Vacation Edition: Let Them Eat Kebap

türkçe links to original Turkish article.

(Sözcü Newspaper, 31 July 2015)


Princely entourage - just like regular folks. Right?

Saudi Prince El Velid bin Talal, who came to Marmaris on
an 86-meter luxury yatcht, can't seem to leave the town. The
prince has been anchored in the Marmaris Yacht Marina for
four days but he left his yacht the other night with an entourage
of 35 people and came to a café in the city center.

The prince and his group had the café - the Aquarium Kitchen
Café - closed off  at about 2300 and they enjoyed themselves
there for about two hours. The prince and his guests ate dried
fruits and nuts, along with imbibing non-alcoholic drinks, amid
furnishings provided just for the prince, to include a special
chair for his royal highness.


Don't even think about sitting in THAT chair.

It was noted that the prince asked a waiter for the café's wifi
password and searched for news about himself. Prince El Velid
bin Talal also watched a fashion show on the Fashion TV
channel on a 102-inch screen set up up especially for him. It
was learned that he is having some nearby land in Marmaris
looked at for investments.

Hijack Edition: Publish (Me) or Perish!

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Cumhuriyet Newspaper, 30 July 2015)


His heroes? No wonder he can't even give 'em away.

On 7 June, Zafer Alcan, now under arrest, tried to hijack
a Turkish Airlines flight from Ankara to Istanbul, saying
that he had planted a bomb on board.  A sentence of 15 years
in prison is being sought for Alcan and the case will be heard
in court at Bakırköy, Istanbul.

In the indictment prepared by the Bakırköy public prosecutor,
the statement given by suspect Alcan is included.  Alcan explained
that after retiring from Turkish Radio and Television (TRT)
in 2008 he wrote a book but the book did not prove to be as
popular as he had hoped.

Continuing, Alcan said that "my aim was to make the bomb
threat on the plane and draw attention to myself and get the
name of my book publicized. I didn't want to bring harm to
anyone. When the plane landed the pilot told the passengers
not to get off the plane. My aim was not to changed the plane's
route or go to a place other than its intended destination. I
don't know whether there was an emergency landing or not.
I think it was a normal landing. I had no intention of committing
a crime."


How about a book-signing session on board?

'Gone Fishing' Edition

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 29 July 2015)


"Knock knock, who's there? Something's fishy..."

When too many speckled trout were being fished from
the stream at Cimil pasture of Başköy village of İkizdere
district in Rize province, the villagers there took an
interesting measure. They put a steel gate in the middle
of the bridge leading from the village to the pasture and
gave keys only to fellow  villagers.

A month ago, villagers in Meydan village of Çamlıhemşin
also put a gate across the bridge leading to their village.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------
türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 29 July 2015)


               "This one's a whopper!"

In Çanakkale, a swimmer snorkeling next to a pier got caught
on the fishing line of a fisherman but didn't realize it. The
fisherman tried to alert the diver to the situation but to no avail.
The fisherman poked the diver with his fishing pole and got
his attention but the diver still could not free himself from the
fishing line.

In any event, nonplussed, the diver continued swimming as
the fisherman followed him along the side of the pier, ultimately
freeing the line himself.



      Çanakkale province.

A Dentist's Life Gets (a Bit Too) Interesting

türkçe links to original Turkish article.

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 27 July 2015


Dr. F.B. sips a soda while Gülistan Ö takes mental notes...

F.B., a famous dentist in Aydın, who has her own TV show,
was bilked out of nearly 1.5 million TL (about 500,000 USD)
by a six-person gang using incredible methods. According to
the court file, the case developed as follows:

Dentist F.B. went to a wedding in Izmir in 2011 where she met
Müşerref M., a board member of a political party, and her
husband Salih M.  The couple then began coming to F.B.'s
clinic for dental treatment and there they became friends with
Gülistan Ö., who worked at the clinic.

The couple obtained personal information about F.B. from
Gülistan which they then used to convince F.B. that she was
under a curse. When the couple told F.B. things about herself
that she thought they couldn't possibly know, she became
convinced and let the couple take her to 'Mustafa Hoca' in
Bergama.

With information supplied to him by Gülistan, Mustafa Hoca
told F.B. how her father had gone bankrupt and about the
difficult times she had experienced, including some incidents
in her university days.  Mustafa Hoca convinced F.B. that both
she and her clinic were under a curse and that she would end up
bankrupt like her father if she didn't have the curse lifted.

F.B. was amazed and persuaded by Mustafa Hoca and did
whatever he told her to do after that.  Mustafa Hoca came to
the clinic and 'discovered' amulets that Gülistan had hidden.
Thoroughly under Mustafa Hoca's sway, F.B. gave him 16,000
TL via Müşerref M.  For the next three years, the gang used
the same tricks to squeeze thousands of TL from F.B.

The gang even offered to get F.B. elected as a parliamentarian
but she refused the offer. Nevertheless, they promised to get
her elected at the next opportunity but this required F.B. to
contribute 200 kilograms of olive oil to Mustafa Hoca's student
camp.

At this point, after three years, F.B. realized she was being
hoodwinked and did not want to send the gang any more money.
However, F.B. did agree to aother invitation from Müşerref M.
Once there, F.B. drank a spiked drink, went unconscious and
was then blackmailed for 'sexual images' filmed by the gang.
The result was that F.B. gave the gang 160,000 TL in jewelry
and signed over a luxury apartment in Karşıyaka, Izmir, to the
daughter of Müşerref M., Ilgaz M., in 2013.

The gang's demands kept coming, though, so F.B. had a
criminal complaint filed by her lawyer, Sinan Aslan. Based,
on bank records, the public prosecutor determined that F.B.
had sent the gang about 1.5 million TL.  The suspects refused
to accept the charges, with Müşerref M. claiming that the
jewelry F.B. gave her was payment for a previous debt. She
also claimed to have paid F.B. for the apartment her daughter
obtained.

The court in Nazilli accepted the indictment on 15 June and a
trial is expected to begin in October.

A Bridge to Make One Sigh...

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 27 July 2015)


                  I don't see a problem.

The 70-meter long Korubükü Bridge over the Karaçay stream
in Seydikemer district of Muğla province was seriously
damaged during the winter when the water level rose and
last month the district chief ordered that the bridge be closed
to traffic. However, the barriers that blocked the approaches
to the bridge were removed a few days ago, but by whom
remains a mystery.

Last 14 January, because of torrential rains, water from the
Saklıkent Canyon flowed in excess into Karaçay stream and
the legs of the bridge connecting Korubükü hamlet in
Seydikemer with Kınık hamlet in Kaş district were heavily
damaged. A 30-meter portion of the 70-meter long bridge
sunk down three meters so the bridge was closed.


         Well, maybe from this angle...

In the middle of April, as the stream's water level subsided,
Korubükü residents filled the sunken portion of the bridge
with sand, making the bridge passable, albeit dangerously so.
In any event, jeeps filled with tourists intent on taking in
Korubükü's mud pools began passing over the broken bridge
again.

Nevertheless, local residents wanted the bridge repaired. District
Chief Muammer Köken got word of the bridge's reopening and
sent the Gendarmerie to inspect the structure. The Gendarmerie
found the bridge to be dangerous and closed it with marble blocks
at either end.

However, a few days ago the blocks were removed and heavy
dump trucks, passenger buses and safari jeeps began to use
the broken bridge once again. It remains unknown who opened
the bridge to traffic.


Seydikemer is in extreme eastern Muğla province.

ISIS Takes a Vacation

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 25 July 2015)


All beheadings and no play would make H.P. a dull boy.

H.P. (32), who came to Amasra district of Bartın province
on the Black Sea coast for a vacation, was taken into custody
based on the claim that he is a member of ISIS. However,
because he had no previous arrest record, H.E. was released
after giving a statement.

H.P. opened a Facebook account called 'Paşalı sarı ne yapcan
IŞDE' (his nickname is Paşalı Sarı/Blond General and the rest
roughly translates to 'Let's Go ISIS!'). H.P. posted pictures of
himself at an ISIS training camp in Syria in 2014 and police
took him into custody when he came to Amasra for a holiday
based on the Facebook postings.

First, H.P. struck a tent at the Inkum vacation camp before
going to Amasra where he was taken into custody yesterday.
H.P., who was with his father and brother, denied being an
ISIS member. Since he had no previous police record he was
released.

H.P. has since closed his Facebook account and left Bartın.

Unwanted Publicity: 'Avanos' Hair-Removal Spray

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 25 July 2015)


But it works! Before/after using Avanos hair-removal spray!
(and you get one free, too!)

Citizens in the district of Avanos in Nevşehir province are
objecting to the use of their town's name for a new hair-
removal spray.  The municipality of Avanos, which is known as
a center for handicrafts in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey,
has filed a criminal complaint against the firm.

Photographer Metin Yıldırım, a resident of Avanos, accidentally
noticed ads for the spray on the internet a few weeks ago. He was
discomfitted by the ads that used his town's name and sent an email
to the firm, as follows: "I am very upset about the use of my
district's name in this way. When 'Avanos' is mentioned,
everyone in Turkey thinks of  pots and stone chimneys, the
Kızılırmak river - but not a spray like this!"

Tourism official Okan Savaş asserted that "our district is one
of Turkey's most important tourism centers. More than two
million tourists come each year. I think this spray would do
damage to our district's brand."


Avanos is in the heart of the Cappadocia region. 

'And Leave the Driving to Us'...uh, Directions?

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 24 July 2015)


Figen hanım claims she was attacked by bus hostess...

An interesting thing happened after an intercity bus left
Istanbul the night before last, en route to Samsun on the Black
Sea coast. The bus left the terminal on the European side of
Istanbul at midnight and headed for the Samandıra teminal on
the Asian side to pick up more passengers.


...but the hostess seems to have gotten the worst of it.

However, the bus driver got confused and took the road to
Şile, instead of to Samandıra.  Realizing he was on the wrong
road, the driver turned around but still couldn't find his way.
After two hours on the road and having still not found the
Samandıra terminal, the passengers revolted, resulting in a
fight between a woman passenger named Figen Sevinç
and the hostess on the bus.

After the fight was over, the bus stopped at Küçükyalı in
Maltepe, along the D-100 highway. Police arrived at the
scene and called for medical help for Figen hanım, who
was injured in the fight.  A new driver was brought to the
bus and the passengers ultimately reached Samandıra and
then continued on to Samsun.


A-B is the right way but driver headed toward Riva and Şile
up to the north.