Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Film director
According to some figures, Turks watch more home-made movies than all except the Americans and Koreans. Many of these films are populist, marking a contrast with the work of Mr Ceylan, the country’s leading contemporary film-maker and winner of the Best Director prize at Cannes last month. Yet his films are considered remote by his domestic audience. Like the Nobel-prize winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, Mr Ceylan captures aspects of Turkey that make many uncomfortable: class, the rural-urban gulf and family tensions.
Ilker Basbug
Commander of Turkish land forces
A changing of the guard at the top of the armed forces is always a defining moment. Gen Basbug takes over as chief of the general staff in August from Yashar Buyukanit, who has clashed on several occasions with the government. Gen Basbug is said to be as fiercely opposed to political Islam as his predecessor. It remains to be seen how his opposition is expressed. He is steeped in the westernised, secular culture of Turkey’s Nato-influenced officer corps. There may be no immediate easing of political-military tensions when he takes over.
