* Anatolia News Agency reported on Friday that Turkey's military's officers' clubs are open to Turkish civilians from now on.
  The Islamist daily Yeni Safak wrote that Turkey, which was getting "demilitarized", meaning reducing the influence of the military, relegated another "shame to the pages of history".
  According to the paper, a "discriminatory" article in military regulations banned people wearing headscarves and Islamic style clothing as well as those who have beards, from entering officers' clubs, was annulled.
  The paper wrote that Turkey's Ministry of National Defense and Interior Ministry will monitor implementation of the new regulation.

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey and the European Union launched a "positive agenda" to prepare Turkey for harmonization in the areas related to blocked chapters, in a move to break the two-year standstill in the country's membership talks.
  "Our aim is to keep the accession process alive and put it properly back on track after a period of stagnation, which has been a source of frustration on both sides," European Union Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle told reporters at a joint press conference with Turkey's European Union Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış.
  The European Union official was visiting Turkey. In addition to Mr. Bagis, he also met with the Turkish prime minister. Turkish prime minister told Mr. Fule that Europe can turn the current crisis into an opportunity.
  Hurriyet Daily News writes that Turkey and the European Union formally started accession negotiations in 2005, but since then Turkey has opened only 13 of 35 policy chapters due to the political blockage of Greek Cyprus and France.

* Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News reported on Wednesday that US Ambassador Mr. Francis Ricciardone has called on Turkey to ensure stronger guarantees for individual rights and freedoms in the new constitution that a cross-party parliamentary panel is drawing up.
  "We encourage and support Turkey's efforts to more clearly define the state's duty to protect the rights of the citizen, including protecting fuller freedoms of expression and belief," Mr. Ricciardone said at a meeting organized by the Istanbul Rotary Club, adding that Turkey was aiming for the highest world standards for a modern democracy. The ambassador had previously angered the government when he raised questions about media freedoms in Turkey following the imprisonment of journalists.
  In response to questions posed by Rotary members, the ambassador voiced hope that Turkey and Israel would be able to mend fences after their relations plunged into crisis when Israeli forces killed nine Turks on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara ship in 2010. "We urge both friends to do everything possible to overcome the conflict that nourished over the terrible incident now two years ago and get back to a productive, normal level of communication," he said.
  "Countries may have differences but addressing them through state-to-state, people-to-people relations is important", Mr. Ricciardone said. "We would very much wish to see Israel and Turkey find a way to get back to those official relations, official conversations. It is in both Turkey's and Israel's interest, certainly in America's interest as allies and friends of both countries. We will do all we can to help, but the resolution has to come between these two countries and their leaders," he added.

* Five more people have died in the Black Sea region of Turkey of a disease that can be transmitted by tick bites, officials said.
  The disease, which affects mainly farm and slaughterhouse workers in the countryside and in the central Anatolia and Black Sea regions, is normally transmitted by bites from infected ticks or through direct contact with infected blood tissue in livestock.
  As a result of global warming, ticks carrying the virus are multiplying faster, scientists said. There is no vaccine for the disease.
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* The Turkish daily Milliyet said Turkish Prime Minister Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched on Sunday a project to build a 9.1-mile tunnel under Ovit Mountain in northwestern Turkey which would link Black Sea province of Rize to eastern province of Erzurum.
  The tunnel will be the longest one in the world and it will reduce travel time between Rize and Erzurum to 2 hours from 5 hours.

* Anatolia News Agency reports that Turkish dailies covered in their Tuesday editions statements made by Turkish prime minister Mr. Erdogan regarding the free milk program in schools.
  Papers quoted Mr. Erdogan as saying that the children's health and future were of top importance, stating that children could drink milk at schools safely.
  Mr. Erdogan said the program aimed to contribute to the healthy growth of young children.
  The program started with problems, though. On May 2 Haberturk reported that hundreds of Turkish children were hospitalized after drinking the free milk on the first day of a government program.

* Turkish dailies covered on their Wednesday editions a face transplant surgery in Turkey.
  The fourth surgery of its kind in Turkey, it was performed by Prof. Omer Ozkan at Akdeniz University.
  The face and ears of a 19-year-old man were transplanted to a 34-year-old man.
  Prof. Ozkan said that the surgery was very successful, adding, "It was beyond a transplant." The operation lasted for nine hours.
  The other organs of the same 19-year-old man were donated to five other people.

* Turkish dailies are reporting that the Turkish government has proposed to increase the salaries of civil servants by 3 percent in each half of 2012 as well as 2 percent in the first half of 2013 and by another 3 percent for the second half of the same year.
  Representatives of civil servant unions responded that they may strike.
  Turkish parliament recently amended the law governing civil servant, giving civil servants the right to bargain collectively.
  The government and the representatives of civil servant unions have been continuing talks to reach a compromise on wage increases in the Turkish capital Ankara.

* Anatolia News Agency reported on Wednesday that U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Mr. Francis Ricciardone said that Turkey had made great progress and made significant reforms to become the 17th biggest economy in the world.
  Turkey had an ambition to become one of the ten giant economies in the world, and the United States believed that Turkey would achieve that target and supported Turkey, Mr. Ricciardone added.
  During his meeting with Governor of Afyonkarahisar, Mr. Ricciardone said Turkish and U.S. governments had established a cabinet level dialogue to boost economic relations and increase trade and investments.
  The United States was willing to see Turkey as a strong country and economic locomotive of its region, and wished that it would become a bigger market for U.S. goods and services, Mr. Ricciardone said.
  Mr. Ricciardone indicated that the Turkish-U.S. trade volume reached $20 billion in 2011 and two countries aimed to increase trade and investments.
  The ambassador also said executives of the two countries had to bring companies together to increase trade and investments.

* UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator has said that Turkey spent $150 million so far for Syrians who are currently staying in Turkey after fleeing clashes in their country, according to Anatolia News Agency.
  Ms. Amos defined Syrians who are currently staying in Turkey as asylum-seekers. "They are not considered refugees, but asylum-seekers. Turkish government has been hosting them," stated Lady Amos.
  Ms. Amos previously served as British High Commissioner to Australia and Leader of the House of Lords.

* The Turkish daily Cumhuriyet's English edition reports that unemployment rate in Turkey in February 2012 dropped 1.1 points over the same month a year earlier to 10.4 percent, the country's statistics authority said Tuesday.
  Urban unemployment was 12.1 percent and rural unemployment was 7.1 percent during the given period, TurkStat said.
  The number of jobless decreased to 2.7 million from 2.9 million whereas the number of the employed rose to 23.3 million from 22.8 million.

* Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Ali Babacan said that Turkey's imports from the United States rose 24 percent in 2011, from $4.2 billion to $5.2 billion, reports the Anatolia News Agency.
  According to the State department, U.S. exports to Turkey was up 39% from $10.5 billion to $14.6 billion in 2011.

* A new publication, the New City Reader is on the streets of Istanbul with its first issue. First published as part of The Last Newspaper, an exhibition held at the New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York City in 2011, a new edition of the public newspaper will be published by the Istanbul Design Biennial team, to be hung on the streets of Istanbul in the months preceding the opening and during the run of the Istanbul Design Biennial.
  In emulation of a practice common in the nineteenth century, and still popular in parts of the world today, The New City Reader is designed to be posted in public for collective reading.
  The first Istanbul Design Biennial will be put together this year by Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts from Oct. 13 to Dec. 12 with the theme of "Imperfection", reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  It will be open to all disciplines of the creative industries in major fields such as urban design, architecture, interior design, industrial design, graphic design, new media design and fashion design, as well as their related fields.
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* ‘Harem-i Hümayün,' a new exhibition that will open in June at the Topkapı Palace, will reveal the unknown details of the Ottoman Seraglio (Harem) and correct misinformation about it in Turkey and the world.
  It will display the life in the Seraglio with various miniatures, engravings and plans.
  One of the most popular sections of Istanbul's Topkapı Palace, the Seraglio has received even more attention due to "Magnificent Century", which dramatizes the life of Süleyman the Magnificent and the intrigues in his seraglio.
  But in the TV series, the scenes of sexuality in the Seraglio of the Ottoman Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent have raised the ire of members of the Ottoman dynasty, who accuse producers of misrepresenting and degrading the life of the sultans.
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* The 7th International Dadaş Flm Festival opened on May 14 in the eastern province of Erzurum. Famous Turkish actor Kadir İnanır received the festival's Honorary Award at the opening ceremony, according to the Anatolia News Agency.
  Two exhibitions were also opened at the ceremony as part of the festival. The first is an exhibition by Iranian artist Hafez Ahmadi, "Iranian Film and Photography," and the other is an exhibition of posters for Inanır's films, curated by Vadullah Taş.
  Speaking at the opening ceremony, the festival chairperson Nil Gürpınar said the theme of this year's festival was "children's rights." Films made in 2011 and 2012 will compete in the competition section of the festival.
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* Turkish poet Nazım Hikmet Ran has become one of the six poets to have their poems displayed in London subway trains, as part of the "World Poems on the Underground" project, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  The English translation of the poet's "Geceleyin Baku" (Baku at Night) will be on display on the walls of the train carriages until the end of the Olympic Games, to be held in London this summer.
  Together with "Baku at Night," one poem by Sujata Bhatt, Niyi Osundare, John Agard, Imtiaz Dharker and Lotte Kramer will be displayed on the walls.
  The poems will be included in a booklet of "World Poems on the Underground," together with the other poems that have featured in London subway stations since 1986. Some 120,000 copies will be distributed free to libraries, the Southbank Center, the mayor's office, and through the British Council and the Scottish Poetry Library.
  The exhibition "Poems on the Underground" is being organized as part of the London 2012 Festival, a parallel event with the London Olympic Games.
  Here is the poem by Nazım Hikmet Ran, "Baku at Night"
  "Reaching down to the starless heavy sea in the pitch-black night,
  Baku is a sunny wheatfield.
  High above on a hill, grains of light hit my face by the handfulls,
  And the music in the air flows like Bosporus. High above on a hill, my heart goes out like a raft into the endless absence,
  Beyond memory down to the starless heavy sea in the pitch dark."
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* The Anatolia News Agency reports that he fourth annual Kocaeli Book Fair started on May 12, hosting representatives from 350 publishing houses. The Kocaeli Book Fair is one of the youngest such fairs in Turkey, but it is developing very quickly, organizers say.
  The fair will continue until May 20.
  The fair will also include a project to send books to the eastern province of Van, which suffered a major earthquale last year. Everyone who buys a book at the fair will also be sending a book to Van.
  Another highlight of the Kocaeli Book Far is its reading project, as part of which 5,000 students will read the same book at the same time. This event will also continue as a campaign to promote reading for kids.
  Once again this year the fair will feature an installation of books hanging in trees throughout the city. The same event took place last year and drew attention from other cities. When people left their houses on May 11 they were surprised to see books hanging on trees in Kocaeli, which they were free to collect and read.
  Last year a total of 260,000 people visited the fair.
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* The third annual Diyarbakır Book Fair will take place May 22-27 at the TÜYAP Diyarbakır Fair and Congress Center. The event will host some 100 publishing houses and organizations, along with 300 writers, for 40 cultural events and signing days, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  This year the fair will host two researchers and writers from France as its special guests. Sebastien de Courtois, an expert in the history of religions, will be at the fair on May 26. De Courtois, who mainly focuses on Middle Eastern Christians and their path through history, became interested in the history of Turabdin, a region in southeastern Turkey. At the fair he will speak about the Assyrians, and he will be available to sign his books.
  The other guest of the fair will be the ethnically Kurdish researcher and academic Fawaz Husen, who is a member of the Swedish Writers' Union, International PEN, and theFrench Writers Organization. He will give a speech titled "A Kurdish soul in a French body," and have a book signing.
  The fair will also feature exhibitions, including one showcasing the life story of late Turkish novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist Sabahattin Ali. Another exhibition will be titled "Cultural Diversity in Old Diyarbakır." Curated by Osman Köker, the exhibit tells the lost story of Diyarbakır's people.
  The Netherlands, the honorary guest of the 31st Istanbul Book Fair, will also be the guest country for the Diyarbakır Book Fair.
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk won the 2012 Sonning Prize, Denmark's highest cultural award that honors contributions to European culture, according to Agence France-Presse
  "Orhan Pamuk's largest contribution to European culture is his obvious challenge of the cultural boundaries and his clarification of the many possibilities that lie within crossing those boundaries," the jury at the University of Copenhagen said in a statement.
  "His work contains a strong belief in a Europe with fewer cultural boundaries, an inclusive Europe that does not choose between East and West but instead attempts to unite the two," it said.
  The Sonning Prize is awarded every two years and comes with a 134,000-euro, cheque. Pamuk will receive his prize at a reception inCopenhagen on Oct. 26.
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* According to a report in Hurriyet Daily News a new radio station has begun broadcasting in Istanbul.
  The first question directed to us is whether we are given a hard time. There is nothing that would lead us to hesitate, Andrea Rombopulos, the radio station's founder and chief executive says.
  The Rum, Anatolian Greek, community of Istanbul launched its first radio station in half a century two weeks ago over the Internet with surprising success.
  "Iho Tis Polis" (Voice of the City) began broadcasting at the website http://radio.ihotispolis.com, because financial constraints have forced the producers to turn to the Internet rather than purchasing a radio frequency.
  "We selected music as our [primary] format, because Greek music has a lot of fans, and then we enriched our broadcast with news, interviews and guests. We were targeting the 2,500-strong Rum community in Turkey, and we received more than 5,000 clicks within two weeks," Andrea Rombopulos, the radio station's founder and chief executive, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
  "We were aiming to reach the Rum community in Istanbul, but we turned out to become the voice of Greeks scattered across all corners of the world," Rombopulos said, adding that the station has received messages from various countries around the globe.
  The radio station currently broadcasts 24 hours a day with an entirely volunteer staff, Rombopulos said.
  In related news, photographs taken by two Istanbul Greeks at the beginning of the 20th century will be displayed in an exhibition opening at the Şişmanoglio Megaro.

* A book discussion with Dr. Nurhan Atasoy will take place on May 29 in New York. The event is organized by the American Turkish Society, and will be titled ‘Impressions of Ottoman Culture in Europe'. Dr. Atasoy will be talking about her new book
  The talk will be hosted on May 30th by the Federation of Turkish American Associations.
  More information at   www.cornucopia.net and   FTAA www.cornucopia.net

* Federation of Turkish American Association's 31st Annual Turkish Parade and Festival took place Saturday in New York City.
  There was a Traditional Ottoman Military Band, Turkish Folk Dance Groups, Native Indians Groups and many ethnic Group performances were held on the Parade and Festival.

* Boston Turkish Film Festival is still continuing. it will co-present exclusive screenings of "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia / Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da" by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the opening film of this year's Festival, between May 16 - 23, 2012 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
  See mmore at www.BostonTurkishFilmFestival.org

* 1st International Yesilcam Film Festival, will take place on May 27 at the Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC.
  The event is organized by the ATA-DC, the local Turkish American association. The association is collaborating with Turkey's Bahcesehir University and the Harriet Fulbright College
  This year, the International Yesilcam Film Festival will showcase,The Girl with the Red Scarf, The Broken Landlord, O Beautiful Istanbul, followed by a presentation by Prof. Dr. Ercument Akman from Georgetown University.
  Yeşilçam ("Green Pine") is a metonym for the Turkish film industry and it is named after Yeşilçam Street in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul where many actors, directors, crewmembers and studios were based. Yesilcam tried to avoid industrial and commercial motives and the sole dedication of its community was to evoke the kind, innocent and humanistic sides of the people, whom they shared their works with. With the road that it has paved and the legacy it has left for the future generations, Yesilcam still stands as a characteristic department of the Turkish cinema industry.
  Click here to watch the trailer  1st-international-yesil-cam-film-fest

* The Turkish soccer team Galatasaray became the champion of Turkey's premier league.
  The Turkish daily Sabah informed on Monday that Turkey's premier soccer division title winners Galatasaray celebrated their victory at a ceremony in their home stadium. This was a day after a 0-0 draw with their rivals Fenerbahce to earn the Turkish Lions champions cup. This is Galatasaray's 18th league title.
  Another topic in the newspapers on Wednesday is Turkish Prime Minister Mr. Erdogan's criticisms about the incidents which broke out after the final game between Fenerbahce and Galatasaray soccer teams. Mr. Erdogan said that there were three results in soccer which were victory, defeat and tie, adding, "You shall bear the consequences of these three results. It is nonsense to present the cup to the champion in a locker room. It is nonsense to turn off the lights of the stadium during the cup ceremony. The ceremony should have been held honestly and bravely and in the middle of the stadium."
  The Turkish daily Yeni Safak reported on Thursday that Fenerbahce won another cup, ‘The Turkey Cup' for the first time in years. This is interpreted as a consolation to the league title that they lost last Saturday at the hands of their rival Galatasaray.

* We have been reporting to you or the past few weeks the arrests of dozens of mostly retired military officers for instigating a coup in 1997.
  Although initially the government backed it, Reuters reporter Daren Butler says that the Turkish prime minister Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is now critical of the investigation.
  Mr. Erdogan indicated that he wants the investigation to be wrapped up more quickly.
  He said that police raids disturb the social peace.

* The Associated Press reports that Iran is helping the release of Turkish reporters detained in Syria.
  The two reporters were arrested by Syrian government in March when they were about to cover the unrest there.
  Turkish media reported that Ozkose and Coskun are expected to appear in a Syrian court on charges of illegal trespassing prior to their likely release. Editors of their newspaper were apprehensive that Syria might seek concessions, possibly by asking for the handover of wanted Syrians in Turkey in exchange for the journalists.

* According to US News, US officials say that Turkish government claims that NATO invited Israel to a summit of the organization is not true.
  Turkish officials said earlier that they vetoed Israel's attendance in the summit.
  US News writes that Turkey and Israel have been feuding for two years since Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish ship delivering aid to the Gaza strip, killing nine on board.

* According to Associated Press, Turkey's prime minister says his country will maintain fiscal discipline to curb its current deficit in an apparent response to concerns raised by the Standard & Poor's ratings agency.
  As we reported to you last week, Standard and Poor downgraded Turkey's credit outlook. Turkey's prime minister then criticized the agency for bias. He repeated his criticism during the Investment Advisory Council meeting in Istanbul on May 11.
  In related news, Bloomberg reported that Turkey's budget deficit for this April was $2.5 billion. Last year there was a surplus of $900 million for the same period.
   Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* According to Hurriyet Daily News, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde met with Turkish officials including the prime minister and the minister of economy Mr. Zafer Caglayan. She was attending the Investment Advisory Council meeting in Istanbul also.
  Mr. Caglayan told after his meeting that "[Lagarde] told me that ‘Turkey does not need the International Monetary Fund, but the International Monetary Fund needs Turkey'."

* For its 10th anniversary, Istanbul's Sakıp Sabancı Museum is re-opening its book arts and calligraphy collection at the Atlı Köşk (Mansion with a Horse), with a new interior design and modern displays that benefit from Apple technology. The exhibition opened on May 10th.
  The museum has digitized its collections and archives to provide a fifth detailed look at its valuable and rare Turkish and Islamic manuscripts. Interactive technologies in the exhibition halls, such as animations that link to iPad applications using "Augmented Reality" technology, offer visitors an unusual experience.
  Güler Sabancı, who chairs Sabancı Holding, emphasized that the implementation of high-tech exhibition techniques for works of traditional Ottoman calligraphy and manuscript writing is part of an effort to attract younger peoples' interest not only to the museum but to what the chairwoman called "the most important part of the Sakıp Sabancı collection, to which his heirs feel the strongest emotional ties."
   The Sakıp Sabancı book arts and calligraphy collection consists of more than 200 examples of

• illuminated Korans,
• prayer books,
• calligraphic compositions,
• albums and panels written by well-known calligraphers, and
• illuminated official documents bearing the imperial ciphers of Ottoman sultans, as well as calligrapher's tools,

* The program for the 26th International İzmir Festival has been announced. The festival will bring the arts to İzmir audiences starting on June 4 this year.
  The festival is supported by several organizations including İzmir Culture, Art and Education Foundation, İzmir Municipality, the İzmir Development Agency and Konak Municipality.
  Izmir Culture Art and Education Foundation board manager Filiz Eczacıbaşı Sarper, İzmir Mayor Haluk Tunçsu, Italian consul-general to İzmir Igor di Bernardini, and İzmir Goethe Institute representative Özlem Günerli gave a press conference to announce the festival program May 10.
  The festival will continue until Sept. 28, and will host performances from many groups. This year's festival will begin with an art event, which has also been staged in London and other European countries, titled "Re-Rite Voice and Video Installation."
  The London Philharmonic Orchestra and their conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will present a digital project described as "an extraordinary presentation of an ordinary idea," at İzmir's 128-year-old cigarette factory. The show "Reji İzmir," will be staged everyday between June 5 and 24 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. There will be 29 different cameras and microphones installed in the venue, which will enable the audience feel like part of orchestra as it performs Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."
  German chamber orchestra Faure Quartett, Erkan Oğur, Derya Türkan and French musician Vincent Segal will also perform at the festival, as will groups as diverse as Pink Martini, China's Shenzen Symphony Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

* The musical show titled "Sound of Anatolia", which brings together different musical traditions of Anatolia theater in the round, including the theater-in-the-round, folk songs from various regions, and the Karagöz and Hacivat shadow play, will travel abroad to promote this music to the world.
  "Sound of Anatolia" is a production of Ankara's State Opera and Ballet, and has previously been staged in Barcelona. Now it will make a world tour, traveling to Germany, the Netherlands, Korea and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The show will be staged in Dortmund and Berlin, Germany, June 14 and 19, with supertitles in German. Following the show, the company will hold workshop jointly with a German arts organization on June 18.
  The show's script was written by State Opera and Ballet Deputy General Director Şadi Erdoğan, and its musical score was composed by Ali Aykaç. The show has received great interest both in Turkey and abroad, because it reflects Anatolian culture, traditions, customs and history, Erdoğan said, speaking to the Anatolia news agency. He added that the show had been performed 50 times with 99 percent of seats occupied.
  Erdoğan said some audience members have asked why the dance or folk song of their particular region was not represented in the show, and explained that "it is very hard to show all of the regions within a 1.5-hour show, because our country is a treasure; it is very rich in terms of culture and arts. We reflect this treasure with dance and music."
  See an introductory video to the show at www.youtube.com/

* Yapı Kredi Publishing House has recently published "A City: Istanbul 101 Buildings," a reference book giving elaborate architectural and historical information about 101 buildings making up Istanbul's cultural wealth.
  Written by architect and urban historian Engin Yenal, the book claims that a city like Istanbul can only be understood in its totality through a comprehensive understanding of its symbolic buildings, which play a chief role in constructing a city's cultural identity.
  "Istanbul 101 Buildings" offers to provide its readers with the knowledge to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the city in its diversity, with its entire cultural richness and historical package.
  The book separates Istanbul into historical sites and looks into historical wealth accordingly. Dividing the city into ten sections as
  

• "Within the Imperial Walls,"
• "Around Sultanahmet,
• "From the Golden Horn to Marmara Sea,"
• "Within the Walls,"
• "Outside the Walls,"
• "Northern Bank of the Golden Horn,"
• "Galata-Pera,"
• "Bosporus (European and Asian sides)," and
• "Üsküdar-Kadiköy."

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, the treasures of Istanbul's Pera Museum are now available to be discovered on Google Art Project, a collaboration between Google and 151 art museums and collections from 40 countries around the world.
  Art lovers will be able to view not only the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum's collection of Orientalist paintings, but also its other collections, including the Kütahya collection of tiles and ceramics, a collection of Anatolian weights and measures and the Old Istanbul Photographs Collection, on Google's easy-to-navigate web platform.
  Users can explore a wide range of artworks in brushstroke-level detail, and even build their own collections to share.
  "The Art Project is going global, thanks to our new partners from around the entire world," says Amit Sood, the head of the Google Art Project.
  See the Pera museum on Google at GoogleArt

* An exhibition at Rahmi Koç Museum will display artifacts discovered and excavated during the Marmaray metro project in Yenikapı in 2004.
  A team of photographers worked in partnership with Istanbul University and the Yenikapı Project to document the excavation of artifacts and the construction project for the area. Their work reveals a previously unknown pier's existence through archeological artifacts.
  The exhibit also contains 31 photographs from the Archeology Museum's archives as well as illustrations of what the pier might have looked like
  The artifacts are believed to have originated some 1,000 to 1,500 years ago.
  Read more at www.wired.com

* Turkey's Eurovision representative Can Bonomo arrived in Sarajevo on May 9 to promote his song "Love Me Back" in Bosnia-Herzegovina ahead of the 57th Eurovision Song Contest to take place on May 26 in Baku.

* Turkey became the seventh women's volleyball team to qualify for the London Olympics, beating Poland in the final of a European tournament Sunday, reports the Fox News.

* Barcin Yinanc of the Hurriyet Daily News reports intervied a professor on the recent shift in Turkish foreign policy.
  Turkey's decision to host an early warning radar as part of NATO's nuclear defense system is a sign of the country's realignment with the West, says Professor Mustafa Aydın.
  As the government gives the message that it will continue to act with the West, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu announces the end to the country's ‘zero problems with neigboring countries' foreign policy in his recent statement in Parliament, according to Aydın, the presiddent of Kadir Has University.
  The radar is system is rigourously opposed by Turkey's neigbor Iran.

* According to the Anatolia News Agency, Turkey's president is replacing the chief of general staff as the host for Victory Day celebrations on August 30, according to a new regulation which would further curb the military's profile.
   Under the regulation, the president will both receive the official greetings and host the Victory Day reception in the evening. Both events have so far been led and hosted by the chief of staff at the military's headquarters and guesthouses.

* On another national day celebrations, a political debate over how to celebrate May 19, the day marking the beginning of Turkey's War of Independence in 1919, between the government and opposition parties has deepened after a court annulled a government decree to limit the scope of the celebrations, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
   Turkey's Education Ministry issued a decree earlier restricting mass celebrations outside the capital Ankara.

* According to the Anatolia News Agency, Turkey will land on the "black list" of the Financial Action Task Force in June if it fails to adopt legislation on the prevention of the financing of terrorism, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin warned on May 2 during a debate on a long-delayed draft law at Parliament's Justice Commission.
   "As a country fighting terrorism itself, it is unacceptable for Turkey to be in such a position internationally," Ergin said, indicating that Turkey is currently on Financial Action Task Force's "grey-black list."
  Ergin said that Turkey was criticized by the United Nations for lacking any extra-judicial mechanism to prevent terrorism financing, adding that the U.S., France, Germany and Russia had such mechanisms. "The prevention of the financing of terrorism is indispensible in the fight against terrorism," he said.
   Opposition lawmakers argued the bill would only serve the interests of foreign countries and would not help Turkey in blocking the financial channels of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party abroad.

* Speaking of the Kurdistan Worker's Party, the underground organization of the rebel Turkish Kurds, Europe remains a logistical support base for it, the European Police Office has warned in its latest report.
  The report says that the rebel Kurds have a network of recruiters across Europe, which could be a cause of concern.
  "Some of the funds collected [in Europe] are believed to be used to sponsor European Union-based propaganda centers and training camps," the report said. "Extortion, money laundering, facilitating illegal immigration, drugs and human trafficking remain the main crimes committed bythe Kurdistan Worker's Party members in Europe, as well as their main profit generators."

* Turkey is likely to be a regional power in 2030 but it's not certain whether it would be an European Union member by then, says a recent report commissioned by the European Parliament, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  Report advises Turkey to keep up with its European Union commitments.
  The report looks at the impact of an increasingly empowered global citizenry on the international system and is produced for the European Strategy and Policy Analysis System.
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* The Turkish Industry and Business Association is not the sort of organization to bow to political pressure when expressing its views, as its members are fully aware that that would not benefit the country, according to the institution's leader Ms. Ümit Boyner, reports the Turkish daily Radikal.
  Ms. Boyner also denied allegations that the organization backed the Feb. 28, 1997 "postmodern" coup, claiming that, to the contrary, the association stood firm against the military's involvement in politics.

* According to the Turkish daily Milliyet, Turkey's president Mr. Abdullah Gul issued a statement on the occasion of the Labor Day and stated that he wishes the Labor Day is always celebrated in a festive manner.
  Hundreds of thousands of people took part in labor day celebrations on May 1 throughout Turkey.

* Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski on Thursday said that despite its religious diversity, Turkey is a part of the West, reports the Turkish daily Star.
  Dr. Brzezinski was speaking at the 8th Sakip Sabanci Lecture Series, hosted by Sabanci University and the Brookings Institution in Washington.
  Dr. Brzezinski said "With its strategic position, great power and loyalty to NATO, Turkey is crucial for Europe's security."
  Brzezinski added that Turkey was a "model country" for Iran's development in the coming period due to the two counties' socioeconomic resemblance.

* Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc., which supplies F-16 warplanes and other military aircraft, plans to hold an initial public offering in the last quarter of 2012 or the first quarter of 2013, general manager Muharrem Dortkasli told Reuters on Friday.

* Turkish Airlines chairman says it is continuing its tlak with the Polish Airlines for a possible buy out.

* Car sales in Turkey, which rose siginificantly for a while, is falling, reports the Reuters news agency. The sales were down 19% in April as compared to 2011 April.

* Declining corporate earnings and a downgrade to Turkey's credit outlook by Standard & Poor's drove Turkish stocks to their worst week in almost two months, reports Bloomberg.
  Istanbul Stock Exchange index fell 2.6% in the week.
  In related news, Associated press reported that Turkey's prime minister on Thursday accused ratings agency Standard & Poor's of bias for lowering the country's long-term credit outlook on the same day it upgraded Greece's credit grade.

* According to the Turkish daily Hurriyet, a statement by Turkey's Food, Agriculture and Animal Breeding Ministry said that Turkey's production of dry tea which amounted to 135,000 tons in 2002 increased to 227,000 tons in 2011.
  The statement added that Turkey ranked the fifth worldwide in terms of production of dry tea in 2011.

* In the early summer of 2012 seven floating glass objects will cross the Bosphorus at Istanbul from Asia to Europe. Filled with brand new goods from East Asia, they will be dragged across the water by a small fishing boat, heading for the European shore. The goods will include mass-produced items from countries like China, Taiwan, Indonesia and Hong Kong, cheap consumables with very brief and limited value in daily life.
  While large-scale importing normally happens with sealed containers on huge ships, "Glass boats crossing the Bosphorus" is an attempt to make the social and ecological issues around this trade visible, and raise questions about European consumption habits. The glass "boats" are 32 x 32 x 14 inch objects roughly shaped like miniature cargo vessels and plastic shopping bags. Their contents will be mainly plastic toys, decorative objects, kitsch items and cheap tools.
  Preparation for "Glass boats crossing the Bosphorus" is currently underway. All of the glass pieces have been produced and tested for their ability to float. The fabrication process was completed with assistance from the glass department of the fine art faculty at Marmara University, who generously supplied glass-fusing equipment and know-how. The project is the work of the German art collective Gonzoconsult, and especially collective member Samuel Burkhardt, working in Istanbul with the help of the Moda-based Halka Sanat Project. The group wants to share the ideas behind "Glass boats crossing the Bosphorus" with people.

* The growing popularity of traditional calligraphy art in Turkey is leading to a spoiling of the art form due to the introduction of ‘fake' works and fake ink usages, says calligraphy art master Selim Türkoğlu
  Calligraphy art has been rising in popularity over the last 15 years as more and more people begin to learn the art form, said Türkoğlu. However, in recent years the interest has changed and modern technology has led to an increase in fake works of calligraphy as artists use photo editing programs to manufacture the lines, shapes and styles of calligraphy.
  "Calligraphy art has its own accessories," added Türkoğlu. In order to understand fake works, Türkoğlu said, the buyers would look at the work before it is framed. Buyers should also touch the works if possible as the ink used in calligraphy is special.

* The 4th annual Nazim Hikmet Poetry Competition was held Sunday April 15th at the Page Walker Arts and History Center in Cary, North Carolina.
  The competition is part of a festival started as a tribute to the famous writer by the Turkish community in North Carolina.
  Over 700 poems were submitted by some 250 poets from the US and overseas.
  The finalists were Hala Alyan, Peter Blair, Kevin Boyle, Amy Leigh Brown, Tim Van Dyke, Hedy Habra, Jeffrey Kahrs, Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, Anna Lena Phillips and Iris Tillman.

* The Anatolia News agency reports that visually impaired performers and students from Hacettepe University's Ankara State Conservatory recently performed together as the "Orchestra Without Disabilities" to raise awareness of the needs of disabled people.
  People with disabilities are not active enough in society, project coordinator Ms. Fusun Balkaya said. "We aim to make them more active in society through cultural and arts events."

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, the 18th Istanbul Theater Festival organized by the Istanbul Culture and Arts Endowment kicked off with events to honor Turkey's "Year of Chinese Culture," including the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble and Beijing Opera.
  The colorful and exciting "Year of Chinese Culture in Turkey" events are intended to reinforce cultural and political relations between Turkey and China, and will herald the beginning of the 18th Istanbul Theater Festival May 5- 10.

* Istanbul's 15th annual Puppetry Festival started on May 3, with performances from 13 puppetry groups from different countries.
  This year's festival also hosts two exhibitions to change the perception of puppetry art in Turkey.   Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* Black Sea Theatre Festival is a bringing together 42 countries, reports the Anatolia News Agency.
  The festival will last for 10 days and 70 different place from 35 countries in different languages will be staged.
  As part of the festival, eight musical titled " This Is The Grand Bazaar" was staged on May 3.
  The musical tells the story of people from different cultures and different countries living together at Istanbul's Grand Bazaar.
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* Bulgarian Ivailo Gabrovski won a historic victory for Konya Torku Sekerspor on Sunday, becoming the first cyclist from a Turkish team to claim the Presidential Tour of Cycling, or Tour of Turkey, overall win, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider Andrew Fenn came second, while Dutch rider Stefan Van Dijk was third.

* Hurriyet and Milliyet dailies wrote about Prime Minister Erdogan's statements in a symposium on the new constitution, saying that many operations had been made on Turkish language to get rid of foreign words from it.
  "Operations on Turkish language removed the bridge between our history and the present," Erdogan said.

* Another topic in the newspapers was a clash between Turkish soldiers and terrorists in Bingol province, saying that a clash erupted between security forces and Kurdistan Wirkers Party militants in a rural area near Genc town of Bingol, two soldiers and one village guard died in the clash.
  Three terrorists were killed in the clash, papers said.

* Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard arrived in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Thursday in order to discuss the preparations for the 100th anniversary commemorations of the Canakkale Campaign in 2015.
  Later Gillard traveled to Turkey's northwestern province of Canakkale on Tuesday to attend ceremonies to commemorate Australian soldiers who fell during the 1915 Canakkale Campaign of the First World War.
  Julia Gillard participated in a ceremony at dawn on Wednesday at the Gelibolu Peninsula where ANZAC first set foot 97 years ago with thousands of Australians and New Zealanders to pay their respects to their ancestors who lost their lives in the battlefields of Canakkale.
  Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard also participated in the service and she addressed the crowd who waited in their sleeping bags for the ceremony to begin which marks the 97th anniversary of Canakkale battles.
  "This place where rivals met in equal terms and in respect shines with valor," Gillard told the service at a bay named after the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or the ANZAC, that formed the backbone of a 200,000-man British-led army that landed at Gelibolu.
  "Turks have honored our losses and owned them as their children. No other nation could have protected our sanctuaries better and hosted us here more generously in our sacred visits," Gillard said.
  "The Gallipoli Campaign", took place at Gelibolu peninsula in Turkey from April 1915 to January 1916, during the First World War.
  A joint British and French operation was mounted to capture the Ottoman capital of Istanbul and secure a sea route to Russia. Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) formed the backbone of a 200,000-man British-led army that landed at Gelibolu. The attempt failed, with heavy casualties on both sides. The campaign resonated profoundly among all nations involved.
  Nearly 1 million soldiers fought in the trench warfare at Gelibolu. The allies recorded 55,000 killed in fighting with 10,000 missing and 21,000 dead of disease. Turkish casualties were estimated at around 250,000.
  The campaign was the first major battle undertaken by ANZAC and is often considered to mark the birth of national consciousness in both Australia and New Zealand. As "ANZAC Day", April 25 remains the most significant commemoration of military casualties in these countries. Each year, thousands of people, many of them Australians and New Zealanders, travel to the battlefields in northwestern Turkey on ANZAC Day, the anniversary of the April 25th, 1915, start of the campaign.
  The battle is considered as a defining moment in the history of the Turkish people. The struggle laid the grounds for the Turkish War of Independence and the foundation of the Republic of Turkey eight years later under Ataturk, himself a commander at Gelibolu.

* Sabah daily newspaper wrote that nine military officers, including generals Lokman Ekinci and Ismail Hakki Onder and retired generals Fevzi Turkeri and Yildirim Turker, were arrested in the third wave of the February 28 investigation.
  The paper also wrote that the court released three officers.

* However, people in custody over ousting of Islamist-led government rises to 35, reported the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet.
  The Ankara court order to jail retired lieutenant-general Yildirim Turker along with eight other serving and retired officers, brought the number held pending trial to 35 since prosecutors launched an investigation earlier this month.
  Gen. Turker, according to media reports, had been head of personnel in the General Staff and belonged to a group within the top brass, known as the Western Study Group, suspected of being behind moves to make prime minister Necmettin Erbakan quit 15 years ago.
  The episode is often referred to as Turkey's "post-modern coup" as the generals used pressure behind the scenes rather than overt military force employed in three earlier coups.
  According to the pro-government Sabah newspaper, Gen. Turker is likely to be questioned over alleged psychological operations to undermine Erbakan, using a television series to sow mistrust of a government that the military viewed as a threat to the republic's secular order.
  Turkey's current prime minister, Mr. Tayyip Erdogan, had belonged to Erbakan's party then. Since coming to power with a new party a decade ago Mr. Erdogan has made it his mission to curb the political power of the military, the second largest in NATO.
  The leader of the main opposition Republican Peoples party, Kemal Kilicaroglu, has said the investigation was turning into a "witch hunt".
  Hundreds of military officers, including top serving and retired commanders, are now facing trials, accused of involvement in two other alleged coup conspiracies against Erdogan and his Justice and Welfare Party government.

* Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev said on Friday that Turkey and Azerbaijan should cooperate in energy, transportation, defense industry and information technologies, reported the Anatolia News Agency.
  "Two countries should particularly have a strong cooperation in information technologies, which is one of the most important areas of the future as defense industry is being carried out by information technologies," Aliyev said as he received Turkish Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergun in Baku.
  Aliyev also said Turkey and Azerbaijan should also have industrial cooperation, particularly in satellite technologies.
  Ergun, in his part, said Turkey had taken steps to strengthen its industrial infrastructure, and expressed readiness to share its experiences and cooperate with Azerbaijan.
  Minister Ergun proposed that Turkey should share its experiences with Azerbaijan in supporting small and medium scale enterprises as well as organized industrial zones.

* The film "Mustafa's Sweet Dreams" that we gave free tickets on our program, won the best documentary film award at the 2012 Tiburon International Film Festival, the festival organizers announced.
  The documentary tells the story of Mustafa, a 16-year-old boy who works as a pastry shop apprentice in Gaziantep, the "Capital of Baklava", in Eastern Turkey.
  His dream is to become a famous pastry chef in Istanbul. The journey he goes through leads him to find more than bright lights at his destination.

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Boasting a rich collection of films depicting the struggle of the working class around the world, the Labor Film Festival will kick off May Day and continue until May 7 in four provinces around Turkey.
  The theme of the festival, which will screen 57 movies in Ankara, Istanbul, İzmir and Diyarbakır, will be "Freedom needs labor."
  The international guest of the festival will be scriptwriter Paul Laverty, who is known for his contributions to Ken Loach movies. Laverty will attend May Day celebrations in Taksim before speaking at an opening on May 2 and attending a seminar on labor movies on May 3.
    Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* According to the Doğan News Agency, The Russian film "Nyanki" (Nannies), which pokes fun at the behavior of Russian visitors to Turkey, is drawing big crowds in Russia.
  The film tells the story of two managers who are sent to Turkey by their boss to make business connections in the country. The boss also sends along his three children, to prevent his employee from taking a vacation instead of working. But the children get the workers into trouble, and they are forced to leave their hotel in the southern province of Antalya because of the children's bad behavior.
  Actor Nikolay Naumov aid at the film's gala premier in Perm that the movie's goal was to make Russians examine their behaviors in Turkey.
  After viewing the trailers for the film, many Russians have begun to comment on it in Internet forums

* Popular Turkish series Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century) is preparing to compete at the Banff World Media Festival, which will take place in Canada in June, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
   The festival aims to feature in-depth spotlights on key international territories, and delivers awards in 26 different categories. Organizers have announced that Larry King will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award that recognizes an individual who has enriched the world of entertainment.

* The 15th Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival is set to take place between May 10 and 17 in Ankara. The festival, supported by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the Prime Ministry Promotional Fund and the European Union, was launched April 26 at a press conference.
  The Flying Broom Communications and Research Association Chair Ms. Halime Güner said the goal of the festival was to help women's efforts in cinema, as the film is both a goal and a tool for women to be organized.
  "We have progressed very much, and have become the world's only women's film festival awarded by international film critics. For 15 years we have brought Turkey's agenda to the world, and the world's agenda to Turkey."
  She went on to describe the festival program as "rich and magnificent."

* The festival will feature 115 films by 100 directors from 41 countries, and will present a selection from one of the leading names of Moroccan cinema, Farida Benlyazid, especially prepared by Turkish film critic Sevin Okyay for the 15th anniversary, reports the Anatolia News Agency.
  Among the other directors featured will be Trinh Minh-ha, Saara Cantell, Teresa Villaverde and Debra Zimmerman.
  There will also be a short film competition at this year's festival, with a theme of "Can I Call You Father?" Talks and special screenings at the Ankara, Hacettepe and the Middle East Technical Universities will also be held.

* The Turkish film industry is flourishing in the absence of censorship, Turkish actress Hülya Koçyiğit recently said, speaking at the Erciyes Film Festival, reports the Anatolia News Agency.
  "In the past we have experienced a lot of censorship. Now I think this trend has stopped," said Turkish actress Hülya Koçyiğit said, speaking in a seminar at the Erciyes Film Festival, of which she was also a juror. Turkish producers are freer than they were in the past, and the film festivals are evidence of this.
  For a long time the Turkish film industry was not well-known in the international arena, Koçyiğit said "But now this has changed, and Turkish movies are very popular right now. Turkish films are receiving major awards on the international scene."

* A scene from ‘The Accidental Spy,' one of the films that was made in Istanbul's historical venues. The city is a unique visual backdrop for international filmmakers. MGM Photo

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Istanbul, a city spanning two continents and the site of many civilizations throughout history, also draws attention as a unique visual backdrop for international filmmakers thanks to its cultural and historical significance.
  The city, which is currently hosting filming for the latest installment of the James Bond film series, "Skyfall," has served as the setting for many world-famous films. Istanbul has already hosted filming for other films in the James Bond series, including "From Russia with Love" and "The World is not Enough." The 2003 Greek movie, "Politiki Kouzina" (A Touch of Spice), was also filmed in Istanbul, along with "The Accidental Spy."
  Speaking of the James Bond movie, accroding to the Anatolia News Agency, despite damage done by film crews, the James Bond film will promote Istanbul's Grand Bazaar to a global audience, Turkey's Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay has said.
    Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* Spanish ‘copla' singer Buika gave a concert in Istanbul April 13, her second Istanbul appearance since the beginning of the year. Tickets sold out immediately. Buika says she really gets along with the Turkish audience, adding she finds them as crazy as she is, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  Buika is noted for her style, which fuses many musical styles such as flamenco, copla, jazz, rumba and soul. She is renowned for being one of the most lively and spontaneous artists on the current Spanish musical scene. She said she always goes on stage with no preconceived idea what she will do there. "I like to surprise the audience. They keep on passing me information about what they want to see, anyway."
    Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* According to the Anatolia News Agency, a unique philharmonic orchestra formed by the Culture Ministry is hoping to stage an "artistic revolution" in Turkey by bringing its music to all four corners of the country with 250 concerts a year.
  "We believe that the Anatolian Philharmonic will be the beginning of an artistic revolution in Anatolia," Kenan Gökkaya, the coordinator of the İzmir-based Anatolian Philharmonic Orchestra, recently said.
  "We observe everyday how our people are interested in fine arts and how our orchestra was a true idea."
    Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* Turkey's world renowned composer and pianist Fazıl Say gave a concert at New York's famous Metropolitan Museum on April 21.
  Mr. Say, who was invited to the museum for the promotion of the new galleries of the museum on Arab countries, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Southern Asian, which opened in the museum's Islamic Arts section last October, took the stage at the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium.
  Among the audience at the concert were Paul Wolfowitz the former president of World Bank, Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary General Kim Won-soo and Turkey's Permanent Representative to the UN Ertuğrul Apakan.
    Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* Bonomo with Franka

* Can Bonomo, who will represent Turkey in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, took the stage on April 21 in Dutch capital Amsterdam as part of his promotional tours ahead of the competition, reports the Anatolia News Agency.
  Bonomo also met Turkish-Dutch musician Joan Franka (Ayten Kalan) who will represent the country in the same contest for the Netherlands. They wished each other good luck and said "let the best win."
  Franka said she would come to Istanbul next week and take the stage as part of her promotional tour. "I am half Turkish, half Dutch. I guess I am one of the best examples of our countries' friendship," she said, adding, "I love you Turkey." Franka, who has won the Voice of Holland competition, will represent the country with her song "You and Me."

* As you may remember on our April 7 Turkish Cultural Program broadcast, we had the renowned Turkish musician Erkin Koray live in our studios here in SAn Francisco.
  He was here as part of the promotion of his new album.
  Anatolia News Agency just reported that his album is very pouplar in the US. Many radio stations have started playing it and has also gotten the thumbs up from music critics.
  You can listen to our program with Mr. Koray at http://turkradio.us/ar/kusf20120407.mp3
    Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* Turkish soprano Pervin Çakar, who has been performing in Italy for the past seven years, has been honored with a prestigious musical award, the French Académie du Disque Lyrique's Orphée d'Or (Golden Orfeo), reports the Anatolia News Agency.
  The award will be presented to Çakar on May 14 at a ceremony to be held at Paris Opera Bastille. She will take her award from academy presidents Pierre Bergé and Stéphane Blet.
  Born in a village in the eastern province of Mardin, Çakar began to be interested in music at age 14 when she joined a folk song competition.
  Hear Pervin on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rMp721nUcY
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* The Gallipoli Chamber Orchestra honored the 97th anniversary of Anzac Day by playing at the State Museum of Painting and Sculpture in Ankara on April 27 as part of the three-nation Gallipoli Symphony project, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  Every year for the past six years, movements of the Gallipoli Symphony have been performed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in the northwestern province of Çanakkale to commemorate April 25, Anzac Day.
  This year the chamber orchestra performed in Ankara to celebrate the friendship between Turkey, Australia and New Zealand.
  The Gallipoli Symphony is a 10-year project involving the commissioning of 10 leading composers from Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand to tell the narrative of the Gallipoli campaign.
  The Gallipoli Symphony is being overseen by creative director Des Power and musical director Christopher Latham. "The Gallipoli campaign – the battles around Çanakkale in 1915 – has become the basis of an enduring friendship between countries on opposite sides of the planet," said Australian Ambassador to Turkey Ian Biggs.

* The Civilization Choir of Antakya, composed of members from the southern city's rich mosaic of peoples, is set to bring messages of friendship and peace to the world with 14 concerts in 14 countries, reports the Anatolia News Agency.
  "The choir is a social responsibility project," Yılmaz Özfırat, the chairman of the association overseeing the choir, said April 25 at a press conference at the Hatay Journalists Association. The choir's goal was to show the people of the world that they can live together in a peaceful environment, he said.
  The choir, which was formed five years ago with people of various occupations in order to exhibit Hatay's tolerance and peaceful environment to the whole world, has so far performed many concerts both in Turkey and abroad, Özfırat said.
  Antakya is the center of Turkye's province of Hatay, which is widely known as being one of Turkey's most heterogeneous provinces. The area along the Syrian border contains communities of Sunni Turks, Sunni Arabs, Alawites, Arabic-speaking Christians, Armenians, Jews, Kurds and others.
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, the Aydın Doğan Foundation and the Creative Children's Association presented awards to winners of the 5th annual Creative Children's Association Cartoon Competition at a ceremony held at Istanbul's Trump Towers on April 26.
  Students from 149 schools from around Turkey took part in the competition.

* An auction record for the artist was broken at Sotheby's in London on April 25, when Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky's famous "View of Constantinople and the Bosphorus" sold to an anonymous buyer on the telephone for $5,215,556.
  Aivazovsky first visited Constantinople in 1845 as part of his duties as official painter to the Russian Admiralty. Completed in 1856, View of Constantinople and the Bosphorus celebrates the beauty.

* The work of one of the most unique artists in the history of European painting, Francisco de Goya, often cited as a forerunner of modern painting, is being exhibited for Turkish audiences for the first time in a show at Istanbul's Pera Museum April 20 through July 29, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  The 230 works in the exhibition, created simultaneously with Goya's career as a court painter and portraitist, shed light on the artist's extraordinary imagination, while reflecting the social circumstances of his era from a critical perspective. His realistic and at times frightening style separates him from his contemporaries: His art transcended time, and would later influence 20th-century modernism.
  Various events and conferences on related topics will be held throughout the duration of the Pera exhibit.

* Ercan Akın's ‘Untitled'

* Turkish artwork that was put under the hammer in the second leg of Christie's auction of modern and contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish art in Dubai fetched $134,500 out of a total $2.4 million, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  The total sales from the two-day event reached $6.4 million, $300,000 higher than initial estimates.
  Among the Turkish artists, the highest amount was fetched by Ercan Akın's "Untitled" at $32,500.

* A Turkish flag that traveled to the moon in 1971 aboard the Apollo 15 Endeavour spacecraft is now on display at the Istanbul Toy Museum, owned by poet Sunay Akın.
  Akın said that a room for space-themed toys was the first he had in mind when designing the museum, and that space toys are among the most popular with collectors.
  "In 1971, Apollo 15 went into space, and spent more time there than any other vehicle had at that time. NASA, in order to highlight space travel in the name of human kind, carried the flags of many countries to space, including a Turkish flag. It was carried by one of the three astronauts, Alfred Merrill Worden, and it has a signed certificate. The flag had been in the hands of space collectors in the U.S., and was put up for auction recently. Businessman Ekmel Anda, who lives in the U.S., purchased it and gifted it to the museum."
  Read more atwww.hurriyetdailynews.com

* Reactions are growing against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's new regulations on the artistic management of the Istanbul City Theaters, reports the Anatolia News Agency. On April 24, actresses and actors gathered in front of Galatasaray High School to protest the latest decisions.
  According to the regulations, the administrative committee of the City Theaters will change, with the head of the administrative board being replaced by the Culture Department head or the City Theaters manager. Actors and actresses working under the body of the City Theaters have said the change is being made to undermine the administrative power of the head of the administrative board.
  According to the Hürriyet Daily News, in response to protests, Hilmi Zafer Şahin, the new art director of City Theaters, said reactions to the regulation changes were exaggerated
  Read more at www.hurriyetdailynews.com and www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey has been announced as the Market Focus partner of next year's London Book Fair, a rare opportunity for publishing in the global market.
  One of the first activities was the Writers' Tour last month, where literary names from the UK came to Turkey for a set of public discussions, joined by leading publishers in Turkey.
  Each year, the London Book Fair selects a Market Focus. This year, the Focus country is China, hoping to place a spotlight on contemporary Chinese authors and China's publishing market.

* Acoording to the Anatolia News Agency, Bunyamin Sezer of Turkey won gold medal in total in men's 62 kg category during European Weightlifting Championships in Turkey's southern Antalya province.
  Sezer also won silver medal in clean and jerk by lifting 159 kg
   Gokhan Kilic, competing in 56 kg men category, lifted 121 kilograms and became the silver medalist in snatch.
  Moreover, Nurdan Karagoz, competing in 48 kg women's category, won silver medals in clean and jerk and total.
  The championships ended with Russia getting 14 gold and total 31 medals, follwed by Azerbaijan with 7 golds and total 15 medals and Turkey in third place with 6 golds and 20 medals.
  275 athletes from 36 countries participated in the championships.

* The last stage of Tour of Turkey will be held in Istanbul on Sunday.
  Several roads will be closed in Istanbul for the stage, which will cross to the Asian side when the riders pass over the Bosphorus Bridge.
  This will be the first time that the Tour will be completed in Istanbul. Until this year, the Tour took off from Istanbul and progressed south. This time, riders started in the south and drove north.
  Currently, Bulgarian rider Ivailo Gabrovski of the Konya Torku Şekerspor leads the overall standings, meaning that he is close to clinching a historic victory for the Turkish team.
  There are 25 teams in the 2012 Tour of Turkey.
  Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Tour_of_Turkey

* We reported to you last week that Turkish prosecutors ordered the arrest of dozens of former military officers, including four retired generals, in a new probe against the military.
  The military officers are seen as responsible for a coup in 1997.
  Turkish prime minister Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan commented on the probe. He said "We have helped democracy get stronger in Turkey. Those who acted against the national will shall pay the cost in courts of law. Turkey is no longer a country where a coup could take place."
  The Turkish dailies reported that nine people were detained while seven others were released on Sunday in the probe. 12 people, including retired Turkish deputy chief of general staff Gen. Cevik Bir, were sent to the court with a demand for their arrest.
  The Turkish dailies gave extensive coverage to the arrest of the general. Upon his arrest the general said that at the time they were defending the Turkish state against fundamentalism.
  The Turkish daily Turkiye headlined its story on the same topic as "from Sincan to dungeon", and wrote that Gen. Cevik Bir and other people who were arrested in the ongoing investigation are now in a prison in Ankara's Sincan city, where they rolled their tanks 15 years ago.
  The Turkish daily Sabah quoted Gen. Bir as saying, "Necmettin Erbakan gave an order and I implemented that order," while Yeni Safak claimed that Gen. Bir got the help and cooperation of Israel when he ordered tanks to travel on Sincan's streets 15 years.
  On Thursday more people were arrested as part of the probe. Among them was the former deputy chief of the military staff Gen. Erol Ozkasnak. 40 police officers searched Gen. Ozkasnak's house for 3.5 hours.
  Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Turkish_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cevik_Bir

* The Turkish daily Turkiye said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Ali Babacan and Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Ahmet Davutoglu were included in Time magazine's list of world's top 100 most influential people.
  Time described Mr. Babacan as "man behind the Turkish economic transformation," and Mr. Davutoglu as "architect of the Turkish foreign policy."
  Read more at http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975_2111976_2112128,00.html

* According to the Turkish press, the head of the regional Kurdish administration in Northern Iraq Mr. Masoud Barzani was in Turkey this week.
  Mr. Barzani met with the Turkish prime minister behind closed doors. Turkish National Intelligence Agency Undersecretary Mr. Hakan Fidan also participated in Erdogan-Barzani meeting.
  Turkey has been pressuring the Iraqi Kurds to fight against the rebel Turkish Kurds. The rebels have hideouts in the mountainous area in Northern Iraq right across from the Turkish border.
  Read more at http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/TurkRadio.aspx?pageID=238&nID=18942

* On Wednesday, Istanbulites saw the opening of another high rise in their city. The inauguration of the Trump Towers Mall took place with the participation of the prime minister and businessmen Aydin Dogan and Donald Trump.
  The building has 39-floor residence tower and 37-floor business tower. Prime minister Mr. Erdogan said that Istanbul gained a different view with the new building.
  According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Donald Trump says that the Trump Organization is interested in engaging in new real estate projects with Turkey's Doğan Holding, as well as a separate plan to take its Trump Hotel Collection business to Turkey.

* According to the English addition of the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, turkey's unemployment figure stood at 10.2% in January 2012. The figure is 1.7 points lower than that of January 2011.
  The number of jobless decreased to 2.7 million from 3 million whereas the number of the employed rose to 23.5 million from 22.5 million.
  Youth unemployment in Turkey has dropped to 18.4 percent from 22.0 percent.

* The Anatolia Agency reports that Turkey's economy minister Mr. Zafer Caglayan arrived in Houston on Tuesday to hold talks.
  Mr. Caglayan flew from Washington to Houston to inaugurate Turkey's Trade Attache's Office in Houston.
  According to Mr. Caglayan American businessmen are excited about the incentive packages the Turkish government is offering for investments in Turkey. The package was announced in the first week of April by the prime minister.
  Since then Pepsi has decided to increase its investment in Turkey from $800 million to $5 billion. Pepsi is making turkey's distribution hub for the Middle East and North Africa.
  According to Mr. Caglayan Kimberly-Clark, 3M, GE, RIM, and Chrysler are also planning to invest in Turkey. GE is interested in building wagons and engines for a planned 10,000 kilometer railway network.
  Another American company, Quest Diagnostics, is planning investments in Turkey's healthcare sector.
  He says that the trade deficit with the US will be reduced after the investments.
  While in Houston, Turkish economy minister also announced that the Turkish Airlines will start flying to Houston.
  Read more at http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkRadio.aspx?pageID=238&nID=18780 and http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/TR.aspx?pageID=238&nID=18922

* The Anatolia Agency reports that Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Ali Babacan arrived in Washington on Thursday to attend several meetings.
  During his stay in the US, Mr. Babacan will participate in Rio+20 ministers meeting, G20 sessions, Deauville Partnership meeting, IMF-World Bank meetings, and Atlantic Council meeting.
  The G20 meeting will focus on issues including financial sector, economic programs of countries and energy prices. Mr. Babacan will participate as a guest of honor in an event hosted by the Atlantic Council. He will return to Turkey on Sunday after participating in the IMF-World Bank spring meetings.

* Istanbul province's Eyup city municipality is restoring the Zal Mahmut complex, reports Nicki Gamm of Hurriyet Daily News.
  The complex was built on the orders of Zal Mahmut Pasha and completed in 1577. Zal Mahmut was a vizier, a minister, of if Suleyman the Magnificent. He carried out the execution of Suleyman's first-born son and was awarded a ministerial post.
  He later joined the royal family by marrying the daughter of Sultan Selim II, Suleyman's second son and his successor.
  Both Zal Mahmut and his wife are buried at the complex.
  In addition to Zal Mahmut and his wife's mausoleum, the complex has a mosque and two schools (medrese).
  Read more about Zal Mahmut Pasha and the complex at http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/PrintNews.aspx?PageID=383&NID=18937

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk has issued a "manifesto" to explain and accompany his Museum of Innocence, a visual manifestation of aspects of his novel of the same name, which will open in Istanbul at the end of this month.
  The manifesto was published in daily Taraf before being released to the international media.
  Pamuk says he loves museums and has felt very happy in museums in the past.
  "Because I take museums seriously, I sometimes get angry about them, but I don't want to speak about museums with anger. There were too few museums in Istanbul in my childhood; most of them were historical structures under protection. Later on, small museums in European cities made me feel that museums could tell the stories of individuals. I never forget that places like the Louvre, the Metropolitan [Museum], Topkapı [Palace], the British Museum and the Prado [hold] great richness for humanity. But I am against the idea that these big monumental treasures should be the models for future museums. Museums should represent humanity… but state-supported museums aim to represent the state, not individuals. This is not a good or an innocent goal," Pamuk's manifesto reads.
  The Museum of Innocence attempts to represent life in Istanbul between 1950 and 2000, and is filled with artifacts inspired by Füsun, beloved of Kemal, the protagonist of Pamuk's novel "The Museum of Innocence."
  Read more at http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/PrintNews.aspx?PageID=383&NID=18940

* The seventh-annual Istanbul Tulip Festival opened Sunday with a ceremony at Emirgan Woods. Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş said the municipality has planted 12 million tulip bulbs this year.
  Tulips traveled to Holland from Istanbul 350 years ago, but have finally returned home, Mr. Topbaş said.
  "We planted 600,000 tulip bulbs in 2005, bringing tulips back into our culture again. They are a part of our life, " Mr. Topbaş added.
  Some criticize the mayor however, for spending money on tulips. The Mayor counters them by saying that they spent only 2 1/2 million liras, which he says is just a fraction of the total city budget. (The total budget for Istanbul Greater Metropolitan Area Municipality was 18 billion liras in 2011.)
  The tulip is also a symbol of the long friendship between Turkey and the Netherlands, Dutch Ambassador to Turkey Onno Kervers said. "This year the importance of this symbol is even greater, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Holland. No war has occurred between our countries for 400 years, and our friendship has lasted since then."
  Read more at http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/PrintNews.aspx?PageID=383&NID=18556

* According to the Anatolia News Agency Turkey's National Library (Milli Kütüphane), which was founded by Adnan Ötüken with only two books in its collection in 1946, is celebrating its 66th anniversary this year, with more than three million books now on its shelves.
  The celebration included a special program organized at the National Library Headquarters Conference Hall, with the participation of Culture and Tourism Ministry Deputy Undersecretary, Şenay Başer and National Library officials.
  The library is also A member of European Digital Library , and shares its web archives through it.
  Read more at http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/PrintNews.aspx?PageID=383&NID=18653

* Here are some activities in the US:

  - A concert will feature at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City on Monday April 23 at 7 pm. Symphony of Voices from Turkic Lands. Yunus Emre Oratorio by A. Adnan Saygun.

  - On Saturday, April 21 at 8 pm Turkish harpist Sebla Akbulut presented "Harp Journey: a musical journey to Wales, Ireland, Argentina, Turkey and more at The Goethe-Institut, 170 Beacon St., Boston, MA.
  Her concert is within the framework of the 11th Annual Boston Turkish Film & Music Festival. br />  Sebla Akbulut was born in 1984, Istanbul and started her musical career with piano. In 1995, she got accepted into Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory harp division. After working with Sevin Berk for six years, she continued her undergraduate education with İpek Mine Sonakın. She successfully graduated by performing Debussy's "Dance Sacree" and "Dance Profane" with the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory Orchestra.
  In 2006, she earned her masters degree in Master of Music in Education Department at the Yeditepe University. She also gained different aspects of musical aspects by attending many master classes in Turkey and in foreign countries. Sebla attended many concerts with several different chamber music groups.
  Later on, her interest in Turkish Classical Music encouraged her to put together a project called "Harp with Maqams" which included vocals and kemenchas. The main target of the project was to give a different point of view to harp in Turkish Classical Music which premiered in İzmir Ahmet Adnan Saygun Cultural Center. Since 2011, she continues her studies at The Boston Conservatory GDP - harp division with The Boston Ballet Principal harpist Cynthia Price-Glynn.
  See http://www.bostonturkishfilmfestival.org/2012Festival/concerts/sebla_akbulut.html

* Anatolia News Agency just reported that a great voice in the Turkish pop and jazz music, Ayten Alpman, passed away.
  Ms. Alpman was born in 1930 in Istanbul and started her career at the Istanbul Radio.

* "Storm batters Turkey," the Turkish daily Hurriyet said over strong winds gusting as fast as 120 km an hour and sandstorms that turned skies to yellow.
  The daily said four people were killed and 31 were injured. Land and sea transportation came to a standstill in certain parts of the country as well as flights were delayed. The winds ripped off roofs and uprooted trees.

* Turkish Prime Minister is visiting Saudi Arabia. According to the Arab News, King Abdullah held wide range of talks this week with him at the royal resort at Rawdat Khuraim, a favorite camping spot.
  Other sources added that the Turkish Prime Minister and Saudis discussed the Syrian crisis and Iran.
  Speaking of Syria, Syrian army shot across the border to a refugee camp within Turkey and killed three people and wounded six. One of the killed was a Turkish national.
  Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmet Davutoglu cut his trip to China short and returned home after the incident.
  On Monday United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Mr. Ahmet Davutoglu and discussed the situation.
  Later in the week, UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan visited the Yayladagi refugee camp in Turkey after flying over a second camp in the Kilis region.
  Some 25000 Syrian refuges are in Turkey.

* Speaking of Iran, in the news is the talks between Iranians and the west opposed to the Iranian nuclear program. The talks are being held in Istanbul.
  National Public Radio had an interesting news piece this week on Iranian - Turkish relations. It characterized it as being cooperation yet at the same time competition.
  It also pointed out that relations between Iran and Turkey soured a bit recently because of Turkish opposition to Syrian regime, an ally of Iran.
  Read the full story at http://www.npr.org/2012/04/13/150571682/in-balancing-act-turkey-hosts-iranian-nuclear-talks

* Turkish prosecutors on Thursday ordered the arrest of dozens of former military officers, including four retired generals, in a new probe against the military, Associated Press reported.
  They are accused of pressuring the country's first pro-Islamic prime minister to resign in 1997 for allegedly trying to increase the profile of Islam in this predominantly Muslim but secular country, said the prosecutor's office in Ankara.
  On the same event, New York Times wrote "Long considered the untouchable guardian of a staunchly secular state, the Turkish military has lost its immunity since the pro-Islamic government took power and paved the way for a series of cases against current and retired officers.
  "Hundreds of people — from the former head of the army and other officers to academics and journalists — have been arrested and accused of plotting to overthrow the current government through an ultranationalist network known as Ergenekon. "
  Read the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/world/middleeast/turkey-detains-military-leaders-for-role-in-1997-coup.html .

* Businessweek reported that Turkish PM visited China.
  Mr. Erdogan's visit is the first to China in 27 years by a Turkish premier and follows a February trip by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to Ankara and Istanbul, where the countries signed trade deals worth billions of dollars.
  "Erdogan first stopped on Sunday in Urumqi, capital of China's far west Xinjiang region, whose native Muslim Uighur ethnic group share linguistic and cultural links with Turks and where Turkey plans to set up an industrial zone," Business Week wrote.
  "Ethnic tensions have led to violence in the region in recent years, and relations between China and Turkey dipped in 2009 when Erdogan described China's use of overwhelming force against Uighur protesters as a type of genocide," BW added.
  Read the article at http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-04/D9U1E5U80.htm

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey's national carrier Turkish Airlines posted sales in 2011 of $6.54 billion, the airline reported to the Istanbul Stock Exchange. This is a 40% increase from 2010.
  However, Turkish Airlines' net profit dropped from 286.4 million lira in 2010 to 18.5 million lira in 2011.
  The airline carried 19% more passengers, which reached 8 million individuals.

* Fazil Say, a virtuoso pianist and composer, faces an investigation over tweeting remarks considered offensive to Muslims, Christians and Jews. Say used Twitter to question whether Islamic heaven is like a brothel or a pub, citing Koranic verses that describe rivers of drinks and beautiful women for those admitted to paradise.
  He also tweeted about a muezzin who recited the evening call to prayer in under 30 seconds, surmising the religious man was either impatient to see his lover or get drunk on a beverage called raki.
  This news was reported on the site "Mobiledia" by Kendra Srivastava.

* Balıklıova is a small cute fıshermen's village in Turkeys Aegean province of Izmir.
  Villagers set up an amateur theater and staged a play adapted from Oktay Arayacı' s novel ''Nickname is Rosebud''.
  Although all members of the cast are amateurs and do not have much education, these open minded people performed the game with unbelievable success.
  Gala of the play was held in İzmir city at Narlıdere Cultural Center.
  The group's success was heard in Turkey's cultural capital Istanbul, and has been invited there by the renowned Ali Poyrazoğlu Theater. They will perform to İstanbul audiences for three nights.
  It is very important for the future of Turkey to have such activities even in very small places, reported our editor Lütfi Marasli from İzmir.

* There is a new exhibition at Yıldız Palace in Istanbul, consisting of accurate mock-ups and dioramas of Ottoman battles. The exhibition is the result of Nejat Çuhadaroğlu's 15 years of collecting.
  As a collector, Nejat Çuhadaroğlu is exclusively interested in the world of wars, and his collection focuses on war dioramas and artifacts.
  Mr. Çuhadaroğlu's collection is one of the most valuable of its kind in the world. He works as the chief executive officer of Çuhadaroğlu Holding, but values collecting, which he considers to be much more than another job.
  Mr. Çuhadaroğlu's collection will be on display at Yıldız Palace starting on April 12th and continuing through June 6. The exhibition focuses on the period between 1453 and 1923. Some of the battles and wars depicted are:
  Ottoman conquest of Istanbul, Crimean War, Plevne war, World War I battles including the Caucasus, Gallipoli, Galicia, and the Middle East front, and the Turkish War of Independence.
  All of human experience can be found in war, Mr. Çuhadaroğlu said. "Friendship, excitement, love, hatred, in short, everything in life exists in wars.".
  "The artifacts include medallions, guns, flags, army uniforms and photographs, each of which reflect a certain era," said Mr. Çuhadaroğlu.
  It is difficult to count all the pieces in the collection, but the exhibit at Yıldız Palace includes 100 models, 150 guns, and more than 200 swords. "It is not easy to collect army and war artifacts," Mr. Çuhadaroğlu said.
  He travels the world a great deal for his collection; "Greece was a disappointment for me, but Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland were a real treat. I have followed antiques all over. Kadıköy and the Grand Bazaar are really rich venues for good stuff," he said.

* One of the projects aimed at helping the eastern province of Van heal the wounds of last year's earthquake is the formation of the Van State Opera and Ballet reports the Anatolia News Agency.
  Work is set to begin next year, according to the State Opera and Ballet General Director Rengim Gökmen.
  Speaking about the Pilot Cities Project, which is carried out by the State Opera and Ballet, Gökmen said tours were regularly organized by general opera and ballet directorates to the sister cities including Ankara, İzmir, Mersin and Samsun.

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, the 11th annual Mersin International Music Festival, which kicks off April 30, will be a festive celebration with both national and international music programs, according to Mersin Governor Hasan Basri Güzeloğlu.
  The festival will feature a composition competition, entitled "Mersin looks for its folk songs in opera form," which aims to encourage Turkish composers to produce new songs.
  The festival gained international recognition after it was inducted into the European Festivals Association in 2007.
  A total of 1,370 artists from Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Germany, Moldova and the United States will participate in the festival.
  This year's festival features 22 events held in 11 venues, with 12 of the events being free of charge.

* It is high time for the Istanbul audience to dip into the real punk rock craze, because former Ramones drummer Marky Ramone is in town, writes the Hurriyet Daily News reporter Tuba Parlak.
  Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg is taking the stage on April 14 at club Roxy to play the hits of the Ramones and the Misfits, as the band also includes former Misfits member Michael Graves on vocals.
  "We're going to play 32 Ramones classics and some Misfits songs from Michael, which he wrote in his Misfits era. It is going to be a party, a meeting of old and new fans.
  These songs are too good not to be played and this is the first time I play in Turkey so I'm so excited and I can not wait to see the Turkish audience," Ramone told the Hürriyet Daily News.

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, İzmir Film Festival, which was held between 1989 and 2000, is starting again with the support of Dokuz Eylül University and İzmir Municipality.
  The festival will start on April 22 at the Adnan Saygun Arts and Cultural Center, and will feature 103 movies.
  Ten Turkish movies from the last year will be shown at the festival, such as "Love and Revolution", "This Will be the Last", "September" , "Pomegranate" and "Son".
  The movies will compete to receive the Golden Simurg award during the festival.
  Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who has achieved international success with "Once Upon A Time in Anatolia," will take part of the festival with three movies. He will also be at workshops on April 23, organized by the French Culture Center.
  A photograph exhibition titled "Cinemascope Turkey" will open on April 22, as part of the festival.
  After the opening of the photography exhibition, cinephile's will be able to watch one of the rare classics of early cinema, Georges Melies silent 1902 movie, "The Journey to the Moon."
  The festival will include international movies, fiction movies and documentary sections. Each movie will be shown five times during the festival, and Dokuz Eylül university students will also have the chance to display their own works.

* The 4th Turkish Film Week in Sarajevo opened April 11 with Çağan Irmak's film "My Father and My Son".
  Organized by the Turkish Culture and Promotion Office in Sarajevo, the festival's opening was attended by Turkish Ambassador to Sarajevo Ahmet Yıldız, Bosnia Herzegovina's European Union representative Valentin Inzko, and culture and promotion adviser Cengiz Aydın.
  In a speech at the festival's opening ceremony, Aydın said Turkish films will be screened twice a day for the five days of the festival. He said that for next year's festival, the organizers plan to invite famous figures from the Turkish film world to Sarajevo. Bosnian films are in demand in Turkey, too, Yıldız said. "Such cultural a ctivities are very important for mutual relations."
  Among the films that will be screened during Sarajevo's Turkish Film Week are "Hayde Bre," "Love in Another Language", "Takva: A Man's Fear of God" , "Boats out of Watermelon Rinds" , and "Run Money Run".
  The festival will continue until April 17.

* Turkish producers of a film dramatizing the help offered by Ottoman sultan Abdulmecit to Ireland after the Great Famine of 1845 have given a proposal to Hollywood actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Collin Farrell for the project.
  The film "Famine" is planned to be made in both the Irish port town of Drogheda and in Turkey, and talks have been held with Irish director Mark Mahon. The film will tell the story of the famine through a love story between Turkish sailor Fatih and Irish local Mary.
  The screenwriter and project director of "Famine," Ömer Sarıkaya, said that Mahon had shown real interest in the film's story. "Mahon said that the project was very interesting and that he was very excited about it. He thought it was more inte resting than the story of Titanic''

* Turkish TV star Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ and Miss World Azra Akın have decided to marry, daily Posta reported.
  The couple shared the marriage decision with Tatlıtuğ's parents after returning from a romantic Amsterdam getaway.
  The relationship between the stars started in 2002, the year Akın became Miss World and Tatlıtuğ was selected the best model of Turkey, but ended in 2008.
  They gave a second chance to each other in 2011, but they broke up again last February. This is their third try on a relationship.

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government leader Masoud Barzani said his administration will continue to exert pressure and call on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party not to resort to violence and weapons. He also said he was ready to help the Turkish government and Kurdistan Worker's Party if necessary to solve the Kurdish problem.
  "The Kurdish problem can not be resolved with violence, the Kurds can not reach their goal by violence and they would be destroyed by it. It can be solved only by peaceful means," Barzani said at a April 5 speaking event at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Barzani met with U.S. President Barack Obama twice and with Vice President Joseph Biden on April 4.

* Speaking of rebellious Kurds, according to the Hurriyet Daily News, the Peace and Democracy Party is ready to negotiate if the government displays a courageous and sincere attitude, but no one should expect the Peace and Democracy Partyto treat the Kurdistan Workers' Party as enemies, the party's co–leader Selahattin Demirtaş has said.
  Peace and Democracy Party is viwed as the political wing of the Kurdish rebels.
  Read more at HDN

* Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed the Iranian administration over its tactical statements on the venue of the upcoming nuclear talks with the P5+1 group, accusing Tehran of being unwilling to negotiate with the Western powers reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  "Proposing Damascus or Baghdad as the venue of talks means ‘these talks should not take place.' You know very well that your counterparts will not come there," Erdoğan said at a press conference with visiting Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
  "They have to be honest. When you are not honest, you start to lose credibility. This is not the language of diplomacy. This language does not suit me," he said.
  Mr. Erdoğan's statement reflects the ongoing rift between Turkey and Iran over the turmoil in Syria which caused Turkey to summon the Iranian envoy to the Foreign Ministry to lodge a reaction against a harsh accusation from Tehran.

* Turkey is still ready to host nuclear talks between Iran and Western countries, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told Iran's chief negotiator in a phone conversation late April 5, a diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News.
  The Turkish minister's call brought up Tehran's proposal for the negotiations to be held in Baghdad or Damascus, instead of Istanbul, a venue Iran had suggested previously. Iran said Turkey's stance on the Syrian crisis caused it to change its position.
  Meanwhile, Iranian officials expressed unease to the Turkish ambassador in Tehran about Turkey's premier criticizing its neighbor as being dishonest.

* The Hurriyet Daily News reports that, Turkish president Mr. Abdullah Gül warned Israel on Wednesday to watch and analyze the political climate in the region carefully.
  "Israel will turn into a complete apartheid regime in the next 50 years if it does not allow for the establishment of an independent and proud Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem. That is why we are exerting efforts to achieve a fair peace with a strategic point of view, which is to Israel's own interests," Turkish President Gül said.
  Mr. Gül was addressing a group of ranking officers at the War Academy in Istanbul.

* According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey's main opposition yesterday denounced Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's increasing references to religion and the Quran, warning that such policies would divide the nation.
  The prime minister is "pointing to the Koran as a solution. Ever since the education bill, he won't stop talking about the Koran ," Deputy group chair of the Republican People's Party Akif Hamzaçebi said, referring to the controversial legislation that introduced Koranic studies as an elective course in secondary and high schools.
  Mr. Erdoğan is "polarizing society on the basis of moral values, religion and faith," Hamzaçebi said. "If you break down a nation's culture and take out only religion as a me ans of uniting the people, you will in fact divide the people. The prime minister is trying to re-blend the ingredients that make up the nation."

* According to the Anatolia News Agency Istanbul enjoyed its lowest monthly inflation rise in the last six years in March, according to data gathered by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce.
  However, the rise in gasoline prices played a negative role, the chamber said yesterday.
  Retail prices in Istanbul were up 0.59 percent, while wholesale prices were up 0.67 percent last month compared with February. On annualized basis the figures are 9.9 percent and 9.6 percent respectively.
  The chamber said exchange rates, energy and metal prices will continue to dominate inflation rate.
  Turkey's consumer inflation for March remained at 10.43 percent year-on-year in March, with liquors and tobacco suffering the most, with an annual rise of more than 18 percent, the Turkish Statistical Institute's monthly report showed yesterday.

* Turkish economy grew 8.5 percent in 2011, posting the second biggest growth rate in the world after China, according to official figures.
  However, the 5.2 percent growth in the fourth quarter hints at a slowdown, economists say.
  Read more at HDN

* Turkey's private sector contributed vastly to the country's impressive growth rate in 2011 by creating 1.3 million new jobs, the chairman of the Union of Chamber and Commodity Exchanges Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
  Read more at HDN

* There is a strong correlation between economic welfare and equality between men and women, according to Doğan TV chairwoman Arzuhan Doğan Yalçındağ.
  Central governments and local administrations in developed countries are carrying out active and planned efforts to improve women's employment, Yalçındağ said at a prestigious women's conference titled "Woman, Power Change" organized by the Austrian media group Styria in Vienna last week.
  Quoting a recent study by global management consulting firm McKinsey, Yalçındağ said companies managed by women and men were 56 percent more profitable than those managed only by men.
  Eight percent of publicly traded companies in Turkey are managed by women, Yalçındağ said, adding that this figure was just 3 percent in the 27-member European Union.
  However, women manage only seven percent of small- and medium-sized businesses in Turkey, lagging behind the 33 percent figure in the European Union.
  Read more at HDN

* According to the Anatolia News Agency, Turkey will host the follow-up World Economic Forum in Istanbul from June 4 to 6. The meeting will bring together 1,000 global leaders from government, business, media and nongovernmental organizations from Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia to discuss new models and solutions to reinvigorate the economies of these regions.
  This will be the first time that Turkey is hosting this forum. It will also be the first time that the 42-year-old World Economic Forum will focus on more than one region.
  Read more at HDN

* Hurriyet Daily News's Sibel Utku Bila reports that Turkish and U.S. companies have entered into joint ventures worth more than $2 billion since December and efforts are underway to further boost economic exchange, in line with the two countries' vision of a "model partnership," U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Michael Camunez said Thursday.
  Mr. Camunez declined to comment on Turkey's decision to cut down its oil imports from Iran by 20 percent, but said the U.S. could help Turkey decrease its dependence on foreign energy supplies in general.
  Mr. Camunez, who led a trade mission of executives from leading U.S. energy companies to Turkey in December, said the talks had already produced significant results.

* According to the HDN, Turkey will open science attache offices at the consulates including San Francisco and Boston in the US, Japan, Germany, says Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün.
  The attaches will report scinece and technology developments and seek area of cooperation.
  Read more at HDN

* Turkish artist of Armenian origin Sarkis will present a solo exhibition, curated by Nicolette Gast, this summer at the Submarine Wharf in Rotterdam, the Netherlands starting June 2.
  Sarkis' exhibition will be in Rotterdam at the invitation of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Port of Rotterdam. He is expected to create a vivid installation measuring almost 5,000 square meters on the converted campus of Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij shipbuilding company.

* Adana's theater festival is providing students the chance to learn how to make puppets. Puppetry has a tangible draw that makes it better than today's ‘virtual' forms of entertainment, a puppeteer says.
  Making use of waste and other junk, organizers at the 14th State Theaters Sabancı Adana Theater Festival are teaching participants how to make puppets and perform a puppet show.
  A festival committee is giving lessons to participants through workshops that feature instruction from puppeteer and puppet maker Hakan Dündar, Adana State Theater artist Boğaçhan Sözmen recently told Anatolia news agency.
  The participants at the puppetry workshop are mostly students. One of them, Çukurova University's Bensu Boz, said she started puppetry class following a proposal from her professors.

* Having sold a painting for a record breaking price, 2.7 million Turkish Liras, Turkish contemporary artist Erol Akyavaş's paintings will once again draw attention with a new exhibition at Galeri Nev in Istanbul.
  The paintings at Galeri Nev first appear like objects from an archaeological excavation. Akyavaş depicts his themes using compositions styled after the most ancient artwork.
  Galeri Nev exhibition will be from April 6 through May 5. Exhibition will include Akyavaş's 2.7 nillion lira painting "Ene'l Hak".
  Akyavaş always defined his painting as writing modern poetry in the Akyavaş's earlier paintings are among the most valued Turkish contemporary paintings. Akyavaş brought a new point of view to 20th-century painting. An earlier painting of Akyavaş, titled "The history of sacred and mysterious things," was another highlight in the arts and culture scene in the previous years.

* Istanbul's Artam Antique Auction House will organize the ‘Important Turkish Paintings Auction' on April 8. Along with Turkish and Ottoman paintings, masterpieces by European artists will be included in the auctionttoman artifacts and paintings will be put up for sale during the "272nd Important Turkish Paintings Auction," organized by Artam Antik Auction House on April 8 at Istanbul's Swissotel.
  According to a written statement made by the auction house, seven paintings by Nazmi Ziya from various periods will be auctioned for the first time. His landscape painting "Nightingale River" and Sami Yetik's still life painting "Snowball Flowers" will be auctioned with an opening price of 400,000 Turkish Liras.
  Halil Paşa's "Istanbul Landscape", Şevket Dağ's "Hagia Sophia," İbrahim Çallı's sought-after "Magnolias" and Hikmet Onat's "Boats" will also be auctioned during the event, along with works by artists including Feyhaman Duran, Namık İsmail, Naci Kalmukoğlu and Cemal Tollu.
  The signature of Ottoman Sultan Mahmut II, which was made using Turkish Edirnekari calligraphy art, is among the other objects in the auction as well as calligraphy from leading calligraphy artists such as Kazasker Mustafa İzzet, Hasan Rıza, Mahmut Celalettin, Bakkal Arif.

* Following Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Canadian singer songwriter, novelist and poet Leonard Cohen is the latest big name to be announced to perform in Istanbul this summer.
  Cohen will take the stage on Sept. 19 at the Ülker Arena, as part of the world tour for his new album, "Old Ideas," Agence France-Presse reported.
  Cohen, who is best known for songs such as "Suzanne," "So Long Marianne," "Bird on a Wire," "First We Take Manhattan," "Hallelujah" and "Dance Me to the End of Love," last visited Istanbul in 2009, when he performed two concerts at the Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theater.
  Released on Jan. 30, "Old Ideas" was Cohen's first new record since 2004's "Dear Heather," returning to his trademark weighty themes of spirituality, love, sexuality, the past and death.

* Two-time Grammy-winning master trumpeter Roy Hargrove will perform at Istanbul's Nardis jazz club on April 13 and 14 with his quintet, as part of the Garanti Jazz concerts sponsored by Garanti bank.
  The concerts will begin at 10:30 both nights, and tickets are available at the club's main booth. The Quintet's first recording, "Diamond in the rough," featuring Antonio Hart, appeared in on RCA-Novus in 1990, and was followed by "Public Eye" in 1991.
  The quintet's third recording, "The Vibe," which was released in the spring of 1992, was highly praised by critics all over the world, and the band toured Europe, Japan and the U.S. In 1993, Hargrove recorded his fourth and final album for RCA-Novus, titled "Of Kindred Souls."