Centre for Turkey Studies and SOAS Kurdish Society Joint Forum ‘The Gezi Spirit and Its Impacts: Recent Developments in Turkey’ 19th December 2013 School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London Speaker: Mr Ihsan Eliacik, thinker and author Co-chairs: Sara Whyatt, a consultant, specialising on freedom of expression in Turkey and Dr Omer...
‘Allah, Bread and Freedom: The Anti-Capitalist Muslims and the Crises of Political Islam in Turkey’
Article – Ivo Furman “One day, a man of religion wished in a prayer to God that he wanted to see heaven and hell. The same day, God sent an angel to the man to tell him that his wish was granted. The angel took the man by the arm to a salon in a faraway land. In the salon, the man saw a long table laden with delicious food. Around the table he could see thin, unhealthy people getting ready to eat...
Strolling Around Tokyo
Tokyo is such an amazing city and we always wanted to visit it. Last year we finally had the time and the money for a trip to Japan and we started our trip with five days in Tokyo. Of course five days are way too short and we could only catch a glimpse of the city during our stay. But we loved every minute of it and we already dreaming of coming back one day. We stayed in a lovely little hotel...
Book Review: Hello Sandwich Tokyo Travel Guide
When we traveled to Japan last year our first stop was Tokyo. Since we were dreaming about visiting Japan for years, we were so exited and started to search for good travel recommendation or guide books. We stumbled over a recommendation for the little self-made “Tokyo Guide” by Hello Sandwich somewhere online rather accidentally. Of course we ordered the little book right away. And we really...
Gezi Park: Turkey’s New Opposition Movement – BBC News
It is a sunny afternoon in August. Sitting under the dappled shade of the plane trees, I watch a group of council workers tend the flowers by the central fountain of the park. A stray dog idly lies on the grass to escape Istanbul’s heat, while men and women stroll by, some with kids. This is a far cry from the Gezi Park of early June, when it was under occupation by anti-government...
Cats Know It All
I really don’t understand why humans always have to be sooo busy running around doing something, talking to someone or planing to leave the house in a hurry. I think we have all the time in the world and we should sleep more, okay, you can get up at night and stroll around the house and the garden a bit. But then in the morning I try to be really quiet so that it seems I also slept all...
Interview with Hürriyet Daily News
The public face of the Anti-Capitalist Muslims, a key player in the Gezi protests, says the secular demonstrating youth are interested in their libertarian interpretation of Islam. A new understanding of religion could be born out of the Gezi spirit, according to theologian İhsan Eliaçık. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has portrayed the Gezi Park protesters as “marauders” with no respect for...
The Anti-Capitalist Muslims – The Economist
With his scruffy beard, baggy trousers, plastic slippers and prayer beads, Ihsan Eliacik seems the archetypal conservative Muslim. He is anything but that. At a gathering of anti-government protesters in Istanbul’s secular Besiktas neighbourhood he was applauded when he railed against Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after breaking the Ramadan fast, the Iftar (pictured), with a...
Living on a Prayer: in Istanbul’s Gezi Park, Protesters Try to Bridge the Religious Divide – Vocavit
Since the protests in Turkey began last week, thousands have camped out in central Istanbul, demonstrating against the government’s plan to tear down Gezi Park and replace it with a shopping mall and a replica of an Ottoman era military barracks. Most protesters are young and secular, but earlier this week, a group of religious anti-capitalists led by the Islamic theologian, Ihsan Eliacik, prayed...
Udon Love
Udon Noodles are my favorite noodles — and I especially love them in soups, maybe with soft tofu and some green veggies. And the really look beautiful in a photograph, too. Nisi non aenean scelerisque risus. Cum rhoncus? Penatibus non, nascetur eu. In et sagittis sed! Rhoncus vut risus magnis ut augue nec, dolor. Vel parturient nec auctor elementum placerat, magnis, placerat. Elit amet, in...