Monday, February 24, 2014

Travel between airport and hotel:

Worried about local commutes, especially reaching the Taksim sqare from the airport at the best price and shortest time? Havatas coach services is the answer.

Look for signs to ground transportation or Havatas

Click here for more information:

http://havatas.com/en/coach.aspx

Language Barriers:

Hospitality is the Turkish way of life; whatever religion you belong to, whichever country you come from, whatever language you speak, a moderate Turkish considers you God's Guest. But amid the blend of sweetness, you might get lost. The link here gives a glimpse of local language barriers an expat might encounter while visiting Turkey.

The "Welcome to Europe" roadsign encountered after passing the Bosphorus Bridge from the Asian side, Istanbul, Turkey

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-339598-english-i-will-defeat-you.html

Turkish pilaf and home cooked food at the heart of Istanbul:

Home-cooked but restaurant-served; affordable but delicious; Turkish with an entire Mediterranean touch-a restaurant in Istanbul for those who love to try some variety have a fine place at Üsküdar Pilavcı.

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-339075-regional-delicious-and-affordable-uskudar-pilavci.html

Taste of the Local:

Between spicy Adana kebab and baklava of Gaziantep, a tourist has a regimen of dishes to savor over.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Corruption seems to be rampant while local government is launching attempt after attempt aimed to control the situation. On Feb 11, 166 judges and prosecutors were reassigned posts to address concerns of corruption.

Two days later, the Turkish government shuffled police chiefs and deputy heads among 27 provinces in a wave of purge that also included sacking senior officers.

Amid growing domestic unrest and tension, Turkey’s government is responding with tighter internet censorship and control. A Feb 5 story on USA Today reported the Parliament’s voting of a measure to empower authorities to “censor the internet at will”.

Within the political party there also seem to be conflicts that sometimes turn deadly. On Feb 12, a member of the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) was publicly gunned down in front of a local Istanbul election office. The victim was a candidate running for local district council.

Local news: Mass Protests

Protests

Many Turkish news stories of the day also reflect the country’s fairly turbulent political landscape. The Turkish government is meeting the ever growing protests of the people with ever tighter controls and regulations. A Feb 13 story on Hurriyet Daily News reported on Turkey’s unfortunate topping of the list of world’s top jailer of journalist with recent firing of 59 journalists and incarceration of 40 others related to the Gezi protest, which was originally started by residents who were against the development of an urban park.

Istanbul: A city under construction

On Feb 4, NPR ran a story about some of Istanbul’s mega projects. The current prime minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in power for more than a decade, is said to have an unstoppable appetite for giant building projects. He is pushing ahead for “a third bridge over the Bosphorus Strait, an airport billed as the world’s largest, and a new waterway that would run parallel to the Bosphorus, which critics are calling the ‘crazy canal’”. Local reactions range from skepticism that some of these will succeed, to concerns about environmental disruptions to forests and fisheries, to opportunistic speculation that the already booming real estate will in some cases further benefit from these infrastructure improvements.

More recently, Istanbul mayor Kadir Topbas announced plans on Feb 12 to build 19 cable car and airway projects to connect two population centers on Istanbul’s European and Anatolian sides across the Bosphorus.

The real estate boom is attracting many investors from Germany, China, and all over the world. According to a Feb 23 story on Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey again led Europe in house price increases in 2013.

This lucrative opportunity has not escaped the attention from America’s most famous real estate mogul Donald Trump, who is reported to have tied up with luxury furniture maker Dorya to launch a new line of “Trump Home” upholstery in Istanbul in April. Dorya will be hand making all items from its Izmir, Turkey facility.

Turkey local news overview

Booming real estate, mega construction projects, corruption scandals, tumultuous politics, protests and arrests, today’s Turkey bares many of the unmistakable marks of a developing nation arriving onto the spotlights of the world stage. Every local story we looked is filled with a sense of change and dynamism while each capturing a wide mixture of local sentiments from optimism to frustration.

In the local news section of our roundup, we skim the news across a variety of topics, which we will zoom in and further explore under other specific topic sections like business or politics. Check out relevant articles on this magazine to get more details.

Israeli gas field considers talks to lay pipeline to Turkey

In a major move for providing cheaper natural gas to Turkey, The key stakeholders in Israel’s Leviathan offshore natural gas field are to discuss laying an undersea pipeline from the Mediterranean site to the southern Turkish coast.

Drilling rig in Levithian gas reserve

This would be a major boost for local Turkish businesses. It is estimated that the cost of this pipeline would be around $2 billion. This is considerably cheaper than building a local liquefied natural gas facility with a cost of around $ 10 billion.

An undersea pipeline to southern Turkey could provide between 8 billion to 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year, costing from $7 to $9 per million BTU. This makes the project of major strategic interest to Turkey, which has a great need of inexpensive natural gas.

Read more at: Israeli gas field considers talks to lay pipeline to Turkey

McCombs Turkey News Roundup