Tag: Arabs

  • Why Arabs are confused on Turkey’s ethnic minorities

    Sinem Cengiz

    At a time when Ankara and the Gulf countries are at odds due to Egypt, a significant workshop on “The Future of Turkey’s Model and Role” took place in Abu Dhabi last week where Arab and Turkish intellectuals discussed future of relationship between Arab world and Turkey.

    One of the main discussions in the workshop was on the impact of minorities’ issue on Turkey’s political scene and possible effects of this issue on Turkey’s regional role.

    What I observed during the discussion of the topic was that Arab intellectuals are very much confused on the situation of the minorities in Turkey. Regarding the issue of Turkey’s Alevi community, which finds many of the government’s policies and regulations troubling, there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge in the Arab side on who Alevis are, what their situation in Turkey is, and what their demands are.

    Alevi problems

    The problems of the Alevi community – constituting 15-20 percent of the Turkish population – are one of the main topics within the framework of Turkey’s democratization process that needs to be tackled.

    Arab intellectuals, who strive to understand the Alevi issue, feels that Turkey will be facing a serious challenge on the matter

    Sinem Cengiz

    The fundamental demands of Alevis in Turkey are the formal recognition of “Cemevleri” (houses for religious gathering) as Alevi places of worship by state, transformation or reform of the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and the scrapping of compulsory religious classes for students. However, so far none of these demands have been addressed by the Turkish government – a situation that created anger and a disappointment by the Alevis.

    Arab intellectuals, who strive to understand the Alevi issue, feels that Turkey will be facing a serious challenge on the matter if it fails to handle it appropriately. Arab participants in brief stated that: “We believe that Turkey is a developing country that works to solve its problematic issues.”

    However, when we see the Alevi problem in the country, a deep confusion emerges towards the admiration for the Turkish model. If Turkey wants to become a regional actor, it should first be able to deal with three main issues: Alevi, Kurdish and non-Muslim minority.

    These issues should not be considered as a threat by the state rather the deadlock of these issues probably will be a threat for the future aspirations of the Turkish state in the region.”

    The Kurdish issue in Turkey was another crucial topic that Arab intellectuals touched upon although in that matter also there is a lack of proper understanding on what the situation of Kurds in Turkey is and where the ongoing settlement process launched by Turkish government in order to resolve the decades-old Kurdish conflict is heading to.

    Kurdish worry

    Arabs stated that they have a worry about the Kurdish issue in the region and they wonder that what will be the impact of the settlement process on the situation of the Kurds in the region.

    According to Arab intellectuals, Turkey is facing challenges regarding its Kurdish issue as the matter is not well understood by the policy-makers. “We are in a worry that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is running after his political ambitions rather than the benefit of the country” said one participant.

    Indeed, the Kurdish issue should be Turkey’s number one priority to solve. It will remain as a burden on the shoulders of every Turkish government until it is solved sincerely.

    However, the main cause and root of all these issues is entirely related to Turkey’s failure to become a full-fledged democracy and its failure to establish a state based on the rule of law at international standards.

    The deficit of democracy leads to the persistence of problematic issues of Kurds, Alevis and religious minorities in Turkey.

    Getting to the root cause

    Arab intellectuals came to a conclusion with their Turkish counterparts in the discussion that unless a right reading to the root cause of the issue is done, it would be not possible to find the proper method to solve the issue – which may eventually cause Ankara’s dream to become a major player in the region to come to an end.

    Arab intellectuals noted that Turkey should be able to achieve a balance between different groups and have equal policies regarding these groups, adding that only a Turkey that succeeded in solving these issues could serve as a model for the Middle East.

    This workshop once more made us realize that one major obstacle between Turkey and Arab countries to understand each other’s domestic issues is the lack of knowledge and comprehensive understanding on both sides.

    However, while the Kurdish and Alevi issues occupies a complicated place in Turkey, it becomes quite normal for the Arab intellectuals to fail to understand what is going in Turkey regarding these issues. However, I would say “better late than never” for the rising interest of the Arabs on the minority, Alevi and Kurdish issues in Turkey.

    ___________________

    Sinem Cengiz is an Ankara-based Diplomatic Correspondent for Today’s Zaman Newspaper, which is the best-selling and the most circulated English daily in Turkey. Born and lived in Kuwait, Cengiz focuses mainly on issues regarding Middle East and Turkey’s relations with the region. Cengiz is also a blogger at Today’s Zaman’s blog section where she provides fresh and unusual accounts of what’s going on in Ankara’s corridors of power. She can be found on Twitter: @SinemCngz

    via Why Arabs are confused on Turkey’s ethnic minorities – Al Arabiya News.

  • Turkey Renews Push for Arab Investment

    Turkey Renews Push for Arab Investment

    By Emre Peker

    It’s a curious thing that Turkey’s growing diplomatic ties with the Arab world over the past decade haven’t yielded a glut of big-ticket investments from Middle Eastern economies.

    Now Ankara, hungry for cash to feed its capital-deficient economy after a sharp economic slowdown, is renewing its bid for investment from the region’s energy-rich nations flush with cash from high oil prices.

    In Istanbul this month, Turkey’s cabinet ministers lined up at the Turkey Arab forum to court Middle Eastern capital, laying out the case that Turkish companies offer better investment prospects than the red-hot economies in Asia and Latin America.

    “Our economies complement each other, and it’s very important to create sources of interdependency among our economies. If interdependency is created through trade, this will help stability and security,” Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan told more than 400 officials, investors, and representatives from real estate companies, energy firms and banks, among other attendees.

    Bloomberg News
    Istanbul’s fast-expanding Financial Center is seeking a new wave of Middle Eastern capital.

    Despite accounting for only $8.3 billion, or 3.2%, of all investments abroad from the Middle East and North Africa, Turkey offers broad scope for growth for Arab Investors, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek added.

    Recent months suggest the tide may slowly be starting to turn.

    The Commercial Bank of Qatar bought a 71% stake in Turkish lender Alternatifbank in March. Known as A-Bank, the Istanbul-based lender had a book value of about $325 million at the end of last year and CBQ said it paid twice the as much as the firms valuation in the middle of 2012.

    Other investments that have trickled into Turkey last year include Saudi Arabian private equity firm Eastgate Capital Group’s debut investment in the country with the purchase of a 49.8% stake in Fabeks Dis Ticaret AS, the textile firm produicing high-end retail apparel under the Silk & Cashmere brand. Bahrain’s Investcorp was another buyer in the apparel sector, acquiring a 30% stake at menswear retailer Orka Group to tap into a market estimated to be worth $7.4 billion. And Kuwait’s NBK Capital bought a 50% stake in Bavet, the Istanbul-based distributor of animal pharmaceuticals.

    Abdullah AlFouzan, chairman of The Investor For Securities Company, the Saudi firm with more than $1 billion of assets under management, said his Riyadh-based company is planning to launch a $250 million real-estate fund within three months to buy properties in Turkey’s Black Sea province and Bursa, the industrial and agricultural hub south of Istanbul. He added that ISC is also seeking to deploy part of a $400 million fund to invest in Turkish charity endowments, which are known as waqf and enjoy tax breaks.

    “We are under pressure from our clients to hunt for opportunities to invest somewhere else. We are traveling to invest across the region. We believe Turkey is an attractive investment for the next five years,” said Abdullah AlFouzan, chairman of The Investor For Securities Company, the Saudi firm with more than $1 billion of assets under management.

    Yet recent buyouts pale in comparison with the government’s $6.55 billion sale of a 55% stake in Turk Telekom in 2005 to Saudi Oger Group. In the years since Ankara’s biggest state-asset sale, Turkey hasn’t clocked in another landmark deal of the same magnitude from the Middle East even though the money has continued to trickle in over the years.

    For Mehmet Habbab, chairman for the past decade of the Turkish-Middle Eastern business council at the Foreign Economic Relations Board in Istanbul, stronger government support for greater trade links remains the key to help Ankara draw more middle eastern capital.

    “We are at the beginning of the road to better relations. When I used to talk with Turks, they would say, ‘We don’t trust the Arabs, they joined forces with the British and stabbed us in the back.’ And when I asked Arabs why they’re not doing business in Turkey, they would say, ‘Turks governed us for centuries, and then we wanted to be independent. Now that we want to trade, Turks turn their back to us.’”

  • Turkey wants to be in Arab trade bloc

    Turkey wants to be in Arab trade bloc

    Turkish Finance minister Mehmet Simsek delivers a speech during the Turkish Arab Economic Forum opening ceremony on April 4 2013.

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    DOHA: Turkey yesterday proposed to become part of a common market with the Arab world, as Qatar said there were more than 25 Turkish companies operating in its territory and the collective volume of their business had reached a staggering $20bn.

    Speaking of the Arab world, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a key Turkish-Arab economic meet in Istanbul yesterday: “Today, we are rediscovering each other again”.

    He said a common market comprising his country and the Arab world was the need of the hour. “We must remove all barriers that exit between our people and our countries,” said Davutoglu.

    The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Dr Khalid Al Attiyah, represented Qatar at the Turkish-Arab Economic Summit. Addressing it, he said over 25 Turkish companies were based in Qatar and their total business volume had reached $20bn.

    Al Attiyah said he was surprised that when Turkey was trying for membership of the European Union, some in the Arab world were critical and said the country was drifting away from the Arabs.

    Now, when it is coming closer to the Arab world, it (Turkey) is being accused of trying to revive its Ottoman heritage, said Al Attiyah.

    THE PENINSULA & AGENCIES

  • Turkish FM calls on Arabs to work in Istanbul

    Turkish FM calls on Arabs to work in Istanbul

    Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has stated, Turkey and the Arab world exceeded the “psychological barrier” of the past decade, Anadolu Agency reported.

    Ahmet_Davutoglu_071212

    “As intellectuals, politicians and businessmen, we rediscover each other,” he added.

    Delivering a speech at the “Turkey and Arab world: Strategic Meeting Point Istanbul” titled panel discussion at the 8th Turkish-Arab Economic Forum in Istanbul, Davutoglu stressed the economic aspect was really important in relations.

    Davutoglu said, statesmen could sit down and advance a vision however if they do not encourage businessmen, the vision would not be sustained and added, “We need a common market. Leaders can meet up in palaces however public meet in markets. Real life happens in markets. Us, as intellectuals, politicians and businessmen, we rediscover each other.”

    He underlined, Turkey seeks for “maximum economic integration” in the region and noted, the platform of that would be cultural.

    Davutoglu highlighted that Istanbul was the city of Arabs from the stability and market culture, multiculturalism and economic integrity point of view and said, ” Istanbul is all of ours. Come and work inIstanbul. Istanbul is becoming a global capital.”

    Moreover, he stressed that Turkey was trying to be careful to act in unison with Arab world and Arab Union over the Syria issue.

    via Turkish FM calls on Arabs to work in Istanbul – Trend.Az.

  • Arab-Turkish Forum slated to be hosted in Manama on 31st March 2013

    Arab-Turkish Forum slated to be hosted in Manama on 31st March 2013

    Manama: March 13 –-(BNA)– The 2nd Arab-Turkish Forum is slated to be hosted in Manama during the period 31 March to 2 2 April 2013. The first meeting was held in Istanbul, Turkey last December.

    The Forum aims to explore the issue of the “Manama Declaration” per which this non-governmental regional meeting will be official incorporated in Istanbul as a private, non-profit making society.

    A series of meetings and consultations are expected to be conducted on an informal basis in order to boost mutual understanding between modern Turkey and the Arab world in the light of fast transformations taking place in Arab-Turkish relations in order to deepen existing relations and find common grounds for cultural and economic cooperation.

    The upcoming meeting will be attended by a number of co-founders: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Palestine. A large number of observers is also expected to attend the Arab-Turkish forum upon invitation.

    The attendees and co-founders include: Shaikha Haya bint Rashid Al Khalifa (Bahrain), Mr. Irshad Hormuzlu (Turkey), Khalid Aron (Istanbul), Mr. Abdurrahman Al-Rashid (Al-Arabiya TV’s general director), Yasser AbdouRabou (former Palestinian Minister of Information) Mr. Saleh Ghallab (former Jordanian Minister of Information), Dr. Mohammed Al-Rumaihi (Kuwait University’s professor of political sociology), Mr. Yasser Abdel-Ilah Al-Saadoon and a number of observers from inside the Kingdom of Bahrain and also from abroad. (IY)

    via Bahrain News Agency | Arab-Turkish Forum slated to be hosted in Manama on 31st March 2013.

  • Can Coffeehouses Boost Creativity in the Arab World?

    Can Coffeehouses Boost Creativity in the Arab World?

    by Oubai Elkerdi, September 25, 2012

    CoffeeShop Large

    Since their inception in Istanbul in the 16th century, coffeehouses have been centers of free-wheeling and off-hand discussions, venues where unlikely migrations between different clusters take place and the starting point of many great ideas.

    In Europe, coffeehouses were the hub of scientific and artistic conversations. The salon-like atmosphere allowed people from all kinds of backgrounds to connect, mingle, and share. Diverse disciplines intertwined, married, and gave birth to innovative ideas in an environment that was optimistic and politically engaged. In other words, coffee shops were far from being places for pure leisure or a hangout for lost souls who had little to do.

    In 20th century Vienna, Berta Zuckerkandl, an influential salonnière, hosted artists, scientists, writers, and thinkers in her living room. The spirit of her salon was based on the free exchange of scientific and artistic ideas. This allowed artists to create paintings inspired by, say, the structure of a living cell. This is because innovation “is not so much a question of thinking outside the box, as it is allowing the mind to move through multiple boxes. That movement from box to box forces the mind to approach intellectual roadblocks from new angles”, says Stephen Johnson.

    Now we know why Pixar’s studio building, much like traditional coffeehouses, is “structured to maximize inadvertent encounters” and force interactions between different departments. Yet, employees are still encouraged to personalize their individual office spaces. The same is true for Microsoft’s building 99 where office walls – most of which are wipe-on/wipe-off – can easily be reconfigured to match the needs of the employees.

    While social interaction and collaboration are important for creative problem-solving, so is quiet, personal time. Quiet time is not only essential to brain development, but it is also the optimal environment for learning new skills. Distractions often prevent talent development, and a lot of social noise can be harmful to growth.

    Many creative gurus actually oppose the groupthink culture. In his memoir, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak writes: “Most inventors and engineers I’ve met are like me – they’re shy and live in their heads. [The] very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone.”

    He later writes: “I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: work alone. You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you’re working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team.”

    At the same time, let us not forget that as Wozniak was developing the Apple I, he incorporated feedback from members of the Homebrew Computer Club – an engineering club and group of people with shared interests. “They’d tell him about upcoming microprocessors and help troubleshoot his circuit board. They’d give him advice on working with floppy-disk drives and offer suggestions on negotiating with suppliers.” (Lehrer, Imagine: How Creativity Works)

    The reason why Silicon Valley was home to dozens of success stories like Intel, Apple Computer, Cisco, Oracle, Sun Microsystems and later Netscape, Google, Netflix, and Facebook, and other places weren’t, is primarily due to the free flow of information and knowledge spillover that took place in computer clubs, restaurants, bars, and other coffeehouse-like locales.

    I recently learned that, in the past, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) was never just a chance to perform religious duties, but a meeting point for scholars and thinkers from different parts of the world to discuss the latest developments in their fields; the House of Wisdom was never the only source of innovation that sparked the Islamic Golden Age.

    Today, many coffeehouses in Europe and North America are still “hotbeds” of intellectual flowerings and provide an optimal platform for both lively group conversations and quiet reflections. Aside from inviting local artists to perform, a lot of coffeehouses possess interesting assortments of books and CDs on their walls, thus inviting dwellers to embark on serendipitously creative journeys.

    Furthermore, the architecture and design of the space – lighting, relative absence of televisions, and the cosy, relaxed setting – form the perfect ambience for concentration (many cafés even have silent study areas).

    This age-of-enlightenment feel is lacking in most Arabic cafés where the free exchange culture is muffled by loud pop music and glaring televisions. Indeed, such uninspiring, hookah-saturated spaces strangle creativity and do not welcome “knowledge-thirsty listeners” as they once did. What is true of many western coffee shops is not true of enough Arabic cafés, and if we want to see an age of innovation in the Arab world, then coffeehouses are a good place to start.

    So let’s start. What can we do to transform a social hangout that molds idle youth into a catalyzer of creative ideation and innovative projects?

    1) Design a thoughtful place for intellectual mingling. The first and most important step is to create an ergonomic, intellectually-friendly atmosphere that can help ideas flow, develop and mature. You want to make it easy for people to discuss for prolonged periods of time, and take advantage of unexpected meetings. You may need the help of an architect and a psychologist – because psychologists understand how different visual cues condition our thinking.

    2) Forget TVs, decorate with local artwork. Provide visual artists, musicians, and poets with an opportunity to showcase their talents. Your clientele will be delighted and inspired by the healthy jolt.

    3) Accumulate a library and encourage intellectual journeys. “London cafés were the first to provide newspapers to their clients, a move which attracted intellectuals and students willing to gather and discuss current affairs and trends affecting society.” Reading remains the supreme vehicle for the transmission of thought-provoking ideas and perspectives, so make sure you curate a diverse collection of interesting books and magazines.

    4) Invite thinkers, university professors, students, and hobbyists. Host meetings, open discussions, give workshops, allow people to study and work on their projects at your coffeehouse. This will increase the probability of intellectual spillover and open access to the academically possible for even those who are not in the group. Send warm, original invitations to a select group of people, “Tonight, come and study at our coffee shop. Hot chocolates and desserts on us.”

    5) Reward creative undertakings and ideas that sprout from your coffeehouse. Organize and host week-long competitions where you ask participants to find practical solutions to a specific problem your local community is facing. (You can impose constraints, or provide participants with a toolkit). By the end of the week ask everyone to present their solutions at the café in front of a panel of experts, and make sure the winning solution gets implemented.

    6) Drop the hookah, keep the air fresh. It’s cleaner, healthier, safer, and it’ll make you stand out. This will say a lot about the culture you’re trying to promote.

    These are just a few simple ideas that could transform Arabic cafés into stimulating and engaging environments that encourage creativity and growth. Re-thinking the purpose and design of coffeehouses – and other such settings – is an overlooked but critical part of development in the Arab world.

    Although this article is about coffeehouses, all of the ideas mentioned here are applicable to corporate cafeterias, lounges, recreational areas, etc. – imagine the potential!

    What do you think? Do you have any ideas on how to make coffeehouses hubs for creative ideation?

    Oubai is a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at McGill University. He is interested in crowd-driven innovation and multidisciplinary collaborations. His main passion is human-design interaction and the role design plays in shaping society and culture. Oubai is also the cofounder of the Arab Development Initiative. You can reach him on Twitter @obeikurdy.