Global media 2, a la Crossing Borders

The global media are on the way of losing their values. They are getting more focused on making money, making a living for their owners, being the first in delivering news. They are covering their own interests and curiosity with the “lie” of others’ being curious. To cut long story short: They are getting selfish.

I believe we can call it the recent crisis of the media. This is not about the journalists losing their jobs, the newspapers and the TV-channels being forced to close down. In my opinion this is a crisis of values and of attitudes.

For me the question is: Do they want the story to get out or do they want to be the first to tell it? Why is that so important? Is it about the money or about their personal pride?

Besides these problems, the abuse of media for personal and political reasons is happening more often as well. Not only politicians, but also businessmen are using their money and power to get a hold of the media as much as they can. It can be very dangerous sometimes. Even if we do not know about it, it exists.

by: Daniel Jadi (HUN)

Media Consumption by Zsuzsi

Today's post was inspired of My Studies about Global Media at Crossing Border Group.

How I consume the Media?

I don't watch TV, because I feel it's so agressive in many way and people can be addict on. The news are always about conflicts, cheating, natural catastrophe. In a way it keeps peoples's mind in a continous state of fearing, or the worse in apathy. In that state of mind, people are easily get being manipulated at all the time. They consumes opinions from the talkshows, ideologies from the political shows, lifestyle from the series and advertisements. If you turn on the TV, it's really hard to stop and run away from all the shits. The ownership of Magazines, Papers and TV Channels are very concentrated. The Mainstream media is just about making profit and power, not to get you to be informed. They are so manipulating. All the system is a big bubble, the price of 1 second advertising time is outrageuosly huge amount.
I prefer to read weekly newspaper. I get used to read 3 type of newspapers in Hungary to have a coverage of all political sides and get some objectivity. It's a fun to explore the political line, and how the news can be served in totally different way. And I can filter them more easily than the TV. But what I really like to read, are the alternative media sites, like Indymedia or several blogs, and I've also started my own blog. I think it's the best way to know about the reality through the ordinary people's opinion.
What is Indymedia?
"The Independent Media Center is a network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth. We work out of a love and inspiration for people who continue to work for a better world, despite corporate media's distortions and unwillingness to cover the efforts to free humanity."
http://www.indymedia.org
You can reach in many languages and you can edit it freely if you want.

By Zsuzsi

17th November 1989

Today, 20 years has passed since the students demonstration took place in the streets of Prague. This demonstration was brutally supressed by the police and it started the so-called Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. A social movement that has changed the political regime. Today is the 20th Anniversary of the new Czech (and Slovac) DEMOCRACY.
Why was it exactly on this day that the students went to the streets? We have to go back in history to find the answer. In autumn 1939, when Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Nazi Germany, a Czech student Jan Opletal was heavily injured in an anti-Nazi demonstration. He died a few days later and his death initiated a new wave of revolt against the occupiers. These actions were not left without answer and on November 17th 1939 the University dorms were attacked by Germans and the Czech Universities were closed down - 9 students were executed and many were sent to concentration camps.
The events of November 17th were recalled every year during the official commemorations in the communist era. In the year 1989, the students wanted to organize the 50th Anniversary on their own and their way. This was not in link with the official policies and that's why the students were attacked by the police during the peacefull manifestation. This was the last drop that made other people come into the streets and actively manifest their thirst for freedom.
Today, 20 years later, I live in a democratic country. I can travel, I can be here in Krogerup and study together with people from all over the world. I am free.
November 17th is therefore an important day for me.
At the end of this article, I would like to pass foward a message that Mr. Václav Havel (one of the leaders of the dissent, former president of Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic) brought out this week during his various speeches in Prague. Freedom goes hand in hand with responsibility. Therefore, lack of freedom might seem attractive. Because it is easy for a human being to get used to the fact that he doesn't have to decide, make his choice. There are still millions of people around the world that are being manipulated every day, that live under a totalitarian regime and suffer from oppresion. It is our moral responsibility to help them out, the same way as the international community and many individuals helped us when we needed it. It is our moral responsibility not to set economic interest higher than basic human rights. This counts for both politicians and single individuals. Keep awake. Let's not forget!
- Eva (Global Citizen with Czech roots)

Feeling the struggle - meeting the DTP

Friday 30st of October, Van, East Anatolia.

After having visited the governmental AK Party, we hurried to the headquarters of the DTP - Demokratik Toplum Partisi (Democratic Society Party). The DTP considers itself as social-democratic fighting for equality and freedom, and especially the rights of the Kurdish people in terms of identity, cultural and language rights. The final aim for the DTP is a self ruling model for the Kurds. The Kurds constitute the largest people in the world without a country.

We went up through a narrow old building and were seated in a cold, decayed and dark room – where the only thing lighting up was the red rose of the DTP (DTPs official symbol) and the burning idealism in the party members’ eyes. As we sat on the dirty plastic chairs our prominent colleague from ROJ TV (the only independent Kurdish TV channel) joined us.
After having learnt Turkish for the last days we were glad to be enriched with a new language - the difficult Kurdish. On principle the DTP only speaks Kurdish at their meetings. Luckily we had our beloved translator and guide, Sami, with us, who got quite a challenge explaining the hard struggle of the DTP to us.

At fearless eye level
DTP met us at eye level contrary to the AKP earlier, where a high stage separated the speakers from the crowd. The speaker Ibrahim Demir, member of executive board and with a hard history about 5 years of prison and no job possibilities because of his support to the PKK, started speaking very fast and full of commitment.
DTP was founded in 2005 and since then they have tried to build a dialogue with the Turkish state. Within recent years many parties fighting for the Kurds’ rights like the DTP have been shut down by the Turkish government for being against the Turkish Constitution, and now the DTP have a case against them. However, the party members seem fearless in their struggle.
The DTP are having a hard time doing their political activities. During the last elections 52 party members were arrested. The DTP is by far the biggest party in the region with a great majority in the respective councils, however, their headquarter is a dump compared to the AKP headquarter – the DTP has tremendously little financial support. The financial source is open for the AKP because the Turkish state uses the governmental party in the area to secure itself. The only ones supporting the DTP are the people in the streets, as Ibrahim Demir says.

Quite a lot of woman were among the party members contrary to the AKP, where the only present woman delivered magazines. As we went through the building we stumbled on a meeting room for the Women’s organization, where the DTP particularly focus on women’s rights.

We got a bit surprised when we heard that the DTP has relations with the PKK- Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanz (Kurdistan Workers Party). This could be a problematic allegiance because of the fact that the PKK are on international lists of terror organizations. Though Ibrahim Demir explained that PKK is the fundamental organization for the all the conscious Kurds and has been an active guerilla movement because to them, there were no other possible ways of fighting for many years.

No real changes without the DTP
The AKP government has carried out some reforms called “the Kurdish initiative”, and that shows the failure of the Turkish assimilation politics over the last decades because the government has now realized that those politics had no future. However, the DTP doubts the sincerity in these reforms, because the AKP totally ignores the DTP and the Kurdish opinions in their initiative. According to the speaker the government uses a “do what we say or you get nothing ” procedure against the Kurdish population. The government cannot make serious democracy reforms without including the DTP. If the changes are to be persistent and sincere, a change of constitution is necessary.

Ibrahim Demir ended the meeting with the message; Be aware of us! Do not let us alone in our struggle. Leaving the room we heard a whispering voice saying:”Biji serok Apo!” (Long live Abdullah!). A courageous feeling of hard struggle warmed-up our souls as we left the cool room.

Written by Jasmin & Niels

Ping-pong practice

Da der som regel er kor hver mandag kl. 20, og hverken Maja eller jeg har brug for at show'e off vores skønne sangstemmer, besluttede vi os for at begynde til bordtennis med målet at blive prof. inden opholdets afslutning i december.
Vi hyrede canadiske Kennedy som coach hver mandag, når han ikke skulle til fodboldtræning. Han lærte os at serve, skrue og smashe, og vi gjorde hurtigt fremskridt, men pga. interne stridigheder på holdet TEAM MAJA måtte vi afskedige ham til fordel for noget individuel træning.
Siden har Niels med sin japaner-moves været en god hjælp. Personligt har han trænet mig i bordtennishop - to skridt til højre, et til venstre, et frem, tilbage og forfra. Og ned i knæ!
Når Maja og jeg øver uden for den officielle træningstid, er der flere af drengene som med glæde joiner en omgang rundt om bordet, som oftest resulterer i, at Maja og jeg ender på sidelinjen, hvor vi så kan vente til finalen er overstået, og et nyt spil begynder.
Den sidste nye opfindelse er "de uendelige liv", som kun gælder Maja og mig. Dette var til stor frustration for Jasmin, Hans og ungarnske Daniel, for hvem det nu ikke længere gav mening at smashe os ud. Ja selv Niels var ikke helt forstående over for min nye regel.
Der er nu ikke andet at gøre for TEAM MAJA end at træne i smug, så bordtennis ikke lige vækker interesse for andre.
Dog har der været lidt problemer, da boldene bliver slidt op. Vi har heldigvis en hemmelig aftale med vores sponsor Jeppe, der har private bolde liggende på værelset, som vi kan træne med.
Og vi træner hårdt! Lige til det bliver sløret for øjnene af træthed, og blæren er ved at sprænges. Om vi bliver hjulpet eller eller modarbejdet, skal vi nok nå målet! Og ellers begynder vi bare at træne bordfodbold..
- Cecilia

Top 10 things that rocked and sucked by Hans

Yesyes, I'm back in Denmark, and after reflecting upon our voyage into the great unknown I think it's fitting to do a top 10 of good and bad things about out trip and the country. That way we'll also broaden our reader-base to include the MTV-segment, a group of people I felt we've left behind in our blog so far.

SUCKS
10: The weather. Condering how few things actually sucked about the trip, I have to be nitpicky with the first few points. Generally speaking the weather was not bad, but rain and overcasts are never welcome guests at any trip involving out-door activities. Minor flaw, but a flaw nonetheless.
9: Airport security. Turkey gains extra minus points for actually scanning you and your backs twice, once at the entrance and once before boarding. Who knows what kind of bombs I could've picked up inside the airport. Silly.
8: Lack of time adjustment in Van. When the sun sets at 6.30 AM and goes down at 4.30 PM in Van, perhaps Ankara should get off the moral high ground and issue at least another timezone for the very eastern part of Turkey?
7: Barbed wire. Barbed wire is bad. It's especially bad when placed at heights at which one might scratch his head. Barbed wire = bad thing.(To those implying that only idiots miss barbed wire before running into it, bear in mind that even heroes need a break)
6: Getting up at 7 in the morning. Yawn, literally speaking. Getting up before 8 involuntarily is a crime against humanity. I don't care if Jesus is showing himself to us, let me sleep damn it!
5: Turkish TV. Man, I watched 2 hours of this in total and I had had enough. All Turkish, all bad shows, all poorly produced, and when an English show comes on, it's dubbed. This makes Hans a sad panda.
4: 'Special price for you, my friend'. This doesn't work when you yell it at everyone who passes by your stand, my Bazaar friend. Restaurant owners need to stop persuading strangers to enter their place and extra minus points are again earned by the guy who told Niels he would screw his mum if he didn't buy his perfume. Not cool, Turkey, not cool.
3: Nationalism. Turks, your country is not heaven on earth, so knock this self-adoration the fuck off. Please. You have minorities, so start accepting that they do exist. You have huge socio-economic disparities, work on those. Allow your women to wear scarfs, stop banning parties and redistribute the cash flow from the military to places where it's more urgently needed. Until those issues are addressed, you're just the guy bragging about getting a D- in Nationbuilding.
2: Atatürks personality cult. Knock it off. Mindlessly adoring a guy is so 1930s Europe and reeks of dictatorships, oppression and unification. Is Atatürk a good man? Compared to the other leaders of certain countries at his time, he's not bad. Does that mean we should hang a picture of him in every class-room around the country. No.
1: Lack of English-speakers. Wow. I was taken aback by how poorly the Turks speak English. You wanna join the world economy? Acquiring a basic English vocabulary would be the first step towards such a goal. English: learn it, love it.
OR
1: Alcohol prices. A beer should not cost 2,5 liras when I can get 2,5 ltrs of Coca-Cola for 1.5 lira. We are danes, we crave alcohol, so lower those prices.

ROCKS
10: The speakers. An overwhelmingly positive experience, except for one or two of them. Props to Martin, Sammi and Garba for putting such an awesome program together.
9: Beer. Yes, there is beer in Turkey. It's expensive, not very good, but it's beer nonetheless. Props for that.
8: The open mindedness of most Turks. Turks love to talk about nearly everything, and striking up a conversation with a complete stranger is very easy. I wish Denmark could acquire a bit of the Turkish mindset in this area, it makes the everyday so much nicer.
7: The history. Coming from a country whose history is comparable to Titanic in terms of excitement (yes, that's negative) Turkey really has something to brag about. Ottoman empire, Roman empire, Seljuks, Atatürk and tons of other things make Turkish museums genuinely interesting. 'This rock christened the danes'. Thumbs down. 'This church was build 400 years before Denmark was christened and still has the 4th largest dome in the world'. Thumbs up.
6: Taksim. Undoubtedly the coolest part of Istanbul, Taksim is most cities nightlife times a 1000. So large, so great and so awesome. A nice vibe over arches the area, meaning that everyone is friendly (violence is neigh zero) and the place is too cool to describe with words.
5: Topkapi Palace. Partly belongs in the history section (#7) but Topkapi deserves its own spot. I wrote about it another blog, but the gist of it is that it's huge, pretty and has a pretty effing awesome treasury. Must see!
4: Van. Van was nice, because it showed us a different side of Turkey, much unlike the buzzing metropolis of Istanbul. Much poorer, but also with its own charm, Van showed me a side of Turkey I wouldn't have wanted to be wihtout.
3: Prices. A döner for 6kr? Thank you. 2,5lrts of coke for 5,50 kr? This way please. 150g of saffron for 35kr? Yesyesyes. The prices of Turkey appealed very much to me. I went to Turkey as a poor boy, but it was still possible to have fun, eat well and go partying with going broke.
2: Sammi, Garba and Martin. I don't think I can stress enough how well planned, thought out and mixed this trip was: good speakers, nice places to see and stunning nature at the Van lake - the trip had something for everyone. I know it's not easy to satisfy 25 people aged 18-34, but you did a grand job. Big ups!
1: The students. Nothing is more important to a trip than the people you travel with, and the diverse group of Krogerup didn't disappoint. Even sickness, snoring at night and early mornings couldn't kill the group spirit, and I must say that Turkey wouldn't have been the same without you. Thanks!

- Hans

Goodbye Van...

Saturday October 31st was the day when we moved westwards again – back to Istanbul. I won’t tell you about the delay of our plane nor about how hungry we were when we finally reached the Cheers hotel late in the afternoon. I will rather focus on what we are bringing back from Van in our minds and hearts.

I talked to couple of my fellow-students about their impressions from our 4 day long stay in the Kurdish - obviously less developed – part of Turkey. Some of them were reminded of other places that they have seen before in another part of the globe. Like Kia – „Van looks like a provincial town in the Phillipines, only that people stare much more at us here“ or Karla „visit of the primary school reminded me of my work and studies in Mexico“. For Mathilde, on the other hand, Van and its surroundings was very unique „I have never seen such a place before, so untouristic“. Most of the girls were surprised about the number of men in the public space. Zsuzsi pointed out „not only on the streets, also in the bar, in the shops – lot’s of men everywhere. The women are probably at home, cooking“. Ida N. further comments: „this experience was very good, but people were staring at us and didn’t know how to act, very few spoke English, but they were very nice to us“. On the last day, Anemone saw two young boys figting on the street and realized „that there is a certain hierachy in this society“.
I also talked to a few boys from our group. They didn’t get as much attention outside as the girls and Morten even liked walking on the streets of Van more than walking in Istanbul: „I enjoy the fact that there is not a hundred shop owners who are offering you something to buy all the time“. For Daniel, the visit of the primary school in the village was the most interesting experience. This visit made him wonder: „The kids in the school were so excited about our arrival, they were smiling and talking to us – they behaved the same way as any other small kids in Europe. But how does their future gonna look like? Will they become smugglers? Guerilla fighters or activists? Will they maybe leave to Istanbul to make a better living and never come back?“.
My impression is that we all appreciated very much the unique opportunity we got by visiting Van. It might not stand on the Top 10 places to see in Turkey list, but it is definietely worth seeing. It showed us another face of the country, the contrast between Van and Istanbul made us think and look for answers to questions we wouldn’t come up with earlier. Being guided by a local, visiting the home of an ordinary family and experiencing the traditional Kurdish wedding celebrations made our experience even more unique.
When someone will ask me one day with a suspicious tone „So, how was Kurdistan?“, I have plenty of stories to tell. For me, it is not an unknown territory with a bad reputation any more. It is concrete places, concrete pictures, concrete smells and concrete faces. I am very thankful to all the people who opened their homes to us, who answered our curious questions and were so kind and welcoming.
-Eva

4/10 - 09 Goodbye to Turkey! Afskedsmiddag hos Martin

Then it was the last night! Turkish delicious homemade food at home with Martin (and no, Martin is not the cook!:)) Nice atmosphere and good talk. After dinner and dessert, speeches were made, both one from us, the Garba and from Martin. Both Martin and Garba got gifts (raki) because of their nervous contractions (of us?) And a picture of us all to Martin and a subscription to Garba made by us :-)... It's been an evening with much laughter! and a little sadness, we will miss you Martin ...

Trip to Aktamar Island - 28. oktober

Extreme rain and a boat trip to a small, uninhabited island may not seem as the best combination. At least that was our thought as Martin and Garba forced us to leave the warm bus and go to a small dock, where a rocking boat was expecting us. None of us felt any need to enter.
Many of us chose to brave the rain and stay outside on the deck. An elderly man forced Signe and I to accept his umbrella even though he only was wearing a blazer and we both wore jackets. Typical turkish gentleman behaviour.
Not even the rain could hide the beauty of the Aktamar Island. A tiny shop and an old Armenian church were the only buildings. Besides that it was all nature. Sami was able to talk about every detail of the church and while he was talking, the rain stopped.
After a cup of classic cay, our group decided to climb the mountain. We felt as if every döner we had eaten the past days were burnt away from our bodies. The view from the top was worth the struggle. I took an endless amount of pictures during the short while we stayed, and I wasn't the only one.
Samba, Ida and I chose to take it slow on the way down in order to avoid falling. This plan succeeded until we reached the road again. Here Ida chose to take a dramatic roll down a small step. It looked impressive but caused no damaged.
As we entered the boat again, darkness had fell upon us, creating a melancholy atmosphere. All of us felt a bit sentimental as we sailed away from Aktamar, watching the lights of the villages on the shore of the great Van lake. I doubt no one left the island without the feeling of having experienced something truly beautiful.
- Maja

Ishak paşa Palace

By Sıgne
Friday afternoon on Mt. Ararat we had the pleasure of visitıng Ishak Paşa Palace. The Buildıng itself ıs over 300 years old and is built of sandstone brought from far away places. The place rises majestically on the edges of the mountain's cliffs. Upon entering ıt felt like a labyrinth;rooms ın every corner, halls and small rooms that seemed almost secret. I especially enjoyed to wander alone within the palace, lettıng my thoughts run and to feel the buıldıng's powerful sılence and energy.
In the end Anemone and I found a large room with a high ceiling where we sang a couple of songs. Jasmine and Niels entered the room, thinking the song was a radio. :)
(30.oct.)

Naeste station: Turkey.

After a very sad "see you later" from our friends at Krogerup, we headed out to the cold dark night on our way to the train station. Naeste station: Turkey.
The hours past slowly, with mixed emotions of sadness, tiredness and happiness all together. At 5am we landed and at 7 we were already sitting in our hostel top floor which has an amazing view of the 1500 years old Hagia Sofia church and the surrounding. Later that day we went for a small walk to see the bazaar and some main streets with Martin Selsoe, who turned out to be an excellent guide and a great conversation man. That was an experience! Hot weather and good-looking young tourists made (mostly) Turkish men stare a lot at the group. When we entered the bazaar area, we stepped into a new world. A sudden flood of sensations overcomes you; different colors, smells and sounds surround 360 degrees of you. There is no order or logic in the bazaar streets, one road does not parallel another, but strolling in them with no aim will eventually lead you to the center of the market, marked by a big booth with faucets. After some lost and founds, we all gathered around Garba, our shepherd, and Martin, and went to eat our first doner (Turkish kebab).
Bon appétit!

Reut Amsalem

Turkey - Part 2

Yawyaw, dis be ye man mr. Henriksen comin' at you with part deux of Krogerups amazing Turkey adventure. Since most of the stuff we have planned will be covered in great detail by the rest of the adventurers (e.g. Jeppe and Lasses posts) this'll be my own thoughts about some of the things that we've seen. Since my memory is comparable to that of a goldfish this will be in no particular order.

First things first, we're back in Istanbul after 4/5 days in Van, a city located some 1500 km east of Istanbul, in the very eastern part of Turkey. The city is perhaps best known for the Van cat, a cat that supposedly swims very well and, most notably, has two eyes of different color. (as the sharpminded reader might have guessed, Van isn't exactly the 2nd Istanbul of Turkey. Tourism is neigh zero and the area is poor compared to the western part of the country)
Van was unquesionably a good addition to the program as it showed us the social, cultural and economical differences of Turkey. 8 year old boys running around with the latest and greatest of weighing equipment, trying to persuade you into measuring just how unhealthy you've been in the last few weeks and making a few lira in the process, speaks of an everyday quite unlike the one we'd gotten used to in Istanbul. (As far as I know noone dared weighing themselves: our strict 4-doner-a-day-diet has taken its toll on our BMI-values)

Also included in our Van stay was a trip to Akdamar island, located in lake Van, a very large lake that has given name to both the city and the province. Akdamar island is only reachable by ferry, and not a very comfortable one, but the hassle is definitely worth it: Akdamar island rivals the Grand Canyon as the most beatiful place I have ever been, and this was in rainy weather. The area and the nature is absolutely indescribable, it has to be seen, preferrably with ones own eyes. Check this link: There is also a church on the island, more than a thousand years old and the epicentre of quite a struggle, which I'll leave to this designated blogger to describe in greater detail.

In Van we also saw Ararat mountain, were Noahs ark supposedly marooned (In a world were God has flooded everything, how can you hit a mountain? Noah must've been a pretty awful sailer..) and quite a few million dollars have been spent trying to find said boat (Would republicans label this wasteful government spending? I would..), a 60m deep meteor crater and spoke to Iranian asylum seekers. Especially the talk with the Iranians was an eyeopener in many ways. The described the horrors of the theocratic regime and how the lack of individual, press and religous freedoms hurt the population.

Before leaving Istanbul we also had a touristy day, were a guide took us through Hagia Sophia, Sultanahmet/The Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. Hagia Sophia and Topkapi palace deserve further elaboration, so here goes. (Sultanahmet Mosque is awesome, but not as much as the other two)
Hagia Sophia is a 1500 year old church that still has the 4th largest dome in the world. Enough said. 1500 years ago Danes were living in mud huts and could hardly be called a people, much less a civilization, which makes Hagia Sophia so much more impressive for Danes. This building was a church for a thousand years, then a mosque for 400 and finally made a museum by Ataturk in the 1920s. The interior is hence a mishmash of islamist and christian religous stuff, making it that much more interesting. ('Theres Maria and Jay-boy.. and there's the names of Mohammads earliest followers')
Topkapi palaced has already been covered by Anemone, but in Danish so I'll do a brief description in English. Absolutely jawdropping. Done. ... OK. As the seat of Ottoman rulers for close to 400 years, Topkapi is really a palace taken out of most fairytales. If you've ever played Prince of Persia, you'll know what I'm talking about. Many rooms, many gardens and many, many treasures. Amongst the treasures stored here are Mohammads footprints, Moses' walking stick and Ibrahim/Abrahams turban... and a throne made of pure gold, a dagger with 3 coin sized jewels on it and 2 light holders sporting 6666 diamonds total. Nifty. The palace is huge and occupies the most expensive lot of land in all of Istanbul - the view over the Bosphorus offered from the eastern ledge of the palace is numero ono - making it all the more impressive. A must see if you're ever going to Istanbul.

Last night we went to experience the fabled night life of Taksim, but the weather and overall tiredness made the night end early for me. Still, I got an overall feel for the place, which is huge, filled with energetic and outgoing people and a very nice to place to hang out. Grab a beer, a hookah, a drink or a prostitute: Taksim has it all.

Also, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually starting to get sick and tired of Kebab. 11 days with an average 3 a day really gets to you. Maybe it's better in the long run, if I can finally get rid of a bad habit. (to those worrying about my calory intake, this is not completely without merit, but do note that Turkish kebab is more healthy that it's danish counterpart. They're smaller, cointain less meat and more vegetables and they do not use dressing. By no means a healthy snack, but not absolutely terrible either)

This was just some of the stuff we've been up to. Hope you enjoyed reading it.
- (This time neither drunk, nor high)Hans

The Ararat Mountain

By Lasse Munthe Jensen
Thursday the 29 october
Early morning we set sail for the Ararat mountain, just like some guy called Noah did many years before us.
Ironically it has been raining for some days now, is history repeating itself and is our bus going to be the next ark?
Well the rain stopped during the day, so much for my prophetic sense.
On the ay to the mountain, we stopped at a hangbridge over a river, and most of us enjoyed jumping on it so ıt went from side to side and up and down(for the horror of others).
After driving for what felt like an eternity, we could finally see Ararat in the horizon, the top was hidden by clouds, but the part we could see was really huge. The mountain itself should be around 5100 meter above the ocean, so quite an impressive rock.
The mountain reminded me abit of an ostrich, hidding it´s head so it thinks no one can see it. Although thats only something they do in the cartoons, ıf they would have done so in the real world, that specie would have been extingueshed long ago. Typical us humans to dumbify things so we can laugh at it and feel smarter.
Though I´ll admit Noah didn´t seem lıke the brightest guy either, or else he as damn drunk. I mean, imagine the entire world ıs flooded, Noah sailing around in his ark, and then BUMP! He manages to crash into the ONLY thing that is above the ocean for miles.... Make my day, he invented the drunken sailor! :)
And further more, quite impressive that he went around the world and collected every animal, not bad eh? Well surely he must have forgotten some? Where is the unicorn? the dragon? and the mermaids? (rawr gief hot ladies that swim around). And instead he took with him the mosquitos that has overstung my body many nights... Good job man, really!
Anyway, back to the real story, so we where going to Ararat, or well we got to like 5km from the mountain as the closest we got to it, so no real mountain climbing for me nor any of the other hopeful mountaneers. At least we got a very good view of he awesome turkish military might, since it was their national day and they were parading in the streets with their tanks, a shame they had no artillery or rockets, though it´s a perfect example of how to rule a nation with military pride!
Atatürk! Atatürk! Atatürk!

AK Party

Today we went to the regional headquarter of Turkey's ruling party: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi(AKP) to hear about their Minority Rights Reforms. Afterwards we went to the less fancy headquarters of DTP - the biggest Kurdish party.

The AKP, under leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is a Conservative, Democratic and Islamist Party. They favour democratic reform and stronger minority rights and Turkish EU membership. The AKP has improved the Turkish economy a lot through successful reforms.

Their hold on the power in Turkey is not threatened by any other political party, as they are by far the best and strongest. However internally there are divisions in the Party between Islamists and Secularists which reflects the general situation in Turkey.

2 years ago the AKP were threatened by a military coup from the army, but as they stayed in power - their confidence is at an all-time high. The Constitutional Court of Turkey and the Turkish army see themselves as defenders of Ataturks' vision of secularism in Turkey - and often critisıse the AKP for being too Islamist.

I agree with a journalist we met previously when she says: AKP is the best party in Turkey, but they are not to be trusted. Though they favour Minority Rights, EU Membership, and have sound economic policies, there is a threat that they might turn too Islamist if they hold the power in Turkey for too long. Also they have shady business relations with the big Turkish Conglomerates.

By Jeppe Kirk Bonde