Month: August 2008

DARCHINYAN LOOKING TO CONQUER ANOTHER WEIGHT CLASS

LIVENEWS.com.au
Aug 2 2008
Australia

Australia’s Vic Darchinyan is already looking at unifying the super
flyweight boxing division and moving up to conquer another weight
class, even before his challenge IBF super flyweight world champion
Dimitri Kirilov in Washington tomorrow.

Darchinyan is favoured by the bookies to topple the Russian and add
the IBF crown to the less prestigious IBO title he already holds.

The 32-year-old Armenian born fighter moved up to super flyweight
late last year after winning the IBF and IBO flyweight championship.

According to his handlers, Sydney-based Darchinyan was in terrific
shape for tomorrow’s fight, boasting strong muscle definition and
was even able to eat on the day of the weigh-in.

"This fight is very important to me," Darchinyan told AAP from
Washington.

"I’m looking to not just win this title, I want to win all the belts
in this weight division.

"There’s only two other champions holding all the other belts at
super flyweight and if one of us becomes (the undisputed) champion
it’s very nice and that one is going to be me.

"I don’t want to just become undisputed champion, I don’t want to stay
too long in this weight division, I want to fight for (other) belts.

"I’m 32, I want to move because I can feel big power.

"I can fight any opponent larger than me and I feel powerful and
every day the power is getting more and more."

Darchinyan has reunited with his first trainer from Armenia for
this fight.

The Australian fighter said he had a very good record against Russian
boxers during his amateur days.

"I sparred and trained Russians, I know their style," Darchinyan said.

"I’m very focussed for the fight. People are going to see a strong,
smart and focussed fighter."

Darchinyan said Kirilov had a typical Russian style and he expected
the champion to try and move around in tomorrow’s fight rather than
stay in front of him and trade blows.

The challenger said he had friends from Australia, Armenia and Los
Angeles attending the fight, with his wife and one-year-old son to
join him on the day of the contest.

Around 160 rounds of sparring have helped Darchinyan get into top
shape for the bout, his first in the American capital.

Kirilov, 29, has a record of 29 wins (9 KOs), three losses and a draw.

Darchinyan has logged 29 wins (23 KOs), one loss and one draw.

KIRILOV CONFIDENT HEADING INTO FIGHT WITH DARCHINYAN
By Dan Rafael

ESPN
tory?columnist=rafael_dan&id=3515083
Aug 2 2008

In 2007, Vic Darchinyan, known as the "Raging Bull," was all the
rage. The big puncher from Armenia but based in Australia was a
flyweight titleholder with a growing reputation as one of the fiercest
punchers in boxing.

He had made six defenses and was a darling of Showtime when he was
matched with Nonito Donaire for what was supposed to be another big
knockout performance.

It was.

However, the victim of the big knockout was not Donaire. Instead, it
was Darchinyan, who was knocked silly via a spectacular fifth-round
knockout. It was such a crushing knockout that when Darchinyan came
around and was interviewed on Showtime, he had no recollection of
having been stopped.

Since then, Darchinyan (29-1-1, 23 KOs) moved up to junior
bantamweight, in which he stopped Federico Catubay in the 12th round in
October to get back on track before being held to a controversial draw
in a February title eliminator against Z Gorres in the Philippines,
where unruly fans marred the fight by tossing water bottles and debris
into the ring.

[+] EnlargeTom Casino/Showtime

Darchinyan, left, is hoping to be the first fighter to knock out
Kirilov.

Despite the draw, Darchinyan is getting another title shot when he
meets Russia’s Dimitri Kirilov (29-3-1, 9 KOs) at the Emerald Queen
Casino in Tacoma, Wash., on Saturday (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET/PT).

Opening the telecast, 2004 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist Andre
Dirrell (15-0, 10 KOs), coming off a sensational fifth-round knockout
performance of Anthony Hanshaw in May, faces Mike Paschall (17-0-1,
4 KOs) in a 10-round super middleweight bout.

As usual, Darchinyan, a southpaw, is predicting a knockout, even
though Kirilov, who is making his second defense after his initial
defense against Cecilio Santos in February resulted in a draw, has
never been knocked out.

"Kirilov has never been KO’d before. He’s going to get his first
knockout this Saturday," Darchinyan, 32, said. "I have not made any
changes in my game plan. Against Nonito Donaire, I just got caught,
that’s all. If anything, I am more focused than I ever was before. My
left hand is much stronger. My right hand is faster.

"I never respect my opponents before I fight them. I respect them
only after I knock them out. I help them wake up and help them to
their corner. … The people come out to watch the KO and that’s what
I am here for."

Kirilov, 29, who is trained by Freddie Roach, is the boxer to
Darchinyan’s role of slugger. Kirilov understands that and says that
is how he is approaching the fight.

"Darchinyan has a very unorthodox style, but it makes no difference,"
Kirilov said. "I will fight the way I always have. I will use my
boxing skills and strategy to keep him off me. It does not matter how
much power he has or he says he has. I’ve been in the ring with big
punchers before. Whatever Vic Darchinyan has, it’s not enough to beat
me. Freddie tells me, ‘The bigger they punch, the harder they punch,
the harder they fall.’"

Said Darchinyan: "Freddie Roach says I am predictable. The only thing
he can predict is that his boy is going to get knocked out."

Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.

EMRAH YUCEL SETS HIS MIND ON GETTING TURKISH CINEMA INTO HOLLYWOOD

Today’s Zaman
o?load=detay&link=149217&bolum=112
Aug 3 2008
Turkey

Emrah Yucel’s success story begins with his decision to head for New
York after receiving an education in graphic design at the Hacettepe
and Bilkent universities, both in Ankara. Yucel, who while finishing
his doctoral degree, also put his mark on some successful projects
while working in an ad agency, realized that Ankara was not the right
place for him to make his name known. So in 1995, he decided to pack
two suitcases and head to New York City.

At the time, the Internet was just beginning to spread; the number
of Web sites dedicated to design was only three. Yucel went ahead
and set up a Web site in his own name, registering it with providers
such as AltaVista and Yahoo; he then sat back and began to wait. Two
months later, the first emails began to come in to his Web site
from his first customers. Yucel at this point did some business for
a Japanese company hoping to break into the American market as well
as a CD cover for a hip-hop group. He also designed a Broadway poster.

At the end of his third year in New York, Yucel sent samples of his
work to companies that work as headhunters for quality assistants,
asking them to help him market himself. Then, the offer he had been
waiting for came in. One of the largest ad agencies in the US, the
Seiniger Advertising Group, asked him whether he was interested in
Hollywood and offered him a job in Los Angeles at the salary he had
asked for. Yucel accepted the offer, and went on to work for the next
three-and-a-half years as a creative director at this agency.

While there, he designed posters for films such as "Vertical Limit,"
"What Women Want," "The Barber," "28 Days," "24 Hours," "Kill Bill"
and "Frida." At the same time, Yucel also designed personal Web
sites for such famous Hollywood names as Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks,
Kirk Douglas and Helen Hunt. In fact, he became so well known for
his work with film posters that people started referring to him as
"the Hollywood poster guy."

Yucel, who was in Turkey recently as the guest of BahceÅ~_ehir
University, is these days in the role of a "key man," going beyond
simply designing movie posters. Yucel, who formed the Turkish Cinema
Council, has literally set his mind on getting Turkish cinema into
the Hollywood market. At the same time, he is also preparing to start
up a far-reaching Web site that will help talented youth in Turkey
enter the sector. We spoke with Emrah Yucel about some of his projects.

Does it bother you these days that despite the fact that you are
involved in lots of different businesses in the US, you are still
widely known as "the Hollywood poster guy"?

Yes, well it sometimes appears that I don’t do anything else. People
think I am only a poster designer. We are currently running a campaign;
sometimes our ads are on DVD covers, sometimes they are on billboards
and sometimes they are in The New York Times. But I am sort of spoiled
in complaining about this. After all, I arrived at this point by way
of poster design.

You also designed posters for Turkish films. Hollywood cinema is
a producer-based sector, while Turkish cinema is more dependent on
directors. What are the differences between the two?

In Turkey, directors are unable to produce as many alternatives as
in the US because of more limited budgets. The budgets here are
one-fifth of what they are there. I am working in my own nation
because it gives me a unique sort of pleasure. But no matter where
I am, I try to do quality work.

What is the contribution made to cinema by film posters?

There are three important facts behind why people decide to see
a movie. Previews, posters and things they have heard about the
film. Many films in America open at the box office on weekends. They
try to open up on Fridays at as many cinemas as possible. That way,
even if people don’t like the film, they still make money, around
$30-40 million. In the US, films actually don’t make much money;
everyone either buys or rents DVDs, and that’s where the real money is.

Is the cost of a film poster in proportion with the film’s overall
cost?

No, the cost of a poster is basically clear before you begin. I
mean, if you’re designing something for "Spider-Man," that’s major,
but if you are putting together something for a more basic film,
it will cost far less.

What determines the style you use? The actors, the screenplay?

It’s all part of a whole. I mean, if you are designing something for
a comedy or for a horror film, the direction you are going to take
is clear. The details are determined by the strategic decisions you
then make. Of all the posters I have made for films though, there are
some that are different than the others. Those are the posters I made
for Yılmaz Erdogan — because this man is mustached. This made these
posters unique, but this difference didn’t come from me, of course.

What was your purpose in forming the Turkish Cinema Council in America?

While working on the poster for "Cold Mountain," stills from the film
began to come to us while it was still being shot. Despite the fact
that the film was entirely based on the Civil War in America, the film
was shot entirely in Romania. When I looked into it, I understood
that the Romanian government had offered a 30 percent tax break to
foreign filmmakers filming in that country. This is in fact a law
that is implemented in many countries around the world. For example,
there was one US state which saw its profits from cinema rise from
$8 million in 2005 all the way to $247 million the next year, in 2006.

If Turkey, a nation with enormous historical and geographical
possibilities, were it to get $247 million in cinema profits, giving 25
percent of this back in tax breaks, it would have no problems. This
is simply a mathematical formula. I put together a draft of this
law together with the Tax Council and we presented it to Culture
and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay. At this point, it is headed to
Parliament under the authority of the Labor General Directorate.

I met with the president of the famous American MGM
(Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) film company, which is planning to shoot a
film at Topkapı Palace, and Gunay said this new law would pass
before 2009. We want this film to be shot in Turkey, not in the
Czech Republic. If we miss this opportunity, as we did with "Troy,"
it will be a great loss for Turkey. A German commission is also
lending encouragement to this film. We want to see as many of the
movie’s scenes shot here as possible. As you know, Hollywood is an
important power. It would allow us to be known better across the world.

Have we missed a lot of opportunities?

Yes, of course. For example, one night I was sitting next to the
CEO of the Golden Media company and I tried to sell him the idea of
filming in Turkey. He said to me: "We thought a lot about Turkey for
‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ because there are a lot of Turkey-related
themes in the film. But because of the absence of these laws, we
decided instead to shoot in New Zealand." Whichever country makes
the best offer, that’s where the films are shot, regardless of how
far away that country may be. This was the case with "King Kong" and
"The Lord of the Rings." Everyone just loves Turkey, but they can’t
carry on business with it. We need to think more intelligently, more
strategically and then take steps accordingly. There are lots and
lots of companies that would actually like to shoot films in Ä°stanbul.

Alright, but if this new law passes, what will it bring to Turkey?

When a film is going to be made in a country, lots of people, from
cameramen to costume designers, are hired in that country. In that
way, general information about all this increases in the country,
and better-trained assistants are available. This naturally leads
to an increase in overall quality. This will all happen over time,
but I would imagine that in one year, two or three films will be
shot. This is as important as tourism. In the US, there are some
interesting statistics: When Americans come to Turkey as tourists,
it is generally for the second time, the first time having been as
passengers on cruise tours, when they just passed through. They cannot
believe what they see of Ä°stanbul, it is so dramatically different
from the images they have in their minds. On their second visits here,
they come to only stay in Ä°stanbul. They mostly still have in their
minds an image of a country where camels roam around. We need in
particular to make some investments on the Hollywood front. Here’s
what I said to one director: Had the Prophet Muhammad been alive
during this era, he definitely would have been in Hollywood because
it would have been the best place from which to make his words heard.

Do you think it is only Ä°stanbul that would be important for
Hollywood? Where else in Turkey can be marketed?

There are two dimensions here. The first is that we need to pay
Ä°stanbul its proper tribute. Ä°stanbul is an incredibly mystical
city. It has many opportunities, but requests to shoot films here
should not be interpreted like touristic requests. A filmmaker who
wanted to make a movie about the war in Iraq came to us and said,
"Can you find a place with streets that resemble Iraq’s and with
a palace like Saddam’s?" We sent him photographs of Mardin, and
of course he adored it. The very sites in eastern Anatolia which
we aren’t even aware of ourselves are perfectly tailored spots for
moviemakers. The majority of the requests we receive are for places
like deserts, lakesides or places like Cappadocia. We have already
started on projects to better introduce Ä°stanbul to Hollywood as
part of its 2010 European Capital of Culture status.

Is there no state support or larger organization behind the Turkish
Cinema Council?

This council has nothing to do with the government. We are a civil
organization. We don’t want to receive financial support from the
government. But there are people from the government on the council. I
provide the financing for this council.

Couldn’t it be the hesitation over films that would be shot to Turkey’s
disadvantage here that has held these laws back?

Of course, encouraging tax benefits would only be accepted after the
screenplay is approved. After all, when people want to make a film,
you can’t stop them. Only two or three minutes of "Midnight Express"
were filmed in Turkey. It is not easy to stop these things from
happening. For example, there is a film about a love story which takes
place in 1905 during the Ottoman era. The screenplay talks about the
so-called Armenian genocide. What do the filmmakers say? "We don’t
want to talk about genocide allegations, we want to show everything
for what it really was." We of course want for them to talk about
history accurately. In a sense, this is a bit like lobbying. If we
had dealt with the Armenian matter more sensibly in Hollywood, maybe
we wouldn’t have arrived at this point. The Americans made the film
"Ararat" about Armenian matters, but Turkey has never produced a film
about its own realities. This is our own weakness.

You are also planning on setting up a Web site for young and talented
Turkish people.

We are still in the planning stages for this. What we are planning
is a database where everyone will be able to create their own talent
profile. This will be a site where you can upload everything: from
your music, your roles, your videos, your posters to the costumes you
have designed. There will be 16 different sections and you will even
be able to post your scripts there. If we can really put together
an Internet platform like this, we will be able to reach lots of
places. We will place ads for this site in important magazines. It
will be a site that people in Hollywood can use, too. People who are
planning on shooting films in Turkey will first look there.

What is your "300 Key Men" project?

There are 300 men in Hollywood who determine where films are to be
shot. We want to work with the Culture and Tourism Ministry, inviting
groups of 60 to Turkey to spend five nights or so in great places,
holding dinners for them, to show them what a dependable and safe
country Turkey is. I am also using this organization to promote short
films about Ä°stanbul. Another project under way is to take 10-15
(Turkish) films and hold an awards ceremony in Los Angeles with an
American jury. So with this, we would see Turkish cinema crowned
in the same hotel where the Golden Globes are held. In this way,
we plan to gain some star power.

–Boundary_(ID_nWtZ654rjCKfbS3XNPu4RQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘SINAN: MAKERS OF Ä°SLAMIC CIVILIZATION
By J.M. Rogers

Today’s Zaman
o?load=detay&link=149218&bolum=110
Aug 3 2008
Turkey

"Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you." One of the most
famous epitaphs of all time, this tribute to famous British architect
Sir Christopher Wren is inscribed in Latin on his simple gravestone.

He was buried in 1723 in his magnificent masterpiece, the famous
domed St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The cathedral is of course
his most enduring monument, one of London’s best known landmarks,
and it became a symbol of British spirit during the Blitz bombing in
World War II, when it stood proud and tall among the flattened ruins
of surrounding offices and homes.

"Traveler, if you seek his monument, look around you" could be equally,
aptly applied to Sinan, one of the greatest architects of the Islamic
world. As you cross the Bosporus by ferry, lift up your eyes to
the amazing silhouette of the old city and you will see Sinan’s
monuments standing tall; gaze across to the Asian side to Uskudar,
and his finger is evident, too.

As you drive on the E5 towards Greece, look to the right near
Buyukcekmece, and you will see a bridge he built. In the great border
city of Edirne, look around you! In Sarajevo (Bosnia), Aleppo (Syria)
and Damascus (Syria), look around you! The works of Sinan’s hands
still inspire and amaze today.

Sinan lived some two centuries before Wren, and his skill in building
domed edifices must certainly have been one of the influences on the
British architect’s work.

In an excellent new series created by the Oxford Centre for Islamic
Studies, J. M. Rogers introduces us to the master architect and
his work. The series aims to "present an introduction to outstanding
figures in the history of Islamic civilization." Rogers is a respected
academic and he was the first holder of the Nasser D. Khalili Chair
in Islamic Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African
studies, part of the University of London.

This is not, however, a dry and dusty academic treatise. It contains
the most wonderfully detailed black and white illustrations — sketches
and designs, plans and elevations — that make Sinan’s works of art
come to life.

Although not much is known of Sinan’s personal life, Rogers manages
to present us with a biography, reconstructed from his practice and
that of the court architects after him. Rogers impishly remarks,
"The fact that Sinan and his colleagues figure rather rarely in the
collections of court edicts could be taken as evidence that for the
most part their work gave satisfaction; administrative orders are
normally issued only when things go wrong."

Sinan was born in Cappadocia around the year 1490, probably into a
Greek or Armenian Christian family. When he reached his teens, he was
drafted into the elite janissary corps and rapidly gained promotion and
distinction as a military engineer. He was appointed court architect
in 1538 and proceeded to oversee the most productive and imaginative
period in Ottoman architecture, which lasted for half a century. "His
palaces, mosques, fountains, hospitals and tombs completely changed
the face of the Ottoman capitals, Istanbul and Edirne."

I first met Sinan when I visited one of his most beautiful mosques:
the Suleymaniye that stands majestically at the crest of the hill
above the Golden Horn. The great architect was pleased with his work
here. He later famously said, "I showed that I was an apprentice with
the Å~^ehzade Mosque, an able contractor with the Suleymaniye Mosque,
and an expert with the Selimiye Mosque."

J.M. Rogers begs to differ with the master-architects analysis of
his work. "His alleged description of his career as a progress from
apprenticeship to maturity and mastership is not only apocryphal
but misleading. In fact … his [plans] do not show any particular
evolutionary pattern — for the required balance of economy, splendor,
and breadth of vision and structural solidarity allowed of virtually
infinite solutions."

I had to wait five or six years before I was able to visit the
mosque he considered his masterpiece: the Selimiye in Edirne, built
in 1574. This is an outstanding example of the mosque as a complex:
with worship area, courtyards, rooms for teaching, hospital facilities
and soup kitchens as well as an arasta for trade.

Here faith and state came together to provide services for the
peoples of the empire. "In Islam the foundation and construction of
institutions of public welfare, from mosques to water supplies, were
as much the responsibility of the ruler, or his delegated agents,
as of private individuals. Indeed, Muslim political theorists have
traditionally held up the creation of pious foundations as one of
the defining characteristic of the just ruler. The Sultan’s role in
patronage, both indirectly and directly, was thus paramount." As an
instrument of this patronage, Sinan held an important place at the
courts of Suleyman the Magnificent, Selim II and Murad III.

In between my visits to the Suleymaniye and Selimiye, I had an
amusing experience related to Sinan. I had been speaking at a training
course for new recruits run by the company’s Turkish H.R. director,
at a large hotel in Kumburgaz, about one hour’s drive to the west of
İstanbul. As it was Friday evening, Sibel Hanım and I decided to
make it a leisurely return to Istanbul. Instead of the TEM interstate,
we chose the E5 highway, and stopped for fish at Guzelyalı. We then
continued to drive towards Ä°stanbul on the E5. The sun was beginning
to set as we came towards a pretty seaside place called Mimar Sinan,
so we turned off the road for an ice cream and coffee and to watch
the sun sink over the sea.

As we came into town we saw a statue to the great architect, and
I began to wonder what the connection was between him and this
place. We drove to the sea front, and as we ordered ice cream my
curiosity could not contain itself. I asked the lady who served us:
"Why is this town called Mimar Sinan? Was he born here?" "Don’t know,"
she replied, with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders, "I’m new here
myself." As the conversation continued we discovered she had moved
there from İstanbul five years ago! Sibel Hanım was amused that
the foreigner who had been there five minutes was asking questions
that the Turk who had lived there five years hadn’t been interested in.

Of course, as we pulled out of Mimar Sinan on the E5, 500 meters
further on I had my answer. There, to our left, extended a series
of gracious arches: Sinan’s bridge over the water that has stood
since 1568 as silent witness to his skill of uniting utilitarianism
and beauty.

I am almost inclined to translate J.M. Roger’s book into Turkish and
present a copy to the ice cream shop owner in Mimar Sinan, with the
words: "Look around you! Lift up your eyes! This is your history: Seek
his monuments, for you will then discover a treasure worth finding."

–Boundary_(ID_o1rmZH2i9qCYdaKoj03 23w)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BANKRUPTCY OF THE PARADIGM

Today’s Zaman
o?load=detay&link=149230&bolum=8
Aug 3 2008
Turkey

Fikret BaÅ~_kaya is a disturbed man, and he disturbs. This is his
definition of the intellectual in a nutshell. He may not agree
with this sort of rewording, but this is a second definition of the
intellectual for him: "The mission of the intellectual is to bring into
light the deceitfulness of the pseudo-intellectuals," he wrote in his
magnum opus, "The Bankruptcy of the Paradigm" (Paradigmanın İflası).

The main message of this phenomenal study can be summarized as — once
again in a way that most probably won’t satisfy BaÅ~_kaya — that the
"modernization" and "Westernization" rhetoric of the Republican era
is a continuation of the self-colonization that had started already
in Ottoman times; that the Republican revolution didn’t bring a
real breakthrough as compared to the past shaped by the Unity and
Development Party of the late Ottoman era; that the official ideology
created by the pseudo-intellectuals of the Republican era is both
incapacitating them and blocking any future possibility of turning
the nation into a subject of history.

"The Bankruptcy of the Paradigm" was first published in 1991, and
it cost BaÅ~_kaya more time in prison than it took him to write the
book. The story of "The Bankruptcy of the Paradigm" and its author
is evidence for BaÅ~_kaya’s claim that the statist paradigm went
bankrupt. Though he claims that the paradigm is bankrupt, BaÅ~_kaya
admits that it has not yet been replaced by another one. According to
him, whether Turkey will manage to create this new paradigm or not will
be decided according to the result of the Ergenekon investigation,
as the Ergenekon organization is one of the latest representations
of the old paradigm. Sunday’s Zaman spoke to BaÅ~_kaya and tried to
carry his neologisms created in 1991 into 2008.

You are claiming in your book that the "modernization"
and "Westernization" rhetorics were part of the process of
self-colonization. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is
following a similar path and saying that for the first time it is
not using the rhetoric, but actually doing so. Does this mean that
the self-colonization has ended?

In order to understand today, we need a discussion of the
background. Both the Unity and Development Party, which imposed the
constitutional monarchy, and those who changed the name of the regime
in 1923 to republic through a coup showed modernization, coming to the
level of developed nations as a target. They spoke about superpowers
and their desire to become one: powerful like them, wealthy like them,
militarily advanced like them. It should be underlined that as long
as the system of slavery continues to exist, it is impossible for
the expectation of a slave to be like his owner to come true. There
is an asymmetric relation here, the relation between the center of
hegemony and others shaped by this hegemony. There is no chance the
peripheral elements will be like the center.

Today the AK Party is saying that it has changed the picture and what
the previous ones spoke about, they realized. This is theoretically
impossible. It is true the AK Party looks like it is doing better
than others, but this is relative. Its alternatives are so backward
that it presents a progressive image. Otherwise there is no difference
between the sides on the issue; both are speaking about the impossible.

So self-colonization, to use your term, is continuing?

With an increasing pace! This globalization thing is rhetoric to
deceive the people. Imperialism is continuing as it is. But in this era
the imperialist attacks are done through the European Union. Nobody
regards the EU as imperialist. What did change in Europe? We came to
regard the EU as an island of wealth. This is not true, and this will
not continue forever.

You claim that in World War I the Ottoman state was on the side of the
imperialists. Was this a kind of struggle to move from the periphery
to the center?

Each and every imperialist war is a war of redistribution of
wealth. The members of the Unity and Development Party then thought
that they would be able to take a share from this redistribution. This
was once again dreaming the impossible. This mistake collapsed
the empire. It was going to collapse anyway, but the fact that
those people chose the losing side to join in the war quickened the
collapse. Then they started to claim that not Turkey, but the Germans
lost the war. This is a lie that children would laugh at.

Turkey has been busying itself with dreams of becoming a regional
superpower. Is this also a modern reflection of the dreams of the
Unity and Development Party leaders?

It is true that Turkey is still trying to take a place in the
imperialist camp. That is a shame. The North Atlantic Treaty
Organization [NATO] is an imperialist pact with an American
commander. This was founded against the Soviet expansionism, and Turkey
was a wing country to secure the boundaries of NATO countries. Today it
has been given similar roles within the Greater Middle East Plan. For
instance, Turkey has soldiers occupied by imperialist powers. The
existing hegemonic classes in Turkey have their own interests in
keeping the country in line with the American policies and regard
this as a great success.

You are claiming that these hegemonic classes have never changed in
the last century. The AK Party claims that it is a new actor in the
old game.

Look, in order to understand the root causes of all the problems
in Turkey, you have to know that Turkey never had a modernity
revolution. Turkey never settled its accounts with the old regime. Take
the Unity and Development Party leaders. They opposed the monarchy,
but when they came to power their prime target became to guarantee
the survival of the state as it is. They didn’t change the system,
they just changed the garments. Nothing changed with the republican
coup; and nothing changed in the following years.

Take the 1980 military junta. Five generals came and dismissed
the Parliament and changed the whole country into an open
torture-house. Then they prepared a constitution and put a clause of
immunity in there. After the junta’s leaving power, Parliament was
changed seven times, but not a single man was brave enough to ask for
a change in that clause and indictment of the generals. Why? Because,
the parties in Parliament are subcontractor parties. It is the
subcontractor of the ‘real state party.’ Subcontractor parties have
limits to their authority.

It is just because of the fact that AK Party tried, to a small extent,
to force those limits, that they started this entire row. If the
AK Party managed to adopt a style like that of Suleyman Demirel’s
party or that of [the Motherland Party] ANAVATAN, it wouldn’t have
these problems. As it forces its limit, the real state party steps
in and says, ‘Wait a minute, you cannot do this.’ This is why they
don’t want us to discuss Ergenekon. And I say that we have to start
discussing the regime. If we can discuss the regime itself, instead
of our perceptions of the fact, we will see that the real faces
of things were different. But nobody is yet ready to come to this
point. Unfortunately, the political consciousness of this country is
still underdeveloped. As long as we have a regime like that, that
does not permit a bit of public sovereignty, there is no chance of
strengthening the political culture.

In your book you use the terms Kemalism and Bonapartism together. You
are speaking about a Kemalist version of Bonapartism. What is this?

Bonapartism was extant with Bonaparte. Our Bonapartism was not
like the French experience, nor like the one in Algeria. What I
say is this: The dictatorship of Mustafa Kemal was a Bonapartist
dictatorship. The classical definition of Bonapartism is a crisis
regime. The crisis emerges when the balance between the working
class and their oppressors reaches a critical position, or the fight
for power among different elements of the sovereign class reaches
a point of uncontrollability. There comes Bonaparte and defines the
limits of all parties to the struggle. But in Turkey the situation is
different. Different elements of the sovereign class are not clashing
at all. They are all created by the state, and they are continuously
strengthening each other.

Now this Bonapartism lost its importance after the 1950s and 1960s, but
one thing from that culture continued to exist. Since the republic was
founded by a military coup and since the country’s Parliament was never
a real parliament where real political parties sat, this tradition of
coups, conspiracies and gangs is still alive. This is what I call the
‘state party,’ and what we call Ergenekon is a representation of that
state party.

When you are discussing the real intentions of the Societies of
Preservation of Rights established during and after the National
Struggle [BaÅ~_kaya does not use the term War of Independence], you
claim that there was no ideology, no higher value there; they were
just after keeping the properties and privileges they had. Do you
see similar things among the Ergenekonists?

This is an ongoing reality. In those years, the groups that
expropriated the wealth of the Armenians and the Greeks had
an alliance with the elite that had class-based interests in
the survival of the state as it was. Actually, these are not
necessarily distinct groups. This alliance has continued until
now. The political parties that were founded from 1946 onwards are all
‘commissioned parties.’ They have to give guarantees to the real state
party. Otherwise it won’t be allow to survive. Even if they come to
government, they are not allowed to govern. So there is a similar
alliance between the capital and the political parties trying to
secure survival of the state.

Will this continue in that manner forever?

Hopefully not. This state party and its extension, Ergenekon, and the
paradigm that breathed them into life are being deciphered nowadays. I
detect three reasons for this disclosure of the state party: the
neo-liberal, the Islamist and the Kurdish movements. This gang,
which determined the fate of this country from 1908 [proclamation of
the constitutional monarchy] now on has already realized that it is
losing ground. This was a justifiable alarm, and this alarm explains
the attempted coups, the republican rallies and the coup diaries.

We had seen similar groups in the 1960s, the movement called "National
Struggle Once Again," for example. It existed then, and it was recently
revived. Did they have a similar fear back in the 1960s?

This statist paradigm has an intrinsic logic of keeping the
public out of ruling circles. They want to rule with minimum public
interference. This was the real reason for the 1960 coup. They believed
that after 1946 a "vulgar mob" started to mingle with serious issues
too much. They thought they had to create mechanisms of keeping
the public out of this ruling circle. Some people called the 1960
Constitution a democratic one. Suleyman Demirel went so far as to say
that this Constitution was one size too large for Turkey. These are
all lies. The purpose of that constitution was to keep the public
out. They created the National Security Council [MGK] and occupied
the center of the state. Then they established the senate and some
of the senators were left to the president to be appointed. Even this
was not sufficient for them, and they established the Constitutional
Court. People think this institution checks the congruity of the laws
to the Constitution.

That is another lie. This institution is there to work as a filter
against the manifestation of national sovereignty. Take the State
Planning Organization [DPT]. This was the mechanism to lay the state’s
hand on the distribution of wealth.

Why is so much fear from the public?

Because when the public steps in, these people lose their
immunities. They will become accountable. But they want the right
to question others to keep their monopoly. They want the people to
remain an object of history, not a subject.

Is there any chance that the people will one day become the subject
of history once again? What needs to be done for that to happen?

The average human life is about 80 years, but the lifespan of society
is much longer. The solution to this bankruptcy of the paradigm
will come through increased consciousness of the working class. I
believe that the people are ready to ask the questions that need to
be asked. This paradigm is bankrupt. This is not like the bankruptcy
of capitalism. This is about the system, and it is not sustainable
in its current form. Who will bring us out of this? The public masses
will be more consciously intervening on these issues, I believe.

Don’t we need intellectuals for such a public intervention? Can the
society act itself?

No social movement can be successful without intellectuals. Only true
intellectuals can create a new paradigm. I am not speaking about
the ‘graduated crew’ that serves the current corruption. There is
a wide range of pseudo-intellectuals in the higher echelons of the
universities, politics and the judiciary. Some of them have proven
connections with Ergenekon. These people create the official ideology
over and over again in the same format. They don’t allow any change
of perspective. But new horizons are opened only if you change your
perspective, and only a true intellectual can do this.

I don’t see such a strong intellectual tradition in Turkey, especially
in the left. Am I wrong?

Not at all! Though the paradigm is bankrupt, it is still there, and
since it is there and since the left cannot sever its ties with the
official ideology, it cannot present a consistent position. There are
exceptions, but exceptions exist in order to confirm the rule. The
left would not really be left without breaking away with Kemalism —
and it could not.

–Boundary_(ID_ElOVFlrNQ4MXswESwFzTqg)–

OLYMPICS ARE A COLLISION OF STORIES, DREAMS, POLITICS AND SPORTS
Dave Hyde, [email protected]

Sun-Sentinel.com
http://ww w.sun-sentinel.com/sports/columnists/sfl-flspnuhyd e0803sbaug03,0,5608864.column
Aug 2 2008
FL

Dara Torres going from Broward pools to Beijing gold at age 41? That
would be a defining Olympic moment. Sanya Richards making the final,
victorious strides back from a rare immune disease? That would be a
defining Olympic moment.

Then there’s Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade hoping to help return
basketball gold to the United States. He might define the 2008 Beijing
Olympics, and South Florida’s suddenly large involvement in them,
though to me the concept of the rich and famous like Wade becoming
more rich and more famous tramples the whole concept of the Games.

Naively, maybe childishly, I still embrace the Olympic ideal.

Its existence will be tested like never before in Beijing. There will
be positive drug tests of athletes and the over-commercialization
of sport. There will be too much hype, money and 30-second spots
between competitions.

Above all will be the story of China. What is it? Who is it? Should
the celebration of sport be sent to such a closed and authoritative
and, well, fascinating society?

But above the skepticism and potential stench should be something
athletic to admire if you care to look for it. South Florida, again,
is part of this story in a big way, with more than 50 athletes and
coaches connected to this area headed to Beijing.

Look at Jevon Tarantino, a diver, fittingly, from Olympic Heights
High School who worked as a full-time roofer to fuel his dream.

Look at Adler Volmar, a Haitian-American from Broward County still
holding fundraisers to pay for his judo hopes in Beijing.

Look at Walter Dix, the former Coral Springs sprinter who waited
to turn pro until he graduated from Florida State University and
now has a chance for three medals. An outside chance. But a chance
nonetheless. And isn’t that what it’s about?

There are the real Olympics. Or they have been through time. The
basketball and tennis pros might prove good for their sports, good
for conversation and especially good for sneaker companies’ sales in
a coming country like China.

But the joy in any Olympics isn’t found in discussing the pampered
and the immodest who live in suites and party at casinos. It’s not
in spotlighting the suddenly and uncharacteristically loud Wade,
who is guaranteeing a gold medal and even suggesting how it should
be embraced back in America.

The best Olympic stories involve celebrating someone who isn’t
much celebrated. It’s Rulon Gardner beating the unbeatable Russian
wrestler. It’s Kerri Strug gritting through a gymnastics routine. Most
of all it’s about any story that shrinks the world just a bit.

The moment I fell in love with the Olympics was watching a skier
come down a snowy Norwegian mountain, crying in some incomprehensible
language, his dream apparently dead.

He was the first winter Olympian from Armenia, said the coach walking
beside him at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. And he trained, it came out,
on hand-me-down skis, a teacher’s salary and a love of sports we can
all understand. That’s what the Olympics still can be about on their
best days.

"To be here, he overcame money, equipment, the earthquake …,"
his coach said.

Earthquake?

"It crippled Armenia," he said. "No electricity. So no ski lifts to
take him up the mountain to train."

How did he train?

"He climbed four hours up the mountain every day. Then skied down."

For a sportswriter, every Olympics is like eating your way out of
an ice cream factory. It’s good stories piled like double chocolate
chip on better ones. How could it not if an Olympic Heights roofer
like Tarantino shines? Or a St. Thomas Aquinas runner like Richards
overcomes an illness to win not just once by competing, but twice by
taking gold?

The Armenian skier initially wasn’t allowed to compete because of some
red-taped Olympic regulation. It was sorted out, and he competed. He
finished last in the slalom.

In 146th place.

"The highlight of my life," he called it.

On its best days, the Olympics still can be that.

BAKU SAYS YEREVAN NOT KEEN TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT

Interfax News Agency
Aug 1 2008
Russia

The Armenian authorities are trying to use the Karabakh issue in order
to consolidate its positions before voters, said Novruz Mamedov,
who is charge of foreign relations at Azerbaijan’s presidential
administration.

"After the elections the Armenian authorities found themselves in a
very serious political, social, psychological crisis, and one of the
tasks they are faced with is to at least rehabilitate themselves in
the eyes of their voters. This is why they want to use this at the
talks on Karabakh," Mamedov told the ATV channel.

One such statement made by Armenians was that they wanted to continue
the peace process based on the agreements reached between the Azeri
and Armenian foreign ministers in Madrid last autumn, Mamedov said.

However, no documents or agreements were made at the end of those
talks, he said.

This is why whether the talks between two countries’ foreign ministers
held in Moscow on Friday will be successful will depend on how sincere
the Armenians are in their efforts to resolve the conflict, said the
official from the presidential administration.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandian and Azerbaijan’s Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov are meeting in Moscow on Friday to discuss
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

A diplomatic source in Moscow told Interfax that the meeting is being
held in the framework and at the proposal of the OSCE (Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Minsk Group.

The OSCE Minsk Group includes Russia, France and the United States.

Earlier, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan told a press conference
that peaceful ways of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have
not been exhausted. "I am certain that the problem can be settled
through talks," the president said.

Azerbaijan hopes that Armenia will demonstrate a constructive approach
at the current Moscow talks. "We would really like to see Armenia’s
concrete steps that would be the reflection of this rhetoric in the
reality," said Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Khazar Ibragim.

NATIONAL BANK OF AZERBAIJAN CALLS ON BANKS TO STOP OPERATIONS WITH WESTERN UNION AND MONEYGRAM

Interfax News Agency
Aug 1 2008
Russia

The National Bank of Azerbaijan has called on commercial banks
operating in the country to cease money transfer operations with
Western Union and MoneyGram, the National Bank told Interfax.

According to reports, banks in Azerbaijan, as of July 30, should stop
implementing operations with the aforementioned money transfer systems.

The National Bank said that the decision to stop operations with
Western Union and MoneyGram was the result of continuing illegal
money transfers to Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The National Bank also earlier warned these money transfer systems
and their controlling bodies about the necessity of stopping transfers
to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Failing to do so, banks
in Azerbaijan would be forbidden to work in partnership with these
systems," a National Bank representative said.

ARMENIA DETERMINED TO BUILD RAILROAD TO IRAN

Interfax News Agency
Aug 1 2008
Russia

A railroad connecting Iran and Armenia will be constructed regardless
of whether the Abkhaz stretch of the Georgian railroad will be opened,
Armenian Transportation and Communications Minister Gurgen Sarkisian
said at a press conference on Friday.

"We are not going to wait for anyone and will start building,"
Sarkisian said.

Three optional projects for building the railroad to Iran are under
consideration now, and "there are no other problems but financing,"
Sarkisian said.

The cost of the construction will depend on the length of the railroad.

According to preliminary estimates, the most preferred option is the
construction of a railroad starting from the station of Gagarin and
passing through Gavar, Martuni, and Jermuk. In this case, its length
will be 397 kilometers. "This is the shortest and therefore the most
economically profitable direction," he said.

Eighty kilometers of this railroad should run through Iran.

Two other optional routes, the first one starting from the station
Yeraskh and the second from Vardenis, would be 443 and 449 kilometers
long respectively.

In any case, the project envisions the construction of an absolutely
new railroad, Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian had said earlier that the project was evaluated at $1.5
billion to $2 billion. In addition to Armenia, Iran and Russia also
expressed its desire to take part in the project.

Armenia currently has railroad services only with Georgia. The
commissioning of the Abkhaz stretch of the Georgian railroad should
help Armenia arrange cargo rail transportation to Russia. A railroad
connecting Armenia with Iran would turn Armenia into a transit country
in Iran’s trade with Russia and other countries.

ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS CAN MEET SOON – AZERI FOREIGN MINISTER

Interfax News Agency
Aug 1 2008
Russia

The Armenian and Azeri presidents can meet in the near-term, Azeri
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told a press conference after the
meeting with his Armenian counterpart in Moscow on Friday.

"If we feel that we have reached a common platform, there will be
nothing that is impossible," he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress