Turkish Soap Operas Draw Thousands to Istanbul
- Turkish Gümüş became a hit in Bulgaria
The staggering popularity of the Turkish soap operas in Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans draw thousands of Arab, Bulgarian, Iranian and Greek tourists to Istanbul. Tour operators organize special tours to the venues in wealthy neighborhoods of Istanbul, where the series are filmed.
The overwhelming popularity of the first Turkish soap opera ” Yabancı Damat ” (Foreign Groom) in Greece in 2005 was followed by Dubai-based MBC’s interest in Turkish soap operas. Now, 18 different Turkish series are watched by millions in 22 different countries from Kazakhstan to Algeria, increasing the interest for Turkey and the Turkish culture.
“Perla” (i.e. “Pearl”) – the name of the most popular Turkish soap opera in Bulgaria so far (known in Turkey as Gümüş) – was the number one word Bulgarians entered in Internet search engines in 2009.
Turkish Economy Shining Despite The Global Crisis
New York based Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has been the fourth international credit agency raising Turkey’s credit rating in the last three months despite the global crisis. S&P said on Friday that it raised Turkey’s long term foreign currency and local currency sovereign credit ratings to BB and BB+ respectively. S&P cited Turkish economy’s strong track record in steadily reducing the debt burden over the past decade and said it believes Turkey’s banking system to be one of the strongest and least-leveraged in Eastern Europe. S&P also noted that the outlook on the ratings is positive, reflecting the possibility of another upgrade over the next 12-24 months.
During a period in which only 14 countries had a credit rating upgrade, S&P has been the fourth international credit organization raising the long term credit rating of the Turkish economy. Recently New York based Moody’s, Paris based Fitch and Tokyo based Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) also upgraded Turkey’s long term credit ratings. “40 countries including Russia, Mexico, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland had their credit ratings recently downgraded by the international credit rating organizations and it is a great success for the Turkish economy to be among the few strong economies of the world despite the global crisis”, said Turkish Economy Minister Ali Babacan yesterday. “We are in a better shape than our ratings suggest and we can see another upgrade in the near future”, he added.
Turkish economy is the world’s 17th and Europe’s 6th largest economy and has been on a fast growth track in the last decade. Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors” principle of its new foreign policy helped boost the trade with neighbors and diversified its trading partners. Turks are inspired to have one of the world’s top 10 largest economies by 2023.
Secret Turkey: Six Hidden Holiday Spots
Published in the Times on February 20, 2010
Annabelle Thorpe
Talking Turkey’s lesser-known delights, from a hillside Turkish village to a car-free island
FARALYA
Twenty minutes beyond the bling and bright lights of Oludeniz (Fethiye), the hillside village of Faralya feels like another world. The road winds along beside the sea before climbing vertiginously and snaking around the edge of Butterfly Valley, a sheer-sided gash in the mountain with a beautiful, boat-accessible beach at the bottom.
Faralya is the sort of village where the shops are still vine-clad shacks offering pide (Turkish flatbreads) and çorba (soup), and there’s a giddy, merciful lack of neon.
A good range of places to stay includes simple backpacker pensions to a couple of stylish boutique hotels (don’t let this put you off, there really isn’t much else). The Lycian Way, a long-distance walking route, runs through the village and there are other waymarked trails from its center.
There’s good kayaking potential and it’s worth keeping an eye out for dolphins — a local pod has taken a shine to Faralya’s quiet waters and often glide by in the mornings and evenings.
SELIMIYE AND SOGUT
The western side of the Bozburun peninsula is a world away from the busy beaches and bright lights of Turunc and Icmeler (Marmaris) on the eastern side. One road weaves its way up the coastline through sleepy hamlets such as Selimiye and Sogut, where simple waterfront restaurants serve fish caught each morning.
There is little to do here but laze by the sea, watch the sunsets and stroll up to one of the restaurants for dinner, so hiring a car to explore inland is a good idea. The peninsula offers some good walking and the small village of Bayir, with a delightful church and shady tea garden, is worth a visit.
If you’re looking for a lazy beach day, head for the eastern side to the long sandy bay at Kumlubuk where there’s a chic beach club, open only to Exclusive Escape guests. A scattering of wild and untended ancient sites — Amos, Loryma and Physkos — adds to the overall unspoilt feel.
AKYAKA
While not completely off the mainstream track, Akyaka retains a beautiful, tranquil feel, mostly because of its riverside location. It also remains a favorite destination of holidaying Turks, who come to eat at the fish restaurants, with terraces on the banks of the river, and to walk through pine woods to the small beaches.
The beach, ideal for young families as the water is shallow and clear, has a few low-key bars and restaurants. Akyaka is also ideally located for exploring the more authentic side of Turkey; 40 minutes over the mountain lies the regional capital of Mugla, with a delightful old quarter and one of the best markets in the area (on Thursdays).
Forget Turkish delight and apple tea, buy wrought-iron lamps, hand-dyed fabrics, and fresh fruit and veg before stopping at one of the roadside cafés for the best chicken kebab you’ll ever taste.
SOVALYE
The bay of Fethiye is one of the most beautiful parts of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, and staying on a car-free island surrounded by mountain scenery is an unforgettable Turkey experience. Sovalye, ten minutes across the water from the busy resort town of Fethiye, has one small hotel and a clutch of private residences dotted between the sand and shingle coves.
Staying here is about living at a slower pace: pottering around the tracks that criss-cross the island, paddling over submerged houses and city walls in a canoe and exploring the remains of a Crusader castle. Fethiye has a delightful old quarter, with great restaurants.
BEZIRGAN
Once an atmospheric, pretty fishing village, Kalkan has grown into a big resort and, although the old town retains its charms, it’s a place to dip in and out of rather than to stay put in. Take your lead from the local people and stay in Bezirgan, an unspoilt farming village about 15 minutes’ drive inland.
It’s a world away from the bright lights and busy streets of Kalkan: ramshackle cottages, lush farmlands and quiet lanes, watched over by forest-clad mountains. There’s no luxury , but if you want a real sense of escape, and to watch local people going about their lives as they have done for centuries, this is the place to be.
There’s only one place to stay — Owlsland, run by Erol, whose farm has been in the family for generations, and his Scottish wife, Pauline. The rooms are rustic, the breakfasts hearty and days are filled with walking, lazing with a good book or hopping into your hire car for the short journey to the stunning beach at Kaputas, or Kalkan itself. Blissful.
ORTAKENT
The long peninsula that stretches from the busy resort of Bodrum has remained surprisingly unspoilt. The sparkling coastline is scattered with small, bougainvillea-clad villages that mix simple agricultural cottages with elegant villas, the holiday homes of Turks from Istanbul and Izmir.
Ortakent, in the middle of the peninsula, has one of the best beaches in the area, separated from the village by a strip of market gardens, lush with fig, mandarin and olive trees. It is known for its tower houses, built in the 17th century to defend the village. It’s easy to spend a week here, reading and lazing on the beach and trying out the different restaurants. But if you fancy the bright lights, Bodrum is only a short dolmus ride away.
Istanbul: From the Orient Express to European 2010 Capital of Culture
Published in Daily Mail on February 14, 2010
The most expensive gin-and-tonics in Istanbul, the crown of Turkey, are served in a poorly-lit hotel bar unchanged since Greta Garbo, Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway haunted the Pera Palas.
The quirky Palas opened in 1892 as the first hotel built in Istanbul for Europeans. Its horse-drawn carriages would meet the Orient Express as it steamed in below the Turkish sultan’s palace at Topkapi.
Spies such as Graham Greene and Mata Hari also out in the bar with dispossessed Russian emigrés and professional intriguers.
Today, the Turkish city has expanded rapidly to become an economic and cultural powerhouse - and now it’s being honoured as European 2010 Capital of Culture.
In the backstreets of Pera, less has altered. As I dive between the time-blackened houses that line the streets of the old diplomatic quarter, there are still puddles in potholes and housewives hoisting home deliveries up in rope baskets, the smell of sweet apple tea wafting from their doorways.
The Crimea Memorial Church (built to honour British soldiers who died despite Florence Nightingale’s best endeavours) is still hidden away behind a mosque in Serdar Ekrem Sokak.
This very British church, designed by George Street, architect of London’s Royal Courts of Justice, was only rediscovered in the Eighties. And yet it’s just off Istiklal Caddesi, the trendiest shopping street in Istanbul, the fashion powerhouse of modern Turkey.
The artSumer Gallery, which opened in September, is the place for cutting-edge contemporary Turkish painting while 360 Istanbul is one of the city’s most fashionable restaurants because of its uninterupted 360-degree view over the whole city.
You get the same panorama from the 200 ft-tall Galata Tower that dominates this side of the Golden Horn, the famous inlet of the Bosphorus that cuts into the European side of this city.
It was built by the Genoese who held Pera as an independent colony until 1453 when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul.
Istanbul has a ‘Big Five’ - Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and the Great Cistern - and these should not be missed.
Then there are the Lesser Five - Galata Tower is one - the Crimea Church and the restaurants under the Galata Bridge and others.
Until recently, Galata Bridge was on of the few places you could eat in Istanbul and get a view of the Bosphorus.
The old city turned its back on the water but now there is Aqua, the restaurant at the new Four Seasons Bosphorus. There’s also Angelique further north along the Bosphorus, which serves the best Asian fusion food in this city.
But I head past the colourful, musty Spice Market, another 16th-century structure where visitors should call in to shake hands with a caviar salesman called ‘Al Pacino Turco’.
On a side street called Bahcekapi, in 1777, an immigrant to Istanbul called Haci Bekir created the dish that was to make him famous.
Bekir called his soft, sweet cubes lokum and they proved so popular that Sultan Abdulhamid appointed him Royal Confectioner. When we English discovered lokum in the 19th century, we renamed the heavenly product ‘turkish delight’.
Haci Bekir’s family still runs the shop, and always offers you a taste as you enter. I’m unable to resist. A delight indeed.
Istanbul: The New European Capital of Culture
Turks are ready for the big party starting at the Halic Congress Center of Istanbul today, marking the new status of Istanbul, Turkey’s cultural and financial center, as the 2010 European Capital of Culture. The Turkish festivities started with an official ceremony, attended by high-level diplomatic representations from 40 countries. during which the Turkish President Abdullah Gul and the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will deliver the opening speeches. Special firework and light shows and simultaneous cultural events in seven different spots of the city will be performed throughout the night.
Istanbul, the capital of three great empires in the last 2000 years, is one of the world’s leading cultural and historical centers today, thanks to its enormously rich and diverse cultural and historical heritage. Istanbul will keep its status of European Capital of Culture throughout 2010 together with the cities of Pecs in Hungary and Essen in Germany. There will be several hundred cultural events, ranging from concerts to dance shows and art exhibitions, celebrating this new prestigious status of the Turkish city. Hundreds of monuments and historical sights have been restored and 18 cultural centers were built throughout Istanbul to host the cultural celebrations.
As the only city in the world that lies in two continents, Istanbul is expected to attract thousands of new visitors in 2010. With a 6.5% increase compared to 2008, over 7.5 million foreign tourists visited Istanbul last year. Germans formed the largest group with 14.8%, followed by Brits (5.7%) and French (5.1%). This number is expected to increase significantly in 2010 because of the city’s new title.
Beginner Turkish Classes in NYC
For New Yorkers who would like to learn Turkish in NYC, two new beginner Turkish classes are offered this semester by the NYC Turkish Club. The classes will start on January 26th and there will be two sessions meeting for 12 Tuesday evenings in Midtown Manhattan. There will be an opportunity to sign up for a Turkish II class once this Turkish I class ends.
Learning Turkish is turned into a fun activity by applying different teaching methods in an interactive class setting at NYC Turkish Club. Also, in an effort to make the Turkish language accessible to everyone, the classes are offered at a fraction of the cost.
With the rising importance of Turkey in the world stage, Turkish is becoming more and more important every day. Being one of the world’s top 10 largest spoken languages, Turkish can be used in many countries other than Turkey, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan and parts of Russia thanks to its Turkic roots.
NYC Turkish Club has been offering beginner, intermediate and advanced Turkish classes in New York several nights a week since 2005, in addition to organizing social and cultural events that introduce Turkey and Turkish culture to New Yorkers. Beginner Turkish classes are offered three semesters a year, whereas intermediate and advanced classes are available all year round.
Come and experience the Turkish culture at the NYC Turkish Club!
For more info on all Turkish classes: NYC Turkish Club