Migrants' Nearly 5,000-Kilometer Journey Ended 10 Meters from Lake Van's Shore

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 14 January 2021)

So close and yet so far for 79 passengers on the "Yıldırım 65"

On 26 December 2019, a boat carrying 79 migrants from Bangaladesh,

India, Pakistan and Afghanistan capsized in Lake Van off the coast 

of Adilcevaz district in Bitlis province.   Seven of the migrants died.

In an indictment related to the incident, the Bitlis public prosecutor

determined that all the migrants made their way to Iran, where a 

trafficking gang charged each of them between $300-$1,000 for 

transit to Turkey.  Arriving in Van, the gang's members there put the

migrants in safe houses and four days later they boarded a 4-meter

boat named "Yıldırım 65". 

As the boat  approached the lake coast at Adilcevaz, smoke began to 

spew from the boat about 10 meters from shore.  As the migrants 

scrambled to leave the boat it capsized but they were all able to get

to the shore because the water was not over their heads, although

some were injured.  

Forty to fifty of the migrants walked to a gas station.  Gendarmerie

units were summoned and arrived.  Returning to the boat's location,

the Gendarmerie found the bodies of seven migrants who froze to

death during the night after having emerged soaking wet from the lake.  

These migrants had traveled 4,800 kilometers from Bangaladesh, 

enduring trouble and hardship all along the way, only to die after their 

10-meter struggle to shore.    

The Gendarmerie checked phone records and, together with 

confirmation from the migrants, identified eight members of the 

trafficking gang.   The owner of the "Yıldırım 65" rushed to the

port and it was determined that he had changed the name of the

boat from "Atilla Kaptan" to "Yıldırım 65".  He denied any

involvement but port and telephone records refuted his denial.

The eight suspects have been charged with "migrant trafficking"

and "causing death by intentional neglect". They each face jail

terms of up to 38.5 years.

Adilcevaz is at left, on the NW coast of Lake Van.

"Dizi" (TV Show) Filming Paralyzes Istanbul's Busiest Highway

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 13 January 2021)

"Dizi" worldwide sway click here for a TNT report

about the impact of the Turkish "dizi" abroad.

                                           For art's sake.

Because of COVID restrictions, people are not allowed outdoors past 

9 o'clock at night, so  the roads are packed all day long with those 

trying to get their errands taken care of by that time.  However (!),

the day before yesterday, a "dizi" (TV show) was being filmed at 

the Hasdal Viaduct, one of the city's two busiest arteries, driving

drivers to distraction, literally and figuratively. 

In the scene being filmed, two cars collided and one pierced the 

shoulder barrier, hanging at the edge of the viaduct.  There were 

also police, fire department and ambulances in the scene.  Naturally, 

curious drivers slowed to watch the activity and even stopped to take 

videos.

     A Formula One commercial closed roads a few weeks ago.

As a result, a 32-kilometer (!) back-up occurred in both directions

during the day-long filming.  One frustrated driver (evidently not

a "dizi" fan) declared that "Weekends are locked down because of

COVID.  Why not do the filming then, instead of putting people

through this torture!  We can't get to our homes!"

                     Red is not a good color for roads.

TNT History Archives: Hicaz Railway Footings Rise Again in İslahiye

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 12 January 2021)

Hicaz Railway click for a TNT report about one

man's idea to make it better back in the day.

Hicaz Railway Anew click here for a TNT report

about modern efforts to improve the line.

In İslahiye district of Gaziantep province, the Tahtaköprü Dam that

was built in 1967 for irrigation purposes has seen a sharp 5% drop in 

its water level because of the current drought.   But as a result, the 

footings of a 20-kilometer section of the historic Hicaz Railway that

was built in the early 1900s to connect Istanbul with the Moslem holy 

city of Medina in today's Saudi Arabia (the link to Mecca was never 

completed because of WWI), have been exposed.

The newly-emerged Hicaz railway footings are at 

Tahtaköpü in the center of the map, south of İslahiye 

and north of Meydan-ı Ekbez.  The rail line continues

through Halep (Aleppo) south to Damascus and Medina.

NOTE:  Tahtaköprü was the scene of clashes between the

local Okçu İzzeddin tribe and the French occupation force

in 1919-1921.  For details see "Kürd Mountain Tribe Fought

French Occupation Near Kilis" on our Academia page.

NOTE: A Türk named Eyüb Sabri Bey was arrested by the

British in Gaziantep in 1919 and sent to Egypt via the 

railway (the portion from Haifa to Al Qantara near Suez 

and Cairo was built by the British during WWI).

POW rail journey click here for details.

American Democracy and Elazığ's Marble Under Threat!

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 10 January 2021)

The congressional taxidermist will stuff the wildlife that

roamed into the hall and mount it in the Senate dungeon.

While the rest of the world worried about the fate of democracy during

the raid on the U.S. Congress on 6 January, Şahin Şerfoğulları, the 

mayor of Elazığ in eastern Turkey, registered his special concerns on 

Twitter: "We're anxious about something happening to our 'vişneçürüğü' 

(purplish brown color) marble!"

It turns out that the marble behind the presiding officer's desk in 

the congressional hall comes from Elazığ's Alacakaya district. There

is also some 'vişneçürüğü' marble in the White House.  Elazığ, which

has just 7% of Turkey's marble reserves, has exported its unique

'vişneçürüğü' marble to more than 60 countries.  

  

The mayor's Twitter statement was met with some blow-back from 

his fellow 'gakkoş' (nickname for people from Elazığ): "It's not 

Elazığ marble, it's Alacakaya marble!" and "Rather than worry about

marble, the mayor should be doing something about the sorry state of

Elazığspor (football team)!"

In the end, both American democracy and the marble survived.

  

Charity Begins at (Our) Home

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 9 January 2021)

              Philanthropists who donate to themselves.

Thirteen individuals have been accused of selling thousands of coats, 

sweaters, pants and other clothes for the needy in neighborhood 

bazaars.  Emrah Aytar, the former coordinator of the Turkish Kızılay 

(like the Red Cross) Sancaktepe, Istanbul, office and his father, a 

salesman, diverted the clothes from the Kızılay depot to sell them

in the bazaars.

After six months of technical and physical surveillance, Gendarmerie

teams determined that since 2007 (!) Aytar and his father have rented 

six or seven depots, although there is a Kızılay depot in Sancaktepe.  

More than 100 TIR (tractor-trailers) full of donated clothes were sent 

to these depots and from there to the bazaars for sale in places like

Pendik and Çekmeköy in Istanbul, and to Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, Edirne

and Kocaeli Kartepe.  Five or six people sold the clothes for a wage

of between 100-150 TL per day (about 20-30 cents).  The total 

amount of money from the sales came to between 7-8,000 TL each

day and was turned over to İsmail Hakkı Aytar or his son Emrah.

According to the indictment, the clothes in the depots in Sancaktepe

and Sultanbeyli were removed late at night and care was taken to 

cut off any barcodes or labels.  However, the Gendarmerie teams

tracked the goods to the bazaars and bought some clothes as 

evidence.

The 13 suspects taken into custody included Emrah Aytar (33),

İsmail Hakkı Aytar (71) and his former wife Hatun Yalçın (57),

along with the former chief of the Kızılay Sancaktepe office, Cihan

Yalçın (52).  Also, Yalçın's sister Himaye Özdemir (47), who 

cleaned his office, and relatives Kadir Yalçın (41), Tazebey Daşdemir

(41), Veysel Çiçek (39), Salih Yavuz (49), Özcan Bayraktaroğlu (44),

Mehmet Karagöz (47) and his brother Mustafa Karagöz (42).  

                               Whoops! Wrong depot!

Other than Hatun Yalçın and Özcan Bayraktaroğlu, eleven suspects

were jailed and nine of them were released after the first hearing of

the case.  At the second hearing the day before yesterday, Emrah

Aytar and his father's incarceration were continued.  They denied

guilt and Emrah Aytar asserted that the clothes sold at the bazaars

belonged to him.

In searches of the suspects' homes the Gendarmerie teams found

large amounts of money and gold in the home of İsmail Hakkı

Aytar and his ex-wife Hatun Yalçın: 70,000 TL, 22 gold coins,

20 gold earrings, 14 bracelets, 9 gold  wristbands and many other

gold items.   Cihan Yalçın, who is Hatun hamın's younger brother, 

had 1 million TL in a bank account that he claimed was profit from 

his work as a hairdresser (!).   

The suspects and the lawyers wanted the hold on these items lifted

by the court but the judge said "There's 4 trillion worth of damage

here! Have you no conscience!" and rejected their pleas. 

Hilmi Yazıcı (48), who took over as the Sancaktepe Kızılay office

chief two years ago, filed a complaint with the Gendarmerie.  He

said that the Gendarmerie called him back about their operation

and when the Gendarmerie teams came to Sancaktepe district they

had Yazıcı show them the "korsan" (pirate) depots where the 

clothes were stored.  Yazıcı claimed he had no knowledge of these

depots beforehand and was "shocked" when he saw the clothes

there.

                        Sancaktepe district of Istanbul

"Beat & Release": Just Desserts...and No Release

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 9 January 2021)

                    Don't let that baby face fool you.

In Antalya's Döşemealtı district, service van driver Ramazan İpek (36) 

beat his wife of  12 years Melek (31) unmercifully while she was naked 

and handcuffed (!).  He left their house early in the morning and 

returned at eight in the morning to find Melek hanım pointing a hunting 

rifle at him.  Ramazan bey died at the scene. 

The incident occurred in the couple's detached house in Ilıca village

in Döşemealtı the night before last.  In the course of an argument,

Ramazan bey handcuffed and beat the naked Melek hanım and then 

declared that he would kill her and their two children, before leaving 

the house in the early morning.  With her eyes swollen and bruised, 

Melek hanım was, despite the handcuffs,  somehow able to fire a 

hunting rifle at Ramazan bey when he came back to the house at 

around eight o'clock, killing him. 

Melek hanım was treated in an ambulance and the handcuffs removed.

She was taken into custody by the Gendarmerie and made the 

following statement:

"He stripped me naked at night, put me in handcuffs and then beat

me.  He raped me in the bathroom.  Toward morning he left the 

house after beating me until then.  As he left with a rifle in his hand,

he said 'I'll kill all of you!' Then he shot at the house.  When he came

back at 8 o'clock I was waiting for him at the front door with a 

rifle.  I said 'don't come into this house! Get out of here!'  There

was a tussle between us, during which the rifle went off and he was

hit."

"Beat & Release": Housewives of Büyükçekmece and a Murder-or-Suicide Mystery

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 8 January 2021)

                                            The cast.

In Büyükçekmece, Istanbul, Turkmen caretaker Muhabbat 

Meremglyyeva (38) fell three flights to her death.  At the time, there 

were five women in the flat Meremglyyeva fell from and they said

that she jumped from a window.  However (!), the bite marks of one

of the women, Ülkü Ç. were seen on Meremglyyeva's wrist.  In

addition, a message sent from Ülkü Ç.'s phone to CİMER (Turkish

president's office) read: "I pushed that woman to the ground."

Meremglyyeva had been caring for İpek A.'s  handicapped 3.5-year-old

daughter for two months when, on 18 September 2019, she fell to her

death.  The resulting police investigation revealed that the Turkmen

woman's fingerprints were found on either side of the window, along

with Ülkü Ç.'s bite marks on her wrist.  Also, hair strands from Ülkü Ç. 

and İpek A. were found between the fingers of Meremglyyeva's right

hand.  The five women were taken into custody but then released. (!)

According to the indictment prepared by the Bakırköy public

prosecutor, İpek A. became suspicious when a hearing device valued

at 8,000 TL (about $1,000) and some money went missing so she

summoned her friends to her home to help her interrogate the Turkmen

caretaker.  The suspects claim that when they were calling the police,

Meremglyyeva grabbed İpek A.'s phone and a fight between Ülkü Ç.

and the Turkmen caretaker ensued, with Ülkü Ç. biting Meremglyyeva's

left wrist.

The suspects claim that Meremglyyeva jumped to the ground from the

window was refuted by the public prosecutor, who charged all five of 

the women with "cooperative pre-meditated murder" and asked for 

life jail sentences for each of them.  The message sent from Ülkü Ç.'s

phone to CİMER on 5 May 2020, saying that she regretted pushing

Meremglyyeva out the window to the ground, prompted police to 

put Ülkü Ç. in jail.  

At the first hearing of the case, Ülkü Ç. participated via video from 

jail, while İpek A., Büşra M., Fatma M. and Burcu K. attended the 

hearing in person.  However (!), Ülkü Ç. told the judge that she did

not send the message to CİMER: "At that time, I had reported to the

Büyükçekmece public prosecutor that  my phone had been stolen."

She added that "We thought she (caretaker) may have done something

to the child.  She pulled my hair so I bit her arm.  We pushed her into

the bedroom.  I went to the balcony, as did she, and I saw her jump to

the ground."

Suspect Büşra M. also claimed that Meremglyyeva jumped to her 

death, asserting that "I had no involvement in her death."  Ülkü Ç. 

will remain in jail and the other suspects under judicial supervision 

until a technical report about the phone is received by the court from 

the Information Technologies and Communications Council.

                    Büyükçekmece district of Istanbul.