Dream Café

Dear Colleagues

Last Monday evening, we were invited to “Dream Café” in CaddeBostan Cultural Center in Istanbul. For those who do not know where it is, the address is - CKM HaldunTaner Street.11, CaddeBostan, Kadikoy- Telephone 0216- 4670387

At about 1900 hours, we chose left end corner table and ordered a good Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and Cesar’s salad each, it was like we were in the film "Sideways" in conversation with Paul Giamatti or in "A Good Year" with Russell Crowe,

At 2200 hours, the middle tables were removed and beautiful ladies, handsome gentlemen appeared, they changed their ordinary walking shoes with dancing shoes, we understood that on Monday evenings at 2200 hours they have a regular program of “Tango Hour, dance of passion”

So our film changed and we started to watch "Shall We Dance?" with many Richard Gere- Jennifer Lopez couples dancing with passion as if they were on a rough sea.

At about 2300 hours, a young man with seeing disability (blind) with his mother (presumably) came to the café. At first he danced with his mother. Then the other ladies wanted to dance with him. He was dancing Tango with great talent, with no hesitation, no disability, with no restraint as if the dancing platform was all his

So the film again changed and we started to watch Al Pacino's "Scent Of A Woman"

At about 2400 hours while we were leaving, he was still dancing

“Dream Café" is this type of hot place where you can watch 4-films nonstop, and you do not know which backstage you are in.

Nabucco in Ankara Opera House

Last night, I was in Ankara Opera house to attend Nabucco.

Staging an opera like "Nabucco" (Nebuchadnezzar), a masterpiece by Giuseppe Verdi and one of the most glorious pieces in opera history, in Ankara is really painstaking work and requires courage, said Ankara State Opera and Ballet Director Mr Gürçil Çeliktaş in the booklet.

"Nabucco" is Verdi's third opera and the one that gained him a permanent reputation as a composer and is considered to be one of the most glorious operas in terms of costume and stage design, together with Verdi's opera “Aida” and Puccini's "Turandot."

Based on a biblical story, the four-act performance is the story of the destruction of Jerusalem and the plight of the Hebrew slaves in Babylonian captivity during the reign of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, full of passion, romance and political intrigue.

"The best-known number from this opera is Hebrews' Chorus, "Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate" ("Fly, thought, on golden wings"). Music historians have long perpetuated a powerful myth about the famous "Va, pensiero" chorus sung in the third act by the Hebrew slaves. Scholars have long believed the audience, responding with nationalistic fervor to the slave's powerful hymn of longing for their homeland, demanded an encore of the piece. As encores were expressly forbidden by the government at the time, such a gesture would have been extremely significant. However, recent scholarship puts this and the corresponding myth of "Va, pensiero" as the national anthem of the Risorgimento, to rest. Although the audience did indeed demand an encore, it was not for "Va, pensiero" but rather for the hymn "Immenso Jehova," sung by the Hebrew slaves to thank God for saving his people. In light of these new revelations, Verdi's position as the musical figurehead of the Risorgimento has been correspondingly downplayed. Today, "Va, pensiero" is regularly given an encore when performed; interestingly, it is the only encore Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine has ever allowed" says Wikipedia

Ankara Opera House choire was extraordinary last night while singing "Va, pensiero".

Italians mourned at Verdi's grave when he died on Jan. 27, 1901, singing “Va Pensiero” from “Nabucco,” which is be staged in Ankara for the first time last night.

The performance is being put on by Ankara State Opera and Ballet Director Gurcil Celiktas, with a cast of 242. Ankara State Opera and Ballet General Music Director Dario Lucantoni and Sunay Muratov will alternately conduct the opera, with costume and stage design by İsmail Dede.

Celiktas says that the piece is the first composition that gained Verdi a permanent reputation as a composer in the opera world, adding: “The piece will be staged in the capital for the first time. It is one of the most spectacular operas in the world in terms of costume and stage design. It is really a painstaking work that needs courage to stage.” in the booklet.

Stating that the opera had been shown in numerous countries around the world and that they had had difficulty due to the physical requirements of the stage, he said: “The stage is small. We thus tried to match the stage with our huge list of artists in the piece. Moreover, the role of Abigail is one of the most difficult roles in operatic literature. Greek soprano Maria Callas, one of the best-known opera singers of the post-World War II period, once said that the role pushed the limits of the human voice and was too emotional and that she wouldn't perform it again, after doing so in 1949 for the first and last time.”

“The leading role of Nabucco, on the other hand, requires a strong and sensitive voice. We tried to be faithful to the original form and text of the piece. I hope the Ankara audience will like the performance,” said Celiktas in the booklet.

Eralp KIYICI, Metin Turan, Ünüşan Kuloğlu, Bülent Ateşoğlu, Tuncay Kurtoğlu, Mithat Karakelle, Nilgün Akkerman, Reyhan Görbil, Şebnem Algın are some of the artists who will be performing.

I feel that I need to go to Ankara Opera House multiple times in order to understand and appreciate the beauty of Nabucco. I plan to be there on 29th Dec 2006 once again. 13th and 20th January 2007 are the dates for the next performances.

Economic Crisis of Turkey- Creation and Solutions

Dear Colleagues

Yesterday lunch time, at about 12 hours we gathered in Cicek (Flower) restaurant at Tunali and Bulten Streets of Ankara. We are year 1968 graduates of Ankara Ataturk High School -6th grade science section/ all- male class.

Our waiter Mehmet Bey- retiree of Presidential Palace, welcomed us and after our courtesy wording back & forth, he advised us to taste their Black Sea fish grill (hamsi tava). As usual he exaggerated his service with lots of salad and dessert and tea.

While having our lunch, we sent SMS mobile messages to our colleagues who missed our lunch but would be in Ankara, to join us. One of them, just after his recent landing to Ankara airport, heading to his office, joined us within 15 minutes. He got cold flue during long hours of international flight to participate a tender in Libya. He explained his last experience in tendering. He says that administration is adding new procedures into commercial tender documents such as compulsory partnering with a local company not less that 30% ownership etc.

Since we approach to New year, we gave our book presents to each other. My choice was Ms. Zeynep Atikkan’s “American Insanity” explaining the difficult procedures/ and policies after 9/11.

My present was “New Economic Crisis of Turkey- Creation and solutions” by a young scholar named Selim Somcag. Who is this guy?? What sort of book is this? With those questions in my mind, I started reading the book before sleep as if it was one of Orhan Pamuk books. However I could not sleep all night. I finished the book. I strongly recommend you to read the book. You can sleep later, if you can.

We have no forward messages here, all original. Your comments are always welcome.

Global Capital, Local Banking Sector and Alienation

Dear Colleagues

Yesterday evening, I attended a Panel in ODTU alumni Club Visnelik premises conference hall.

Panel subject was "Global Capital, Local Banking Sector and her Alienation"

Panelists were

Dr. Ergin YILDIZOGLU - Cumhuriyet Daily newspaper
"Financial capital at its last stage of Globalization and evolution of the financial sector"

Prof. Dr. Oktar TUREL, ODTU (Retired) Academic
"Restructuring in Turkish banking Sector after 1980 and -Re-regulation"

Hakan OZYILDIZ , Deputy Undersecretary of Treasury (R), Consultant in TEB Bank
"Capital accumulation in Turkey, financial restructuring and foreign Capital"

Panel Moderator: Seçkin GÜLTAN (MAN’86)

Let me try to summarize my notes taken during Panel

Turkey has a very fragile financial structure and also very fragile economy. People insist on keeping their saving in foreign money - USD or Euro- in local banks despite of low interest return. Due to tough international competition in international markets, Turkish companies cannot generate enough money to finance themselves, they have profit squeeze, so they look for external financing. Private company savings are not much. Private companies can not generate enough profit for self financing. In the history we had always the same experience in capital generation and financing the projects. We always look for restructuring of dept, not restructuring the companies in financial difficulty. Contrary to the general practice in the past we need to concentrate on restructuring the companies in dept, we should let them to bankrupt if needed.

In future, if we shall face a devaluation of local money against foreign currencies - which is expected in 2007- local companies with high dept will face financial difficulty, and hence their ownership may be changed, and banks may get their ownership, that may not be avoidable, nor should be to change the natural consequence.

In the international financial markets, foreign banks had certain saturation in their local banking instruments, they cannot generate more income. However, Turkish local market still has opportunities since it is not much utilized. That is why international financial institutions are coming into Turkish banking sector. It is roughly estimated that they now have almost 1/3 of Turkish banking sector.

In future if USD gets appreciated high, and we face devaluation in the local money, transfer of company ownership will accelerate, and most of the local companies will be owned by financial institutions, frankly speaking into foreign ownership.

Nowadays, the financial figures as released by Turkish Central Bank, and her "expectation public surveys" are not optimistic. We questioned that we ask ourselves "are we approaching a very well foreseen financial crisis in early 2007 ?" What can be done?

We need to erase our foreign dept as much as possible, we need to reduce our expenses, we need to save foreign currency as much as possible. We need to be in "liquid" financial position. You cannot sell your real estate in financial crises, but you can purchase many.

While driving home, I listen to NTV Radio, Can Dundar's "Why?" program. Tarhan Erdem, a reputable and reliable pollster, said " Turkey will experience RTE as the new President in 2007. There is no escape from this result. There is no alternative in the opposition. There will be no military coup. "

Today Ege Cansel says in his Hurriyet daily article "We can only pass the financial crises with the foreign savings of private citizens. This foreign savings will be the buffer to compensate financial crises."

Both political as well as financial crises as expected in early 2007 in the local market, will create a difficult time for the people in Turkey in the short run. We cannot estimate how the management in power will manage these difficult times. I would estimate that we shall force our tolerance limits to live in harmony in our democracy. Your comments are always welcome

Mission Completed

Dear Colleagues

This morning I planned to fulfill my long postponed mission to complete.

Let me try to tell about, maybe it may concern yourselves.

Earlier I was leaving my car to nearby certified service station and they would created an expensive invoice at the end of the day

Nowadays I do it in a different procedure and that is more competitive

My car exceed 60,000 km millage, so it was time for a major overhaul, which I was postponing for a while.

This morning I was too determined to complete my mission.

First I stopped at the gas station and filled my tank full, then asked the workers to wash my car.

Then I drove to car mechanics compound. First I stopped at the spare parts shop and purchased the following

4 lt (10-40) engine oil 35 YTL
Oil filter 3 YTL
Air filter 9 YTL
4 new spark plugs 25 YTL
Trigger belt 125 YTL
Recirculation pump 95 YTL
Radiator belt 15 YTL
4-lt anti-freeze liquid 20 YTL

With some loyal client deductions, I paid total 300 YTL

Please do note that 4 YTL is 3 US Dollars at the current rate of exchange

Then I called my mechanic Dursun by my cellular if he would be available, he was.
So I drove to his workshop early morning.

Two youngsters dismantled the old belts, filters, spark plugs etc, and replaced them also the engine oil and engine anti-freeze liquid.

The old recirculation pump was also leaking so I was lucky to replace

I paid 70 YTL total, we had some conversation with my mechanic as well as with other newcomer clients, how to put order into our existing local national economy, where to invest or where not to invest, get more prudent, reduce spending etc.

I gave 2- soft drinks to workshop trainees for their lunch

With pleasure to complete my mission, then I drove to my favorite local restaurant, ordered local fish soup, fish with rice, and dessert plus tea, and paid 15 YTL

There is no forwarding any incoming mail from my end, all deliveries are original as always, and Your comments are always welcome,