October 21, 2009

In Memoriam | Halit Refiğ (1934-2009)

Halit Refiğ with novelist Kemal Tahir

Mavi Boncuk |

IN MEMORIAM

Halit Refiğ (March 5, 1934 İzmir - October 11, 2009 İstanbul),
Turkish film director, film producer and screenwriter.

Halit Refiğ graduated from Şişli Terakki High School in 1951 and attended Robert College Engineering in Istanbul. He made his first films in 8mm while he served as a military reserve officer in Korea, Japan and Ceylon. He wrote articles on cinema at newspapers in 1956 and published the Sinema Dergisi magazine together with Nijat Özön. He began his career as Atıf Yılmaz's assistant in 1957 together with Yılmaz Güney. He also worked as scriptwriter for Atıf Yılmaz and Memduh Ün. His directorial debut was Forbidden Love (Yasak Aşk) (1961).

He has made about 60 films including feature films, documentaries and TV serials. He was awarded Best Director at the Golden Orange Film Festival in 1964, 1989 and 1990 a lifetime achievement award in 2008.

With Metin Erksan he was considered as the main proponents of the National Cinema movement in Turkey and he has written its theoretical basis in a book named, “Ulusal Sinema Kavgası” (National Cinema Fight) as well penning more than 300 articles on culture and East-West paradigm of Turkey .He also worked as lecturer at the Cinema-TV Department of Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul. Refiğ was given the title of “Honorary Professor” by Marmara University in 1997.

October 18, 2009

Elle picks up the story of the Kurdish girl

French fashion magazine Elle picks up the story of the Kurdish girl Medya Örmek as one of ten news makers of the week.Young French-language rap artist of French and Greek Cypriot Diam (Mélanie Georgiades, born July 25, 1980 in Cyprus)who has converted to Islam, received another spot.

"Medya Ormek. Parce que cette petite Kurde de 10 ans joue les rebelles en apprenant sa langue maternelle à 27 enfants... dans sa chambre ! En Turquie, l'apprentissage du kurde n'est toujours pas autorisé à l'école. La justice turque a eu vent de l'affaire mais le procureur a finalement décidé de ne pas poursuivre Medya." ELLE

Mavi Boncuk |

The worldwide distributed French fashion magazine Elle decided to pick up the story of the Kurdish girl Medya Örmek, as one of the ten women who have made the headlines this week. Örmek was giving Kurdish lessons to a group of 10 Kurdish children in one of the rooms of her house in the Sur district of the Kurdish Diyarbakır province when an investigation was started against her for teaching Kurdish. Elle magazine showed Örmek teaching 27 pupils Kurdish in Turkey and reported that in “Turkey, learning Kurdish is still not allowed in school”. After international attention to the court case, the charges were dropped against the Kurdish girl Örmek, nicknamed ‘mamoste’ (teacher), who became popular among Kurds for her efforts to preserve the Kurdish language and culture in Turkey

Turkey More than You Know

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) works with UK-based businesses to ensure their success in international marketsand encourages the best overseas companies to look to the UK as their global partner of choice.
Mavi Boncuk |

The Magnitude of Opportunity!

Turkey is the world's 15th and Europe's 6th largest economy. Turkey's GNP is expected to surpass Australia's in 2010 and it is predicted that Turkey will be one of the world's 10 largest economies by 2050. Turkey signed a Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995 and is officially recognised as a candidate for full membership. Ongoing EU accession negotiations are the key driver for change in Turkey's business environment. Turkey is also a springboard to the markets of Central Asia & the Middle East. It is an emerging market with a population of around 72 million, 50% of which is under the age of 28. Turkey has the world’s 13th largest urban population at about 50 million. Exports of UK goods to Turkey were valued at £2.5bn in 2008.

Istanbul alone has a population of 17 million, its economy is bigger than 12 EU countries and will be the European Capital of Culture in 2010.

Turkey: More than you know - Watch
UK Trade & Investment prepared video on You Tube and see Turkey in a new light!