Fox News: Don't Worry, This Time It's Good News

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 9 January 2018)


                          Rescue...

Youths in Bursa's İnegöl district saw two foxes that had fallen into
Dipsizgöl pond the day before yesterday and informed the municipality's
Wild Animals Care and Treatment Center.  Shortly afterwards, a team
arrived in the area but had to leave their vehicles because of the rough
terrain, reaching the pond after hiking for about a kilometer.


                    ...and release.

The team entered the pond and had a difficult time apprehending the
foxes but finally nabbed them with a net.  Nevertheless, the team
struggled to get the foxes out of the deep pond, ultimately rescuing them,
treating them and releasing them back into the wild.  About a month
ago another fox had been rescued in the same pond by a team from
the municipality.



 

Valet Parking (At Your Own Risk)

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 8 January 2018)


            There went the neighborhood...

In Caddebostan, Kadıköy, one of Istanbul's most fashionable areas,
gunfire shook İskele Street, also known as Bar Street, the night before
last.  After their meal, Murat Oğuz Orhan (34) and Emre Adaş (29),
got into an argument with the restaurant's valet because their car was
late in coming.

As the argument turned into a fight, one of the valets pulled out a
gun, shot the two customers, hopped into a taxi and fled the scene.
Orhan died there and Adaş succumbed to his wounds at a hospital.
A shopkeeper nearby said "I heard screaming and when I went outside
two people were lying on the ground, as customers in the other
restaurants ducked under their tables.  There was a similar murder 7
years ago in the same place.  In fact, one of those workers came out
from the restaurant."

The residents of İskele Street, where there are more than 10 restaurants,
are very tense. One of them said that the valets work for 6-7 restaurants
but he was critical of valets who show up each day, saying "there are
fights here every night.  We see battles among customers with bats.
After a certain hour, the street's atmosphere changes.  We're worried.
There are 2-3 regular valets but there are also those who come once
in a while whom we don't know and we wonder who they work for."

The owners of the other restaurants, which serve mostly fish, were
noticeably silent after the incident, with one of them allowing that
"this has nothing to do with us."  In 2011 there was a clash on İskele
Street between old and new valets in which Sedat Peker (a famous
mafia boss)'s man Hasan Akbaş (38) and another of his men, Ali
Şahin Gürman (34), were killed.  Two others were wounded in the
incident, in which 19 people were taken into custody.


Sheriff not on duty that night.

 

Irish Sought Atatürk's Help 94 Years Ago

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 8 January 2017)


The old world's common theme: "The Struggle Against English
Imperialism"...and now we have another Royal Wedding
to sit through (ugh!).

OttomanHelp see also, the fascinating story of Ottoman Sultan
Abdülmecid's help to the Irish in 1847.


A document reflecting the friendly ties between Turkey and Ireland has
surfaced for the first time.  According to the document, which has been
transcribed from its original Ottoman by researcher-writer Atilla Oral
94 years after it appeared on page 2 of İleri Newspaper on 12 January 1923,
the Irish requested support from Atatürk against English imperialism both
during the Turkish War of Independence and afterwards during the peace
negotiations at Lausanne.

 A letter was sent to Mustafa Kemal (later "Atatürk") from William Darry,
the head of the Irish Republic Community in America on 26 December 1922:
"To His Honor Mustafa Kemal, President of the Turkish Parliament, I request
that the Turkish delegates to be sent from Ankara for the Lausanne Conference
provide assistance to the Irish Republic, as well.  I am certain that Turkey,
which has gained such respect for its National Struggle and its place in the
New World, will not withhold assistance to Ireland, which is engaged in the
same struggle. I submit my respects to you as the savior of Turkey and ask
for your help.  (signed) Irish Republic Community of America William
Darry."

Atilla Oral explained that "the request to Atatürk for help from the Irish
people, who at that time shared the same fate as the Turkish people, was
published in İleri Newspaper in Ottoman.  The newspaper printed the
following headlines when it published the document: "Request for help
from the people of Ireland to Mustafa Kemal Paşa, who saved Turkey
from English imperialism"; "The Irish people await help from the Turks.";
and "A letter from the Irish Republic in America to our Commander." 

Oral added that "this document, which opened a new page in Turkish-
Irish friendship, has until now, for whatever reason, never seen the light
of day or was kept under wraps."

Urban Renewal Meeting Massacre

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 7 January 2018)


"When they wouldn't include a second bathroom, I lost it!"

In Ereğli district of Konya province, an incredible massacre shook
the town yesterday.  Contractor A.S. and his partner E.K. held a
meeting with the residents of a building to agree on the demolition
of the building and its reconstruction, within the scope of Ereğli's
urban renewal program.  The meeting was held at the contractor's office.

Cem Küçüktürk (48), who is a resident of the same building but who
opposed the project, stormed the 10-person meeting with a pump-action
rifle, killing building residents Şaban Kurtsal, his older brother İsmail
Kurtsal and İbrahim Gök.  Taken to the hospital in serious condition
was Müslüm Gök.   Contractors A.S. and E.K. managed to escape the
massacre through their office's back door.

Küçüktürk was able to leave the scene before police arrived and next
targeted realtor Savaş Kaynak in the Akhüyük neighborhood.  After
killing Kaynak, Küçüktürk called police to say that "I've killed someone.
Come and I'll surrender."  Police recovered two pump-action rifles
and one hunting rifle from Küçüktürk's car and he was taken into custody.

In his statement to police, Küçüktürk said that "the contractors kept coming
to our building to persuade us to have it torn down and rebuilt.  At first,
all us residents opposed the idea but then some of the residents agreed
with the contractors.  I got angry about this and told these residents to
change their minds, but they wouldn't.  After the meeting, I went after
Kaynak, the realtor, because he put the residents in touch with the
contractors in the first place.  I threw his body in an irrigation canal.
I was so mad that everyone agreed with the contractors that I lost my
senses."

It turned out that Küçüktürk had given an indication of his intentions on
Twitter 10 days ago when he wrote "we'll see what their mothers have
brought into this world.  You know very well that the match has gone
on far too long."



Ereğli district is in far southeastern Konya province.
 

 

Mountain Becomes Deadly for "Mr. Mountain"

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 7 January 2018)


     Social media trend swallows father of 8.

New Year's Day was Halil Dağ's birthday and Dağ (38), who lives in
Şanlıurfa, went with his friends to the historic Urfa Fortress.  Lately,
it has become popular on social media to take pictures of oneself
jumping off of something so Dağ had his friends take his photo jumping
off the rock with the view of the famous Balıklı Lake in the background.

//ed.note. "dağ" means "mountain" in Turkish//


An all-too-memorable New Years-Birthday...

Dağ counted down and then leaped off the rock with his arms waving
in the air, as he screamed "Ya Allah!"  When Dağ landed two meters
below the rock, though, he lost his balance and fell another 40 meters
down a cliff.  Seriously injured, Dağ, the father of eight children (!),
subsequently died.