'West Berlin became my street': Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Turkish factory worker turned actress
Özdamar was hired at a factory that produced lightbulbs. She was a beautiful young woman with long black hair and Greek features that would lead to her posing for drawing classes. She also stood out among the workers. Raised by liberal-minded parents, she had come to the FRG "above all to have new experiences" and could count on extra wages sent by her father, who ran a public works company.
She discovered the grayness of West Berlin, the workers' hostel where she lived and a daily routine she had never known before: waking up at 5 am, washing, coffee, taking the bus to the factory and then spending the day hunched over with tweezers, using a magnifying glass over her right eye to bend thin wires for small radio bulbs. The rooms were lit by neon lights, and an interpreter translated orders and instructions. At the hostel, Turkish women workers slept in rooms with six bunk beds. "There were women from all walks of life," Özdamar recalled, "proper-minded ones, former prostitutes, an opera singer..."
'People broken by war'
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LeMonde
a day ago
- LeMonde
'West Berlin became my street': Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Turkish factory worker turned actress
Having left Istanbul, Emine Sevgi Özdamar arrived in West Berlin after three days and three nights of travel, on a train filled only with Turkish women. It was 1965 and she was 19 years old. Four years earlier, during the Cold War, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) had signed an agreement with Turkey to anchor the country to the Western bloc, while also attracting much-needed labor for its booming economy: Only 180,000 Germans were officially unemployed, while more than 500,000 jobs remained unfilled. Turkey, for its part, was facing rapid population growth and a significant trade deficit. It was Turkey that initiated the agreement, aiming to "encourage Turkish workers to come work in the FRG." Özdamar was hired at a factory that produced lightbulbs. She was a beautiful young woman with long black hair and Greek features that would lead to her posing for drawing classes. She also stood out among the workers. Raised by liberal-minded parents, she had come to the FRG "above all to have new experiences" and could count on extra wages sent by her father, who ran a public works company. She discovered the grayness of West Berlin, the workers' hostel where she lived and a daily routine she had never known before: waking up at 5 am, washing, coffee, taking the bus to the factory and then spending the day hunched over with tweezers, using a magnifying glass over her right eye to bend thin wires for small radio bulbs. The rooms were lit by neon lights, and an interpreter translated orders and instructions. At the hostel, Turkish women workers slept in rooms with six bunk beds. "There were women from all walks of life," Özdamar recalled, "proper-minded ones, former prostitutes, an opera singer..." 'People broken by war'
LeMonde
2 days ago
- LeMonde
US and allies accuse Iran of plotting assassinations in the West
The United States and more than a dozen of its allies on Thursday, July 31, accused Iran of attempting to kill or kidnap people in Western countries, including dissidents, journalists and officials. "We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty," the countries said in a joint statement. "These services are increasingly collaborating with international criminal organizations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials in Europe and North America. This is unacceptable," the statement said. A UK parliamentary committee earlier this month blamed Iran for at least 15 attempts to kill or kidnap British-based individuals since 2022. Dutch intelligence meanwhile accused Tehran of staging a 2024 assassination attempt on an Iranian living in that country. The plot was thwarted when police intervened and arrested two suspects. One of the two people detained was also suspected of involvement in attempting to kill Spanish right-wing politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a supporter of the Iranian opposition who was shot in Madrid the same year. And the US Justice Department announced the indictment in 2023 of three members of a European criminal gang who allegedly undertook a Tehran-backed plot to assassinate a dissident Iranian-American journalist.
Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
'Trump is falling for Putin's flattery'- Russian opposition activist, Kara-Murza
Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Siberia for "spreading disinformation" about the Russian military, following the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He was released in 2024 as part of a prisoner/spy swap negotiated by former US President Biden, former German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin. In an interview with Euronews' The Europe Conversation he laments how Western leaders bought into a "myth" in the early days of Putin's first term in office as president, and before that as Prime Minister. Kara-Murza said Putin was never a modernising force who "believed in reform" of the ways of the Soviet Union. "Nothing could be further from the truth," Kara-Murz told Euronews' Shona Murray. "The myth is that there was some kind of an early Putin, who was supposedly okay, you know, who believed in reform and modernisation and cooperation with the West, and then something went horribly wrong along the way," he said. Kara-Murza said Western governments who talk about the version of an "early" Putin do so for reasons of "self-justification". Kara-Murza said the true nature of Putin's intentions for Russia were clear from the start. He recalled Putin commissioned a statue to celebrate a former KGP operative who was key in the suppression of Hungarians in 1956 who attempted to rise against the Soviet Union's brutal rule in their country. "I remember very well the day I understood exactly who that man was and what direction he would take our country," said Kara-Murza. "On the 20th of December, 1999, this was before he became president, he was still prime minister, he came to Lubyanka Square in Moscow at the former KGB, now FSB headquarters, to officially unveil a memorial plaque to Yuri Andropov, a long time former Soviet KGB chief," Kara-Murza said. Yuri Andropov was also someone instrumental in the 1956 invasion of Hungary, who "prioritised the suppression of domestic dissent when he was chairman of the KGB", claimed Kara-Murza, adding that he was "somebody who embodied everything that was wrong with the communist system". Kara-Murza also warned that Putin is using the same type of flattery with Trump and his administration to dissuade them from acting against his invasion of Ukraine. In March, Putin informed US envoy Steve Witkoff that he personally commissioned a portrait by a Russian a painter as a gift for President Trump. Witkoff described it as a "beautiful painting" and said Putin told him he "prayed' for Trump following the assassination attempt made against him during a campaign rally. "He rightly calculated, Putin did, that the best way to do this with Donald Trump is through personal flattery," said Kara-Murza. "That's exactly what he did with that conversation about praying for him. And also, of course, giving him a painting that Mr. Witkoff brought to Washington," he said. "I mean, look, these are tricks that have been used by Soviet, and not just Soviet security services, for decades," he said, adding: "Incomprehensible to me how serious people can fall for this kind of stuff in the 21st century."
