Mary Beth Sheridan | Zurich | October 10

WaPo - Senior Armenian and Turkish officials traveled to Switzerland on Saturday to sign an agreement that could set them on a course to end a century of hostility stemming from brutal massacres at the end of the Ottoman Empire.

But just as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's motorcade arrived at the University of Zurich for the signing of the accord, she got word of a last-minute glitch. The motorcade reversed and sped to a hotel, where U.S. diplomats tried to satisfy concerns on the Armenian side over language in the two countries' statements.

Originally posted Jan 15, 2008. Recent updates below in the comments ~ editors

A savvy blogger over at DailyKos has discovered an announcement by the Bush Administration, which appears to be pressuring Congress to retroactively approve the sale of nuclear secrets to Turkey.

hmmm...

Siebel Edmonds leaked her story to the UK Times two weeks ago, despite a court order. It was filled with tales of American diplomats acting in a treasonous manner by selling secretes to Turkey. If Bush gets the legislation he wants, then the treason will be authorized, and everything is hunky dory.

September 1

Al Jazeera - Turkey and Armenia are at the beginning of a "long process" of normalising ties, the Turkish foreign minister has said.

Ahmet Davutoglu's comments on Tuesday came a day after the feuding neighbours agreed to establish relations and reopen their border under a plan to end nearly a century of hostility.

Davutoglu told Turkey's NTV television that the process would be long but that obstacles could be overcome and that the border could be open by the end of the year.

"If everything goes as planned, if mutual steps are taken, the borders could be opened around New Year," he said.

Kenan Guluzade | Baku | Aug 19

Asia Times - Political experts are baffled by a Turkmen announcement that it will take Azerbaijan to court over their maritime boundary, saying the decision does not seem to make political, business or legal sense.

European plans to diversify gas supply, by building the Nabucco pipeline from the Caspian region to Austria, could be under threat from the unexpected Turkmen claim, which would disrupt development of Caspian oil and gas fields and interrupt two years of improving relations between Baku and Ashgabat.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov said just a month ago his country was keen to join the Nabucco project, but the legal challenge could harm the route by blocking production from fields on or near the Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan maritime border.

Hilmi Toros | Istanbul | Aug 12

IPS - Once the worst of enemies, involved in 12 wars in three centuries, Turkey and Russia have suddenly become the best of friends, forging strong bonds that could be a counterpoint to the European Union if it freezes Turkey out of full membership.

The countries call their ties "multi-dimensional co-operation," somewhat short of a "strategic partnership", but that too may be in the offing.

On an eight-hour visit to Turkish capital Ankara last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed 20 deals with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. These are mostly commercial contracts in energy, collectively worth some 40 billion dollars.

The two leaders also declared that rival gas pipelines Nabucco and South Stream to bring natural gas to European markets would be "complimentary" rather than "conflicting".

In the end, conflicting or complimentary, if both projects are realised, Russia and Turkey would play a major role in meeting Europe's growing gas needs. For Europe, either an unfriendly Turkey or Russia would endanger energy security - and it would be much worse if both were ever to gang up on the EU together.

Nicholas Birch | Istanbul | July 21

The Independent - In a case described as the most important in Turkey's history, two retired four-star generals went on trial yesterday at a high-security court outside Istanbul, charged with trying to overthrow the government.

For some, the arrest of the highest-ranking officers in Turkey's 63-year history of multi-party democracy is a critical blow against a once-untouchable military that has toppled four elected governments since 1960.

For others, the charges are an invention of the ruling AKP party to weaken the secular army and open the way for the country's Islamisation

There are 56 defendants in the case, including journalists, university rectors and businessmen. Outside the courtroom in Silivri, hundreds of their supporters waved national flags and portraits of Ataturk, the secularist founder of modern Turkey. "The patriots are in prison," they chanted.
 

• A trial that will define Turkey

I'm not going to get all misty eyed here. I'll just simply announce that the Istanbul 2009 Photo Contest is now accepting submissions. This year's theme is right up my alley and I'm considering making a few submissions of my own. From the site:

The main target of this contest is; living Istanbul with its historical and touristical locations by focusing on the historical city walls including mosques, museums, bridges, towers, churches, synagogues, sufi lodge, cisterns, palaces, people, cats, parks, fountains, baths, grand bazaar, spice market, shopping centers, authentic Turkish cuisine, boutique hotels, handcrafts and shops, artists, carpet sellers , 24 hours living streets etc.

Feel free to head over to my Istanbul Flickr gallery and make suggestions.

Fazile Zahir | Fethiye, Turkey | June 4

Asia Times -
The funeral of women's rights champion and avowed secularist Turkan Saylan, who helped thousands of Turkey's most underprivileged girls access education, was packed with mourners.

Conspicuously absent were members of the Islamist ruling party, who have been lambasted for ordering a demeaning investigation into Saylan's charity while she was on her death bed. Continued after the jump

• Battle Between Pro-Secular and Islamic Government Continues in Turkey

Took the train from Istanbul to Bucharest last night. It was a fun train ride. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

I knew tearing myself away from this city was going to be difficult, but I had no idea I would spend my last full afternoon in a terrible state of what the Turks might call, "hüzün." If I did not have to be in Denmark in mid-June I would not leave. Soon I'll head down to the train station and have a last uskumru sandwich and watch ferries dance across the Bosporus.

I arrived on April 1, 2009 and in the blink of an eye this magical city has wooed me, wowed me, saddened me beyond measure and lifted me to the highest of heights. I will look back on this time just as I do Lake Toba, but for altogether different reasons. Toba was about disconnecting from the world in a way I'd not done in years. It was an escape, an idyll, an exotic dreamscape of guitars, new friends, peace and the warm waters of the lake I bathed in each morning. Toba was a place for me to bury the past, the obligations of home and family and in their place plant seeds that would, I hoped, spring up into a new life.

More after the jump.

From my travel journal:

May 26, 2009: We left İstanbul at noon. Navigating İstanbul traffic from Sultanhamet to the Yenikapi ferry port wasn't too hard. Getting the ferry ticket and embarking was a cinch. The ferry to Yalova took about an hour. Amanda and I listened to the music on her iPod as the wine-dark waters of the Marmara skimmed beneath us. We disembarked, gassed up and sped off into the Bithynian hills. We stopped for lunch along Ulubat Golu, a pretty lake just west of Bursa. Watched a young family play futbol along the shores and shared an Iskender kebab. Lots of tea, as always! We stopped at a pastanesi--sweet shop--about 3/5ths of the way to Izmir. Honey and pistachios. How can one go wrong?

As promised, here are the photos from Ephesus and Priene. A big shout-out to MJSteckel, for the suggestion to visit Priene.

Ephesus was a great site. And very big. But Priene, well, the view was fantastic. And the site, because it's less curated, let my imagination run wild. It was wonderful.

Enjoy.

Photos coming tomorrow. I'm off to Bucharest, or at least heading north on the 31st.

I'm surrounded by hills with olive groves running up the walls. Apricot orchards and orange groves are everywhere.

The water is a deep sapphire blue. There isn't a cloud in the sky. The local wine is wonderful.

I have a deep Aegean tan.

Ephesus was magnificent and the mountain village of Sirince was all too picturesque.

Who gets to live such a life?

As is plainly obvious by now I am back in Istanbul for a brief stop-over before I head for points south west, maybe Konya, maybe Seljuk, Priene and Ephesus. We'll see what happens. The lease in my flat was up on the first of May, so I have been holing up down here in Sultanhamet, instead of the Taksim area. So, unless I fall in with a group of twenty-something futbol fans in town for the UEFA Cup (Donetsk-Shakhtar beat Weder Bremen, by the way) my social opportunities are a bit limited right now. I am considering going to the Beşiktaş-Galatasary match on Sunday night. Turkish futbol matches are a lot of fun. I did, however, have a wonderful conversation about art and architecture the other night with two lovely Norwegian septuagenerians, on their once a year European 'art vacation' as the ladies called it. They were really charming. But that's about it.

And then, serendipity always seems to intervene.

Yesterday I was strolling along the sea-walls on the Marmara shore taking some photos of an area of Istanbul I've neglected when I stumbled upon these two gentlemen. The saw me taking photos of them and called me over in English.

"Did you get good photos of us," the young one asked.

"Sure did," I said, showing him the shot in the view finder.

"Seet down," said the older one, "seet down, please."

More after the jump.

My friend Kipouros lives here in Istanbul and wrote one of the best descriptions of why this place is so wonderful, why it has such an amazing and captivating spirit:

But why does it draw people in so? It’s not necessarily physical beauty, though Istanbul has plenty despite the flood of cement that has obliterated much of its old character. When I look off the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge up the undulating turquoise Bosphorus, lined with brilliant white mansions below forested hills splashed with the pink of Judas trees, I often think, “when this view ceases to move me, it will be time to leave.”

These are things that draw people to the city, but what keeps them here is the inescapable warmth of the people (even if there are some we feel like strangling) and an ever-transforming, inexhaustible energy. It’s not always pleasant; a friend described Istanbul as a “city of near misses,” and it’s a good description. Everyday life can be a bit like watching the local neighborhood showoff throwing rocks at a hornet’s nest. Things could play out in lots of different ways, but you know something’s going to happen, and it will probably be interesting.

I'd encourage you to read the entire post, as he echoes many of my thoughts and feelings about this place.

More after the jump.

A last rumination on my journey through Anatolia these last three weeks (and no architecture, I promise) for those inclined, here.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled news and political blogging.

If you are so inclined, you can read about it here.

The last several days have been busy, but not a job-minded busy, just an interesting, peripatetic busy. My days seem to be growing more and more interesting and I already know I will miss Turkey when I leave on the June 1. But, by then it will be time to move on. I imagine I'll be taking an overnight train to Sophia, Bulgaria or Belgrade, Serbia. I haven't planned that far ahead yet. Probably a short stop in Budapest and then the long ride up to Denmark. No Crimea this time around. I'll save that for another trip. I'm sitting on a cafe terrace right now, looking down into the Bursa Valley. It's a nice sight. Not as epic as Eastern Anatolia, nor as wild. But it has a strong Mediterranean flavor, very Levatine. The sun is shining but huge semi-random globules of rain drop. It's nice to be in a liberal city again. I loved it out East, all the raw wildness of the place. But it was conservative. And I don't really like it when eight of ten women are covered. Bursa has a very open, lively feel.

I woke early, Saturday in Sivas, paid the hotel bill and caught the 1100am bus to Ankara. It was about 75* in Sivas, but the harsh glare of the sun made it feel 90*. I crawled onto the bus, plugged in my iPod and settled down for a long, boring drive. From Sivas to Ankara is not terribly inspiring and although there are plenty of craggy hillocks to break up the swathes of farm and pasture land, the landscape resembled the steady rise and fall of swells in the North Atlantic. Wheat, barley, shepherds and small plots of vegetables cover the countryside. Broken up only by large creeks lined with Cypress trees, surrounded by Oxbow lakes and small congregations of tents: itinerant farmers--the last vestiges of Turkish pastoral nomadism in Anatolia.

More can be read here..

Kind of says it all:

People photos from Sivas start around here.

Enjoy the rest from Bursa.

Drove to Divriği today. About 400 kilometers round trip. Rented a car. Splendid. The day was as close to perfect as could be asked. I took some rural photos for Don (i.e the one in this post, I figured he'd like seeing a field like that! And this one too.), and also I stopped at a place where they breed those Anatolian Shepherd Dogs everyone is raving about. Enjoy the photos.

Another big photo dump (about 120 photos), as promised.

Photos can be found here.

The photos for Diyarbakir and the Tigris Valley begin here.

The photos from Lake Van and Ahlat begin here.

The photos from the Ulu Cami, an 11^th century Damascene mosque in Diyarbakir begin here.

The scenery from Lake Van is fantastic. There are no other words.

I'll let the photos do the talking.

As for my favorites, this one of the Tigris Valley from the old Diyarbakir Walls is one.

And this one of Persian heraldry on the Grand Mosque of Diyarbakir is cool.

I don't know what it is that I find so interesting about Kufic inscriptions, but here's one I like.

I'm off to Erzerum tomorrow, maybe.

Two photos from today's perambulations in the bazaar stand out. This one:

More after the jump.