Atatürk monument to be removed from Istanbul square

The Atatürk monument in Istanbul's Kadıköy square will be removed in line with an upcoming building project, private broadcaster NTV has reported.

The controversial overtaking of the Haydarpaşa building was also part of the same project, which aims to reorganize the Kadıköy square.

An extension building to a planned culture center is set to replace the Atatürk monument, according to (NTV)

Turkey's top statesmen pay respect to Ataturk

AA Photo

Turkey's top statesmen attended ceremonies today honoring the 74th anniversary of modern Turkey's founder Ataturk's death, daily Hurriyet reported.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Parliament head Cemil Cicek, main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Deputy Presidents Bulent Arinc and Bekir Bozdag and others were all present.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not attend the ceremonies due to his commitments abroad.

Thousands of policemen were positioned at Anitkabir. (hurriyetdailynews)

Atatürk to be remembered with photos

The exhibition, ‘Atatürk: A person more than one,’ opens on Nov 10 and explore various stages of Atatürk.

The Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation will host a new exhibition commemorating the 75th anniversary of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s death.

The exhibition, titled “Atatürk: A person more than one,” will open on Nov. 10 and explore the various stages of the founder of the Turkish Republic’s life through photographs.

In the exhibition catalogue, curator Ekrem Işın writes the following of Atatürk: “He emerged from the old times of fire, betrayal, and decadence. His personality was hammered by reality on the anvil of life. He was thus never bent out of shape; he knew to stand upright and say ‘No!’ His honor was the honor of these lands. He remembered the forgotten, lent a hand to the fallen. ‘The Turkish people are hardworking, the Turkish people are intelligent,’ were his own words. There is not a single other leader in the history of Anatolia that attains the reality behind these words with their ideas and actions. He named his country and committed his endeavors to the integrity of this nation. We cherish his memory with the utmost respect.”

The exhibition will be on display until Nov. 30. (hurriyetdailynews)

Ministry ‘allows’ laying wreaths on Nov 10

This archieve photo shows students paying respects to Atatürk at Anıtkabir. DAILY NEWS photo

The representatives of political parties and NGOs will be allowed to lay wreaths at Atatürk monuments without official permission on Nov. 10, the 74th anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, according to a circular from the Interior Ministry.

The circular, sent by the Interior Ministry to all 81 governorates in the country, underlined that it was obligatory for all district officials to lay wreaths at Atatürk monuments in the places where they are serving.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will not be attending the ceremonies in Ankara, as his return from the Bali Democracy Forum in Indonesia has been delayed due to his surprise visit to Brunei. Erdoğan is expected to return to Turkey on Nov. 11.

According to the circular, contrary to past practices, the representatives of political parties and NGOs will not have to request official permission in order to lay wreaths at Atatürk monuments across the country. Those wishing to lay wreaths, however, will still have to inform the necessary district officials beforehand.

The circular also introduces new rules regarding public press statements. The Interior Ministry, citing public safety, has limited the length of press statements to two hours, and participants will not be allowed to use any sound devices other than handheld speakers.

Today’s anniversary ceremonies in the capital Ankara are set to be tension-filled. The General Staff has announced that ordinary citizens will be allowed entry to Anıtkabir, Atatürk’s mausoleum, only after 10.00 a.m., despite demands from NGOs that a minute of silence be observed in the area at 9.05 a.m., the exact moment that Atatürk passed away. (Hürriyet Daily News)

Memorial for Atatürk stirs fresh debate

Potential tensions loom ahead of the 74th anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, on Nov. 10. The General Staff has announced that ordinary citizens will be allowed entry to Anıtkabir, Atatürk’s mausoleum, only after 10.00 a.m., despite demands from NGOs that a minute of silence be observed in the area at 9.05 a.m., the exact moment Atatürk passed away.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will not be attending tomorrow’s ceremonies in Ankara. He was expected to be back in Turkey for the commemorations but is paying a surprise one-day visit today to Brunei at the invitation of its sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah.

The General Staff, who are responsible for the security of Anıtkabir, announced on Nov. 6 that the mausoleum would be closed to visitors on Nov. 9 due to preparations for the official ceremonies of Nov. 10. Ordinary citizens will be permitted to visit Anıtkabir starting at 10 a.m. on the anniversary of his death, as in previous years.

The statement from the General Staff came after NGOs lead by the Turkey Youth Union (TGB), which was the primary organizer of the Republic Day rally in front of the former Parliament building on Oct. 29, called for a minute of silence in Anıtkabir at 9:05 a.m. on Nov. 10.

Over 50,000 people gathered in Ankara’s Ulus Square in front of the former Parliament building to celebrate the anniversary of the foundation of the Republic, despite the Governor of Ankara’s ban. Police used pepper gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd as they marched toward Anıtkabir.

Official ceremonies are normally held in Anıtkabir every Nov. 10, as dignitaries led by the President observe a minute of silence at 9:05 a.m. Visitors are not allowed access to Anıtkabir for security reasons until 10.00 a.m. However, this year, NGOs demanded to be allowed to observe a minute of silence at Anıtkabir and the TGB announced that they will be there at 9:00 a.m.

Anıtkabir security officials reportedly denied that there was a ban on visitors, indicating that they are applying the same procedure as they did previous years. (hurriyetdailynews)

Row over Atatürk heats up at charter commission

BDP deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder (3rd L) comments on Atatürk create tension in the charter committee meeting. AA photo

Squabbles marred Parliament’s Internal Affairs Commission during a debate on a draft bill on metropolitan municipalities, after Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) lawmaker Altan Tan said that not everybody should be obliged to like the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The commission was yesterday debating a draft resolution submitted to Parliament by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) last week. According to the draft bill, new districts will be formed in new metropolitan municipalities and 52 non-metropolitan cities. Furthermore, towns with populations of less than 2,000 will cease to exist as separate legal entities.

Lawmakers from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) have slammed the draft bill. MHP lawmaker Nevzat Korkmaz claimed that the bill aimed to disintegrate Turkey by strengthening the metropolitan municipalities. “The MHP is against this bill which serves the political objectives of the PKK [the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] and would harm Turkey’s unitary structure,” he said.

The CHP’s Birgül Ayman Güler, for her part, argued that the bill would pave the way for administrative federalism in Turkey. “This draft law is a part of the AKP’s presidential system project,” Güler said.

BDP deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder rebuffed the CHP and BDP lawmakers, saying “Do you have to say ‘Kurds will benefit from this amendment’ to oppose this draft bill. Your point of view will divide this country.”

When Önder said Atatürk’s motto “Peace at home peace in the world” arose from that era’s necessities, the CHP and MHP lawmakers accused him of insulting Atatürk. “Atatürk was the biggest genius of the century, why would I criticize him?” Önder said in response.

Wading into the discussion, BDP deputy Altan Tan said: “Nobody is obliged to like Atatürk.”
Korkmaz harshly reacted to this, calling on Tan to leave the commission room. “You don’t have the right to speak ill of Atatürk under this roof. You must go out if you insult Atatürk here,” he said.

The commission chair decided to call a recess when he was unable to calm the lawmakers down. (Hürriyet Daily News)

Atatürk's gun to be auctioned off

AA photo

A Browning handgun that was custom-made for modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, is now on the market for a price of 72,000 Turkish Liras, private broadcaster NTV has reported.

Golden letters spell "General Mustafa Kemal" on the gun, which was made as a present to Atatürk from the then-Argentinean President Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, but officials are not sure whether the weapon ever reached its destination.

The gun will be sold at a Christie's auction on Sept. 26 in London.
(Hurriyet Daily News)

Books read by Atatürk available on a website

Books read by Atatürk are now available on the Internet.

Istanbul University’s (IU) Library and Documentation Department has transferred books read by the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, to the Internet environment, daily Hürriyet reported. Within the scope of a project titled “Reading with Atatürk” website visitors can tour the IU Library of Rare Works with a simulation they can download and choose books to read from among 175 works.

Following the declaration of the Turkish Republic, Atatürk sent the books in Yıldız Palace to Istanbul University to form a library. Later on, when he was in Istanbul, Atatürk asked for some of the books in this library and read them.

Books in many fields from history to literature and from sociology to politics have been kept in this library and are used by researchers.

Atatürk also took notes in these books, underlined some sentences or wrote his views on them. Now people are able to see and read all these books thanks to the project. The project, which aims to introduce Atatürk as a learned person, can be reached through the website www.ataturkleokumak.istanbul.edu.tr. (Istanbul-Hürriyet Daily News)

Google blocks access to videos insulting Atatürk: report

Political commentary remains a prime target as governments increase the number of requests for Google to remove material from the reach of Internet users.

The Internet giant yesterday released its fifth semi-annual Transparency Report providing insights into requests by countries around the world to "take down" content from search results or Google venues such as YouTube.

"Just like every other time before, we've been asked to take down political speech," Google senior policy analyst Dorothy Chou said.

"It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect -- Western democracies not typically associated with censorship."

Requests from Turkish information technologies officials centered on videos of the founder of modern-day Turkey, and Google responded by making the targeted clips unavailable in that country.

The number of requests from the United States doubled in the second half of last year. Ukraine, Jordan and Bolivia showed up for the first time on the list of countries out to have online material removed, according to Google.

Google reported that it went along with slightly more than half of the approximately 1,000 requests it received to remove material or links.

The transparency report doesn't provide insights regarding countries such as China where tight Internet controls allow for blocking of content, eliminating the need to ask Google to take down content.

From the start of July through December of last year, Google complied with approximately 65 percent of the more that 467 court orders to remove material and with 47 percent of the more than 561 request without judicial backing.

"We noticed that government agencies from different countries would sometimes ask us to remove political content that our users had posted on our services," Chou said.

Google said the number of requests has grown steadily during the past two years.

Spanish regulators asked Google to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles in newspapers referencing private individuals or public figures, including mayors and public prosecutors.

In Poland, a public institution asked Google to remove links to a website criticizing it. Chou said that Google did not comply with those requests in either country.

An electoral court order from Brazil resulted in Google removing four profiles from its Orkut social network for political content.

Broad defamation laws in Brazil allow for obtaining court orders to remove even truthful information from the Internet, according to Google. The law there also reportedly bans showing parodies of candidates during elections, leading to requests for removal of material such as bits by celebrity comedians.

Among the requests turned down by Google was one from Canadian officials for the removal of a YouTube video of a Canadian citizen peeing on his passport and flushing it down a toilet.

The number of content removal requests received by Google in India was 49 percent higher in the second half of last year than in the first six months.

Pakistan's Ministry of Information Technology asked Google to remove six YouTube videos that satirized the country's military and senior politicians. Google did not comply with that request. G

oogle said it did terminate five YouTube accounts at the behest of the United Kingdom Association of Police Officers, which contended they promoted terrorism.

The Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand asked Google to remove 149 YouTube videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy there. Google restricted 70 percent of the videos from view online in Thailand.

"We realize that the numbers we share can only provide a small window into what's happening on the Web at large," Chou said. "But we do hope that by being transparent about these government requests, we can continue to contribute to the public debate about how government behaviors are shaping our Web." (SAN FRANCISCO - Agence France-Presse)

Greek 'Führer' vows to ‘take back İzmir' after Istanbul

A member of the extreme right Golden Dawn party holds a flag bearing their party's logo during an election campaign rally. REUTERS photo

The leader of the Greek extreme right-wing Golden Dawn party, Nikos Mihaloliakos, has promised to “take back İzmir" a week after saying his party wanted “Istanbul back."

Mihaloliakos, nicknamed the "Greek Führer," said they would take back Turkey's Black Sea region as well during a party rally yesterday in the city of Thessaloniki, daily Milliyet reported.

"We will take back Istanbul, İzmir and the Black Sea," Mihaloliakos said during the rally while addressing accusations of racism that have been directed at his party. "Yes, we are nationalists and racists. We are not hiding that."

Mihaloliakos also criticized the mayor of Thessaloniki for wanting to name a street after modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was born in Thessaloniki in 1881 when the city was still under Ottoman rule. (From online dispatches-Hurriyet Daily News)

Turkey's first coin without Atatürk now in use

The Turkish mint has distributed the Republic’s first coins not to feature Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s visage on either of its sides, daily Cumhuriyet reported.

The coins, a million of which are now in use, were made as souvenirs to mark the 10th anniversary of the Turkish Olympics, an event in which children from around the world come to Turkey to display their prowess in Turkish.

The use of coins has stirred a public debate as some citizens disliked the new arrangement, saying it was part of planned state propaganda to discredit modern Turkey's founder.

"It's unacceptable that these coins, supposedly made as souvenirs, are being used," one person told Cumhuriyet (Hurriyet Daily News)

May 19 kicks off amid controversy

Following the government’s controversial initiative to curb military presence in celebrations marking national holidays, authorities have denied a number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and opposition politicians permission to stage such ceremonies on the anniversary of May 19.

The Interior Ministry issued an official notice indicating that no one except the civilian authorities may lay wreaths in provinces of their districts within the scope of May 19 celebrations. Reports indicated the notice was issued in accordance with the regulations on the celebration of national holidays. Many NGOs upset by the new regulations, however, have announced that they will lay wreaths at Atatürk monuments in their provinces regardless.

Citing the new regulations, the Governor’s Office in the southwestern province of Isparta refused to grant permission for the provincial office of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) to hold a wreath-laying ceremony at an Atatürk monument in celebration of May 19.

Representatives of a dozen NGOs came together in the Black Sea province of Samsun to protest against the new regulations, which stipulate that only the Youth and Sports Provincial Directorates and athletes may lay wreaths on Atatürk monuments. The protestors laid wreaths on Samsun’s Atatürk monument one day before the actual holiday.

İsmail Koncuk, the head of the Turkish Public Workers’ Labor Union (Kamu-Sen), said the holiday would now be celebrated with a modest program and expressed his sorrow over the new regulations.
The celebrations organized by the Istanbul Governor’s Office will begin with a ceremony in Taksim Square, according to reports.

According to a recent regulation issued by the Cabinet, the celebration of The Day of Youth and Remembrance of Atatürk on May 19 are no longer to include official ceremonies, parades or lavish shows at stadiums. (ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News)

Two ceremonies to be held for Atatürk statue

Two rival ceremonies will be held for the 22-meter-Atatürk statue. DHA photo

Turkey’s largest Atatürk statue, made by the founder and executive board chairman of the Kahvecioğlu Foundation, Sıtkı Kahvecioğlu, at a cost of 4 million Turkish Liras in the Black Sea province of Artvin, will be unveiled on May 19. However Kahvecioğlu said he had not been invited to the official ceremony by the Artvin Governor’s Office would hold his own.

Speaking to the press in Atatepe, where the 22-meter statue is located, Kahvecioğlu said when he had attempted to construct the statue, which was one of his dreams, the Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sport had asked his support for a shooting range.

“We agreed to build a shooting range and the Atatürk statue on an area of 7,000 square meters. I built the shooting range and Turkey’s largest Atatürk statue next to it. The governor’s office asked me to hand over the statue, and I told them that I would not hand it over to anyone. We had discussions with Governor Necmettin Kalkan, and he told me they would hold the unveiling on May 19 and would not invite me to the ceremony. The statue will be unveiled on May 19 at a ceremony and they did not invite me.”

Kahvecioğlu said he had asked to hold the unveiling ceremony on March 7 with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “But he had another meeting on this date. I have no problem with any politicians. I am finished with earthly affairs and am preparing for the afterlife. I wanted Republican People’s Party [CHP] chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, but the governor is making a program for the unveiling of the statue that is completely his and does not include me. So I have sent 4,000 invitations; they will organize their ceremony at 10:30 a.m., and I will organize mine at 1:30 p.m.,” he said.
(ARTVİN - Doğan News Agency)

AKP government scales down national day festivities

This photo shows ‘foreign invaders’ during a reenactment of the War of Independence at a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the rescue of Şanlıurfa from invaders. The reenactment demonstrations of Turkish victories will not be held anymore. DHA photo

The celebration of national holidays will no longer include military parades and lavish shows at stadiums, with the government’s recent move to curb the army presence in celebrations to mark the national holidays

The government has significantly overhauled and scaled down official ceremonies on national holidays and commemoration days, removing the controversial reenactment demonstrations of Turkish victories over hostile forces and further curbing the profile of the military.

Under a regulation issued by the Cabinet and published in the Official Gazette over the weekend, only the Republic Day of Oct. 29 will be celebrated as a state event, under the patronage of the President, who will lead the ceremony at Atatürk’s mausoleum and host a reception in the evening at Çankaya Palace. The new regulation also confirmed the President’s takeover of the Victory Day celebrations on Aug. 30 from the chief of general staff, who had up to now always received the greetings and hosted the reception at military facilities. Victory Day will be the only national holiday to retain a military parade. However, the highest administrative official will lead provincial ceremonies, accompanied by the local commander and the mayor.

North Korean style shows
Government officials have long criticized the celebration of national holidays as old-fashioned and resembling those in totalitarian countries such as North Korea and the former Soviet Union. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hailed the new regulations in a speech in the southern city of Adana on May 5. “The turning points in our history were highlighted only in their military context and confined to obligatory official ceremonies that overlooked the enthusiasm behind them. We are lifting the dark official curtain and military outlook from our national holidays,” Erdoğan said.

The celebration of National Sovereignty and Children’s Day on April 23 and The Day of Youth and Remembrance of Atatürk on May 19 will no longer include official ceremonies, parades and lavish shows at stadiums. At the government level, the ministers of education and sports and youth will respectively issue messages to mark the two holidays. They will attend simple ceremonies in a province of their choosing, which will include only the laying of a wreath at an Atatürk monument, the playing of the national anthem and the raising the national flag up a flagpole. Other festivities to be organized by local committees will feature no official reception of greetings and parades.

The anniversaries of historical days and events commemorating Atatürk on a local level will be organized by the office of the provincial governor. These may include conferences, exhibitions, contests, music and dance shows, but again no official parades or receptions of greetings. In practice, this means that the regulation puts an end to the often criticized reenactments of battles between Turks and enemy forces that have been usually staged on days marking the liberation of individual cities from occupation. (ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News)

Children moved to tears of joy by Atatürk look-a-like

An Atatürk look-a-like visited a series of elementary schools in the İzmit district of Kocaeli, leading students to shed tears of joy, Doğan news agency reported.

Many of the students who came face to face with Göksel Kaya, dressed as modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, went into a frenzy of joy and confusion. Some cried, embracing him in tears while others were frozen in their spots.

"Aren't you dead?" one of the students asked Kaya.

The students reportedly did not want Kaya to leave their schools.

Kaya's school visits were part of a campaign to teach elementary students about April 23, National Sovereignty and Children's Day. (hurriyetdailynews)

Atatürk's handwriting in digital font

An entrepreneur in the northwestern province of Bursa has developed a digital font for Microsoft Word documents that mimics Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s handwriting.

It is a deficiency for Turkey not to have a font in the style of Atatürk’s handwriting, when thousands of fonts exist, said Murat Özbalcı, entrepreneur. “I have answered more than 200 phone calls just today, and thousands of people have visited our website to download the font. I am not attempting to copyright the font, and am not demanding royalties. I just want to be remembered as the one who transformed Atatürk’s handwriting for use online,” Özbalcı told the Hürriyet Daily News today.

A software firm called Art and Sign Studio, based in the United States, prepared the font for Özbalcı after “intensely” studying samples of Atatürk’s handwriting for three months.

“As a Turk, I wanted to use this font, so I began to search for a software company in Turkey that could produce it, but could not reach one,” Özbalcı said. The font is available for free download at artikeldeko.com.tr/atafont.asp. Özbalcı said this is his modest gift to Turkey for April 23, National Independence and Children’s Day. (Erdem Güneş-hurriyetdailynews)