The stuntman swerved to avoid hitting extras while careering through the Grand Bazaar at high speed, the NTV news channel said, but then crashed into the jewellery shop and smashed its crystal glass window.

“It is very nice for the Grand Bazaar to be chosen as a location for shooting this kind of movie. But the bazaar’s administration … didn’t notify us the shooting would be like this,” said Mete Boybeyi, the owner of the shop which once served members of the Ottoman court from the nearby palace.

“This place is regulated by the Council of Monuments. We can’t even change our window without their permission,” he said.

The bureaucracy involved in replacing the window would take quite some time, Boybeyi said, and that would mean the shop would remain shut and a loss of revenue.

“No one from the movie crew came to ask ‘what are your losses?’,” Boybeyi said. “We filed a complaint at the police station.”

Skyfall, due for release in October this year, is the 23rd film in the popular and lucrative Bond series. Full details of the plot are a fiercely guarded secret, but in the film, producers say, “Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her”.

The 1963 Bond film “From Russia with Love” and the 1999 Bond film “The World is Not Enough” were also filmed on location in Istanbul, one of the world’s most historic cities which sits on the banks of the Bosphorus dividing Europe and Asia.

(Writing by Seltem Iyigun; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Source: Reuters.com

Turkey Newspapers in English:

Turkish Daily News (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/)
Zaman

One of the oldest military bands in the World ‘’ Mehteran’’ will give concerts in Topkapi Palace museum till the end of September 2011.The concert will be in the second courtyard before the Gate opening to the third courtyard.

Here is the schedule:

Monday: 15:00

Tuesday: Museum is closed.

Wednesday: 11:30

Thursday: 13:30

Friday: 15:00

Saturday: 13:30

Sunday: 13:30

Topkapı Palace Museum Director Yusuf Benli allegedly had the throne of Sultan Selim III carried to a housing complex he resides in inside the garden of the museum; however, the attempt failed as the throne was too large to get through the doors of the museum and Benli’s building, the Radikal daily reported on Friday.

The move was photographed, and Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertuğrul Günay was informed. He has opened an investigation into the incident and reportedly said he will do whatever is necessary if the allegations prove to be true.

According to İlber Ortaylı, the Topkapı Palace Museum’s highest authority, “Mr. Director [Benli] must have mixed up the housing complex with the Harem — where the throne was originally on exhibit. We are looking into the issue.” Benli denies the allegations.

Speaking during a visit to a museum in İzmir on Friday, Günay said Benli had defended himself, saying the depot was full and that he had ordered the throne to be moved to the housing complex because there were empty rooms there.

Radikal’s article also claimed the throne was moved on a rainy day. When the movers realized it could not get through the door of the housing complex, they left it in front of the door for a while, covered with a white canvas. When Benli was informed that the throne was too large to fit through the door, he allegedly responded that it had to — even if the door frame had to be expanded by breaking down the wall. Once it became clear that the door inside the housing complex was also too narrow, the throne was taken to a museum depot.

Michael Jackson wanted to sit on the famous throne and use it in one of his video clips in 1992, but the museum administration declined this request.