Romanian PM's Istanbul 'Operation'

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 24 June 2015)


Finding solace in Istanbul, no stranger to corruption scandals.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta has come to Istanbul
to have a knee operation and take a month's leave, while he is
the subject of a corruption investigation in Romania.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Romania's
opposition Liberal Party leader Alina Gorghiu characterized
Ponta as "a coward who doesn't care about Romania's image."
and she accused him of trying to get "medical asylum" in a
country outside the European Union.

Within the scope of the corruption investigation in Romania,
which has been a member of the EU since 2007, many high-
level officials have been arrested in the past 1.5 years.  A
vote of confidence was held in parliament on 9 June regarding
Ponta, who is facing charges of falsification, tax evasion,
money laundering and misuse of his office.

Ponta survived the vote of confidence and preserved his
immunity from prosecution. He sent his lawyer to the
prosecutor yesterday to learn about the charges against
him.  The opposition has accused Ponta of using the knee
operation as a pretext to evade the investigation. He hurt
his knee playing basketball.

According to experts, Ponta, who rejected Romanian
President Klaus Iohannis's request that he resign, is trying
to buy time. He made a request to Iohannis to allow him to
turn over his duties to his deputy Gabriel Oprea on Sunday.
According to the Romanian constitution, the Prime Minister
can use 45 day of medical leave each year. He has had a knee
operation at a private hospital in Bağcılar, Istanbul.

When Regular Turks Discovered America

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper article by Murat Bardakçı,
22 June 2015)

According to rumors, in the 1480s Cristopher Columbus
appealed for financing for his American quest to the rulers
of Europe. Coming up empty handed, he made a request
to Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II and appeared before the Sultan
accompanied by a priest. The Sultan, however, sized Columbus
up as a dreamer and turned him down.

//ed. note: more than likely, the story is apocryphal, although
the tale of Columbus making a financing pitch to Sultan 
Bayezid II has been circulated through the years. A more 
reliable report regarding an Ottoman book about America
follows://


Contained within the book is a picture of the "Vakvak
Ağacı", a tree whose fruit is humans.

The book entitled "Tarih -i Hind-i Garbî el Müsemma bi
Hadis-i Nev" (The History of the Newly Discovered West
India) is a very rare hand-written work and there are only
two known copies in the world - one in the Topkapı Palace
and one in the Bayezid State Library, both in Istanbul.

The subject of the book is America, known then as "West
India", and it was the first book to put forth the views of
Turks about America. The Islamic world first heard about
the America that Christopher Columbus had discovered
in 1517, during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Yavuz Selim.

But for details about the discovery of American, its peoples,
plants and animals, the Turkish masses had to wait for the
publication of  "Tarih-i Hind-i Garbî" in 1730. The author
is thought to have been Muhammed bin Hasan el-Sudî, who
perused European books written 90 years after Columbus set
foot in America. The author also discussed the matter with
seamen from east Africa who had set sail for the distant land.

The manuscript that Muhammed bin Hasan el-Sudî produced
was presented to Sultan Murad III in the late 1500s.  Later, in
1730, Ibrahim Müteferrika, the founder of the printing
industry in Turkey, published the manuscript as a book.

Tarih-i Hind-i Garbî for more information on the book
  

Tomato War Erupts at Apartment in Konya

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 22 June 2015)


War-weary Saadet K. with 'casus belli' of the Tomato War.

The plucking of a tomato in the garden of an apartment house in
Konya has brought two families to court.  The (alleged) plucking
family offered "a year's worth of tomatoes" but the plucked family
said in response "you'll sow one tomato plant and give it to me
when it ripens just like my tomato that disappeared."

The incident occurred at the Kaya apartment house in the Bedir
neighborhood of Selçuklu district in Konya last May. Reportedly,
Gökhan Ö. (41), who live on the second floor, was growing
vegetables in the tenants' common garden.  One morning, Gökhan
saw that one of his tomatoes had been plucked from its branch
and he accused the first-floor K. family, shouting at them "you
plucked my tomato and ate it!"

Despite Ibiş K.'s assertion that noone in the K. family had eaten
the tomato, Gökhan was not persuaded.  Ibiş K. then stated
that "we didn't pluck the tomato but we'll give you a kilogram
of tomatoes anyway." Gökhan rejected this offer, as well.
The next day, Gökhan's wife, mother and sister beat İbiş K.'s
wife Saadet.

Nonetheless, İbiş K. made another offer to Gökhan to settle
the matter, saying "if you like, I'll get you a truck load of
tomatoes. I'll meet your tomato needs for a year. Let's not
make this a big deal."  In response, Gökhan punched İbiş K.
As a consequence, the K. family filed a criminal complaint
for 'assault and battery' against Gökhan, his wife, mother
and sister in court in Konya, with a jail sentence of from 1
to 3 years requested.

At the first hearing the judge said "why are you tying up
the court with matters like this? Settle it among yourselves."
So, again İbiş K. offered to meet Gökhan's tomato needs
for a year but Gökhan's response was even more harsh:
"I don't want a year's worth of tomatoes. I want the tomato
I raised and since you can't give me that, you will raise
some new tomatoes. When they reach the ripeness of the
one I lost then you'll give it to me. Otherwise, there wil be
no end to this."

Gökhan then filed a criminal complaint of his own against
Ibiş and Saadet K. for damaging the vegetables and fruits
in an area that Gökhan had surrounded with barbed wire
and for plucking a tomato without permission.


Selçuklu district is in the center of Konya province.
  

Transformer Captured by Electric Company Troopers

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 15 June 2015)



Appropriate technology... and you can't beat the price. 

Teams from the Dicle Elektrik Dağıtım Anonim Şirketi
(Dicle Electric Company/ DEDAŞ) have seized an illegal
electrical transformer that was loaded on to a tractor's trailer
in Diyarbakır's Bismil district.  As the agricultural irrigation
season has begun, the illegal use of electricity has risen,
as well.

Determined to head off this practice, DEDAŞ found the
jerry-rigged transformer apparatus hidden away deep in a corn
field in Bayındır vıllage.  The transformer was attached by a
cable thrown on to an overhead high-tension wire that passes
over the field and was being used to irrigate the 10 acre field
with as much energy as a small village would use.


Bismil district is in southeastern Diyarbakır province.



   

Fathers Day Edition: Bad Dad Candidates

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 14 June 2015)


"Captain Nihat" trolling for a new wife on TV.

Sefer Çalınak, who married twice and killed both of his
wives, appeared on a TV program in September 2014 for
people seeking new partners.  This time "Captain Nihat"
has created a new scandal for the same TV program.

Nihat M. (45), who participated in the TV show, said
that he was a ship's captain and had a salary of 12,000
TL per month (about 4,500 USD).  Nihat explained that
he had experienced an unhappy marriage and was not
looking for someone new.


Two-time wife killer Sefer Çalınak - 'never say die!'

Quite a few women responded to Nihat's availability
but our reporter who looked into Nihat's past got a
completely different story.  HaberTürk reached Nihat's
mother Emine M., who said that "my son was really a
cleaner on a boat. He's been married for 15 years but
now he's on the verge of divorce.  During an argument
he injured his sister-in-law  and he received treatment
for a while in a mental institution.  When he decided to
get married again we as a family stood beside him."

Istanbul Businessman Seduced by 'Ayşe Qaddafi'

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 18 June 2015)


  Fortunately, she looks nothing like her dad.


Lately, African conmen have gained infamy by claiming that
they could change ordinary paper into money by using a
special chemical solution (see related TNT reports over the
past couple of years). Now the 'Ayşe Qaddafi' scam has
taken center stage and the latest victim is Istanbul contractor
O.T.

O.T. received a 'hello' message via the Tango app sent by
'Ayşe Qaddafi', the daughter of the late Libyan dictator. O.T.
believed this to be genuine and responded. He then received
another message from 'Ayşe Qaddafi' that read as follows:
"Hello, I'm Ayşe Qaddafi, the daughter of Libyan leader
Muammer Qaddafi. I need your help. My wealth is being
secretly kept at a security company in Ghana and I have to
move it to another country. I will provide more information.
If you give me your email address we can communicate with
each other."

Again, O.T. did what he was told and received the following
email message: "I have 100 kilograms in gold ingots and 9.5
million dollars at the ACF Security Firm in Ghana. When you
get this out of the country for me I will give you 30% of the
value.  Give me your bank account information and I'll pass
it on to the firm."

With his share in mind, O.T. agreed to the deal and received
further instructions: "we were going to send the gold and money
but there is a problem with the documents. If you send some
money we can take care of this matter. The money you send
will be reimbursed to you by Ms. Qaddafi."

O.T. then sent a total of 375,000 TL (about 150,000 USD) in
four separate deposits to the account number given to him.
Sometime after this, O.T. realized that he had been bilked
and reported the situation to police, who are continuing their
investigation.

 

ISIS-like Destruction of JR's 'Wrinkles' in Istanbul

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 18 June 2015)


Before, and then after some idiots splattered whitewash
 on a masterpiece...

JR, a photographer and street artist who has won the Ted
Prize, brought his 'Wrinkles of the City' project to Istanbul
last month, after Los Angeles, Cartagena, Shanghai, Havana
and Berlin.  JR did pieces in the Tarlabaşı and Balat sections
of Istanbul, painting the portraits of local elderly people on
the walls of dilapidated buildings.

One of the three JR portraits on a wall in Balat was
whitewashed by unknown persons about 20 days ago. JR
protested against this on Twitter and Instagram, showing
before and after pictures of the portrait wall. He said that
of all the cities he has painted in, the only place where a
portrait has been defaced like this is Istanbul.

Contributors on social media accused the Fatih Municipality
of destroying the art work. However, Fatih officials quickly
responded via Twitter, saying "we want everyone to know
that we are more heartbroken than anyone by this. The
'Wrinkles of the City' project was jointly implemented here
by JR and the Fatih Municipality, which had absolutely
nothing to do with the destruction of this work of art."


                Fatih district of Istanbul