When UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman visited Turkey in June, she had the opportunity to observe at first hand the progress which Turkey is making towards achieving its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets

http://www.unicef.org/turkey/sy21/gi38.html

Here we go:
Turkey's three largest labor unions declared their intention to celebrate Labor Day on May 1 in Istanbul's central Taksim Square, but authorities are expected to ban any such event, as they have in previous years.

The Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (TÃœRK-İŞ General Secretary Mustafa Türkle said Tuesday that they will join the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers' Unions (DİSK) and the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK), both of which had made similar announcements the previous day, in Taksim Square on May 1.

DİSK General Secretary Tayfun Görgün said they will be celebrating together in the name of social justice, independence, freedom, peace and democracy.

Görgün, speaking at a joint press conference with KESK General Secretary Abdurrahman Daşdemir, said they will protest the government's pension reforms and the privatization drive, which he described as the greatest threats to workers' welfare.

The government's pension reform aims to increase the age of retirement and balance the accounts of the social security system, which generates huge losses. The current pension law allows individuals to retire in their late 30s or early 40s and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program key to Turkey's financial stability is tied to passage of the reform. However, the reform is encountering serious opposition from unions.

In previous years, the governor's office refused to grant permission for unions to celebrate Labor Day in Taksim Square and efforts by union members to go to the square ended in clashes.

Celebrations in Taksim Square have a symbolic meaning because during a Labor Day celebration in the square in 1977, shots were fired into the crowd from the surrounding buildings. Five people were killed by gunfire, one was run over and killed by a police tank and 30 others were trampled under foot at the entrance of Kazancı Street, near the square.

When asked if they would apply to the governor's office for permission, Görgün said, “We live in a civilized country and May Day celebrations are held in the most magnificent squares all around the world. It will be the same in Turkey. Permission is not a procedure we are contemplating.”

TÃœRK-İŞ's Türkel said workers have been hoping for the last 30 years to celebrate the day in Taksim. “It [Taksim Square] is closed to May Day activities but not to concerts or other festivities. We can't accept that. We are not after revenge. We just want to utilize our democratic rights. We asked the prime minister, the president, the interior minister and all relevant authorities to intervene.”

When asked what they would do if permission is not granted, Türkel said, “we will be in Taksim Square and we hope the permission will be given.”

KESK's Daşdemir said they will also call for May 1 to be declared a public holiday. “We will be in Taksim Square on May 1. Turkey needs to overcome this phobia.”

The three largest labor unions declare their intention to celebrate May 1 at Istanbul’s Taksim Square, where scuffles erupted between workers and police last year.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=101369

I am sure you have read about:
The "Taksim Square Incidents" better known as the Taksim Square Massacre relates to the incidents on 1 May 1977, the international Labour Day on Taksim Square in Istanbul.

Elham, you said it! !!!!survival of the fittest!!!!!
I am not leaving either.

Girleegirl, you certainly have a good point here. I too am amazed. You can find all our old TLC members there, including Eddie.

I find it incredibly classless for you to post a link to another Turkish forum on this site. Why don't you just pm your friends and tell them privately.....or are you just trying to pull people away from here

A clinic built in a village in the eastern province of Muş has been waiting for a doctor for 22 years, remaining unused all this time.

The clinic was built in the village of Başkent, population 300, in 1986 and has yet to open because no doctor has ever been appointed.

Two years ago, the clinic, which had fallen into disrepair due to neglect, was renovated before treating a single patient, giving the people of the village some hope that a doctor would arrive soon. However, despite spending YTL 12,000 to rebuild it, the Health Ministry has yet to send a doctor.

One villager, Evrim Ağyüz, said, “when it was first built, we were told it would serve around 3,000 people in this and 13 surrounding villages. However, it's been empty for 22 years. Is the state this rich?”

The village muhtar (administrator), Abdurrahman Sönmez, said they had received no response to the letters they sent to the Health Ministry. “Everything will change once the clinic opens. The state spent a lot of money and did not send a single health official in all this time.”

People have to travel to the town to get a shot, said Sönmez. “Politicians say, ‘It will open soon.' We are still waiting after 22 years,” he said.

Turkish Daily News

I just noticed all the old TLC members have switched to rapidforum.

He has blood on his hands:
Bush hails 'major shift' in Iraq

President Bush says the military will be given time to assess the next step
President George W Bush has declared a "major strategic shift" in Iraq following the US troop surge.

He said the US now held the initiative and was looking to deliver a "crippling blow" to al-Qaeda in the country.

US troop levels in Iraq are now due to be reduced by about 20,000 by July, but Mr Bush said after that, the "drawdown" process would be frozen.

Then, he said, senior commander General David Petraeus would have "all the time he needs" to assess the next step.

Gen Petraeus had called for a 45-day "period of consolidation and evaluation" after July, before any more troops left.


Graph of US troops and military deaths
Mr Bush said: "I strongly support that. And therefore I won't commit beyond July."


Signs of progress

The president said that since the launch of the US troop surge 15 months ago, there had been significant military, political and economic progress in Iraq, and that "today we have the initiative".

Read a transcript of President Bush's speech [24k]
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Download the reader here

He said sectarian violence had decreased, and Iraqis were increasingly turning against al-Qaeda. Meanwhile businesses were reopening and national laws were being passed.

By July the US presence should be reduced from 20 brigades to 15 - leaving about 140,000 troops in Iraq, about the same number as were present before the surge began in early 2007.

Mr Bush is portraying the withdrawal as a sign of the success of the surge, and is trying to make as much capital from it as possible, says the BBC's Adam Brookes in Baghdad.

But by referring to a "major strategic shift" he has used language that Gen Petraeus and US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker have deliberately avoided, our correspondent adds.


Gen Petraeus said the situation in Iraq was still unsatisfactory

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates later emphasised that he expected the drawdown to resume later in the year.

"The hope, depending on conditions on the ground, is to reduce our presence further this fall," he said.

Mr Bush also said he was cutting tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan from 15 to 12 months, effective from 1 August, and that service personnel would have a year at home for every year served overseas.

The decision to halt withdrawals means the US presence in Iraq is likely to last well beyond January, when Mr Bush will leave office and a new president will take over.

BBC

Mountaineer builds schools in 'Three Cups of Tea'
Author Greg Mortenson says "fight terrorism" became "promote peace." Tea recounts Mortensen's efforts to build schools for Pakistani girls.

A surprise best seller this season is a non-fiction book, set in Pakistan and Afghanistan, that was published 21 months ago to limited notice.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin has climbed the lists, thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations and a tireless author with an inspiring story.

Tea describes how Mortenson, an American mountaineer, found a new cause: building schools, mostly elementary and especially for girls, in 1993 during a failed attempt to climb the K2 peak on Pakistan's border.

In a Pakistani village, the former U.S. Army medic met children without paper or pencils. He promised to build them a school.

His book, written with Relin, a journalist, describes how he did that and more in the belief that "education can overcome the despot leaders, dictators and clergy who use illiteracy to control impoverished society."

FIND The non-profit foundation (ikat.org) he started in his hometown of Bozeman, Mont., has contributed to the construction of 58 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Via e-mail on his way to Pakistan, Mortenson, 49, says he pushed to have the book's subtitle changed. In hardcover, it was One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism … One School at a Time. In paperback, it was revised to One Man's Mission to Promote Peace.

"The public is interested in peace, just as much as fighting terrorism," he says. "So far, no politician seems to have their finger on that pulse."

In hardcover, the book rose no higher than No. 164 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list, then quickly fell off. In paperback, it hit No. 73 in March and is now No. 24. Publisher Penguin reports 1.1 million copies in paperback.

His publisher credits the author's personal appeal: He has visited 123 cities to promote the book and his foundation.

"What championed the book were women's groups, book clubs and independent stores," Mortenson says.

After he visited Bodine High School in Philadelphia, teacher Cecilia Ramirez said, "I have honestly never received so much positive feedback from students."

Mortenson is planning a sequel, but first, "I'm negotiating with my wife on a way to strike more balance in our lives. … For the last 14 years, I've been gone from home about half the year and missed many precious moments parents cherish." (Their children are 11 and 7.)

He says he has been approached by Hollywood for the film rights but so far isn't interested. Producers seem to have "little integrity and genuine sincerity to make a film that would strive to show that we want to promote peace, rather than fight terrorism." He says he has received death threats from mullahs and post-9/11 hate mail from Americans, and he doesn't "need Hollywood to contribute to that."

Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY

The book is about a bohemian American mountain climber Greg Mortensen whose life was saved in a remote northern village of Pakistan in the 1990s. To show his gratitude, Greg decided to build a school there. What happens after that is a remarkable story of triumph against what seemed enormous odds at that time.

The name of the book comes from an anecdote where Haji Ali, the elder of village Korphe tells Greg to stop making everyone crazy during the construction of the school. Says Haji Ali, “You must make time to have three cups of tea with us. The first time you share tea with a Balti you are a stranger. The second time you take tea you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family and for our family we are prepared to do anything.
Greg confesses that it was the most important lesson he ever learned: to slow down and build relationships is as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach them?.

I absolutely loved the book. But instead of rambling on with my personal impressions, I’ll share an editorial reviews of the book, posted on Amazon.com, where the book is rated 5 stars based on 76 reviews. A New York Times best-seller, it was also Time Magazine’s Asian Book of The Year for 2006.

Here is what Publishers Weekly has to say:

Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse’s unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world’s second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town’s first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson’s efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls.

Here is another review, from The Christian Science Monitor:

Thirteen years ago this month, Greg Mortenson, a towering American with a passion for mountaineering, found himself lost and alone in the glacial expanses of Pakistan’s Karakoram Himalaya. After failing to reach the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest peak, he wandered for weeks, emaciated and exhausted, finally staggering into the impoverished village of Korphe.

Residents had never seen a foreigner, but they took him in, sharing their meager provisions and nurturing him back to health.

As he recuperated, Mr. Mortenson was appalled to find children practicing multiplication tables by scratching numbers on the frosty ground with a stick. They had no paper or pencils, and the village could not afford $1 a day for a teacher.
“I’m going to build you a school,” Mortenson told them. “I promise.”

That rash pledge marks the beginning of an extraordinary transformation from climbing bum to humanitarian, richly recounted in Three Cups of Tea.

Returning to Berkeley, Calif., Mortenson lives in monkish frugality in his burgundy gas-guzzling Buick, nicknamed “La Bamba.”

To raise money, he works as an emergency-room nurse. He also mails 580 letters to politicians and celebrities, appealing for funds. That yields only one reply, a $100 check from Tom Brokaw, with a note wishing him well. Finally a $12,000 check from a wealthy scientist, Dr. Jean Hoerni, gives Mortenson hope to realize his dream.

If raising money is hard, transporting building materials to the remote site brings other challenges. For three days, Mortenson rides atop a rented truck precariously loaded with lumber, hammers, saws, and tin roofing. As the driver snakes along tortuous roads, Mortenson knows that any miscalculation could send the vehicle tumbling over cliffs.

Although Mortenson is a nurse, the Balti villagers in Korphe affectionately call him Dr. Greg. Yet even a beloved humanitarian has flaws. Mortenson’s dogged determination to finish the school before winter hardly suits the gentle rhythms of village life. “These mountains have been here a long time,” one irritated resident tells him. “And so have we. Sit down and shut your mouth. You’re making everyone crazy.”

When the butter-colored school with crimson trim finally takes its place among Korphe’s stone and mud huts, Mortenson refuses to stop there. As the newly appointed executive director of the Central Asia Institute, a foundation Dr. Hoerni established to fund more schools, he moves on to other Pakistani villages.

He places particular emphasis on educating girls. For all students, his neutral curriculum offers an alternative to the teachings prevalent in the breeding grounds of the Taliban.

As coauthor David Oliver Relin explains, “He goes to war with the root causes of terror every time he offers a student a chance to receive a balanced education, rather than attend an extremist madrassa.”

Mortenson’s humanitarian instincts began early. Growing up in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro as the son of Lutheran missionaries, he watched his father found Tanzania’s first teaching hospital and his mother established an international school.

But even those impressive accomplishments cannot compare with the hardships and danger he encounters in Pakistan. He survives fatwas issued by angry mullahs. He spends eight days in an airless room after being kidnapped by the Taliban. And he receives death threats in the United States after Sept. 11.

Mortenson takes adventure to new levels as well. When a monsoon keeps the school’s concrete foundation from drying, delaying construction, he spends seven days hunting alpine ibex with village men, walking for hours over brittle ice in running shoes lined with hay for warmth.

He derives the book’s title from a Baltistan proverb. “The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger,” a villager tells him. “The second time, you are an honored guest. The third time you become family.” No wonder Mortenson’s picture appears over hearths and on Jeep dashboards throughout northern Pakistan.

Today, 13 years after Mortenson’s failure as a mountaineer on K2, his success as a humanitarian continues to grow. By the end of the book, he has made 27 trips to Pakistan, commuting halfway around the world with the casual air of a business traveler shuttling between Boston and New York. He has built 55 schools.

Laced with drama, danger, romance, and good deeds, Mortenson’s story serves as a reminder of the power of a good idea and the strength inherent in one person’s passionate determination to persevere against enormous obstacles.

Praising a Pakistani religious leader for his “compassion in action,” Mortenson says, “He believes in rolling up his sleeves and making the world a better place.”

Those words apply equally to the former climber himself, moving mountains, one summit at a time, as he turns stones into schools and gives thousands of children a chance for a better life.

The world needs many more Greg Mortensons

source - Pakistan News