Thursday, April 30, 2015

Human Rights Watch Calls for an End to Prosecutions for Insulting the President… Freedom House 2015 Report…

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hrw.org – Apr 29 – (Istanbul) – A Turkish court on April 29, 2015, released from prison a lawyer facing trial for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but he should not be facing such charges in the first place, Human Rights Watch said today.
freedomhou.se – Conditions for the media freedom deteriorated sharply in 2014 to their lowest point in more than 10 years, as journalists around the world faced mounting restrictions – including grave threats to their own lives. Freedom of the Press 2015
todayszaman.com – Apr 25 – An İstanbul prosecutor on Sunday defied a court decision to release journalist Hidayet Karaca and 63 police officers who were arrested in government-backed operations targeting police force last year, a decision which ordered the release of…

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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

New photo from Facebook April 29, 2015 at 10:36PM

Bir senedir gururla yerli malına oturuyoruz. via @hozkomurcu @batuhanaydin via Facebook Pages http://ift.tt/1heKubC

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2 fantastic digital archives: Istanbul Households archives, 1880-1940: census data and family history documents now accessible online

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Children from a well-to-do family, 1910

Children from a well-to-do family, 1910

Istanbul Households archives, 1880-1940: census data and family history documents now accessible online

Two separate archives, Mosaic (www.censusmosaic.org), holding quantitative data, and SALT research (www.saltresearch.org), holding census and family history documents from an interdisciplinary research project undertaken at Boğaziçi University (Istanbul)  during the 1980s on family, household and population in Istanbul during the late Ottoman and early republican periods are now open to public use online. The project was the first systematic historical study of family and population in Turkey and the Middle East, combining the methods and approaches of social anthropology, historical demography and social history.  The research culminated in the publication of  Duben and Behar, Istanbul Households: Marriage, Family and Fertility 1880-1950, Cambridge University Press, 1991 and its Turkish editions, İstanbul Haneleri: Evlilik, Aile eve Doğurganlık 1880-1940, İletişim Yayınları, 1996 and Boğaziçi Ünivesitesi Yayınları, 2013, as well as various scholarly papers on the subject.

  1. Mosaic census records: Ottoman census data for Istanbul, 1885 (1300h) and 1907 (1322h)

The original five percent samples of Ottoman census data for the permanent Muslim population of Istanbul for 1300h (ca. 1885) and 1322h (ca. 1907) are available from the Mosaic archive of historical census data for Europe and beyond.  All records in the archive are structured in the same format so that historical comparisons can be made across time and space.  More specifically, these data bases allow those researching late Ottoman society to undertake comparisons with non-Ottoman data bases and vice versa.

For more information about Mosaic see: Mikołaj Szołtysek and Siegfried Gruber, “Mosaic: recovering surviving census records and reconstructing the familial history of Europe” The History of the Family, available online at http://ift.tt/1ECqGMn

The address for access is www.censusmosaic.org .  To access the Istanbul data sets one must register, then click “Data,” followed by “Mosaic Data Files,” and then under  “Harmonized Data Sets,”  scroll down to Turkey where the 1885 (1300h) and  1907 (1322h) census data sets can be found. Information about use and various caveats is provided.

 

  1. Istanbul Households archive at SALT, Istanbul

 

The SALT archives located at SALT Galata, Istanbul contain a broad array of materials utilized during the research and writing of Istanbul Households, all accessible online. The complete set of original handwritten transcription sheets used during the early 1980s for recording census data and vital events on site from the official rosters for the permanent Muslim population of Istanbul for 1300h (ca. 1885) and 1322h (ca. 1907)for five central districts of Istanbul are available here.  In addition to the transcription sheets various documents containing descriptions of principles, rules, definitions and other guidelines for transcription and data use as well as instructions for recording, transcribing and coding for the censuses and records of vital events are also available.  Lists of birthplaces, occupations, titles and status-markers of individuals recorded are also available, as are numerous family photographs of the period from 1880-1940. Transcriptions of selected Ottoman court records relating to marriage, divorce, and inheritance utilized during the research period are also available.  These resources provide a part of the “back story” of this research project that took nearly ten years to complete.  Summaries of hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles from the period on population, family, marriage, women, childcare, domestic life and related topics will be available shortly, as will sociological and demographic analyses of  major novels of the period. Information about the Istanbul Households collection, its coverage, use, meaning, and limitations is available from the archive. General information about SALT and the archives can be obtained at www.saltresearch.org.

 

Access to the SALT Istanbul Households archive is available directly by clicking: http://ift.tt/1P5V43q

We request that researchers properly acknowledge and cite any materials used from either archive.

 

 

 

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“Academics in Turkey call for ‘Minecraft Report’ to be released…

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Academics in Turkey call for ‘Minecraft Report’ to be released

April 27, 2015 – James Fudge

A petition signed by academics who are part of the Turkish Chapter of DiGRA called on the country’s Ministry of Family and Social Politics to release its “Minecraft report” to the public. It further notes that academics and experts who study video games should evaluate it before any attempts to seek court actions against the game takes place.

You may remember in February that reports surfaced suggesting that the “Turkish government” was considering a ban of Mojang’s popular world building game. But in March a spokesperson at the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C said that the Ministry of Family and Social Politics doesn’t have the authority to ban games, only make recommendations to the courts. He also said that it could compel Microsoft and Mojang to alter gameplay………….

 

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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Video: #FreeZone9bloggers

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The Zone9 bloggers are in jail because of their writings and efforts to better inform the public about policy issues and their constitutional rights. Ethiopian authorities have promoted a narrative about the Zone9 bloggers suggesting that these activities, and the bloggers’ efforts to learn about digital security, are criminal.

Blogging is not a crime.

Learning about online privacy is not a crime.

Defending human rights is not a crime.

We defend the rights of everyone to speak freely and without fear.

We are outraged by this violation of our colleagues’ rights to free expression.

The Ethiopian government must be held accountable for the unjust treatment of these brave writers.

We are Global Voices. We want justice for the Zone9 bloggers.

#FreeZone9bloggers

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Monday, April 27, 2015

Ayşe Özer: Vatan yahut Soma

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Vatan yahut Soma

“Yazın üç sütun üstüne kapkara haykıran puntolarla,

Nazım Hikmet vatan hainliğine devam ediyor hala”

Demişti Nazım Usta. Vatan, çiftlikleriniz, cüzdanlarınız değildir demekteydi. Bir toprak parçasının vatan olarak tanımlanabilmesi için uğrunda yiğitlerin ölmesi gerekir denirdi bir başka şiirde. Doyduğun yerdir vatanın derdi bir başkası. Altında ölülerin yatmıyorsa o toprak senin değildir diyenler de vardı. Altında binlerce ölünün yattığı, bazılarının yer altından çıkarılıp tekrar toprağa gömüldüğü, otopsilerine kadar soğuk hava depolarında bekletilen bedenlerimizi gezdirdiğimiz kocaman bir toprak parçamız vardı bizim. Yoksulluktan ruhlarımızı yanı sıra sürüklediğimiz, kendimize bile bazen ağır gelen bedenlerimiz vardı. Acıyı paylaşmayı bile beceremeyen tekmecilerin ülkesinde hepimizin bedeni ağır bir yüke dönüşürken bir çocuk bağırırdı bir pencereden: “defolun gidin, biz sararız kendi yaramızı”. Bağışla bizi güzel çocuk, sol tadında bir mektup yazamadık sana. Elleri değsin istemedik, gözleri değsin istemedik. TRT spikeri gibi konuşmayı marifet sayanların sol ağızları yeni bir ekmek kapısı bulmuştu oysa. Ağzımızda bir pas tadı, burnumuzda sadece bir rakı sofrasında bir arada olmasına alışkın olduğumuz kavun ve yanık et kokusu. “Haritadan yer beğen kendine” derlerdi bunu devlet memuru anlatsa. O da gözünü kapatır el yordamıyla bile bulurdu Soma’yı. Evet derdi işte burası benim vatanım. Sürün beni buraya. Vatan, bir “ekmeği olmayan var mı? “sofrasında Yırca’nın zeytinlerini boğazından helallikle geçirmekti çünkü. Aynı apartman aydınlığına bakan, kapısı açık balkonlardan birbirlerinin sesini duyarak yaşayan emekçilerin sofrasıydı vatan. Her şeyin ve herkesin yürüme mesafesinde olduğu, kimsenin ulaşılmaz olmadığı bir serin yaz bahçesiydi. Bahçenin neresini beğenirsek orada otururduk, dükkan bizimdi.

Bir duruşma öncesinde kapkara bir pankartın üzerinde evladının, eşinin adını görmekti bu ülkede kadın olmak. O pankart, devletin namusunu açık eden bir kara çarşaf gibiydi. Ağıtların göğe yükselirken bir listede adın olmadığı için duruşma salonuna alınmamaktı. Kendisini savunmaya gelen avukata polis müdahalede bulununca “avukatıma dokunma!” diye bağırmaktı. Bari savunmama dokunma. Evladı, eşi vatanıdır da bir kadının aynı zamanda. O polis barikatları yerle yeksan olur birden bire. Söz konusu “vatan”dır, gerisi teferruat. Sloganlara eşlik etmeye çalışır bir baba son nefesiyle. Evladını yitirmiş bir babaya kader tebligatı yapanlara inat, isyanını tebliğ eder devlet babaya. Bir tek devlet babanın ölümünden sonra mutlu olur evlatları. Soma’nın hesabı, yüzüne bir çizgi olur yerleşir kalanların yüzüne. İsyan bir ölmez ağaç olur, dalları kırılır yemişten. Halkın avukatları giyerler iliksiz cübbelerini, ayaklarını bastıkları toprağın vatan olması için artık kimse ölmesin diye yeni bir hikaye yazarlar. “Vatan, hakkını aldığın, mutlu olduğun yerdir” derler belki de. Aynı aydınlığa bakan balkonlardan birbirlerinin sesini duyarak yaşar Somalılar. O aydınlık, haritada kendine yer beğenemez de, her yere uğrar. Toprak, uğrunda ölen olmayınca vatanlaşır herkese. Yeryüzü koca bir sofra olur bir gün. Soma’da bir ölmez ağaç yetişir de, erken hasat edilir zeytinleri.

 

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AKP’s attempt to control Northern Cyprus did not work, a unionist candidate, Akıncı, wins the elections…

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Akinci wins North Cyprus election
Mustafa Akinci sweeps to victory in North Cyprus’ presidential elections after pledging renewed urgency in seeking a peace deal on the island.
A leftist moderate promising to press for a peace deal in ethnically-split Cyprus swept to victory in the presidential election run-off in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on April 26. Mustafa Akıncı, standing as an independent, won 60.3 percent of the votes.
The election of Mustafa Akıncı as the president of northern Cyprus will usher the island into a new and challenging phase.

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