Exemplary Initiative by Certain Armenian Publishers

The cultural exchanges between Armenia and Turkey seem developing much faster than the normalization process involving diplomatic relations. Thanks to the initiative taken by certain Armenia-based publishers such as Amaras, works of contemporary Turkish writers and poets will be translated into Armenian.

Zaman Turkish daily reports that a number of Armenian publishers submitted applications to their Turkish peers to get the works of 15 well-known Turkish poets translated into Armenian as part of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s long-running Translation Subvention Project (TEDA).

Launched in 2005, TEDA is basically a project to subsidize the translation of Turkish cultural, artistic and literary classical or modern works into foreign languages and to have them printed by the well known publishing houses of foreign countries.

To this end, the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism has set up an Advisory Committee consisting of 7 members from Turkey’s academic and literary world. The Committee meets at least twice a year in June and in October to decide on selected proposals and budget allocations.

An Impressive Selection

It seems that Armenian publishers have requested the translation of Turkey’s best literary works. Among the poets whose work will probably be translated are: Nazım Hikmet, Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı, Orhan Veli Kanık, Oktay Rifat, Melih Cevdet Anday, Attila İlhan, Necip Fazıl Kısakürek and Metin Altıok.

A group of literary translators comprising instructors at Yerevan State University will translate the works into Armenian. The poetry leg of the project, initiated by the Armenian Publishers Association and expected to be completed in 2010, will be followed by the translation of selected short stories and novels by Turkish writers, Ministry of Culture and Tourism officials say. The ministry will lend support to the project in both translation and publishing.

Around 30 Turkish literary works have already been translated into Greek, 35 into Bulgarian and 10 into Arabic, in addition to the dozens of titles translated into western European languages such as English and German.

Let's hope that similar initiatives will promote the translation of Armenian works into Turkish and Kurdish as well as into Georgian, Persian and Arabic.

Even the Iranian Mice Go Green!

In what seems totally unrelated to the green oppositionist movement in Iran, the Iranian scientists have created green-glowing mice. According to Mehr Iranian news agency, via Press TV, via Payvand, they have produced the mice to demonstrate their expertise in sophisticated genetic-engineering techniques.

"Our main purpose is to display the abilities of our researchers, something that our country has successfully accomplished," the Director of Iran's Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research told Mehr news agency.

"One of the activities that our researchers at the Royan Research Institute have conducted is to produce green mice. In this project, a specific gene is inserted into the stem cells of a fetus," Dr. Hamid-Reza Tayyebi said.

"The gene has a characteristic that allows it to change colors to purple when exposed to light," he explained.

Dr. Tayyebi added that after inserting the DNA elements, the fetus is placed inside the womb of another mouse, which would give birth to a fluorescent green rodent. He also said that the ability to create such animals demonstrates how far the country has progressed in genetic sciences.

Producing green mice was first attempted by scientists in 1999. It proved the efficiency of a technique that uses the sperm to insert new DNA.

Turkey versus Google

According to CrunchBase, following a year-long investigation, Turkish authorities are fining Google a total of 71 million Turkish Liras (nearly 50 million USD) for supposedly evading the national tax system.

Some Turkish media report (in Turkish) that the Turkish government claims it is entitled to additional taxes because of the fact Google operates its online advertising in the country where it even has offices and a registered subsidiary while bills and payments originate from Ireland.

Google’s European headquarters are indeed located in Dublin and most of its support and financial services are centralized there.

Turkish authorities say Google is required to pay national taxes for revenue generated through its registered subsidiary in Turkey, and asserts that an extensive audit shows that the company owes the government nearly 50 million USD in unpaid taxes.

Google, which is market leader in search and online advertising in Turkey, has countered these claims saying that it runs its ad network operations from Ireland and thus is not obliged to pay taxes in Turkey merely because it owns a subsidiary there. In a statement, Google said it is acting in accordance with the tax laws of every country in which it operates, including Turkish laws, and that its negotiations with the government on this issue are ongoing.

CrunchBase reporter R. Wauter has consulted a Turkish lawyer, who has advised that the government is making a valid claim, pointing out that Google has set up a full-fledged company called Google Reklamcılık ve Pazarlama Ltd. Şti. (meaning Google Advertising and Marketing Ltd.), rather than a mere ‘liaison branch’.

Negotiations between Turkey and Google continue. It is not clear whether other issues will also be discussed on the negotiation sidelines. These include the ban on Google-owned YouTube in Turkey.