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16.08.2008

01:42

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02 SUNDAY’S ZAMAN

S U N D AY, A U G U S T 1 7 , 2 0 0 8

FEATURE

Workers ready for a long and exhausting train trip wait for departure of the exclusive hazelnut train, a trip which will take 35 hours. The trip is a long one but it becomes bearable because people are aware that they need to make money for a living. Seasonal workers who have made news headlines because of traffic accidents in connection with their transport on trucks, are finally able to travel safely to their destination.

Hazelnut traýns carry seasonal workers to hope and unpredýctable Seasonal workers are having difficulties in collecting the crops on the steep land. The ground becomes slippery when it rains. Their job becomes relatively easy when the weather is mild.

by the sea after completing work this season. As the train passes by Hazar Lake, passengers gaze out the windows to take in the view. We pass through many tunnels on the trip, and we regularly lose cell phone service because of the mountainous terrain.

Saving for a dowry or higher education The train is carrying 575 seasonal workers, and one of them is 21-year-old Yusuf Adlý, whom kids call teacher. He says he earned this nickname because he is studying mathematics at Dicle University. Yusuf notes that he makes money in the summer to cover the entire year because his dad does not have a job. Because the rails are old, the train's speed drops to 2030 kilometers per hour in certain areas. In the evening, we enter Malatya, a city with which the workers are quite familiar. Children get off the train to fill their water bottles, since cold water is rarely available on the train. Kids who can afford it join the line for the ice cream man.

The train has nine staff members who are switched out with a fresh set of workers in the major cities. We have to bid farewell to conductors just when we are getting to know them. At night, the weather becomes quite chilly, but passengers come prepared with blankets.

Young people stay up late to chat in one compartment. Serdar Tunç notes that he received a good score on the Student Selection Examination (ÖSS), adding that his sister is studying law at Ankara University. His goal is to get accepted to the department of social sciences at Ankara University and eventually become a

teacher. Tunç aims to earn enough to cover his expenses through January, when he will start receiving funds from a state scholarship.

Hüsnü Þenol, the head of the seasonal workers, is escorting 140 workers to the Black Sea region this year. Þenol holds meeting with the agricultural land owners months ahead of time and then returns to Diyarbakýr to organize the laborers. In return, he receives a 10 percent commission from each worker.

"Most laborers on the train are young. If there had been a factory in Diyarbakýr, would they take this long train trip? Currently our villages are empty. About 50,000 left for hazelnut labor," he noted, adding: "This train needs several improvements. Above all, air conditioner is a must. There are not even electricity outlets to charge our cell phones."

The train passes through Sivas and Kayseri overnight. In the morning, we arrive in Yozgat's Yerköy district. Most young people on the train say they have plans to get married. But there is a major obstacle before them: the dowry money. To get married, they need at least YTL 1020,000 to cover the dowry. Of course there are also wedding expenses. Metin Þahin is one of those saving up to get married. Þahin, who worked at a hotel in Antalya until recently, dreams of his wedding day. Þahin lost his parents at an early age and was raised by his uncle. Þahin would like to get married next year.

The following day, we arrive in Antalya at noon. The train is refueled, cleaned and serviced. The hazelnut train passes through Eskiþehir and Bilecik before finally arriving in Adapazarý at 10 p.m. But the journey for workers is not over yet; they must take buses to the orchards where they will be working.

From one crop to another We are also heading to Giresun to observe the seasonal workers there. The workers face a unique difficulty there because they must pick crops on very steep terrain. The ground also becomes quite slippery when it rains, adding an element of danger to the job. In the Beyazýt village of Giresun, everybody has a hazelnut field, and Hamza Oksal owns the largest one. He thinks he will take in a harvest of 15 tons this year. He is satisfied with the prospect of this yield but complains about the pricing of hazelnuts.

Oksal stated that the growers will lose if the price falls below YTL 5 per kilogram. Sixteen workers, all from the same family, from Adýyaman are picking the hazelnuts from his trees. Temporary housing was constructed near the orchard to accommodate the seasonal labors. Þükrü Aydýn, 59, picked apricots last month and will head to Adana to work in the cotton fields after finishing his job with the hazelnuts. Aydýn wants to make YTL 25 a day and finally finish the construction of his house in his hometown because his son will be getting married at the end of the summer.

TURGUT ENGÝN

Malatya is famous for its apricots, Gaziantep for its pistachios, Gemlik for olives, Giresun for hazelnuts and Adana for cotton, and all of these crops are picked by seasonal laborers, mainly from eastern and southeastern Anatolia. Before a train -- known as the hazelnut train -- was put into service particularly for these workers, they regularly made the headlines with tragic traffic accidents stemming from overcrowded vehicles or vehicles too old and decrepit to be on the roads. Yet now that the train is up and running, providing a safe trip from Diyarbakýr to Adapazarý, the workers are faced with a 35-hour ride lacking air conditioning, electricity and drinking water.

The Diyarbakýr train station is crowded. It seems as if the entire city, including the young, elderly, men and women, are gathered there.

Seasonal workers must prepare themselves for the long and exhausting journey ahead of them on the hazelnut train. The trip is a long one, but these workers are willing to take it because seasonal work is they way they make a living.

The train does offer a safe trip to their destination, compared to the rickety, overcrowded trucks or cars that they would often use in the past. The hazelnut train, which made its first trip on July 26, is reserved for seasonal laborers. The train makes two trips every week, on Wednesday and Saturday.

The stories of agricultural workers often go untold. Many of these workers want to earn money for higher education or so they can get married. Sefer Borlat, 21, is heading west to pick hazelnuts in order to earn money for a dowry. He took the same trip last year and the year before, as well. This year, he thinks he can finally reach the full amount of the dowry, YTL 15,000, if everything goes well.

The situation at the train station provides a glimpse at the level of unemployment in eastern Turkey. All of the seasonal workers we talked to said they would not choose such a difficult job if they had other employment options that would provide basic benefits and a pension upon retirement. Most of these workers are in their late teens. There are also a significant number of women among the crowd, even those who are bringing their babies along since they have no one else to take care of them. Seasonal laborers take basic necessities such as staple foods and bedding in an effort to reduce expenses. Each worker is entitled to bring baggage of up to 30 kilograms. If their baggage exceeds this weight, they must pay an extra fee for it.

Traveling by train is less expensive than other forms of ground transportation. The ticket price for a train trip between Diyarbakýr and Adapazarý is YTL 22.50. These laborers generally work in cities in the Black Sea region for a period of four months. They are particularly concerned that they will be spending some part of the holy month of Ramadan away from their families this year. As the time for their departure approaches, the announcement over the loudspeaker requesting that passengers find their seats becomes more frequent. Relatives wave from the windows to those they are leaving behind. The train whistle blows three times before departing on the long journey.

As the train sets out, children begin to play in the corridors or stare out the windows at the passing scenery. The train moves through sunflower and cotton fields before arriving in the Maden district of Elazýð. The temperatures in Diyarbakýr and surrounding cities normally hover around 40 degrees Celsius in the summer, and because the train has no air conditioner, passengers are forced to suffer in the heat. We are welcomed into a compartment with the Özçelik family, who are eating their lunch. This is their first time on the trip, and Þerife Özçelik, the mother of the household, has brought her children along. Özçelik is responsible for providing all their living expenses because her husband is a diabetic. She expects to make YTL 1,000 a month through seasonal work. Her son, Civan Özçelik, will be in the eighth grade in the coming school year. Civan was the highest performing student in his class last year. He dreams about enjoying a few days

PHOTOS

BÜNYAMÝN KÖSELÝ DÝYARBAKIR / ADAPAZARI

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04 SUNDAY’S ZAMAN

S U N D AY, A U G U S T 1 7 , 2 0 0 8

NATIONAL

Výctýms’ famýlýes hope to reopen theýr cases followýng Ergenekon ýndýctment The Ergenekon indictment identifies many dark events of the past as the work of Ergenekon, but it does not establish direct links between these events and the suspects. The relatives of victims allegedly assassinated by Ergenekon are trying to become co-plaintiffs in the upcoming trial Ýstanbul and demanded the expansion of the Ergenekon investigation.

Hüsnü Öndül, the chairman of the Human Rights Association (IHD) and a lawyer by profession, notes that at the indictment there are 10-12 accusations for the suspects but that these accusations are not directly linked to the dark events of the ‘90s, even though these incidents are mentioned in the indictment. Öndül believes making the victims’ families a legal party in the Ergenekon case might be problematic, as under the law, a direct link should be established between the group and the murders of the victims of various unresolved assassination. “This is something speculative. In order to convict someone of a crime there must be a direct link between the suspect and the crime. But if the suspects are participating in these events from a second or third degree, they can be held responsible, too. But this is not in the indictment,” Öndül says.

Despite the lack of such direct links, Öndül stresses that it is still possible to intervene the case by the people who was harmed due to these crimes and can apply to the court.

“The court has to review every appeal. The public prosecutors can also reopen the cases if they think there is new evidence that justifies reopening them,” Öndül explains.

contýnued from page 1 One of those seeking justice is Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputy Pervin Buldan, whose husband was killed in 1994. The Ergenekon indictment includes as evidence someone named Cahit, who in a written confession admitted to being one of the members of an assassination team in those years. Cahit said it was his team that killed Savaþ Buldan, a Kurdish businessman.

In those years there were many assassinations by unknown perpetrators targeting Kurdish politicians, intellectuals and businessmen. The prime minister at the time, Tansu Çiller, said that the government had a list of the businessmen who were helping the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). She also said, “Those who kill for the state are as honorable as those who die for it,” in what was taken as a public confession of the existence of statesponsored assassination teams. Also, while testifying to the parliamentary committee investigating the Susurluk incident, in which a traffic accident in 1996 in the northwestern town of Susurluk revealed suspicious links between politicians, the mafia and the security forces, thenPolice Chief Mehmet Aðar said that they organized 1,000 operations, “in the name of the state,” without going into detail about the nature of these “operations.” Veli Küçük and some other suspects in the current Ergenekon investigation were mentioned in the Susurluk case, but the investigation at the time did not yield any significant results.

Ergenekon offers a chance to re-open old cases Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was assasinated in early 2007 by a triggerman. The killing is suspected of having been perpetrated by Ergenekon.

UÐUR MUMCU

Recalling these facts, Buldan says they really knew who was responsible for the murders from the very beginning.

“The Ergenekon investigation is not addressing those dark times. We think Çiller, Aðar and some other state officials from that time should be included in the Ergenekon investigation,” she says. The DTP is also planning to participate in the Ergenekon case. The executive board of the DTP has decided to bring together all the relatives of the victims of such incidents to appeal to the court.

“The raison d’être of the Ergenekon case is the Kurdish question. Without finding the people responsible for the murders in the Kurdish region, I am afraid there will be no healthy results in the Ergenekon case,” DTP Chairman Ahmet Türk said.

Türk added that almost 170 members of various proKurdish parties were killed in operations allegedly staged by state-sponsored assassination teams and stated that he was working to unite these families to make them collective coplaintiffs in the trial of Ergenekon suspects.

Buldan points out that those years saw not only murders, but also the forced evacuations of villages, torture and disappearances, adding that the people behind these crimes must be judged, too.

Another group that wants to be an intervening part of the Ergenekon case is the Turkish branch of the International Committee Against Disappearances (ICAD), claiming that 246 persons have disappeared and that more than 5,000 murders by unknown assailants have been committed since 1980.

The group organized a sit-in protest last week in

HÜSNÜ ÖNDÜL

Ergenekon probe should include Çiller and Aðar

The Malatya massacre of missionaries has also been linked to Ergenekon.

Pervin Buldan

Another group that wants to reopen old cases is the relatives of the victims of the Gazi event of 1995, in which 17 Alevis were killed in a riot in Ýstanbul’s Gazi neighborhood.

Remzi Kazmaz, a spokesman for the group of lawyers involved in the prosecution over the Gazi events, told Sunday’s Zaman that they would request that the courts reopen the case because of additional information now available thanks to the Ergenekon investigation.

“Actually, in the face of this new evidence, the public prosecutors should reopen the case. But we will submit our application to the court very soon,” Kazmaz said.

The Ergenekon indictment claims that the Gazi events were provocations, and that the perpetrators were linked to the Ergenekon terrorist organization, citing the testimony of a secret witness. If the lawyers’ request to reopen the case succeeds, it will likely become a model for several other cases that will be re-examined in light of new information in the Ergenekon case indictment.

Also, 300 intellectuals, including leaders of various civil society groups, artists, bar association presidents, journalists and academics, have released a petition calling on authorities to shed light on all the relations of Ergenekon, and they urged citizens to participate in their petition campaign, demanding that no one be allowed to obscure the case. The petitioners said the Ergenekon investigation is an opportunity for democracy.

Buldan, who demanded the establishment of an investigative commission in Parliament to probe disappearances and unsolved murders on the very first day she was elected, says the Ergenekon investigation must be expanded: “Otherwise Ergenekon will remain a purge operation. If those people are not brought in front of the courts, it will not bring any results. This is very important for democratization.”

Turkey became the target of harsh criticism by the US and the EU when the closure cases against the AK Party and the DTP were filed.

Closure of political parties is not an ordinary incident in Europe; it is considered a rare sanction in quite extreme and exceptional cases. The number of political parties closed since the end of World War II in Europe is only three -- two in Germany and one in Spain. The two parties closed in Germany were seeking to undermine democracy. The closure of the Spanish party was based on its clear connection with a terrorist organization.

In Turkey, however, the Constitutional Court has closed down 24 political parties since 1962. Most of these decisions were based on the constitutional provisions on the protection of the integrity of the state and the nation and the principle of the secularist state.

DTP leader Ahmet Türk stated ahead of one of his party’s parliamentary group meetings earlier this month that edging the DTP out of politics would not contribute to the solution of problems through dialogue. “The closure of our party will mean the start of a new critical process for Turkey. I believe it will disturb the country’s peaceful atmosphere. If the Constitutional Court decides not to disband the DTP, it will mark a new era for democratic transformation in Turkey,” he said.

Well-respected Kurdish intellectual and

writer Altan Tan stressed that the closure cases against the AK Party and the DTP were politically motivated. He said it is not easy to foresee how the DTP case will end.

“There are bargains being made behind the scenes in such political cases. As we don’t know the details of such bargains, we cannot predict what the result of the DTP closure case will be. In principle, I am against the closure of political parties. Parties should not be shut down unless they call for violence and act in line with terrorist organizations. A political party, be it the AK Party or the DTP, should not be edged out of the political scene due to its ideology and opinions,” he remarked.

Tan called on AK Party officials to display a determined stance against party closures. “They should state at every opportunity that party closures are not compatible with democracy. They should strongly criticize closure cases, regardless of which party is involved,” he stated.

Tan went on to say that he doesn’t believe the Constitutional Court gave a democratic verdict in the AK Party closure case. “Ten of the 11 judges agreed that the AK Party had become a focal point of anti-secular activities and decided to deprive the party of Treasury funds. I don’t find this verdict democratic. A political party cannot be convicted for its ideologies. What is more alarming here is that if the AK Party is in-

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timidated by the verdict and retreats, its chain of reforms on the path toward modernization, freedoms and democracy in Turkey will receive a serious blow. But, on the other hand, if it proceeds in working toward its goals, then we can be assured that our democracy will be able to take steps forward,” he added.

Hasip Kaplan, a lawyer and DTP Þýrnak deputy, said he doesn’t believe his party will be shut down, backing up his thesis by pointing to ongoing preparations for a new civilian constitution.

“The conditions have changed. A change is on the horizon in the form of a new constitution. Party closures are expected to be made more difficult with the new constitution. That’s why I don’t believe our party will be disbanded,” he noted.

Kaplan also said the DTP should remain open to strengthening democracy and the atmosphere of peace in Turkey. “The Turkish democracy should pass this test. It is obliged to do so to remove the obstacles before free politics in the country. Turkey needs peace, security and justice. We have been in Parliament for one year, and we have been discussing our problems with our colleagues during that period. We have always advocated the idea that political problems should be solved on a democratic platform. Party closures are no remedy to Turkey’s problems,” he added.

PHOTO

contýnued from page 1 Turkish democracy is now confronted by another compelling test, a closure case against the pro-Kurdish DTP opened last November on the grounds the party had become a focal point of separatist activities.

“Turkish democracy should grow into a form that will not shut down political parties unless they openly call for violence. The closure risk the DTP is facing is a serious test for our democracy. Disbanding this party will not solve problems in Turkey. What the ruling AK Party and the Constitutional Court should do is to display a stance in accordance with democracy,” Mehmet Metiner, a Kurdish intellectual and a columnist for the Bugün daily, told Sunday’s Zaman.

He emphasized that closing down political parties is no remedy to the country’s problems. “Closure of the DTP will neither solve the Kurdish problem nor strengthen Turkish democracy. It will just bury these problems, which will re-emerge stronger at the first opportunity,” he said.

Metiner advised everyone in Turkey to raise their voices against party closures. “We should stress at every opportunity that we are against closure of political parties, which represent the will of the people. The DTP may be criticized for its intra-party policy, but its closure will be no remedy to our problems,” he remarked.

ALÝ ÜNAL

DTP closure case presents second test of Turkish democracy

Ahmet Türk

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06 SUNDAY’S ZAMAN

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2008

BUSINESS

Wrýngýng the neck of the goose than any other source, and in fact leads to business activity and employment in 59 other sectors, an official of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in Ýstanbul last weekend.

Whether they carry dollars, euro or rubles, visitors here spend a lot of money, sometimes more than they expected.

A recent visitor from New York noted that a cup of coffee in Ýstanbul costs more than back home. When he saw a lemonade going for the equivalent of $7.50 -- homemade, natural, special -- he said, "Ýstanbul is no Third World city."

Well of course we residents have long known that Ýstanbul ranks right up there with Paris and Rome, but in some ways it is an undeveloped city.

I am thinking of our horrible situation with taxi drivers, too many of whom seem bent on ripping off tourists -- and locals -- for as much as they can

BY THE WATER COOLER

MICHAEL KUSER

squeeze out of them.

Last week I had some friends visiting from Italy. We were to meet at a restaurant in Nevizade Sokak, behind the Balýk Pasajý. I told them that a taxi would cost about YTL 10-12.

Then I got a call from my friends haggling at the taxi stand in Sultanahmet for a ride to Beyoðlu, the driver asking YTL 30. I told them to walk down the street and catch a taxi on the fly. They did, and that driver charged them the true meter

PHOTO

SELAHATTÝN SEVÝ

As Ýstanbul has become more popular I have had more friends come to visit, and friends of friends; even parents of roommates of friends.

Living in Etiler or Cihangir, one tends to forget what Ýstanbul is like where all the tourists hang out, in Sultanahmet. Occasionally I go to visit a museum or meet friends for dinner, then all the touts begging to show a carpet or treat strangers to a glass of tea remind me.

This is my petty side of how Turkey relies on tourism to bring in billions in foreign exchange.

The latest figures show that tourism revenue increased by 26 percent in the second quarter from the same period a year ago, zooming up to $4.7 billion. The Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) counts receipts in dollar terms, but in fact most hotels prefer to price in euros.

Tourism is more important to the economy

An Arab family walks through Ýstanbul’s stylish Ýstiklal street. The number of tourists from Arab countries has increased significantly this year.

Turkey attracts Arab tourýsts MAHÝR ZEYNALOV ÝSTANBUL

Turkey, particularly Ýstanbul and Bursa, has experienced a large influx of Arab tourists in the past year; this is partially due to the export of Turkish pop culture, which has proved extremely popular in Arab countries.

Traditionally large Arab families and their extravagant spending habits have contributed to both the number of Arab tourists and to the boost in the tourism industry. Turkey has become such a popular vacation spot for Arabs that they threaten to replace Russians and Europeans as the largest tourist group. Currently, however, there is not a single Arab nation represented in the list of top 10 countries that send the most visitors to Turkey. The only country even representing the Gulf region on this list is Iran, which is also not Arab.

Taking a closer look at the number of tourists coming to Turkey provides a clearer picture of the situation. The United Arab Emirates sent 911 people in 2006 and 925 in 2007; by June of this year, however, the number had already reached 2,347. Similarly, in 2006 Kuwait sent 811 visitors, but this year has already sent 2,808.

The rates of change in the number of tourists from major Arab countries from 2006 to 2008 are 157.6 percent for the United Arab Emirates, 121.5 percent for Bahrain, 245 percent for Kuwait, 99.4 percent for Jordan, 85.1 percent for Iraq and 44.7 percent for Syria.

Interestingly, Saudi Arabian holidaymakers have started to show less interest in Turkey, as the number of tourists dropped by 11.7 percent.

According to Turkish Hoteliers' Association (TÜROB) Chairman Timur Bayýndýr, Arab people choose Turkey because it possesses lush vegetation and a cooler climate. Speaking to Sunday's Zaman, Bayýndýr said: "Yalova, Bursa and Bilecik are full of green trees and fresh water, which are absent from most Arab countries. This is why they choose to visit these places."

Another reason that Arabs like to come to Turkey is because most of the country is Muslim. As the former capital of the Islamic world, Ýstanbul holds a special allure for Arab tourists, particularly because of its Islamic architecture.

Wealthy, conservative Arabs are often reluctant to travel to Europe or similar locales because they seldom offer Islamic ways of vacationing. Bayýndýr cites this as another factor in Turkey's popularity among Arabs.

Kuwaiti Yusuf Bunashi, 20, is currently vacationing in Turkey with his family. According to Bunashi, his family chose Turkey largely because it is a Muslim country. His father, Saleh Bunashi, said, "We heard good things about Turkey and we decided to visit this country." Ali Shamsi from the United Arab Emirates said in a street interview that he is a fan of the Galatasaray football team, and that this seriously influenced his decision to come to Turkey.

Mehmet Ali Suluta?, one of the founders of the Turkish-Arab Businessmen's Association, said to Sunday's Zaman that many Arab people feel discriminated against in Europe. "Turkish people have cultural, religious and friendship ties with Arab people. They certainly would prefer Turkey," he said. He went on to add that television and other media sources have played a crucial role in pro-

moting Turkey and its culture. "It's true that the increase in Arab tourists stems from Turkish films in Arab countries," he said.

Cüneyt Bengü, president of Mercan Tourism Company, deals primarily with tourists from Arab countries. He said there are several reasons for the increase in Arab tourists. "After the events of 9/11, obtaining a visa made it very difficult for Arabs to visit European countries. Furthermore, Lebanon, formerly a popular tourism destination, has experienced some turmoil in domestic politics, and Syria has a limited number of hotels," he said.

According to Bengu, approximately 25-30 million people from Arab countries participate in international tourism. "We received only 550,000 Arabs in previous years, yet this year there was a tremendous increase of 40 percent," he said. Bengu also names Turkish entertainment media as affecting this year's increase in Arab tourists. "In the last two years, Turkey has paid a lot for tourism promotion. But non-promotional Turkish entertainment in Arab countries also had an enormous effect," he said.

Arab tourism has proven to be very economically beneficial to Turkey. According to Bengu, 90 to 95 percent of Arab tourists stay in five-star hotels. "One Arab tourist is the equivalent of 15-20 European tourists. They spend an extremely large amount of money. They are making a giant contribution to our country's economy," he said. Bengu stated that the leading countries in Arab tourism are Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. While he estimates that this year's number of tourists from these countries will be around 700,000-750,000, Bengu contends that Turkey is still actually entertaining a relatively small percentage of overall Arab tourists and in fact should be receiving more. "I think we should receive at least a million tourists each year," he said.

Dubai-based private TV station MBC broadcast the Turkish TV series "Gümüþ" from 2005 to 2007, and as a result the show gained huge popularity among Arabs. Ranging from Kuwait to Palestine to Saudi Arabia, people will even leave work to watch the show. "The show caused Arabs to radically change their minds about Turkey," said Tareq Alrawaf, a frequent tourist from Saudi Arabia. "People think Turkey is like heaven." Saleh Muhammed, also a tourist from Saudi Arabia, told Sunday's Zaman he was not affected by the show, but that his children wanted to come because of it.

Sedat Kutlu, president of the Turkey-based trade and logistics company Imisk, stated: "There has been an incredible increase in global tourism over the past three to four years, so any increase of tourists in any country should be seen as a normal trend. However, I don't deny the fact that Turkish films in Arab countries have partly affected travelers' knowledge of Turkey."

Kutlu claimed that Turkey is the closest tourist destination for Arabs after considering the unsafe situation in Iraq, Lebanon and other countries in the region. "Turkey provides comfortable transportation both inside and outside of the country, and the freedom within Turkey is alluring to Arab tourists. They mainly prefer Konya, Ýstanbul, Antakya and Mersin," he said.

No matter how Arabs get to know Turkey -- whether it is through films, word of mouth or Turkey's own tourist bureau -- it is certain that Turkey should expect to see more tourism in the future.

CM Y K

day-rate, YTL 11.50.

I have had this experience many times. It did strike me as odd, however, that in the most intensive tourism area of the city, Sultanahmet, the taxi stand would not be a safe place to get a square deal on a taxi ride.

After the airport, taxi drivers make the first impression of Turkey for foreign visitors. Isn't it time that the city got serious about regulating the taxi business, that the government realized how important taxis are to tourism?

Mind you, the rip-off artists do not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, age, gender or nationality. My Turkish father-in-law, 81, recently had a taxi driver pull the quick change move on him, handing back a fiver when he'd been handed a YTL 50 note.

Years ago I used to meet a friend to play ping pong in Moda. One day the taxi at the ferry in Kadýköy pulled an entirely new maneuver on me.

The meter said "þehir dýþý," or "outside the city," and the driver tried to charge me YTL 12 for what had usually been a YTL 3 ride.

It's clear that the city has a public relations problem here, but any moral inventory of Ýstanbul's taxi drivers has to include the good as well as the bad. One winter Friday night I and two friends wanted to get from Taksim to Boðaziçi University to attend a small concert.

Traffic on the coast road defined gridlock.

Our driver got us there on time by taking every back road in the book, Balmumcu down past the old Koçbank headquarters, a shortcut up to the Ulus road before Ortaköy, skirting Kuruçesme and Arnavutköy until we popped up through a bakery driveway and into the entrance of Boðaziçi.

The city should aim that every licensed taxi driver have such knowledge and dedication.

Merrill Lynch to avoid paying tax for 60 years The UK will suffer twice over from Merrill Lynch's investment woes, after a regulatory filing indicated that Britain will bear a large portion of its recent losses -in the form of lost tax revenue -- at the same time as an internal memo warned staff that it had embarked on a hiring freeze across the group.

The brokerage, which is on a big cost-cutting drive after taking a hit of about $52 billion (27.9 billion pounds) from the credit crunch, has already cut more than 5,000 positions since the housing market collapsed.

About 400 of the job losses fell in the City and more positions will now be lost among its remaining 4,500 London staff as Merrill freezes previously-budgeted roles as well as re-placement hiring across the group. Merrill's retail brokers, who comprise about 16,700 of the group's worldwide staff of 60,000, will be exempt from the freeze.

"As we focus on returning the firm to profitability, it is extremely important that we all manage expenses prudently," said the memo, which was signed by Greg Fleming, president and chief operating officer, and Thomas Sanzone, chief administrative officer.

Meanwhile, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed that the group is unlikely to pay corporation tax in the UK for decades after it charged $29 billion of its recent investment losses to Merrill Lynch International, its UK subsidiary.

Because of the way Merrill's accounts are structured, the group can offset a large portion of its write-downs against corporation tax in the UK, which is 28 percent, compared with a top rate of 35 percent in the US. This will reduce its British tax bill by about dollars 8 billion and is likely to ensure that the group does not pay any UK taxes for at least 60 years. This estimate is based on the fact that Merrill Lynch International paid $130 million in corporation tax in 2006, a record year for the unit.

However the company pointed out that it has being paying taxes in the UK for years. Merrill is understood to have had the same tax structure in place for some time and this has not suddenly changed as a result of its recent losses.

Most of Wall Street's other losses are being booked in the US. Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, gave warning this week that "it will be a number of years

before Wall Street starts paying taxes again. They will carry forward all of those losses".

However, analysts said that although Merrill and Lehman Brothers are expected to record full-year losses and pay no taxes, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are on course to announce profits, and therefore to pay taxes.

The double blow to Britain emerged after Andrew Cuomo, New York's Attorney-General, said on Thursday that Merrill Lynch's offer last week to buy back about $10 billion of "auction rate" securities from its clients was insufficient. Cuomo said that he planned to sue the group over its part in the sale of auction-rate securities.

Like Citigroup, UBS, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan, Merrill stood accused of telling customers that the assets -which are typically sold in weekly or monthly auctions -were safe and almost as liquid as cash. However, the market has been virtually frozen since February, as investors became increasingly wary about buying all but the very safest forms of debt.© The Times, London

Private School English Teachers Needed A private school on Ýstanbul’s Asian side is seeking qualified English-teaching professionals to filll full-time positions for the new school year.

Applicants should be native speakers of English in posssession of a bachelor’s degree, teaching certification and at least 3 years teaching experience.

Send your full CV to: mehmedin70@hotmail.com merth2004@yahoo.com Please call +90 537 8302958 or send an sms.

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COLUMNS

SUNDAY’S ZAMAN 15

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2008

Superheroes vs. lumpen heroes A new superhero has occupied the silver screen as of late, "The Dark Knight." Following the line of Superman, Spider-man, X-Men, the Batman saga (under the new name, "The Dark Knight") is a product of our imagination that substitutes a reality where regular men and women feel limited in power, ability and wit. We need superheroes to do the things we cannot do given our limitations. They can fly and see through walls, and they outwit any genius. But more than anything else they can outrival any enemy before whom we feel dwarfed and end all injustices from which we suffer. They are outgrowths of our wishes, ambitions and feelings of inferiority. In short, we need superheroes. So, "superheroes are forever!"

Filmmakers are quite aware of our need for superheroes and turn this need into handsome revenues. Of course, heroes deserve what is spent on them. We take them seriously for standing up for everything to which

ANDREW FINKEL

DOÐU ERGÝL d.ergil@todayszaman.com

we aspire. It is not only them we take seriously. We take their foes and rivals seriously, too, for they are also a threat to our lives, freedoms and welfare. Thus, creation of a superhero should not seem expensive because people will pay whatever it takes to satisfy their egos. It is no wonder that the budget of "The Dark Knight," in which Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart excelled in their craft, was no less than $185 million.

The film reflected not only a dramatic struggle between good and evil but also the symbiosis of good and

No Comment

bad in an atmosphere of moral consequence. We all need to be assured that the good guys will win against the bad guys and that order and righteousness will triumph over injustice and chaos. Only then can violence be vindicated and rendered legitimate. It is this feeling that distinguishes between justice and vengeance.

If the hero is not righteous and engages in violence that has nothing to do with bringing justice, then we cannot afford him/her the right to resort to violence in the name of our security.

All of these questions are relevant in the Ergenekon case, too. Here is a bunch of people who have the illusion that they are the superheroes that the country needs. Yet no one has asked them to take on what they think is a historical task. Unlike imaginary ones they are relatively old, most of them are retired or close to retirement, yet they are obsessed with seizing power at all costs. They

GEORGIA, AP

a.finkel@todayszaman.com

ÝHSAN YILMAZ ihsan.yilmaz@todayszaman.com

Býddýng for gold Cruising the back alleyways of the Internet, I stumbled across what I can only describe as one extremely disappointed Norwegian. I don't know if "Solvor," as the seller calls him/herself, was hoping to get rich quick. If so, there is a lesson to be learned: that auctioning an Ýstanbul 2008 Olympic Candidate City lapel pin on eBay is not the key to a second house on the fjord. Despite the not exorbitant starting price of $2.99, the item failed to attract a single bid. Alas, the failure of this bit of memorabilia to catch the world's imagination is an all too sad reflection of Ýstanbul's own fortunes of trying to convince the International Olympic Committee that it should hold the games there. The bid for 2008 was the third time Ýstanbul tried to become the host, only to stumble at the starters' block. The city did even worse in 2012, finishing near the bottom of the pile, just above Havana.

I have long harbored the suspicion that those who organized the city's consecutive bids were a bit like Turkey's political opposition -- they weren't actually trying to win, merely to do well enough to keep the organization sufficiently well oiled to justify another try in four years' time. The one tangible result of all bidding was the $100 million Olympic stadium in the western outskirts of the city, less a bird's nest than a hornets' nest of waste and accusation. Its main problem, apart from the fact that it is almost impossible to reach by car, let alone public transport, is that is exposed to enormous crosswinds. All that blowing renders it useless for competition and uncomfortable for spectators most of the year. It's also too big for soccer games, which means it hardly gets used at all. The stadium was meant to prove that the city was a fit Olympic candidate, but given the performance of the Turkish squad this year, the money would have been better spent for sports education. Athletes, not building contractors, are the better sporting ambassadors. Ýstanbul did not have the nerve to bid for 2016 but is lining up for 2020, which may give both the city and the nation time to think the whole project through.

Certainly, what Beijing has proven to the world is that the Olympic Games are capable of mobilizing a huge amount of popular enthusiasm, but that for this to mean something a society has to have something to be enthusiastic about. In the case of China, the Olympics appear to have been a declaration that the country had reached an important transition. The Games were an extravagant gesture -- almost like the American space program, not something that could be justified on a cost benefit analysis but an assertion of what was possible when the nation set its mind to it. Perhaps it is the nature of athleticism, but the Olympics Games are exercises which authoritarian societies are able to engage. Of course what the Olympics also do is invite close international scrutiny -- and for China this was the bigger test. Its policy toward Tibet dogged the Olympic torch ceremony every step of the way. Journalists were out testing the quality of the air, seeing just how free popular access to the Internet was, inspecting for every bit of dust brushed under the carpet.

Perhaps Ýstanbul should be breathing a sigh of relief that Athens, Sydney, Beijing and now London managed to finish first. Does it really have the will to compete for 2020? It should only consider the very expensive luxury of staging a future Olympic Games if it, too, has a story to tell.

And that story shouldn't be that it is the only nation beside Tunisia and Iran that blocks access to YouTube or that the women's synchronized headscarving event or the Kurdish-speaking marathon are more gripping spectacles than anything it can mount in track and field. The Olympic Games only make sense for Ýstanbul if it has the genuine support of the city itself. It is the ordinary citizens, not the official committees, who need to be out competing. An Ýstanbul Olympics is not about pomp, but a city developing a unified democratic voice.

have created imaginary enemies such as communism, obscurantism, separatism, etc., which are mainly the products of the style of administration they want to restore.

They do not believe in democracy and the rule of law in their quest to attain power. They have no scruples over cooperating with the underworld. Furthermore, they want to create a deadly chaos by which they will make themselves available to restore peace and order.

When their caper was exposed and members of their group were taken into custody, they began to break down with high blood pressure and minor heart attacks. They do not have the stamina to stand firm while they plot to eliminate their rivals through illegal means. Are they the superheroes they want to be, or do they caricaturize the role to which they aspire? If the second is true, then we are witnessing a group of lumpen heroes!

Russýan (Amerýcan) salad

The sýxth poýnt that wýll change many thýngs FÝKRET ERTAN f.ertan@todayszaman.com

The five-day armed conflict between Georgia and Russia seems to have stopped thanks to a draft peace plan brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy this week. The plan, agreed to but not yet signed by the parties, has six main points, as announced by Russian President Medvedev at a joint press conference with Sarkozy: ''One, not to resort to the use of force. Two, to end all military action completely. Three, to provide access to humanitarian aid. Four, Georgian troops return to their pe rmanent locations.

Five, Russian troops move to the line prior to the beginning of hostilities; Russian peacekeepers exercise additional security measures until international mechanisms are created. And six, the beginnings of international discussions about the future status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and ways of ensuring their lasting security.''

Adding to these, he also said that Georgia's Aug. 8 attack on Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, should be taken into account when deciding the future status of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgian republic.

He made reference to the ''precedent'' of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in February and its subsequent recognition by the US and the majority of EU countries.

After their talks, Sarkozy and Medvedev said they had agreed on the need for international negotiations on the future status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Medvedev went further -- he made clear that what Russia would like to see is a referendum in both provinces, so the locals could decide for themselves whether to stay in Georgia or not. He clearly believes a substantial majority will not, as was shown by the referenda both provinces conducted themselves few years ago.

During the conference, Medvedev elaborated still further on the issue of Georgia's territorial integrity. ''It is for Ossets and Abkhazians to give the answer to the

question of Georgia's territorial integrity, taking into account history and the events of the recent days. … What is sovereignty? It is supremacy of the central authority. Does Russia recognize Georgia's sovereignty? It surely recognizes independence of the Georgian authorities from any other authorities. But this does not mean that a sovereign state can act in any way it chooses. Even sovereign states must answer for their actions. … Territorial integrity is another matter. If sovereignty is based on the will of the people and on the constitution, territorial integrity as a rule shows the real state of things. And if all looks well on paper, life can be much more complicated question, which is settled not at rallies and not even parliaments and at leaders' meetings.''

However, after Sarkozy's talk with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the sixth point of the plan dropped or was deleted. Sarkozy explained this by saying: ''At the request of the Georgian side, we introduced a number of amendments, which we twice discussed on the telephone with Russian President Medvedev. So we have removed the issue of South Ossetia's status from the document [the sixth point].''

The sixth point was dropped because Saakashvili was adamant and said that on the issue of Georgia's territorial integrity, and the return of refugees, the Georgian side would make no concessions. Then Sarkozy and Saakashvili pointed out that these issues would be the focus of the next stage of negotiations between Georgia and Russia, with French participation.

Now, after first agreeing to the removal of the sixth point, Russia has backtracked and declared that its position regarding the point has not changed. Furthermore, it facilitated the signing of the six-point plan by the leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia last Thursday, thereby committing itself to the sixth point as well as opening Georgia's territorial integrity to international questioning.

Of course, resorting to this course will start new and controversial debates in international law as regards the subject of territorial integrity. In fact, that is what Russia has wanted all along after Kosovo's independence. Now, it has seized the opportunity Saakashvili provided.

Debates and discussion on the sixth point will certainly change many things in international law and order, to say the least.

This food is not even a salad; it is a kind of puree made of mayonnaise, cucumber, peas and so on.

Some Turks call it American salad and some say it was originally named Russian salad but because of anti-Russian sentiment during the Cold War, its name was changed to American salad. Some other Turks say that if you add cucumbers to Russian salad it is called American salad. I do not know which version is true, but somehow, the Turkish confusion over the recent conflict in Georgia has brought to my mind this comparison. Was the Georgian president, Mr. Saaskashvili, encouraged

by Americans eager to get another hawkish "Bush" into the White House, or provoked by Russians anxious to show that they are still a big player? And how should we eat this salad?

No one ever said that diplomacy in either the Balkans or the Caucasus was easy. Now the Balkan problems being more or less settled, it was inevitable that the big game would be played in the Caucasus. Having lost the diplomatic battle in Kosovo, the Russians would not allow another defeat in their backyard. How the Georgians were unable to see this will probably remain one of the mysteries of our time. But I suggest that Turkey treat the salad as both American and Russian at the same time, and develop its game plan accordingly.

In the long run, both Turkey and the Caucasian peoples will gain if they keep themselves everaware of the fact that the salad is not purely Russian or American and that ethical foreign policy is only a myth as far as the great powers are concerned.

At the same time, the Turkish and Caucasian peoples should not lose hope, thinking they will be drowned in the salad of the great powers, let alone eat it. If you are not an ultranationalist Turk, you will know that great powers are not the Almighty and that they cannot control everything.

Look, for instance, at George W. Bush's US. Before he came to power, the US was the sole and unchallenged world superpower. He illegitimately invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq to gain the upper hand against Russia and China, but the two countries are maybe worse than the pre-invasion status quo, and American prestige is at an all-time low all over the world. What is more, Russia has become a challenging giant again thanks to the extremely increased natural gas and oil prices, triggered by Bush-created instability. Some might say that increased demand by both China and India is a factor in the increased prices, but a close analysis suggests that there is no supply problem and that the price increases are almost purely result of speculators who abuse instability. Bush has created his own challenger, and the US does not have to wait for two decades until giant China wakes up. Russia is here to cover up.

Yet the Russians should also see that unless they become a soft power, their harsh policies will not entice anyone and in the long run, their empire, including autonomous republics, will shatter. Why should they stay with a cruel giant that is becoming more and more nationalist, corrupt, Islamophobic and less and less democratic? It is no longer possible to suppress peoples forever in this age; they will press for self-determination. This is much more so if Russia gets referenda in Ossetia and/or Abkhazia.

Life will not be easy for Putin, either, unless he becomes more tolerant, pluralist and democratic.

Turkey can play a leading role in the region and can help the Caucasian peoples, and it can start this by showing these peoples its own example that nationalism -- if overdosed upon -- is only harmful, i.e., the Kurdish problem. They should see that the question is not who rules you; it is how you are ruled. A tolerant and pluralist democracy is the only feasible option. If they have this pluralist domestic peace and stability, they can even enjoy their Russian salad despite the cucumbers in it.

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Gregorian Calendar: 17 August 2008 C.E. Hijri Calendar: 16 Shaban 1429 A.H. Hebrew Calendar: 16 Av 5768 calendar@todayszaman.com

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LEA LION HOLLYWOOD

If you were around in July 1969, chances are you remember exactly where you were when Apollo 11, the first manned mission to the moon, touched down and astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. took their first steps on the moon.

Now the Eagle has landed again, re-imagined, for a new generation. The 3-D animated film "Fly Me to the Moon" tells the fantastic tale of a young fly named Nat who stows away aboard Apollo 11 with a couple of his buddies and accompanies Armstrong on the moonwalk.

The movie, which opened Friday in US theaters, boasts some real star wattage, featuring the voices of Kelly Ripa, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry and Nicollette Sheridan -- although none fly quite as high as the street (or rather space) cred of Aldrin, who stars as himself.

It might come as a surprise that someone who is more accustomed to taking orders from NASA than Hollywood directors would choose to appear in a children's film, but Aldrin has been a longtime advocate for both space exploration and education. In fact, he has written a children's book, "Reaching for the Moon," which encourages young readers to aim high.

"Fly Me to the Moon" mixes sound bites from NASA transcripts with the chatter of cartoon insects. "Everything that has to do with the space program, the rocket, the design of the interior of the capsule, the lunar module, is based on diagrams from NASA," director Ben Stassen says. "All of the dialogue and the exchange between Mission Control and the astronauts are transcripts from the actual mission."

But the movie is hardly a documentary. "We wanted a subject matter that would appeal to a family audience," Stassen says. "Hopefully, the kids will like it, but I hope

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A scene from the film “Fly Me to the Moon,” which tells the tale of a fly who accompanies Neil Armstrong on the moonwalk. the parents who accompany the kids to the theater will enjoy it also, for nostalgia if for nothing else."

At the film's premiere at the Directors Guild of America Theater in Los Angeles last week, both camps looked satisfied. When a spacecraft appeared to blast off over the heads of the multi-generational audience, there were simultaneous shouts of "Awesome!" from the 3-D glasses-wearing crowd.

Afterward, Aldrin, 78, greeted admirers young and

old. He said he expected there would be plenty of opportunities to experience zero gravity as well as fly around the moon. And he offered one far-fetched prediction. "I am trying to get people to realize that maybe 20 or 30 years from now, we will be sending people to Mars, and they are just about being born now," he said.

"And I am trying to convince people that this is going to be a permanent movement from Earth to somewhere else, like the Mayflower." © Los Angeles Times, 2008

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ing the death of Jose Francisco de San Martin in 1850.

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Together with Simón Bolívar in the north, San Martin is regarded as one of the liberators of Spanish South America. He is the national hero of Argentina.

Today is the ninth anniversary of the Marmara earthquake, which took place in 1999. The earthquake measured 7.4 on the Richter scale, cost more than 15,000 lives and left hundreds of thousands of people without homes. Even nine years after the quake some regions that were shaken have been unable to recover, both economically and psychologically, from the devastating effects. By Kerim Balcý

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Today is Independence Day in Indonesia, marking the 1945 declaration of independence from the Netherlands. The Dutch had colonized Indonesia in 1800 after 200 years of economic dominance. The declaration of independence marked the start of the five-year diplomatic and armed resistance of the Indonesian National Revolution, fighting against the forces of the Netherlands until the latter officially acknowledged Indonesia's independence in 1949. Today Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world.

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Today is San Martin Day in Argentina, memorializ-

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STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS

Today is the birth anniversary of Marcus Garvey in the Rastafari Movement. Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887-1940) was a publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, Black nationalist, orator, and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Garvey was unique in advancing a Pan-African philosophy to inspire a global mass movement focusing on Africa known as Garveyism. Garveyism was basically a call for the African diaspora to involve in the African affairs, return to Africa if possible and pressure the European powers to leave African territories.

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Broadcast Areas: HOW TO PLAY? : The objective of the game is to fill all the blank squares in a game with the correct numbers. There are three very simple constraints to follow. In a 9 by 9 square Sudoku game:

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Georgia crisis entrenches Europe; NATO alliance splits PHOTO

The Georgia crisis has sharpened divisions in Europe about how to deal with Russia and splits within NATO over the wisdom of granting membership to Russian neighbors Georgia and Ukraine.

Splits within the European Union over who is to blame for Russia's conflict with Georgia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia make it virtually impossible to envisage the 27-nation bloc taking steps to punish Russia, analysts said.

In NATO too, the crisis has not fundamentally changed any minds either about how to deal with Russia or whether Georgia and Ukraine should be admitted to the alliance.

"It's going to make it more difficult for the EU to have a Russia policy. The war if anything has divided the European Union's member states," said Tomas Valasek, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, a British thinktank.

A senior member of the European Commission said the crisis had dashed hopes of a fresh start between Europe and new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who took over in May from Vladimir Putin, now prime minister.

"This has ended Medvedev's honeymoon with the West. It's clear that Putin, not Medvedev, is in charge. We had hoped for a new start. Now we have a new start, but of a different kind," he said. It is clear that the Russian military action is bound to have consequences for EU-Russia relations.

He said EU foreign ministers would discuss that in more depth at their informal retreat in Avignon, France, on Sept. 5-6. Among the issues that may be discussed are whether to continue with visa liberalization talks with Russia.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that meeting would decide "whether or not and how" the EU continued negotiations for a new partnership agreement with Moscow spanning areas such as trade, human rights and energy policy. But Valasek said it would be "very difficult" for the EU to

AP

PAUL TAYLOR BRUSSELS

Russian soldiers sit on top of an armored vehicle on the outskirts of Gori, northwest of Tbilisi. agree on any kind of sanction against Russia.

While some EU member states accused Russia of deliberately provoking the war, others believed Russia and Georgia shared the blame and others thought Georgia brought Russia's intervention on itself, he said.

Stronger line The United States has taken a stronger line toward Russia over the Georgia crisis than Europe has, but Valasek said there was unlikely to be a transatlantic consensus on Russia until a new US administration is settled in next year.

President George W. Bush, insisting Georgia's sovereignty be respected, ordered the Pentagon on Wednesday to deliver aid.

US presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have both warned Russia of severe, long-term consequences from its conflict with Georgia. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned Russia's integration into international institutions was at risk.

Some commentators suggest the West could try to hurt Moscow by barring it from the Group of Eight club of big economies.

Moscow also wants to join the World Trade

Gitmo prisoner boycotts war crimes trial An alleged al-Qaeda recruiter has said he wants nothing to do with his trial at Guantanamo Bay, calling it a "legal farce" and telling his Pentagonappointed lawyer not to defend him.

Ali al-Bahlul, a Yemeni who was allegedly Osama bin Laden's personal secretary, left the courtroom midway through his pretrial hearing and said he plans to return only on the days he is convicted and sentenced.

"You can continue your legal play," al-Bahlul said before returning to his maximum-security cell at this US Navy base in southeast Cuba. Before he left, Al-Bahlul sat at the defense table wearing a tan prison jumpsuit with an empty seat between him and his attorney.

"How do you ask me to accept a lawyer when we have so many contradictions?" he asked the judge, Col. Ronald Gregory. "You are the judge, and I am the accused. At the same time you are my enemy."

His lawyer, Air Force Maj. David Frakt, later told reporters that al-Bahlul "thinks the circus has gone on long enough." Al-Bahlul, 39, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on charges of conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and supporting terrorism.

Military prosecutors say he created a propaganda video glorifying al-Qaida's October 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 American sailors.

The chief prosecutor at Guantanamo, Army Col. Lawrence Morris, said justice would be best served if alBahlul participates but his office nevertheless aims to put on a fair trial. Critics say a one-sided trial would damage the image of justice being served in the United States' first war-crimes tribunals since the World War II era.

"To proceed without al-Bahlul mounting a defense would destroy any possibility of having an appearance of legitimacy and fairness," said Jennifer Turner, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who attended the hearing.

"That's just not American justice." The first Guantanamo trial ended last week with the conviction of Salim Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden who was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for supporting terrorism. The military plans trials for about 80 of the roughly 265 Guantanamo prisoners. Guantanamo Bay, Cuba AP

Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Analysts say Western businesses are very unlikely to yield to any political pressure to avoid operating in Russia, one of the biggest emerging growth markets, buoyed by a tide of oil and gas revenues. David Lubin, an emerging markets analyst, said: "The implications on Russia are almost invisible. It won't make Russia any less attractive."

In NATO, the Georgia conflict has reinforced both sides in the convictions that emerged at a Bucharest summit in April when NATO failed to endorse US proposals to offer a roadmap to full membership to Georgia and Ukraine -- both former Soviet states seeking closer ties with the West.

"I suspect that the divisions in NATO will have deepened. In fact, each side will probably feel justified in taking the position in Bucharest that it did," Valasek said.

NATO said on Tuesday its pledge that Georgia would one day become a member of the US-led military alliance still stood.

Alliance foreign ministers will meet next week to discuss a US call to review relations with Russia. In one camp, the United States, the Baltic states and somewhat less vehemently Poland and the Czech Republic have attacked Russian "aggression" and voiced alarm at the precedent of Moscow claiming a duty to intervene on foreign soil to defend Russian citizens after handing them Russian passports.

Britain, a close US ally, has had its own difficulties with Russia over the murder of dissident ex-KGB agent Andrei Litvinenko in London and the treatment of British oil major BP in a joint venture with Russian business tycoons.

On the other side, France and Germany, which opposed granting Ukraine and Georgia a roadmap to NATO membership in April, have opposed any overt condemnation of Russia. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has said there should be no "anti-Russia front." Diplomats say such views are shared by Spain, Ireland, Greece, Belgium, Austria and Greece Cyprus. Reuters

Georgia's recklessness OPINION

Paul J. Saunders SUNDAY’S ZAMAN The fates of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are chief among the many issues that are still unresolved in the war between Georgia and Russia. What's clear, however, is that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili ordered his country's military to assert his authority over South Ossetia by force. American officials should reflect on the implications of Saakashvili's behavior for US policy toward Georgia, Russia and the region.

Saakashvili ordered the assault last week knowing that South Ossetia would resist, knowing that his forces would have to take on Russian peacekeepers and knowing that Moscow has been spoiling for a fight. In fact, his own government had claimed for some time that Russia was preparing to attack.

Georgia's president clearly thought that his troops could quickly occupy South Ossetia and that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would not dare to intervene because doing so might provoke the West, especially the United States. A similar logic underlies Tbilisi's long-term foreign policy calculations. Throughout history, weak nations with powerful neighbors have energetically sought strong allies. Serbia enlisted Russian support against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for example, and Poland turned to Britain to deter Nazi Germany.

Saakashvili has embraced this tried-and-true strategy with gusto, sending a substantial share of the country's small army to Iraq (from which its troops were understandably recalled in recent days) and parroting Bush administration talking points on international issues -- especially on promoting democracy -- more than almost any other leader worldwide.

Ultimately, however, it wouldn't matter to Georgia's president whether the United States was a democracy, a theocracy or ruled by Martians so long as he could use Washington to change the dynamics of Georgian-Russian relations.

Saakashvili's recent statements demonstrate how well he has learned to push America's buttons, probably with the help of his government's lobbyists in Washington. In several interviews and articles, including an op-ed in Thursday's Washington Post, he has compared the recent Russian attack on Georgia to the Soviet invasions of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. He has also invoked former president Ronald Reagan and tried to frame the war as a Russian assault on Western values. "We are attacked because we wanted to be free," he said on CNN. But the situation inside Georgia belies Saakashvili's rhetorical commitment to freedom. Most glaring was his handling of opposition protests last fall. The State Department's 2007 Human Rights Report, released just a few months ago, found "serious problems" with Georgia's human rights record and notes "excessive use of force to disperse demonstrations"; "impunity of police officers"; and declining respect for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and political participation. Ana Dolidze, a democracy advocate and former chair of Georgia's Young Lawyers Association, has described in detail how Saakashvili acted quickly after entering office to empower the executive branch at the expense of parliament and to strengthen the government by "stifling political expression, pressuring influential media and targeting vocal critics and opposition leaders" -- including by using law enforcement agencies. Saakashvili is far from the morally pure democrat he would have the West believe he is.

Georgia's internal realities help make clear that the fighting erupted not primarily because of what the country represents but because of its government's actions.

Tbilisi could have avoided the confrontation by deferring its ambitions to subjugate South Ossetia and pursuing them through strictly peaceful means.

Few seem to remember that the United States and Russia worked together with the Georgian opposition to ease out then-Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and facilitate the election that ultimately brought Saakashvili into office. Russian views of Saakashvili changed over the past five years as Moscow perceived Tbilisi to become increasingly hostile and watched Saakashvili use threats of force to topple the government of another autonomous region, Ajaria, in 2004.

None of this justifies Russia's actions. But even if Moscow had been lying in wait for Saakashvili to provide an excuse to act, it was all the more foolish for him to do so. Regrettably, the Georgian leader has allowed Moscow to demonstrate quite clearly the limits of American interests in Russia's immediate neighborhood. The Kremlin has much more at stake there than Washington and is willing to act decisively and with overwhelming force.

Recognizing the potential global consequences of a serious break with Russia, America has not been willing to do more than provide humanitarian relief, pointedly state that US forces would not protect the Georgian ports and airfields where the aid is to arrive, and dispatch Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the scene.

Allowing the graphic exposure of these realities is a major failure of US policy that will undermine American objectives throughout the region. One hopes that in private, the Bush administration is clearly communicating to Moscow that whatever Saakashvili's failings, the United States will not tolerate his removal by force -- and telling the Georgian government that America doesn't need reckless friends. *The writer, executive director of the Nixon Center, served as senior adviser to the undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs from 2003 to 2005. © Washington Post, 2008

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Sebastien Loeb dominates German Rally Four times world champion Sebastien Loeb grabbed a 19.9 second lead over Finnish rival Mikko Hirvonen at the Rally of Germany before the opening day was cut short by a crash involving Gigi Galli. The Frenchman dominated the opening stages, setting the fastest time in his Citroen in the first four sections through the Mosel vineyards. Berlin , Reuters

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Answering questions from Sunday's Zaman, the deputies in Parliament said that they are ready to act with unity on issues related to sports. The MHP's Antalya deputy Mehmet Günal says that a law regarding athletes' training could be one of the rare laws that all of Parliament could agree upon. "Of course the Sports Directorate is the first body to be held responsible. They should bring their project ideas to us, and if something is required of us, I am sure all of Parliament will lend its support," he said.

The DTP's Þýrnak deputy Hasip Kaplan also said that all of Turkey's political parties should come together to do whatever is necessary for a better score at the Olympics. "This past year, all the proposals from the Sports Directorate passed easily. I am a member of the Planning and Budget Committee, and there was no opposition on issues related to sports. If the ministry prepares a project that will encourage athletics from an early age, I am sure all the political parties will support it," he said.

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Though he blames the past for Turkey's failure, he does not suggest that the ruling party is blameless. "Soon after the Olympics we will have to establish a commission that will discuss this issue with experts and will turn sports and Olympic targets into a kind of state policy," he said.

Democratic Left Party (DSP) Ýstanbul deputy Hüseyin Mert also plays on the parliamentary football team. He is hopeful that the disappointment of the Beijing Olympics will become the inspiration behind success stories of the future. Mert underlines that as long as the public does not view sports as a real profession, no real solution can be formulated for success. "Current results show that the path we have followed until now has been wrong. Now we have to look for a new path. That path should deal with the national perception of sports as a profession, the training of young athletes and the spreading

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should be held accountable for the Olympic team's failure, and not the Youth and Sports General Directorate (GSGM), who he says was fully supportive.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Antalya deputy Mehmet Gunal, on the other hand, supports Karabýyýk's position. "We have to forget the results and discuss the processes.

If we do the opposite then everyone should be held accountable. What we need today is not to dwell on our failure but to analyze it and decide on how we can be more successful in the future," he told Sunday's Zaman.

A player on Parliament's football team, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Fahrettin Poyraz thinks that a common strategy should be created and thus that a commission should be formed to discuss the issue. Poyraz believes that the problem results from the fact that there is no real system of training for potential athletes in Turkey. "As an overall evaluation I can say that the problem is not a result of today, but from the accumulation of mistakes over years and years," he told Sunday's Zaman.

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contýnued from page 1 Another medal hope, Sedat Artuç, also faltered when he failed to advance in the men’s 56-kilogram weightlifting event. Þeref Eroðlu, 33, won silver in the men's 66-kilogram Greco-Roman wrestling event in Athens. He is a world champion, has won four European gold medals and one silver and in 1997 he was named Greco-Roman Wrestler of the Year by the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA). Þeref also collapsed like a house of cards in Beijing when he was beaten 3-1 by Nikolay Gergov of Bulgaria, thereby failing to make the last eight.

As if these humiliations were not enough, on Tuesday coach Cahit Süme threw a "burgundy-blue" towel into the ring to save his young boxer, Ulaþ Memis, from further punishment. But the "towel of surrender," as we understand it, is always white.

In short, Sibel Özkan, who took the silver in the women's 48-kilogram weightlifting silver last Saturday; Nazmi Avluca, who took the bronze in the men's 84-kilogram wrestling competition on Thursday; and Ethiopian-born Elvan Abeylegesse, who clinched second place in the women's 10,000meter event on Friday, are the only Turkish athletes worth writing home about. And the rest? Forget them.

The Beijing games were not decided overnight, but rather four long years ago. After these failures, the burning question on every Turkish mind is, "What did we do wrong?"

Is it the lack of infrastructure, money or the crass incompetence of Atalay and his team? It appears this management team has been on the job too long and has thus outlived its usefulness. A change in management could be a step in the right direction.

Politicians and sports experts agree that many mistakes have been made, but they do offer various solutions for the future.

All of them criticize the concentration of the Turkish Olympic team on certain branches, and all hope that the 2008 disappointment shall spur energy toward future Olympic Games.

Sunday's Zaman spoke to several experts and politicians on this question and looked for an answer that all could agree upon. The solutions suggested for more successful scores in the Olympics are not magical ones.

However, for the first time everyone agrees that the point is not to look for who to blame, but rather for real solutions.

It seems that the Turkish educational system does not allow for children to start an early introduction into sports, and that the culture of team sports prevalent in Turkey does not allow for individual athletes to get the support they need from the public and from sponsors. Since Turkey only concentrates on certain events in the Olympics, it assumes from the beginning that there are many in which it will not score well. Experts say that this defeatist attitude regarding certain events kills the Olympic team's potential enthusiasm, and takes away from a national consciousness of the Olympic Games.

Erol Ünal Karabýyýk, president of the Volleyball Federation, thinks that Turkey has exaggerated both the team's successes and its failures. "There is no logic in seeing this as a complete disaster. We have to take our lessons from this," he said. "Not everybody is ready to forget the responsible."

Speaking to Sunday's Zaman, Nezir Önal said that the federation presidents

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What did we do

of sportsmanship," he told Sunday's Zaman.

Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputy and a member of Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission Hasip Kaplan also asks for a deliberation of the issue.

According to him, the reasons for Turkey's failure at the Olympics are obvious. "This is a result of a lack of support, encouragement and incentive. ... We should have competed in all possible sporting events. Of course having whistlers and weightlifters is important, but we should have trained athletes in all possible events," he told Sunday's Zaman. Kaplan thinks that the training of future champions should start in primary school and from that point should be encouraged through educational and economic incentives.

Speaking to Sunday's Zaman, sport analysts Tayfun Bayýndýr and Nezir Önal underlined the problem of infrastructure in detecting young talents. Nezir Önal, a columnist at Akþam daily, claimed that the results of the Olympic Games had been determined far before the Olympics. "No investment in infrastructure had been made. No infrastructure other than that of football even exists.

Athletes did not pass through a selection process moving from districts to cities, and cities to regions," he complained.

Columnist at Hürriyet daily Tayfun Bayýndýr thinks that a main reason for Turkey's failures is the country's readiness to neglect its mistakes in the face of occasional successes. He complains that Turkey does not have a continuity principle in regard to sports: "The related bureaucrats and administrations of federations change quite often, and this does not allow for long term infrastructure investments. Our preparations for the Olympic Games are made three to four months before the Olympics. When you look at Olympic champions you will see that their preparations have lasted as long as 10 to 12 years. We are not looking at the Olympics with the same perspective as other countries.

For us it is a kind of statistical success period. Other countries understand the Olympics as a part of their philosophy of sports. Turkey has never made a 12-yearlong plan for the Olympics. The most we have is a three-year-long plan, as either the presidents of federations, or the general directors of the GSGM change every three or four years.

Even if there is continuity in the state, there is no continuity in sports," he explained.

Bayýndýr also says that Turkey should concentrate more on joining the Olympics' team contests.

"We have an Olympic football team, but we don't show enough interest in it. We cannot even pass the elimination rounds. We have to solve this problem first," he said.

Nezir Önal said that while team sports in Turkey are venerated, Turkish teams never qualify for the Olympics. "The Sultans of the Net [Volleyball Team] and the Twelve Giants [Basketball Team] could not go to the Olympics," he lamented.

President of the Volleyball Federation Karabýyýk explains why the Turkish volleyball team couldn't get to the Olympics: "This is about quotas. In one branch you find 60 athletes competing, but in volleyball only 12 teams can go to the Olympics, and we are part of the European continent in the eliminations. Too little a quota is given to Europe, and the European volleyball teams are quite strong. It is not easy to eliminate them and to go to the Olympics," he stated.

Though he admits to difficulties, Karabýyýk is also determined to overcome them. "We started a new volleyball campus project. It is our aim to join the Olympics and we will try our best to succeed, but this is not only about the federation. All the related parts should join forces. The clubs, the athletes, the coaches should all have the same target: We will join the Olympic Games," he said. He thinks Turkey should have a grand aim of sending 500 athletes to the Olympics and should participate in all sporting events.

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US baseball steps up security to fight fraud

Paula Radcliffe

Radcliffe doubts put Kenyan on top

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Turkcell Super League champion Galatasaray and Turkish Cup holder Kayserispor clash in the Turkish Super Cup in the German city of Duisburg this evening. The Super Cup is the traditional curtain-raiser to the Turkish season. Kickoff is at 9 p.m. and the match will be aired live on TRT 1.

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Phil Castinetti, owner of SportsWorld in Saugus, Mass., displays a baseball and a photograph, both signed by Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee, at the store in this April 2, 2008 file photo. McNamee, the former personal trainer of Clemens who claims he injected the seven-time Cy Young Award winner with steroids, is selling the memorabilia along with dozens of personal items in an online auction.

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Turkish Super Cup live on TRT 1 today

cause Upper Deck affixed a hologram to every ball, lending it more credibility, Siegel said.

Other North American sports leagues authenticate their items as well, but not on the same level as baseball, whose holograms are made by Britain's OpSec Security Group Plc. The National Basketball Association and National Hockey league both use MeiGray Group to authenticate items and the National Football League uses PSA/DNA, a division of Collectors Universe, while Major League Soccer has tested radio frequency ID chips by Prova Group Inc. "We don't want to get mixed in with the $50 Brett Favre-signed footballs that apparently are not real because Brett didn't sign for anything less than $100, $150," said Pete Quaglierini, manager of NFL Auctions, referring to the Green Bay Packers quarterback.

Baseball, the NBA and NHL all generate profits from their programs, and also provide money to charitable causes, while the others sell items only for charity. None of the leagues disclosed how much money the programs generate.

All of the baseball program's authenticators were hired from law enforcement because of that background, with four or five assigned to each team, working on a rotation to cover every game and even some trade shows.

The rules are simple: an authenticator must see it to authenticate anything. That can be taken to the extreme, as authenticated items have included infield dirt and urinals at old stadiums. One of the more bizarre items authenticated by Cunningham includes ice skates signed by an Olympic gold medalist who visited the White Sox. But forget home run balls, one of the most sought-after items of sports memorabilia. Once an item leaves the field of play and the chain of custody, it normally can't be authenticated under the Major League Baseball program.

The exception is for big hits, like when Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants took baseball's all-time home-run record in 2006. In such cases, the umpire is handed a numbered ball before the play.

The growing appetite for such collectibles is obvious. More than 2 million items have been authenticated under the Major League Baseball program, more than half of them in the last three years.

"When Ken Griffey Jr hit his 600th home run, pretty much everything he was wearing was authenticated, from his hat down to his shoes," said Major League Baseball's Michael Posner. Chicago Reuters

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Tom Cunningham stands in the camera well near first base at US Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, intently watching the action and making sure he views every batted ball and close play.

The 49-year-old Chicago police officer is not there as a fan -- although he does love baseball -- but as part of Major League Baseball's program to guarantee the authenticity of game-used jerseys, balls, bats and other memorabilia it sells to fans.

At the end of the White Sox game, Cunningham will assign each item an identification number, attach a tamperproof hologram and record its details.

Fans who pay hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars to buy these items -usually via the Major League Baseball website -- can be sure that they are getting what they pay for.

"It's put integrity back in collectibles," said Cunningham, one of baseball's 130 authenticators, who also witness and authenticate the signatures of players who sign items for sale.

The program was set up after a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into sports memorabilia in 2000 that concluded that as much as 75 percent of sports and entertainment memorabilia was fake.

The probe, known as "Operation Bullpen" after the area where baseball pitchers warm up, resulted in the seizure, in one case, of some 10,000 baseballs with counterfeit signatures, including one purporting to be by Mother Teresa.

At the time, players such as outfielder Tony Gwynn and pitcher Randy Johnson were identifying forgeries of their own signatures on baseballs that were for sale in their home parks.

"It was really an eye opener for us," said Howard Smith, baseball's senior vice president of licensing. "If you can't buy something at the stadium with confidence, you really have a problem."

Pete Siegel, of New York City-based Gotta Have It! Collectible Inc, which sells high-end sports collectibles, said the move was long overdue in a market he estimates at $2 billion and growing.

"If it was done years earlier, items would be worth a lot more money than they are now," he said.

Baseballs that retired New York Yankees all-star Mickey Mantle signed in the 1980s for sports trading card publisher Upper Deck carry a 50 percent premium to other balls be-

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Britain’s Paula Radcliffe pursues her quest for an elusive Olympic medal in the women’s marathon today but doubts over her fitness and form linger, elevating Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba to favorite.

Radcliffe, the event’s world record holder, had been nursing a stress fractured thigh bone and decided only last week to compete in the 42 km (26.10 miles) race after spending just weeks trying to regain Olympic form.

“The whole thing has been a race against time and a nightmare from when it was diagnosed,” Radcliffe said earlier this week. “I’d rather go into the race healthy and a little bit under-prepared than in the shape I was in 2004, but just not healthy and not well enough to endure the race,” she said.

Suffering from pain and exhaustion four years ago in Athens, Radcliffe quit the Olympic marathon late in the race after fading to fourth place. Japan’s Mizuki Noguchi won the gold in Athens on one of the hilliest and most difficult marathon courses in Olympic history but will not be in Beijing to defend her title.

Noguchi lost a battle of several months over injuries and poor form and pulled out of the Beijing race earlier this week, putting pressure on Reiko Tosa to deliver on Japan’s hope of collecting a fifth successive Olympic marathon medal. With Noguchi out and Radcliffe in questionable form, Ndereba -- last year’s world champion -- will be the runner to beat, especially as she has a wealth of experience and rare consistency in championship races.

She may also have a another advantage: an ability to cope with Beijing’s hot and humid weather and polluted air as she is used to training under tough conditions. Zhou Chunxiu, world championship silver medalist last year, and Chinese compatriot Zhu Xiaolin will also be used to Beijing’s sweltering weather and be likely challengers for a medal spot. Beijing Reuters

AP

The rules are simple: an authenticator must see it to authenticate anything. That can be taken to the extreme, as authenticated items have included infield dirt and urinals at old stadiums. One of the more bizarre items authenticated

by Cunningham includes ice skates signed by an Olympic gold medalist who visited the White Sox

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Brown upset over leak of unfinished song New Chris Brown music has been popping up on the Web -- and the singer is not happy about it. The 19-year-old is frustrated that fans have been listening to a song called "Electric Guitar" that's supposed to be off his third album, due out next year. "I'm mad that it's leaked," he told The Associated Press. New York, AP WWW.SUNDAYSZAMAN.COM SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2008

ONUR ÇOBAN

Are puplýc bazaars on theýr way out?

The hustle and bustle atmosphere of bazaar culture has become so ingrained in many Turks' lives that it is difficult for them to forgo it in favor of sterilized, chain store supermarkets.

Historically, bazaars are known for cheap prices and fresher perishable goods. Yet prices seem to be constantly on the rise, causing much disgruntlement among consumers who are forced to choose supermarkets' cheap prices over the freshness of bazaars.

The debate lies in where these high prices are stemming from. Is it the rapid spread of supermarkets, rising gas prices or a lack of government intervention?

For 13 years Mehmet Baðrýyara, 27, has sold melons in a bazaar. "The price of melons wholesale is YKr 40 to YKr 50 per melon. We sell them for YKr 90 to YTL 1. But supermarkets have different policies," he said. "Even if they buy a melon for YKr 50 wholesale, they will sell it for YKr 49 to hook people who will be able to buy other things from them."

Some feel that it is the convenience of credit cards that has influenced shoppers to move from bazaars to supermarkets. "We are very naïve to give supermarkets our business. In bazaars we can find the freshest produce. We can judge quality there.

But now we can't afford what we could before. If we keep using credit cards, the bazaars will be closed.

We can blame supermarkets for this mess," said bazaar-goer Turkis Kaya, 67. "Supermarkets are doing this intentionally. I want to tell people not to

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AYÞENUR BOZKURT / AYÞE GÜR ÝSTANBUL

Historically, bazaars are known for cheap prices and fresher perishable goods. Yet prices seem to be constantly on the rise, causing much disgruntlement among consumers who are forced to choose supermarkets' cheap prices over the freshness of bazaars. use credit cards. Can't they see the danger?"

Other consumers don't want to change their bazaar routine but fear that they must. Tuðba Filiz Söyler, 31, is married with one child. She stated: "I personally prefer bazaars, but because we are a small family it is very difficult. We buy just two or three apples, or half a kilogram of vegetables. As a result I

don't go to the bazaar to shop because it's not worth the hassle." Söyler also remarked that credit cards are very helpful and have influenced her choice to shop at supermarkets. "I have to confess that sometimes I don't have enough cash to shop at the bazaar. It is very convenient to pay with cards."

Merchants often cite interclass differences as

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affecting the rise in preference for supermarkets over bazaars. Dried fruit seller Kemal Akýn has worked in bazaars for 10 years. "Even if we sell our products for cheaper than the supermarkets, we can't make a profit. Can you believe that people here even ask the water seller if they can use a credit card? The people see bazaar retailers as primitive and don't respect us.

They look down on us," he said.

With increasingly hectic lives, people are finding the use of cash to be cumbersome, inconvenient and, as Akýn fears, primitive. In Turkey, nearly 32 million credit cards are in use. With nearly half the population of Turkey carrying credit cards, vendors may feel obligated to allow credit as a form of payment. Indeed, in the past 10 years in Turkey the number of supermarkets -- which do accept credit cards -- has multiplied 10 times. However, while expanding the availability of credit card payment will give bazaars a new breath of life, it does not solve the problem of increasing costs.

The rise in food prices seems to be in proportion to the recent rise in gas prices. Baðrýyara claims this to be the case, stating: "Ergenekon or whoever didn't affect the prices, but gas prices did. Two years ago when oil was YTL 1.50, melon was 50 percent cheaper than it is today. Transporting goods is expensive, so shippers have to raise their prices, and so do we."

US economists have noticed this trend as well.

American Herrman Roberts says: "Gas prices are very high in the United States, so food is also expensive.

The whole world is affected."

To some, such as corn-seller Bayram Keleþ, 33, the government is the only culprit. He claims that the agricultural policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) are useless. "The government has privatized all sectors of industry," he says. "Gas is very expensive, and farmers have to buy it themselves. Water is inaccessible. I used to sell 2,000 ears of corn a day; now I sell half that."