Erkan's Field Diary

I was first excited when he won the election. Compared to many right-wing wins in other European countries, he promised some hope. But turned out to be a not-nice guy… A curation:  Emmanuel Macron’s political challenges and perceived fai...

Ultranationalists had their day yesterday in Kayseri as the riots approached a pogrom level against Syrian refugees. I understand why many citizens are already tense with the growing refugee crisis, but some political agitators have their own agenda-...

Tripadvisor offers an AI-based trip builder at this address. In the old days, Google had a mobile app called Google Trips. This was replaced by Google Travel. The new tools do not offer the same functionalities and are overly profit-oriented, a symbo...

The very first post archived here I came back to Istanbul for the fieldwork in 2004. Chris Kelty recommended blogging as a research tool. He set up the first blog at frazer.rice.edu, which does not exist now. I defended my thesis in 2009. However, I...

POINT organizers were just great. We felt at home, productive meetings, exchanging ideas, and some sightseeing…   One of the last places I meant to see was Gazi Husrev-beg’s library When you enter the library, the smell of books hits...

Julian Assange has agreed to a plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department, which will allow him to be released from prison in the U.K. and return to Australia.[2][3][4] Under the deal, Assange will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain an...

At the moment, we have to pay 150 TRY when we travel abroad. Rumor has it that it will be increased to 3000 TRY (nearly 90 USD)! After unimaginable levels of extravagance and corruption that still last in government, Mehmet Şimşek is after our alre...