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Orhan Pamuk, internationally known Turkish writer, gives a photographic story about walking around in Istanbul seeing the natural yellow light along the streets and shops in different neighborhoods. This is before the shift to bright white light from new light bulbs changes the look of the streets. Orhan Pamuk has a humility in his writing, touching so many readers. So much like America's Walt Whitman, to whom we owe the name Lyrarc, formed from the first three letters of two constellations Whitman saw in the night sky over the St Lawrence river in northern Quebec in 1880. Pamuk describes the changes in these neighborhoods, in places that he walked through in the 1980's, 1990's and today. For the first time walking through difficult poorer neighborhoods made possible by a body guard assigned by the government. He sees the social transformation of the European parts of Istanbul in winter walks that started in 2016. Gives us this photograph of a Syrian immigrant woman looking for help on a street in Istanbul. Istanbul remolded by Syrian and other Arab immigrants, by nationalist sentiment. He writes so much like Whitman about Brooklyn and New York,  that beguiling feeling that he got from the nightscape in Istanbul during his brisk walks in the city, that curious energy to which he felt closer during these walks. Much like Whitman writes in Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (1891) about the hundreds and hundreds of people crossing by ferry boat being more curious to him and being more in his meditations than they would ever suppose. Orhan Pamuk is a real human ambassador for Turkey in today's chaotic, confusing Middle East. He was the 2006 Nobel Prize Winner for Literature.  ...

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Efforts by Pope Francis to bring religious harmony to the Middle East with his visit to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Pope Francis prayed at the Blue Mosque with Rahmi Yaran, the grand mufti of Istanbul, Turkey. Pope Benedict made a similiar visit in 2006.

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A terrorist attack in Istanbul, Turkey, in Jan. 2015. Most of the people killed and injured are German tourists. The attack targets Turkey's tourism industry.

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Opening up of the Bystre and Sulina canals to get Ukraine wheat from the port of Odessa on the Black Sea to Romanian ports and to the Danube. This is one more step in getting grain out of Ukraine. Ukraine taking over Snake Island on the Romanian coast south of Odessa in July was a positive step for creating a route for ships getting to Romania and the Danube. Yet this route only adds about 500,000 tons of grain taken out. About 8 million tons normally leave in June from Ukraine ports only 25% or 2 million made it out.

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Turkey's elections for parliament and for president are on May 14, 2023. President Erdogan is running again after two decades in power. Turkey faces high inflation of over 57% which has created a serious cost of living crisis in Turkey. Erdogan has issued a wide range of stimulus measures- energy subsidies, a doubling of the minimum wage, pension increases, and a chance for 2 million retirees to retire immediately. A kilogram of tomatoes used to cost 8-10 liras and now costs 25 liras. Rents are going up with steep increases. Turkey has been hit hard by the war in Ukraine as it depends on Ukraine for grain supplies. A popular mayor of Istabul Ekrem Imamoglu from the Opposition is shown here as an alternative for president. Erdogan started his political career as Mayor of Istanbul with the military opposing him. His management of the economy helped him win two terms as president, which is now in a severe crisis.

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Deferred counting of ballot boxes from Istanbul, Ankara and big cities in May 2023 where Kilicdaroglu of the Republican party draws major support. Both Istanbul and Ankara have mayors from the Republican party of Kemal Ataturk who founded the party in 1921 in Ankara to resist the colonial powers but adopted the European model in education and in the constitution, dress, way of life similar to Japan's conversion in the Meiji period of 1871.

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The country is Turkey and the plant will supply 10% of Turkey's needs, about the size of the electricity for the city of Istanbul. Russia will build, and run the plant for 40-50 years in a new arrangement.

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Iraq is being dragged into Iran War with Iran backed Popular Mobilization Forces as part of the current Iraqi government. Today there are Sectarian divisions Shia and Sunni jostling for influence and power in the state of Iraq, a state created artificially in 1921 by Britain to protect its regional interests. After the Ottoman Empire 1524-1918 was broken up, after the WW1 in 1918, the British in subsequent negotiations got the League of Nations Mandate for Mesopotamia- historically the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It was made up of three provinces of the Ottoman Empire Basra, Baghdad and Mosul. Basra had a large Shia population, Baghdad and Mosul had a large Sunni population.  To this date no census has taken place except in 1987 and 2024 and never one that shows which portion of the population is Shia or Sunni, so no one really knows. Britain installed Faisal 1 as the King of this artificially created kingdom in 1924. The British operated in this way controlling the Shah of Iran at the time, and the Iraqi king, Egyptian king. Britain and France tried to install a Caliph in Istanbul who would rule Turkey and protect British and French interests but failed because of a Turkish military officer Ataturk who declared a independent Turkish state based in Ankara in the 1920's and defeated British sponsored armies and forces from Greece.   ...

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Erdogan's grip on Turkish politcs loosens as he loses in both Ankara and Istanbul. Since Erdogan started out as Mayor of Istanbul in 1994, as a young politician with nationalist credentials, this is seen as a significant shift. A younger leader Mr. Imamoglu is now seen as new Mayor of Istanbul.

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The mosque project of the first Islamist prime minister in the 1990's, Necmettin Erbakan, was seen by the secularists in Turkey as an effort to rewrite Turkey's history as a Republic. During that effort current prime minister Erdogan headed a local commission in charge of the project. Erdogan was Mayor of Istanbul. That project failed because of opposition from the military. As the current prime minister, Erdogan is making another effort to build a mosque in Taksim Square, Istanbul. Architect Ahmet Vefik Alp designed a modern mosque using materials, concepts and designs that reflect the twentieth century for Taksim Square. Erdogan has rejected this design and has promoted a design based on the Ottoman period architecture. The street protests in Turkish cities reflect this continuing struggle between the Islamists and secularists and the kind of Turkey each group wants to see.

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A Turkey and UN supported agreement is reached in Istanbul, Turkey, between Russia and Ukraine that would enable export of 20 million tons of Ukraine grains at its ports. Turkey and UN would inspect the ships to ensure no weapons smuggling is taking place and Ukrainian vessels would take the grain carrying ships through safe channels in the Black Sea. This will also get Russian grain out through the Black Sea ports.

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Vladimir Medinsky of Russia, 54 years, sees the Ukraine war though a different lens. He is the head of the negotiating team for Russia with Ukraine in Istanbul. He sees as an example that Russia prevails in long wars- the 21 year conflict of Peter the Great with the Swedish Empire 1700-1721. The Battle of Poltava in 1709 led to the Russian victory even though the war ended in 1721, with Russia not Sweden dominant in the Northern Baltic region.

 

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A sense in Turkey that there were some things that Kemal Ataturk did for Turkey helped modernize the country and helped its people. That the years of the Erdogan administration have dragged on for two decades creating many problems that are becoming evident through the economy and the earthquake, with a sense of change in Ankara, Istanbul, among women and among people suffering from the cost of living crisis.

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Kemal Kilicdaroglu is the leader of the Republican PHP party of Kemal Ataturk, who built modern Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. He was a civil servant for 30 years and headed the social security administration. Kilicdaroglu campaigns in a modest way with videos made in his kitchen in a big contrast to Mr. Erdogan. Since losing the election for Istanbul in 2009 and 2014 he has lost 2 presidential elections to Mr. Erdogan during the period of economic growth in Turkey. He now heads an alliance of 6 parties that includes popular mayors of Istanbul and Ankara. With inflation at over 50%, Turkey seen as stalling strengthening of NATO by blocking Sweden's membership, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the earthquake leaving over 50,000 people dead in Turkey and the government seen as having allowed substandard construction in Turkey, there is a sense that Turkey is ready for a new government. Kilicdaroglu says he will restore the parliamentary system, and restore independence of the judiciary, central bank and foreign ministry if he wins.    ...

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The future both of Turkey and Europe at stake in the elections in Turkey. Turkey has been hit by inflation of over 60%, a severe earthquake, difficult relations with the EU and the US, a lack of foreign investment. The mayoral elections in Ankara and Istanbul went to opposition parties. A civil servant is heading the opposition parties contesting the election with Mr. Erdogan who has led Turkey for 2 decades.

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Two popular mayors today run the two largest cities in Turkey- Istanbul and Ankara. The two mayors Imamoglu and Yavas are part of the campaign of Republican People's party head Kilcdaroglu, which has a real opportunity to provide a new government in Turkey following the disastrous earthquake and high inflation in the economy. This would also strengthen NATO during a period following Russian invasion of Ukraine and bring Turkey closer to its historical relations with the US and EU.

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Young people in Turkey are troubled by many things says this DW video report. DW.com talks with young people on the streets of Istanbul. Young people are troubled by the cost of living with inflation out of control, with not being able to speak their mind, with the waning prospects with many unemployed. Kilicdaroglu, a civil servant who leads the Republican party founded by Ataturk in 1923, offers Turkey a new path with the western alliance and the nations of Europe and the US.

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Joe Parkinson of the WSJ gives a in-depth account of the emergence of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey's politics, with contributions by Emre Peker, Ayla Albayrak, Yeliz Candemir. Erdogan grew up in a poor neighborhood of Istanbul, and became the head of a local youth branch of the Islamist National Salvation Party in 1976 after an adolescent period steeped in mosque culture and Islamic ideas. In 1994 he is elected Mayor of Istanbul amid voter discontent with corruption and problems with infrastructure and public services. He served for four years making improvements. After reciting a poem publicly that said "the mosques are our barracks, domes our helmets, minarets our bayonets and faithful our soldiers," he is jailed for 4 months by a military backed secular government in 1999. During this period Erdogan, described by friends from his youth as having a unique ability to adapt to difficult situations, makes a transformation. He moves to the centre, coming out in favor of stronger ties to the EU, and works hard to attract support from the secular and nationalist voters to add to his conservative religious base. In 2003 he is elected prime minister as head of the Justice and Development Party. This begins a period of ten years in which Turkey sees remarkable period of economic growth during which Turkey's GNP nearly quadruples from a little over $200 billion in 2002 to $794.5 billion in 2012, according to the IMF. It may be partly coincidence and partly good management of the economy under Erdogan. Turkey's previous banking and currency crises before 2003 created a better understanding and discipline for managing the economy. Emerging markets such as Brazil, India, China, Russia, Indonesia, and other parts of Asia and Latin America were able to achieve high rates of growth during this 10 year period. Competitiveness in Brazil and Turkey has not improved significantly in this period according to experts, and large capital inflows into Turkey partly supported the credit boom in Turkey. And just as growth is slowing significantly in all emerging markets, Turkey under Erdogan faces a new test. Especially now that Erdogan is seen as autocratic in his effort to suppress protests to build an Ottoman era army barracks in Taksim Square, Istanbul. The fears of secularists in Turkey are that this is the Erdogan of the period in 1999, after serving as Mayor of Istanbul. Just as Turks turned away from the overreaching actions of the military, the public sentiment may be shifting beyond the overreaching actions of the religious parties in Turkish politics. The protests in Brazil against the Rouseff administration after the popularity of the Lula administration, show that slowing economic growth and missteps by the elected government can alienate younger voters. The parties still retain a majority but face an uncertain future in which lower economic growth and missteps lead to a search for alternatives. At the same time Turkey's efforts for accession to the EU are beng put on hold as Germany opposes the actions to suppress protests of the Justice Party in Turkey. ...

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The Iranian view on the negotiations to resolve questions about Iran's nuclear program with the U.S. and European countries in Istanbul, Turkey. This view is from Ali Akbar Salehi, Foreign Minister of Iran.

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Tom Wheeldon in FR24 describes the importance of cultural issues such as women wearing headscarves in Turkish elections that are important in the Anatolian heartland away from Istanbul. Kilicdaroglu is handling this issue by supporting the right of women to wear headscarves. This puts more focus on the issue of inflation at over 50%, a cost of living crisis, and the handling of the earthquake, as Erdogan looks for a repeat of his previous election wins. If elected Kilicdaroglu will take Turkey back to a parliamentary system and rule by a civil servant who is modest and plans to serve for only one term. 

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Experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Nuclear Policy Program describe what to look for and in what time frame in the 2012 negotiations between Iran and the U.S. and other European countries in Istanbul, Turkey over Iran's nuclear program.