Istanbul Bulletin

The 28th traditional Turkish Day Parade led by Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA) was held on Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 in New York, USA.

Turkish Day Parade started at the intersection of Madison Avenue and 56th Street and ended at the Dag Hammarskjold Park close to the Turkish House. Among the attendees of the parade, which witnessed very colourful and joyful scenes, were Hayati Yazici, the state minister responsible for Turks living abroad, Turkey's Ambassador to Washington Nabi Sensoy, Turkey's Permanent UN Representative Baki Ilkin, Turkish Consul-General in New York Mehmet Samsar, Turkey-US Friendship Group leader and Justice and Development Party Antalya parliament Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) New York representative Kemal Goceri, a 10-member delegation from the Turkish Parliament and thousands of Turkish people living in the US.

Turkey becomes the cover story of ‘MICE Tourism’ magazine of China that has a circulation of 50,000. Turkey is promoted with a total of 20 pages at the magazine.

According to news received from Beijing Office of Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry, Turkey may receive good business opportunities after the Turkey articles at the magazine which has a leading position in Chinese media promoting congress and convention tourism in country.

With the collaboration of World Architecture Community and DAZ Deutsches Architektur Zentrum, 7 Turkish architectures will present their works with an exhibition entitled “7 Architects from 7 Hills” at the Scharoun Saal of DAZ in Berlin from 15 May – 30 June 2009.

After Torino in 2008 as the 2nd stop of TURKISH ARCHITECTURE NOW series, the exhibition, will present the works of seven contemporary Turkish architects from Istanbul with photos, models and video presentations. The architects featured in the exhibition represent the leading figures in contemporary architecture in Turkey. While there are many talented architects working in Turkey today, the amount and quality of the work built by these designers set them apart. On the threshold of the third millennium, this group represents a new generation of architects with a commitment to Modernist values but they also aim to acquire their own international attitude.

Emre Arolat’s works show a detailed level of refinement in form and material. Arolat’s contribution to Turkish Architecture is specifically tied to his sensitive adaptation of hard materials in stone and concrete and simple steel construction systems to large scale programs. His architecture balances the functional requirements required of these types of buildings with the limited possibilities in building technology and material. For non-residential buildings he does not deal with façades, instead he attempts to devise a multitude of geometric envelopes that surround, cover and embrace the building as a system.

Can Cinici established his own independent practice initially in Ankara focusing on urban design and planning. He formed his unique pairing of simplified geometric forms that are synthesized into his own formal language. He coordinates it with a detailed understanding of material and texture that subsumes architectural values into an exercise of abstract geometry. Cinici’s adaptation into the architecture culture of Istanbul with its focus on representation and materials resulted in the transformation of his geometric rationalist approach. In work such as his Bursagaz Headquarters one can sense the latent yet robust underlying geometry of monolithic forms but with a more sensitive approach to how this geometry is expressed in materials.

Teget Architectural Office was established by two architects, Mehmet Kutukcuoglu and Ertug Ucar, in Istanbul in the early 2000s. Teget has been involved substantially with the generation of form and abstract geometric structures in parallel with global tendencies in architecture. Their approach is more like ‘theme and variations’ combining the environmental approach and modernism with geometric rationalism. One can say that there is always something unidentifiable in the geometries of Teget’s work which is intuitive and personal.

Sevki Pekin is the most senior among the group of ‘Seven’ although he has never taken part in the mainstream of Turkish architectural culture. This may be partly due to his Viennese architectural education, partly due to his long practice in London. Pekin takes the precepts of open spatiality found in post WWII modern architecture and applies them to a delineation of space and massing that are pared downed extensions of local building practices. His highly tectonic architecture, focusing on basic elements of architecture, post and lintel, or mural, exists as neutral backgrounds for activity to take place, but also has a very strong relation to its context.

Nevzat Sayin authored many significant buildings that left their mark on the developments of architecture in Turkey in the late 1980’s to the present day. In the 1980’s Sayin exhibited the post-modern tendencies of that era and produced remarkable buildings that showed a loose connection to traditional forms that can be seen as post - modern such as his Shell Headquarters in Istanbul. During this brief period, he has always maintained a thorough going application of materials and building techniques that would be the hallmark of his work for many years to come. Sayin’s work in the 1990s came out of sensitive use of concrete and stone, and was the first to balance modern materials with archaism of traditional local techniques.

Tabanlioglu Architects of Murat Tabanlioglu and his wife and partner Melkan Gursel Tabanlioglu, have from its earliest years been closely associated with a type of robust architecture of monolithic orthogonal forms in concrete and steel and glass. Works in specifically concrete and simple steel forms starting from the 1990s represents some of the most original work of the office facilities. Tabanlioglu have their signature on many big projects in the 2000s including the largest scale mixed use urban projects and shopping centres that have made them into the largest architectural practice in Turkey. Their experimental engagements with environmentally friendly, energy efficient, greenhouse based projects in Istanbul will be generic examples in Turkey of the global trend in ecological buildings.

Han Tumertekin, one of the younger members of this group of architects, is by his own words ‘stylistically agnostic’. His forte for taking advantage of context and circumstances, shows a completely worked out architectonic and aesthetic sensibility indicative of a new architecture language to come. His commitment to minimal use of form brought him a distinguished recognition of receiving the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004 for his B2 House. His Harvard professorship is perhaps the first for a non-expatriate Turk. Tümertekin has gained tremendous respect for his effort to remain pragmatic and obliterate opulence in his architecture.

The exhibition is curated by World Architecture Community. WA Community is an initiative of Dr. Suha Ozkan, Hon FAIA, academician and former Secretary General of Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and Sefik Onat, former diplomat, project - and event manager. WA Community is the owner and operator of www.worldarchitecture.org, which is an independent global forum and extensive interactive database providing access to all the data available on the web internationally on architecture. The initiative also has created WA Community Awards which are given every three months to highlight and publish remarkable projects that might otherwise remain unnoticed by the international public but have the potential to inspire exciting questions about contemporary architectural discourse.

The European Museum of the Year Award, organised by the European Museum Forum, has celebrated its 32nd year with a Presentation Ceremony and associated activities based at various venues in Bursa, Turkey hosted by Bursa Metropolitan Municipality.

The 2009 Awards were announced on Saturday 9 May, during a ceremony attended by more than 200 people from 25 European countries at the Club Altin Ceylan, followed by a Gala Dinner.

The 2008 European Museum of the Year Award is given to Salzburg Museum, Salzburg, Austria. The museum reopened in 2007 in the ‘Neue Residenz’ built in 1600 for Archbishop Wolf Dietrich and situated in the old city centre. The building is protected and the architects have done a very good job in restoring and adapting it to museum purposes by integrating contemporary architectural elements.

World famous Japanese drumming troupe Kodo will open the 23rd International Izmir Festival on June 13 at Ahmed Adnan Saygun Arts Centre.

The festival is organized by the Izmir Foundation for Culture and Arts, or IKSEV, with the support of the Prime Ministry, the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, the Eczacıbaşı Group and Izmir’s Konak Municipality.

The Izmir State Opera and Ballet will perform the Haendel Opera "Imeneo" on June 18. The opera will be staged at Ephesus Odeon.

Beside the Ahmed Adnan Saygun Arts Centre and Ephesus Odeon, the world-renowned Ephesus Celsius Library, the Bergama Asklepion and Çeşme Castle are the other venues for the festival.

German Ensemble Resonanz will take stage on June 23 at 9:30 p.m. in Celsius Library. The ensemble will accompany Barbara Bultmann, one of the world’s most renowned violinists.

The festival dedicates an event every year for the memory of Ahmet Piriştina, ex- mayor of Izmir who passed away 5 years ago. The event will be commemorated on June 27 by the significant names in the classical music world. “ Golden violin" Shlomo Mintz and Yuri Bashmet will perform with Moscow Soloists during this special event.

Organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism with the State Opera and Ballet, the 16th Aspendos International Opera and Ballet Festival will take place this year from 10 June to 3 July.

The festival will open on June 10, the 60th anniversary of the State Opera and Ballet, with Guisseppe Verdi’s "Aida" opera.

Opera and Ballet founder and General Director Rengim Gökmen said that the guest artists of the opera will be U.S. soprano Adina Aaron and Italian tenor Giuseppe Palmieri. Istanbul Opera and Ballet Director Suat Arıkan will also take the stage in "Aida."

In the 16th Aspendos International Opera and Ballet Festival, the Ankara State Opera and Ballet will perform "Giselle" on June 16 and "Carmen" on June 19, the Mersin and Antalya State Opera and Ballet will perform the ballet version of "Carmina Burana" on June 26, the Izmir State Opera and Ballet will perform a "Romeo and Juliet" ballet June 30 and Prague State Opera Ballet will perform "Tosca" opera on June 23.

The festival will end on July 3 with a performance by the Doğuş Children Symphony Orchestra.

Cappadocia, which is famous for its spectacular landscape, fairy chimneys and painted rock churches, hosted 2nd Cappadocia Cross Golf Tournament between 29 and 30 May 2009.

A total of 20 golfers around the world attended this year’s tournament that hosted many local and international press including World’s leading golf news source; Golf Channel.

The winner of the tournament is Appie Cooskens from the Netherlands, Svetlana Andryukina from Russia ranked second, and Carlos Ansede came third at the 2nd Cross Golf Tournament in Cappadocia.

C

ross Golf, which is an Indigo Tourism project, doesn’t need excessive water consumption. Therefore, it is highly appreciated by environmentalists. There are no specific rules for “cross golf” in the world. Instead of targeting ball into a hole in traditional golf, in cross golf; nets are used. Players try to hit the ball into nets as scoring a goal in soccer.

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Dedeman Hotels & Resorts International opened its 22nd property in Turkey’s south-eastern province of Gaziantep. The Dedeman Gaziantep Hotel & Convention Center officially opened by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay and prominent names of the region attended the opening ceremony.

Speaking at the press conference before the opening, Dedeman Holding Chairman of the Board Murat Dedeman said, “We are close to reach our target of “50 hotels in 50 years”. Dedeman Hotels & Resorts International will celebrate its 50th year in 2016 with 50 hotels in Turkey and abroad.

Mr. Murat Dedeman said the hotel has 186 rooms, 2 restaurants; one of them offering mainly food from the region, one indoor swimming pool, a ballroom with 1000pax equipped with state-of-the-art audio-video equipment. Mr. Dedeman also added that the hotel is offering the most modern health club of the southeast region.

“We have started the hotel development and expansion to Anatolia by opening Dedeman Palandöken in Erzurum in 1994. Dedeman Gaziantep is our 6th hotel in South East,” added Mr. Dedeman.

Hilton Hotels Corporation announced it has entered into a Franchise License Agreement with Durmazlar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. to open two new Hilton Family properties in Bursa, in the north west of Turkey.

The 170-room upscale Hilton Bursa Convention Centre & Spa and 106-room Hampton by Hilton Bursa will be located next to each other and will represent the first dual-branded development in the country by HHC, as well as the Turkish debut of the company’s value-conscious Hampton by Hilton brand. It will also see the hotelier operating a choice of four different hotel brands in Turkey, reflecting Hilton’s commitment to growing its presence in key strategic markets.

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It is clear that there continues to be significant potential to develop the hotel sector across Turkey and fulfil demand for quality accommodation in key Turkish cities and regional locations,” said Patrick Fitzgibbon, Senior Vice President Development, Europe & Africa, Hilton Hotels Corporation. “This agreement will enable us to continue to accelerate our expansion plans through the introduction of our extensive Hilton Family of Hotels.”

“From Hampton by Hilton to our renowned Hilton hotels, we are well-positioned to provide high-quality accommodations for Turkish and international travellers within a broad range of price points, amenity choices and geographic locations,” said Paul Brown, president – global brands and shared services, Hilton Hotels Corporation.

As Turkey’s fourth largest city, Bursa boasts a population of over two million people and is an important centre of trade and industry. The newly built Hilton and Hampton by Hilton properties will be located close to the main highway connecting Bursa and Istanbul, and just a few kilometres from the city centre. Close by is a key business and manufacturing area, as well as a large shopping mall. The city is just 40 minutes drive from the slopes of Mount Uludağ Ski Resort, Turkey’s main winter sports destination.

The company has earmarked Turkey - along with Germany, Russia, the UK, the Iberian Peninsula and Italy - as a key market for extensive development and growth through the introduction of the Hilton Family of Hotels.

The country currently ranks as Hilton’s most successful international development market and now boasts the largest pipeline of any global hotel group. Under separate non-exclusive Strategic Development Agreements (SDAs) with two leading Turkish property partners*, Hilton Family is expected to introduce 40 properties (comprising 5,500 rooms) over the next five years. The company is also set to debut its first resort property in the country, when it opens Hilton Dalaman Golf Resort & Spa this summer.

The Mardan Palace Hotel, one of the most luxurious hotels in the Mediterranean region, was opened in Antalya.

Among the guests attended to the opening ceremony were the President Nur Sultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Turkish Culture & Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay and worldwide famous artists such as Richard Gere, Mariah Carey, Tom Jones, Sharon Stone, Seal and Monica Bellucci attended.

With Turkish heritage in mind, the architecture reflects distinctive landmarks of Istanbul. The main building resembles 'The Dolmabahce Palace' and bridges across the pool are inspired from the original designs of the 'Da Vinci Bridge'.

Hamak Hotel opens its doors with 20 deluxe rooms and 1 suite, special bar and restaurant situated on the dock with a capacity of 100 guests, mini SPA, pilates, water sports facilities and art gallery.

The Sofa’s “Highly Individual Service” approach is available at the Hamak Hotel;
20 deluxe rooms overlooking Gündoğan makes guests feel at home as they enjoy The Sofa style and comfort.

Hamak Hotel will host various live music groups and DJ performances at its beach club throughout the summer. Its Mediterranean & Turkish cuisine restaurant, bar and beach club will be the newest meeting point in Bodrum.

Like The Sofa, Hamak Hotel will also host and exhibit contemporary art events throughout the summer.