Global Voices Online

For those of you who were wondering what I missed on the weekly Turkish blogs round-up last week, American Turk has done a wonderful job of covering my footsteps. Thanks!

Many Turkish bloggers have covered the death of Turkish-American Music Producer Arif Mardin, a very remarkable man, to say the least, who has worked with some very big name musicians such as Aretha Franklin and David Bowie. He died on June 25th of Pancreatic Cancer.

Metroblogging: Istanbul writes about new archaeological discoveries in the Yenikapi suburb of Istanbul (the possible find of Istanbul's original walls). Also a new regulation for Istanbul taxi drivers to have air conditioning in their cabs is discussed (about time!).

Mavi Boncuk writes about the Smyra Fig mystery and gives a book review of a new book called A Brave New Quest about Turkish poetry.

Erkan's Field Diary details a run-in with a Turkish news personality where the question “Don't you know who I am?” almost came into play and there is a cute little blurp about the nationality of Baklava.

But what I really want to talk about is the five-part epic being written by Talk Turkey about the identity of Turkish-Americans. Part 1: A Non-Stick Melting Pot, gives a brief intro to the themes of first and second generation immigrants to the United States. Part 2: Turks R US, talks about the difficulty of deciding what level of identity must be sacrified to be included in America, is the American dream overriding Turkish culture, or does Turkish culture add to the American dream? Part 3: What Kind of Americans Are We, details the difficulties of American-Turks who still try to keep ties with the homeland, especially in the area of opinion on local politics of the home-country, only to be told by the natives that they don't understand because in leaving Turkey they have denied their existance and assimilated. Many times, that is not the case. Part 4: Taking the Boo Out of Taboo, deals with the fact that before Turks can assimilate into American society, they must learn to deal with the taboo subjects of Turkey (ei.the Kurdish Question or the Armenian Genocide). And finally, part 5: Ethical Assimilation, deals with the issue of how can Turks assimilate into American society without stripping their culture away. If you read anything this week at all…..this series is a must!