coming to understand each other in their respective cultures,” Higbee said. “It does not have a political agenda. Its only agenda is to build bonds of friendship and understanding that may contribute to world peace.”

    According to Selma, the organizations need increased support in order to expand their activities. The Ertunas would also like to see new organizations that promote friendship among people.
    “It is wonderful to have so close relations with friends in a distant part of the world,” Selma said. “If more people had the same experience we are sure that we would have a better world. And, we hope more people will have similar experience.”

    Ozer said the couple’s journey across the U.S. will come to a end on Sept. 5 when they fly to Turkey. Once they reach their destination, Istanbul, Ozer will resume teaching at Okan University.

    “It was pure joy to have Selma and Ozer back with us in Skaneateles and to share the pleasure of (re)igniting memories that will, hopefully, contribute to building even stronger bonds between our families/countries as we head into yet a new generation of friendship,” Higbee said.

    Source :

  • Mike McMahon for Congress on Staten Island – NEWYORK

    Mike McMahon for Congress on Staten Island – NEWYORK

     
                                           

     
                                        Mike McMahon for Congress on Staten Island
                                                www.mikemcmahonforcongress.com
     
    About Michael McMahon       

    Long before his election to the City Council, in 2001, Michael E. McMahon had been a tireless advocate for the residents of Staten Island and Brooklyn. Michael’s years of public service in a variety of diverse civic organizations and parenting of two school-aged children have made him an active presence in his community. Through hard work and creative thinking, Michael has found ways to address the needs of his North Shore district and to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers.

    This year we Turkish Americans have an historic opportunity on Staten Island  to help Michael McMahon get elected for the 13th congressional district seat on Staten Island / Brooklyn. We feel that Mr. McMahon will be a very close friend of the Republic of Turkey and Turkish Americans in United States.
     
     
             Mr. McMahon:
     
          1. Understands the importance of the strategic partnership between America and Turkey and the fight
              against terrorism and combating the ongoing PKK violence. Our common enemy of US and Turkey.

         2.  He understands Turkey’s unique role as a bridge between east and west.
         3.  He understands the key to developing a stronger relations between the United States and Turkey is  

              communication, and understanding the objectives of both parties.

         4.  He understands that encoring Turkey to EU will future the bridge between east and west.
     
     
    Mr. Michael McMahon has been endorsed by the following: 

     
    Rep. Charles Rangel and other New York House Democrats.
    The other Gotham Democrats to endorse include Gary Ackerman, Yvette Clarke, Joseph Crowley,
    Eliot Engel, Carolyn Maloney, Carolyn McCarthy, Gregory Meeks, Jerrold Nadler, José Serrano, Edolphus Towns.
     

    The McMahon Campaign also recently received a high profile endorsement from Senator Charles Schumer.  And just last Thursday, McMahon was endorsed by Randi Weingarten and the over 200,000 member United Federation of Teachers (UFT).   
     
    Mr. McMahon has also received the endorsement of the Public Employees Federation (AFL-CIO), which represents 58,000 professional, scientific, and technical employees of New York State, including over 5,000 in the Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens Region
     
     
    The Turkish American community will hosting a Fundraiser for Michael McMahon on
      October 4, 2008 2PM at  Gulloglu Baklava and Cafe 1985 Coney Island  Ave , Brooklyn NY 11223  between Ave P and Kings Highway. For more information please call Ibrahim Kurtulus at  
    Tel: 646 267 7488
     
     
    Dear friends, Our fund raising event will provide an excellent opportunity for you to socialize with Michael.
    Michael McMahon, a seven-year veteran of the New York City Council, has spent his entire career in public service, fighting passionately for expanded health care, transportation and smart environmental policies for the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York. 
     
     
    Please  joins us in helping Michael get elected to better the future of our children and Turkish American Relations.
     

     If you are not be able to attend this fundraiser make your check payable to
     “Citizens for Michael McMahon ” and send your check  to Ibrahim Kurtulus at the  address below
            
                                                     Ibrahim Kurtulus (TURKISHFORUM DANISMA KURULU UYESI)
                                                     425 Jefferson.Ave
                                                    Staten Island, NY 10306.
     
    I hope that all Turkish Americans in the tri state area  will participate strongly so that we can show case the strength of the Turkish American community on Staten Island and Brooklyn.
     
    Thank You,
    Ibrahim Kurtulus

    Ali Cinar

  • Turkey: Ankara’s S-300 Curiosity

    Turkey: Ankara’s S-300 Curiosity

     
     

    August 25, 2008 | 1729 GMT
    Alexey SAZONOV/AFP/Getty Images
    A Russian S-400 air defense battery, which is based on the S-300 design
    Summary
    Turkey is reportedly in the process of acquiring late-model Russian air defense technology from Ukraine and Belarus, Turkish daily Today’s Zaman reported Aug. 25. Bought second-hand, these systems would be used for the Turkish air force to train against, rather than to upgrade Ankara’s aging air defense network. That training could prove an important tool for both Turkey specifically and NATO in general.
    Analysis
    Turkey is in the process of acquiring several variants of the Russian S-300 air defense system, Turkish daily Today’s Zaman reported Aug. 25. The systems — reportedly to be acquired second-hand from Belarus and Ukraine — are not meant to revitalize Ankara’s aging air defense network; they are intended to be a training tool for the Turkish air force. Turkey decided to make the purchase July 22 — before the Russo-Georgian conflict — but should the deal go through, the lessons Turkey hopes to learn will almost certainly proliferate to NATO as a whole.
    The S-300 encompasses a number of long-range strategic air defense systems (some variants also have a limited ballistic missile defense capability). Turkey has its sights set on both the S-300 and S-300V. The former, known to NATO as the SA-10B/C/D, encompasses several models of varying capability, but in short approaches the height of Soviet strategic air defense systems. Though neither Ukraine nor Belarus has the most modern S-300 variants — the PMU series — Turkey will likely attempt to acquire a PMU-series variant from them if it can, because Ankara knows Greece fields a PMU1 variant on Crete.
    Related Link
    • Russia: The Fundamentals of Russian Air Defense Exports
    Related Special Topic Page
    • Russia’s Military
    The S-300V, meanwhile, shares the same design heritage as the S-300 (including some component parts). But while its spectrum of coverage and engagement envelope are quite similar, it is a distinct air defense system (known to NATO as the SA-12) characterized by the large tracked vehicles on which it is mounted. The S-300V was designed with a higher degree of mobility in mind. Russian troops deployed near the Turkish border in Armenia are protected by an S-300V battery.
    Both the United States and Israel reportedly were able to acquire some S-300 components during the 1990s (including, in the U.S. case, parts of the S-300V), but the Turkish effort could include a later model or a more complete system.
    Should Turkey succeed in this acquisition, Ankara’s subsequent work would take two important approaches. The first is reverse engineering, where key components are disassembled and their inner workings closely examined.. The second is training in electronic warfare against actual systems.
    Ukraine and Belarus have neither the newest nor the best-maintained air defense hardware. The condition of the equipment Ankara seeks to buy is unclear, and Russia may be in a position to block at least the Belarusian part of the sale. But perhaps the most significant aspect of this news is the intention to train against it — not just dissecting the missile, but actually flying against functional systems.
    A training range at Konya, less than 150 miles south of Ankara, is reportedly slated to host this Russian hardware, along with the shorter-range Russian Tor-M1. According to the report, the systems will be integrated with an electronic warfare training system with which Turkey’s F-16s will conduct exercises.
    If Turkey is able to acquire even one of the three S-300 variants it seeks, it will undoubtedly work at the training range to learn and test the technology’s performance parameters. This will allow Turkey (and any other NATO allies who happen to train with Turkish forces at the Konya facility) to test tactics and challenge the system over and over again. Whether it will succeed in acquiring a PMU1 remains to be seen, but even older variants could offer very real insight into some of the overall S-300 design’s ultimate limitations and weaknesses. And the result will be a Turkish air force more capable of addressing the two most advanced air defense systems positioned on its periphery: the Greek S-300PMU1 batteries (which were originally slated for Cyprus) to its southwest and the Russian S-300V battery in Armenia, on its eastern border.
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