It snowed. Most of it has melted away again, but in the fields around the village of Ortahisar, the snow still sparkles. Even in the middle of the night. I look up and see the moon is full. I turn around on the back seat of the car I’m in to take a better look. […]
WHAT’S YOUR WISH FOR 2009? Name: Aylin Atalay Age: 30 Profession: English teacher A strong opposition party, that’s Aylin’s wish for 2009. A party that defends the secular republic but hopefully also thinks constructively about Turkey’s future rather than just polarize. “This spring there are local elections and I have no idea who […]
ISTANBUL – A commercial Turkish TV channel will soon start a series about Ergenekon, the shadowy gang that orchestrated a plot to overthrow the government. The makers, who remain anonymous for now, promise a romanticised series based on fact. This was reported in daily newspaper Milliyet today. The Ergenekon gang was broken up earlier this year. […]
After two hours, all that is left of the cow on the spot where it came to its sacred end, is its skin and tail. Folded into a neat package, the tail nicely draped over it. I don’t know much about butchering, (nothing actually), but what I saw today was definitely craftsmanship. I somehow expected […]
Waitresses are beaten up, one woman is pulled out of the restaurant by her hair and dragged into a police car. She is held captive for six hours and raped. Police brutality? No, a gang that dressed up as police officers and parked in front of the restaurant in a car with police lights. The […]
ISTANBUL – Prison sentences of up to 58 years are being demanded by prosecutors for six children aged between 13 and 16 years. The children threw stones at the police during demonstrations in October over the alleged mistreatment in prison of PKK leader Öcalan. This is the story according to several Turkish newspapers. The children […]
In the morning, she prepares breakfast for the family. Then she takes the young children to school. After that she cleans up the breakfast table, starts cleaning the house and when that’s finished, she knits for a while, till it’s time to start making dinner. Just a small glimpse into the life of a so […]
“Yes”, says Aylin, who helps me read the Turkish newspapers (among many other things), “I have heard that name before. Tuncay Güney, who was that again?” She looks at me, puzzled. In Milliyet, there is a story about Tuncay Güney who is somehow involved in the court case against Ergenekon. We figure out that he’s […]
The answer to that question is, of course, no it will not. Prime Minister Erdogan and opposition leader Baykal will never ever become political friends, but they seemed to have found some common ground on an issue that has really divided the two men previously: women who cover themselves. Baykal publicly made a few totally covered […]
I have made an end-of-year present for magazines, organisations and people I work with. I’m not going to tell what it is now, but while I was making it something interesting happened, and I decided to turn it into a contest for visitors to my website. What happened is this. The thing I made has a front […]