Daddy's Little Girl Gets Nepotistically Lucky

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 31 May 2019)

                                 What a coincidence!

Nihat İnanç, the deputy rector at Kırıkkale University wrote a book

entitled "Will the Day Come When Directors are Called to Account?"

Nevertheless (!), İnanç's daughter Ayşenur, who was passed over in

competitions for academic jobs at 3 different universities in Turkey,

has (somehow!) found a job at her father's university. 

Ayşenur hanım was eliminated from contention after making job

applications at Muğla Sıtka Koçman University, Abant İzzet Baysal

University and Afyon Kocatepe University.  She next tried her luck

at Kırıkkale University and placed 2nd among 34 candidates (!).

Again, somehow (!), Ayşenur passed by Mehmet Can Sürmeli,

who was 15 points ahead of her, and got the job. Sürmeli is now

the 'spare' for the position but he remains unemployed. 

Sözcü asked Nihat İnanç to explain his daughter's good fortune

and he responded by saying that "my daughter's qualifications for

the job were more appropriate because she completed a masters

program.  Kırıkkale University demands either a masters or a 

doctorate from its job applicants for academic positions.  So very

few applicants are accepted and many positions remain unfilled.

In fact, only my daughter and another person qualified for the

position that many others applied for."

Masters and Doctorates in the Science of Nepotism available

at the campus store.

TNT Matchbox Diary: A Turkish POW in Russian Prison Camp (1915-1918)/Part LXIX

//Ed. Note: Fuad Bey had a close call with his diary when
the Russians came to seize all foreign-language books held
by the POWs (in bold below). Its tiny size no doubt allowed 
Fuad Bey to hide it fairly easily.//

26 February 1917 Monday

The weather was clear until noon, then it clouded up. It was bitter cold 

in the morning again. My soul-suffering has increased today. On one 

hand, I’m thinking about myself and I see that I’m rolling around within 

a deep unknown. On the other hand, I’m thinking about my parents and

my brother and becoming convinced that hope of reuniting with them 

alive is diminishing. The war goes on, with no peace in sight. The 

uncertainty is so dense that there’s no chance of solving it. Nevertheless, 

captivity and the sorrows and torments it brings are separate. When all 

of these aggravations are brought together bearing up is just about 

impossible. Really, I’m fed up with everything anymore. Even my time 

is lost in thought and my sleep passes amidst torment. I want to work 

on and learn German but this can’t be done in deprivation. I don’t know 

what I’ll do . My perception and thoughts are escaping from me. Dear 

God, give me happiness…henceforth things are changing, the nights 

aren’t that long…again, we didn’t have a lesson. The day was wasted.

Today we had sugarless fried dough instead of table d’hote. It was good. 

At night I made Halis a bit mad again.

Wilson is Avoiding War

27 February 1917 Tuesday

The weather is clear, nice. The cold is considerable. In the morning the 

Feldfebel (sergeant-major) and the Commander sent word that they 

would inspect us. The reason: if there are foreign language 

books they will determine whether they are appropriate or 

inappropriate. If appropriate they will be returned but if 

not they will be held at the Kazarma (main barracks) until 

peace or until we are transferred to another place. The 

Commander didn’t come. Based on his second message, 

the ustarşi (Russian supervisor) took the books that were 

here.  Fortunately, he didn’t find the notebooks (diaries).

News: (Tercüman) the problem of whether or not America will fight a 

war with Germany is still being written about. Wilson is avoiding war. 

But the Allied Powers are hoping for help. I was somewhat irritated 

today. This was exacerbated a bit by my making Halis mad. My 

discomfort is all because of Saffet. In any event, none of us has been 

comfortable for the past couple of days. The season is winter and it’s 

cold. The air inside the rooms is hardly recycled at all. The stove 

doesn’t warm the rooms. The blankets are insufficient for warding off 

the cold. The temperature in the room is only plus five degrees. We 

didn’t have a lesson at night. Today I couldn’t even work on one letter.

28 February 1917 Wednesday

The weather is clear. It’s cold like it has been, bitter. News: the English 

escaping from Mesopotamia are pulling back to the east of Katra. This 

means that the enemy is without hope. The Germans have raised the 

number of sunken ships to 190 in two weeks. Turkey has appointed 

someone named Nazim Bey to the Foreign Ministry. My illness went 

away today. Halis and I talked at length today. We got rid of the 

conflicts in our ideas and came to an understanding. We agreed to not 

let such conflicts arise anymore. There’s no doubt that these conflicts 

of ideas are the consequence of the torments brought on by captivity. 

Damn captivity!

1 March 1917 Thursday

The weather is clear but it clouded up somewhat in the afternoon. 

The cold is not as bad as it has been in the last few days.  News: 

in Petrograd, the Foreign Minister has asked the leaders of the workers

committee whether or not it is true that the workers have already made

 a decision to demonstrate for the overthrow of the current government 

and the establishment of a democratic republic when the Duma opens 

on 14 February (27 February, according to the modern calendar). He

also said that a commission would take an initiative to investigate this. 

The committee chief said that there would be no such thing and he 

added that they had no right or power to conduct such an investigation

…when one looks at the things that are happening within Russia and in 

its cities it seems that there is rebellion all over. The reason for this 

must be starvation because the newspapers are full of such stories 

every day…again, I wasn’t able to work on anything. I’m bewildered 

these days. I have no appetite. There’s a mild aching in my body and 

I’m shaking a bit in the house. We chatted at night, all about 

agriculture. Finally, it stopped at beekeeping. Everyone talked about 

what they knew on this subject…we listened attentively.

2 March 1917 Friday

The weather is clear. It’s not so cold and the bitter cold is no more. 

Here are the current prices for provisions here: bread 30, meat 60, 

rice, milk 55, macaroni 35 (these prices are all per funt). One egg is 

12 kopeks. Supposedly, according to regulations, the municipality will 

only give on pud of flour per person per month. We sort of had a lesson 

tonight. I couldn’t write or work. But a very regrettable thing happened. 

While I was absent-mindedly speaking German and practicing, our time

went a bit over and the doctor said to the servants ‘go, go to bed!’ A bit

after we stopped the lesson.  The doctor’s giving such an order all of a 

sudden was nothing other than impoliteness. Fortunately, since we heard 

about this problem quite late we didn’t say anything. At night Zühdü 

talked about his travails during the Balkan War. It was really quite 

touching. Tonight my dream was about the front line. I was heading 

for a place like a forward outpost amidst some deprivations. It seemed 

that Halis and my mother were there. Halis gave me two liras as a 

precaution since we were partners again. My mother gave me 15 liras. 

At first I didn’t accept this, saying to Halis ‘you’ll be coming a bit 

later anyway dear friend.’ But when they insisted I accepted. I felt very 

bad when I was leaving them. Because the worry on their faces gave 

me a deep sadness, as well. I woke up then.

//END of PART LXIX//

Skirt Chases Judge From Job

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 30 May 2019)


"6 inches above the knee?!" Someone's imagination ran wild.

During a court hearing in Kartal, Istanbul, Judge Mehmet Yoylu took
exception to the shortness of lawyer Tüğçe Çetin's skirt (!). Çetin
objected to Yoylu's objection so he asked two other female lawyers
for their opinions.  Both of the lawyers saw no problem with the
length of Çetin's skirt but Yoylu insisted on having a picture taken
and a record written:

"The lawyer's skirt being 15 centimeters (6 inches!) above the knee,
this is contrary to clothing norms in court. Since two other lawyers
did not agree with this, a photograph was taken."  Yoylu's statement
quickly spread through social media and the judges' ruling body,
HSK (Judges and Prosecutors Council),  relieved Yoylu from duty. 
Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül approved of HSK's decision.



Judge Yoylu seems to have some length-perception problems,
among perhaps many others.

TNT POW Reports: Turks in Greek Hands (1920-1923)/Part V

//Ed. Note: This POW was captured by the Greeks near 
Eskişehir about a month before the start of the Battle of
Sakarya (23 August - 12 September 1921).

Officer Candidate Mehmet Rıfat Efendi, from Yenice in Niğde, the son 

of Ahmed Ağa, and a member of Company 2 of the Attack Battalion of 

the 23rd Division, who was taken prisoner by the Greeks on 21 July 337 

(1921) during the attack at Akpınar, Eskişehir, made the following 

statements about the cruelties visited upon him and his fellow soldiers 

by the Greeks during his 1.5 years in captivity.

The first day of my captivity was the day I fell prisoner to the Greeks at 

Akpınar, along with 15 officers and 1,400 soldiers.  Many of these 

soldiers and officers were killed by bayonet by enemy cavalrymen at the 

point of capture in front of our eyes.  In fact, İzzet Efendi, an officer of 

the team of Attack Battalion 1st Company  and Lieutenant Said Efendi 

of the 69th Regiment were among these murdered officers.  Officer 

Candidate Hacı Mehmed Efendi, from Kayseri and the 172nd Regiment,

and Officer Candidate Ahmed Efendi, of Sezer and the same regiment,  

suffered many bayonet wounds at the hands of the Greek cavalrymen 

and were left for dead.  Somehow, though, a couple of days later they 

were transported to the Eskişehir hospital.

From the time they fell captive to the Greeks to their arrival at Athens 

and then the prison camp on Lefkada Island, officers and soldiers, even

the sick and wounded, walked everywhere, with the exception of the 

time spent at sea.  When they passed through towns they were pelted with 

rocks and tomatos by the local Greeks and the Greek soldiers, who all 

spat in their faces and subjected them to unimaginable insults and 

degradations.   While going from İnegöl plain to Bursa two Turkish 

soldiers were shot by the Greek guard company commander for no 

reason and they were both seriously injured.  These wounded men were 

carried on the backs of Turkish soldiers to Bursa, where all soldiers and 

officers were imprisoned in the Yıldırım Mosque, without any food and 

denied permission to go out to relieve themselves.  Consequently, out of 

necessity they relieved themselves inside the mosque.  

The POWs were marched from Eskişehir to Bursa via İnegöl

and then transported by ship from Mudanya to Izmir and from

Izmir to Athens.

While going from Bursa to Izmir and from Izmir to Athens the captive 

prisoners were stuffed into the holds of cargo ships and given  a can of 

water and an empty can to use as a toilet.  Similarly, they were given no 

food and were, in fact, deprived of vital water, besides being given no 

air nor food.   Six or seven people died and many suffered from a 

number of illnesses.

When we arrived in Athens (Parenig Mata) we found Cafer Tayyar Bey.  

We stayed there for 14 days and during that time no bread or anything 

else was given to the officers by the Greeks.  It was only thanks to Cafer 

Tayyar Bey, who obtained some bread and tobacco for us, that our lives 

were saved.  After many and continuous appeals, we were given 100 

drahmas and finally we were transported to Agia Mavra Fortress on 

Lefkada Island, where we 30 officers and 100 soldiers were imprisoned. 

 

Cafer Tayyar was the commander of the  Turkish 

1st Army in Thrace. He was captured by the 

invading Greeks in 1920 and  imprisoned in Athens. 

After Turkish forces took Izmir in September 1922, 

Cafer Tayyar was exchanged for Greek commander 

Nikolaos Trikopis, who surrendered to Mustafa

Kemal (later Atatürk) at Uşak on 2 September

1922.

The Greeks claimed that our identity papers had not come so they 

wouldn’t give us any portion of 5 months salary.   Within a period of 

time, without clothing and food, and because of the stifling air, the 

oppression reached its zenith.  We were only able to buy bread and 

tobacco from the store opened by the Greek garrison commander on 

credit and even when we got our salaries we still could only buy 

from the garrison commander’s overpriced store, although it would 

have been possible to get cheaper things from outside. The 170 

officers and 100 soldiers in the fortress were under the supervision 

of a Greek sergeant, who subjected us to all kinds of inhumane 

treatment.  This sergeant would call the roll every morning and 

evening for officers and soldiers and turn off the lights at 1 o’clock 

to compel everyone forceably to go to bed.

I was told by an officer who was captured before I was that when 

General Galadis was the commander at Perveze, he wanted to execute 

all the prisoners for no reason and even gave the Gendarmerie orders 

to shoot all of our soldiers and officers in the fortress.  In fact, for a 

trivial reason, Major Ali Bey and Gendarmerie Lieutenant Cemal and 

Officer Candidate Ali Efendi of İşleme village in Niğde, together with 

many other officers and doctors, were confined in the cellers of the 

fortress, deprived of fresh air and any kind of food, for months.  Since 

the late Captain İbrahim Efendi suffered from hemorrhoids, he died 

from a lack of a doctor’s care and medicine, but even more to the 

point, because of the Greeks’ destructive policy of providing no 

treatment. 

         Preveze is just north of Lefkada Island.

For months the Greek commanders sold 100 soldiers they had within 

the fortress  to rich families for money, on an alternating basis.  These 

soldiers received only enough food to keep them alive and worked 

under conditions of misery and degradation.  Our civilian prisoners 

lived in fear and were given no care at all so each day 8-10 of them died.  

We know from a reliable source that women and children held in prison 

in Athens suffered similar horrific treatment.  It would be impossible to 

count the incidents the terror and cruelty the Greeks inflicted on all the 

military and civilian prisoners, who, upon their return, provided 

information about their captivity to officials at Izmir and other ports 

about their captivity.

13 June 39 (1923) Officer Candidate Mehmed Rifat

//END of PART V//

J

'Escobar'-Brand Cocaine & Other Drug World Wonders

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 29 May 2019)

If only Escobar and the other devilishly smart druggies would

use their superpowers for good...

In Istanbul, there were two separate drug operations conducted

by police. In one of them, the famous drug baron Pablo Escobar's

photograph was found on cocain packets.

Police stopped the car of a drug gang they had under physical and

technical surveillance in Halkalı and found 1.8 million ecstacy pills,

30 kilograms of cocaine and an M-16 rifle.  The cocaine packets

had a picture of Escobar on them and the seized drugs were determined

to be from South America.  The car had a secret compartment in the

dashboard and when the 'child lock' button was pressed the compartment

opened to reveal the contraband.

In the other police drug sting in Bakırköy, Istanbul, 12 kilograms of 

"Afyon sakızı" (opium gum) were found in damp form inside the lining 

of 4 'Acem' (Iranian) regional outfits.  The opium had been changed to

liquid form with a special solution,  The clothes would then be dried

and the opium changed back to its original form with another special

solution (!).  Three Iranians were taken into custody.

   Halkalı and Bakırköy are located in Istanbul's wild west.

TNT Matchbox Diary: A Turkish POW in Russian Prison Camp (1915-1918)/Part LXVIII

//Ed. Note: Fuad Bey spent this week of February 1917
mostly concerned with relationships with his fellow
Vetluga inmates,  but news of the revolutionary tumult
shaking Moscow came to him, as well.//

17 February 1917 Saturday

The weather was clear and sunny until mid-afternoon. Then it started to 

cloud up. The cold increased, too. News: supposedly 17-year old 

children in Turkey are becoming soldiers. In Russia children taller than 

two yards and four fingers (in other words, 145 centimeters) are being 

taken in as soldiers. The American Government has sent a telegram to 

its ambassador in Switzerland concerning reestablishing political 

relations with Germany. The English government and the Germans have 

announced that they will accept these negotiations to discuss interests. I 

changed my laundry today. There were in terrible shape. Again, I found 

a flea on myself. It’s not just me. Many fellows have the same problem. 

My God, what kind of a situation is this! We still haven’t been able to 

save ourselves from this misfortune. I had my hair cut today. Today 

passed more or less in torment. We read some German at night. I went 

to bed before everyone else.

18 February 1917 Sunday

The weather is clear and sunny. The cold has increased. News: German 

submarines have been seen at the Cape of Good Hope, in the Indian 

Ocean and in the Far East. They’ve found secret waystations for shelter. 

This blockade is not just for Europe, it’s worldwide. Very good. In the

afternoon we toured a part of the city but because of the bitter cold we 

came back early.

19 February 1917 Monday

The weather is clear, sunny and it’s rather cold. A Russian who came 

from Moscow says that there’s quite a major revolution underway there. 

The problem came about this way: like everywhere else, sugar is 

distributed to the public from on place. Most people have to wait days  

this. So it happened that they came continually for four mornings and 

stayed till evening but there were many people who left empty handed. 

When this occurred the crowd, whose patience had run out, immediately 

began to loot. But even though the Moscow government sent soldiers to 

suppress then the soldiers refused, saying ‘these are our mothers, fathers, 

brothers. We can’t fire on them.’ The police were then brought in and the 

police fired on the crowd. When the soldiers saw this they fired at the 

police and killed them all. This wasn’t the end of it though. They raised

the flag of rebellion and threw the scene into tumult, shouting ‘we want 

peace!’…the outcome is unknown. Tonight we read some German again.

20 February 1917 Tuesday

The weather is clear like yesterday. The cold is minus 28 degrees. When 

I got up I heard that Salah has gone to another house. I’m glad to hear it. 

In his place Uzun Şerif and Şakir Efendiler came from the other 

(Adlifinski) house. Besides this, Hamit Efendi moved here from 

Malaşova. It is said that two more people will come here. Çerkes Mehmet 

reallywanted Şakir to leave. In fact, he said to me ‘if Şakir stays here our 

situation will be worse than before and he asked me not to tell anyone this. 

In any event, Şerif stayed and Şakir went. I’m aggravated again. The 

reason is that Halis is being much too nice to Ethem, wo has come to live 

here and whom I don’t like at all. Halis knows very well that I don’t like 

him and about the incidents that occurred between us before. But I don’t  

think it’s appropriate for me to say anything more to Halis about this. In 

the same way that I always want to commiserate with my dear friend, I 

think it’s right that we talk about problems that arise between us here not 

with others but with our conscience. At night we had a tea party for 

Hamit Efendi. We didn’t have a lesson.

Cavid Bey has Become Finance Minister

21 February 1917 Wednesday

The weather is overcast. The cold has eased. News: (Tercüman) Cavid 

Bey has become Finance Minister. According to reports of the Russian 

newspapers, Cavid Bey has borrowed 150 million liras, with the 

Germans playing a big role. This money will be spent on roads, railroads, 

factories and agriculture. The rebellion in Moscow has gotten more 

violent. In fact, the call-up for transport for newly-selected soldiers has 

been delayed in this connection. The soldiers here have been dispersed 

too. We couldn’t have a lesson again tonight. The time passed with idle 

chatter. We had a tea party for Şerif at night.

22 February 1917 Thursday

The sky is somewhat overcast. The cold is not so bad. The Russian 

municipality gave us each a funt of sugar for 28 kopeks. But it’s in 

powder form so we still have to get sugar from the market for 

((kırtlama)). Time is qute boring, captivity is bearing down. We can’t 

go to the market nor can we visit the other houses. Everything is 

forbidden except now and then we can go out for a walk with a bunch 

of guards. And that only after begging and pleading. Ah, let there

be peace! We read some German at night. I’m starting to feel progress 

slowly but surely. Hopefully, this servant will stay here for a while 

(Max).

23 February 1917 Friday

The weather is like it has been. Another thing happened in the morning: 

there was a complaint about Max, who is giving us lessons. He was 

sent to the Kazarma (main barracks) in the afternoon. Gendarmerie 

soldier Mehmet came in his place. I felt bad about this. Supposedly, the 

reason was that  he can’t make tea well. But this is a lie and our interests 

weren’t given any consideration. The real reason is this: Süleyman 

wanted to send a letter to his fiancé via this soldier. When he didn’t 

agree Süleyman instigated a complaint and as a result he was moved 

from here. In any case, there will come a time for Süleyman and he will 

fall. In the evening, he moved to another house at the request (to the 

Commander) of his housemates because he couldn’t get along with them

there.  Salah, as well, has started to have trouble fitting in there. After 

Şerif left I was glad that Salah didn’t come again. At night all of a 

sudden I felt a great despair. I started to think about my situation, my 

condition, the things I’ve gine through, my parents, my brother and the 

future. The despair has been building gradually. Zühdü tried to console 

me but the despair didn’t go away easily…again, we baked bread in the 

oven.

24 February 1917 Saturday

The weather is clear. The cold is -23. News: English troops in 

Mesopotamia are being withdrawn. Again (Tercüman) writes that in 

response to our allies’ attacks, the Russians are counterattacking

and retaking their positions…we had a lesson with Gustav at night but 

we didn’t get much benefit from it because we can’t understand him very 

well. His pronunciation and ability are lacking. Max was much better 

than him. But what can we do, chance always puts many obstacles in 

the way of benefit and ((nefiham)). Patience and fortitude are essential.

25 February 1917 Sunday

The weather is clear and it’s very cold. Some serious news: starvation 

has begun to show itself in England and Russia. In fact, in recent days 

even the Russian newspapers have written about death from starvation. 

In England workers understand that they’ll go hungry because of the

submarines and they’re asking what’s being done to counter this. 

However much the government says that everything possible is being 

done, the workers know this is empty talk and cry ‘we want peace!’ 

Anyway, large and small rebellions are taking place all over Russia. 

Very good. A letter came from Istanbullu Hakkı today. He writes that 

troops are constantly moving to the borders, that the soldiers are made 

up of 17-year old children and that they go to the front amid

guitar playing, as if they were going to a wedding. We didn’t have a 

lesson at night. We didn’t do anything at all. Halis and I commiserated 

a bit. My soul is a bit aggravated again today.

//END of PART LXVIII//