Tuesday, October 26, 2010 

Well folks, Summer finally seems to be coming to an end—and good riddance! Here at the Borderlands Lodge, we're getting ready to welcome winter and its dangerous but exciting counterpart, skiing. Before long I'll be careening uncontrollably down the side of a mountain, much as I careen uncontrollably on my bike down the streets of Bozeman in my spare time now.

Nevertheless, to celebrate the beautiful weather we had in October, I'll be putting up...some photographs of Bozeman in October. Circle your calendars, folks, that'll be happening sometime over the next several days...

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For now, just let the N & P wash over you...


Russia and the former USSR

It's the least you could do for us: US diplomats pushing Azerbaijan to cool ties with Iran.

One of the worst-kept secrets of the 1990s was that the US government looked the other way while Iranian weapons flowed into Croatia. Why did we do this? Because Iran didn't worry about circumventing the international arms embargo on the former Yugoslavia, which had left the Bosnian Muslims at an awful disadvantage vis-a-vis the Croatians and Serbs. After the Croatians and Muslims formed an alliance, however, Iranian weapons went to Croatia while the tide of the war suddenly—and, to many people at the time, surprisingly—shifted in favor of the Croatians and Bosnian Muslims and against the Serbs.

Even the United States has therefore pursued accommodation with Iran when it is deemed to suit our national interests. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, is Iran's neighbor. Why wouldn't they want to pursue good relations with their neighbors? Meanwhile....

......Azerbaijan is embarking on military spending spree, stoking fears that Baku will attempt to solve Nagorno-Karabakh deadlock by force.

And frankly, who could blame them? Nobody else seems interested in addressing a situation in which Armenian-backed forces occupy approximately 14 percent of territory that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Nearly ten percent of the population of Azerbaijan is a refugee, victims of ethnic cleansing resulting from an Armenian takeover of the region in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

So you say you've never heard of Nagorno-Karabakh? If it were Azeris who had forced out the Armenians and were occupying Armenian territory, chances are you would have heard a lot more about it.
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Nostalgia time: loads of cool photos from the USSR in the late 1970s
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US

Neocon like me: James Dolan's great account of a year spent teaching at the American University of Iraq.

Maybe I just liked this piece because it reminded me of the alcoholic nuts that I worked with at my first job (also at a university) in Turkey.
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The big business of spreading fear: anti-Muslim crusaders rake in millions selling junk expertise.
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Turning a blind eye to torture: Wikileaks on the US occupation in Iraq.

More from wikileaks: deathsquads

Is W. still waiting for the Iraqis to show their gratitude?
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Knock me over with a feather: some US officials expecting tensions between Kurds, Arabs in Iraq.

Once again, international intervention (notably here, but not only this, of course) is leading to a politicization of divisions between communities that have lived together for centuries.

If anybody tries telling you, years from now, that Kurds and Arabs are fighting each other over "ancient hatreds," instead of over very concrete issues pertaining to money and power, please punch them in the face for me.

Oh, and don't forget—they have us to thank for this. Add this to the legacy of hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis the next time you're celebrating American power in the Middle East. 
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On the comeback trail: the ever-frisky Detroit Lions are just one game out of third place in the wide-open NFC North.

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Turkey

Turkey ranked 138th out of 178 countries in press freedom rating of Reporters without Borders, falling from the 99th position they secured in 2002 (the year the AKP was first brought to power in Turkey).

Aengus Collins, meanwhile, posts Freedom House's rankings for Turkey, which aren't quite as bad. I guess Collins does this to show that press freedom in Turkey hasn't been curtailed so much under the AKP, or something along those lines.

But I think that anybody who follows events in Turkey understands that Turkey both had big-time problems with press issue before 2002 and still does today. However, the nature of the issue has changed.

A lot of the violations of free press standards in Turkey have nothing to do with the AKP. Laws criminalizing insults of Ataturk or "Turkishness" and other restrictions allowing authorities to jail people who "foment ethnic hatred" (Kurdish activists) have been around much longer than the AKP.

Other problematic issues, like the existence of major media blocs controlling numerous newspapers and TV stations, also precede the AKP and have their roots in the deregulation of the communications sector in the 1990s.

But at the same time, the AKP (and Turkish PM Erdogan in particular) has been active in both consolidating control over media in Turkey and in attempting to intimidate critics.

While Turkey's ban on Youtube and thousands of other websites (developments which have more to do with the policies of the permanent state than the AKP) get most of the attention with respect to press freedom in Turkey, recent developments relating to both of Turkey's one-time two largest media groups are much more worrisome and are much more of a reflection of AKP tactics. I've written elsewhere about the takeover of ATV-Sabah and the tax charges that were raised against the Dogan Media Group. Here's something about Erdogan's tendency to sue critical journalists and cartoonists.


Erdogan successfully sued LeMan over this photomontaged picture, receiving almost $3000 in damages

Frankly, I think that the press intimidation that we've seen in Turkey under the AKP is relatively new—at least I don't remember something on this scale in the 1990s. This doesn't mean that the parties holding power in the 1990s wouldn't have liked to try something, but in the 1990s there were a series of coalition governments that couldn't impose their will upon the media to the extent that Erdogan has tried to do.

There are lots of problems with the Turkish media—at times it can seem very unprofessional, and there is no long history of journalism schools or studying journalism among Turkish journalists, many of whom simply have BAs in History, political science, etc.

But at the same time, the Turkish media is also often relentless, going after stories with a lot more courage than their mainstream counterparts in the United States. Even CNN-Turk, operated by one of the most timid and ridiculous networks in the United States, can be good at times. 

So that's what's good, I think, about Turkish journalism, a profession which has led to the death and imprisonment of thousands of journalists in Turkey over the years.

The main reason why conditions for journalists in Turkey are worse now than they were before, I think, is because the non-AKP stuff (courts cracking down on Kurdish newspapers, insulting Ataturk, etc.) is still going on, while the overall climate regarding the media is becoming more authoritarian.

And that, I think, is something worth talking about.
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Did you know there is a Tatar diaspora in Finland? Well, there is, and Turkish PM Erdogan met with some of the Finnish Tatars recently.

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Foreign bloggers are still celebrating apparent progress in relaxing Turkey's headscarf-in- universities ban.

Now some parents are apparently trying to get their children to wear headscarves in elementary school.


Would this be okay? On both sides of the headscarf debate, too many people are preoccupied with telling women how they should dress and behave. 
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Roger Cohen has an essay on Turkey in the NYT.

I like this piece, especially since it (indirectly) calls into question the foolishness of recent characterizations of Turkish foreign policy as "turning towards the east."

The point, as I've argued elsewhere, is that Turkey wants good relations with its neighbors—something that would help Turkey, its leaders surmise, with both its economic growth and in solving the PKK problem.

Working out good relations with Syria, Iran, and other countries in the regions makes sense for Turkey, even if the US can't stand it.

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Cevap geliyor: As I discussed in a post last week, Allen Iverson is now headed to Turkey!

Lahmacun, the Saturday market, quick access to the ferryboat terminal—Besiktas has got it all, and I think Iverson is going to love it there. There's a 3M Migros, loads of places to get pirate DVDs, and the

I can't wait to see how this works out—-and may just have to take a quick trip to Turkey sometime soon to investigate matters close up.


Take me home to the mahalle! The Answer tearing up at the thought of digging into some cheese kofte and ayran on the backstreets of Besiktas. Afiyet olsun, Cevap! 

If somebody doesn't make a reality show out of Allen Iverson living in Istanbul, then television just doesn't deserve to exist anymore. Think of the possibilities: in one episode, Allen could take a trip to Bodrum, in another episode he could negotiate his first massage in a Turkish bath. Allen goes to Pamukkale, Allen buys a carpet, Allen catches a cold and has to go to the pharmacy, Allen starts taking Turkish lessons—the show writes itself.

Maybe he'll lean on NBA friends from Turkey—Mehmet Okur, for example? Perhaps Iverson could stay with some of Mehmet's relatives for a while until he can find a place of his own. 

The only thing better, of course, would be if Rasheed Wallace were to join his former Pistons teammate in the City of the Sultans, if only to hear Wallace utter his famous catchphrase in Turkish...


"Top yalan söylemez!"
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And now you've run out of N & P!