800 Year-old Nail-less Wooden Mosque

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 28 June 2017)


Fortunately, the first Ace Hardware store had opened nearby 
in 1204.

The 800 year-old Göğceli Mosque, known among local people as the
Nail-less Mosque, in Çarşamba district of Samsun province, has drawn
the attention of local and foreign tourists, as well as scientists and
scholars, because of its unique architectural technique. The mosque
was built without even one nail, using the 'Kurt Boğazı' (Wolf's Throat)
method.

The mosque, which has the capacity to hold 300 worshipers, has swayed
during earthquakes but never collapsed in 800 years  because of the
use of wooden earthquake wedges set in the ground.  If the mosque ever
were to collapse it would fall toward Mecca (!) - the wooden columns
have a special bend to them that would make the building fall like a
worshiper prostrating himself to the 'kıble' (direction to Mecca).

The current imam of Göğceli Mosque, Ahmet Özköse, related two
legends about the mosque:

"It was built during the reign of Selcuk Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev I,
around 1205.  The first legend is that after the Battle of Malazgirt (when
the Selcuks defeated the Byzantines in 1071), Anatolia was opened up
to Islam.  Like everywhere else in Anatolia, Islamic guides came here
and had this mosque built."

"The second legend is that during the Islamification period there were
some principalities that resisted.  A Moslam commander came with his
fleet to the Black Sea to break this resistance and had the mosque built.
In any event, there is no doubt that the mosque is 800 years old.  In
1990, scientists took wood samples from the mosque and scientifically
proved its age.  God willing, it will remain standing."


Çarşamba district is in eastern Samsun province.

This Begger Can be Choosey

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 29 June 2017)


Ali D. surveys his financial empire, which he later 'contributed'
to the public treasury.

In Balıkesir, police apprehended a begger named Ali D. (78) who had
more than 71,000 TL (about $20,000) (!) on him.  It took 8 policemen
the entire first day of the Ramazan holiday to count the money, which
was mostly in small denominations and coins.

Ali D. had come from another province to beg around the Balıkesir
bus terminal, where police were posted to enable citizens to have a
pleasant holiday.  In the end, Ali D. was fined 109 TL and the 71,000
TL was confiscated for the public treasury (!).  Ali D. left Balıkesir.

 

Coffin-borne Airborne FETÖ Escapee

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sabah Newspaper, 28 June 2017)



Bayındır, 'grieving widow' and magic carpet.

İbrahim Faruk Bayındır, the owner of Tarkim Aviation, which has ties
to the Fethullah Gülen Terror Organization (FETÖ), had fake funeral
documents prepared and put himself into a coffin to escape Turkey
after the failed coup of 15 July 2016.

Bayındır's 'coffin' was put onto his firm's private jet at Atatürk Airport
in Istanbul and the plane flew first to Erbil in northern Iraq before
continuing on to Miami.  Bayındır, who was implicated in the video
tapes scandal that targetted the MHP (Nationalist Peoples Party) and
the murder of journalist Haydar Meriç, was a key FETÖ operative.

Istanbul Public Prosecutor Hasan Yılmaz has determined that after
the failed FETÖ coup attempt, Bayındır hid out in Istanbul's Sefaköy
neighborhood, near the airport, and then moved to a house close by
in Ataköy.  He summoned his driver Nurullah Şimşek, who picked up
Bayındır in Ortaköy and took him to his home, where the coffin plan
was hatched.


Pilot Özlem hanım rather happy to see a dead man walking.

On the day of the escape, 22 July, Şimşek drove Bayındır to the airport
in a white Range Rover and dropped off the 'coffin' with Bayındır in it
at Tarkim's airport facility on the runway.  The 'coffin' was loaded onto
Tarkim's private jet piloted by Özlem Schafer, who was shocked to see
Bayındır rise from the coffin once the plane was airborne.  Bayındır
took 21 suitcases  (!) with him.


Fethullah Gülen, in his air traffic control center in Saylorsburg 
PA, pictured moments after Bayındır's escape on 22 July 2016. 

Zonguldak's Dusty Streets Paved With Rugs

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 27 June 2017)


Dust-suppression using appropriate carpet technology.

In the town of Bakacakkadı in Zonguldak's Gökçebey district, residents
who are fed up with dust resulting from infrastructure work on the roads
have solved the problem by laying down old rugs on the pavement.

Those living on İnönü Street in the Satıbeyler neighborhood have
complained that the brick rocks of the road that were removed two years
ago have not yet been replaced, resulting in clouds of dust created by
passing cars, especially in the dry summer months.

So, they took it upon themselves to solve the problem by laying down
old rugs on the pavement to surpress the dust.  One of the street's
residents, Mürvet Albuzlu, called on authorities to solve the problem:
"All throughout the month of Ramazan we've been enveloped by dust.
When we go to the mosque in our white clothes they're soiled in no
time.  We want officials to find a solution to this problem."