Dimitrios' World

Surrealism is a good word to describe what one experiences in Cihangir in the center of European Istanbul near Taksim Square. The tension is palpable, the air heavy with humidity. People having their usual conversations in cafes with their thoughts on how their life's have fundamentally changed since 31 May. Strangers are walking up and down the streets ready to partake in the protests that will follow later with their gas masks (the choice is infinite both in terms of type and color) and their goggles to protect their eyes from the pepper gas and other such niceties we will all have to deal with later and into the night. Others still are carrying various types of supposedly protective head gear...so many days of this has made both protesters and those simply standing by better prepared to deal with the onslaught or so we think.... The sounds of helicopters making their reconnaissance flights are heard overhead. The streets are slowly filling up and now the now the air is inundat...

At the official handover ceremony between the Slovenian Presidency and the current French Presidency, on 30 June 2008, the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, upon symbolically accepting a relay baton and an EU flag from his Slovenian counterpart commented that the European Union was “in average shape”. Kouchner’s sentiments echoed those of Nicholas Sarkozy who speaking on French television suggested that “something isn’t right, something isn’t right at all.” In an interview to the Italian daily Corriere della Serra on 25 June 2008, on the eve of the Euro 2008 semi-finals which pitted Turkey against Germany and Russia against Spain, Joerg Haider, the Austrian far-right politician, questioned why Turkey and Russia were allowed to participate in the European Soccer Championships by asking “what have these two countries got in common with Europe?” Though seemingly unrelated, the two aforementioned references in fact have much to do with each other. On the one hand, they describe a ...