Got Milk? Take a Bath at Work

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 6 November 2020)

Don't forget your milk shampoo and make some calls, too.

In Konya, Emre S., who works in a milk collection center, took a bath

in a vat of milk and co-worker U.T. shared the images on social media.

Reaction was swift, with company official İsmail Uğur Kafalıer firing

the two workers immediately.  Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Forests

Ministry shut down the milk collection center, explaining in a 

statement that: 

"After an inspection of the worksite, it was determined that there was 

a danger to human health and confidence so the center's products have

been seized and operations suspended."

The public prosecutor began an investigation into Emre S. and U.T.,

both of whom were taken into custody.  The two were charged 

under Turkish Law 185:

"Anyone who endangers the public's health by introducing poison or

another foreign element (!) into drinking water or food will be 

punished with jail sentences from two to fifteen years."

      

          They say milk is good for the complexion but...

"Beat & Release" - Another Russian Stormed by Unrestrained Turk

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 5 November 2020)

Vehbi S. mixing the 'cossack dance' with (glass) 

breakdancing.

In Antalya, hairdresser Anna Orekhova (39), who is Russian, met 

Vehbi S. (38) two years ago and they became a couple.  When 

Orekhova was five months pregnant she learned that Vehbi S.

was addicted to narcotics so she told him to get clean or she would

leave him. He didn't and she left.

Orekhova moved but Vehbi S. rented an apartment on the same 

street, harassing her psychologically.  When their child was born,

Vehbi S. increased the torment so Orekhova got a one-month

restraining order in July.  Subsequently, after the order expired,

Vehbi S. continued both psychological and physical harassment

against Orekhova, who asked the court to extend the restraining

order but received a negative reply. (!!!)

  Where's Putin when you need him?!

Orekhova, at wit's end, explained that "I want to raise my child

in a healthy and happy environment. On 29 October I experienced

a terrible incident.  He came to my workplace, beat me and broke

the hair salon's window.  He grabbed a broken piece of the glass

and threatened me. He might harm my 71-year-old mother and my

9-month-old daughter.  I'm afraid to go out of my house."

When Orekhova's co-worker tried to intervene, Vehbi S. 

threatened her with the broken glass, too.  Seeing others rushing

to the scene, Vehbi S. fled.

"Beat & Release" - Russian Stormed by Hubby (So What?)

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 4 November 2020)

                 Double trouble. As if more proof was needed

In Ankara, beautician Vera Chikareva (35), who is Russian, married

Salih G. (41), a fruit and vegetable wholesaler, on 19 October 2019.

Soon after the wedding, Chikareva began to suffer violence at the

hands of her husband.  On 2 October, after another beating, 

Chikareva filed a criminal complaint against Salih G. 

The court in Ankara put a restraining order on Salih G. to keep him

away from Chikareva, who left home and filed for divorce.  On 25

October, however, Salih G. went to see Chikareva, who rejected his

offer to reconcile.  Enraged, Salih G.grabbed Chikareva by her hair,

dragged her into the bathroom and beat her unmercifully. 

Neighbors responded to the commotion and, with the help of 

Salih G. (!), they took the bloodied Chikareva to the hospital for 

treatment for a broken collar bone.  Chikareva, nevertheless,

filed another criminal complaint against Salih G., who was taken

into custody but released by the court. (!!!)

Chikareva, who came to Turkey seven years ago, lamented that

"I can't go outside the house because of the wounds I bear. It's

like I'm living in a prison.  Someone save me!"

Loveable, despite his "Bizarro"-like complexion and 

psychopathic tendencies.

Taxi Driver Strangles "Blue Fatma", Starts Fire to Cover It Up

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 3 November 2020)

                            No, nightmare.

The day before yesterday in Baçelievler, Istanbul, the burned body of

Fatma Mavi ("mavi" means "blue" in Turkish) was found in a home 

after a fire broke out.  It turned out that Fatma hanım had been 

strangled prior to the fire.

The incident occurred the day before yesterday in a house at 4th Street

and Mahmutbey Avenue in the Şirinevler neighborhood.  

An explosion in the second-floor apartment of Fatma hanım, who

lived there alone and who worked as a director's assistant at a TV 

station, caused a fire that drew firefighters and police to the scene.

          Ergin A., just back from getting gas.

Searching the home, the firefighters found Fatma hanım's partially

burned body.  Medical examiners noticed bruises on her neck and

the suspicion of strangulation increased.  Cellphone records showed

that Fatma hanım last spoke with taxi driver Ergin A., who first

denied killing Fatma hanım but after cross-examination, confessed.

In his statement, Ergin A. explained that "on Saturday night I went

to Taksim with Fatma and two other women to have fun.  We came

home at about seven in the morning and had an argument about 

another woman.  As the argument heated up I lost my temper and

strangled Fatma.  Seeing that she was dead, I called my friend 

Ali İlkay S. and we went to a gas station to buy gasoline.  I then

set the house on fire to cover up the murder." (!)

TNT History Archives: Italy's Choice of Tobruk as Its Eastern Libya Port (1911)/Part II/FINAL

 //Ed. note: Tobruk was important for the Italian Navy with regard

to anti-Ottoman operations in Rhodes and the Turkish Straits:

Rhodes click here for the first of a multi-part TNT series.

Çanakkale click here for the first of a multi-part TNT series,

both of which were based on this same source: the report on

the Italy-Turkey war in Libya by Italian Capt. I. Revol (and its

Turkish translation from 1940.)//

Bombah is located between Tobruk and Derne. Saloum is on

the border with Egypt, far right.

In the wasteland of Tobruk everything had to be created from scratch.  

The commander of the Etna, who was tasked with the establishment 

of the naval base, was very active in this regard.  As of the end of 

October,  technical matters and services had been secured;  depots for 

food, ammunition, coal and other equipment that could provide 

sustenance and support for two marine divisions were constructed.  

In addition, a 5-kilowatt radio-telegraph station was set up to allow 

for communications with Coltano, near Pisa.

Two batteries armed with maritime cannon were installed in a seaside 

facility and secured.  However, with regard to defense of an attack 

coming from land,  the infantry fortifications were not particularly 

effective and the related work was progressing slowly.  If  Enver Bey 

(Ottoman commander in Libya and future Turkish leader until 1918)

and the Arab tribes with him had turned their attention to Tobruk at 

this time, it is certain that the results can well be imagined. 

The events of 22 December bear this out.   There was an enemy raid 

on the forward outposts protecting the construction of a 149mm battery 

along the Hagiass-Nadura line southwest of Tobruk, forcing the 

abandonment of the heavy machine guns.  As the result of the raid, 

seven Italians died, two of them officers, and 16 were wounded.

This incident was taken as a warning, prompting the flow of 

reinforcements.  In January 1912, there was an infantry brigade, a 

number of 75-Amm batteries, mountain batteries and one 149mm 

battery in Tobruk.  All of these units were under the command of 

General Signorile, as were the similar redoubt and rifle barricade 

systems he had set up in other locations. 

Enver Bey (later Enver Paşa), seated third from left, 

Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk), seated second from left, 

near Derne.

These measures proved to be prescient in light of the Arabs’ decision 

to relentlessly attack toward a final battle.  When it comes to the Italian 

units, they took a definite defensive posture, only emerging from their 

fortifications to protect workers or to rescue detachments being pursued 

by the enemy.  On 11 March, the 20th infantry regiment rescued two 

battalions of the 34th infantry regiment and a mountain battery from 

an enemy attack on their right flank.  In this battle, which lasted more 

than four hours, one officer an 12 soldiers died and 3 officers and 70 

soldiers were injured.

This battle prompted the deployment of the 30th infantry regiment to 

Tobruk and also sparked a debate in the Italian press over the worth 

and importance of Tobruk.  Around this time, Admiral Aubry died and 

his successor Admiral Fravelli was in favor of Bombah as the Italian 

navy port.   But he was soon replaced by Admiral Viale, who had no 

firm opinion on the matter, so the occupation of Bombah was put off 

until the end of the war and Tobruk remained as the Italian naval base.

In the months of March and April 1912, the port of Tobruk was busy 

with preparations related to Italian Navy activities in the Aegean Sea 

but enemy attacks on Tobruk did not let up.  These attacks resulted in 

insignificant casualties but put the Italians on edge, nonetheless.  The 

land and naval commanders sometimes were unable to refrain from 

displaying this nervousness, which caused friction between them.   

This tension in Tobruk between the commanders was an exception to 

the excellent cooperation displayed by the army and navy during this 

long campaign.

In May, General Signorile was recalled and replaced by General 

d’Amico, who was in Benghazi and who remained as overall 

commander until the end of hostilities.

//END of PART TWO/FINAL//

TNT History Archives: Italy's Choice of Tobruk as Its Eastern Libya Port (1911)/Part I

 //Ed. note: As the Italy-Turkey war over Libya began in the Fall of 

1911, the Italian fleet needed a port in eastern Libya and Tobruk was 

the choice.  Ottoman opposition was negligible at Tobruk, although 

much more vibrant at Derne, to the west.

Herewith, in English, the story of the choice of Tobruk as related in a 

report written about the entire war by Italian Capt. I. Revol, whose 

report was translated into Turkish and published in 'Askeri Mecmuası'

(Military Journal) in 1940.//

   

Tobruk

Summary:  Importance of  the port of Tobruk from the strategic and 

tactical perspective – Italians’  defensive situation.

On 4 October 1911, Admiral (Augusto) Aubry was positioned off the

coast of  Tobruk in order to establish a naval base for a fleet that 

would provide for observation of the Aegean Sea and ensure 

security for military transports cruising between Sicily and the 

African coast. The enemy force in Toburk consisted of about 20 

regular Turkish soldiers, whose commanding officer yielded to the 

force facing him and evacuated his snipers on the shore, expecting  

the warship Napoli to fire some rounds.  Subsequently, he left with 

his small detachment toward Derne, after which 400 Italian sailors 

landed and were met by a welcoming ovation by the Arabs.

On the night of 5-6 October,  a battalion from the 40th infantry 

regiment came ashore from the Napoli  and on the 9th of October 

an infantry company was landed from the ship Favignano.  The 

remaining three companies headed for Derne.

Up until the 29th of October,  the defense of Tobruk was carried out 

by this infantry company, although it was supported by a few marines 

from the ship Etna, which remained off Tobruk in a stationary manner.   

On the 29th, a battalion of the 40th infantry regiment was assembled 

at Tobruk but departed again, in the middle of November, for Derne.  

Subsequently, the defense of the naval base was handed over to the 

20th infantry regiment. 

The Arabs took their time about deciding to fight the Italians, who 

had no intention of advancing toward the interior anyway.   It would 

be sufficient for them to hold the coast, after having set up a food 

and materials depot.   Any enemy operations and initiatives would 

be dissuaded by the presence of the warships.

So what was the importance and value of Tobruk?  Like Bizerte (in 

Tunisia), Tobruk was on the African coast 173 maritime miles from 

the island of Crete, 276 maritime miles from the tip ot the Peloponnese 

and equidistant from Brindisi and the Turkish Straits.  Consequently, 

its strategic value and importance was indisputable.  In 1883 Georg 

August Schweinfurth visited Tobruk and declared that the nation that 

held Tobruk would gain control of the eastern seas.

The Italian notable de Martino visited the region in 1907 with 

Monsieur Baldari and then wrote that Tobruk would ensure 

possession of Benghazi and provide for control over the 

Mediterranean sea lanes.  Based on de Martino’s judgment, a 

few defensive redoubts at Tobruk would put in on a par with 

Bizerte and La Valletta (on Malta).  

Actually, the port of Tobruk was not particularly suitable because 

although the harbor went quite far inland and even the largest ships 

could anchor there, defense against the prevailing northwest winds 

in the area was lacking.  In addition, the land around Tobruk was 

quite unfertile,  nor was there any center of natural resources nearby.  

For most of the year drinking water was unavailable in Tobruk, which 

was really nothing more than a poor village.

The Italian naval community was divided with regard to the tactical 

value of Tobruk.  Some preferred Bomba, west of Tobruk in the same 

Marmarik region,  and Soloum to the east of Tobruk.  However, the 

idea of the Italian fleet occupying Soloum, on the border with Egypt,  

would conflict with England’s legal claim to it and invite problems for 

Italy’s annexation of Libya.  As a result, the choice for  an Italian naval 

port came down to Bomba and Tobruk, and since Admiral Aubry 

preferred Tobruk the matter was settled.    

//END of PART ONE//

TNT Noisy Neighbor Edition: Silencing the Wolves

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 1 November 2020)

                  From noisy neighbors to noisy neighborhood.

Yesterday in Esenyurt, Istanbul, Akın Aydın was disturbed by the noisy

children of the Kurt ("kurt" means "wolf" in Turkish) family living in 

the flat above him.  Aydın went to warn the Kurts, evidently without 

success, and then returned with his "pompalı tüfenk" (pump-action 

rifle), shooting and wounding Fadime, Tuğrul and Emrah Kurt.  

Police and a medical team arrived on the scene.  The wounded Kurts 

were taken to Esenyurt Necmi Kadıoğlu State Hospital, where Fadime 

and Tuğrul died.  Emrah's condition remains serious.  As for Aydın, 

he resisted so a SWAT team came to take him into custody.  

One of the building's residents related that "it seems that he (Aydın) 

warned them a number of times about the noise.  When I heard the

commotion I went to intervene but he was ready to shoot me, too,

firing all over the stairwell."