When You Don't Read the Fine Print

hoodwinked links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 18 November 2013)

Sold a bill of goods...

In Izmir, Gurbet Uzun (36) met accountant Erol Ture in a
coffee house in 2006. Promising to get insurance for Uzun,
Ture asked Uzun for his identity card. Shortly afterwards,
Ture said "your insurance is all set, you have to sign." and
he took Uzun to a notary.

Grade school graduate Uzun signed a number of documents
without reading them but, in any event, he was glad to have
finally gotten insurance so he thanked Ture. However, a while
later Uzun was shocked when he began getting payment notices
and tax bills mailed to his home address.

Uzun took the notices and tax bills to Ture asking "what's with
these debt notices? What's going to happen?"  In response, Ture
said "Come on, let's take care of it all." So Ture took Uzun to
the notary again and had him sign more documents.

As a result, Uzun has been shuttling from court to court for seven years.
Because 13 companies were set up in his name he has a debt of nearly 20
million TL and he has been slapped with a 12 prison sentence by the Izmir
court for allegedly forging a receipt. Uzun has objected to the rulings and
the case files have gone to a higher court. But if that court approves the
Izmir court's decision Uzun will have to serve 12 years in prison.

A (bewildered and) jobless Uzun explained that "if I really had all
these companies I wouldn't be in this situation. I can't even pay the 30 TL
electric bill for my home. I'm not working and my green card (for Turkish
government social services) has been cancelled because of the lawsuits.
I can't get any help from the district chief's office either."  

Fate Plays a Very Cruel Name Game

fate links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 26 November 2013)

Hilal Bacaksizoglu

 

 

In Kadıköy, Istanbul, architect Hilal Bacaksızoğlu was tryıng to
board a double-decker bus as it was leaving the bus stop but she
fell under the bus. After the incident Bacaksızoğlu's mangled leg
had to be amputated at the hospital from the knee down.

Bacaksızoğlu, who is a council member of the Architects Hearth
Izmir bureau, ran after the double-decker bus that operates on the
Alt Kaynarca-Pendik-Kadıköy route, as it began to pull away. The
bus hit Bacaksızoğlu, she fell to the ground and under the bus's front
wheel. Her left leg was amputated at the hospital.

Bacaksızoğlu stated that "the driver changed direction and I fell under."
She has filed a complaint about Ayaz (evidently the bus driver.)

//ed. note: 'bacak' means 'leg' in Turkish. 'bacaksiz' means 'without
leg'. 'bacaksizoglu' means 'son of legless one'. See blog item of 11
August 2013 for a similar name twist of cruel fate.//

Crime Doesn't Pay, This Time Anyway

mugger links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 25 November 2013)

Do the crime, do the time - eternity.

In Izmir, a mugger who stole a young woman's bag
after threatening her with a broken beer bottle in the
elevator of an overpass, died when he was hit by a
car as he fled across a street. When police answered
a call on the mugger's cellphone the incident was revealed.

The night before last, Ayse Aslan (21) wanted to descend
from the overpass on Anadolu Boulevard in Bayrakli in an
elevator. Construction worker Ali Ihsan Serin, married and
the father of one child, followed Aslan into the elevator.
Serin pressed the broken beer bottle against Aslan's neck but
she resisted. When the elevator stopped on the ground Serin
was able to pull away Aslan's pocket book, containing 1,000 TL
and her cellphone.

As Serin fled toward Altinyol he was hit by a car headed toward
Karsiyaka, driven by Halit Kivanc (26), and seriously wounded.
Serin could not be saved at the hospital but police there answered
his ringing telephone. The caller was Ali Aslan, who explained to
police that the phone belonged to his daughter, a mugging victim.

When it was realized that the accident victim was mugger Serin,
Ayse Aslan  and her father went to the Bayrakli police station, where
Ayse said that "the attacker took my bag. Since there wasn't anyone
around I went home and told my father."

Bayrakli is in Karsiyaka district of Izmir city.

Scrooge 'Thanks' Last Honest Man

scrooge links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 23 November 2013)

Scrooge giving gratitude a bad name.

In Simav district of  Kutahya province , retiree Ahmet Karadag
returned a bag full of money that he found on the road from the
mosque to its rightful owner. There were dollar, euro and TL
banknotes equal to 1 million TL (500,000 USD) in the bag.

Serafettin Sahin (41), a transporter (!), had reported the bag
missing and after Karadag turned it in to the police the
bag was returned to Sahin. In a show of gratitude, Sahin
gave Karadag 100 TL (50 USD!!) for his honesty.

Karadag (71) makes about 500 TL per month collecting plastic
and bottles. Nevertheless, he regretted accepting the 100 TL from
Sahin, explaining that "I didn't want to take the money but when
he insisted I did. I don't want money I didn't earn."

As for (the mysterious) Sahin, he disappeard after collecting his
money and is not answering his phone. Police have begun an
investigation into whether or not Sahin's money is clean or ill-
gotten.

Simav district is in western Kutahya.

Light at Tunnel's End - Cops' Smiling Teeth

tunnel links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 23 November 2013)

Tunnel project succeeds, fails.

Ali T. and Mehmet Y. got word that there was gold
in the historic Polita church in Camoba village of
Trabzon province, so they decided to dig a tunnel into
the shut-up church. The treasure-hunters began work
three months ago and even put in a rail system to move
the dirt out from the tunnel. They also installed an air
conditioning jet, along with illegal electricity.

The Gendarmerie, however, learned from a tip about
the project and went into action. As the treasure-hunters
were finishing their tunnel the night before last the
Gendarmerie soldiers were waiting for them inside the
church. Ali T. had a heart attack upon seeing the welcoming
committee. Mehmet Y. was taken into custody.

The suspects had built their tunnel next to a waterfall in order
to reach the church. The Gendarmerie seized the materials
used for the 50 meter-long, 2 feet-wide tunnel. Ali T. had
this to say about the incident: "I have debts to the bank. A
friend told me that there was gold in the church so we decided
to dig the tunnel. I regret it now."

Ali T.'s treatment at the hospital continues and both suspects
are free pending trial. But they were fined 6,000 TL for using
electricity illegally.

Trabzon

Frog Robbers Will Be Toad!

frogs links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 22 November 2013)

Escaped the dinner table.

In Fethiye, Mugla province, 5 people who illegally collected
frogs, a protected species, in order to sell them to restaurants
have been caught red-handed. A fine of 169,000 TL (85,000 USD)
has been assessed against the renegade hunters. In Turkey, other
than in hotels that cater to tourists, there is no interest in eating
frogs. In Europe, however, frogs are considered a gourmet item
and so they have become a target for hunters.

Local people have been saying that "at night some people come to
the lake and hunt with flashlights."  Based on a tip, teams from the
Nature Preservation and National Parks IV Regional Directorate
and the Gendarmerie nabbed the hunters in the act at Fethiye's
Girdev Lake. Eleven frogs were rescued from the hunters and
returned to the water.

According to the Environment Law, each offender was hit with a
fine of 33,863 TL, making the total for the five thieves 169,315 TL.
Directorate chief Rahmi Bayrak said in a statement that "our
supervision is continuing. Our biologic varieties cannont be measured
with money. We expect our citizens to act in good conscience."

Fethiye is in SE Mugla province.

Dad's Retirement Pay Roils Family Ties

granpa links to original article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 18 November 2013)

The Hugh Hefner of  Turkey

In Adana, the case that was opened for the
nullification of the marriage between 85 year-old
Selahattin Ozgen and Gunnur Ozgen, 46 years
younger and the mother of two children, has still
not been concluded after 12 years.

Selahattin Ozgen had retired from working as an
accountant at the Cotton Research Institute in Adana
and after the death of his wife Semiha in 1997 he began
to live alone in Mersin's Camliyayla district. In 1999
Selahattin's house burned and he was left paralyzed.
At that time, his son Bahadir Ozgen (60) allegedly had
his father marry his (Bahadir's) live-in girlfriend Gunnur,
who was 39 years-old in 1999, in order to be able to
collect his father's retirement pay.

The marriage was performed on 8 August 2000 by the
village chief of Daripinar village. Selahattin Ozgen died
four months later at the age of 85.  A battle then erupted
among Selahattin's children because of the wedding.
Salih Arpat Ozgen (64) filed suit in 2001 in Mersin's
court to nullify the marriage. Gunnur Ozgen, who allegedly
married her father-in-law for his retirement pay, stated in
her statement to the court that she was forced to officially marry
Selahattin because her status as Bahadir's mate was unofficial.

The local court reached a decision on the case on 23 October
2008, finding that Salih Arpat Ozgen did not have standing to
bring a case. So the case to nullify the marriage died. However,
on 8 June 2010 a higher court ruled that the case should be heard
again. The lower court took up the case once more and decided
to send the case file to medical officials in Istanbul to determine
whether Selahattin Ozgen was in full command of his faculties
when he married Gunnur.

Lawyers opined that the sanity of a deceased person can only
be determined from the witness statements and other information
in the case file. Exhuming the body from the grave for this purpose
is not a consideration.

Family feuding in Adana and Mersin.