Eser Turan

A record achievement in Turkey's energy surveys, tapping into a Black Sea natural gas reserve of 320 billion cubic meters set a new milestone for all things Turkish. 

With plans to depart from the NATO alliance and getting a constant slack for it via economic obliteration threats, this discovery and many more are destined to be pivotal in Turkey's independence. 

Seemingly only a political issue with heavy militaristic undertakings, Turkish independence actually hinges on a psychological departure from the overbearing European supremacy bent on pooh-poohing our Ottoman heritage.

Seeing ourselves in a new light is not easy, since we live in a world cluttered by the European Orientalism of the 19th-century. The Western aristocracy of the time exploited inventions of photography and film to brainwash the masses to chart out the image of today, relying solely on the limited information provided by inexperienced white racist informants, with no academic study or facts to substantiate their subjective views.  

Similar to the 'rough diamond Turk' images in award-winning 'Toprak', the biased imagery created at the time was explosive enough to rally the Western powers to start WWI with predetermined agendas to dismantle the Ottoman Empire. Just like drawing lines on a body to dissect the parts, Europe fully financed all interested parties to map out the current day borders of the post-Ottoman republics. 

The result may have calmed the European intelligentsia in their ivory towers, but the skewed view of life is the cause of global unrest. 

While the mental mayhem can make the German police feel comfortable arresting a Turkish-German family with the lethal knee-on-neck method, or boost an Australian ego to carry out a mass shooting at a mosque, the Turkish survivors' strength and valor are impressive enough to challenge many preconceived notions on Muslims and Turks. 

Revisiting our Ottoman heritage in New Zealand, we come upon Feriza's, a 20-year establishment that proudly blends old and new, Turkish cuisine and Ottoman hospitality with many Mediterranean flavors. Furthermore, travel vlogs by globetrotters in 'Down Under' compare and contrast Western life and Eastern expectations.

Rethinking a world free of European projections, we look at Hiref's high-end designs and wonder if the Ottoman Empire would have transformed into an entity like the British Commonwealth by now, with monarch and senate both in place. While the monarch part of the equation draws criticism from some, it may be exactly where Turkey is headed.

With hopes of a bright future free of Western arrogance, we wish you a great week.

Eser Turan
Founding Editor

Eser Turan

Announced a year ago, Turkish drilling survey plans in the Aegean with projections for a total of 26 surveys by 2023, hit an unsuspected Greek nerve, leading to naval skirmishes and raids of Turkish villages, baffling global onlookers.

Supposedly countering some anticipated offensive from Turkey, the preemptive striking Greeks do not notice that their aggression does not have any legal basis. While their diplomatic statements indicate victimization, their retaliatory alliance with Egypt and undue military blunders are too much to bear, not just for Turkey but for all in close proximity.

Germany steps in as a mediator while French jets fly over Turkish vessels, but facts do not change. Turkish maritime zones hold precious oil and gas resources and in fighting an economic warfare decorated with President Trump's threats, and Joe Biden's plans to overthrow Turkish government, Turkey will undoubtedly exercise her right to drill in the region.

With all the Western interaction, it may look as if it the issue is beyond Greece, and that they are merely acting on behalf of the EU or the US, but that would be missing the point on the Greek heist and their counterphobic angst.

Dating back to 1,400 BC, Greek military history is based on mythology, with an immense amount of focus on the 10-year siege of the Anatolian city of Troy, that ended not with some military bravado but with a Greek mind game that turned deceit into an infiltration success, coining today's malware term 'Trojan Horse'.

One would think that a country as prominent as Greece would have some more recent victory to uphold, but they don't. Or that they would know better than downplaying their centuries-long subservience to the Ottoman rule, which ended with a legendary defeat in Anatolia almost a hundred years ago, but no.

Possibly due to their legendary losses, their minds must be telling them that the 3400 year-old subterfuge tactic, portrayed in 'Fall of a City: Troy', has been and will be the only way to defeat unsuspecting Anatolians.

And possibly with that non-megalo idea in mind, the Greek aggression feels comfortable launching preemptive strikes, devoid of militaristic artistry. Their gaffes are out of place, but it feeds off of Greek mythology, superstitious beliefs, archaic stand-offs and psychological war games.

In the meantime, the Turks prepare their youth for the stars, as can be seen in the astronaut training offered at Space Camp Turkey in Izmir, for Turkish teenagers who love watching their influencers test their competitiveness at Exatlon on Netflix. Astrophysics and space science have such an important place in the Turkish psyche that even a devoted father like Burak Acerakis penning a cartoon book on his son's Down Syndrome chooses to write a sci-fi story, using space as the setting.

In short, the ongoing Aegean scuffle may soon end up looking like Flintstones launching preemptive attacks against unsuspecting Jetsons.

For those of you who have not been to Greece, Merve Yurtseven takes us through the cobble-stoned streets of Mykonos and Santorini. And for all the Greeks who do not know much about Turkey's political leverage in Washington D.C., we should all recommend the Ottoman Taverna neighboring the White House. 

Let us all enjoy the last remains of summer in peace.

Eser Turan
Founding Editor

Eser Turan

Last week’s horrendous Beirut explosion shattered more than the reported 5,000 lives in Lebanon. The devastation urged six officials to resign, toppling the government in less than a week. Thousands of protesters took to the streets, attacked government buildings, prompting the police to respond with force, injuring over 700 in overnight clashes.

Negligence leading to an explosion, triggering protests that challenge corruption, which in turn topples the government, leaving it to novices to confront more deadly attacks reveals the fragility of politics in Lebanon.

Bad governance is the apparent problem, but the real culprit is the rushed promise of democracy, planted by the West to serve the look of normalcy in a post-Ottoman era of sappy hope for peace and prosperity.

Lavished with Western political concepts in celebration of an abrupt ‘liberation’ from the Ottoman umbrella, the war-torn Lebanon of a century ago is one of the many republics in the Middle East that exchanged monarchy in favor of European democracy. Little did they know that the fashionable French politics actually rely heavily on an Jean D’Arc-laden matriarchy that exists exclusively in the guilt-ridden conscience of the Vatican patriarchy.

The situation is a political scam that takes a toll on the post-Ottoman republics of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Turkey, all of which suffer from false expectations of independence. The governments’ inability to stride with authentic political moves make them dependent on Western solutions, which in effect suppresses authentic voices like Hozan Cane, creating popular outcasts out of local role models.

Much like having a car with no keys, the Middle East suffers from the oxymoron of modern but hollow political routines, brilliantly portrayed in Ercan Kesal’s “Nasipse Adayiz”.

As Kesal’s witty mockery dissects dysfunctional politics, a Canadian director films “Reversal of Fortune”, a documentary on President Erdogan’s infamous presidency, famed for operating more like a monarchy.

The film is critical of Turkey’s direction, but with Israeli officials calling the Beirut blast “a gift from God”, and British TV covering Turkey's fight with Covid as a "patriotic response to a national attack", President Erdogan’s ambitions for a swift decision-making topple-proof government are almost justified.

To justify it further, we have high-alert hiccuping Greeks and Haftar-backing Egyptians forming an unlikely alliance in the Eastern Mediterranean, which Turkey immediately condemns as "null and void".

In need of daily updates on Turkey's diplomatic relations, we follow Anka Review, and discover that Greeks are busy justifying their actions by publishing biased maps that misrepresent Turkey’s maritime borders.

With presidential elections approaching in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, an interview with PM Ersin Tatar reveals post-Brexit possibilities for new negotiations in the island.

Exhausted by politics, we daydream of the luxury living at the Merit Royal Premium Hotel in Girne and celebrate Burak Yilmaz’s transfer to the French club Lille.

Look forward to a season of success, we wish you a great week.

Eser Turan
Founding Editor

Eser Turan

With the August heat hitting hard, our smothered lives behind masks are more unbearable than ever. Recalling our pre-summer fantasies for a Covid-free vacation, we struggle with the unrelenting reality of Corona restrictions that mess up our lives.

Our plans, projects, friendships, family gatherings, weddings, funerals, all things social are disrupted. Our options for socializing are cloistered inside social media platforms, where intelligence agencies run the gamut.

The future looks bleak. Fall is around the corner and more Corona restrictions are likely to imprison us further. In fear of a Covid-20 popping up this winter, or a Covid-21 ruining our lives further next summer, we fight the times. Dying jobs and waning incomes signal a pending depression but we keep a stiff upper lip and deny the perpetrated reality of a world gone wrong.

So does Turkey. Missing her 2019 record of 52 million tourists, the country is quite perplexed and somewhat in denial, that this virus deal is able to disrupt all plans to the point of sabotaging Turkey's vital tourism income. As cynics remember President Trump’s 2019 threats to ‘destroy’ Turkey’s economy with sanctions, they believe Corona did it for him, and smirk in secret thinking the US lost its leverage in the Middle East.

Still hopeful though, Turkey went all out to welcome tourists. A high-tech reception at Istanbul Airport, a smack clean Grand Bazaar and Turkey’s Instagram sensation Salt Bae’s publicity rounds seem good enough to save the day.

Fantasizing on some brave tourists that will fight the pandemic paranoia, Germans come to mind, since they are experts at suspecting conspiracies in the Christian realm. With 5 million of them defying anti-Turkish lobbies every summer for decades now, Turkey awaits the Germans.

But as luck would have it, they are not advised to leave the country, not when they are supposed to be allowing the Corona-Warn App encroaching on their privacy. 17,000 of them protest the over-extended precautions and flood the streets in Berlin, letting the world know that the pandemic is a hype.

Hype or not, the reality is Turkey is hurting and the Germans miss the Mediterranean. In a fantasy world a la Aleyna Tilki style, Turkey would charter planes for Germans, offering vacation spots half price.

Such promotions require PR planning though. A PR team like the one in 'Menajerimi Ara' needs work out the kinks in Turkey’s image and branding. They need to be experts of Turkey’s constantly evolving SWOT analysis. Tough issues like German agents in mosques need to also go into the planning. In the end, what Melissa Takimoglu does for boxers, they need to do it -at an incomparable magnitude- for Turkey.

Living at the mercy of global politics for decades, with limited protection from Turkey, the International Turkish community is best equipped to bring forth such a team. And that’s where Ajans 869 comes in. Perfectly positioned to harness Turkey’s brain drain, our very own marketing agency might just be the solution for Turkey’s PR problem.

But then we have an oddball which is the mystery around Deniz Yücel case, and the never-ending threats mentioned in our Justice for Turks campaign. We believe that Turkey harbors expat-bashing critics that hinder the country's potential. But then again, maybe Turkey is just happy to sidestep WWIII. In that case, expats, PR and tourism income are definitely luxury.

Without further ado, we wish you a great week. 

Eser Turan
Founding Editor