Ideas: Electro-fishing (Bad); New Village Name (Good)

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Posta Newspaper, 31 December 2015)


  Fishing as it was (not!) meant  to be...

In Beyşehir, Konya, Ahmet Aydoğun (27), who worked as a
security guard at a company, and his cousin Serdar Aydoğan
(28), decided to go fishing the evening before last.  The two
set out in their boat onto Beyşehir lake and began fishing, using
an electroshock device (!).

After catching a few fish, the electroshock device made contact
with the water and the two were electrocuted by the current.
The two cousins, who lost their lives for the sake of fishing,
have been buried.


Beyşehir district and lake, in Konya province

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türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 31 December 2015)


Not to worry, new "Komilo" sign to be printed up soonest! 

The people of Murat Köyü village in Çamlıhemşin district of Rize
province, applied to change back to the old Laz-language name
of "Komilo".  The Ministry of the Interior has approved the change.
The village of 600 souls is located three kilometers from
Çamlıhemşin.

In order to change the village's name, 1 more than half the 200
voters of the village had to sign the related petition.  With 140
signatures, an application was made to the Çamlıhemşin district
chief, who approved it and sent in through to the Rize governor.

Consequently, Komilo has become the first official Laz-language
village name.  Village chief Lütfü Sezgin explained that "everyone
here refers to the village as "Komilo" anyway.  So now it's official.
In the Laz language, Komilo means "goddess".

  
Çamlıhemşin district is in central Rize province.

Betting Czar Kidnapped, Freed, Arrested

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 30 December 2015)


Whatever happened to the code of silence?...

Businessman Ahmet M. was kidnapped in Istanbul, held for a
2 million TL (about 750,000 USD) ransom and released for
310,000 TL.  Police subsequently looked into the matter and
found that Ahmet M. was the Turkey representative for an
international betting and gambling ring that works via the
internet.

Ahmet M. had (for some reason!) told the police about the
kidnapping episode, even though he was able to buy his freedom.
Police then took Eyyüp K. (39) and Murat T. (29) into custody
because they had taken receipt of the 310,000 TL ransom.  This
led police to find out about the betting gang's Turkey operation
and the fact that Ahmet M. is the Germany-based gang's
Turkey representative.

Police then took Ahmet M., his nephew Tarık M. and the
gang's Germany representative Deniz E. into custody.  Games
bet on in Turkey net the gang 20 million TL per week. Ahmet
M., Tarık M. and Deniz E. were turned over to the Cyber
Crimes Unit.  It was determined that Eyyüp K. and Murat T.
were Ahmet M.'s underlings.


Betting gang worked Turkey from Germany.

Batman's 'Grip'; Tunnel-vision Gamblers

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 29 December 2015)


Alfred! Bring me plenty of liquids!

In the past week there have been 11,900 people (!) applying at
the emergency room of Batman Regional State Hospital for
treatment because of 'grip' (influenza) infections.  The intense
crush of applicants means that no beds are left open and some
patients are taking serum in the hallways.

Emergency room doctor Talat Kardaş said that there is a 'gribal'
(influenza) infection epidemic thereabouts and he added that
"we've been looking at an average of 900 patients per day but
in the last week this has jumped to 1,700 per day.  In short,
there's a tremendous crush on our capabilities. We're asking
citizens to stay warm and drink lots of liquids."


                        Batman province

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türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 29 December 2015)


Hey, you gambled and you lost...dig deep and try again.


Police have raided a business where the game tombala (sort of
like bingo) was being played 18 times in the past two months,
with both players and organizers being booked.  After the last
operation, the site, where the owners earned 100,000 TL (about
33,000 USD) per night, was sealed.

Not to be deterred, though, the owners found a way to get their
customers into the gambling house.  The dug a tunnel (!) from the
adjacent building and the game continued. Police in Fatih found
the tunnel, entered through it and arrested 60 people and 5
organizers red-handed.

'Ankara Tombala', so called because it was first played in Ankara,
has proven to be a cash-cow for organizers, bringing in between
50,000 and 100,000 TL per night.  The game draws gambling addicts
including businessmen who have lost their houses and doctors who
have given up their cars for the game.

In any event, the fine for organizaing tombala games is not dissuasive
enough.  Some players who have lost everything inform the police
about the tombala halls but after a while they return to the game.
For New Years, in particular, police are poised to conduct widespead
raids on tombala halls.


                Fatih district, Istanbul



  

Thieves: Perfumed, Nice, Endoscopic

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 28 December 2015)


    Succumbs to his weakness for Chanel No. 5.

In Istanbul, in recent moths a thief has been driving the owners
of luxury cars crazy.  The thief has targetted well-to-do areas and
has stolen car mirrors worth 2,000 TL (about 650 USD) and
tires that go for 8 to 9,000 TL.  Over the last three months the
thief has hit 241 cars.

In 240 of the cars he robbed the thief left no fingerprints but in
the 241st the thief grabbed a perfume bottle and left his prints on
it.  Police were then able to determine that the thief was prison
escapee Ercan Tokyar.  Police looked at surveillance videos and
nabbed Tokyar at a shopping plaza in Şişli, Istanbul. They are now
looking for his two accomplices.


           Bifurcated Şişli district, Istanbul

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türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 17 December 2015)


Well waddayaknow, thieves with a conscience.

Three days ago 3 computers were stolen from the family health unit
in Yüksekova district of Hakkâri province, bringing health services
to a standstill.  Health unit personnel could not innoculate children
or access the records of their patients.

The doctors and nurses called on the thieves to return the computers
and yesterday their call bore fruit (!).  The thieves left the computers in
front of a junk yard about 500 meters from the health unit.  The junk
yard owner noticed them when he came to work in the morning and
called the health unit.  Dr. İsmet Turgut of the health unit was overjoyed
to see the returned computers and said "thank you to those who returned
our computers."


Yüksekova is in Hakkâri province, in the farthest SE corner of Turkey.

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türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 17 December 2015)


Moonlighting, no doubt, after a day of endoscopic operations.

In Üsküdar, Istanbul, police became suspicious of two cars bearing
Bulgarian license plates.  Police then raided the building entered by
the four occupants of the cars and found that they had drilled through
the wall of a tea house into the adjacent jewelry store.  It turned out
that the suspects had put an endoscopic camera through the wall to
determine where the jeweler's cash box was situated.


               Üsküdar district, Istanbul