tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.comments2023-06-11T13:18:29.312+03:00Istanbul CallingYigal Schleiferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04037852103478967102noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-59278135765968508252012-01-31T18:58:08.907+02:002012-01-31T18:58:08.907+02:00fairly disappointing to see this coming out of CAP...fairly disappointing to see this coming out of CAP. Pretending that Turkey is the sole source of difficulty in these relationships, when this whole mess started over Israel's attack on a flotilla of ships sailing from Turkey and the resulting deaths of Turkish citizens, is pretty infuriating. That the CAP article completely ignores the situations in Syria and Cyprus doesn't say much for the broadness of US policy regarding Turkey, either. That the essence of the article seemed to be "Turkey should be less critical of what Israel does, and value the strategic goals of Israel's government over the preference of its own citizens" makes it even worse. If this is what passes for political analysis and diplomacy in the Obama White House then it is unlikely we will see a peaceful, let alone equitable, solution to our stare down with Iran, or the situation in Syria, and any US support in settling the intractable disputes over Cyprus seems right-out.Heronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14776242322789918501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-54043455485929057232011-12-30T00:54:32.663+02:002011-12-30T00:54:32.663+02:00Blog on hiatus, apparently. Look forward to its re...Blog on hiatus, apparently. Look forward to its return!Slugghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02051121686285670516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-1612534541667536862011-12-08T20:20:08.611+02:002011-12-08T20:20:08.611+02:00A good show--I wish they had touched more on the s...A good show--I wish they had touched more on the seeming slide toward dictatorship over the past few months. With so many innocent people arrested on a variety of fancified charges--one wonders about this so called democracyJeff Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10015034660930202907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-75097402094920353012011-11-14T20:02:45.875+02:002011-11-14T20:02:45.875+02:00Several months later, we can see that the Turkish ...Several months later, we can see that the Turkish lira lost 16% against the dollar in the past 3 quarters and has been one of the worst-performing emerging-market currencies this year. This trend has already started to hit bottom lines and companies are planning to hedge against losses.<br /><br />There are two leading indicators that are driving the lira’s underperformance. First, the country’s rising current account deficit is pressuring Central Bank reserves and the exchange rate. Second, the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is driving investors away from emerging market currencies and toward the dollar, further weakening the lira.Mitchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00807819496816882147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-54455708169082461142011-10-17T08:56:02.107+03:002011-10-17T08:56:02.107+03:00Good listen.Good listen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-32210845863197170972011-06-12T19:55:28.241+03:002011-06-12T19:55:28.241+03:00Great conversation. I learned a lot. Thanks.Great conversation. I learned a lot. Thanks.Slugghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02051121686285670516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-7077972043913708212011-06-10T18:30:11.610+03:002011-06-10T18:30:11.610+03:00Top notch stuff. You guys rockTop notch stuff. You guys rockChristyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10223539404317132683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-16731759393735809612011-05-27T16:52:30.629+03:002011-05-27T16:52:30.629+03:00Excellent news! Well deserved.Excellent news! Well deserved.Aaron Steinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07335317415338900406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-83999745276548703242011-05-21T00:31:57.102+03:002011-05-21T00:31:57.102+03:00Disappointingly down.Disappointingly down.Slugghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02051121686285670516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-20126524333002309602011-05-19T12:20:16.936+03:002011-05-19T12:20:16.936+03:00Lool... www.farkliulkuculer.com is down..Lool... www.farkliulkuculer.com is down..Ruslan Tradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05769299541297418355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-56347741874559348322011-05-15T12:52:00.267+03:002011-05-15T12:52:00.267+03:00Tebrikler Yigal! They should also recommend www.is...Tebrikler Yigal! They should also recommend www.istanbuleats.com though.Dirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00006588483344999455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-51199892704750859192011-05-14T12:31:32.576+03:002011-05-14T12:31:32.576+03:00congratulations Yigal!congratulations Yigal!Internation Musinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10693858277179002967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-41147722767227716502011-05-14T01:11:31.481+03:002011-05-14T01:11:31.481+03:00Hi Liz! Great to see your comment and hear from yo...Hi Liz! Great to see your comment and hear from you again.Yigal Schleiferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04037852103478967102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-11179957836721454712011-05-14T00:54:36.285+03:002011-05-14T00:54:36.285+03:00Congrats, Yigal! I just discovered your blog than...Congrats, Yigal! I just discovered your blog thanks to the FP nod. -Liz G (I knew you when I worked at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul.)Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07854906852884114476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-38133014856126310292011-04-14T23:18:53.139+03:002011-04-14T23:18:53.139+03:00Just got back from Istanbul, where I was told non-...Just got back from Istanbul, where I was told non-proxy access to Blogger is possible in some neighborhoods. I wasn't able to use Blogger where I was and had to move my blog to WordPress. Several other sites were blocked as well, including the innocuous soccerway.com.<br /><br />And, of course, depictions of cigarette smoking on television are still obscured by a blurry patch. Pretty nuts.Slugghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02051121686285670516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-15216144477116407722011-03-15T11:00:16.637+02:002011-03-15T11:00:16.637+02:00Dear Yigal,
congratulations, this means that the...Dear Yigal, <br /><br />congratulations, this means that the stuff you write is effective in exosing the contradictions of contemporary Turkish politics!!!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07883724212540291325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-43917493396331002862011-03-13T17:17:51.715+02:002011-03-13T17:17:51.715+02:00Thanks for the comment, Hasan. Access to Blogger i...Thanks for the comment, Hasan. Access to Blogger is still blocked by court order (as of Sunday, March 13), so I'm not sure how you are accessing it without the use of a proxy.Yigal Schleiferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04037852103478967102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-89445779695261032552011-03-13T08:56:46.659+02:002011-03-13T08:56:46.659+02:00I'm writing you from Turkey. So for me it is p...I'm writing you from Turkey. So for me it is possible to reach your site. By the way, turkish internet laws are OK. Hope other countries would have laws like this. Or better like US secret laws, where the FBI or CIA "takes down the people" instead of there websitesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-69595281440847287752011-02-16T19:25:19.126+02:002011-02-16T19:25:19.126+02:00Jim, Thank you for your comment. Will take a look ...Jim, Thank you for your comment. Will take a look at your blog and the case of the blogger. Hugh - I have nothing but respect for the old Anadol!Yigal Schleiferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04037852103478967102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-44269850363038847292011-02-16T10:31:22.411+02:002011-02-16T10:31:22.411+02:00This post is spot on the money (as usual) in drawi...This post is spot on the money (as usual) in drawing attention to the missing EU element.<br /><br />It is not always appreciated by the Middle Eastern street – or by Turkish popular opinion either – how much Turkey’s EU convergence process has made possible the advances that made Turkey the regional leader in past 10 years. <br />For instance, three quarters of foreign investment in Turkey comes from EU states (less than a tenth of such investment comes from the Middle East), four million Turks live or work in Europe (compared to 110,00 Turks in the Middle East), and half of Turkey’s exports go to the EU market (compared to one quarter going to the Middle East).<br /><br />I think that if Turkey lost the EU accession process by some accident, it would also lose the underlying source of much of its regional charisma. All the more reason for Turkey to brush aside any hostility of the current EU political leaderships and keep working hard on keeping the process going -- and doing something daring on Cyprus.<br /><br />Meanwhile, let's not be too hard on the old Anadol! (Which, to give the US its due, has a Ford engine under the bonnet). Production may have stopped in 1991, but, especially in its pickup version, this rough and ready model is still thriving and surviving on the mountain roads of rural Turkey...Hugh Popehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07671971594338794937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-88619911905425916812011-02-16T09:11:46.879+02:002011-02-16T09:11:46.879+02:00A great blog. I hope you continue to cover Turkey ...A great blog. I hope you continue to cover Turkey with such insight, even though you have apparently left these borders...<br /><br />Re: "Although certainly not in the same league as some of its neighbors when it comes to controlling and patrolling the internet, Turkey has shown some disturbing tendencies in recent times..."<br /><br />After a long absence from my own blog, I am now wading back into the mire because of this very issue. i.e. the AKP government's -- particularly PM Erdoğan's -- 'disturbing tendencies', even though I have been a long-standing supporter of their (erstwhile?) EU- inspired democratic reforms. Or rather,in short, their now apparent & increasing authoritarianism.<br /><br />My latest post on a 22-year-old student blogger facing a 2 year jail term for 'insulting' Erdoğan on his own blog, can be found at:<br /><br />http://istanbuldespatch.com/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-61375476683298936892010-12-30T13:11:56.024+02:002010-12-30T13:11:56.024+02:00The whole wikileaks crisis and the controversy it ...The whole wikileaks crisis and the controversy it sparked has calmed for a bit- and it really didn't catch fire until Assange announced he had the "goods"- meaning "the bads" on a financial institution. (to be released at the start of next year) I found it all very fascinating in so many ways but especially the reaction. <br />Here was my initial take:<br />http://nomadicjoe.blogspot.com/2010/12/wikileaks.html<br /><br />And then a longer analysis on what factors were involved.<br /> <br />http://nomadicjoe.blogspot.com/2010/12/more-thoughts-on-wikileaks.html<br /><br />What I suppose I found most p[athetic was the ignorance so many Americans- and especially their representatives- have about their constitutional rights, about the laws governing free speech and even the most basic principles of the laws, that is, a person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.Nomadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03686282358562565742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-43596955392311995012010-12-22T22:54:24.710+02:002010-12-22T22:54:24.710+02:00Nice headset!!Nice headset!!jedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13650524220084587799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-37042645919602850902010-12-15T18:20:17.942+02:002010-12-15T18:20:17.942+02:00Thanks for sharing this Yigal.Thanks for sharing this Yigal.Dirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00006588483344999455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507020819391911738.post-7127832271295196092010-12-15T18:19:22.176+02:002010-12-15T18:19:22.176+02:00Thanks for sharing this, Yigal.Thanks for sharing this, Yigal.Dirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00006588483344999455noreply@blogger.com