From Astrophysics to Rakka

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 27 December 2016)


Future ISIS astronaut cadre in a light-hearted moment.

Shocking details about Astrophysicist Raşid Tuğral, a graduate
of Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) in Ankara, who was
killed last year after joining the ranks of the radical religious
terrorist group ISIS, have come to light.  The Voice of America (VOA)
has broadcast Tuğral's story under the headline "Falling into ISIS's Trap".

VOA commented that "Raşid's life and death constitute a typical
example of the lost generation that ISIS has seduced."  Tuğral was living
in Ankara. His father is a high school teacher who has a doctorate in
Turkish literature, his older brother is a computer engineer and
composer, his uncle a mathematics professor.

Tuğral graduated from ODTÜ's physics department in 2014 and in
the same year he began graduate studies at Finland's Jyvaskyla
University.  Tuğral had been active in the astronomy and photography
sections at ODTÜ and was a member of the Astronomy Group at the
university.  In 2010 he found a place in 'National Geographic' with
his astronomy photographs and in 2012 he participated in a NASA
photography contest.

According to his friends, Tuğral's change began in 2013.  Friend Utku
,Borataç noted that Tuğral began to spend more time at the ODTÜ
mosque then and another friend, Nihat Çelik, said that "the mosque
group played a role in Raşid radicalization."


               Raşid says "I'm with stupid."

Tuğral returned from Finland on 2 January 2015.  Telling his family
he was going out with his friends, he never returned.  He had gone to
Syria.  His family and friends learned about his experiences in Syria
from letters, one of which was written on 25 March 2015.  After
entering Syria, Tuğral had been taken to Tal Abyad and described
his housemates there as follows:"one is a kickboxer from Germany,
another is a Bangladeshi computer scientist. He spent 15,000 USD
to come from China to Syria."

In 2015 Tuğrul married a Turkish woman who had joined ISIS in
Rakka.  In August the family received the news that Tuğral had
had died.  His father Süleyman Tuğral said that they have passed
a complaint to the public prosecutor and are awaiting a reply.

Tuğral's friend from the ODTÜ Astronomy Group, Utku Borataç,
still wonders how Tuğral was snatched into the violent world of
ISIS.  Nihat Çelik said that Tuğral couldn't bridge the gap between
his two worlds: "I think he was very confused."


With Nobel Prize winning physicist Walter Kohn, before the fall.

Marriage Edition: Salt & Seoul

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 26 December 2016)


 Divorces repackaged: Pickled (left), salted (right).

A 'Yeşilçam' (old Turkish movie) film has come true!  Only this
time the reason for divorce wasn't a pickle, it was salt.  In the old
film 'Neşeli Günler', Adile Naşit and Münir Özkul played the roles
of a couple who had divorced because of a pickle argument but
years later they remarried.

In Çanakkale, though, a couple split up over a salt argument and
12 years later they have come to the wedding table once again.
Arzu Bilgili (35) and Cumhur Bozoğlu, who live in Ezine district,
got married 17 years ago and had a daughter named Melisa. But
one day because of a salt argument they divorced.


              Life imitates art.

At the time Melisa was 5 years-old but since then she has wanted
her parents to re-marry and after 12 years, with Melisa's urging,
the couple has tied the knot once again.


Ezine district is on the Aegean coast of Çanakkale province.

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türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 26 December 2016)


   Bride realizes "we're not in Korea anymore."

Four years ago, Emrah Kaya (28), a medical student at Hakkari
University in southeastern Turkey, went on a university-sponsored
trip to Istanbul.  During the trip Kaya met South Korean medical
student Eanjoo Ham on a ferry cruise.  They courted for four years
and the other day they were married under falling snow in Hakkari.


            She'll have to get a new wardrobe.


According to groom Kaya, "after we met we fell in love and decided
to get married.  We had the wedding in Hakkari, according to the
customs and traditions of my home.  My wife has finished medical
school and if we can find work here we'll settle here."


                    Hakkari province

Istanbul Ain't Constantinople!

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 25 December 2016)


   If you turn it upside down it reads 'Istanbul'.

Artist Ahmet Güneştekin's artwork 'Konstantiniyye' was
exhibited at the Venice Biennial last year.  On Thursday
night the work was placed in front of a shopping center
in Ataköy, Istanbul, but it was removed 7 hours later because
of negative reactions from the public.

Güneştekin lamented to Hürriyet: "businessman Nihat Delibalta
bought my artwork and wanted to show it to everyone in Istanbul.
So the work was put in front of the A Plus shopping center in
Ataköy on Thursday evening, my 50th birthday.  We had the
opening at 1800."


                   What's in a name...

"At 2300 an angry group came to the scene shouting 'how could
you put this name here! This has been 'Istanbul' since 1453!'
When they began screaming 'we'll rip it down and burn it!' the
Bakırköy municipality covered the artwork with a tarpaulin."

As the protests continued, the 5-ton work was removed on Friday
at the request of the shopping center owner.  Güneştekin said in
response "this work was exhibited in Venice for 7 months.
Hundreds of thousands of people saw it.  Here they couldn't bear
it for 7 hours.  I'm going through the darkest, the worst time of
my life."


                              "Huh?"

Brother-in-Law's Greedy Curiosity Backfires

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 23 December 2016)


B-i-L Nevruz has the ability to blurr his face at will. (!)

In Büyükçekmece district of Istanbul, a woman named Y.O. left
home to go shopping on 9 November.  When she returned to her
home in the Mimar Sinan neighborhood she was in for a shock
because the house had been broken into and a safe containing
560,000 TL (about 180,000 USD) belonging to her older brother
was missing.

Y.O. alerted the police, telling them that "my older brother Kemal
sold his café for 560,000 TL.  Thinking that our home was safe, he
left the money with us.  The only people who knew about this were
me and my husband, Kemal and his wife and my sister H.U.  Her
husband Nevruz didn't know about it."


Good thing police don't have anything else to occupy them these
days in Istanbul.

Police looked at the security camera footage and noticed that the
three thieves had entered the compound knowing the gate cipher.
They later fled with the safe.  Police determined that someone
must have given the thieves the gate cipher.  In any event, police
soon picked up Remzi Y. (29), Taner Y. (31) and Ramazan K. (33).

It turned out that brother-in-law Nevruz had been looking at his
wife's cellphone messages and noticed her discussion with her
siblings on WhatsApp about the 560,000 kept in Y.O.'s house.
Nevruz then hired the thieves, agreeing to split the take with them.
However, after the heist the thieves gave Nevruz only 20,000 TL.

Ring-leader Remzi Y. bought himself a luxury car with his share
but he and his two cohorts, along with Nevruz, have been put in
jail.