A Brother's Revenge, 5 Years Later

 türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Vatan Newspaper, 31 October 2018)


Vengeance in a nutshell: crime scene, left. Top, Halit
Arslan, right, Mehmet Ali Arslan, bottom, deceased
killer Emre Solan. Sigh...

A young man named Emre Solan (28) was gunned down
on the D-100 highway in the Ataköy section of Istanbul's
Bakırköy district the night before last.  Police took suspect
Mehmet Ali Arslan into custody and determined that Solan
had killed Arslan's younger brother Halit Arslan in 2013.

In 2013, Solan and Halit Arslan, who was an actor and
model, were neighbors in Esenyurt when they had an
argument while waiting for an elevator.  As a result, Solan
killed Arslan (!) and went to jail for 5 years.

The night before last, Mehmet Ali Arslan spotted Solan on
the highway, parked behind Solan's car and shot Solan in
the head with a pump-action rifle.  Arslan fled toward
Okmeydanı but returned to the crime scene to watch police
activities there.

Arslan was subsequently arrested at his older sister's
residence in Beylikdüzü.



 

Bashful Thief Zaps 'Private Parts' Warts

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 31 October 2018)


Doesn't heed 'don't try this at home' warnings.

A robbery occurred at the Samsun Training and Research
Hospital 4 days ago.  Health worker R.Ç. (26) stole the
cryotherapy wart-freezing machine, worth 5,000 TL, from
the hospital's dermatology polyclinic.

R.Ç. brought the machine back to the hospital yesterday
and was arrested.  He explained that "I took the machine
to burn off some warts in my private areas (!).  When I
was done I brought the machine back.  I didn't intend to
steal it."

Bus Drivers Qualify for Danger Pay

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 30 October 2018)


Enraged hubby, left, goes after bus driver Güner.

In Antalya, bus driver Erkan Güner (45) picked up a
foreign female passenger on Saturday, together with her
school-age child.  The woman paid her own fare but
declined to pay for her child.  Güner advised the woman
that she had to pay the child's fare, as well, but she didn't
have enough money on her fare card.  In the end, the
woman and the child got off the bus but she photographed
the bus and told her husband about the incident.

A few minutes later, Güner's bus was cut off by a car
in which the woman was riding.  The driver of the car,
the woman's irate husband S.C., got out and then punched
Güner, breaking his nose.  The fight continued on the
street, where passers-by broke it up, hurling insults at
the woman and her husband.  Bus driver Güner went to
the hospital, got a report and then filed a complaint
against S.C.



--------------------------------------------------------------

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 30 October 2018)


Attacker in an undated photo.

In Çorum, a passenger's attack on a bus driver with an
umbrella was recorded on the bus's security camera.
Driver İlhan Aybulut got into an argument about a
particular bus stop with the passenger, who then hit
Aybulut with his umbrella.

Driver Aybulut explained that "These kinds of incidents
are common in the Akkent neighborhood of Çorum.
Another driver was stabbed here in the past months. 
Officials here have to take measures.  In this case,
the passenger said 'why didn't you stop at that stop?'
Then he hit me in the hand and the face with his
umbrella.  I tried to defend myself and called the police,
too."

 
 

American Football in Turkey Getting Popular

turkish american football click here for info on the 
increasingly popular American football scene in Turkey.


The ever-expanding TAFL (not quite ready to challenge 
Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe though.)

Boğaziçi University students in Istanbul fielded an
American football team in 1987 but it took them 2 years
to find an opponent.  Finally, they played a game but it
wasn't against another Turkish team, it was against U.S.
sailors.


                American "futbol" alaturka.

The first game between 2 Turkish teams occurred in
1993 but the teams played without equipment (!).  The
first game played with equipment was in 2001. 
Turkish American football teams were brought into
the structure of the Turkey Baseball and Softball
Federation in 2005.

Today there are more than 80 teams playing American
football in Turkey, including the "Yeniçeriler"
(Janissaries) of Istanbul and the Yaşar University
Admirals team, which works out four times each week
in Izmir.


         Get ready to rumble your kettles!

A Syrian Refugee's Sad, Horrific Story

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 29 October 2018)


 Teacher Abdurrahman Ali's final resting place.

In Güngören district of Istanbul, at the Tamer Örme
(knitting) textile workshop on 22 February 2017,
Syrian refugee Abdurrahman Ali (29) got his hand caught
in a machine at 3 o'clock in the morning and he died as
his scalp was peeled off by the machine. (!)

In the expert report presented in court, it was stated that
Ali, who was working the press machine, had received
no safety training and there was no supervisor watching
the knitting machine at the time.

Employer Taner Karabul, who was found to be at fault,
stated that "I'm very sorry about the accident.  After it
I closed the workshop.  I don't even want to walk down
that street anymore."  Karabul also admitted that he had
employed 3 other Syrians at the workshop. At the case's
final hearing on 19 June, Karabul was found guilty but
his 2-year jail sentence was converted to a 30,400 TL
fine. (!)

Nevertheless, Karabul's lawyer Erdal Gökmen 
asserted that Ali had been working as a loader of
material for transport but for some unexplained reason
he went to the knitting machine and got his sweater
caught in the machine, resulting in the horrific
and deadly incident.

Ali's brother's lawyer Turan Hançerli related that
Ali had been a teacher in Syria but escaped to Turkey
with his wife and children because of the war there.
Hançerli said that Ali was working without insurance
and after his death, his pregnant wife and other
children returned to Syria.  Because Ali's wife did
not sign a power of attorney. no appeal could be
filed.


                Güngören district of Istanbul

Kashoggi Murder: Cremation?

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Vatan Newspaper, 29 October 2018)


Chimney, upper left, was used despite the warm 
weather.

In the aftermath of the murder of Jamal Kashoggi at the
Saudi Arabian Consulate-General in Istanbul on 2 October,
a remaining mystery is the whereabouts of Kashoggi's
body, despite Saudi claims that the body was given over
to a Turkish collaborator.

Once Turkish investigators were allowed to enter the
Consulate building and the Consul General's residence,
the idea that Kashoggi had been killed in the office of
Consul General Uteybi gained currency.  However, no
fingerprints were found in Uteybi's office and there was
evidence that the room had been wiped clean by a
forensics expert.

Video footage showed 6 vehicles moving from the
Consulate building to the residence at 15:10 on 2 October.
Police believe that Kashoggi's body was transported to
the residence in a Mercedes VITO minibus that was
part of the 6-vehicle convoy. 

When the body was still not found in the residence,
police searched a well on the property but without
result.  However, they also noticed that the fireplace was
sooty, having been used recently, despite the warm
Istanbul weather.  Police saw, as well, that the fireplace
had been thoroughly cleaned, which raised their
suspicions further.  Consequently, samples were taken
from the fireplace and its chimney and sent to the police
criminal laboratory for analysis.

Cremation

In the process of cremation, a body is completely burned
in a fire in 1-2 hours.  The body of a  50-kilogram person
contains 2.5 kilograms of bones, 40 kilograms of water
and 7.5kilogramsm of organic material that can be burned.
The temperature required to burn the body is 850 degrees
centigrade. When the temperature is raised to 1,090
degrees the body fuels its own destruction.  With an
oxygen supply, the temperature can be brought to 3,000
degrees.  After the fire, the bones' powder mixes in with
the ashes.

iPhone

Kashoggi gave his Apple iPhone telephone to his fiancé
Hatice Cengiz before he entered the Consulate building.
The phone is being examined by Istanbul police but
because the password was incorrectly entered the phone
is locked and only Apple in the USA can open the phone
now.

 
                        The plot sickens...

"Cigar Doctor" Kept Society Types Lit Up

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 28 October 2018)



In Istanbul, police learned that a gang that was illegally
importing cigarettes and cigars into Turkey was selling
the contraband cigars at a 5-star hotel in Etiler and at a
tobacco store in a shopping center in the Akatlar section
of Beşiktaş.  Police raided two stores and a sports club
in the shopping center, which is frequented by celebrities
from the arts and society world.


                  Dr. Cigar

In the raid, police seized 20,152 contraband cigars with
a value of 217,650 TL.  The operator of the store in the
hotel, Mehmet Hasbutçu, and the operator of the shopping
center store, Nihat Görücü, were taken into custody,
along with five other individuals. 

Hasbutçu, whose nickname is the "Cigar Doctor", owns
6,363 of the illegal cigars and he also had contraband
cognac (French brandy) that is favored by society types,
in his warehouse.


Much the same way society types eat candy bars
with a knife and fork, they go to great lengths to
procure cigars and cognac.