ISIS Update: Too Close For Comfort

          30 meters in between flags.

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 30 June 2015)

ISIS occupied Cerablus district of Syria's Allepo province
a year and a half ago. Cerablus is just across the border
from Karkamış in Turkey's Gaziantep province. After the
Kurdish YPG took Telabyad further to the east, ISIS has
been laying land mines and digging trenches to prevent
a YPG assault on Cerablus.


                       Rowdy neighbors

ISIS's activities can be seen with the naked eye from the
Turkish side of the border. In recent days, coalition forces
led by the U.S. have been bombing ISIS targets in Cerablus.
After ISIS took Cerablus in the beginning of 2014, Turkey
closed the border crossing there. The distance between the
Turkish flag waving on one and the ISIS flag on the other
is a mere 30 meters.

A large number of  Turkish tanks were moved into position
on the border yesterday as a precaution against ISIS.

Save a Crow, Lose an Eye

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 26 June 2015)

//ed. note: there is a Turkish saying that fits this situation
like a glove: "besle kargayı, oysun gözünü". The translation
is "feed the crow and it will pick out your eyes". The saying
is used to refer to someone who returns evil for good."//


Poster boy for the 'no good deed goes unpunished' campaign.

Burak Börekçiler, who lives in Konya and is preparing to
go to university, found a wounded baby crow in his family's
garden four months ago. He took the crow to a vet and then
brought it back home to nurse it back to health.

However, 20 days ago the crow suddenly attacked the youth
and injured his eye to the extent that the right eye's vein was
cut and he lost the use of his eye. Börekçiler was at a loss to
explain the attack, noting that he had looked after the crow
with great care.  He said that "I treated him like the apple
of my eye (!). I researched how to nourish a crow and found
the right foods, like bugs, worms and bread crumbs. I put on
the cream the vet gave me for his wings. I was going to
release him back to nature in a few days."

Continuing, Börekçiler explained that "I gave him food and
water. He was in his cage. Suddenly he got agitated and
began to move right and left in the cage. I let him out a
couple of times and he flew around the room. The last time
he came out of the cage he suddenly attacked me, starting to
peck at my face and eye. I threw myself on the floor and
covered my head with my hand. Then he flew away through
the open window. I don't know why he attacked me."

Börekçiler recalled that the vet had warned him, saying
"if you care for him well he'll heal in 2 or 3 months. Then
let it go back to the wild. There's no telling what this animal
will do. They're very smart and vindictive. If you do
something that they don't like they never forget it and are
sure to take revenge."


               Konya province
 

The Self-Licking Ice Cream Stick Scam

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sabah and HaberTürk Newspapers, 28 June 2015)


If only they'd put their evil genious into curing cancer...

With the coming of the hot weather the leading firms in the
ice cream sector in Turkey have started free ice cream campaigns.
The firms aim to distribute more than 40 million ice creams
during the summer, but police received an interesting tip from
one of the firms.

According to the tip, counterfeit ice cream sticks have hit the
market. The sticks are turned in for free ice cream, which is
then sold back to stores at a lower price.  Police began an
investigation and soon found the culprits.  The fake ice cream
sticks were being made in a workshop in the Sultangazi
section of Istanbul.

When the police raided the workshop they found tens of
thousands (!) of counterfeit ice cream sticks and took
Ahmet A. (35) and Cem S. (27) into custody.  The suspects
have been making sticks with 'free' written on them, turning
them in and getting free ice cream from markets participating
in the ice cream firms' campaigns, and then selling the ice
cream to other markets in their gang at a lower price.

The suspects have been running this operation for 3 years (!).

  
Sultangazi is in the middle of the map of Istanbul's districts.

Mispronunciation Edition: Guilty 'R' Us

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 27 June 2015)


Suspects may open a new franchise...after speech therapy.

Two masked gunman robbed a gas station on the Ödemiş-
Beydağ road in Izmir province on Tuesday. The gas
station attendant ran to the station's store and locked the
door but one of the robbers broke the glass, entered
the store and announced that "bu biğ soyunduğ!" (bu
bir soygundur/this is a stick-up).

The robber took 1,600 TL from the attendant and 2,600 TL
from the cash box, along with some cigarettes, and fled.
The Gendarmerie arrived at the scene and studied the
security camera footage.  The attendant told the Gendarmerie
that the robber could not pronounce the letter 'r' and that
he had cut his foot on the broken glass.

As the Gendarmerie continued its investigation, in the course
of a separate operation against suspected drug sellers, they
raided a field owned by one K.M., where they seized 493
marajuana plants. As the Gendarmerie questioned K.M.
they noticed that he could not pronounce the letter 'r'
and they became suspicious.

The Gendarmerie also examined K.M.'s foot and when
they found traces of glass cuts there, it became apparent
that K.M. was one of the gas station robbers. And
although K.M. denied the charges, the Gendarmerie
looked at his cigarettes and found that the serial number
of his pack was from the same series stolen from the
gas station.

M.G. and H.B., who helped K.M., were taken into
custody and in a search of H.B.'s home the two rifles
used in the robbery were found. After giving their
statements, the three suspects were taken to jail.


           Ödemiş district of Izmir province.

Castro's Son Evidently a Lapsed Commie

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 26 June 2015)


Dad's revolutionary ways didn't make the transition.

The youngest son of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Antonio
Castro Soto Del Valle, came to Bodrum for a vacation
with his friends.  The night before last, Del Valle went to a
restaurant with a view of the Bodrum Fortress with a group
of 12 and drank wine.

In good humor but having trouble standing, Castro's son,
together with his friends and bodyguards, left the restaurant
at 2300 hours.  Del Valle became angry when he noticed
that DHA (Doğan News Agency) reporerts were photographing
him and he reentered the restaurant's kitchen. When a car came
for him in front of the restaurant, he got in it and left.

Del Valle's Turkish bodyguard H.K. and a Cuban bodyguard
remained at the restaurant and threatened and insulted the
members of the press there.  The bodyguards kicked and
punched the DHA reporters and tried to take their cameras.
DHA's Yaşar Anter was injured by a punch. The Cuban
bodyguard fled and H.K. was released after showing his
ID card.

Del Valle's group boarded a minibus and left the restaurant.
Castro's son had been on the Greek island of Mikanos and
came to Bodrum aboard a 50-meter yacht. He stayed in
a 5-star hotel in Bodrum and used five suites for himself
and his friends.

Drive-Thru Restoration

türkçe  links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 23 June 2015)


Somebody said "tear down that wall!"  So we did.

In Yenişehir district of Bursa province, a wall was broken
down to allow vehicles to enter and exit for wall restoration
work  (!) at the 420 year-old Sinan Paşa Külliyesi (campus).

The Bursa Municipality awarded the contract for the
restoration job  to Sama İnşaat, whose subcontractor is
doing the actual work. Ercan Özel, a member of the city
council and the planning-budget commission, had this to
say about the situation: "Yenişehir was occupied five times
by the Greeks in 1921 and 1922 and experienced quite a bit
of destruction. But the Greek soldiers respected the works
of the Ottomans, who ruled over 7 continents (!) and didn't
damage the caravansaray in this way."

Özel stated that the wall had been breached to allow vehicles
to enter and exit, and he added that "this wall was broken
for vehicles to enter but there's already a road they could
have used. History has been sacked and pillaged!" He added
that the Culture and Tourism Ministry has started an
investigation.

A representative of the restoration firm explained that "the
wall was going to be torn down in any event. We talked
with the administration and said we needed a minor breach
so small vehicles could come and go with materials. The
decision went through the Monuments Council. Additionally,
there are cracks in the tombs and we're going to have to
tear down and rebuild those walls, as well."


Yenişehir district is in eastern Bursa province.