The EU Commission's progress report deals with a polarized society and a government that takes repressive measures against citizens who assert their democratic rights.There is no doubt that the Gezi Park demonstrations in May and June, which spread to most of Turkey, represent a seismic change in Turkish society and have opened up fault lines which earlier may not have been apparent. What began as a demonstration against the "development" of a small park in the center of Istanbul ended as a widespread protest against the AKP government -- and particularly Prime Minister Erdoğan's authoritarian rule.
The European Commission in its latest progress report on Turkey has recognized this change when it writes of "the emergence of vibrant, active citizenry;" and according to Turkey's President Abdullah Gül, who in the report is praised for his conciliatory role, this development is "a new manifestation of our democratic maturity." The Turkish government, however, has chosen to see these demonstrations as a challenge to its authority and has reacted accordingly.
The report mentions various repressive measures taken by the government, including the excessive use of force by the police, columnists and journalists being fired or forced to resign after criticizing the government, television stations being fined for transmitting live coverage of the protests and the round-up by the police of those suspected of taking part in the demonstrations.
However, there is, in the EU report, no mention of the campaign of vilification led by the Prime Minister against the protesters, or reprisals against public employees who supported or took part in the protests; also, measures taken to prevent the recurrence of mass protests, such as tightened security on university campuses, no education loans for students who take part in demonstrations and a ban on chanting political slogans at football matches.
Not only the demonstrators themselves have been targeted but also the international media, which Prime Minister Erdoğan has accused of being part of an international conspiracy to destabilize Turkey. The "interest rate lobby" and "the Jewish diaspora" have also been blamed. As the Commission notes, the Turkish Capital Markets Board has launched an investigation into foreign transactions to account for the 20% drop on the Istanbul Stock Exchange between May 20 and June 19, which had more to do with the U.S. Federal Reserve's tapering than the Gezi Park protests.
In August, however, a report on the Gezi Park protests by the Eurasia Global Research Center (AGAM), and chaired by an AKP deputy, called the government's handling of the situation "a strategic mistake" and pointed out that democracy-valuing societies require polls and dialogue between people and the local authorities.
Polarization
The Commission is correct, therefore, when it concludes that a divisive political climate prevails, including a polarizing tone towards citizens, civil society organizations and businesses. This conclusion is reinforced by the observation that work on political reform is hampered by a persistent lack of dialogue and spirit of compromise among political parties. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the need for systematic consultation in law-making with civil society and other stakeholders.This division was underlined by Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek in June, when, at a conference, he deplored the lack of a spirit of compromise in intellectual or political circles. This lack is not only illustrated by the occasional fistfight between parliamentary deputies, but also when the AKP government in July voted against its own proposal in the mistaken belief that it had been submitted by the opposition. Or when the opposition two days later passed its own bill while the government majority had gone off to prayers.
President Gül, in a message of unity to mark the start of Eid al-Fitr (in August, at the end of Ramadan), had called on Turkey to leave polarization behind and unite for the European Union membership bid. But to create a united Turkey will be difficult, given the attitude of the present government. Even the democratization package presented by Prime Minister Erdoğan at the end of September does not indicate any substantive change in the government's majoritarian approach to democracy.
Irrespective of the Prime Minister's reference to international human rights and the EU acquis [legislation], both lifting the headscarf ban for most public employees and a number of concessions to the Kurdish minority can be seen as a move to boost Erdoğan's popularity ahead of the local elections in March.
A curious addition to the package, an amendment to the Penal Code making it a punishable offence to intervene in people's lifestyles, was nullified a week later when a TV presenter was fired after the AKP government's spokesman, Hüseyin Çelik, complained that her cleavage was "extreme." The sense of outrage driving the Gezi Park protests was, in fact, directed at the government's intervention in people's lifestyles, in opposition to Erdogan's avowed aim to create "a religious generation".
On October 22 the EU's General Affairs Council will discuss the opening of a new negotiating chapter with Turkey on regional policies; negotiations had been delayed after Turkey's crackdown on the Gezi Park protesters. The EU's commitment to continuing Turkish accession talks, however, is no longer matched by a corresponding interest from Turkey.
Polls indicate a waning support for EU membership -- only 19% now believe Turkey will become a member -- and only recently in the Turkish daily, Star, Prime Minister Erdogan's chief adviser, Yiğit Bulut, argued that Turkey should abandon its bid, in favor of becoming a leader of "a new world order" emerging in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.
In October at the Istanbul Forum, another of Erdoğan's chief advisers, Ibrahim Kalın, dismissed the Eurocentric world vision and spoke of the conscious decision of Turkish policy makers to redefine Turkey's strategic priorities in the 21st century. Turkey's decision to adopt a Chinese air defense system, rather than one from another NATO partner, can be seen as a step in this new geopolitical orientation.
Robert Ellis, a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute, is a regular commentator on Turkish affairs in the Danish and international press.Read more http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4026/turkey-divided=========================================================================
Neo-Ottoman Cuisine Needs Fusion |
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Chef Mehmet Yalcinkaya prepares seafood fusion a la high heels in this undated photo. (photo by Chef Mehmet Yalcinkaya)
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In
a phone conversation, a dear friend wondered whether it would be
terribly orientalist to ask if I would be interested in dining in the
ambiance of an Ottoman palace over a menu titled “Aphrodisiac tastes.”
It probably would have been an inappropriate question if the person on
the other end of the line had not been my 26-year-old former student,
Dina, from Egypt. Diligently planning her trip from Cairo to Istanbul,
Dina came across one of the most amazing restaurants, Asitane (which means Constantinople), a shining star of Ottoman cuisine in Istanbul since 1991.
No one interested in Middle Eastern or European politics could escape the term “neo-Ottoman”
in the last decade. A renowned Turkish historian, Kemal Karpat, traces
the concept back to 1974; Greeks apparently came up with it to indicate
Turkey’s desire to be more involved in lands previously under Ottoman
rule. The term has since been used to define Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s
foreign policy doctrine. Although Davutoglu relentlessly declares, “I
am not a neo-Ottoman,” his name has become synonymous with
neo-Ottomanism. Despite initial hopes that it would result in
accomplishments, neo-Ottomanism in the last couple of years has only
seen an ambiguous foreign policy strategy at best, and a failed foreign policy strategy
at worst. However, the spirit of the ancestors — the Ottomans — has
been felt in various aspects of life in Turkey, from music to soap
operas, from fashion to perfume.
If we ask how the idea of neo-Ottomanism has affected the food scene in Turkey and globally, the initial feedback is that it has brought mixed blessings. First, it is fair to say, you can find an Ottoman Empire-inspired Turkish restaurant in several European cities as well in the Middle East. Any frequent traveler to Cairo would point you to Osmanly Restaurant, in the Kempinski Nile Hotel, and in Doha, Qatar, many expats would concur that the best Turkish food is served at Sukar Pasha Restaurant. In many restaurants, a common point of interest is a yearning for the palace era, for upscale dining with Ottoman ambiance and a few signature dishes. The most attractive menus include a few words about one of the famous sultans, Suleiman the Magnificent, and his beloved wife, Hurrem Sultan, who are all-time favorites.
Ottoman cuisine, centered on Istanbul, first and foremost represents the tradition of fusion. It had cosmopolitan impact of several different regions from Balkans to Arabian Peninsula, from the Mediterranean to Persian cultures. However, the palace kitchens refined all these traditions and ingredients. Therefore, any credible Imperial Palace menu would have to inform the customer about the origins of its recipe. If you are ever served a dish with the commentary “Hurrem Sultan’s favorite” and the dish has tomatoes, you can be confident Hurrem never tasted that dish because tomatoes had not yet been introduced to the Old World.
One of the Ottoman palace’s hidden treasures was its kitchens, where recipes were guarded by rather secretive chefs, who arrived at the palaces from all corners of the empire. Only documents from foreign travelers’ memoirs, important celebrations like circumcision ceremonies of shahzades (princes) and analysis of documents from the palaces — now museums — give us clues about the ingredients and methods of cooking. It is a meticulous process to discover these recipes written in Ottoman — using Arabic script and Turkish, Persian and Arabic words.
The last decade of Turkish politics have been rich with the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) rhetoric on the greatness of “our imperial ancestors.” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continuously refers to the Sultan’s legacy as an inspiration. Yet, the sultans ruled a multicultural empire with tens of different languages, religious beliefs, and culinary traditions.
How much of this culinary richness is preserved and celebrated in contemporary Istanbul? Istanbul, home to 20,000 Jews — their number was more than 200,000 at the turn of the 20th century —is not an easy place to keep kosher. Sibel Pinto, author of the book The Evolution of the Sephardic Cuisine in Turkey: Five Centuries of Survival, told Al-Monitor that she knows of only two kosher restaurants in Istanbul. One is Levi’s in Eminonu, very close to the Spice Market, which has been a long-respected establishment. The other is a fairly new restaurant located in Sisli named La Casa de Barinyurt Restaurant. How neo-Ottoman can you be if different cultures are not flourishing in the imperial city?
Pinto told Al-Monitor, “It is exciting to see the renaissance of Ottoman Palace recipes, from sherbets to desserts, pilafs, especially meat dishes with dried fruits and nuts. Long-forgotten tastes are remembered.” Pinto added that Turkish cuisine now utilizes a wider variety of ingredients from all over Anatolia.
However, world-renowned chef Mehmet Yalcinkaya, who specializes in fusion and modern Turkish cuisine, had a different perspective. Yalcinkaya told Al-Monitor, “Traditional recipes of our cuisine require lengthy preparation, and it is rather challenging to market the food to the world audiences. Can Turkish food in the international arena go beyond kebabs and baklava?” Yalcinkaya rightfully acknowledges the rising demand for Turkish and Ottoman cuisine all around the world as the Turkish presence in the international sphere expands; however he is also well aware of the challenges Turkish cuisine faces in standardization and marketing to different audiences’ palates.
Ottoman cuisine gained a precious reputation, not only because of the fusion of a variety of ingredients into gourmet dishes but also because of the fusion of a variety of cooking methods into a rich culinary tradition. Efe Moral, a journalist and a serious gourmet of Greek and Aegean cuisine, told Al-Monitor, “Anatolian traditional cuisine has numerous hidden gems and Turkish cuisine would only be serious if it welcomed influences from the Balkans to the Aegean to the Middle East. But it has its own troubles nonetheless. Its cooking traditions and presentation should undergo a serious fundamental revision if it’s going to claim its rightful place in world cuisine.” Moral summarized the current market of Ottoman cuisine in Turkey: “There are increasing numbers of restaurants that claim to serve Ottoman food in Turkey. But they are nothing more than restaurants which do not serve alcohol, and imitations of traditional restaurants like Haci Abdullah in Istanbul with a modern setting. Ottoman cuisine is not researched enough and a few recipes are circulated over and over again for promotional purposes.”
Serious establishments such as Asitane Restaurant in Istanbul are few, and even they could only recover 200 recipes from 600 years of Ottoman history. For now, you can get a taste of the Ottoman world if you are visiting Topkapi Palace with a refreshing tamarind sherbet. However, you cannot find tamarind on the market; only a few traditional patisseries serve this drink. It is sodas and juice boxes that dominate the Turkish market. For those of us familiar with the neo-Ottoman turn Turkish foreign policy has taken in the last decade, there are sad similarities between the trends of neo-Ottoman cuisine and foreign policy: Both generate interest and chatter, and both fail to deliver substantial marketable results. I cannot make predictions for foreign policy, but I do hope neo-Ottoman cuisine will go back to its roots of “fusion.”
Pinar Tremblay is a doctoral candidate in political science at University of California, Los Angeles, and an adjunct faculty member at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She has previously been published in the Hurriyet Daily News and Today's Zaman. On Twitter: @pinartremblay
About This Article
Summary :
Despite rhetoric, Ottoman cuisine even in Istanbul sometimes fails to incorporate the multicultural aspects of its roots.
Author: Pinar TremblayPosted on: October 17 2013
Categories : Originals
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If we ask how the idea of neo-Ottomanism has affected the food scene in Turkey and globally, the initial feedback is that it has brought mixed blessings. First, it is fair to say, you can find an Ottoman Empire-inspired Turkish restaurant in several European cities as well in the Middle East. Any frequent traveler to Cairo would point you to Osmanly Restaurant, in the Kempinski Nile Hotel, and in Doha, Qatar, many expats would concur that the best Turkish food is served at Sukar Pasha Restaurant. In many restaurants, a common point of interest is a yearning for the palace era, for upscale dining with Ottoman ambiance and a few signature dishes. The most attractive menus include a few words about one of the famous sultans, Suleiman the Magnificent, and his beloved wife, Hurrem Sultan, who are all-time favorites.
Ottoman cuisine, centered on Istanbul, first and foremost represents the tradition of fusion. It had cosmopolitan impact of several different regions from Balkans to Arabian Peninsula, from the Mediterranean to Persian cultures. However, the palace kitchens refined all these traditions and ingredients. Therefore, any credible Imperial Palace menu would have to inform the customer about the origins of its recipe. If you are ever served a dish with the commentary “Hurrem Sultan’s favorite” and the dish has tomatoes, you can be confident Hurrem never tasted that dish because tomatoes had not yet been introduced to the Old World.
One of the Ottoman palace’s hidden treasures was its kitchens, where recipes were guarded by rather secretive chefs, who arrived at the palaces from all corners of the empire. Only documents from foreign travelers’ memoirs, important celebrations like circumcision ceremonies of shahzades (princes) and analysis of documents from the palaces — now museums — give us clues about the ingredients and methods of cooking. It is a meticulous process to discover these recipes written in Ottoman — using Arabic script and Turkish, Persian and Arabic words.
The last decade of Turkish politics have been rich with the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) rhetoric on the greatness of “our imperial ancestors.” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continuously refers to the Sultan’s legacy as an inspiration. Yet, the sultans ruled a multicultural empire with tens of different languages, religious beliefs, and culinary traditions.
How much of this culinary richness is preserved and celebrated in contemporary Istanbul? Istanbul, home to 20,000 Jews — their number was more than 200,000 at the turn of the 20th century —is not an easy place to keep kosher. Sibel Pinto, author of the book The Evolution of the Sephardic Cuisine in Turkey: Five Centuries of Survival, told Al-Monitor that she knows of only two kosher restaurants in Istanbul. One is Levi’s in Eminonu, very close to the Spice Market, which has been a long-respected establishment. The other is a fairly new restaurant located in Sisli named La Casa de Barinyurt Restaurant. How neo-Ottoman can you be if different cultures are not flourishing in the imperial city?
Pinto told Al-Monitor, “It is exciting to see the renaissance of Ottoman Palace recipes, from sherbets to desserts, pilafs, especially meat dishes with dried fruits and nuts. Long-forgotten tastes are remembered.” Pinto added that Turkish cuisine now utilizes a wider variety of ingredients from all over Anatolia.
However, world-renowned chef Mehmet Yalcinkaya, who specializes in fusion and modern Turkish cuisine, had a different perspective. Yalcinkaya told Al-Monitor, “Traditional recipes of our cuisine require lengthy preparation, and it is rather challenging to market the food to the world audiences. Can Turkish food in the international arena go beyond kebabs and baklava?” Yalcinkaya rightfully acknowledges the rising demand for Turkish and Ottoman cuisine all around the world as the Turkish presence in the international sphere expands; however he is also well aware of the challenges Turkish cuisine faces in standardization and marketing to different audiences’ palates.
Ottoman cuisine gained a precious reputation, not only because of the fusion of a variety of ingredients into gourmet dishes but also because of the fusion of a variety of cooking methods into a rich culinary tradition. Efe Moral, a journalist and a serious gourmet of Greek and Aegean cuisine, told Al-Monitor, “Anatolian traditional cuisine has numerous hidden gems and Turkish cuisine would only be serious if it welcomed influences from the Balkans to the Aegean to the Middle East. But it has its own troubles nonetheless. Its cooking traditions and presentation should undergo a serious fundamental revision if it’s going to claim its rightful place in world cuisine.” Moral summarized the current market of Ottoman cuisine in Turkey: “There are increasing numbers of restaurants that claim to serve Ottoman food in Turkey. But they are nothing more than restaurants which do not serve alcohol, and imitations of traditional restaurants like Haci Abdullah in Istanbul with a modern setting. Ottoman cuisine is not researched enough and a few recipes are circulated over and over again for promotional purposes.”
Serious establishments such as Asitane Restaurant in Istanbul are few, and even they could only recover 200 recipes from 600 years of Ottoman history. For now, you can get a taste of the Ottoman world if you are visiting Topkapi Palace with a refreshing tamarind sherbet. However, you cannot find tamarind on the market; only a few traditional patisseries serve this drink. It is sodas and juice boxes that dominate the Turkish market. For those of us familiar with the neo-Ottoman turn Turkish foreign policy has taken in the last decade, there are sad similarities between the trends of neo-Ottoman cuisine and foreign policy: Both generate interest and chatter, and both fail to deliver substantial marketable results. I cannot make predictions for foreign policy, but I do hope neo-Ottoman cuisine will go back to its roots of “fusion.”
Pinar Tremblay is a doctoral candidate in political science at University of California, Los Angeles, and an adjunct faculty member at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She has previously been published in the Hurriyet Daily News and Today's Zaman. On Twitter: @pinartremblay
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