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!f İstanbul 2015 announces eclectic program

Editor’s Daily Pick

Amal Clooney, the prominent British-Lebanese lawyer and wife of Hollywood celebrity George Clooney, was a member of the legal team representing Armenia. (Photo: ECHR

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delayed on Jan. 28 its ruling in the case of Workers’ Party (İP) Chairman Doğu Perinçek, who was sentenced in Switzerland for publicly denying that the 1915 killings of Ottoman Armenians amounted to genocide. In his defense, Perinçek reiterated the decision issued by the ECHR’s second chamber on Dec. 17, 2013, which found Switzerland unjust in its sentencing on the grounds of freedom of expression. The court had also determined that opinions on the 1915 incidents were still disputable, he added. Perinçek stated that genocide was a “judicial phrase” and his personal studies indicated that the Ottoman Empire did not act with a motive to completely destroy Armenian society in Anatolia. He admitted that there were “forced migrations and mutual slaughter,” but claimed that discussion of the events had become a taboo and the term genocide has become a way to insult Turks in Europe. A national court verdict in Switzerland in 2007 resulted in the case being brought to the ECHR. Perinçek was found guilty by a Swiss court on March 9, 2007 after his participation in a number of conferences in Switzerland in 2005, during which he publicly denied that the Ottoman Empire had committed the crime of genocide against Ottoman Armenians. Denying that the killings amounted to genocide is a criminal offense in Switzerland. “We are confident that a decision that complies with European laws will be made,” Perinçek said after the Jan. 28 hearing, adding that “attempts to destroy freedom and democracy over Armenian genocide claims in Europe will fail.” Lawyers Mehmet Cengiz and Stefan Talmon, representing Perinçek in the case, underlined the right to freedom of expression. Talmon said Perinçek did not use any racist expressions, but simply reacted against the acceptance of the incidents as genocide. Lawyer Frank Schürmann, representing Switzerland, denied Talmon’s accusation that the Swiss court had violated the 10th article of the European Convention on Human Rights, which regulates human rights. Amal Clooney, the prominent British-Lebanese lawyer and wife of Hollywood celebrity George Clooney, was a member of the legal team representing Armenia. In the hearing, she said the Ottoman Empire had promised in the Treaty of Sevres that those responsible for the massacres would be tried. Armenia was included in the case not to limit freedom of expression but to defend it, she added. Former EU Minister Egemen Bağış, former main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, and CHP Deputy Head Haluk Koç were all in attendance during the hearing. Around 200 Turks were gathered in front of the court in support of Perinçek, while a separate group of Armenians was also gathered nearby. According to Armenians and many historians, up to 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians were killed starting in 1915 in a systematic campaign. Turkey denies that the deaths amounted to genocide, saying the toll during mass deportations of Ottoman Armenians has been inflated and that those killed in 1915 and 1916 were victims of broader unrest during World War I. Perinçek had applied to the ECHR over claims that the Swiss courts had breached his right to freedom of expression. The ECHR agreed on Dec. 17, 2013 that his statements in Switzerland fell within the bounds of freedom of expression. The ECHR ruling stated that “free exercise of the right to openly discuss questions of a sensitive and controversial nature is one of the fundamental aspects of freedom of expression and distinguishes a tolerant and pluralistic democratic society from a totalitarian or dictatorial regime.” Switzerland objected to the judgment, after which the case was taken to the ECHR’s Grand Chamber for the final verdict. The Grand Chamber approved the inclusion of the state of Armenia as a third party litigant in the case in September. (Hürriyet Daily News)

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AA Photo

The Turkish Sports Federation for the Physically Disabled (TBESF) has suspended its activities, citing lack of funds, but the Sports Ministry has hit back at criticism over the closure, saying that a judicial dispute led to the closure of operations. “Our board decided on Jan. 25 to delay activities of all branches, excluding the Shooting Turkey Championship in Mersin, between Feb. 5 and 8 due to the lack of allowances,” the TBESF said in a statement on its website. The federation is active in 16 branches, with active sponsorships in many of them. Refuting the TBSEF's claim over funding, the Youth and Sports Ministry said in a Jan. 28 statement that the president and the board of the federation had not been cleared over various issues during a Nov. 22, 2014 financial assembly, prompting a court to order the cancelation of the assembly pending a court case. The ministry said the cut was due to the fact that the judicial process was still continuing. The TBSEF has announced Feb. 15 as the date of a new financial assembly, while the ministry said budgets for federations were decided at the start of each year. The ministry's statement also said the TBESF could use its own money or funds from sponsors or other sources. (Hürriyet Daily News)

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DAILY NEWS Photo

Turkey’s population rose to 77.7 million people in 2014, an increase of 1.28 million over the course of the year, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute on Jan. 28. Some 50.2 percent (38.98 million) of the population is male, while 49.8 percent (38.71 million) is female. The proportion of the Turkish population living in cities increased to 91.8 percent in 2014, from 91.3 percent in 2013. The most populated province in the country is Istanbul with 18.5 percent of Turkish citizens (14.38 million people). Istanbul is followed by Ankara with 6.6 percent (5.15 million people); İzmir with 5.3 percent (4.11 million people); Bursa with 3.6 percent (2.79 million people); and Antalya with 2.9 percent (2.22 million people). The least populated of Turkey’s 81 provinces is the northeastern province of Bayburt, which has just 80,607 inhabitants. The median age of Turkey’s population increased to 30.7 in 2014, from 30.4 percent in 2013. The median age for males was 30.1, while for females it was 31.3. The provinces with the highest median ages in the country were Sinop at 39.1, Balıkesir at 38.6, and Edirne and Kastamonu at 38.0. The provinces with the lowest median ages were all in the southeast of the country, with Şırnak at 19.1, Şanlıurfa at 19.2, and Ağrı at 20. The working age population between 15-64 increased by 0.1 points to 67.8 percent of the total - or 52.64 million people. The population aged 0-14 fell to 24.3 percent of the total (18.86 million people), while the population aged 65 and over rose to 8.0 percent of the total (6.19 million people). The population density across Turkey - calculated by the average number of people per square kilometer - increased by 1 person in 2014, reaching 101. The province with the highest population density was Istanbul, with 2,767 people per square kilometer. Istanbul was followed by Kocaeli with 477, İzmir with 342, Gaziantep with 277, and both Bursa and Yalova with 267. The eastern province of Tunceli had the smallest population density, with just 12 people per square kilometer. (Hürriyet Daily News)

Editor’s Daily Pick

Visitors and media stand by the entrance gate of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, on Monday, Jan. 26. (Photo: AP

Ankara is preparing to host first commemoration of the Holocaust on International Holocaust Remembrance Day as victims and survivors of the Nazi era will be remembered in a bid to show Turks' solidarity with the Jewish community of the country. “We of course are joining the Holocaust commemoration ceremonies held both in Turkey and in other countries on its anniversary," said Çavuşoğlu on Monday as a response to a question from local reporters about Ankara hosting Holocaust commemoration ceremonies for the first time. Çavuşoğlu said Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek will be attending the Holocaust commemoration ceremonies as well. According to Çavuşoğlu, who will join world leaders gathering at the site of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, Parliament Speaker Çiçek will join the Holocaust commemoration ceremony to be held in the Czech Republic. “Hopefully, this kind of tragedy will never be experienced [again],” Çavuşoğlu said. Yusuf Halacoğlu, the former head of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) and current parliamentary group deputy chairman for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has harshly criticized Ankara's bid to remember the Holocaust commemorations at a parliamentary level, saying it totally contradicts with the government's policy of being critical of “Israel's Gaza massacre.” “On one hand, they [the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party)] say Israel perpetrated a massacre of the people in Gaza, but on the other hand, they are joining the genocide commemorations of the state [Israel], which AK Party officials say has committed a massacre [in Gaza],” Halacoğlu said in an interview with Today's Zaman, adding, “These people [AK Party representatives] would definitely do this.” Engin Altay, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) group deputy chairman, said in a talk with Today's Zaman that the party has no idea about Holocaust commemorations to be held under the auspices of Parliament. “The Turkish Parliament is not Cemil Çiçek's institute. If any ceremony is scheduled to be held under the auspices of this Parliament, the [other] political parties must be informed,” Altay said, adding: “The Holocaust is an internationally recognized important event. If Turkish political parties are not informed about the commemoration ceremony, this will not be [done with the] authority of the Turkish parliament, but only that of Cemil Çiçek.” Holocaust International Remembrance Day was first commemorated in Turkey in 2011. In previous years, Holocaust commemoration ceremonies were always held in İstanbul. This year, for the first time in Turkish history, a Holocaust commemoration ceremony will be held in the capital city of Ankara. The commemoration ceremony will be hosted on Tuesday by Bilkent University in cooperation with Turkey's Jewish Community in Ankara. Çiçek will attend the ceremony to honor the victims of the Holocaust tragedy. “It is a human duty to remember the Holocaust tragedy, which was one of the greatest crimes of humanity, and to teach the upcoming generations about it so as to ensure this kind of offense will never be experienced again,” Parliament said in a written statement released on Monday. The statement also said that the Holocaust tragedy was a “result of racism, discrimination, extremism and intolerance.” Recalling widespread racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, particularly in Europe, the statement said intolerance of communities' diversity paves the way for terrorist attacks that “disappoint all of us.” “Struggling with all kinds of extremism is important for the peaceful coexistence of different communities,” according to the statement, which also maintained that Turkey will continue fighting to avoid the discrimination, “As this stance is a legacy inherited by our predecessors.” (Today's Zaman)

Editor’s Daily Pick

The Facebook logo is shown at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California. (Photo: Reuters

A Turkish court has ordered Facebook to block a number of pages deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad, threatening to completely block access to the social networking site if it does not comply. The order made by the Gölbaşı Criminal Court of Peace on Sunday followed the request of a prosecutor. No one from Facebook was immediately available for comment. It was the latest move to crack down on material seen as offensive to religious sensibilities in the largely Muslim nation, where the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is considered to be pursuing an Islamist-leaning agenda. A Diyarbakır court had previously ruled to block web pages featuring a controversial cover of the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, which became the target of a fatal attack early in January. On Jan. 7 gunmen burst into the magazine's weekly editorial meeting, opening fire and killing 12 people in an act of revenge for the magazine having published satirical images of the Prophet in the past. In its first issue since the attack, Charlie Hebdo published an image on its front page showing a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad. As a result, the Diyarbakır 2nd Criminal Court of Peace blocked access to the web pages of some online news portals for republishing the newest cover. Earlier this month, police stopped trucks as they left Cumhuriyet's printing center to inspect the paper's content and only allowed distribution of the newspaper to proceed after verifying that the satirical French magazine's controversial cover featuring the Prophet Muhammad was not republished by the daily after it had indicated it would be printing a four-page selection of Charlie Hebdo's post-attack edition. The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office later launched an investigation into the Cumhuriyet daily on charges of defamation and inciting hatred and enmity for including the four-page supplement. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and pro-government media outlets, including the radical Islamist Yeni Akit, have since kicked off a smear campaign against the Cumhuriyet daily over the same issue. (Today's Zaman)

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AA Photo

The Central Anatolian province of Aksaray has become so popular among tourists in recent years thanks to its Ihlara Valley, underground cities, caravanserais and the investments in accommodation

Eight archaeological sites in the Central Anatolian province of Aksaray, which dates back to 10,000 years ago, were visited by more than 1 million tourists last year, a 17 percent increase in comparison to the previous year. Aksaray, which is adjacent to Turkey’s famous Cappadocia region, became a province in 1989 after 56 years, and since then, the province has been revived with successful promotional works by the municipality and cultural directorate. The most important archaeological site in the province, Ihlara Valley, has doubled the number of visitors with new walking routes, trekking fields, environmental rearrangements and the restoration of churches. With the opening of caravanserais, underground cities and museums, the number of visitors has increased even more. Thanks to the new arrangements, last year 438,903 people visited Ihlara Valley, 438,903 people visited the world’s largest caravanserai, Sultanhanı, and 276,178 people visited the Saratlı Underground City. Öresin Han, also known as Delikhan Tepesi; Monastery Valley; the newly opened Gaziemir underground city and the Aksaray Museum were among the most visited places in the province. Culture and Tourism Director Mustafa Doğan stressed the importance of Cappadocia for Turkish tourism, adding that it had progressed in terms of the number of visitors especially after Antalya and Istanbul. “Ihlara Valley has a very special place for tourism in Cappadocia. Tourists visiting the region prefer to see the valley. At the same time, the most beautiful caravanserais on the route of Antalya-Kayseri are located within the borders of Aksaray. Thanks to these magnificent caravanserais, Aksaray is one of the most visited cities in the region,” he said. Doğan said Aksaray also had the distinction of being the “gateway to Cappadocia” and that many tourists to Cappadocia visited the archaeological sites in Aksaray. Older than Çatalhöyük “The number of visitors to Aksaray has exceeded 1 million. Aşıklıhöyük is the oldest village settlement in Central Anatolia. Work is almost done to open the area to tourism this year. Tourists will have one more archaeological site to visit when it is opened. This place is very important for Anatolia because it is an older settlement than Çatalhöyük in Konya,” Doğan said. He also said investments had been made for accommodation in recent years in Aksaray. “Thanks to these investments, many tourists will spend time in Aksaray. The city will become one of the leaders in Turkish tourism.” (Hürriyet Daily News)

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Three people have been injured in an armed assault in Şişli district of Istanbul, media reported on Monday. The assailants reportedly fled the scene on a motorbike after opening fire on a business premise located in Şişli district of Istanbul. Three people injured in the incident were rushed to nearby hospitals. The employees at a company from the lower flat said it was a foreign company that had been targeted by the assailants and that they did not know what had provoked that attack. (Daily Sabah)

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Turkish court ordered Sunday a block on access to a number of Facebook pages that share materials insulting Prophet Mohammad. The Gölbaşı Duty Magistrate Court gave the order on the request of Prosecutor Harun Ceylan, who was investigating the pages on social media. The court decided that Facebook, the world's biggest social network, would be blocked by Turkey if Facebook fails to implement the order. The court's decision has been forwarded to the Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication (TİB) and to the Access Provider Association. Previously, a court in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakır province ruled on January 14 to block access to web pages showing Charlie Hebdo's latest cover featuring a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad. The cover depicts Prophet Muhammad in a white dress and shedding a tear, holding up a sign reading, "Je suis Charlie" - a slogan popularized after Paris attacks - below the headline "All is forgiven." On January 7, 12 people were massacred in a gun attack in the Paris headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo magazine. (Daily Sabah)

Editor’s Daily Pick

A press conferences was held Jan. 23 to provide information about the progress of the “Turkey: Home” campaign, which was launched by the Culture and Tourism Ministry for Turkey’s promotion abroad. The campaign includes a detailed digital and social media campaign as well as newspaper, magazine and open air advertisements all around the world. At the conference, Culture and Tourism Ministry Undersecretary Haluk Dursun said the project, which was initiated last year, should be supported by all of the country’s organizations and sector representatives. He said 2015 was the “Turkish Year” in Belgium and they were working to form a promotion, culture and arts channels with the project. He said the world’s most comprehensive peace conference would be held in Istanbul and also provided information about the projects in Topkapı Palace. Dursun said they would organize a special Turkish coffee exhibition at the palace in the coming months and Turkish coffee culture would be displayed there. Culture and Tourism Ministry Director General for Promotion İrfan Önal said projects have been continuing for one and a half years focusing on developing new culture and tourism strategies. (Hürriyet Daily News)

Editor’s Daily Pick

A scene from “The Yes Men Are Revolting.” The comic documentary will be shown as part of the Digiturk Galas section of this year’s !f İstanbul International Independent Film Festival.

A highly diversified selection of 115 films from 42 countries will be shown in next month's !f İstanbul International Independent Film Festival, whose full program was announced at a Friday night gathering at The Hall club in Beyoğlu. !f 2015 will open its İstanbul stint on Feb. 12 with “Big Eyes,” Tim Burton's newest offering that hit US theaters on Christmas Day. Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz are in the leading roles in the biopic that follows the story of American painter Margaret Keane (Adams), who became famous in the 1950s and '60s for her signature style in which she depicts women, children and animals with extremely big eyes. The film's !f outing will mark its Turkish debut. Including “Big Eyes,” there are 22 recent films from the world festival and indie film circuits in this year's Digiturk Galas section, usually the festival's most hotly anticipated section whose tickets sell out days before the festival begins.

All-star favorites

Previously announced titles in the Galas section -- the Michael Keaton-starrer “Birdman,” the newest animated feature by Isao Takahata “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya,” the Joshua Oppenheimer documentary “The Look of Silence,” the comic documentary “The Yes Men Are Revolting” and Iran's first vampire flick “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” -- will be joined by 16 other features that have made remarkable impact at international festivals such as Sundance, Toronto and Berlin, but have yet to hit the big screen in Turkish cinemas. Among them are “Dear White People,” a satirical film about four black students at an Ivy League college; “Rosewater,” Jon Stewart's debut directorial effort starring Gael Garcia Bernal as Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari, which also features Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer among its cast; “The Last Five Years,” a big-screen adaptation of the American stage musical of the same name, starring Anna Kendrick; and Australian director Tony Ayres's noir drama “Cut Snake.” Also in the mix are the Canadian mystery-drama “The Forbidden Room,” which brings together a star-studded cast that includes Roy Dupuis, Geraldine Chaplin, Udo Kier, Charlotte Rampling and Mathieu Amalric; and “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter,” based on an urban legend surrounding an office worker from Tokyo who was rumored to have died trying to find the treasure depicted in the Coen brothers film “Fargo.” “Çekmeceler” (Drawers), a controversial coming of age story from the Turkish co-directors of the 2011 drama “Zenne Dancer,” M. Caner Alper and Mehmet Binay, will have its world premiere as part of Digiturk Galas.

Competitions, new sections, regulars

There are nine films in the festival's international feature film competition “!f Inspired,” whose entrants were announced last week. The festival's second international competition, “Love & Change,” announced on Jan. 15, features eight new features by “directors who have succeeded in changing the world with their cameras.” The Tribeca Film Festival award-winning documentary “Regarding Susan Sontag”; “To Be Takei,” about the Star Trek icon George Takei; and “Life Itself,” a documentary about the late Roger Ebert, arguably the world's most famous film critic, will all have their Turkish premieres as part of the seven-film “Art & Life” selection. A new section introduced this year to the festival is called “Saints, Poets and Fools.” It features short films, concert documentaries and feature films by and about cultural icons, including William S. Burroughs, Pina Bausch, Patti Smith, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and The Doors, among others. A restored copy of “The Color of Pomegranates,” a highly experimental 1968 film about Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova, will be shown at the “!f Cult” section. Other regular festival sections this year include “Dark & Edgy,” a five-piece midnight-madness selection of disturbing thrillers; “Special Screenings,” which this year focuses on a new trend in cinema, hybrid, via two films; “Rainbow,” which focuses on LGBT rights; “Home,” which brings together 10 films about or set in Turkey; and “!f Shorts from Turkey,” the festival's annual national short film selection, whose screenings are held free of charge. Sidebar events such as talks, workshops and the like will take place at the art spaces SALT Galata and SALT Beyoğlu. This year marks the 14th edition of the indie film fest, which was born in İstanbul and which later expanded to other Turkish cities, mainly to Ankara and İzmir, which will be hosting a selection from the main program from Feb. 26 through March 1. The İstanbul leg is scheduled for Feb. 12-22 and will hold its screenings in three theaters -- the Cinemaximum Fitaş in Beyoğlu, the Cinemaximum Kanyon in Levent and the Cinemaximum Budak, inside the Caddebostan Cultural Center in Kadıköy, on the city's Asian side. Ankara will host the festival at the Cinemaximum Armada multiplex and İzmir film buffs can watch the films at Cinemaximum Konak Pier. Discounted presale tickets will be available starting Jan. 30 via Biletix. For further information and the screening schedule, see www.ifistanbul.com. (Hürriyet Daily News)

Welcome To Turkey

Turkey (Türkiye in Turkish) is located on Anatolia and Eastern Thrace in the southeast Europe. The official name of the country is the Republic of Turkey. As a transcontinental country, connecting Asia to Europe, Turkey neighbours Bulgaria to the northwest and Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Iran and Azerbaijan to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast.

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