“Who told you this would be easy?” she said, eyes glittering like sea-wet stones. A flush, gentle as rain, rose in her cheeks.
Nobody, nobody, the voice in his head clammered, I’m sorry, sorry, my love, it is blessed, it must be; I cannot ever deny love.
At that moment he met her eyes and it occured to him that we live only in moments, arranged as it happens. Someday we shall live entirely in nothing but a single kiss.
–Kyle Parrish
Last week we went to Abruzzo to visit grandparents of Lorenzo. I love the region a lot… inside green nature crystal rivers coming down from the beautiful high mountains…and medieval hilltowns. On the highway you can see many of them from distance. They’re very impressive.
Abruzzo holds some of Italy’s best-preserved medieval and Renaissance hill towns. The abrupt decline of Abruzzo’s agricultural economy in the early to mid-20th century saved some of the region’s most beautiful hill towns from the onslaught of modern development. Many lie entirely within regional and national parks so their preservation is all but guaranteed. Among the most well preserved are Castel del Monte (AQ) and Santo Stefano di Sessanio, which lie in the Gran Sasso National Park on the edge of the high plain of Campo Imperatore and nestled beneath the Apennines’ highest peaks; both hill towns, which were ruled by the Medicis for over a century-and-a-half, have relatively little tourism. Between the two towns sits Rocca di Calascio, the ruin of an ancient fortress popular with film makers. Also within the Gran Sasso National Park is Castelli, an ancient pottery center whose artisans produced ceramics for most of the royal houses of Europe. Although still home to many artisans, Castelli has a modest tourist trade.
Other medieval hill towns located fully within Abruzzo’s park system are Pacentro in the Parco Nazionale della Majella and Pescasseroli in the Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo. Pacentro, which features a 14th century castle with two intact towers, has been little touched by modernization and is also known for being the origin village of the grandfathers of the entertainers Madonna and Dean Martin.
Increased shipping traffic through the narrow Bosporus Straits has heightened fears of a major accident that could have serious environmental consequences and endanger the health of the 12 million residents of Istanbul that live on either side of the Straits. The Straits have witnessed an increase in shipping traffic since the end of the Cold War to the point that around 50,000 vessels per year (nearly one every 10 minutes) now pass through them. Around one-tenth of these are crude oil or liquefied natural gas tankers. This increased congestion has led to a growing number of accidents; between 1988 and 1992, there were 155 collisions in the Straits. In January 2001, work began on building a comprehensive radar and vessel control system for the waterway.
Swimming in the crystal water of Oludeniz was amazing. It was like swimming in an aquarium. The beach…lt’s the most beautiful beach l’ve ever seen
Dalyan canal through which water circulates between the Mediterranean and Köyceğiz Lake winds its way to the sea, via a small network of lakes and waterways.
Through the rustling reed beds rising between 3-4 metres in heigh. With its mixture of salt and fresh water, this wetlands have become home to a vast number of fish and other waterlife. Many speices of birds which feed on them.
You meet to Mediterranean, after around 30-40 minutes wonderful boat travel. Dividing the delta is the İztuzu sandbar stretching for six km. With fine sand and turquoise sea.
Theses tombs are the resting places the kings of Caunos. They are carved in the style of Lycian rock tombs. There are two types of tomb to be found in Dalyan. Simple chambers, cut in to the rock face like a room and more elaborate temple tombs. Many tombs were built with false walls placing valuables behind them so as to fool robbers, eventually this was to no avail as all the tombs were emptied of their treasures.
Rock tombs can be seen along the Lycian coast, but best examples of them in Dalyan.
Dalyan has many therapeutic hot springs. The waters which contain radioactive elements and sulphur are believed to cure rheumatism, skin, liver, spleen and bowel complaints, as well as being beneficial for nervous and digestive disorders.
The Sultaniye Thermal Bath which is famous in Turkey, the water is 40 degrees C. The water used since Hellenistic times.
The mud baths are also said to remedy rheumatism as well as cleanse and beautify skin. Once you have covered yourself in the mud, than you wait for few minutes to dry it. You clean yourself in the sulphur pool. Mud bath is also at a temperature of 40 degrees.
The ancient city of Caunos grew on the border between Lycia and Caria. Caunos had a particular culture was an independent city state.
The city sprawls over a broad slope overlooking the sea and delta. At Caunos there is an Acropolis surrounded by the city walls, a theatre (which seats 1500 ), Four temples, an agora, shops, harbour, Roman bath and cistern, Some of ruins are still underground.
You can visit Caunos at any time. First you will have to cross the channel via a rowing boat, then 10 minutes walk to the city.
The Caretta Caretta turtle is designated as threatened on the Federal Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species List.These turtles with their large heads and reddish brown shells come to Iztuzu Beach to nest from May to September. They have yellowish to white undersides and can measure up to 3-4 feet in length. The turtle reaches maturity around 15 years of age, they can weigh between 150 and 300 pounds.
Adult turtles are meeting in lake of Dalyan Delta few weeks before the female lays her eggs. They are feeding before sex. Famela chooses a boyfriend. Their sex takes some hours and other turtles stays far away. You can hear their sounds.
The Caretta Caretta Turtle, returns to the beach where they themselves hatched. The adult female may lay several clutches each season, usually she will lay eggs every two-three years.
What’s LYCIA?
The ancient coastal region of southwest Turkey known as Lycia was bordered on all sides by massive mountain ranges, making it a uniquely independent state for much of its early history. The earliest inhabitants may have been native Anatolians mixed in with limited migrations from Crete.
Its proximity to Greece made it a desirable location for early colonists, but the Lycians resisted such attempts. In centuries of Greek domination of Asia Minor only one important colony, Phaselis, was ever established among the Lycians.
The Persians too sought to occupy the well defended territory but found Lycian independence deeply rooted in the culture. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians came to dominate Asia Minor and the surrounding vicinity but found Lycia to be a difficult conquest. When the Persians attacked the Lycian capital of Xanthos, the Lycians fought valiantly, but were eventually overcome. The survivors burnt the city, committing mass suicide, rather than submit to Persian rule.
Xanthos was later repopulated and Persian rule proved to be less dramatic than what was feared. Other than an annual tribute, the Lycians were left mainly to their own devices. Lycia was ruled essentially by a council of 23 federated cities, with certain more established cities having more clout than others.
The cities of Myra, Olympos Patara, Pinara, Tlos and Xanthos occupied the upper tier in Lycian politics. Under Persian ‘protection’ Lycia began to thrive and economic growth took hold. The Lycian alphabet also spread throughout the region in this time period.
WEDNESDAY
Lorenzo and I took a bus to go to Balıkesir from Istanbul. It took 6 hours to arrive. Lorenzo was playing with his iphone all the time so he took many ugly pics of me with it during the long boring bus travel. We planned to start our trip to Lycia next day so we had rest in the house of my parents in Balıkesir and we played with the kitten of my sister called Kekik.
THURSDAY
With my parents and my sister we started our trip at 10 am. On the road we saw very beautiful bays. I was getting more and more impatient to swim in the cold water of Egean Sea ( or Mediterranean.. lt’s just in the corner where two seas meet.) It was easy to observe the climate difference. The weather was veery hot. 7 hours later we were in our hotel in Fethiye. After dinner we strolled in the city center and we planned the next day.
l’ve done this today. lt’s about being so lonely in the crowd.. lt reflects my usual situation. l talk to so many people during the day but none of them understands me, none of them knows anything about me. There’s always a lonely feeling coz l know that when l talk noone listens to me.
Anzac Day is commemorated by Australia and New Zealand on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.
In 1934, nineteen years after the 1915 landing, the first ANZAC veterans returned to Gallipoli. On them, on behalf of the Turkish nation President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave this message as soldier-statesman whose genius turned the Gallipoli campaign against the Allies, his famous words of reconciliation: … to Mothers who lost their sons at the Gallipoli Battle :
“Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives;
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers,
who sent their sons from far away countries,
wipe away your tears;
your sons are now lying in our bosom
and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have
become our sons as well.”
ATATURK 1934
“Extraordinary friendly exchanges between the Turks and our fellows this morning early.Some of our chaps ran right over to the enemy trenches and exchaged bully, jam, cigarettes etc. The whole business was wonderful and proves how madly unneccessary this part of the war is” Lt T.E Cozens,AIF,DIARY,19 October. Jonathan King 8. section page: 187.
“…. On 18 May when I was shot, there was a sniper Turkish girl. She was beautiful, huge and aged 19 or 20. Throughout the day, she continuously fired her gun. Although she shot many of us, I felt sorry when an Australian has shot her. As we have caught her dead body, we found a man’s body by her side.There were 52 bullets in her body. This war is horrible.”
” Between April 25 and December 20, 1915, in an area of 20 kilometres by 8, the following numbers of troops were killed:
86,000 Turkish 8,700 Australian 2,700 New Zealanders 27,000 British and Indian”
“While Turkish armies were fighting with British, Anzacs and the French at Gallipoli, they were also fighting the Russians in the Eastern front and British-Arab alliance in the south.
At a time when there were no young men left in Anatolian villages, Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire collaborated with the Russian invaders.. pillaging and murdering women and children in villages which were left defenseless after all men were conscripted to fight the enemies who were in a feeding frenzy – trying to devour what was left of the collapsing Ottoman Empire.
Armenians in border regions were thus deported to southern provinces and many perished during the arduous exodus.
Generations of Armenian militants later resorted to vicious terror tactics murdering numerous Turkish diplomats as revenge killings for an alleged genocide during the war years”
“ After the terrible punishment inflicted upon the brave but futile assaults all bitterness faded … The Turks displayed an admirable manliness … From that morning onwards the attitude of the Anzac troops towards the individual Turks was rather that of opponents in a friendly game.‘[ Charles. E Bean, the Australian official historian, The Story of Anzac, Vol II, Sydney, 1924, p.162 ]
Me and Lorenzo in front of the Turkish soldiers memorial in Gallipoli
PS : Sometimes l see that people search in google ” turkish anzac pics” and they visit my post. I just want to tell those people that turkish soldiers didnt even have shoes to wear in the war , how could they take pics of Anzacs?? The existing photos of the war and of Anzac soldiers were taken by anzacs themselves.
The Teahouse of the August Moon
My plan for today was waking up early and drawing my school project whole day. So in the morning l woke up early and I sat in front of PC for drawing… Then I received an unexpected sms from a friend of mine telling that she had an extra ticket for a theater play so she was wondering if I could join her. Of course I accepted immediately although I had tons of things to draw. We met in the pier, we got on the boat and we were in front of the theater building in half an hour.
I had no idea about the play so I let it be a surprise for me :
Okinawa Island…It’s a weird country which was occupied by Chinese first, then Japanese and finally Americans that it owes its fame to this bloody occupation which ended with 200.000 dead in April 1945…
The writer of the novel “The Teahouse of the August Moon” is one of the officers of the occupation army. Vern Sneider…and John Patric ,who’s also one of the officers of the occupation army , made a great comedy from this book.
It’s about the occupation mentality of USA. As they always do, also in Okinawa they’re far from evaluating the human factor, they are just ordered to apply the decisions which was taken on a desk in Washington with general logic. As they think that what is valid for them is valid for everyone in the world, the people of the island is forced to be shaped with “american life style “ model.
The aim of this approach is to destroy the differences of the other cultures and making them similar to american one. So the army builds schools to give their own culture to the island people. But one humanist man who was taken to the army by force because of the war, refuses to build a school and he builds a teahouse
.
About a week ago, shameful censorship to wordpress was removed. So l returned to my blog finally =) l hope it will never repeat…
Usually I don’t spend time in very touristical areas of Istanbul, I stroll around the historical districts which tours dont take tourists much. Nowadays I walk in the back streets of Uskudar a lot because of the project I am working on. I’m designing a little library next to a building which was an ottoman primary school some hundreds of years ago.
So I dont see many tourists. Only one or two very curious and courageous ones who are able to get a map and stroll alone. Today while I was going down the hill, I saw one climbing the hill with an Istanbul map in the hand and a stupid fes on the head. I couldn’t stop laughing… It wasn’t the only one with fes I have seen so far.Why do tourists wear those weird fes?? Don’t they feel stupid with it? Don’t they look around themselves and notice that noone in Turkey would wear it?
Sometimes the ignorance of the tourists amazes me. They have no idea about Ottoman Empire, Turkish republic , turkish culture, Istanbul, other cities of Turkey…So why are they in Istanbul? They usually go to Italy because it’s a kind of fashion, it seems even Istanbul becomes something like that. I hate this empty tourism. Like the shopkeeper who sells miniatures has told me once : ” Tourists don’t come to my shop to buy miniatures. I have only very special foreigner customers who understand miniature art. Usual tourists who come here aren’t different than gypsies towards art”
Like french, italian, english in Istanbul, like hundreds of americans I see in Florence whole summer or thousands of russians in Antalya…like milions of tourists who destroy , pollute and rape Venice each year more just for commercial reasons far from art, architecture and understanding.
Today greek ships had another attempt to leave their immigrants in turkish waters . This time the boat of the immigrants just remained in the international waters. A turkish private yatch saw the boat of the immigrants have overturned and there were 26 immigrants fluttering in the water, there were dead bodies swimming…So they went there to pick the alive immigants. They managed to save 11 immigrants but at the same moment, a greek coast guard boat was harrassing the turkish yatch…it was recorded minute by minute.
On 27th September, at 6.20 am 3 Greek military ships were detected in Turkish waters. They were there illegally to leave around 20 immigrants inside 3 boats in turkish waters and they wanted to escape just after leaving those people in the middle of the sea. However because of the stream, those 3 boats entered back to Greek waters.
In the same day the same ships were detected in another coast of Turkey at 9.30. They were insistent of leaving their own illagal immigrants to turkish waters. But they were warned by turkish coast guards because of border violation so they had to leave without leaving the immigrants where they wanted to.
My 4th year in the university is about to start.
Struggling ,projects, jury days, exams,drawing 12 hours a day, making models, stress…
Sitting next to the sea, watching the ships passing the Bosphorus, feeding seagulls, waiting in the lunch queue…
My University
In front of the jury…
P.S : I am a Turkish girl and I live in Istanbul. I wrote the details which disturb me personally about turkish people. It doesnt mean that every turkish is like I wrote, of course there’re always exceptions. This is just generalised criticism about turkish society. Maybe a tourist can’t notice these details.
Some of my Complaints ;
Today I have returned to Istanbul after spending 3 months in Italy with Lorenzo and his family. Turning back to my lonely life isn’t easy at all. I already missed everyone soooo much.
Today I got up at 5am…I got on the plane at 7 am from Florence to Roma. I arrived Roma at 7.30. Then I waited till 10 am for my plane to go to Istanbul. I was in Istanbul at 13.30. The Alitalia plane was extremely small and uncomfortable. But I got very surprised that we were on time.
I took a taxi to go to the port…I had to take a boat to cross the Bosphorus because my house is in Asia and the airport is in Europe. The port was extremely extremely crowded…During the time I spent in Italy I forgot what “crowded” means…Istanbul reminded me today…I hate it…I hate sharing every squaremeter with at least one person…I miss the tranquility of Italy already…
I miss warm hugs of Lorenzo…
A sculptor made a very nice statue for expressing love. And the city administration put it in the city center of Antalya in Turkey. But some sick closed-minded people threat the administration to remove this statue because they find it ” Too explicit, against morality”…..What kind of a mentality is it? If you are able to get aroused because of this statue, it means there’s something wrong with you not the statue…..sexuality-fobia…
TRADITIONS MADE INTO RELIGIOUS PRESCRIPTIONSWhat was not stated in the Qouran was introduced into religious practice, and customs related to a man’s attire were considered to be part of his devotional lifestyle. For instance, the turban had been worn by nearly everybody at a given period of history to keep the head warm. There was nothing wrong in this. What was unwarranted, however, was attributing a religious character to it. We must go over the verses in the Quran to see what has been ordained as far as man’s attire is concerned.
26 – O you children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your private parts as well as to be an adornment to you.
7 The Purgatory, 26
The minimum covering for both men and women has been since times immemorial the covering of the private parts of a person as foreseen in Verses 26-22 of the Sura The Purgatory. There are three verses in the Quran that have reference to a woman’s attire.
31 – Say to the believing women to lower their eyes and guard their private parts, and not display their ornaments (ziynet) except what is apparent outwardly, and cover their bosom with their veils (hýmar). And not show their ornaments except to their husbands or their fathers or the fathers of their husbands or their sons or the sons of their husbands or their brothers or the sons of their brothers and the sons of their sisters or their women or their captives or male servants free of physical need or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex. They should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O believers! All of you shall repent to God that you may succeed.
24 The Light, 31
The Arabic word hýmar means simply ‘cover.’ It has a wide range of meanings. It may be any cover such as the table napkin. If it is used to cover the head, it will signify the headscarf. However, if the head had been the target, the expression should have been hýmar-ur-ras meaning the covering of the head. However, in the context, one should understand the portion of the body corresponding to the bosom. Therefore it is the low-necked attire that is meant here. Even though the headscarf was the corresponding meaning, one should conclude that it was to be used to cover a woman’s bosom and not her head.
Another important expression mentioned in the verse is the word ‘ornaments,’ which, to our own interpretation should mean the bosom. This, we believe, is in harmony with the rest of the sentence in which the covering of the low neck is imperative. Moreover, striking of the feet comes next, which might attract attention to the breasts that would be wiggling as a consequence of the striking movement, considering the brassiere did not exist at that time. Then the verse makes an exception for those ornaments that are self-conspicuous. Big breasts cannot be hidden no matter what one does, as a result of physical movements of the body, or may become even more conspicuous when the dress under the effect of a strong wind sticks to the body. So the verse explains this as a natural phenomenon. We read in other verses that women nursed their children sometimes for two years. When her baby cries she may be obliged to nurse it in the presence of her next of kin like her father. This commentary provides us with the necessary elbowroom under the circumstances. One other point that corroborates our argument is the fact that this word makes no allusion to the hanging objects that adorn a woman since the verse also mentions that they can let their ornaments be seen in the presence of women. Dangling ornaments may, of course, be used to show off rather than be an object for seduction. The striking of the feet would not render conspicuous the finery or the jewelry of the woman. Moreover, there is the fact that adornments may be used everywhere. Even during prayer they may be used, so they don’t have to be hidden (see 7 The Purgatory, 31). From all of these it follows that the word ornament is used to refer to the breasts of the woman.
The word tasattur, which means the veiling of a woman, does not exist in the Quran. It has come to be used in the way that it is today much later. The Arabic expression humur and its singular form hýmar mentioned in the verse is a cover, any cover rather than a headscarf. The dictionaries Al Mujam ul Vasýf, Al Munjid, Lisan-ý Arab, Tajul Arus may be consulted. The connotation of the hýmar in the sense of headscarf emerged much later, following the interpretation and practices of sectarian scholarship. The Quran speaks of the bosom as the part of the body that must be covered, and not the head. The words that correspond to the headscarf worn by Arabs are mýkna and nasýf and not hýmar, for which any dictionary of the Arabic language may be consulted.
Agostino took this photo for me in Milano. There’s the reflection of the street a bit but it’s ok. Thanks a lot Agostino!
Yesterday cousin’s of Lorenzo came to visit us. Oh my…it was incredibly tiring day. They can’t spend more than 15 minutes playing with the same thing. They always try to discover new things at home. There’s 6 years old Tommaso always wants to drive our golf car in the garden, he hits furnitures trees…There’s 1 year old Emma strolling on the pavement, crying…Then there’s 3 years old Margherita always wants to do the same things which Tommaso does. Then she wants to see my jewellery bag, she wants to try everything inside it, she wants to make up, she wants me to give some of my jewellery to her as a present. ” mi regali questo?” ” Perche non mi regali questi?” And she asks always what’s that what’s this…and when you try to explain, she asks always why..” perche?” “perche?”
“why is this pillow fixed on the hummock?”
” Because it falls and Otto ( the dog) takes it away “
“Why does Otto take it away?”
” Because Otto wants to play”
“Why does Otto want to play?”
“Because……….uhm…..”
Margherita and Lorenzo playing with legos. Margherita says : ” Built a house for me” Lorenzo builts and asks ” How’s it?” She says : ” I dont like.” and it goes on like this. She always says: ” I dont like”
Otto steals pieces of lego and distroys them chewing
Emma and Otto =))
“The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 2005-09-30. The newspaper announced that this publication was an attempt to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship.”
Western world couldnt understand why muslims were so angry about it although those caricatures were obviously insulting Mohammad and showing him as a terrorist. For them it was freedom of speech so everyone should have respected. Now it happens the same to the christians and of course they are offended. Because neither Mohammad nor Jesus cant be compared with terrorists.
“The bin Laden work and another of the Virgin Mary in a burqa, created by Sydney artist Luke Sullivan, have been entered into Sydney’s top religious art competition, but not without infuriating some.”
“Australian Prime Minister John Howard responded: “The choice of such artwork is gratuitously offensive to the religious beliefs of many Australians.”
I think people should realize that religion is a very delicate topic and they should act thinking twice.
I have returned from Barcelona on Friday. I enjoyed each minute there.Leaving the city was very difficult for me because I completely felt in love with it. Barcelona is the city of my dreams because :
Today I wanted to try painting. It was my first experience with acrylic colours. I thank to Lorenzo’s parents because they let me play with the painting tools =)
First of all, Italians dont know anything about my country like most of European countries. They are too busy with themselves and people in close surroundings that they are not even curiuos about what’s going on in the rest of the world. Italian media doesnt help it either. I watch the tv news here everyday and I dont see any news about the world. They are only about Italy : 40 years old mothers in Italy, ice-cream consuming in Italy, vacation places in Italy…It doesnt matter if there’s an election in a country or if there’s a war or if there’re people starving…Not being able to speak any foreign language is maybe result of this lack of interest
Second thing is linked with the first. If you are ignorant, you generalize things. For example : Arabics are muslim so every muslim is arabic. Every arabic live in desert so every muslim live in desert too. Turkey is a muslim country so turkish people are arabic so Turkey is a very hot place in the desert.
As a result they are able to get surprised when I say it’s very snowy in winter in Istanbul. They get surprised when I say we produce very good red wine in Middle Turkey and white wine in Egean Coast of Turkey.
They also suppose that we use arabic alphabet! Just like they suppose that Czech Rep use russian alphabet.
Because of this ignorance, if you are a foreigner , you are an alien… a scary person.
Then what else? Oh…Everything turkish is greek for italians. For example Greek yoghurt. Yoghurt is a turkish word. Turkish invented yoghurt and in world literature in every language it’s used as Yoghurt the original turkish word. And many many other turkish products were stolen by greeks…That’s one of the reasons why they dont want Turkey in EU because they cant steal more products if we enter the market.
I am really angry about it.
Also italians like gossip soooo much. As Cesare (one of my very rare italian friends) says making gossip is second national sport for italians after soccer. That’s very true. When they get together with friends, what they talk about is other people. In the office, I experienced the most violent version of it because my italian isnt good. In this case they were able to make gossip about me , laughing behind me even when I am in the same room.
Their girl-boy relationships are worst than we have in Turkey. In Turkey we have very good friendships between boys and girls, they dont have to have a love relationship. In Italy (I dont know how’s in big cities but talking about Prato and Firenze) it’s not much possible to have a friendship between a boy and a girl. If they talk, if they share something, they have to be a couple. When boys arent able to flirt with a girl, they dont talk with that girl about anything. I experience it directly as a person who lives in Italy now but I also experience it even online. I have been using online messengers for 10 years and so far I talked with hundreds of italian boys. When I try to chat with an italian boy online , he tries to hunt me first. After learning that I have a boy, he stops talking with me. That’s how italian men see women generally.
I dont like this fashion-mania either. You have to always show which brand you wear, which car you drive , which country you adore…It’s like this even in Istanbul , just a bit lower level. Pure materialism…..
P.S : Please nobody think that I am hostile towards italians. I live with a very sweet italian family. I love them a lot. My boyfriend is an italian and I adore him. Italy is my second country after Turkey so I think I have right to criticize the bad situations I experience here.
I wish people could be more open-minded all over the world.
THE HOLY COW DEMOCRACY
In 1923 Turkey was very much behind the European powers technically and otherwise. Ataturk thought that the survivability of the new republic depended on developing it to Europe’s level. He instituted a number of reforms that were carried out as a drastic change during his presidency of 15 years. He knew that drastic change cannot be carried out under full democracy, because human nature does not like change. Thus, they were carried out under a one party government, by a revolutionary parliament. In 1950 more parties were permitted. Thus, real democracy took roots in Turkey.
I would like to mention the development of Russia and China as more recent examples. When the USSR lost the Cold War and disintegrated, it was proven that the communist system does not work. Both Russia and China wanted to change to the Capitalist system. Russia under Gorbatchev wanted to introduce both democracy and capitalism at the same time. The change from communism to capitalism constituted very drastic change and under democracy people did not change, it turned into a mess. They have now neither full democracy nor full capitalism.
The Chinese were much smarter. They kept their authoritarian regime and introduced capitalism. They are being very successful. Their economy has tremendous growth, many Chinese became very wealthy. Democracy might come some day to an educated and industrialized China and will be no problem. By then the drastic change would have been completed.
The above three cases prove that democracy, that Westerners almost worship, is not useful during drastic change. In spite of this brief history of democracy, many people in Europe and in this country consider democracy like a holy thing and consider it as a super-criterion, much more important than independence and laicism.
Ataturk wanted Turkey to be as survivable as Europe or the United States. He found that one important problem of the Ottoman Empire was Islam. A modern person could not live by the Sharia, the canonic religious laws, so he abolished the Caliphate, outlawed the Sharia part of the Koran and separated religion from state, the way French do. While in U.S. society, state and religion are co-equal and separated, they both co-exist in the public realm. That is called “secularism.” In the French system no religion is allowed in the public realm. That is called “laicism”. In Turkey religion is a personal thing and the laws ensure full religious freedom under Turkish law. Laicism is written in the Turkish Constitution and is as holy as the republic. It cannot be changed, it cannot be even discussed, because laicism is believed to insure survivability in the modern world. Also it is believed that there can be no democracy without laicism in a Moslem society. The Turkish military is specifically charged by the constitution with preserving the Laic Republic. Militaries in Western countries do not have such duties, because the civilians do not mess their country, do not trample on their constitution, and they don’t live in Moslem societies, so their militaries do not need to interfere.
In Turkey, in 2002 an Islamist party, the AK Party, came to power by promising to abide by the laic constitution. They did some good in the economy, improved the economy, abated the inflation, but they slowly started to nibble on laicism. Although their portion of the vote was about 34 %, they obtained most of the seats in the parliament, because the many laic parties could not pass the 10 % threshold. Now a new president of the Republic must be elected and a staunch Islamist may be elected by the parliament. The present President is a staunch laicist. He vetoed any law that was anti-laic. The new Islamist president would not do that. Thus, the people are opposed to the election of an Islamist President. Lately, the attacks on laicism have increased. When mild warnings did not do the job, the military announced a written warning, that was a typical ultimatum to the ruling AK Party. Of course nothing else will happen, if the government makes the required corrections according to the constitution. The question is: Will they be wise enough to make those corrections?
Immediately the European Union (EU) protested and accused the Turkish military of destroying Turkish democracy. That is typical ignorance of the Turkish system. Any way Turkey has lost its hope to ever becoming a member of the EU and the European protest will probably be ignored. It is absolutely unwise to prevent Turkish military to take action to preserve laicism in Turkey. That is tantamount to making Turkey weaker, less survivable. Would Europe prefer to see Turkey becoming an Islamic republic? Democracy is of course important, but not as important as the Laic Republic. Also, without laicism there can be no democracy. In Turkey Laicism is holier than democracy. Yet, the millions of Turks gathering to protest in Ankara and in Istanbul, did so as perfect democrats. The majority of them were women who did not want to live under Islamic rule. These meetings were followed by other huge meetings in Canakkale, Manisa, Marmaris and Izmir.
On May 1, 2007 The Turkish Constitutional Court annulled the election of a president on the basis of the parliamentary quorum. No presidential election should proceed unless there are 376 parliamentarians in the room. There were not that many during the election, because the main opposition party had boycotted the session. On May 6 Dr. Gul withdrew his candidacy from the presidential election. Now, a general election will be held as soon as possible. On May 10, the Parliament passed a law that will change the way a republic president is elected. This time he will be elected directly by the people, that is, if President Sezer approves it.
I am surprised to see the American press criticizing the Turkish military to warn the Islamist government. The unspoken agenda of that government is to convert Turkey to an Islamic republic. Is that what our press would like to see? The articles published in Washington Post do not only praise the Islamist government, but smear the millions of democratic demonstrators in Ankara, Istanbul, Canakkale, Manisa, Marmaris, and Izmir. One article by Claire Berlinski states that these people are not liberal, not democratic, and not friendly to the West. Let us start with the Islamist government. It is not as angelic as Ms. Berlinski portrays it. In many small towns, it has converted the bus or street car service to seat men and women separately, it is building parks and beaches for women only, it is forbidding the sale of alcoholic drinks in many places and testing how the people react. It has enriched itself by forcefully overtaking successful businesses. It has accepted all the unacceptable conditions demanded by the EU, that wanted to have Turkey reject the conditions. It would have done a lot more damage to the country if it was not for the fear of the military. It accepted President Bush’s idea of becoming a “Mildly Islamic” country in his Greater Middle East Project. It should have known that it swore on its honor to uphold the constitution that defines Turkey as a laic state. As there is no such thing as a mildly pregnant woman, there is no such thing as a mildly Islamic state. Also, a state cannot be Islamic and laic at the same time. President Bush who is himself very religious, loved it. Yes, “It has gone too far”. That the millions of demonstrators are not liberal or democratic is plain hogwash.
Turkey has a liberal economy and one cannot be more democratic than those people who demonstrated absolutely peacefully all over the country. About not being friendly to the West, that is partly true because the West has not been friendly to them. Here I would like to make a distinction. They may be unfriendly to some Western states but they are full of Western ideals. They are Western people. A country that has been treated like a Pariah and humiliated by the EU cannot be expected to love European states. As long as President Bush’s armed forces protect the PKK terrorists in Northern Iraq, and allows them to kill Turkish soldiers, without allowing the Turkish Army to make a hot pursuit into Northern Iraq, as long as flag-draped soldiers’ coffins keep on coming to Turkish villages, no one can expect them to be friendly to us. Ms. Berlinski was smearing salt on an open wound.
Written by : Orhan Tarhan
(Mr. M. Orhan Tarhan was born in Istanbul, Turkey, where he made his high school education in Turkey’s elite boarding school “Galatasaray”. He won a competitive examination that sent him to his chemical engineering education in Germany between 1937 and 1943. All his professional life he worked for steel industries, as operating engineer in a coke plant in Turkey and after 1953 as research engineer in charge of coke plants in the United States. He published several technical articles, 16 U.S. and foreign patents, and a book titled “Catalytic Reactor Design”. At Bethlehem Steel Corporation, where he worked for a quarter of a century, research engineers were trained continuously in technical report writing. After retiring in 1982, he did several years of consulting and he taught one semester of Catalytic Reactor Design at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA. He learned French at 9, German at 16, and English at 24. )
Today I officially finished my internship in studio Ceccarini & Perri. It was a very nice experience for me. I learnt many things about traditional architecture of Toscana , I learnt things about how italian bureaucracy works about architecture. I met new people. I had to speak italian all the time so I forced myself to improve it=) I got an idea how the working life in Italy is. ( I prefer being a student) I had great time. I thank to Ceccarini, Perri , Galileo, Emilianino , Emiliano V, Laura , Serena and Gabrio ! I’ll come to visit you in the office in September after the vacation =)
“Come, come again, whoever you are, come!
Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come!
Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times,
Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are.”
MEVLANA CELALETTIN RUMI
Who is Mevlana?
Mevlana who is also known as Rumi, was a philosopher and mystic of Islam, but not a Muslim of the orthodox type. His doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love. To him and to his disciples all religions are more or less truth. Looking with the same eye on Muslim, Jew and Christian alike, his peaceful and tolerant teaching has appealed to men of all sects and creeds.
Whirling Dervishes
The “dance” of the Whirling Dervishes is called Sema. Sema is a part of the inspiration of Mevlana as well as part of the Turkish custom, history, beliefs and culture.
 |
Sema represents a mystical journey of man’s spiritual ascent through mind and love to “Perfect.” Turning towards the truth, his growth through love, desert his ego, find the truth and arrive to the “Perfect,” then he return from this spiritual journey as a man who reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation, to all creatures without discrimination of believes, races, classes and nations.
In Prato you can see chinese everywhere. They make many many kids so their population in Prato increases very fast. Italians arent happy about it. They are against them not because they are chinese but they dont like them because they dont respect the rules, they keep their society very closed and they dont speak italian.
Today there’s an article in BBC news about it :
In cities across Italy tension between the Chinese and Italians is high. The rapid influx of Chinese migrant workers and their dramatic impact on the labour market have caught Italy off guard – particularly in the northern industrial heartland.
Today Prato has the largest Chinese community in the country – about 25,000 people, nearly 15% of the city’s population.
And the authorities are worried.
“Many of the Chinese here are ‘clandestini’ – illegal. We have big difficulties catching them. And since they arrived, crime in the city has risen,” says Francesco Nannucci, the head of investigations at the Prato police.
The police patrol Prato’s Chinatown every day – an area full of Chinese shops, services and restaurants. Nearly all of them have sprung up in the last few years.
On one raid, ten undocumented Chinese workers were discovered in a side-street sweatshop, machine-sewing clothes.
There was a child present, beds, a bathroom and a kitchen. They slept, cooked, worked and brought up their children in this small warehouse.
Pronto moda
In the workshop at the back of the warehouse Cheng and his family toil away to produce these clothes in as short a time as possible, as cheaply as possible.
They can undercut the prices – and the wages – of their Italian counterparts. They may be paid as little as 2 euros an hour (£1.50), and 20 dresses might be produced for only 150 euros wholesale.
The clothes are bought by sellers from all over Italy and the rest of Europe.
Prato has become a main distribution centre for what is called “Pronto Moda” or “fast fashion”.
This is a Chinese invention: ‘ made in Italy’ goods produced under Chinese conditions.
Prato has also become a centre for the import of cheap clothing from China itself.
Punta Ala means “Wing Point” because of the shape of this point of land that extends out into the Mediterranean sea toward the Island of Elba in Tuscany near Grossetto. This land was received by Eleonora of Toledo in donation around 1560 and after many invasions by sea and by barbarians she decided to guard her land and to build the tower “Torre Nuova” on the hill which is in front of the Island of Troia and the nearby rocks raising out of the water named “li Porcellini”. Then in 1577 Torre Hildago, a second tower, was built to the North-West on another hill right in front of Piombino.
In the 1700s Feaudalism with its taxes, dues, servitude and priviledges gave way to a better economy with betterment of the swampy areas, extension of agriculture and production of iron, only to name a few.
The pleasant climate, the promising agriculture now with cattle and horse raising, new roads and more natural resorses being utilized, Punta Ala was becoming liberated and free and more inviting in the 1900s. It also lent itself quite well to leisure time activity along the seaside and at the new port completed after 1973.
The Tower of Pisa was a work of art, performed in three stages over a period of about 174 years. Construction of the first floor of the white marble campanile began on August 9, 1173, a period of military success and prosperity. This first floor is surrounded by pillars with classical capitals, leaning against blind arches.
The tower began to sink after construction progressed to the third floor. In an effort to compensate for the tilt, the engineers built higher floors with one side taller than the other. This made the tower begin lean in the other direction. Because of this, the tower is actually curved.[2]
After a phase (1990-2001) of structural strengthening, the tower is currently undergoing gradual surface restoration, in order to repair visual damage, mostly corrosion and blackening. These are particularly strong due to the tower’s age and to its particular conditions with respect to wind and rain.[3]
Galileo Galilei is said to have dropped two cannon balls of different masses from the tower to demonstrate that their descending speed was independent of their mass. This is considered an apocryphal tale, and the only source for it comes from Galileo’s secretary.
Benito Mussolini ordered that the tower be returned to a vertical position, so concrete was poured into its foundation. However, the result was that the tower actually sank further into the soil.[4]
During World War II, the Allies discovered that the Nazis were using it as an observation post. A humble U.S. Army sergeant was briefly entrusted with the fate of the tower. His decision not to call in an artillery strike saved the edifice.[4]
On February 27, 1964, the government of Italy requested aid in preventing the tower from toppling. It was, however, considered important to retain the current tilt, due to the vital role that this element played in promoting the tourism industry of Pisa.[5] A multinational task force of engineers, mathematicians and historians was assigned and met on the Azores islands to discuss stabilization methods. After over two decades of work on the subject, the tower was closed to the public in January 1990. While the tower was closed, the bells were removed to relieve some weight, and cables were cinched around the third level and anchored several hundred meters away. Apartments and houses in the path of the tower were vacated for safety. After a decade of corrective reconstruction and stabilization efforts, the tower was reopened to the public on December 15, 2001. It was found that the lean was increasing due to the stonework expanding and contracting each day due to the heat of sunlight. This was working in combination with the softer foundations on the lower side. Many methods were proposed to stabilize the tower, including the addition of 800 metric tons of lead counterweights to the raised end of the base.[6] The final solution to prevent the collapse of the tower was to slightly straighten the tower to a safer angle, by removing 38 m3 of soil from underneath the raised end. The tower has been declared stable for at least another 300 years.[6]
A huge iron door opends…we are slowly moving inside the field…I am watching the horses running on both sides. I am watching their beauty their dignity. After some minutes when we arrive where we are supposed to be, a tired injured old building greets us. A building which sheltered the farmers before now sheltering the birds.A building from 15th century which has many stories to tell…many stories now burried in silence.
Silence disappears while we are walking in the courtyard of the building…there are so many machines working with a big noise. Inside isnt as peaceful as outside. We are in a temporary office now which used to be a church before. There are plans of the building hang on the wall, there are some untidy desks, a coffee machine. Around the table architects… engineers…italians…and a little turkish girl. “è in Italia perche suo fidanzato è italiano…non capisce una parola”
…ma capite turco al meno quanto io capisco italiano? I say inside myself. I mind it only for a second…I feel too good to mind it so much…I go out of the office looking around. Galileo shows me the buildings, he explains what they do , I take photos in curiosity… Oh my…little little birds in a nest inside the building!…they are extremely cute!! But I should calm down because Galileo is still seriously talking about why they will demolish the concrete columns…ok I am concentrated on what he says…Then while entering from a door I see a lizard, I show it in enthusiasm…” are you scared?”…no, I just love so much. It’s just too beautiful to ignore.
“Only little girls care such things , you are a little girl” says Lorenzo
I am a little girl who spent the day inside a Van Gogh painting today
in Le Cascine di Tavola
On saturday after lunch we went to Florence to Palazzo Strozzi to Cezanne exhibition. l liked it but we were a bit disappointed because we excepted to see more paintings of Cezanne. Although the name of the exhibition was “Cezanne” , there were more paintings which belong to other painters.
Paul Cézanne , (January 19, 1839 – October 22, 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the early 20th century’s new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism. The line attributed to both Matisse and Picasso that Cézanne “is the father of us all” cannot be easily dismissed.
Cézanne’s work demonstrates a mastery of design, colour, composition and draftsmanship. His often repetitive, sensitive and exploratory brushstrokes are highly characteristic and clearly recognisable. Using planes of colour and small brushstrokes that build up to form complex fields, at once both a direct expression of the sensations of the observing eye and an abstraction from observed nature, Cézanne’s paintings convey intense study of his subjects, a searching gaze and a dogged struggle to deal with the complexity of human visual perception.
Cézanne’s explorations of geometric simplification and optical phenomena inspired Picasso, Braque, Gris, and others to experiment with ever more complex multiple views of the same subject, and, eventually, to the fracturing of form. Cézanne thus sparked one of the most revolutionary areas of artistic enquiry of the 20th Century, one which was to affect profoundly the development of modern art.
She’s in the bathroom after getting upset for several things…looking at herself in the mirror, watching her warm tears falling down from her red eyes…she’s looking at her hair…how long it got…She’s breathing irregularly…
It’s a small gloomy bathroom decorated in shades of brown…She cant believe how she finds peace there…she’s listening the silence, she hears only birds and a fly. She cries more when she thinks that she can find peace only in a miserable bathroom.
Then she looks in the mirror again remembering what her mom tells her…” dont let anyone to make you sad”…lt’s not easy…But she’s strong, she has always been so, she’ll always be…Everyone is selfish in this world so she needs to be strong and independent in every situation.
She leaves the bathroom …
click to see better
In the first week l have come to ltaly, while we were going to Florence from Prato at night, we made an accident with the car of Lorenzo on the highway. In the beginning of the highway a TIR appeared just next to our car, so Lorenzo slowed down immediately, just in that moment the car behind us has crashed us. We didnt hear any break voice, he was probably going too close to our car and has been distracted by something so he didnt notice we made a break. lt was pretty strong crash, l hit my arm somewhere in the car and it got bruised. And for whole week after the accident Lorenzo and l had both neckache badly.
After the accident we waited in the highway for half an hour for the police to arrive. lt was very sad to see Lorenzo’s car damaged. The other car didnt have so much damage as ours. it had just front glass broken because of the airbags got opened. When the police came, they asked my passport but l didnt have it with me. Luckily they didnt mind it too much. After that day l carry my passport everywhere with me =)
We turned back home with the truck which carries our car behind…
l have been in ltaly for a month this week. 3 weeks ago l started my internship in Studio Perri & Ceccarini .lt didnt take long to get used to the people who work in the studio.They are all very sweet. In the first day while l was going to the office l was like a little girl who has just started school, holding Lorenzo’s hand tight.
The architect wasnt in the office because she was on honeymoon.So l took her desk in the same room with Serena. l started working in the project which Galileo is responsible with. Luckily he speaks english a bit. Very few but better than nothing. lt helped me a lot to get used to the office environment =)) Coz it was very difficult for me to speak italian with people l dont know. l am already a timid person. l made silly mistake which made people laugh a lot like saying “primo piatto” instead of “primo piano”! After a while l started working with Emiliano on the Travalle project. He cant speak english at all but l got used to the italian language anymore so l understand and speak a lot better. In Travalle we are transforming a medieval villa to seperate little residences.Last friday we went to see the villa. lt’s very beautiful place, the building is very beautiful too. l got amazed. l enjoy working on it.Thanks to it l learnt many things about traditional construction style of Toscana.
Last weekend we went to Punta Ala. What a peaceful place! l like it a lot. The beach the sea the huge garden…But turning back to Prato was a torture. There was traffic in the high way. l have seen traffic jam in the high way the first time in my life…Incredible. ltalian people like cars a lot. They have lack of public transport in the cities so every member in the family has a car. One person= one car
Cars are also perfect instruments to make show for the italian people who like showing a lot. The better car you have, the better you are. The new values of the world. Lorenzo asks me why l like chinese movies…but they are the only place you can see the word “virtue”. Anyway l am not a chinese movie fan. Last week we watched “Hero” with Lorenzo. He hated it but l liked the artistic scenes a lot. l wanted to buy DVD of “Tiger and Dragon” , another chinese movie, but Lorenzo didnt want. Humanity, love and virtue dont sell anymore…they are old fashioned…people die for love only in chinese movies….
 | mr alex on Ephesus |
 | Hannah on As it happens |
 | Unblushing on Usual Loneliness |
 | upsurge on Usual Loneliness |
 | Benny on Usual Loneliness |
