Turkish Forum

Tag: Chicago

  • Understanding the basis and impact of recent political developments in Turkey

    Understanding the basis and impact of recent political developments in Turkey

    You are invited to join us for IPCC October’s luncheon. This month our guest speaker is Dr. Hande Ozdinler.

     

    Dr. Hande Ozdinler is a member of the International Press Club of Chicago and has been an international press member since 2001, affiliated with Cumhuriyet Newspaper in Turkey.  In addition to directing one of two major ALS research labs at Northwestern University, Dr. Ozdinler publishes on science, technology, education, and women rights issues. She was also a columnist for the Turkish Journal for over two years.
    Dr. Ozdinler is of Turkish origin and has been closely following the recent unrest and Istanbul Gezi Park events in Turkey, as she spent her childhood in Gezi Park and is one of the members of the ChicagoTurkishForum.  She is an avid  supporter of science and technology driven freethinking and believes that current events give us hope for the future. In addition to being a scientist and an international press member, Dr. Ozdinler is a writer, photographer and a mother.  Dr. Ozdinler’s work has been featured at Forbes, Harvard Business Review-TR and her scientific discoveries were recently covered by WGN-Chicago.

     

    Please ensure you RSVP by going online to secure your seat. Simply click the red RSVP on the left column to complete the registration and payment prior to Monday, October 14, 2013.

     

    We encourage you to extend this invitation to your friends and colleagues.

    Sincerely,

    Wayne Toberman

    President, International Press Club of Chicago
     

    Guest Speaker: Dr. Hande Ozdinler

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    Topic: “Understanding the basis and impact of recent political developments in Turkey”
  • Chicago Armenians Demonstrate Against Denial

    Chicago Armenians Demonstrate Against Denial

    CHICAGO, Ill.—On Wed., April 24, more than 100 demonstrators from Chicago’s Armenian, Greek, Assyrian, and Cypriot communities joined a protest organized by the Chicago “Ararat” Chapter of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) against Turkey’s ongoing and aggressive campaign of denial of the Armenian Genocide.

    chicago-pic-1

    Turkish demonstrators chanting, ‘You deserved it! You deserved it!’

    The demonstrators gathered in front of Chicago’s NBC Tower, the new home of the Turkish Consulate, around 11 a.m. waving Armenian and American flags, holding signs, and chanting such phrases as “Recognize the Genocide,” “Turkey is a liar,” and “Turkey run, Turkey hide, Turkey is guilt of Genocide.” Soon after, small groups of Turkish and Azeri counter-demonstrators exited the building, presumably from the Turkish Consulate offices, to take up positions on the opposite side of the street from the Armenian picket lines.

    The Turkish counter-demonstrators began shouting slogans and cursing in Turkish at the protestors as Turkish Consul General Fatih Yildiz looked on. At one point, the Turkish group began shouting, “You deserved it! You deserved it!” and “Talat was right!” referencing genocide-mastermind Talat Pasha and essentially admitting to Turkey’s culpability in the genocides of the Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks during and after World War I.

    Despite repeated attempts by the Turks to intimidate and provoke the protestors even as Chicago police looked on, the AYF-led group maintained their discipline and continued with their picket for two hours. The protest concluded with the singing of “Mer Hairenik” and ‘Haratch Nahadag.”

    via Chicago Armenians Demonstrate Against Denial | Armenian Weekly.

  • Istanbul and Chicago, Sister Cities?

    Istanbul and Chicago, Sister Cities?

    Imre Azem’s directed a documentary about Turkey called “Ekumenopolis: City Without Limits.” And the flick popped the image of a romantic Istanbul for some folks:

    Director Imre Azem said audiences at foreign film festivals were surprised at what they saw on the screen.

    “It shatters their image of Istanbul. They have this nostalgic kind of image of Istanbul, with its mosques and all this tourist stuff,” Azem said. “For Turkish people, it’s kind of saying things that they already know because they live in this city and they know its problems.”

    Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. The backstreets of Beyoglu, the worn facades and sharp-angled shadows recall the city that Nobel-prize winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk described in his memoir.

    Azem, 36, grew up in Istanbul and went to the United States to study, but returned often to find a frenzy of change.

    “One time I come here, there’s a park. And then the next time, six months later, the park has become a building,” Azem said. “I really just started questioning where this is heading.”

    He said Istanbul was so vast that he had met some poor residents who had never seen the Bosporus Strait even though they had lived in the city for years. A common Turkish term is “gecekondu,” or “built overnight,” a reference to the shoddy apartment buildings that authorities in Istanbul condoned over decades, but now talk about replacing.

    Hmmm, you know what? Istanbul sounds a lot like Chicago. Except in South Side Chicago they don’t call it ”gecekondu,” or “built overnight.” But “gone-kondu” or “gone overnight.”

    via Istanbul and Chicago, Sister Cities? |.