Tag: TRT

  • ATAA Remembers the Victims of the Holocaust

    ATAA Remembers the Victims of the Holocaust

    ATAAToday marks the seventh International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly to annually honor the six million Jewish men, women and children that were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust. Jan. 27 holds historical significance because it was the day in 1945 when the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

     On the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, we remember the victims of the Holocaust. On this day we remember the 1.3 million people of Jewish heritage as well as Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet prisoners, and people of diverse nationalities and lifestyles who were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

     During the Holocaust, Turkish Diplomats in Europe saved an estimated 75,000 Jews from extermination. Turkey served as a bridge between Jews and the organizations that wanted to help Jews. About 100,000 Jews fled from Europe to Palestine via Turkey. Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Israel.

     ATAA commends Turkish state television channels, TRT and TRT-Int, for airing a nine-part documentary on the Holocaust. TRT broadcasts in Turkish, Azeri, Arabic, Kurdish and other languages, and reaches over 200 million viewers from France and Germany to Kyrgyzstan, from Eurasia and the Balkans to the Arabian Peninsula.
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  • AFP: Turkey to become first Muslim nation to show Holocaust film

    (AFP) – 9 hours ago

    Turkey's broadcast of the film is the culmination of work by a group which tries to improve Jewish-Muslim relations (AFP/File, Andrei Nacu)

    ANKARA — Turkish public television will show an epic French documentary about the Holocaust, the first broadcast of its kind by national media in a Muslim state, it was announced Wednesday.

    A spokesman for Turkish public television TRT said the 1985 film “Shoah” would be shown on one of the network’s 14 channels, but did not say when.

    The director of nine-hour-plus documentary, Claude Lanzmann, called the Turkish move historic.

    “We should acknowledge the courage and determination of the Turks,” said Lanzmann, who spent 11 years working on the documentary. “Turkey is a country people don’t know and understand very badly.”

    Turkey’s broadcast of the film is the culmination of work by the Aladdin Project, a Paris-based group which tries to improve Jewish-Muslim relations.

    The group said in a statement the film would be shown Thursday, the day before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, adding that it had never before been shown in its entirety in a Muslim country.

    Consisting largely of Holocaust-survivor interviews, the film examines the killing of European Jews in Nazi death camps during World War II.

    Its broadcast comes at a sensitive time in Turkey’s international relations.

    Ankara hopes to eventually join the European Union, but it is embroiled in a spat with Paris over the French senate’s approval of a law making it a crime to deny that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces in World War II was genocide.

    Ankara’s relations with Israel were damaged in 2010 after Israeli commandoes stormed a Turkish aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip in an operation that led to the deaths of nine Turkish activists.

    via AFP: Turkey to become first Muslim nation to show Holocaust film.

  • Video: Kyrgyzstan Wins First Pan-Turkic Pop Contest

    Video: Kyrgyzstan Wins First Pan-Turkic Pop Contest

    Move over Eurovision: A 22-year-old from Kyrgyzstan has won Turkish state television’s first-ever “Eurasia Star” pop music competition, held in Istanbul, returning home with $30,000.

    After two weeks and six rounds of performances, a unanimous panel of judges, and fans voting by text message, chose Guljigit Kalykov the winner on January 14. Thanks to his victory, the next Eurasia Star contest will be held in Kyrgyzstan.

    Singer Gulnur Satylganova, who holds the state-conferred distinction of Popular Performer of the Kyrgyz Republic, said “the victory by our compatriot, particularly in the first year of such a project’s creation, raises the level of Kyrgyzstan’s live musical performance and art in the eyes of the international musical community as a country that can give birth to and nurture stars on an international scale.”

    Uzbekistan abstained from the contest, which included most other Turkic-speaking lands, specifically: Azerbaijan (whose capital, Baku, will host Eurovision later this year), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Northern Cyprus, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

    logoIn at least one case, Eurasia Star’s selection process faced criticism for being only as democratic as the country in question. A November entry on the blogging platform Neweurasia.net complained that Turkmenistan’s vote lacked transparency because judges were government-appointed artists and text-message voting was tallied by the state-run telecom monopoly, Altyn Asyr: “This was a lost opportunity to experiment with electronic direct democracy. There wasn’t any transparency to this process, i.e., to confirm that our votes were really obeyed — something we’re used to in Turkmenistan,” wrote blogger Annasoltan.

    Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile, has had something of a knack for producing pop sensations lately. In November, 21-year-old Atai Omurzakov from Karakol won the Czecho-Slovakia’s Got Talent contest with his “robot dance,” which is well worth watching.

    via Kyrgyzstan Wins First Pan-Turkic Pop Contest | EurasiaNet.org.

  • A talk with Turkish guest workers on Turkey-Germany train

    A talk with Turkish guest workers on Turkey-Germany train

    30 October 2011, Sunday / ALI ASLAN KILIÇ, ANKARA

    tren

    Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek met with the migrants in the commemorative train that set off to Germany to mark the 50th anniversary since the first group of Turks left their homeland for a new life in Germany as part of a labor agreement signed by the two countries. (Photo: AA)

    I have spent most of the week traveling between İstanbul and Munich. This was an extraordinary trip that I am unlikely to have again.

    The Turkey-Munich train journey sponsored by the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) and organized by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) to mark the 50th anniversary of the first wave of Turkish migration to Germany featured unforgettable memories.

    This was in fact a remembrance of the forgotten people and citizens. The Turkey-Germany train ride was a symbol of the message: “We have forgotten you for five decades, but we have not totally abandoned you. We have failed to respond to your demands and problems, but now, we are there for you as the state.”

    We, the parliament speaker, deputies, artists, writers, bureaucrats and journalists, heard the emotions and thoughts of our workers and tried to better understand them.

    The number two of the state, Cemil Çiçek, who joined the trip for the Belgrade leg of the journey, made a concise statement: “Both we, Turkey, and the countries hosting our workers, including Germany Austria, France, Holland and Belgium, have to make a thorough evaluation.” Neither Turkey nor Germany or other countries were aware of the outcome of a labor exchange agreement that they signed 50 years ago. The culture shock to be experienced by the people who were moving towards uncertainty out of hope for a better future, the problems they would encounter, their demands of their children and expectations were not considered back then. In a way, Turkey sent these people and forgot about them, while Germany thought they would stay temporarily and then go back to their home country.

    However, this did not happen. Hasibe Altun, who moved to Germany assuming that she would come back one year later, said she had been there for 41 years, bringing to light the reality that the German and Turkish governments failed to address.

    I wish the Turkey-Germany train could have made the journey on the 10th, 20th and 25th anniversaries of the migration so that this would have served as an opportunity to identify the problems and negligence as well as address the problems of the guest workers before I was too late.

    On the train, hopes, negligence, sadness and homesickness were expressed and voiced. In addition to the sadness associated with having been forgotten for five decades, these people also expressed their happiness at being remembered. The attendants cried out of sadness and the feeling of being a guest worker was eloquently articulated by TRT artists Zeynep Cihan and Metin Altun through heart-rending folk songs. Writers Ayla Kutlu and Nazlı Eray discussed the notion of being an immigrant and guest worker as well as the relation between an individual and the place.

    People from different social and ethnic backgrounds, with different feelings and emotions, focused on the same issue during the five-day trip. Diversity should be celebrated. It is pleasant to become acquainted despite differences. We traveled through many villages and towns, as well as the cities of Sofia, Belgrade, Zagreb and Salzburg and breathed in the beauty of the nature in the fall. It was an unforgettable trip. The best part was that the people who traveled five decades ago were now confident in themselves and what they would be able to achieve because both Turkey and Germany were aware of them. They have already left their troubles behind and are ready to embrace the future.

    Thanks to TRT and the TCDD, and thanks to everyone who contributed to this endeavor.

    via A talk with Turkish guest workers on Turkey-Germany train.

  • Turkey: TRT not to internally select a representative

    Turkey: TRT not to internally select a representative

    Source: Habervitrini.com & ESCDaily.com

    Image Source: TRT

    trtTRT will start its plans for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in November. However, the artist that will represent the country won’t be picked internally this time.

    Habervitrini.com reports that TRT, the Turkish national broadcaster, will be changing the method of chosing the representative of the country for Eurovision. In November, a commision will invite musicians and composers to submit entries. Later, their entries will be rated but the full process of what exactly will be done is still unknown. This year it is much more open for artists and singers who will all have a chance to represent Turkey on the big Eurovision Stage.

    Traditionally, TRT decides on one artist and several songs are presented to the broadcaster. In terms of the planned process in 2011, it’s reported that TRT will choose a number entries to present to the public and later will cut entries one by one until eventually a winner will be selected. It’s still believed however there will be no public say in the decision and still technically it will be an internal decision just more open for artists.

    Additionally, popular Turkish pop artist Hande Yener, has said on several occasions that she wants to represent Turkey in Eurovision and this year she feels no different. Recently she stated ‘I want to represent my country at Eurovision’ on a local radio station. Hande has sold close to 17 million albums worldwide and she was approched by TRT to represent Turkey in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest.

    Other popular names rumoured to be interested include Atiye and Sebnem Ferah.

    Stay tuned!

    via Turkey: TRT not to internally select a representative | ESCDaily.com || The latest Eurovision 2011 news from across Europe.