When Worlds Collide...Yoga Answers

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 12 August 2015)


Asylum-seekers could use some karma right about now.

Ten Syrians who left for Greece in a rubber boat from
Yalıkavak, Bodrum, were forced to swim for their lives
back to shore when their boat began taking on water. After
they reached land they walked toward a beach club where
women were taking a yoga lesson, providing an interesting
juxtaposition of lives.

The Syrians then took a bus to Bodrum center. A separate
group of 40 refugees saw the heavy seas, abandoned
their trip to the Greek islands and returned to Bodrum.

 

Stung in Butterfly Valley by Wet Flip-Flops

türkçe links to original Turkish article.

(Milliyet Newspaper, 11 August 2015)


"...but there's no sign saying don't climb rocks with wet flip-flops!"

Barış Batı and his wife Ahu Batı, of Mersin, came to Kelebekler
Vadisi (Butterfly Valley) in Ölüdeniz hamlet of Fethiye by boat
and, wearing flip-flops, reached the rocks surrounding the valley
at about 10 a.m.  At this point, Barış Batı decided to try to scale the
steep rock walls of the valley, hoping to reach a waterfall seven meters
(about 24 feet) above.


Ahu hanım holds low-down, guilty flip-flops as Barış gets rescued. 

When he couldn't get traction on the rocks with his wet flip-flops,
Barış fell to the ground in front of his wife's eyes.  Suffering from
a 25 centimeter (about 10 inches) gash in his head, Barış lay on the
ground in a pool of blood.  A bit later a UMKE (National Medical
Rescue Team) rescue team reached the otherwise-inaccessible
Kelebekler Valley via Belceğiz beach.


If it wasn't for people, this place would be paradise.

The UMKE team walked for about a kilometer and climed up on
the rocks to reach the fallen Barış. Then, Barış was moved to
Kumburnu beach by boat, and an ambulance took him from there
to Lokman Hekim Esnaf Hospital.

Lost in Maritime Translation

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 10 August 2015)


Happy when everyone around spoke Turkish. Now, though...

An Australian businessman hired eight Turkish seamen
to take the yacht he purchased in Bodrum to his homeland.
On board at the departure at Bodrum were two retired SAT
(like U.S. Seals) commandos but when an agreement could not
be reached on their pay they were discharged from the yacht
on Cyprus.

As the yacht proceeded en route to Australia through the Suez
Canal, the vessel was searched by Egyptian officials and 248
bullets were found.  The remaining crew of eight explained that
the bullets were for the shotguns the two SAT commandos
would have used for security. Nevertheless, the eight crew
members were arrested and put into an 8 square meter cell.


Yacht's journey originated in Bodrum, then offloaded 2 SAT
commandos in Cyprus, only to get snagged in the Suez Canal.

Hasan Terzi, the father of one of the crew members, who was
working in Mecca, had a heart attack when he heard the news of
the crew's arrest. Terzi, originally from Trabzon, wrote a letter
to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan requesting his
intercession for the release of his son and his crewmates.

Terzi noted that he has received news about his son, Giray Terzi,
who has been held for more than 10 months, from the Turkish
embassy in Cairo and he added that "the bullets they found on the
boat belonged to the two SAT commandos who were supposed
to protect the ship from pirates around Somalia. Somebody has
to say 'stop' to this. They've been awaiting trial for six months."

Hasan Terzi also noted that there has been a translation crisis
associated with his son's imprisonment. He noted that "there
has been a translator problem at three court sessions. The
translator who was appointed for the last session didn't even
know Turkish. When he said he knew Arabic and English the
session was postponed until 1 October."


  
Harkening back to Australia's WWI Turkish adventure.



 

Who Wouldn't Want Cyanide in Their Backyard?

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 9 August 2015)


      Come on, what's the fuss? It's only cyanide.

Last October a private firm cut down trees in a 20-acre
forest at Engiz, near Yukarı Bahçeler hamlet in Fatsa
district of Ordu province, and began work to separate
out gold using cyanide.  As the firm's work continued,
citizens and environmentalists opposed to the gold-cyanide
method set up resistance tent in the area.

Local villagers have manned the tent for the past 280 days
and yesterday environmentalists from elsewhere joined them
in a protest in front of the mining operation. They were joined
by CHP parliamentarians Seyit Torun and Mustafa Adıgüzel.


     A heaven worth its weight in gold...

Some of the protestors breached the perimeter set up by
Gendarmerie troops and a confrontation resulted. The troops
responded forcefully, hitting the protestors with billy clubs
and spraying them with high-pressure water hoses.


Yukarı Bahçeler hamlet is about 12 kilometers from Fatsa.

A (Fake Nonccommissioned) Officer, But No Gentleman

türkçe  links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 7 August 2015)


A.E., I knew Richard Gere. You're no Richard Gere.

A.E., who lives in Gaziantep, became friends with a young
girl named İ.İ. (23) on Facebook and, claiming to be an army
noncommissioned officer (NCO), he went to Adana to meet
İ.İ. even going so far as to wear an NCO's uniform, complete
with gun and holster.

When İ.İ. accepted his marriage proposal, A.E. returned to
Gaziantep but came back once again to Adana in the same
NCO uniform, with a gun in his belt to formally propose
to İ.İ. in a romantic setting at a shopping center. A.E. knelt
before İ.İ. in front of a crowd of shoppers and put the ring
on her finger to great applause.

The happy moment was immediately shared on Facebook
but A.E. lamented that he needed money for marriage and
so he 'borrowed' 4,000 TL (about 1,500 USD) from İ.İ.
When İ.İ. could not subsequently reach A.E. she realized
she had been duped and filed a complaint with the police.

The police were able to track down A.E. and discovered
that he had previously hoodwinked four other girls with
the same scam (!).