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E impressions [_2_] abdulhamitbilici [_4_] placedtobuildbridges [_6_] 1453 [_8_] nevzatbayhan [_10_] citycolors [_12_] fatihprivatschools [_14_] necmettinserttaş [_15_]

WORD02

UP?!

walkthelinewithistanbul

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DearreaderandfriendofIstanbul,

wearepleasedtopresenttoyoutheimpressionsofourjourneytoTurkey.OurmissionwasbasedontheideatoinstallIstanbulasacutting-edgefortheglobalEuropeanintegration.„Istanbul,

EuropeanCultureCapital2010“–advisingallcountriesabouttheambitionofaEuropeanyouthparliamenttobesetupinIstanbulinOc-tober2010.ThisisonlyoneofthetargetsofEuropeonline–butitcouldworkeffectively.

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AbdülhamitBilici,agentlemanwithatoughattitude,masterofhundredsofjournalists,editorialjournalists,photographersandgraphicdesigners,alltogetherrepresentingZAMAN,themighty

newspaperinTurkey.ZAMANispresentedinmostoftheEuropeancountrieswithofficesandoutletsintherestoftheworld.

InterviewwithZamanandEuropeonline.

I am looking into the office with awe: huge windows, white colored walls, huge black leather sofas and grey armchairs, a beautiful wooden floor. Nobel, elegant and extensive. Half of the huge floor is meeting room and office. Looking out of the window I can see the Turkish aircraft landing and starting. With a majestic gesture Mr. Abdülhamid Bilici was asked us to take a seat. „This is your office?“, I asked with some amazement. Mr. Bilici replied: „Yes, one of some,“ and his eyes were watchful, awake and fatherly. He seems to be an exceptio-nal man! He sat down on the big sofa in front of us, put his arm on a side table designed by Marcel Breuer and smiled at us. Mr. Bilici is the General Manager of one of the biggest Turkish press agen-cy. This agency belongs to the biggest daily Newspaper „ZAMAN“ and he is responsible for news there. Zaman has 850.000 readers every day – an excel-lent and high quantity for Turkey. Mr. Bilici asked me to start a short presentation about Europe online

and the vision of how to transport the idea of a European youth parlia-ment via the internet. He was sitting in front of me, concentrated on my words and at the end of my accom-plishment he made a grateful decisi-on: „Yes, we will work together. I like what you have told me. You can use our news-content and the content of our web-sites.“ For a few seconds I could not believe what he had said to me, „Wow, that’s a special kind of honesty? Honour? and a great enjoyment for Europe online!” We stood up and he showed us the after work zone: A huge room where employees can relax. Inside this room is an exhibition with 94 awards for the best newspaper artwork since 1993. „How amazing! This company is breathing creativity in all kind of manners!”

Saying good bye to Mr. Bilici, we went out and made a gesture of fare well to this ultra modern building and his master.

editor: mnj.

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PLACEDTOBUILDBRIDGESFifteenyearsagoIhadbeenvisitingIstanbul–thecityofEmper-orConstantine.Irememberthatthetownhadbeennoisy,dirtybutwithamazingatmosphere.Withmanyhistoricalbuildings,churchesandmosques,crowdedplacesandmarkets.Bad,butnevertheless cool. And nowadays, after an unexampled catchupracetoawonderful,modernandprofitablefuture, IwonderandIcan´tbelievemyeyes,thatallhadbeenrealized.Hipclubs,fashionistas,bigGermancarsonthesteeplystreetsandtheim-menseseaoflightsispureandalive;220kilometersfromoneendtotheotherandinbetweenexpensiveloftsandmansions,classyyachts,everywhereluxuryandsuccess.Iamsoproudon

thissmoothtownevenifitisn´tmine–butitcouldbemyhood.Tobehonest, inmymind Ihadbeen removedalready!Thedistrict,theflat,theboat–Ihaveallnoticedinmylistofwi-shes.Butotherwisethisuniquelocationisgettingautoma-tically a big responsibility. Istanbul, thebridgebetweenCatholicismandIslam,betweenEuropeandAsia,modernspirit and tradition, theoldand theyoung, theprospe-rityandpoorness,Istanbul,theoneandonlyhasalottodo.Whatcanwe,IstanbulandEuropeonline,doto-gether?TogetherforoneunitedEurope.Solet´sstartdiscussions,commentsandblogs;ofcoursemoreinformation and knowledge. The government ofIstanbulwillgiveusthedetails,thebackgroundandtheanswersEuropeonlinegivestheirneut-ralvoiceandtherightquestionstoTurkey.Whatahappyday!

ISTANBUL

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Thebiggestcannonwasmorethan8runningmeterslongandhavehadanapertureof80cm.Thecannonshotironballswhichhavehadaweightofhalfaton.Mr.Urbanscannonshadbeenused

bytheosmanicarmy.ThisarmywasmorethantentimesbetterastheByzantinedefense.TheOsmaniansdidthetriumphinByzanz.SultanMehmedhadbeenonthe29thMay1453at8:30amthenewemperorofBy-zanz.BeginningwiththisyeartheIslamstartedtheauthorityoftheIslaminBosporusandByzanzhadbeengiventhename:„Istanbul“.

MR.NEVZATBAYHAN

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Turkey—acountrywhichoffersopenmindtoalldirections!Iknowforsure,thatinGermanybusinessisworkingdiffe-

renttoTurkey.Notsowarmly,notsocordiallyand–mostimportant–notsoinquiringandopen.Thanksalotforthechanceyouhadofferedtous.Sincerelyyours,MichaelJaugstetter

The atmosphere in the room had been a little bit keen. While tea has been served and the beamer was buzzing, I was trying to wire my Power Book. In the meantime, looking serious, I tried to imagine how I could present the Europe online idea about the Euro-pean Youth Parliament made in In-stanbul. I wanted them to understand and to work with us in the future. I´m not able to speak even one word Tur-kish but Ismail Ertug, our adviser, did a real good job to me! He has been translated every single word from Ger-man in Turkish. He did it better than my German accomplishment!

Maria von Stern, staff officer with Eu-rope online, did the introducing. She told about Europe and the big target of Europe online to support Turkey being the connector, the missing link between cultures and religions. To get the position and respect that Turkey is worth to get in the future. Europe online is fighting to connect Turkey and Europe. While Maria von Stern was talking, I opened my heart, and

started to introduce. We all together have to move on the explanation about Europe and Turkey: Prosperity and freedom – that sounds perfect!

How about the European freedom?

How about that this freedom will not only end in „Italy“ but also in „Iran“ and „Iraq“ and all around the world?

Is this imagination phantasm or even naive? If we don´t start to work on it will never happen. So let´s start together with the European youth, all together in Istanbul, culture capital 2010!

The European Youth Parliament is represented by opinion leaders from different countries. Their work is to discuss about politics, sport, culture, design, fashion, music etc. It will be a hard time for all, but at the end they will meet in October 2010 in Istanbul to install in three weeks the following expose: The Contract of Istanbul.

An European youth contract for the Youth. This contract includes and represents on the one hand all visions, wishes and imaginations and on the other hand the fear, adversity and resignation. With this schedule Europe online will go to the Parliament in Brussels. After that action all responsible people will have a better know-ledge and something positive will happen!

Thank you, Mr. Nevzat Bayhan.

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TheairofIstanbulislemon-soakedandfulloflaughterofchild-ren,parentsandgrandparents.Fivetimesadayitiscausedto

vibratebythemany-voicedcalloftheMuezzins.Istanbulischar-mingwithcoloursandwords,andeveryonewhobreathesindeeply

getshungerformore,leaveswithdesireforthe(fl)airofIstanbul.

Fallinginlovewithacity.

Thousand and one pictures in our hearts: Ice which sparkles as fabulous as the waters under the bridges of Bosporus at night; the smell of freshly fried fish which is prepaired on see-sawing ships; the soft breeze from the asian shore which is balancing the warm sunbeams on our skin; the cut head of Medusa deep un-derneath the earth and the carps which seem like creatures from another star. Miniatürk made it possible to get an impression of the richness of the whole count-ry. The temple of Artemis, Hagia Sophia, the soccer-stadion with the anthem and the chants of Galatasaray - could there be a huger difference? Antalya, Anka-ra, Izmir, that for sure, are places where we will have to go soon. And then the Blue Mosque, bright and full of light, where

you can leave behind you the rush of the megapolis: 12 Million inhabitants and this is only the official number. Wit-hout attendance the four of us would not have seen so many things in such a short time.

Shall we say thanks or teşekkür? Even if we did so a thousand times and once more, it could not be intense enough!

editor: mvs.

Mr. Erdal Korkmaz was speaking thoughtful and slowly while using his hands to emphasize some senten-ces. Mr. Erdal Korkmaz is the deputy headmaster of the biggest private school in Turkey with outlets all over the world: FATIH KOLEJI.During the meantime we have been served delicious lentil soup, köfte and sweet desserts. This school has a big Auditorium per over 500 persons, some tenniscourts, a chemistry lab, where DNA-analyses can be done, and a few different athletic rooms. Fatih Koleji Fatih Fen Lisesi, a dependance in Istanbul, got a lot of awards, certi-ficates and cups.Although Turkey has summer holidays, the deputy headmaster of this school broke his private holiday to invite and do all information to us. The Turkish school system is quiet different to the German school system: after 8 years groundschool the disciples going to have a verification. This test depending on the average, allows to visit a high school or university. The branch of stu-dy is going to be decided after this.

A markable aspect of Fatih Koleji is the financing: only 15% of the costs is paid by the government. 85% is paid by free economy companies. These companies are willing to char-ge education. There are no economy or political goals or ambitions in this school. Education is the one and only target. They set up, for example, a school in Namibia, based on the edu-cation of this country.We pay our respect for this open min-ded system, because children are our future. They are going to build with their knowledge, visions and approach the world of tomorrow. We want to help and support them all!

And we say warmful thanks to Mr. Abdullah Tan who had organized all!

editor: neh.

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When we arrived at our guest family´s house, my bag was full of jam jars, made by my grandmother, and diffe-rent german chocolate. Being happy that the first one did not melt under the warm sun of Istanbul and that the second one did not break during the travel, there was just one question left to answer: Would it strike at all the taste of our hosts? Their smile made all doubts disappear.

So we concentrated on the conver-sation in Turkish which we did not understand but tried to follow never-theless. „Ismail Ertug, SPD, Almanya, Avrupa“ were some words that we understood easily. And Ismail – as po-litician used to being the link between different groups – translated during an opulent dinner. Minute by minute the conversation became more direct and in the end we were talking with hands and feets about the history of our nations, the European Union and even zodiac signs. There should have been more time! Also to start with the marvelous dinner again and again:

lentil soup, fried tomatoes, beans and mixed salad, grilled chicken, steak tartar with lettuce leafs, fresh fruit salad, ice cream and baklava, sweet black tea in those thin special glasses and turkish mocha with chocolate are just some of the tasty specialities that nearly made us speechless.

Around midnight we put on our shoes and what had been a handshake at the beginning was an embrace as we left. We are looking forward to the next time, in Turkey or in Germany?

editor: mvs.

„HospitalityinTurkeyisamazing“,Ihadreadinatravelguide.Butthissmallphrasewasnopreparationatall:Weweremorethansurprisedofthewarmwelcomeatthefirsteveningby...,formerofficerattheTurkishairforce,hiswifeandtheir14-yearolddaughter.

WORD!

imprint[_europe online publishing house gmbh_] authors[_maria von stern, nicole emily hoffmann, michael jaugstetter_] contact[_michael.jaugstetter@europeonline-magazin.eu_] mobil[_0049 (0) 176 22 00 123 7_] address[_weigelstrasse 16_92637 Weiden_Germany_]

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