Doesn´t that make you want to slap Russia and China across the face?

Ah, they stole my idea! I have already been "doing" food tourism throughout Turkey for a while now.

Hm, the reaction of a Turkish person of something possibly bad happening in Turkey... "Well, it happens in other countries toooo!"... What an original thing to say... It NEVER happens that Turkish people point towards foreign countries when something bad happens within Turkey

Anyway, I don´t understand how anybody can see if this girl looks 11 or 17 from a blocked picture on which you can´t even see her body. Are you basing her age on her chin? The normal reaction of authorities SHOULD be to investigate further. If she is 17 it is a totally different case than when she is 11, and there are ways to find out what she really is. I don´t think "oh, the ID card lies" is something that should just be taken for true, without further investigation.

Quoting si++

Sex consensual as rape victim didn’t scream, Turkish court rules

 

 

A court in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır has ruled that a rape victim had consensual sex with her assailant because she "did not scream” during the intercourse. 

E.B., a 40-year-old woman with mental disabilities, lost her husband in 2007 and had been living with her three mentally disabled children in a single-room shanty home in Diyarbakır´s Ergani district when the district´s deputy governor found out about her condition and placed her in care in 2009. E.B. was taken to a hospital for health examinations where it was discovered that she was eight months pregnant.  

E.B. and her 14-year-old son said she had been repeatedly raped by their 24-year-old neighbor, İbrahim T., for the past two years. 

The woman said she was too afraid to do anything about the ongoing rape. "When I said I did not want [to have sex with him], he said, ´I will kill you and your children if you refuse.´ His family was wealthy, I couldn´t say anything to anyone." 

A court arrested İbrahim T. after DNA samples that were taken from the baby girl E.B. gave birth to proved that he was the father. Prosecutors charged him with "coercion" and "numerous sexual assaults" and asked for a 17-year prison term. 

The court asked the forensics department to conduct a report on E.B. The report said she was 36 percent mentally disabled and that she could have fought to resist the rape but did not, meaning that the intercourse was consensual. Forensic officials based their report on the fact that E.B. did not scream while being sexually assaulted. 

The court convened on a day when its only female judge, Hatice Polat, was on leave and decided to release İbrahim T. after two years of arrest.

 

Source: here

 ...wow, another one that makes me sick.

Hm, 2000 people by phone to represent the entire Arab world is a bit slim. And I didn´t know Iran was part of the Arab world, but perhaps that´s why it´s between (...). But back to my point, why don´t they just look at travel agency bookings or airline bookings? My guess is that China wouldn´t pop up so high, but Turkey still would.

Good point about the Judo-phobia. I have encountered this so many times, it´s not funny anymore! And I have to say, the media in the Islamic world is not helping either. I remember anti-Jewish remarks from my friends whenever Israel was on the Turkish (and Dutch) news for killing Palestines, but when Palestines were on the Dutch news for killing Israeli´s, somehow it didn´t show up in the Turkish news! And the difference between Israeli and Jewish is also not clear to a lot of people.

The first step in not eating food is saying you are either sick/totally stuffed when you enter a house. Normally I use the "ohhh, I just had such a big meal, my neighbor/aunt/whatever came and gave me homemade food" line. Saying you are sick will only lead to you being force fed special Turkish medicine which will only make you feel sicker. (How is dry coffee mixed with lemon juice going to help me?!)

Than when all the food comes out you say "oh, I wish I hadn´t eaten before I came here, it all looks so gooooood!" Ofcourse, don´t forget to actually NOT eat before you go anywhere. Than you taste a bite of everything on the table. You take some extra bites of the things you actually like. Don´t forget to mention how much you like your favorite dish. This will lead to people ALWAYS making this dish when you come over So next time you won´t have to eat the dishes that are not you favorite.

When the meal is finished, or during the meal, don´t forget to mention all your preferences ones again. For example "I´m not such a sweet tooth, I really love rice!" You won´t insult anybody if you don´t finish your plate. People always cook to much anyway. Some people get insulted if you are able to finish everything! It means they didn´t cook enough. Keep this in mind. Just make sure you taste something, and make a lot of gestures that you are sooo full but it tasted soooo good.

In Math results on a highschool level boys and girls in the Netherlands a gender gap is not visible. American research has also shown that 40 years ago boys were better than girls in Math, but over time this gap has decreased steadily, making it minimal in recent years. The gendergap in Math skills is visible in some countries, and not in others. This points towards a cultural gap, rather than a gap in actual skills. Math (and chess) is presented as a "boy thing", whereas foreign languages (and perhaps dancing, or baking cupcakes) are presented as a "girl thing."

So, in my opinion the best female chessplayer will not "always" be worst than the best male player. It is a matter of time, and breaking cultural barriers. The number of female candidates winning Math competitions has also been steadily climbing in Europe over recent years, so chess is next!

For the people who like the science behind it, this is a research done in 69 countries, pointing towards, amongst other, school enrollment of girls as a determinant of math skills, and not weither a kid has a hoha or a wiwi http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-136-1-103.pdf

Ofcourse every Turkish man is different. But it is true that the percentage of women working outside of their home is low, especially compared to neighboring countries in the West (not that much compared to the East). Perhaps this is a sign of an overall shared vision by both Turkish men AND women that women should stay at home and not work. But ofcourse, this is a general number and does not represent everybody in the country. In any case, I can say that Turkish men are very jealous compared to Dutch men But perhaps not compared to, for example, Iranian men. I did hear the comment "I trust my wife, I just don´t trust the men walking outside" many times for Turkish men to keep their wives inside their houses. Perhaps some informative classes in school are needed for boys, about how you should not hit on every woman you see?

You can take some preparation courses online and with cd´s and such, watch Turkish movies and tv to get used to the sound. Ofcourse, practise speaking with any Turkish person you can find (even if it´s only by phone). You´ll only be able to really learn Turkish once you live there. Especially when you go to Karaman I have taken some language courses in Istanbul, and found out it helped me a lot in Istanbul itself, but once I´ve travelled to other places the accents were so different I had difficulty to understand people, or to be understood. Learning by living is the best option.

Wow, indeed! What a way to abuse het death for making their own point. This is somebody´s mother! And excuse me, but since when does Islam have the grabhold of healthy living? Like everybody who´s not a Muslim is a freaking junky or something... Shame on them for abusing such a horrible moment for promoting their religion.