WBEZ | turkey

Taking sides: Let's talk turkey Thanksgiving Eve on the Morning Shift

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 11:00:00 -0600

This Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve, I'll be on The Morning Shift with Tony Sarabia taking your calls to help solve your Thanksgiving food questions. To ask a question, please call 855-848-5551 or email morningshift@wbez.org — and please remember to leave your callback number.

I'm not the only cook in the house. Did you know Tony, also host of Radio M, was once a pastry cook, at Spiaggia no less?

As I mentioned at the end of the show last Wednesday, we're curious about not only your turkey questions, but vegetarian too, despite what some Facebook commenters might think. Vegan, gluten-free and all questions are welcome too.

The only thing I ask: Please Google first. There's a wealth of knowledge out there. Yes, I've cooked in Michelin three-star restaurants but when I have basic recipe questions, I too use my Google fu, and have found most reliable Alton Brown, Simply Recipes and my dear friend, David Lebovitz.

Please feel free to post your questions in the comments below too — thanks.

Turkish films try to push at boundaries

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 11:30:00 -0500

Heres' a contest: Name just one Turkish movie. (And here's a hint: Midnight Express doesn’t count.) If your mind is a blank, don’t despair. Turkish cinema is struggling to establish an identity. It’s part of what Landscapes: A Tour of Recent Turkish Cinema, a series opening September 9th at the Siskel Film Center, is all about.

Like Turkey the country, Turkish cinema is multi-layered. There is a hilarious genre known as the “Turkish Sci-Fi Rip-off Cinema,” with such priceless characters as the Turkish Superman; Badi, the Turkish ET; and Seytan, the Turkish Terrorist.

Theirs is a broad, popular, largely melodramatic cinema. And there is a growing “independent” Turkish cinema, which is quite intellectual, and some of which deals with the anxieties, misaligned relationships, infidelities and betrayals of the middle-class. Its most recognized and much-awarded filmmaker is Nuri Bilge Ceylan (often referred to by Turks as “N.B.C.”), who has won at the Cannes Film Festival and whose most recent film is Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.

The films in the Landscapes program veer across a spectrum of themes and styles. In the opening weekend film Love in Another Language, the feisty your Zeynep works as a telemarketer in a phone boiler room and falls for Onur, a good-looking deaf-mute. Their one-night stand turns into a relationship challenged by Onur’s unresolved past with his parents and Zeynep’s attempts to organize her co-workers in a protest for better working conditions. The second opening weekend film, Our Grand Despair, is more oblique. Two buddies, Cetin and Ender, take in Sayin, a friend’s grief-stricken sister, after her parents die in a car accident. Their male bond is put to a test both by having to care for an unstable young woman, and by both of them falling for Sayin.

An outstanding film in the series is Polluting Paradise, directed by Fatih Akin (who was born and works almost exclusively in Germany). In this documentary, Akin returns to his parents’ home town of Carmburnu, where a massive garbage landfill pollutes the soil, water and air and the residents fight an unmoving bureaucracy. Honey, directed by Semih Kaplanoglu, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. It is a beautiful, rich and sensitive portrait of a rural childhood, largely seen through the eyes of a six-year-old boy with a speech impediment, whose father keeps beehives deep in the forest.

Landscapes: A Tour of Recent Turkish Cinema opens September 9th at the Siskel Film Center.

Are Turkey and Africa the keys to Europe's future?

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:08:00 -0500

Editor's Note: Worldview contributor Robert L. Price was at this past weekend's NATO summit and has been blog throughout the week on the summit and sustainability issues. Today, Price looks at how Western Europe made a historic bet, choosing Greece, Italy and Spain over Turkey and Africa -- and how that bet came up short.

In 2009, I was at a symposium in Chicago given by the Urban Affairs Association. One part of the event discussed Mediterranean cities. Many lecturers and breakout sessions covered cities such as Barcelona, Naples and Athens.

Barcelona was noted for its diversity and rich cultural heritage as a result of its African roots. Spain has a Moorish tradition that clearly influenced its architectural heritage. Spanish trade with Africa, and especially the East, was one of many reasons for its past wealth and glory.

For Naples, the presenter demonstrated how its seaport was one of Italy’s busiest, and how, for prosperity sake, the Italians should consider reorienting towards the South once more. When Italy faced south, like Spain, it knew great prosperity. Then there was Athens. Although much discussion centered on modern Athens, the presenter did not deny its ancient links to Africa, via Egypt, for centuries, if not millennia, and how Greece historically shared riches with Asia Minor.

This week I saw an address sponsored by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Turkish President Abdullah Gul, in town for the NATO summit, was the guest speaker. His talk was quite optimistic:

Despite many global economic risks, the Turkish economy rests on sturdy macro foundations . . . [it has] an economy with strong public finances, sustainable debt dynamics, a sound banking system, functional credit markets.

Countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, which are now at the post-revolutionary stage of institutionalizing the change, Turkey is their most active partner.

In Africa alone, we will have 34 embassies by the end of this year, whereas we had only 12 in 2009.

Greece has been idealized as the cultural, philosophical and historical bedrock of Western civilization. This emotional connection had to score extra points in Greece’s bid for European Union membership. Turkey, on the other hand, has lobbied for membership since 1959, but the Turks were perceived as too big, too poor, too Muslim or too “other” to join the EU.

Now look at Spain, Italy and Greece, all of which ignored their former southern Mediterranean or African trading partners. They are in financial dire straits and represent the weakest economic links of the European Union. Compare them to Turkey, a NATO member, denied admission to the EU club. It embraced its African Mediterranean relationships and now emerges as an economic model for Europe.

Any regrets, EU?

Robert L. Price is an architect and interior designer based in Shanghai, China. He is Worldview's arts and architecture contributor and a Global Cities co-contributor. Price also serves as Senior Associate and Technical Director for Asia at Gensler, a global design firm.

How the NATO peoples helped settle Chicago, Part 3

Thu, 17 May 2012 07:00:00 -0500

Today we conclude our capsule look at how peoples from the 28 NATO countries helped build Chicago.

Belgium—As early as 1854, the government of Belgium identified 83 Belgians as living in the city of Chicago. What there was of a Belgian neighborhood in the city later developed in the few blocks around St. John Berchmans Catholic Church in Logan Square. Since the 1960s that concentration has dispersed.

Germany—Germans were the first ethnic group to come to Chicago in great numbers. In 1850 one-sixth of the city’s population carried the “born in Germany” label. By 1900 a full 25% of Chicagoans were either first- or second-generation German.

They settled on the North Side and up the Lincoln Avenue corridor. They built churches, schools, social halls. They printed books and newspapers, and organized political clubs. They were determined to keep their culture. When one nativist mayor closed the saloons on Sunday, the city’s Germans rioted.

Then came World War I, and a national wave of anti-Germanism. The local Germans became more assimilated. Today, the Dank Haus in Lincoln Square serves as the city’s German-American cultural center. And along with the Irish and the Poles, Germans remain one of Chicago’s largest European ethnic groups. (Hey—those three are my ancestry!)

Hungary—In 1890 there were fewer than 2,000 Hungarians living in Chicago. Within 30 years, that number had swelled to over 70,000. Most of the immigrants took up residence on the South Side, notably in the Burnside neighborhood. There were also Hungarian colonies in East Chicago and Joliet, and in the city around Humboldt Park. Today there is no single concentration of Hungarian settlement.

Lithuania—As anyone who read The Jungle knows, many Chicago Lithuanians lived in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, while working in the Stock Yards itself. The community gradually moved southwest, while struggling to keep its ethnic identity during the years of Soviet incorporation. In the Marquette Park area, a section of 69^th Street was renamed Lithuanian Plaza Court. About 80,000 people of Lithuanian background now live in Chicagoland.

Luxembourg—People from Luxembourg were living on the North Side as early as the 1840s. Within a few decades, a major settlement became established along Ridge Avenue, near St. Henry Catholic Church. A Luxembourger community also sprang up in Niles Center (Skokie). Today about 150,000 Luxembourgers live in various parts of the city and suburbs.

Slovakia—Though there have been Slovaks in Chicago for over 150 years, their numbers can’t be determined with much precision, since Slovakia did not become fully independent until 1993. For much of the 20^th Century, the major concentration of Slovaks was in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, with another settlement in Joliet. The more recent arrivals have gravitated to Garfield Ridge.

Slovenia—Slovenia was first part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and later became a founding state of Yugoslavia, so tracing Chicago’s Slovenians is not always easy. The earliest local colonies were on the Lower West Side and in Joliet. Community life centered around the Catholic parish, though there was also a large secular element. Today there is a Slovenian Cultural Center in suburban Lemont.

Turkey—Chicago’s Turkish population has always been small and dispersed. The Turkish American Cultural Alliance, located in the Dunning neighborhood, has worked to promote art, history, and Turkish heritage.

United States—Before the Europeans came, the largest Native group in current Chicago was the Potawatomi. The tribes were forced to cede their lands during the 1830s, though a few families remained. Since World War II there has been a significant migration from the reservations to urban areas. Today the American Indian Center serves the 40,000 people from nearly 100 tribes living in the Chicago area.

Worldview 4.26.12

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:16:00 -0500

Turkey is working to block official attempts by Israel to attend the NATO summit. Chicago-area businessman and Turkey scholar Mehmet Celebi tells Worldview what’s behind the diplomatic tensions. Also, in Iraqi Kurdistan, a student Shakespeare troupe is becoming internationally recognized for performing the Bard’s plays in their original tongue. Worldview speaks with troupe director Peter Friedrich and actor Ahmad Muhammad Taha about Shakespeare’s role in Iraq. And Rob Cahill teamed up with Chicago bird conservationists to protect the winter home of birds that migrate through Chicago by reforesting a section of a Guatemalan cloud forest. Rob tells Worldview about his group, Community Cloud Forest Conservation.

Ahead of NATO summit in Chicago, Turkey looks to thwart Israel’s attendance

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:08:00 -0500

The United States wants to see the best possible relationship between Turkey and Israel. But tensions left after Israel's 2010 raid on a Turkish flotilla are stifling any friendly banter. A series of news reports have said Turkey is attempting to veto any Israeli participation in next month’s NATO summit in Chicago. Worldview talks with Chicago-area businessman and Turkey scholar Mehmet Chelabi aboutTurkey's growing influence in Middle East politics.

Syria’s Kurds complicate Turkey’s approach toward Assad

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:33:00 -0500

Once one of Syria’s closest allies, Turkey has been a vocal opponent of Assad’s violent crackdown against anti-government protesters. But while Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has talked tough, he’s stopped short of military intervention. One major reason for the restraint is Turkey’s volatile relationship with the region’s Kurds. While Kurds only make up about ten to 15 percent of Syria's population, their allegiances are crucial to understanding the potential for broader instability in the region. Worldview discusses the Kurdish situation with Ali Ezzatyar, attorney and director of the steering committee for the Berkeley Program on Entrepreneurship and Democracy in the Middle East.

U.N., E.U. presidency step up pressure to reunite Cyprus

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:03:00 -0600

Compared to other seemingly intractable political struggles, the one between Turkish and Greek Cypriots has received little attention in the last few years. But that’s about to change.

This summer, the Greek Cypriots are poised to take over the rotating E.U. presidency. In reaction, Turkey is threatening to freeze ties with the E.U. if Cyprus assumes control without a deal to reunify the island. The Republic of Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey took over the northern part of the island in response to a Greek military coup that aimed to make the island a part of Greece.

Recently, the United Nations has stepped up efforts to move the two parties toward reunification. In the next few days, Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders will meet with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to discuss a possible deal.

Endy Zemenides, the executive director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council, tells Worldview what these latest developments might mean for Cyprus.

Worldview 1.20.12

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:41:00 -0600

Turkey is threatening to cut off relations with the European Union if Cyprus takes over the rotating E.U. presidency, as planned later this year. The U.N. will bring together both Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders this weekend to move negotiations forward. Chicagoan Endy Zemenides, executive director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council, tells Worldview what’s at stake. Also, the European Union just sanctioned the U.S. on the death penalty, passing legislation that limits our access to the drugs we use for executions. Worldview delves into this issue with Sandra Babcock, clinical director at the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern Law School. She helped push for the E.U.’s recent legislation. And, film contributor Milos Stehlik reviews Wages of Fear, a film by master post-war French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot.

Questions raised about Turkish government's effort to exert control over Internet

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:28:00 -0600

Amidst political turmoil in countries like Syria, Egypt and Libya, Turkey has asserted itself as a regional leader and model for democracy in the Islamic world. But ramped up government controls over Internet access could tarnish Turkey’s global image.

The new rules were introduced three months ago but didn’t come into effect until November for "technical reasons," according to the government. Tens of thousands of Turks have already gone to the streets to protest the controls, marching under the motto "Hands off my Internet!" While officials call the Internet filters "voluntary," fears persist that it could pave the way to even more restrictive censorship.

Matthew Brunwasser's report originally aired on Deutsche Welle. Worldview acquired it through the Public Radio Exchange.