- Over the last couple of years there has been an immense proliferation in Turkish web sites, from politics, to cinema and popular culture, to cartoons and news sites. We have our fair share of the uniquely 'nonsense' world of the Internet as well, definitely not epitomized by Mahir's home page, but truly smart and creative web pages
- One type of confession posted is the naive, the kind people don't generally tend to reveal to anyone else, even though they wouldn't constitute a serious problem if they did so. Such is the one I posted a couple of weeks ago, 'Yesim, I accidentally burnt a hole in your armchair with my cigarette, and while you were out of the living room, talking on the phone, I flipped the cushion'
Cyber News
Release Yourself
- Over the last couple of years there has been an immense proliferation in Turkish web sites, from politics, to cinema and popular culture, to cartoons and news sites. We have our fair share of the uniquely 'nonsense' world of the Internet as well, definitely not epitomized by Mahir's home page, but truly smart and creative web pages
- One type of confession posted is the naive, the kind people don't generally tend to reveal to anyone else, even though they wouldn't constitute a serious problem if they did so. Such is the one I posted a couple of weeks ago, 'Yesim, I accidentally burnt a hole in your armchair with my cigarette, and while you were out of the living room, talking on the phone, I flipped the cushion'
Emrah Guler
After the hilarious worldwide popularity of the Turkish Internet hero, Mahir, with his (in)famous cyber-quotation "I kiss you," and the Turkish hacker residing in Germany, who initially became a threat to the U.S. government, then became rich through his ingenuity, Turkey has made an extravagant entrance into the world of cyber reality. For the last couple of years, there has been an immense proliferation in Turkish web sites, from politics, to cinema and popular culture, to cartoons and news sites. We have our fair share of the uniquely "nonsense" world of the Internet as well, definitely not epitomized by Mahir's home page, but truly smart and creative web pages. The Turkish Daily News will begin featuring Internet sites unique to Turkey and Turkish culture in its "Cyber News" pages every week.
http://www.itiraf.com/
This week's web site feature will be a site, quite popular for some time now among Turkish-speaking Internet surfers. A small warning for non-Turkish speaking readers. Even If you are not competent in Turkish, do not pass this article by, as the concept of the web site is quite original, and you still might want to take a peak. You might even be inspired to create your own web pages, in your own language, with a similar concept.
The literal translation of this week's web site, ITALIK< www.itiraf.com >ITALIK is "www.confession.com." It is a surfer-friendly site, letting you surf through the it without much effort. When the home page comes on the screen, you see two alternative choices: "I am going to confess," or "I am going to read the confessions." Yes, the idea behind this web site is releasing yourself, peeking into other people's secrets, a blend of voyeuristic and exhibitionist pleasure (on a verbal scale only).
If you decide on reading the confessions made by previous surfers, you will see that they are listed, with a nickname, information on the sex, age and city of residence of the confessors, above the confession. This small line of basic information actually helps the cyber-voyeur to create a basic profile of the confessors, and establish an informal and personal sampling on the secrets of the surfers of Turkey.
Upon request, the site e-mails the top-ten confessions of the week. As a loyal confessor and follower of confessions, I get my weekly dose of both dirty and naive secrets. To give you some idea, here are some examples from this week's top ten confessions.
The dirty and the naive
"Nickname: Back to my ex-lover, sex: female, age: 29, city: Izmir. I have married for eight years now. It was a marriage of love. Actually I was dying to marry him. At the time, he was an intellectual and a social man. He was a leftist. But he has changed enormously. He does not read any more. When he takes the newspaper, the first part he looks at is the gossip stuff. He doesn't have any friends and is not a social person any more. The only thing he always wants is to make love. I don't even enjoy sex any more. I think I still love him though. He is a good father, but a lousy husband and a lousy friend. Once in a while, I long to fall in love again, to live the excitement of falling in love. I never cheated on him. But maybe... No, I am afraid. Afraid of losing my self-respect..."
And read these: "Nickname: They are small, so what?, sex: female, age: 16, city: Izmir. Hey, boys! Since my tits are small, I am using padded bras and you don't understand a thing. The good thing is many girls do that..." And, "Nickname: Hodja, sex: male, age: 28, city: Istanbul. I bought a large bundle of shares in Akbank for TL. 18,000, and now the price has dropped to TL. 11,000. I have lost most of our money and my wife doesn't know anything about it."
The confessions mainly fall into two categories. The first group is grand confessions, mostly with a direct or indirect sexual content, like the first example. The creator of the web site, Ersan Ozer, maintains in his page, containing his welcome message, that these confessions would constitute useful material for many social scientists, especially sociologists. He is right. Much can be deduced from these messages about the current situation of familial and sexual relations in Turkey. They are not scientific findings or observations of any intellectual, but they sure are valuable raw data.
Other type of confessions are naive ones, that people don't generally tend to reveal to anyone else, even though they wouldn't constitute a serious problem if they did so. Such is the one I posted couple of weeks ago: "Yesim, I accidentally burnt a hole in your armchair with my cigarette, and while you were out of the living room, talking on the phone, I flipped the cushion." These ones mean nothing in terms of their sociological significance, but they are definitely fun to read, and remind the surfers that they are not alone with their petty secrets. Read the one who confesses that she spits into her co-worker's coffee.
Urban culture of Ozer
Close followers of recent publications on popular culture and folklore in Turkey will recognize the web site's creator, Ersan Ozer, from his book, "Sehir Efsaneleri" (Urban Legends). In his informal research, Ozer mentioned various urban legends, which share a similar universal background in different nations. Some of the popular urban legends related were that there is treasure buried under the waters of the Golden Horn in Istanbul or that the famous Turkish celebrity Ajda Pekkan was once a porno movie star. With "itiraf.com," Ozer, definitely, is looking at, and giving us the chance to look at urban culture once more from, a different point of view.
Other than the fundamental pages of reading the confessions and making confessions, the site also features more specific pages. "Platonikim" (I am platonically in love) displays messages of unrequited love. "Fikir seyedin" (Tell your idea) picks a confession for that week, and asks the "itiraf.com"-surfers to write down their opinions, regarding the confession. These confessions generally are about problematic relations, and people trapped in disconcerting situations. And the surfers send their solutions.
You must have thought of what you have to confess, or what you would confess if you visited http://www.itiraf.com/, while reading this article. It is refreshing to remember that nothing can replace that old feeling of guilt.
Searching for Turkish Content
- If you are searching on the Internet for Turkish web sites, anything written in Turkish, or anything specific to Turkish culture (some of these sites are in English, or they have pages in English), there are a few rich and comprehensive web sites, you could use.
http://www.arabul.com/ A search engine, for Turkish sites or sites on Turkish culture. You can easily submit your own web site. After a brief checking of your site, it is included on their virtual database.
http://www.netbul.com/ Although the name of the site refers to a search engine, it is more designed like an e-zine. Even though, a search engine is incorporated into this site, it is relatively slow, and functions more like an Internet magazine.
http://www.adanzye.com/ This site contributes to the content of http://www.superonline.com/, one of the leading server groups, as well. This portal site has numerous detailed categories. One of the best.
http://www.sanalkutuphane.net/ With the literal translation as "virtual library," this site features information from 5,000 different sites with Turkish content. The site features a surfer-friendly and unique design.
http://www.turkvista.com/ With a simple design, this site offers the chance to search in different ways. You can search through the 6,000 recorded sites, or conduct more elaborate searches in other Turkish portal sites, containing around 3 million documents with Turkish content. There are short cuts to major Turkish newspapers and magazines, and short cuts to the latest news on stock exchange, weather and exchange rates.
