Ottoman Sultans Aided Irish, Bridged Greeks

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Haber Turk Newspaper, 11 February 2015)


Sultan Abdulmejid wanted Irish eyes to smile.

Turkish director Omer Sarikaya is bringing the story of
Sultan Abdulmejid's assistance to Ireland during the great
famine of the mid-19th century to the big screen. Sarikaya
spent two years in Ireland doing research for the project. He
said that filming in Turkey, England and Ireland will begin
this summer for the movie, to be entitled 'Famine'.

Sultan Abdulmejid's financial and food assistance to Ireland,
despite obstacles put before him by England, is the subject
of the film.  According to historians, Abdulmejid wanted to
send the Irish 10,000 sterling in monetary aid but England's
Queen Victoria wanted him to lower the amount to 2,000
because she had only sent that amount to help Ireland.

Abdulmejid agreed to the Queen's request but still sent 10
ships full of food aid to Ireland.  The English tried to block
these shipments but the Ottoman seafarers were able to
reach Ireland with the food.  It is estimated that the food on
the ships had a value 8 times higher than the 10,000 sterling
Abdulmejid had tried to send in the first place.



'Tis a long way from Istanbul to Dublin.

=============================================

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Vatan Newspaper, 10 February 2015)


                          Before...

The single-arch Plaka Bridge in western Greece, which Ottoman
Sultan Abdulaziz had built in 1866, collapsed last week because
of heavy rains.  The bridge lies between the cities of Yanya and
Arta.


                            and after.

Officials from Athens Polytechnical University and the Greek
Culture Ministry have investigated the collapsed bridge and the
university's dean, Prof. Golias, stated that they have the technical
knowledge required to rebuild the bridge in its original form.
The Culture Ministry's Restoration Directorate General Secretary
Evgenia Gatopulu emphasized the historic and symbolic import
of the bridge for both Greece and the region. Businessman Nikos
Lulis announced that he would meet 50% of the expenses to
repair the bridge.



       'Tis a long way from Istanbul to Yanya.

Kim Kardashian's Turkey Roots Are Showing

turkce links to related Turkish article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 7 February 2015)


          The resemblance is uncanny...

Armenian-American TV star Kim Kardashian's family roots are
based in Turkey.   Photographs of the forefathers of Kardashian (34)
have been published by the (British) Dail Mail newspaper.  In one
photograph, Hovannes Miroyan, Kardashian's grandfather, four
generations removed, is seen wearing a 'fez' cap. His wife was
Lusyak Corbaciyan.

On Kardashian's mother's side, the Miroyan-Corbaciyan couple left
Erzurum with their daughter Vartanus for the USA in the early
1900's.  Once there, Vartanus married Arakel Arakelyan and their
daughter Helen Arakelyan married an immigrant from Kars named
Arthur Kardashian.

Helen and Arthur's son Robert became a famous lawyer and married
American producer Kris Jenner.  Their daughter is Kim Kardashian.
On Kim's father's side, her great-grandfather Tatos came to the USA
from Kars in 1913. According to the Daily Mail, around that time an
11 year-old soothsayer predicted a great and bloody war, prompting
many Armenian families to emigrate to other countries.


              Kardashianistan

Two years ago the Daily Mail published a story about  Muhammed
Copur, who claimed to be a distant relative of Kim and hoped to have
tea with her.  This time around, though, Copur is keeping silent about
his supposed famous relative because of harassment from other
villagers and the Turkish press.

Rumor has it that Kim will visit Armenia for the first time, in
connection with the 100th anniversary of the Armenian incidents of
1915.


   Now, lets get Kanye's roots.

Our Thieving Son's a Squirrel!

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Sabah Newspaper, 5 February 2015)


                 Baris A. is just plain nuts!


The incident occurred in Dogunyurtun Demirci village, in
Kastamonu province.  Baris A. put a sleep-inducing drug
into his parents' tea. Once they were asleep, Baris A. went to
the basement and loaded 600 kilograms of hazelnuts onto
a truck, which he then took to Inebolu to sell.

When the parents, Fatma and Omer A., awoke in the morning
they realized what had happened and called the Gendarmerie.
Shortly thereafter Baris A. and his customer were taken into
custody. Baris A. admitted his guilt and he and his accomplice
were carted off to jail.


Doganyurt and Inebolu districts are on the Black Sea.

Dad's 'Sunlight' Gives Son Hope

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 5 February 2015)


Little Poyraz gets light therapy in the living room.

Servet Ergun invented a therapy machine for his 3 month-old
son Poyraz, who has 'blue light' disease, because there was no
room for the child at any hospital. Ergun had the phototherapy
machine made at a workshop and is trying to continue the
therapy at home, explaining that "if something happens to my
son who else do I blame?"

Poyraz, the third child of Servet and Zeliha Ergun of Antalya,
is battling Crigler-Najjar syndrome ('blue light' disease), which
afflicts only 202 people in the world.  The Ergun couple's
genetic drama began 16 years ago when their daughter Hilal
was born with the disease. At age 10 Hilal received a liver
transplant from her mother and her health improved.

The couple's second child Mehmet was born healthy 12 years
ago but three days after Poyraz was born three months ago
he was yellow and Crigler-Najjar was diagnosed.

Poyraz was taken to Akdeniz University Hospital but there was
no room for him there. After that, his parents took him to Ataturk
Hospital and finally to a private hospital for light therapy. But,
as Servet Ergun lamented, "the charge for the therapy was 380 TL
($185) per night and since my economic situation is not very good
we came home."

But Servet Ergun had taken a picture of the phototherapy machine
he saw at the hospital and came up with his own invention: "I figured
out the speed and wave length of the light and had a friend make a
machine at his workshop. The cost for the materials was 550 TL
($260). The original costs 10,000 TL ($5,000)."

Another child with 'blue light' disease, Mert Guler of Izmir, regained
his health after a liver transplant in 2008. Servet Ergun, who works
at a market, said that Poyraz's only hope is a liver transplant, too. He
feels that therapy at home is not the answer: "I have social insurance
but there is no room at the hospitals. Poyraz has developed a hernia
in his stomach from crying. We can see this but what about brain
damage or damage to his internal organs?  If this happens who do I
blame? I don't know."



                            Antalya province.

Free Electricity Invented!

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Yerli Haber Internet site, 4 February 2015)


         Electric companies beware! Look away!

Yakup Ceylan, who lives in Kepsut district of Balikesir
province, has developed a mechanism that produces
free electricity.  Ceylan is a back-hoe operator and he
said that the electricity cuts he experienced at construction
sites led him to look into the idea of electricity generation.

Ceylan explained his invention as follows: "I'll explain
the device I developed in the most simple way. With a
battery, invertor and my 3 horsepower motor, I developed
a device that produces 3 kilowatts of electricity and a charge
dynamo sustains it. I got a patent for this and I did all the
experimental work on my older brother's pet terrace."

Ceylan went on to say that: "With the plug from the inverter
I power the 3 horsepower motor, which then produces 3
kilowatts of electricity. The charge dynamo keeps the battery
charged. There's no extra expense, just the initial 5,000 TL
(about 2,500) for the materials. After that you'll never pay for
electricity again."

Ceylan explained that he delivered his invention to the Patent
Bureau in 2011 and has completed all the bureau's paperwork.
He can light a lightbulb with his device and says that it can
power other appliances, as well. He said that "I want to develop
this mechanism further. If someone or some organization wants
to help me I would accept an offer."

 

Kepsut district is just east of Balikesir city.

Saving The Trees, Black Sea-style

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 30 January 2015)


Blue spruces' concrete neighbors ruined the neighborhood.
With Black Sea ingenuity, they found a way to get along.

In Rize, two 20 year-old blue spruce trees have been left
to grow inside the new tea house built at the Ataturk Tea and
Garden Culture Research Institute.   The institute belongs
to the tea-producing company CAYKUR and the Ziraat Tea
Garden is one of  Rize's most prized locations.

Institute Director Ali Kaaoglu explained the decision to
preserve the blue spruces as follows:


       Tree-hugging director Ali Kabaoglu

"We work with tea here and at the same time we're trying
to increase the variety of trees. After all this work, it just
didn't fit in with our principles to cut the trees down. Our
institute was created to nurture plants, not to cut down trees.
We won't harm any tree so that's why we didn't want there
to be any damage done to the trees during the construction
of the new tea house. Thanks to the skill of our master
builders, the trees are safe within the new building."


                   Rize province.

Identity Theft Meets World's Oldest Profession

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Sabah Newspaper, 29 January 2015)


       Victim, not perpetrator (let's be clear!)

In Antalya, the ID card of a woman who returned it to the census
bureau after she got married, turned up being used by a lady of the
evening.  An inquiry has begun into the activities of two census
bureau officials.

Gulden Alemdar, who worked as an assistant at a pharmacy in Istanbul,
married Taner Gulsen (36) three months ago.  After the wedding, the
couple moved to Antalya and then went to the Mahmutpasa Census
Bureau office there to changed their ID cards.  Shortly thereafter,
Gulden and Taner Gulsen received their new ID cards.

However, on 1 January 2015, the police knocked on the couple's
door and said that Gulden Alemdar's ID card was being used by
a prostitute named A.B., who had affixed her own photograph to
the ID card.  Gulden Gulsen filed a complaint against A.B. and two
officials at the census bureau - S.A. and Z.C.

In her statement, A.B. claimed that she had found Gulden Alemdar's
ID card in a park and put her own picture on it. As for Gulden Gulsen,
she was outraged by the situation and said "I will file suit against the
prostitute who used my ID card and the officials I surrendered my
card to in the first place."


                Antalya province.