Newstime24.org

Israel Attacks aid convoy..

Israeli naval commandos brutally attacked an international aid convoy intending to bring humanitarian supplies to the long-besieged Gaza city and killed more than a dozen civilians while the convoy was sailing on international waters.

Early Monday morning, as it has threatened several times as the aid flotilla set sail for Gaza, Israel intercepted the convoy of vessels carrying hundreds of activists from around the world and some 10,000 tones of humanitarian aid, possibly causing an irreversible damage to Turkish-Israeli relations, foreign ministry said in a statement released a few hours after the attack.

International community has earlier warned Israel not to engage in an offensive on civilian vessels full of peaceful activists whose aim is to break the three-year-old economic blockade on Gaza which has severely plagued its people.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Israeli consulate in İstanbul to show reaction against the violent intervention. Thousands of Gazans who were expecting a helping hand from committed civilians but later learned of the attack also gathered at the port of Gaza, carrying Palestinian flags and banners read “End to Israeli persecution.”

Read more…

Gazprom Eyes Turkish..

Russian natural-gas giant Gazprom is in talks with businessman and former State Minister Cavit Çağlar. The company seeks to acquire Çağlar’s shares in BİS Enerji, a joint-stock company founded in 1992 and headquartered in Bursa.

If these talks do not bear fruit, then the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, or TMSF, is likely to enter the fray. Cavit Çağlar had turned over his 50-percent stake in Bis Enerji to TMSF back in March. BİS meets the needs of the Bursa Industrial Zone. With its 410 megawatts of power, BİS is the largest plant in the area. The plant’s other partner is Muammer Ağım, the owner of the Metrocity shopping mall in Levent.

According to the agreement signed between Çağlar and TMSF, the businessman will maintain the right to sell his shares in the plant until the end of the year. The money Çağlar obtains from the sale of his shares in BİS Enerji will be used to pay off his debt to TMSF. If Çağlar cannot complete the sale by the end of this year, then TMSF will jump in. Therefore, Çağlar is keeping TMSF abreast of the developments. Read more…

The death of well-known Turkish movie and television series director Yücel Çakmaklı, known as Turkey’s “national director” since he led the Turkish National Cinema movement in the 1970s, is being mourned by his friends, colleagues and those who were touched by his work.

Yucel Cakmakli

Stating that his cinema career began thanks to Çakmaklı, who died on Monday at the age of 72, director Mesut Uçakan said he first met Çakmaklı at a cinema club in 1973 and that the late director had a profound impact on him. “It is impossible to forget his friendship. I imagine the pain of losing him will grow worse,” he said.
Uçakan also highlighted that in order to understand Çakmaklı, one needs to look at the situation of cinema when he began working as a director. “In a twisted effort to resemble the cinema of the West, the Turkish cinema industry grew distant from its own values, its national and religious values. There was even a sense of mocking the religion — Islam — and beliefs by creating imam characters with round trimmed beards and whirling eyes who wear black cassocks. Read more…

Turkish Museum

Many visitors to İstanbul manage to make it to the Archeological Museums to gasp in wonder at the beautiful Alexander Sarcophagus and the recent finds from the Marmaray excavations that uncovered the city’s medieval port and an incredible cache of 35 wooden boats complete with their cargoes.

Others manage to squeeze in a trip to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts to admire the room-sized Uşak carpets and the reminders of a nomadic way of life now gone the way of the camel trains, or to the Rahmi Koç Museum, which is crammed full with reminders of past modes of transport. The Pera Museum does well at attracting visitors in part because of its popular temporary exhibitions as does the Sabancı Museum, up the Bosporus in Emirgan. A few brave souls also venture as far as Büyükdere on the Bosporus to visit the Sadberk Hanım Museum and its fine archeological and ethnographical collections.

Read more…

Erol Evgin

Imagine a room full of people of all ages.

A quick look around makes it clear that there are people from at least five different generations in attendance.

Kids clapping their tiny hands to the rhythm of the music bouncing off the walls; the slightly older crowd singing along with a man standing right in the middle of the room.

That is the kind of atmosphere that a few people gathered at the Harbiye open-air theater got to experience. Standing in the center of the stage was Erol Evgin, an icon of Turkish pop music, celebrating the 40th anniversary of his career as a singer-songwriter. The older crowd finds him charismatic, the younger crowd thinks he is sweet. Among the few lucky listeners were Eyüp Can, news coordinator of Hürriyet, an award-winning writer of Turkish descent and the best-selling female author in Turkey and Zeki Alasya, a famous Turkish Actor and old friend of Erol Evgin. Read more…

Iran's incentives draw Turkish investors

Neighboring Iran is slowly but surely opening up to the world

, welcoming foreign investors with attractive incentives. Many Turkish companies are rediscovering Iran’s low costs and tax advantages, but some businesspeople fear the situation could develop into a transfer of investments from Turkey to Iran

Vehicles with Turkish license plates, people speaking Turkish and investment zones and incentives being created solely for Turks are just a few of the signs indicating that Iran is drawing closer to its northwestern neighbor.

Read more…

Somalian Pirates

The Turkish navy frigate TCG Gediz has launched an operation against Somali pirates, who were feared to be preparing to seize another ship off the coast of Somalia, capturing five of the pirates.

Read more…