His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's interview at CBS' 60 minutes

Nesweek "medley" about contemporary Turkey

Three excellent articles about contemporary Turkey's role in the global chessboard by the Newsweek magazine.

Unfortunately due to lots of work I cannot make any critique or analyse them.

I'm waiting for your comments taking into consideartion the older piece about Davutoglu.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/224704/page/1

http://www.newsweek.com/id/224676/page/1

http://www.newsweek.com/id/224713

 

The FP Survey: The Wisdom of the Smart Crowd | Foreign Policy

The Foreign Policy magazin surveyed its top 100 Global Thikers about various issues from what mobile phone they use up to whcich country they consider as the most dangerous!!!
The results are far more than interesting.

What is going on with Turkey?Me,myself and Dr.Davutoglu

For a Greek who is studying or has studied International Relations the most common and maybe the most interesting issue to cope with is the Greek-Turkish Relations.I couldn be no exception! Even though my field of studies has slightly differentiated the interest remains the same and even stronger taking into consideration the better access to data and information I have at the UK. Therefore here are three articles which really raised my interest again about the regional stability of forces at the SE Balkans

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/65634/soner-cagaptay/is-turkey-leaving-the-west?page=show
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=muslims-don8217t8230-2009-11-10
http://online.wsj.com/article SB10001424052748704013004574517210622936876.html
There is an obvious change at Turkey's foreign policy.Turkey tries to get a hegemonic role not just at the Balkans but also at the Middle East and the Muslim world.Turkey tries to play the role of a pioneer of world peace and reconciliation. There are some pionts which indicate Turkey's new strategic plan.In brief the most important and significant are:

• Change in relations with Israel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRB1vQVqdQA,http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4387779&c=FEA&s=INT)
• Closer relations with Iran (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8325373.stm, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=anNJ_8vuGKf0, http://centreforeuropeanreform.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-turkey-irans-friend.html)
• Raprochment with Libya (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey-libya-together-to-expand-to-africa-2009-11-25,http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/93256/turkey-and-libya-to-lift-mutual-visa-requirements.html)
• Meditator between Israel and Syria despite the problems occuring due to Turkey's turbulence with Israel (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/992924.html , http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/blog/show/4637)
• Kurdish issue
  

But the most indicative characteristic is the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Davutoglu(http://www.mfa.gov.tr/ahmet-davutoglu.en.mfa). Here,please allow me making it a little personal. I've met Professor Davutoglu back at 2006 when I've participated at the Eyropean Weekend School at Istanbul,an annual event organised by Center of European Studies of the Bogazici University (translated into the University of Bosphorus) one of the most prestigious academic institutions in Turkey with speakers some of the most important people from Turkey and academias from Trueky,Europe and USA. At that time Dr.Davutoglu was just a professor at Beykent University and an Advisor to the Prime Minister Recep Tayiip Erdogan.I didn't know him at that time and neither did most of the other non-Turkish participants. By the organizers he was presented to us as a Bogazici alumni,with a long carreer as an academia at the Islamic University of Malaysia, at Bogazici University,at Beykent University and at the Military Academy and War School. Before the session during which he would talk,everyone was anxious and really glad that Davutoglu would deliver a speech to us.I asked them why is he so important?My Turkish friends told my that he was,and still is, one of the most important and influential people at the Turkish politics.As they told me,he is a traditional islamist, a very modest academia,a really smart advisor to PM Erdogan and most of all the ideological founder and establisher of the AKP,Erdogan's party.
After having heard so much about him I was really keen on listening what he would say to us andespecailly about Greek-Turkish Relations.Well,during his speech he didn't talk at all about Greek-Turkish Relations!He told that there should be a solution for Cyprus taking into consideration Turkish interests as well as Greek of course. I tried to ask him more about our bilatteral relations but I didn't have a chance.However it was made quite clear that Turkey was not interested only in just coping with the Greek-Turkish issues but wanted to achieve something greater.To make Turkey a key role player not at a regional sphere but at a more wide sphere. Those who have read Davutoglu's book "Stratejic Derinlik"(Strategic Depth),say that all his perspectives and his vision about Turkey are well-stated at this book,which I really wanna find translated into English or Greek but is just not available yet.They say that this book is a handbook for someone who wants to read Davutoglu'smind and interprete Turkey's steps not in the very far future.
For anyone coping with Turkey it must be made clear that Turkey is no longer a small regional actor whose objective is just to become an EU member and be a good friend of USA. Turkey wants a bigger part at the global sphere and Turkey will take it and wont't wait to have it given.

(this piece is not a product of long academic research and cannot be considered an academic essay.
It was written while listening to Broken Flowers OST)





ps.after the publishing of this piece I came across this really interesting article about Prof.Davutoglu
http://www.newsweek.com/id/224713

Is Turkey Leaving the West? | Foreign Affairs

Is Turkey Leaving the West? | Foreign Affairs

robbie at BBC's electric houde 2009-roundhouse Camden

Updating and bilingual!

Long time no see!!!
Now that I'm a student again and furthermore because my MSc is about International Political Communication Advocacy and Campaining, Hathiland's aims had to be modified.

My first goal is to update Hathiland really really more often and also handle with a wider range of issues concerning mostly on my fields of studies.

The second goal,as you have noticed,is the effort to make Hathiland bilingual.I really want to use both languages,Greek and English.Of course,now,I live and study at the UK but my mother language is Greek.So,I'll try to keep a balance between posts in Greek and English.Don't be surprised if you see something written in French...quelques fois le petit francais se leve et veut-il s'exprimer...

Soon enough I'll be back with a post about bilingualism at the UK and the USA...Be patient!!!My MSc requires lots of studying!!!


Genesis 11:1-9 (King James Version)

1 Now the whole Earth used the same language and the same words.
2 And it came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
4 And they said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them."
7 "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth

ThessisMUN 2009

Το κάναμε και αυτό...Πήγαμε στο ThessisMUN...Από το 2004 θυμάμαι στο 2ο έτος στο Πα.Πει. άκουγα για αυτό το MUN από κάποιες συμφοιτήτριες που είχαν σχηματίσει μόνες τους την πρώτη αποστολή του Πα.Πει. και μόνες τους κυνηγούσαν επιχορήγηση και υποστήριξη από το Πανεπιστήμιο.

Με αυτό το θεσμό ήμουν εξοικειωμένος λόγω φίλων σε ιδιωτικά σχολεία οι οποίοι πήγαιναν από μικροί σε MUN.Κάθως πέρασαν τα χρόνια συμμετείχα σε δίφορες εκδήλώσεις στο εξωτερικό(euroscola στο Στρασβούργο, European Week στη Louvain-la-Neuve στο Βέλγιο, στο European Weekend School στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Βοσπόρου στην Κωνσταντινούπολη κ.α.) όμως ποτέ σε MUN. Δεν το επιδίωξα ποτέ να πάω για να είμαι ειλικρινής, δεν το έψαχνα γενικά...

Μέχρι πέρυσι...οπότε και συμμετείχα στο Πανελλήνιο Κοινοβούλιο Νέων που διοργανώνει η πολυαγαπημένη μας SAFIA.Εκεί ξανάκουσα για το Thessis.Λίγο αργότερα λαμβάνω email από τη SAFIA για τις αποστολές στα MUN που ετοιμάζει.Ψάχνω λίγο στο Internet ναι βρίσκω 2 που με ενδιέφεραν το TEIMUN και το SOFIMUN.Ίδιες ημερομηνίες αλλά τα μισά λεφτά.Στέλνω email στη SAFIA και κάνομε συνάντηση όλοι όσοι είναι για MUN και βλέπουμε ποιοι είναι για Σόφια!Μαζευτήκαμε εν τέλει 6-7 άτομα...καθόλου κακό νούμερο!
Για να μην κουράζω...περάσαμε τέλεια παρά τα όσα μικροπροβλήματα αντιμετωπίσαμε εκεί...

Και γυρνάμε πάλι στα του Thessis μετά από αυτή την σύντομη ιστορική αναδρομη.
Με σχεδόν όλους τους φίλους από τον "ακαδημαϊκό" χώρο να ανεβαίνουν Θεσσαλονική είτε ως delegates είτε ως board το πηά απόφαση θα πάω και εγώ...Κάνω αιτησούλα, μπαίνω και στην αποστολή του Πα.Πει., συμμετέχω και όσο μπορώ στις συναντήσεις του Πα.Πει. (στρατιώτης γαρ ο χρόνςο δεν είναι άπλετος) επιλέγω και επιτροπή πολυ γαμάτη! European Parliament-Committee on Foreign Affairs/EPP-ED Bulgaria.Η επιλογή καθόλου τυχαία...Έχω προσομοιώσει άλλες 2 φορές στο παρελθόν το Ευρωπαϊκό Κοοινοβούλιο (με επιτυχία ομολογουμένως χεχεχε) και επίσης πρόεδρος είναι η φίλη και αδελφή από τα παλία, η Μαρία, και το κυριότερο δεν θέλει πολύ μελέτη!!!!Όχι ότι βαριέμαι αλλά όπως είπαμε η φανταρική δεν ενδείκνυται για πολύ μελέτη...

Περάσαμε άψογα και στα sessions και εκτός!Το board ήταν πολύ καλό, είχε δουλέψει πολύ, η δουλειά του φάνηκε και όλα πήγαν καλά, παρά τα μικροπροβλήματα που πάντα υπάρχουν...
Εν κατακλείδι...το Thessis είναι το μεγαλύτερο event για φοιτητές ανθρωπιστικών επιστημών, το μεγαλύτερο reunion φίλων από όλες τις σχετικές σχολές της Ελλάδας, είναι η καλύτερη ευκαιρία να δεις στην Ελλάδα πως λειτουργεί ο μεγαλυτέρος διεθνής οργανισμός, ο ΟΗΕ.

Thank you guys...we had a really great time...

ΥΓ.αναμείνατε στην οθόνη σας για αναρτησούλες σχετικά με την αποστολή του Πα.Πει. του χρόνου και αξιλόγηση του Thessismun 2009...