The site owner has a different mind set. He took his time to build this site and he is paying from his own pocket to keep it online. For many people, this is tremendous task. That´s why there are usually more users than site admins.

Your point might be valid. The only way for you to realize it is putting the hard cash on the table for the expenses and setting out to build a web site of your own after several sleepless nights.

The only responsibilities the site owner is subjected to is observing the generic requirements of running a public a web site. If you find this web site overpatriotic you should consider other alternatives. This is the nature of the free service on offer and it will remain the same way unless the site owner changes his mind.

Tunci you did the right thing by providing a translation here. If the site was in Turkish or if Turkish was allowed without translations then those who are interested in learning Turkish would not understand anything. We have departments dedicated to language education. Since this is a private site, the rules are determined by the site owner and we observe those rules as much as we can.

I have to repeat the same warning about forum language which is English.

The forum language is English. Please do not post messages written in other languages. This one will have to be deleted if you don´t provide an English explanation/translation.

They have a right to hold on to their identities which they often do. Circassians have a strong attachment to their culture. Having lived in Turkey for a century, their past few generations have become Turkified. Anyone with any amount of IQ would understand that this happens because of constant exposure to another culture.

Circassians escaped from an absolute death and took shelter in Turkey. They were sent to cities usually in large groups where they formed their own communities which are still stronge to date. If we encourage Turks in Germany or elsewhere to adapt to the local ways we are effectively asking them to abondon their culture and become assimilated. There are lots of people advocating this. The other option remains is leaving the country and that´s exactly what our ultranationalist parties advocate. They say: "Either love and work for this country or leave it."

Here is my magic formula: all cultures are valuable and they must be supported. Nevertheless, leaving in a country as citizen entails one to obey or observe certain sets of rules or values which may differ from their own. In return, local people must pay respect to the values of the people who identify themselves differently. This is more or less what people automatically do as long as there are good intentions and a proactive relationship between the two sides. For example, thanks to their perseverence in remaining loyal to their roots, the Polish population of Polonezköy has undergone only a limited amount of assimilation due to the facts that they could remain productive, cooperative and appreciative of the host culture. Because of these aspects of their society, their village is always full of curious locals and they make good money from tourism. Polonezköy is a very interesting place; much like a test tube. I geniunely believe, it would not be easy to replicate the same thing in any European country. What worked here was isolating a community in a village allowing them to create their own village and encouraging relationships with the locals.

Well, I don´t give a damn about her life style since it only concerns herself. She is such a great talent. Probably the best singer in her genre.

She is a young performer now. This is a time when her voice is at a peak. We can´t know whether it will get better or worse in time. One thing that may change is her attitude towards music. If she takes music a bit more seriously and prepares herself physically and mentally the way experienced singers do, that would guarantee decades of listening enjoyment for us the fans.

Here is some info on one of the two sponsors of Ms. Ebaugh mentioned in the text (excerpts from their corporate web site):

"The Pew Research Center seeks to explore both American and global public opinion through multiple projects of the center, including the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, which provides data about U.S. views of national security and other foreign policy issues, and the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which provides an international perspective through a series of worldwide public opinion surveys. Surveys related to foreign policy and global issues have included: the first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of Muslim Americans; attitudes of the U.S. electorate on Iraq and other foreign-policy issues, vis-à-vis the presidential campaign; and views of America’s image from around the world. This information is designed to help members of the news media, academic researchers, foreign policy analysts and the public in understanding public views on key global matters both in the United States and around the world. The Pew Research Center does not take positions on policy debates. It is a nonpartisan subsidiary of Pew and is based in Washington, D.C. For more information about its public opinion research on foreign policy and global issues, visit the Pew Research Center Web site and the Pew Global Attitudes Project Web site."

The parts in bold letters are tell-tale evidence of what this organization is actually focusing on. I am not sure on whose money Ebaugh published the book praising the Gülen movement but this level of academic partiality in such a contraversial subject along with sponsored seminar presences by this author where she testifies that there has been no political considerations in the country´s public employment strategies imply that she has been actively involved in what may be called a justification effort of a dubious entity.

When a professor sponsored by so called charitable organizations comes to your country to tell you that a social figure on whom much debate is going on is actually a very good person, this gives you a lot of reasons to become suspicious of the presence of other hidden associations. Just take the matter like this to see how idiotic this whole thing actually is.

If you ask me this whole thing is like a pig circus. It is nothing but a large scale propoganda campaign for promoting a product which has become complete and ready for being offered to the public. You don´t have to invade a country by military means to take its reins. You can do this by these charitable means too.

It all depends on how you describe bourgeoisie. Still, the main focus is not on the past of Berlusconi here though he qualifies as a perfect example of the aforementioned. As a matter of fact, all the world leaders today, even the Chinese leader could be classified as bourgoise leaders. Maybe, we should settle on a more proper word to describe the likes of Berlusconi.

If we analyze his past we see a strong macho link that is in line with the Italian tradition, a big-spending womanizer leading a decadent life. Though not all Italians are this way, there are many Italians for whom what Berlusconi lives is nothing more than dolce vita. I have met at least a dozen wealthy senior Italian men. I was amazed at the amount of money they spent on the gifts they bought for their wives or girl friends. Quite a few of them have wives and/or mistresses at least 20-25 years younger than them. They are quite pragmatic about their relationships. They know they need to pay if they want to hold on to their otherwise impossible (my opinion) relationships. I want to stress again, I am trying my best not to generalize, and this is not something that can be done by an average person. Berlusconi fits in this picture quite well. Of course, we should normally be talking about his policies. I think he is one of the most consistent and reliable leaders. You know he is getting you nowhere...

This thread is going nowhere. If you don´t want it to be locked or deleted; please cool down and stop being on the verge of flaming and insults.

Burak, newquaker´s ethnic roots is none of anyone´s businss. You may criticize his attitude but to link that to him being a Bulgarian or whatever is nothing but offensive...

Well, there are people who believe Mr. Gülen himself is an ideological tool used by the US to mitigate the much feared nationalist sentiment in Turkey and to replace it with what is called a soft-Islamic democracy. All this is done with a healthy dose of anti West sentiment which is easy to tame. Like it always happens, those nations which are criticized severely enjoy strong economic ties with Turkey. Turkey as a nation proceeds on the path of the countries whose political and educational practices are severely criticized by the man. Meanwhile, he lives in the US and funds keep flowing in to make him one of the most affluent and influential persons in the country.

Under the circumstances, nothing associated with Gülen is free from politics,  his understanding of Islam, the attitude of this writer when she praises him are not exceptions. Recently, the raw draft digital copy of a book claiming to have pulled off the curtain over this person´s secret activities has been confiscated. This is peculiar because, no matter how antidemocratic, censorship must normally come after a book is officially published; in this case, it happened in a very hasty manner before the book could be printed and distributed.