Overpass Staircase Gone Missing

nowhere links to original article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 30 January 2013)

Don't jump!

An overpass that went into service two years
ago in the Esentepe neighborhood of Eleskirt
district on the E-80 highway that connects
Agri and Erzurum provinces, was removed
because of road expansion being implemented
by the Highways Department. But once the
expansion was completed the overpass steps
weren't put back. 

Three months later, the staircase has still not
been re-installed and the situation is creating a
reaction. Saban Birdal, who lost his son in a traffic
accident, said that "as a broken-hearted father whose
son died in a traffic accident here three months ago,
I have to ask 'what are you waiting for?' Do more
children have to die for the overpass to be completed?"

The Eleskirt district chief, Hakan Ezgi, asserted that
letters have been sent to the concerned offices to get
the bridge completed. Acting Mayor Mustafa Gokturk
lamented that "although we've written to the Highways
Department time and time again we're being ignored."

Eleskirt way out east.

Picasso, Football and Elazığ

picasso links to related article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 22 January 2013)

Now showing in Elazığ, of all places.

Four people who wanted to sell a painting supposedly
belonging to Spanish painter Pablo Picasso have been
arrested. The Gendarmerie, acting on a tip, stopped a
vehicle carrying four people, en route from Malatya to
Elazığ.

In the ensuing search, the Gendarmerie seized the painting,
which portrays poverty and hunger related to the 'Harlequin
Family'. The work was done by Picasso in 1905 and has been
in the Washington Lulian Eisenstein collection. The four suspects,
who aimed to sell the work for 10 million dollars, have been
taken into custody. In order to determine whether the painting
is original or not, it has been sent to the Elazığ Museum Directorate.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

futbol links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 29 January 2013)

Footballer Bilica, Sibel O. and "Vet" Aydoğan K.

The villa of Elazığspor's Brazilian football player Fabio Bilica
in Büyükçekmece, Istanbul, was the scene of an unusual robbery
incident. Allegedly, as Bilica was leaving for Elazığ he told the
security guard, with whom he left the house keys, that a veterinarian
would be coming to the house.

Suspect Aydoğan K. somehow learned about this key arrangement
and, passing himself off as a veterinarian, got the keys from the security
guard. Aydoğan K. then summoned his girlfriend Sibel O. to the villa
for four days of partying, after which he loaded 750,000 TL worth of
Bilica's belongings into a minibus and took off.

Based on security camera videos, Aydoğan K. was quickly identified
and arrested. Also taken into custody by Büyükçekmece police was
the taxi driver who took the minibus driver, Aydoğan K. and Sibel O.
to a house in Bağcılar, Istanbul. According to the taxi driver's statement,
Aydoğan K. didn't have any money to pay him for the fare so he gave
the driver what he claimed were Bilica's football cleats instead. The
taxi driver asked police to return the cleats to Bilica.
 

Elazığ - smack in the middle of nowhere.

 

TV 'Begger' a Bit Too Authentic

begger links to original article

(Sabah Newpaper, 27 January 2013)

TV host gets police attention and 23 TL

Bilal Tavlak is a presenter who makes comedy
programs for a channel in Erzurum so he decided
to do a show about the increase of street beggers
in Erzurum. Tavlak wanted to draw attention to
the issue and to see how much money a begger
could collect in an hour's time.

So Tavlak dressed like a panhandler, wearing
a regional shawl to cover his face,  parked himself
on Erzurum's busiest street, Cumhuriyet Boulevard,
and began to beg. The police made an announcement
for Tavlak to move on but he didn't notice. When the
police came closer, thinking Tavlak was a woman,
they said "get out of here. It's forbidden for women
to beg."

When the police finally realized that Tavlak was a
man they started to bring him in to the police station.
At this point, Tavlak referred to the cameras filming
him from a distance and declared 'I'm filming a program."
Unconvinced, the police began hauling him off. Ultimately,
Tavlak's TV colleagues appeared and assured the police
that Tavlak was who he claimed to be.

Explaining the situation, Tavlak said that "each week
I try to raise viewers' consciousness through sketches
and reporting. So this week I chose this unique way to
highlight the near occupation of the city by beggers. I
wanted to see how much a begger could get in an hour.
My goal was an hour but I only could beg for 25 minutes.
I collected 23 TL in that time. The police were ready to
hustle me down to the police station but thanks to the
cameras they backed off."

Erzurum province

Attack Dogs Incentivize Race Champ

dogs links to related article

(Takvim Newspaper, 24 January 2013)

Samet (192) adds high hurdles to his race repertoire

Fear of dogs won him first place. A fairy tale incident occurred
in Muğla. The "Inter-school Cross-country Race" was held
yesterday, with 195 contestants from 36 schools participating.
Water-soaked roads and street dogs gave the runners all they could
handle.

As the boy students competing in the 3,000 meter approached
to within 100 meters of the finish line two street dogs attacked
them. Barış Adsiz, who was leading the race until the attack, lost
his concentration and the lead when the dogs appeared and he
finished third. Tolga Töngül, however, sped up during the dogs'
attack and went from third place to second.

Samet Meşe was in second place when the attack happened but
he lept over the dogs and finished the final 100 meters
at light speed, coming in first. Samet (14), a student at Milas
Dörttepe Elementary School, said "I was so scared, I don't know
how I ran!"

 

The Stuff of Movie Scripts...

moviescript links to original article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 23 January 2013)

Movie Star looks - Nihat can play himself in the film.

Medine (28) and coffee shop operator Nihat Özkan (32)
married in Sarıkamış district of Kars province and they
have two children. However, Medine disappeared about
a year ago. When Nihat learned that Medine had run off
with his sister's husband Mehmet Boztoprak (32), the
father of two, he began to search for them province by
province.

Through a friend Nihat learned that his wife and brother-
in-law were living at an address in Kulu district of Konya
province. So he took his co-worker Ismail Yaman with
him and went to Kulu on Sunday, 20 January. Nihat broke
down the door there and first shot his wife twice in the head.
He next pointed his gun at Boztoprak but the gun jammed
and Boztoprak fled to the garden. Nihat caught him there
and stabbed Boztoprak numerous times. Nihat and Yaman
then ran away.

Medine died at the scene but Boztoprak, despite having
30 stab wounds, was able to leave the house and seek help.
Boztoprak identified his killer with his dying breath and
died at Kulu State Hospital. Police looked at surveillance
video and discovered that the car Nihat had escaped in
was last seen on the Ankara highway.

A special team from the Konya police found out that
Nihat had a relative living in Eskişehir so the team went
there, finding Nihat preparing to leave the country. The
night before last Nihat and Yaman were taken into custody
at Nihat's relative's farm.

In his statement to police Nihat said that "I've saved my
honor. A big burden has been lifted from me. I stabbed
Boztoprak so many times I figured he was dead. I later
read in the paper that he had survived a bit before dying."

Sarıkamış in Kars Province

Kulu (bottom) is in Konya province but closer to Ankara

Stir-crazy Crook Shirks House Arrest

stir-crazy links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 22 January 2013)

Kinda looks like an unsavory character...

Cihan Karadeniz was tried in Istanbul in 2004 on
18 counts of purse-snatching but last year he was
able to take advantage of a Justice Ministry program
for house-arrest, along with 133 other criminals, so
he returned to his home in Gaziosmanpaşa, Istanbul.

Every day Karadeniz goes to the police station and
signs in. Last Friday a woman in Zeytinburnu had
her purse snatched by a passing stolen automobile.
Police teams found the stolen car used in the incident
but the suspect escaped on foot. Police then learned
that the car had been stolen in Eyüp.

Karadeniz was taken into custody and shown the
victimized woman, who identified him as the thief.
It turned out that after Karadeniz had signed in at
the police station he stole the car and committed
the purse snatching before returning home. Suspect
Karadeniz was arrested by the court.

Ecstatic Grandma Holds Cancer Cure

ecstacy links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 21 January 2013)

Cancer cure heroine (!) A.K. with fellow scientist

Narcotics teams from the Bursa Police's Anti-Smuggling
and Organized Crime Bureau got a tip that a woman would
be bringing narcotic pills from Istanbul and went into action.
When police saw A.K.(70) alight from a bus at the Bursa
Intercity Bus Terminal they took the woman, who has a
record of offenses including one for "robbery with special
skill", into custody.

A.K. was found to be carrying 500 "ecstacy" pills but she
told police that "I didn't know they were narcotics. I was
taking them to a cancer patient. I thought the pills were
cancer medicine." In the statement she gave at the police
station A.K. stated that "Am I a gang leader? I was only
bringing the pills that were entrusted to me to a cancer
patient."

As the elderly woman was being transported to court she
screamed at journalists, saying "I thought it was cancer
medicine! How was I to know it was a narcotic?"   The
suspect was taken to the court on duty and then arrested
and jailed.