The first thing you notice about the Greek Archipelago is the purity of the light as it creates a contrast between the pristine white houses and the intense blue of the Aegean. Of the three thousand Greek Islands that crowd the North Eastern part of the Mediterranean probably the best known is the central group called the Cyclades.
The Cyclades are so named because they form a circle or ‘kiklo’ around the sacred Island of Delos, appropriately home to Apollo, the God of light. Each summer thousands of visitors make the journey to discover traditional rural lifestyles, vibrant town squares and soaring cliff vitas. The small dazzling white beaches are legendary and in late summer the Aegean is ruffled by the cooling Meltemi wind. ‘Island-hopping’ is a way of life for the sun-seeking hordes that often test the meager resources of the smaller islands.
......taken on the streets of the Chora...
Mykonos, Greece...
Tags: dovecote door gate wall white ride light island cyclades alone greece hellas mykonos kyklades greek korkut bostanci bostan bostankorkulugu sepia monochrome chora hora bike motorbike architecture sea scooter aegean black blackwhite blackandwhite bw aigaio αιγαίο αιγαίο πέλαγοσ aegean sea aigaio pelagos κυκλάδεσ ellada ελλάδα ελλάσ μυκονοσ mikonos
© All Rights Reserved
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s men are busy chasing ghosts: Ghosts of foreign spies who have miraculously provoked hundreds of thousands of silly Turks out into the streets for a wave of protests that no columnist, analyst, political scientist or government had predicted. The same men are also busy planning preemptive strikes on various mediums of social media. A vice president of Mr Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has hinted “legal regulation to set social media in order.” “Twitter lies are deadlier than bomb,” the man said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Erdoğan’s friends in Europe and across the Atlantic have been behaving in an unusually unfriendly way, sending message after message to Mr. Erdoğan and observing, with disappointment, that their messages disappear as they arrive in Ankara. They are patient, although the language to which Mr. Erdoğan’s (and Turkey’s) Western friends resort gets tougher.
But why do they suddenly feel such affection for the unimportant half of Turks and their concerns? Why do they dare anger their man in Ankara? What has made them see, after years of blindness, Mr. Erdoğan’s democratic deficiencies? Why would a European politician call Mr. Erdogan “Europe’s last standing dictator” when Mr. Erdoğan is the same Mr. Erdoğan – the same man who once declared that his ambition was to “raise devout generations”? Why has Washington issued about 15 statements criticizing Mr. Erdoğan’s way of handling peaceful dissent?
Another question: Who, other than the AKP loyalists in Turkey, is unhappy about the Turkish protests? Take, for instance, Murad Aly, media advisor for Egypt’s leader Mohamed Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party, or simply the Egyptian Mr. Erdoğan and AKP: “What is going on in Turkey is intended to promote the idea that Islamic regimes … have failed.” You see, the man does not mention “democratic regimes,” he simply refers to “Islamic regimes.”
It is understandable that the Turkish unrest is bad news for Mr. Morsi, whose police force is preparing to counter, probably much in the way Mr. Erdoğan’s police force did in Turkey, mass rallies against his rule scheduled for June 30. Naturally, any parallelism between the Turkish and Egyptian rallies would be disturbing for Mr. Morsi and his supporters at home and abroad.
Reuters accurately put it in an analysis that “riots and protests have highlighted an underlying schism in Turkish society reaching back to the 1920s.” Another analyst commented that “some see the protests as part of a nationwide discontent with political Islam.” And another observed that “pro-secular protests rocking Turkish cities have sent ripples across the Arab world, unnerving Islamist leaders who have long touted Turkey as a successful model of political Islam.” Like Mr. Morsi, who once declared that Mr. Erdogan’s AKP was a “source of inspiration.”
Naturally, for his western friends, Mr Erdoğan’s governance no longer positively resonates through the Arab Street which itself is alarming news. What if the Turkish protests turned into an inspiration for more Turks to join in the future, shaking Turkey’s economic and political stability further, and for the Arabs who may one day decide to stand against political Islam?
Apparently, Mr Erdoğan wanted to experiment with cooking a dish – raising devout generations in this analogy. He had all the ingredients. He started cooking. He smelled a delicious aroma. His audience was happy that the same dish could be marketed at every Arab restaurant.
Mr. Erdoğan and his shoulder-patting audience were suddenly shocked at the smell of burnt food on June 1. He had set the oven flame too high. This was a dish best cooked on a low flame. Now, his loving audience is shouting at him, in panic, to put the flame down. The trouble is, Mr. Erdoğan thinks that the best way to salvage the burning dish is to put more flames into the oven. Hence, the occasional shout and protest from his audience: Don’t!
Never mind, dear friends of Turkey; Mr. Erdoğan is a pragmatic cook. At the end of the day he will put down the flame and get back to business. But watch out, so that he does not burn the whole house while cooking...
(Burak Bekdil)
...taken on Peiraios Street...
Athens, Greece...
Tags: gezi gezi park gezi parki direngeziparki blind blinded glasses googles man walk blur blurry art artist graffiti wall painting picture mural pireos street peiraios street athens atina attiki gkazi attika greece sepia monochrome hellas bw blackandwhite korkut black white bostan bostanci bostankorkulugu greek blackwhite ellada ελλάδα ελλάσ occupygezi
© All Rights Reserved
The Academy of Athens is Greece's national academy, and the highest research establishment in the country. It was established in 1926, and operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. The Academy's main building is one of the major landmarks of Athens. It is a neoclassical building that was designed as part of an architectural "trilogy" in 1859 by the Danish architect Theophil Hansen, along with the University and the National Library. Funds had been provided by the magnate Simon Sinas specifically for the purpose, and the foundation stone was laid on 2 August 1859. Construction proceeded rapidly, after 1861 under the supervision of Ernst Ziller, but the internal tumults during the latter years of King Otto's reign, which resulted in his ousting in 1862, hampered construction until it was stopped in 1864. Works resumed in 1868, but the building was not completed until 1885, at a total cost of 2,843,319 gold drachmas, most of it provided by Sinas, and, after his death, by his wife Ifigeneia. The sculptures were undertaken by the Greek Leonidas Drosis, while the murals and paintings by the Austrian Christian Griepenkerl. On 20 March 1887, the building of the "Sinaean Academy", as it was called, was delivered by Ziller to the Greek Prime Minister, Charilaos Trikoupis. In the absence of a national Academy, the building was used for housing the Numismatic Museum in 1890, and in 1914 the Byzantine Museum and the State Archives. Finally, on 24 March 1926, the building was handed over to the newly-established Academy of Athens...
...taken by the Academy of Athens...
Athens, Greece...
Tags: Ακαδημία Αθηνών Academy of Athens academy athens atina greece hellas neoclassical trilogy neoclassical trilogy Theophil Hansen Ernst Ziller refugees of europe writings wall tilt tilted graffiti walk alone woman immigrant refugee immigration architecture attika sepia monochrome geometry bw blackandwhite korkut black white bostan bostanci bostankorkulugu greek blackwhite ellada ελλάδα ελλάσ attiki crisis
© All Rights Reserved
...taken at the old harbour...
chania, greece...
Tags: chania xania crete greece hellas lighthouse mediterranean
© All Rights Reserved
...taken at the Panathenaic Stadium...
Athens, Greece...
Tags: panathenaic stadium stadium panathinaiko kallimarmaro marble woman walk stairs marathon white architecture olympics olympic athens atina greece hellas sports summer olympics olympic games olympiad pangrati attika sepia monochrome graphics graphism geometry bw blackandwhite korkut black bostan bostanci bostankorkulugu greek blackwhite ellada ελλάδα ελλάσ attiki tilted olympist rings olympic rings tilt
© All Rights Reserved