Shemekia Copeland was the star of the show as the 20th edition of the Efes Pilsen Blues Festival lit up the weekend in Istanbul. Turkey’s oldest, if not its only, blues festival has been touring around the country since its opening concert in Antalya on Oct. 16, and arrived in Istanbul for back-to-back shows Friday and Saturday.
Jimmy Carter and grandson
Istanbul is likely to enjoy a massive growth in popularity among European travellers as it becomes the continent’s Capital of Culture next year. That is according to the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office, which has reported that it has seen an 11% year-on-year increase in British tourists over the first nine months of 2009. However, this could just be the tip of the iceberg, with interest in Istanbul expected to soar over the coming months as its status as the 2010 European Capital of Culture puts it on the radar of those travellers who may otherwise have opted for Rome or Athens.
Having lived overseas for over 12 years now, I have begun to realize how many of my attitudes and even daily actions have changed a bit. I asked some of my expatriate friends this question: “How do you know you’ve been overseas too long?”
We usually avoid cramped basement spaces that have open fires and only one, narrow exit. But we make an exception for Kebapci Enver Usta, a subterranean kebab joint that hits the spot when we’re looking for a simple and satisfying lunch.
It stood out at the newsstand.
Every Turkish daily yesterday celebrated the foundation of the Republic with the standard slogans, flags, pictures of Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and processions. The independent Cumhuriyet daily carried a much different front page.
The occasion is the first Istanbul Tanpinar Literary Festival (ITEF). Authors, publishers, critics, translators and members of the press from around the world will have the opportunity to meet, discuss and exchange ideas and discover more about the rich literary voices coming out of Turkey today
Deniz Kavukçuoğlu, coordinator of cultural fairs at TÜYAP Fairs and Exhibitions Organization Inc., which organizes the İstanbul Book Fair, has described the fair as the most democratic platform in Turkey, stating that it offers a great opportunity to people from diverse political ideologies as it has gathered them annually to get to know each other and discuss their opinions for the last 28 years. “We prove that a coexistence of different views is possible,” Kavukçuoğlu said in an interview with Today’s Zaman.
Turkey’s tourism industry has seen remarkable growth over the past few years, proof of the country’s continued popularity as a travel destination in defiance of the global economic crisis. Turkey received 18,694,028 visitors in the first 8 months of 2009, up 1.1% in the same period last year, with annual tourist numbers expected to reach 33 million by 2012. British visitors to Istanbul have also recorded incredible growth at 23% in the first 8 months of 2009, whilst a total of 4.18 million tourists arrived in Istanbul globally, a 2.4% year-on-year increase. PricewaterhouseCoopers anticipates that Turkey’s tourism sector will expand by 12.1% between 2010 and 2013. New investments in the tourism sector, a more sophisticated brand of tourism, wider choice of alternatives and the good value of the Turkish Lira for foreign visitors have all contributed to this success.
Districts lying on both sides of the Bosphorus contribute to the charm of this water passageway that is unique in the world with its quite different textures and residential forms.