YANI MANIFESTO

This is Yani. (Yani means "uhh, you know" in Turkish). Now, let me start by saying if you're the type who thinks that questioning the official view of things is insulting Turkishness, then we are definitely not for you. Go away. We are uncensored, unabridged, and un-dumbed down. We'll print any whack job, whether crazy left or crazy right, as long as you have a basic respect for the opinions and lives of others. So, if you feel the need to scream death threats at us or shoot anyone, please, just check yourself straight into the mental hospital or high security prison and leave us the hell alone. We want a healthy debate, a free exchange of ideas. So argue, yell, question, but don't be psychotic. And as those who really insult Turkishness, if you're hoping we'll write in that smarmy Lonely Planet style that slyly makes fun of Turkey or talk about how Turks can't make a proper pizza, or if you never leave the confines of Beyoğlu because it's just so European, well, we are also not for you. This is Turkey, ladies and gentlemen. It's different here and no one has to apologize for it. In fact, it's an amazing place to be, and not because of the Aya Sofia or any of that other tourist marketing crap, but because the people of Turkey make up a vibrant, living society of which we are a small part. So we don't feel like focusing on the typical bitchy things we foreigners moan about at bars. We don't care, we don't care, and we don't care. This webzine is for people, especially English speakers living in Turkey, to actually get involved a little in what's happening here. There really isn't a magazine like that in Istanbul right now, print or otherwise. So buckle up, babies, hopefully, we can live up to the aforementioned hype and give you something to suck on. And if we screw up, let us know..

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Sport--The Big Three, a Dispassionate View






The Canaries, The Eagles, and the Lions

Everyone knows that there’s only one sport worth talking about in Istanbul, and that is of course ‘Futbol’. Istanbul is a dream for football fans as it is always ok to talk about it. You may be with friends, students, your boss, barmen, randoms on the ferry, or even your girlfriend (yes really!), and it’s absolutely fine to bring up the topic of who’s going to win the Superlig, the upcoming/last weekend’s fixtures, or ‘Are the big 3 any good, or is everyone else just complete rubbish?’
Well, maybe not the last one, as fans here are so partisan and blinkered that any criticism of their beloved club is met with hostility and knee-jerk retaliation along the lines of ‘my team’s better than yours, so there!’ Seeing as Turks claim to be such huge football fans, it’s funny that very few actually know much about how the game is played. Football support in Turkey seems to merely be a spill over from the overt nationalism evident throughout the country. Witness the total non-interest of football ‘fanatics’ whenever teams who aren’t Turkish play. Both the Champions league and Euro Championships finals were played to empty bars, and ‘Var misin, Yok misin’ (crap game-show symbolising all that is wrong with the world) was preferred to the live final of the 2008 Uefa cup by TV schedulers. So, as an antidote to the hysterical coverage football gets here in Turkey, I thought it was time to present a foreigner’s view of Turkish football. Now remember, I’m from England where the Premier League reigns supreme, with the best players, managers, and dare I say it, teams in the world, Turkey is in for a bit of a wake-up call.

Season Preview ‘09/’10

Starting with last season’s champions Besiktaş, if ever there was proof of the above statement ‘…everyone else is just rubbish’, it would be their stuttering assault on the Superlig title last year. The black eagles had a terrible start to the season, but as their main rivals dropped points to lowly opposition both home and away throughout the campaign, Besiktaş were able to claim the championship on a nervous final day. To be fair, the black and whites had a decent squad of hardworking players, and to that they have added a few faces from other Superlig teams, as well as a few foreign players. The most notable signing would have to be the return of Turkish international Nihat, whom BJK will be hoping will bag a few goals and add to top-scorer Bobo’s paltry return of 12 from last season.

Fenerbahçe finished the ‘08/’09 season a disappointing fourth, behind the impressive Sivasspor and Trabzonspor, largely due to the utter incompetence of their ‘coach’ Luis Aragones. The victorious Euro ’08 Spain team was clearly due to a talented bunch of players, as Aragones’ startling lack of tactical nous and complete indifference to the games being played in front of his drooping eyelids led to an embarrassing season for Fenerbahçe. Big-money signing and Spanish compatriot Daniel Guiza was also misfiring as he adapted to the Turkish game (hoof it in the air and run around like toddlers chasing a balloon), but his return of 8 goals from 8 games already this season shows that he hasn’t completely forgotten where the goal is. As well as ditching Aragones and bringing in ex-Besiktaş and Fener coach Cristophe Daum from Germany, the canaries have drafted in yet more Brazilians in the shape of Andre Dos Santos and Christian Oliveira. Lugano’s failed move to Lazio should also help shore up a leaky defence, especially as he now has help from Bilica, a competent centre-back snapped up from last year’s runners-up Sivas.

Best not to talk too much about Galatasary finishing 5th last year. Ask any ‘Ultra Aslan’ and they’ll invariably harp on about how Galatasaray are ‘the only Turkish side to have won a major European trophy’. Fine, but last year they were shite, and no-one can argue with that. However, on paper, Turkey’s most renowned team have the best chance of taking the title this term. Alliteration aside, in bringing in living legend Frank Rijkaard, Galatasaray have appointed a young ambitious coach with a proven record, having guided Barcelona to the Champions League crown in 2006. Rijkaard wasted no time in adding more foreign faces to his squad, bringing in Keita from Lyon, and most interestingly Elano from newly-rich Manchester city. Time will tell whether the new foreign coach can adjust to life in the melting pot of Istanbul-based football, but 5 wins from five opening league games, including a 3-0 thumping of city rivals Besiktaş, bodes well for the Dutchman.



Up Next: ‘Europe – The task ahead for Turkey’s top teams’

plus match reports from Besiktaş v. Manchester United in the Champions League, and Fenerbahçe v. FC Twente in the Europa League.

By Greg Kelly
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