Two weeks and no “talking Turkey”, I apologise dear readers. Let's just jump in shall we?
The best thing to come out of the Turkish blogs in the last two weeks is the creation of the Amerikan Turks Yahoo Group [1]. Started originally by Murat from Amerikan Turk [2], with the creation of this group he seeks to….
My goal is to create an online community of Turkish bloggers who are interested in keeping a finger on the pulse of their peers in the “blogosphere”.
Most people would say, “oh no, not another email/chat/forum thingy”, however the great thing about this new group is that everyone's blogs posts are being posted to it…creating a user friendly RSS feed. I think that it is a wonderful way to use the medium and I am proud to be a member of it as it creates a stronger community in the blogosphere.
Nobody has summarized the hot topics in Turkey better this week than Metroblogging Istanbul [3], items which include the bird flu [4] and the release/recapture of Mehmet Ali Agca (most known for this assasination attempt of Pope John Paul II, but convicted murderer of Editor in Chief Abdi Ipekci of the Milliyet newspaper [5]) although I do believe that the battle of the blue and red buses in Istanbul [6] is of importance as well.
First, touching on the subject of the bird flu, Erkan's Field Diary [7] has the most comprehensive updates. Many in Turkey are abstaining from eating poultry, which for many has been fairly easy as with the end Eid al-Aida, or Kurban Bayrami in Turkey, [8] many have been eating alternate meats. Many Turkish bloggers wrote first hand accounts of their celebrations of this holiday including: Erkan's Field Diary [9], Amerikan Turk [10], and The Need to Know [11]- who ate a bit more than she should have.
The second main topic is the release and rearrest [12] of Mehmet Ali Agca, which according to Turkish Torque is a sign of the Turkish judicial system being in shambles [13]. Other items discussed by Torque include the sad story of a young Turkish boy who sent 1 lira to the President of Pakistan [14] and memories of the Peace Corps Volunteers [15]that he met in his college days.
The White Path writes about Sultan Abdulhamid and the Armenian Genocide. [16]
Besides reporting from the Golden Globes [17] Talk Turkey also posts an Open Letter to Turkish Americans [18] in which he states the importance of the Turkish-American viewpoints:
I believe it is imperative for the Turkish populace in the U.S. to be informed, as well as informative, and thereby better served by examining and publicizing our general philosophy,view, and stance concerning issues that all Americans consider relevant. That is the true definition of an effective lobby that we as American Turks yearn for.
On a tip from Yogurtland [19] there is a new Turkish food blog out there called Zen in the Kitchen [20], which is excellent and has a great list of links to other food blogs that have been mentioned in this article before. Mmmmm….that's all for this week folks! Until later!