Let´s be politically correct then... I feel an Israeli involvement in this....

This is a feeling and it is personal not to be understood as something I am trying to push.

Furthermore, I know a couple of Jewish Turks who are obviously pro-Israeli in the way they perceive this whole business.

The best way would be being able to see things as they are without taking into accounts the partiality stemming from one´s ethnic roots. We are often making this mistake ourselves. In the end, nations form interest groups, just like companies or  governments do. Never heard Sony do any sort of self-criticism, nor do I know any US president drawing a dim image of his country. We are good you are kind of bad; we are innocent but you have blood on your hands. This is the way we handle problems occurring betweeen us.

Barba, check out last few statements made by the Israeli government and other Jewish institutions around the world in the aftermath of the incident and tell me what you think about it. I wonder if you could establish a link between the two incidents too.

Happy Birthday Catwoman.

Can you tell us about the crisis you are going through a little bit more? We don´t know what is happening in Greece. When I was there things were looking normal. Although, I remember seeing a protest gathering in the street.

By the way, I misspelled Plaka.

Welcome Eyvenia,

A couple of years ago, I spent a day in Athens. Your rich archelogical museum and Acropolis took so much time to see which left behind little time to get to know the city but I did eat at Pilaki, saw this unique brandy bar with bottles of all colors and travelled a bit around Athens. On the whole, the city did not feel very foreign to me. It is a bit like Izmir. The holiday places are a lot calmer. The islands reminded me of our Bodrum, Marmaris or Kusadasi 30 years ago.

Everyone I met there cautioned me against the EU. They kept saying neighbor stay away from the EU, it has ruined our lives. I don´t know how you feel about it but I also think the EU was a very bad idea.

You seem to be pretty certain that the moon landings were a hoax. I have always believed it is necessary to have sound knowledge before you can affirm or deny something. This one is a bit tricky however.

We owe virtually all our information about the outer space to the two pioneering countries. For decades, we have watched them launch their rockets, do space walks and perform landings. It is obvious that there may be a dark side to this whole business. Maybe, the landings were indeed faked and this was done at the order or at least with the consent of the government. Maybe, the government thought they were actually doing the landings and were fooled by the NASA. Maybe they actually landed on the moon.

Since all processes seem to get better with time, we might expect that it must have become a lot easier to perform further landings. Now that it has been more than 40 years since the first landing, it would not be inconceivable to have stationary bases on the moon by now. Now that the landing site has also a monumental importance in the history of mankind as it was spelled out Armstrong the astronaut himself, the close ups of this location could have been provided for public view.

These guys brought vehicles to the moon using the technology available to them 40 years ago. This time around, we might expect them to launch a base with docking stations for space craft traffic and a stationary lab. Since it is very easy to land on and take off from the moon, such a base would serve a convenient terminal for sophisticated space missions.

I know these things are easier said than done but denying their feasibility would also mean denying the progressive nature of man. We must be very close to that end. If we are not, there must be something wrong somewhere.

The US used the moon landing as a tool to establish itself as a super power, an omnipotent nation capable of realizing one of the dreams of humanity. There are myriad of consequences which were good for the US and bad for its rivals.

In the end, if all of this was a hoax, it is inevitable that some of this respect will erode and the history will have to be re-rewritten. If you delete this part of the history all that we have will be Russian achievements in space. At least, we believe they are real.

Lemon, why don´t you read the salvo of statements between the governments of the two countries? 

I sense some sort of Jewish involvement in this. There is an interesting parallelism with the things they said in the aftermath of the flotilla crisis. 

Depending on the region you live in Turkey, there are different sets of traditions which the locals observe quite strictly. This point is considered as a token of respect shown to bride´s and groom´s families. 

The general pattern of village and small town wedding parties usually involve separate celebrations organized by bride´s and groom´s families. Bride´s family organize a kina gecesi attended by the women from both sides and bride´s girl friends. It is an all woman celebration. They sing traditional songs with themes like sorrow felt over having to abondon one´s family and joy of marriage, forming a new family. This usually happens in a ceremonial pattern and women often play and dance together and cook meals. In some places, there is also a Turkish bath celebration where women from both sides reserve the place for their celebrations.

On the groom´s side, there is a jubilant atmosphere. Groom´s best man (sadic) takes up the job of keeping his morale high. Since, there is no premarital sexuality in a small town setting (in theory) the first night has a special importance for both bride and groom. Again in theory, they spend their lives waiting for this day to taste something which they don´t have the first idea about. Kina gecesi and groom´s celebration also serve as an opportunity where these matters are talked about and where suggestions are given usually in a cultural and religious context.

Naturally, we have a very nervous bride and groom and in places where customs are the most strictly observed, the blood stained sheet of the first night bed must be shown or delivered to the families. Groom´s friends accompany him to the bride´s room often slapping on his back. Some do this lightly and some harshly. We can think of a practical benefit gained from the increase of adrenaline due to pain.

Picture yourself, having your first experience with a woman and you need to produce a blood stained sheet as a proof of your achievement. Add to that the psychology of the bride and you can tell the amount of panic and anxiety.

Again I should stress, these traditions tend to be old fashioned and local, in the big city, you can observe just faint references to these traditions in many weddings. I would say they are more European than Turkish these days.

OK. AlphaF thinks the word blasphemy has a different meaning in the Islamic faith. Since the forum language is English, I have to respond in English. I may be 100% wrong and he may be right. It is up to those who are interested to find out what is right and what is wrong.  The Internet is full of references. You can either do the Waka Waka or Wiki Wiki it is up to you.

For the time being, I include a list of items which are considered acts of blasphemy in Islam. Source: Wikipedia

• speaking ill of Allah.^[9]
• finding fault with Prophet Muhammad.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

• slighting a prophet who is mentioned in the Quran,^[15] or slighting a member of Prophet Muhammad´s family.^{[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]}

• claiming to be a prophet or a messenger.^[26][27][28]

• speculating about how Prophet Muhammad would behave if he were alive (Nigeria).^[29][30]

• drawing a picture to represent Prophet Muhammad^{[12][31][32][33][34]} or any other prophet,^[12] or making a film which features a prophet (Egypt).^[35][36]

• writing Prophet Muhammad´s name on the walls of a toilet (Pakistan).^[37]

• naming a teddy bear Muhammad (Sudan).^[38][39]

• stating facts such as: Prophet Muhammad´s parents were not Muslims (Pakistan).^[40][41]

• invoking Allah while committing a forbidden act.^[8]

[edit]Blasphemy against beliefs and customs

Individuals have been accused of blasphemy or of insulting Islam for:

• finding fault with Islam.^{[42][43][44][45]}

• saying Islam is an Arab religion; prayers five times a day are unnecessary; and the Quran is full of lies (Indonesia).^[46]

• believing in transmigration of the soul or reincarnation or disbelieving in the afterlife (Indonesia).^[47][48]

• finding fault with a belief or a practice which the Muslim community (Ummah) has adopted.^[47]

• finding fault with or cursing apostles, prophets, or angels.^[47]

• expressing an atheist or a secular point of view^{[6][20][49][50][51][52]} or publishing or distributing such a point of view.^{[5][20][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62]}

• using words that Muslims use because the individuals were not Muslims (Malaysia).^[25][63][64]

• praying that Muslims become something else (Indonesia).^[65]

• whistling during prayers (Indonesia).^[66]

• flouting the rules prescribed for Ramadan.^[66]

• reciting Muslim prayers in a language other than Arabic (Indonesia).^[66]

• consuming alcohol.^[66][67]

• gambling.^[66]

• being alone with persons of the opposite sex who are not blood relatives.^[66]

• finding amusement in Islamic customs (Bangladesh).^{[68][69][70][71]}

• publishing an unofficial translation of the Quran (Afghanistan).^[72]

• practicing yoga (Malaysia).^[73]

• watching a film or listening to music (Somalia).^[74]

• wearing make-up on television (Iran).^[75]

• insulting religious scholarship.^[8]

• wearing the clothing of Jews or of Zoroastrians.^[8]

• claiming that forbidden acts are not forbidden.^[8]

• uttering "words of infidelity" (sayings that are forbidden).^[8]

• participating in non-Islamic religious festivals.^[8]

[edit]Blasphemy against artifacts

Individuals have been accused of blasphemy or of insulting Islam for:

• touching a Quran or touching something that has touched a Quran because the individuals were not Muslim (Nigeria).^{[76][77][78][79]}

• damaging a Quran^{[80][81][82][83]} or other books of importance to Islam, for example, hadith (Pakistan).^[47]

• spitting at the wall of a mosque (Pakistan).^[84][85]

TDK dictionary sites a Persian root word gavur and an Arabic one for kafir. The similarity between these two words may indicate it being a loan word for either of these two languages. We seem to have imported both versions. Both words have more or less the same meaning. The word Kufr in Arabic means blasphemy and kafir is the one who commits blasphemy. The plural küffar also exists as a loan word in our language. Until quite recently, these words were freely used to describe non-muslims. It was normal for the past statesmen and historians to use them. Somewhere in between, the politically correct "gayri-müslüm" was introduced. This one is still in use and therefore there is no need to invent a new word.

As a general information for word inventors, words are not prescribed by a group of people for public use. Instead, languages evolve in their own natural course. Don´t think you are not contributing to your mother tongue. Your very existence is instrumental in eroding certain uses and paving the path for novelties which must take place in a relatively longer period of time. The so called prescriptive approach belongs to the past. Curiously, language reformers usually flourished at the times of dictators. In one example, Adolf Hitler issued a command for the German linguists to gather evidence to establish the German language as the proto-language mentioned in the Bible as bestowed upon man by God which was altered when they attempted to build the Tower of Babel to reach heaven.