Gezi Park's "Vat From Hell" Twin

beast links to related article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 13 June 2013)

Massive beast at rest, for now.

A giant vat-tank intended for use in a separation
process at a nickel mine in Gördes district of Manisa
province left the port of Aliağa nearly two weeks ago
for the overland trip to Gördes. The vat-tank has become
the subject of protests at a place 10 kilometers from Soma,
where it is currently parked.

The protestors have issued a press release, characterizing
the 738 ton (!) vat-tank as the "Vat From Hell" and saying
that it will bring a catastrophe to the region. The environmental
protestors came from Soma, Gördes, Turgutlu, Dikili, Bergama
and Izmir and found the vat-tank parked near Soma.

The protestors carried pankarts reading "The Vat From Hell
Won't Enter Gördes!" as they climbed onto the vat-tank. They
shouted slogans like "We Don't Want the Vat From Hell!". Hasan
Türkay, a director on board of directors of the Gördes Environment
Association, gave a speech in front of the vat-tank and said that
the autoclave they call the 'Vat From Hell"  was a life-threatening
menace.

CHP representative Özgür Özel said that "we won't let the vat
be placed on the top of Gördes so it can poison our beautiful
Manisa plain."

Beauty Manisa wants no part of The Beast.

Phone Rage in Konya

phone links to original article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 12 June 2013)

Writer's cramp.

In Konya, Mehmet Ozyildiran, a father of one who worked
as a waiter at an amusement center, forced his father-in-law,
Celal Karacay (77), to sign a promisory note for a 1500 TL
phone that he bought a month ago.  Ozyildiran failed to make
the first payment on the phone but went ahead and bought yet
another cellphone for 2,000 TL. Again, Ozyildiran tried to have
his father-in-law sign the note for the phone but Karacay refused.

Ozyildiran came to Karacay's house two days ago with a meat
cleaver, intent on forcing his father-in-law to sign the note but
when Karacay threatened to call the police Ozyildiran left.
The night before last, at 2020 hours, Ozyildiran returned
to Karacay's house with the note and the meat cleaver.  Karacay
wouldn't open the door so Ozyildiran climbed onto the balcony
in an effort to enter the house.

Karacay fired at Ozyildiran with his unlicensed hunting rifle,
wounding Ozyildiran in the back. Ozyildiran later died at the hospital.

Pricey phones all the rage  here.

Biten by Bad Luck, Again

bites links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 10 June 2013)

Poisonous attraction.

In Erzurum province, Ismail Bülbül was biten by a scorpion a year
ago in Oltu district and spent a month in intensive care before
regaining his health. Last week Bülbül was biten by a snake and spent
another week in intensive care. He said "my life is poison.
This is what bad luck is all about."

Bülbül (49), who is married and has two children, went with
his family to Tortum Waterfall for a picnic last week. While
he was sitting on the grass a snake emerged from the nearby
bushes and bit him on his right thumb. Bülbül feinted from the
poison as his relatives cut the bite point and tried to drain the
poison, without success.

Bülbül has remained in Erzurum Atatürk University Medical
School Yakutiye Research Hospital for the past week.

Beware of wild life in Erzurum!

Living Dead's Land Sold

dead links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 9 June 2013)

Undead but has to prove it.

Everything began when 74 year-old Inci
Yasar Seven asked the tax office in Atasehir,
Istanbul, how much tax she owed on her
land there. The response shocked her: "it
seems you died. Your land has been sold."

Seven, who has lived in Holland for 50 years,
was told by the deed bureau to bring a document
proving she is alive, to Turkey. But when Seven
arrived here she was in for another shock: a death
report about her had wiped her from the population
ledger. In other words, she was officially dead in
Turkey.

After the incident was referred to the public
prosecutor it was apparent that Seven had been
the victim of fraud. A false death certificate
had been prepared, a fraudulent power of attorney
in the names of her three children had been
created and her land was sold.

Lawyer Gokcen Bilge Ozdemir explained that
Seven would have to file a friendly suit against the
population bureau, since the opposite party would
be the state. Next, she would have to produce a
birth certificate, and documents showing her entrances
and exits to and from Turkey, along with proof of her
residence in Holland. In addition, Seven would have
to get a document from the Cemeteries Directorate
stating that "no such body has been buried" in order
to establish that she had no grave in Turkey. Only after
all this was done could Seven be reinstated on the
population roles.

Town's Golden Name Lures the Greedy

goldspring links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 6 June 2013)

Treasure hunters keep out!

Treasure hunters have headed toward a village, whose
name is Altinbulak (Goldspring), in droves. The
villagers say that their village looks like a groundhog
field because of all the excavations. Their solution has
involved setting up a village security camera.

Because of its name, the village of Altinbulak, in Yakutiye
district of Erzurum province, has become the place to go
for treasure hunters who have begun to pillage the place,
thinking that gold is buried there. Villagers run into the
treasure seekers late at night and try to stop them but the
excavations continue. Efforts to rid the village of the treasure
hunters have even included casting spells but, as yet, all in vain.

Excavations have been dug near the 200 year-old fountain that
gives the village its name and nearly everywhere else so the
villagers have installed a security camera. Village chief Nuri
Demir collected money from the townsfolk for a computer
and a night-vision-equipped camera system that can turn 360
degrees.  Demir can view the camera feed from his office at
all hours and this has resulted in a major decrease in treasure
hunters roaming around.

Zafer Karadas, one of the villagers, said that "its come to this:
these rabid treasure hunters have even had the gall to dig in
our gardens while we're at home. Thanks to the camera system
they've been frightened off and stay away from the village."
Another villager, Murat Tastan, stated that "although the name
of our fountain lures the treasure hunters, for us the water from
the fountain is the real gold."

Treasure hunters take note:

Altinbulak near Erzurum city.

Crash Dummies

dummies links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 5 June 2013)

"Accidents R Us"

 

Three friends who miraculously survived an accident
last week in Ilkadım district of Samsun province, said
when they saw their bifurcated vehicle: "We got out of
this car alive!?". The youths, who noted that they had
shared four accidents together up until today, stated
that "we are really very lucky to have gotten out of this
car alive. The vehicle was split in two!"

Emre Aslan was driving the car when it was involved
in an accident on Atatürk Boulevard in Ilkadım district
on 27 May. Aslan lost control of the car and drove it
on to the center median where it hit a palm tree and
broke into two pieces. Miraculously, the three people
in the car were only slightly injured. In addition to driver
Aslan, Samet Genel (26) didn't even get a bloody nose
and Emre Çetinkaya (22) had some minor injuries.

The three youths visited the car they had the accident in
and when they saw it they said "How did we get out of
this alive!?" Emre Aslan stated that this is the fourth
time the three friends have experienced an accident together
and "coincidentally, each time we were listening to Yıldız
Tilbe (a famous Turkish female vocalist) on the radio."

In this latest accident, Emre Çetinkaya hurt his arm. He
said "I was sitting in the back seat. I was slightly injured.
But now that I see the condition of the car I'm amazed."
Samet Genel, who survived the crash without a scratch,
said that he has been involved in accidents 36 (!) times
(yes, thirty six) and has 27 pieces of platinum in his body.
He noted that his friends call him "Platinum Man".

Ilkadım is one of Samsun city's districts on the Black Sea.

With Friends Like These...

friends links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 4 June 2013)

Plans to limit sarcasm henceforth.

Dursun B. (52), who lives in Bursa and who for some time
has been painting a hotel in Fistikli village of Armutlu district
in Yalova province, got a call from a friend who asked
"Where are you, did you find a treasure?". In response,
Dursun B. said (sarcastically) "yeah, I found a treasure,
that's why I'm painting a hotel in Fistikli."

The suspect, though, thought that Dursun B. had in fact
found a treasure and took five people with him to Fistikli.
It is alleged that the suspects shut Dursun B. up in a room in
the empty hotel, which had not yet opened for the season, and
tortured him so he would tell them where the gold or the money
was.

Taking advantage of his sleeping 'friends', Dursun B. escaped
from the hotel by jumping from the second floor and found
refuge at the Armutlu Gendarmerie station. He told police that
the suspects had tortured him and threatened to kidnap his
children. Dursun B.said that "the beat me at the hotel. Then
they took me to the shore of  Iznik Lake and beat me some more
inside a container."

"We went to a soup shop and someone pressed a knife
against me under the table so I wouldn't say anything. There
they changed cars and took me to the Gemlik shore. While they
had tea, a person with a knife stayed with me in the car. Later
they took me to Gursa to find another of my friends who claimed
that I had hid gold. Then we went back to the hotel and they said
they had taken my kids to the mountains. They beat me with an
adze handle and shocked my legs with electricity, knocking me out."

"They got food and drinks from the hotel and found the keys so
they locked the entrance and the door to the room I was in. While
they slept I found the room key, quietly crept out and jumped from
the second story. I hid in a shack in the back. When the realized I'd
escaped and when they couldn't find me they left the hotel. That's
when I told the Gendarmerie about the situation and that they'd
kidnapped my kids."

While jumping from the second story, Dursun B. broke his foot and
subsequently got a doctor's note to exempt him from work for 28
days. His son Murat B. said that he had received a call in the morning
around 0630 from someone he didn't know, asking for a meeting.
Murat B. at first thought that the caller was a friend from work so
"I called the number back and asked who had called. The answering
party said that they wanted to talk with me about my brother. They
they showed up in front of the house in a white car and said that my
brother Emrah had harassed their niece. They said they'd come again
in the evening."

"When my father escaped from them and reached the Gendarmerie,
the police came to our house to see about us. I called my dad on the
phone but since the suspects had taken it there was no answer at
first and then it was turned off. Again I called the number of the person
who had called me and asked why they had beaten my father. They
were in a panic and said they weren't involved."

Dursun B.'s 'friends' N.D. and H.T., who had originally called him,
were taken into custody in Orhangazi. E.K. (39) and O.T. surrendered
at the Orhangazi police station and I.A., who was also involved in the
incident, was picked up in Izmit two days later.

'Friends' in Bursa may not be.