Berlin has been a blast

Hi Y'all,

Berlin has been a blast it is one of those cities for me that once you visit you don't want to leave

Here are some select photos :

Berlin, learning and enjoying in the hearth of Europe

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/21/2014

Today was a very important day as it was our first lecture in Berlin. We started with CIFE, the Center International de Formation Europeenne. CIFE is a non-profit international organization that is funded by EU but academically independent from EU. In the first part of the 20th Century, the hegemonic wars among European countries were self-destructive. Europe had to integrate to end wars.

Europe had to implement coercive diplomacy instead of relying on the strongest country solve their problems. Winston Churchill stressed the importance of forgiveness and moving forward as a whole. Churchill believed that there could  be no Europe without fully revived France and Germany although he suggested that Britain should be a sponsor not a member of integrated Europe. Iron Curtain limited the integration of Europe. 

Coal and steel were very important to the nation states to defend themselves. Initial integration started with coal and steel with the expectation that this would draw more areas of integration. The integration plan was established on May 9th, 1950, and on this day each year Europeans celebrate peace and unity. EU's mission as a civilian power is to promote peace and stability among its members and in the world. It would be impossible to have peace internationally without peace among its own member states. 

Reichstag is the new German Parliament building. Germany has a federal parliamentary system. Federal chancellor is the head of government and the role of the chancellor is comparable to prime minister in other parliamentary democracies such as Turkey. Germany has a multi-party system, therefore it is very difficult for one party to win the majority. Germany is run by coalition governments in most of the time. The thing that amazed me is that even though Angela Merkel’s party won last years election in a landslide, she had to form a coalition. Currently there are no other coalition governments in EU. Germany is one of the most powerful countries. Understanding German government is one way we can understand relations among EU nations. European Commission acts an an executive branch and provides intense checks and balances for EU. European Commission represents the interests of Europe as a whole as opposed to interests of individual countries.

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/22/2014

On our second day in Berlin, we discussed EU as an international actor. EU has a large internal market that provides a strong structure to build on. EU is an economic union. It is not set up as a military union. Each member state is in charge of its own military. As EU expands, the differences among member states widens as well. These differences create challenges that test the economic and military strength of relationships among the member countries. 

Two important EU institutions are: the European Commission and the Council of European Union. These two institutions are the two heads of legislature. European Commission oversees that all member states implement EU laws. European Council is an assembly of heads of member states. The leaders decide on general political direction and major initiatives.

There are standing committees. Economic and Social Committee writes proposals and reports for economic and social development in EU. European External Action Service deals with foreign affairs such as international and regional demands, military officers, commission staff.  European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution and together with the European Council and the European Commission, functions as the legislative power of EU. 

Bundestag is the constitutional and legislative body of Germany. Representative of Germany in Brussels reports to Bundestag regularly to inform them about EU issues and gets their feedback. German laws require that the government and Bundestag must receive every EU project. German government officials are heavily involved in EU affairs and tightly coordinate with EU to accomplish their goals.

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/23/2014

Our third day in Berlin started with the question of what breeds patriotism or democracy? During recent EU elections far-left, and far-right nationalist parties gained grounds at the expense of the federalist groups. The results worry some about the future of EU. EU's structure is set up in a way that EU's intrests as a whole and the national interests of the member countries are both protected. 

EU Commission represents the interests as a whole. Press Department's role is to anounce new proposals that are on the table through media. Communication Department works with the Press Department and prepares educational materials for the general public. Administrative Department provides internal assistance. Political Department covers policy areas and get recommendations from general public, civil society organizations, professional organizations, think tanks.

One of the most debated proposals on the table is the privatization of water resources. Germany has the largest population of any EU country but majority of Germans don't feel that EU represents them and feel that EU policies are too abstract in nature to appeal to multiple countries. Nevertheless Germany is the most powerful country within EU. The common blief is that the national governments can often accomplish better than EU.  Two sets of laws, German and EU, seem to be too confusing for a typical German citizen. On the foreign policy front, EU faces with the problem of Ukraine and Russia. It is harder for EU to implement sanctions against Russia than the US, because EU is in economic partnership with Russia.

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/24/2014

Today's discussions were on the economic dimensions of EU. EU budget is designed and manged on a 7 year basis called the financial perspective. With this budget, community institutions are funded, cohesion is promoted, and agriculture is stabilized. Cohesion policy serves to promote convergence competiveness, employment, territorial cooperation. EU doesn't levy taxes, such as income, sales, etc. Its main resources for funding come from agricuktural duties and sugar levies, value added taxes, VAT, at a rate of 0.3%, and a standard percentage levied on the GNI of each EU country at a minimum rate of 0.74%. 

Spending appropriations serve two big headings, mainly regional development and agricultural and rural developments. EU countries have common currency. With the idea of one market one curency as suggested by France, common currency promotes growth by avoiding currency exchange losses, counterweighs US dollar in reserves and energy money. However, Euro is not an optimum currency yet for several reasons: In Eurozone, open and flexible markets are not yet being fully integrated, problems with flexible real wage adjustment rates, no cross border supply swigs mobility, no fiscal federalism (tiny EU budget), etc.

Germany’s European Policy is to coordinate European politics with the German Federal Government. It is important for Germany to have permanent representation in Brussels to monitor EU Commission's initiatives and to report back to Berlin. Germany involves all relevant ministeris of the federal government to review the proposals, to prepare negotiating documents, to keep the general policy guidelines set by the Federal Chancellary. 

SOLVIT is a body funded by the European Commission to find rapid and pragmatic solution for problems that citizens and businesses might encounter when EU law is not applied correctly by national authorities. In 2013, SOLVIT Germany had 95% resolution rate for problems associated with VAT reimbursement for businesses, helps married couples obtain residence cards in other countries child benefits for people moving to other EU countries.

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/25/2014

Fifth day in Berlin, we are wrapping up Germany visit. We learned that EU has an information website called EurActiv.com. This is an independent media portal fully dedicated to EU affairs. People use EurActiv to brief others on media throughout the EU. It is free of charge, anybody can access the information online. There are videos online, panel discussions with real people in offices. They produce some print material, some reporting, big and small reports. Journalists from different countries can collect information and research on EU topics.

BlogActiv is a personal blog site where anyone can sign up for free and talk with others, publish work through it, exchange content. EurActiv has issue based categories, more focused on current controversial issues; may organize speakers or experts and audiences on specific issues, provides reports to allow discussions of specific issues. EurActive communicates and reaches to others through the media network on specific issues going on. 

In the last EU elections in June 2014, the voter turnout was not as expected. The voters were not mobilized despite of discussion of issues through EurActive media network. There was a slight increase in the voter turnout. For the first time the voter turnout was stabilized instead of decreasing election after election.

More learning in Berlin

Howdy folks,

Sorry for not being able to post recently, Internet has been hard to get in the hotel. These past three days have been the best for me on this trip. I have gotten to visit multiple federal building belonging to the German Federal Government. Berlin is very historic city. First office we got to visit was the German chancellery which is home to office of the chancellor of Germany.  It was here that we got to learn about how the German Parliament and Chancellor are elected. All and all it  was a very informative day. The next day we visited the Reichstag home to the German Bundestag or Parliament.  It was nice to be able to claim that I have visited these places.

Istanbul, learning and enjoying an old city

Here is a first overview of multiple journals of what I have learned from my trip so far :

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/14/2014

The lectures started with the background information on EU negotiations with Turkey and lead us through the years of progress since its beginning. It also provided historic background on Turkey, how Turkish revolution was more successful than Russian revolution because it was a political change, change of administration, rather than changing peoples' minds. I was able to better understand the issues regarding Turkey and it’s EU candidacy.

I particularly better understood Germany’s views on Turkey being in the EU. Some said that Germany would not benefit from Turkey having membership in the EU. German interest seems to be self serving and motivated more by German national interest. Former German Chancellor in 1999 wanted Turkey in for other reasons than current German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In the second lecture, it was interesting to learn about the Copenhagen criteria, the requirements for EU membership. First criterion is geographic, a country must be in Europe. Second criterion requires a functioning democracy, a stable market economy, and adoption of  Acquis (EU law). Third criterion is about reasons for admittance to EU. These are the requirements to join the European Union and if a country fail to meet any of these three criteria then they can't join the EU. 

Geographically Turkey has challenges because most of Turkey's land is in Asia, Anatolia.  Turkey also faces challenges in terms of freedoms, such as freedom of press. The lectures helped me to understand why a European Union was needed and how it grew and expanded, and the process and requirements for joining EU.

Countries like Turkey experience challenges. These challenges range from geographic to economic, social, and political.  Challenges come from both sides. Most EU countries do not perceive Turkey as a European country with its geographic location and  Muslim population. It is perceived more as a Middle-Eastern country. Majority of Turks also  believe that EU countries are anti-Muslim and don't want Turkey because of that. Turkey also has its own interests in the world and these interests may not coincide with the European interests, such as the foreign policies that Turkey pursues, especially in the Middle-East.

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/15/2014

Today's lectures started with an introduction to Turkey, its political and economic development, and its social structure. Instability in the surrounding areas such as the Balkans, the Caucuses, and the Middle-East cause problems  for Turkey. In the country the urbanization has caused social, economic, and political problems. Istanbul is being the most populated city with a population of 15 million. Unemployment rate is about 40% among college graduates. Ethnic problems with the Kurdish population and associated terrorism killed thousands in Turkey. 

After the World War II, Turkey received Marshall Plan funds to build its economy and military. This was to stop Soviet expansion and to keep Turkey as a buffer zone. Turkey was not involved in World War II, however, severe economic hardship was experienced during that period. 

Since passing of Ataturk, Turkey experienced several military coupes. 1994 World economic crises lead to the rise of current Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Islamist party. In 1900's, the empires started breaking up, the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary Empire and Ottoman Empire. Turkey formed alliance with the United States and blamed Germany for losses in World War I.  

Since the formation of EU, many countries joined the Union, including the break up nations from former Soviet Union after the Cold War. Turkey is a NATO member and a US ally. Turkey tries to stay integrated in Europe to improve its international and domestic status. Turkey has to have good relations with Russia as well because it is dependent on Russian natural gas, receiving 42% of its natural gas from Russia.

Turkey is involved in Syria, especially with anti-Assad groups; may have sponsored some of these groups by providing weapons. Becoming an EU member will help Turkish people to have access to better education, job opportunities, and better health care. However, issues remain for full membership on both sides. Turkish people are skeptical of the European sincerity and intentions. Germany may see Turkey as a threat due to it size and economic strength.

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/16/2014

This is our third day in Turkey. Today we did institutional visits. We visited Democratization and Civil Society, an interest group to change and influence policies in Turkey. This advocacy group is privately funded, have strict criteria for research they produce. They have ability to bring together policy makers with civil society. There are several areas they focus: Kurdish minority issues, internally displaced people (IDP), Turkish democratization process, political prisoners, and EU accession process.

Turkey has a parliamentary system. Some Kurdish leaders want a decentralized system. This will require constitutional changes and this may happen after the 2015 general elections. The ruling party will have to lead the constitution process. This group monitors constitution making process from day one. The group focuses on judicial reform as well. Judicial problems originate from being a state-oriented and not having democratic institutions administering the judiciary. This is a big area where Turkey will struggle in the coming decade for EU accession. 

Another area they focus is security sector reform. EU requires democratic oversight of security institutions including the police, the military, the intelligence, and the village guards, etc.  Overall, what I have learned from this presentation is that although Turkey is a democracy, changes must take place to be fully democratic. The power is from the executive to the people, but it should be from the people to the executive. 

We also visited with Community Volunteer Foundation which focuses specifically on the development of young people. Turkey has a young population. High unemployment, gender inequality, access to quality education and health care, and lack of social and political participation are some of the problems the Turkish youth are facing. This foundation organizes clubs and 3 day training programs to encourage youth to involve in community. I thought something like a Big Event would be a wonderful way for Turkish youth to involve in their communities.

Yurttas Journal Entry 7/17/2014

Today, it is our last day in Turkey. I am sad to leave Turkey tomorrow, but excited about going to Berlin. 

Today we focused on energy security in the EU, the wider Eurasian region and Turkey. Turkey serves as an important bridge that connects the East to the West. Turkey has been that bridge in transferring natural gas resources from oil and natural gas rich Central Asia to the EU countries. This is important for EU because EU doesn’t want to rely on entirely Russian energy resources. EU also wants to diversify not only energy supply routes but also the energy resources. Germany, for example, is putting emphasis on renewable energy resources and the protection of the environment. Turkey holds everyone together, the East and the West, Turkey is the “belly button of the world” where people go through for energy. 

EU developed ENP,  the neighborhood policy, to influence reforms in the neighboring countries. Participating neighbor countries agree to do certain reforms and in return get benefits from EU (not full membership), a key difference between enlargement and neighborhood policies. Other rewards include access to European market, visas, etc. The two neighboring countries Ukraine and Turkey have similarities and differences. Both have large populations and both are divided countries. Turkey’s division is between the secularists and the pro-Islamist conservatives, the supporters of the current ruling party. 

The difference is that Ukraine has the Russian factor and Turkey doesn’t. In Ukraine the protests were about democracy, whereas in Turkey, the Gezi movement, which had started to protect the trees in the Gezi Park, turned into a major anti-government protest of urban population demanding personal freedoms and accountability from the government. Turkish media, especially government controlled TV, blacked out most of the protests. The role of social media was instrumental in spreading the awareness.

First two days in Berlin

Well y'all :

Two days in Berlin is down. It was very fun to get to see this awesome city. Sorry, I am in the hotel lobby writing my blog because the internet in my room is being stupid. We had a nice dinner at a very nice place. Tomorrow is a free day so we will decide what to do. Well, we had a fun dinner tonight. I am very happy with the way things are going on this trip. It has been a blast so far and I enjoyed keeping all my friends and family updated on what has been going on in this trip. Well, I am going to go leave this hotel lobby and go type some more in the morning. See you later.

Hey Guys: Some more thoughts from Istanbul

Well, Studying Abroad can make you fall behind but, there is time to catch-up. These past three days have been the best of our trip to Istanbul. We had lectures at Bilgi University which is a private school in Turkey. Well, Wednesday we visited some Turkish institutions. More info to come in a later blog. All and all it was good three days. Today was our last day and tomorrow we leave on a plane to go to Berlin. Today Culminated with a boat ride down the Bosphorus strait. It was fun.

Howdy Friends and Family from Istanbul

Well, Sunday the bulk of my day was spent at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. I have been to many things in Istanbul except to this museum; it was nice. The advantage of being a Turkish-American is that I can teach my friends Turkish. Today, somebody ask me how to translate in Turkish. Monday marked the beginning of the lecture portion of the program. We had two lectures that dealt with Turkey politics and EU growth. I was so intrigued and could legitimately relate tot these topics. I have never seen this level knowledge about these topics other than from my dad. After I went to the hotel and got ready for dinner. On the way back to the hotel,  some immature kids were spraying me with water and pulled me. I got real mad, I do not tolerate this kind of behavior under any circumstances. Then I went back to the hotel and now I am going to sleep. TTFN, Ta ta for now

Hey Guys: Discovering and Enjoying Istanbul

Today was very great day in Istanbul. We got to visit some of the oldest mosques in the world. It was amazing. There was so much history. The mosque has some of the best traditions ever. Women were required to cover there heads and everyone had to take off there shoes. We had a long tour of the city from here and along the way we stop at Istanbul University which was once a military base. I also had the privilege of hang out with my friends at the Grand Bazaar which is one of the oldest shopping malls in the world. We spent half of our day there. Then I got to see my uncle and cousins who live in Turkey. They were nice and treated us for a dinner, as a result I had to cancel dinner that I had planned with my friends, but it was OK because we have plenty of free days. Well off to bed right now, See you

Some more pictures from Istanbul taken around Gezi Park :

More pictures from Istanbul taken at Taksim Square and Beyoglu neighborhood :

Hi Friends: I'm in Istanbul

We have just wrapped up our first night in Istanbul.  It all began with a flight from the US to Paris and then onward I got to travel with most of my group members on this flight. It was not eventful; just watched two movies and then slept the whole rest of the way. Great news, thanks to the airline I can claim that I have seen the Disney movie Frozen. Then after that I watched The Jungle book, a classic. When we landed we headed straight to the hotel where I was greeted by my mom. We also got to have a nice romantic dinner; then we had a night excursion with friends. All and all it was a good start to my trip.