Turkey's born-again farmer
Organic food might change your life, but organic farming can change the lives of thousands. Nazmi Ilicali, born in 1953, grew up in the east of Turkey in the province of Erzurum, famous for its scorching summers and hard winters. Erzurum, one of Turkey's poorest districts, is where Nazmi's life has been spent enriching the barren lives of those around him.--Fazile Zahir

FETHIYE, Turkey - Organic food might change your life, but organic farming can change the lives of thousands. Nazmi Ilicali, born in 1953, grew up in the east of Turkey in the province of Erzurum, famous for its scorching summers and hard winters. Erzurum, one of Turkey's poorest districts, is where Nazmi's life has been spent enriching the barren lives of those around him.

First he trained as a teacher, and then he spent 25 years working in schools in and around his home town. After his retirement he found himself bored and at loose ends, and inactivity soon developed into such a serious drinking problem that his nickname around town became "Alcoholic Nazmi".

He struggled on and finally, with the help of his family and a burning new interest, he began to recover. Nazmi discovered farming, in particular organic farming, and the power of this raw contact with the earth and its produce pulled him out of his personal quagmire and led him to enhance the lives and livelihoods of thousands of other farmers in his area.

Nazmi is more than just a simple farmer, he is a born-again farmer with a zealous devotion to organic farming and a burning desire to organize other people around him to reap its benefits as well. As part of his rehabilitation he joined the Daphan Plains Organic Agriculture Project (set up in 1996) and grew to play a key part in the successful efforts of the organization.

He explains why, ironically, the poverty of this area makes it perfect for starting organic farming projects: "The earth in this area is especially suitable, because the local population is so poor that for years they have been unable to afford chemical fertilizers. The climate is good for organic agriculture, too. The frost and cold here even kill the eggs laid in the earth by insects, and because of that there is no need for pesticides - we have a totally chemical-free soil."

Soon after joining the Daphan project, Nazmi took a further step. "After doing extensive research, I decided that organic agriculture was the only investment with good potential in the east of Turkey. But I also knew that any efforts would have to be made in an organized way. When I first became involved three years ago, I brought 633 farmers together, and the European Community gave me the financial support to set up the Eastern Anatolian Farmers and Livestock Keepers Union. Now we have 3,000 members, and are still gathering members like an avalanche gathers snow."

Nazmi is the president of the union, which includes farmers from 12 different areas as members, and he has acquired a new nickname: "Organic Nazmi".

Each year he plans new measures to improve his union members' lives. This year union money will be spent on new farming tools that will be owned communally and lent out for poor farmers to use for free. Nazmi's new social conscience and sense of responsibility extend to all areas of his farmers' lives: "Because I'm a teacher, I place great importance on education. I believe that education is more important than profits. From now on every farmer should know how to use a computer and have an e-mail address. They should be able to communicate with their fellow farmers nationally and internationally. For those that want them, we are going to provide English lessons."

Nazmi's name and the success of the Daphan Plains project have spread worldwide. Last year the American Ashoka Entrepreneur Trust gave the project an award for "social entrepreneurship". This month a delegation from Japan came to visit, and Nazmi said, "They were very impressed. From now on our products will be found on Japanese dinner tables too."

Daphan produces organic wheat, rye, barley, white beans, green lentils, chickpeas and bulgur wheat. Its website, www.daphan.org, invites buyers to order the type of vegetables and pulses they want grown organically and, on signing contracts, Daphan will supply them. Next year in a new diversification the project will distribute 600 cows to its members so they can start farming organic meat and milk.

Nazmi explains that when they first started, the biggest problem they had was the packaging and processing of their organic products. Rather than allowing this to stall their progress, they built a small factory and made every member of the association a shareholder. The factory began to grind their own cereals into flour and package it. Their brand identity, sales and profit margins have all improved since.

The efforts of Nazmi and the Daphan Plains organic project are not just appreciated by the 3,000 farmers in the Erzurum area, the benefits stretch across the country to the urban sprawl that is Istanbul. The city council set up a program in 2005 that encourages rural villagers to stay in their home provinces rather than migrate to Istanbul. The Daphan Plains project and Istanbul council have recently come to an agreement whereby the council buys the project's organic wheat for the public bakery. Under the terms of the contract the city will take 10,000 tonnes of organic wheat, which will earn the project 1 million liras (US$675,00.

Kadir Topbas, the head of the Istanbul council, said organic farming projects had halted rural-to-urban migration in several areas around Erzurum. He underlined the importance of supporting these types of projects both locally and by the central government: "The government provides serious support to these projects. As a local council we have a five-year contract with the Erzurum area. We supply Istanbul residents with access to organic bread as a result and we plan to help these areas to market all their produce in the future. The success of these projects has resulted in more than 1,000 families leaving Istanbul and returning to their home villages."

Organic Nazmi is a happy man, and so are the people he surrounds himself with. Mehmet, one of his farmers, summed up the change in their lives by saying: "We go to our fields smiling now and breed our livestock with a lot of happiness. We are very proud of Nazmi and what he has done."
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Fazile Zahir is of Turkish descent, born and brought up in London. She moved to live in Turkey in 2005 and has been writing full time since then.
Source: Asia Times

"Power concedes nothing without a demand.' The struggle for justice must never be adjourned. The forces of injustice do not take vacations. Societies are not static in this regard. They await the political and civic energies of individuals who engage the arenas of power, multiply their numbers and emblazon in deeds and institutions the immortal principle that "Here the People Rule." - Ralph Nader

Last diva Leyla Gencer,"La Diva Turca" (The Turkish Diva) and "La Regina" (The Queen) in the opera world, dies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyla_Gencer
http://www.leylagencer.eu/bio_in_brief.html

Our Daily Bread We better get used to higher food prices. They will be with us for years to come – By Nikolaus Piper

Thomas Robert Malthus was one of the greatest pessimists of history. The Anglican parson from Surrey was not only one of the founders of classical political economics – he also gave the young science a decidedly dismal undertone. The working class would never be able to escape its misery, he believed. As soon as the lot of the poor improved a little, their enhanced prosperity would result in more children to feed. While populations would be able to grow exponentially, he stated, food production could experience only linear growth: a trap with no exit.

History has refuted Malthus’ pessimism. Capitalism is much more productive than the economist could have imagined. Nevertheless, there have always been Malthusian situations in which the planet’s limitations suddenly become perceptible and scarcity threatens the security and survival of millions of people. That was true in Malthus’ day, and it is true once again today. Food prices are soaring around the globe. The significance of this price surge for world policy can hardly be overestimated. The world is experiencing its worst food crisis in more than 30 years, says New York-based economist Jeffrey Sachs.

At the end of April, the price for a ton of rice surpassed the $1,000 threshold for the first time, triggering real panic in large importing countries like the Philippines. In Haiti, hunger riots brought down the government while Egyptian textile workers took to the streets demanding food; about 200 people were arrested. In Sri Lanka, food became 34 percent more expensive within a year; in Costa Rica, its price has risen by 21 percent; in Egypt, by 13.5 percent. The developmental progress of five years is being wiped out overnight, warned International Money Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Countries dependent on food imports are facing destabilization, yet tensions are also rising in countries where the people are still able to feed themselves. Higher prices for rice, corn and soybeans may benefit many small-scale farmers in the developing world but the urban poor are the real losers. Among industrialized nations, the effects of the price spikes are more limited but hardly negligible. In Germany, prices haven’t risen this fast in 14 years and in America, inflation has exceeded the 4 percent mark despite the recession. Low-wage earners are especially vulnerable to losses in buying power.

There can be no doubt regarding the causes of the current food crisis. This time, the avarice of commodity speculators is not to blame. Perhaps one or the other spot price may be inflated due to speculation but the root cause is scarcity.

For the first time in their lives, millions of Chinese, Indians, Malaysians and Brazilians can afford to eat sufficiently and well. They want to enjoy the same foods Europeans and North Americans do. Global supply hasn’t kept pace with the extra demand. Also, economic growth in Asia is driving up the price of oil. Fertilizer and fuel for tractors are now so expensive that farmers are being forced to raise prices.

This bout of inflation has systemic causes and won’t disappear any time soon. Maybe one price or the other will drop if the recession in the U.S. is more severe than expected, for example. But the trend will go up as long as world prosperity continues at its present clip. Commodities are finite, as meadows and fields can’t be expanded at will, not even in times of burgeoning demand.

It adds up to a sea change. The abysmally low prices for grain, milk and meat used to be the biggest problem for development aid policy. Now it’s hunger. In many countries, direct assistance to the poor has become the first priority. Economists have calculated that, if rice prices climb 10 percent in Indonesia, two million more people there will fall below the poverty line.

In responding, many countries are making disastrous mistakes. Beleaguered governments are imposing tariffs or outright bans on food exports. Doing so can temporarily relieve domestic price pressures but it will exacerbate the problem for importing countries. In sum, that policy makes food even scarcer. Subsidizing staples and freezing prices lead to waste and siphon off state finances. The World Bank and national agencies can put know-how and specialized programs to use here. In Yemen, for example, the World Bank is funding a relatively efficient food-for-work program that benefits the poor – and only the poor.

The crisis is resetting the scope of action for policymakers. The consensus among European politicians and consumers who reject genetically modified foods remains solid. Yet pressure will grow to compromise and make way for more productive agriculture through genetic engineering.

The competitive environment for organic agriculture is also deteriorating. Until now, many consumers have been happy to pay extra for organic bread, meat, and vegetables. Now that food in general has become more expensive, organic farmers in the U.S. are beginning to shut down because business is no longer profitable.

Then there is climate policy: The surge in food prices has demonstrated that agrofuels from corn, canola and other agricultural raw materials are not a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Given current technologies, public funding of biofuels means that people compete against cars for scarce agricultural land. The U.S. government’s ethanol subsidies have contributed significantly to the soaring price of corn in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

For the EU, these changes represent an opportunity to abandon the disastrous agricultural policies Europe has been pursuing for the past 50 years. Today, preventing surpluses and propping up farmers’ incomes by creating artificial demand are no longer needed. Today, farmers earn their money on the open market. It is more important now to help countries like Haiti and Bangladesh with their agricultural development.

European and North American consumers, who for decades have taken for granted their abundance of food, must change their thinking. Ultimately, having something on the table – our daily bread – decides life and death in the world. Realizing how scarce bread and meat really are could prompt us to rethink our values and recognize that our luxury often comes at others’ expense.


Picture above: “A measure of wheat for a penny…” The third horseman of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelations, in which John the Apostle envisions the end of the world, represents famine. In John’s day, a penny was a very high price for a handful of grain. What will our daily bread cost us? The illustration is Albrecht Dürer’s 1498 woodcut, “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”


The Atlantic Times

Anatolian Storms
To live like a tree single and at liberty, and brotherly like the trees of a forest, this yearning is ours. (Nazım Hikmet)

A web site
http://www.turkiyebarismeclisi.org/v2/
turkiyebarismeclisi=turkeypeaceparliment
Turkey needs this type civil organizations..
And they are planing a huge meeting in 1st of June in kadikoy with the slogans: 'we want peace now''we want solution not death'

A man in Saudia Arabia has been sentanced to 140 lashes for having coffee with a women who was not a relative. They don't know what has happened to the woman. They were caught by the religious police!