Who is Rip van Winkle?

It is a book written by Washington Irwing and it depicts the life of early Dutch settlers in New York. The chief character is Rip and his wife is Dame Van Winkle. Dame Van Winkle is an angry woman and Rip is a henpecked man. When I read it, I laughed a lot. Suggested but the language might be a bit old fashioned.

Turkish football guilty of match-fixing, court rules

He might have been convicted of match-fixing, but yesterday’s scenes proved that Aziz Yıldırım is a more powerful figure amongst Fenerbahçe fans after having spent a year in jail.
The Fener chairman was sentenced to six years in prison, but was released from Metris Prison based on time served.

When head judge announced that Yıldırım would be released, the atmosphere in the courtroom was akin to a stadium just after a team has scored a dramatic goal. A few minutes later, Ekinci announced that Yıldırım had been convicted, but even the fact that the chairman could enter the prison again if his appeal is rejected could not put Fenerbahçe fans – both inside and outside the courtroom - off.

Fenerbahçe fans, just like Yıldırım, believed all along that the case was an attempt to dethrone the president and take over the club chair. They have staged many protests and confronted the police, which was highly rare for Turkish football fans, and waited for the end of the case. There is a good chance that Yıldırım, now a convicted man, might go to jail again. But yesterday’s scenes showed that even if he loses his chair and a fresh face takes over, Yıldırım will remain the true chairman of the club – at least in Fenerbahçe fans’ hearts.

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This is not a place where you can display your personal conflicts in your private affairs. Use e-mails or PM´s for that purpose.

İstanbul´da Adalar´a 4 şarap şişesi götürmek isteyen bir kadının, İDO görevlileri tarafından engellendiği iddia edildi

İddiayı ortaya atan, Milliyet Gazetesi yazarı ve ünlü gurme Vedat Milor, köşeşinde şöyle yazdı:"Ceren Sungu, Kabataş’tan deniz otobüsüne binip adaya benim evime geliyor. Yanında dört şarap taşıyor. İDO’dan içeri almıyorlar şarap var diye. Üstelik de oradaki görevli kızcağıza bağırıp onu azarlıyor."

İDO’dan özür

İstanbul Deniz Otobüsleri A.Ş´nin (İDO) konuyla ilgili açıklaması ise şöyle:
 
"Adalar’a gitmek üzere İDO Kabataş Deniz Otobüsü İskelesi’ne gelen bir yolcumuzun, yanında bulunan dört şişe şarapla gemiye binmesine bir güvenlik görevlisince izin verilmediğine ilişkin haberler kamuoyuna yansımıştır. İDO’nun alkollü içkilerin kapalı şişelerinde taşınmasıyla ilgili kısıtlayıcı bir düzenlemesi bulunmamaktadır. Söz konusu haberle ilgili araştırma başlatılmış olup, güvenlik görevlisinin tutumu güvenlik amirliğimiz tarafından incelenmektedir. Yaşanan bu olay nedeniyle mağdur olan yolcumuzdan özür dileriz."

Brief translation:

A passanger carrying 4 bottles of wine with her was not allowed to get on a sea bus by an IDO (the company operating the sea buses in İstanbul) person in charge.

The problem was reported by Vedat Milor in his column in a daily newspaper.

An IDO official later apologized saying there is no such prohibition and it was an individual event.

Source: here

Athens, newspapers riled over Turkish prime minister´s ´minority´ statement

AA photo

Greek newspapers have accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of provocation after Erdoğan referred to the Turks in western Thrace as the "Turkish minority," daily Milliyet reported today.

Erdoğan sent a congratulatory message to the Fraternity, Equality and Peace Party (DEP) in Greece to mark the 21st anniversary of the party, which was founded by members of the minority community there. 

"Our kin in western Thrace has always had a special place in our hearts," Erdoğan said in his message. "That is why it is very important that our kin exercises their rights, which have been guaranteed by international agreements, to their full extent."

"We will always stand by the Turkish minority in western Thrace, as we have done up to this day," Erdoğan said. 

The Turkish prime minister also expressed his hope that the minority in western Thrace and the Greek Orthodox minority in Turkey would serve as "a bridge of friendship" between the two countries. 

The Greek Foreign Ministry responded to Erdoğan´s message saying there was no such thing as a "Turkish minority" in the international agreements to which Erdoğan referred in his message.

Greek newspaper Demokratia carried the story with the headline "Erdoğan provokes" and said, "Erdoğan has shown his true colors once again. He calls Greek Muslims Turks and tries to appear as their benefactor."

Etnos newspaper said, "Erdoğan´s government is very interested in creating a minority issue in Thrace, and they are very good at it."

Official Greek numbers say around 49,000 ethnic Turks live in Thrace, while western Thrace culture and education associations put the number at around 150,000.

From: here

From: here

Turkish divers ´rescue´ blow-up sex doll from sea

(Reuters) - Turkish rescue workers retrieved an inflatable sex doll from the Black Sea after police were notified by panicked residents who mistook it for a woman´s body floating offshore, Milliyet newspaper reported on Sunday.

Police cordoned off a wide stretch of beach in northern Samsun province and sent a team of divers into the water to rescue what appeared to be a drowning woman, it said.

The team quickly discovered it was in fact a blow-up doll, which they deflated before throwing in the garbage, the daily said.

It was not clear where the blow-up doll had came from. The Black Sea is a key tourism destination for Turks and also sees busy international maritime shipping traffic.

I live in Samsun. I would want to help

Mayan calendar benefits Turkish town

An international organization called the Blue Energy Group thinks only Şirince and a French village, Bugarach, will not be affected by havoc. AA Photo

People who believe Şirince village in İzmir’s Selçuk town will be a haven from destruction predicted to begin Dec. 21 by the Mayan calendar will flood the town during the Christmas holiday this year.

An international organization called the Blue Energy Group thinks only Şirince and a French village, Bugarach, will not be affected by havoc. This belief has made Şirince village, which is already a popular summer tourism destination with its authentic architectural structure, very popular this year for the Christmas holiday.

Members of the Blue Energy Group have reserved nearly all the accommodations in the village.

A tourism manager in the village, Engin Vatan, said the village had not received foreign guests between Dec. 15 and 31 in past years but this year was different. “Reservations have been continuing since the beginning of the year. We have never had foreign guests during the Christmas holiday, but this year we have guests from all around the world. Almost all the rooms in the village have been sold,” he said.
The residents of Şirince are also very pleased. A local man, İbrahim Kataç, said, “I wish such rumors always existed. Then more people and more customers would come to the village and trade would be revived here.”

From: here

If I were to beleive all the times that the end of the earth was predicted in my lifetime, I would have put a bullet long ago in my head   I came cloe Dec 31st 1999... the whole cellular network got overloaded, could not make a single call 

Turkey´s science state council halts publication of evolution books

Charles Darwin. Hürriyet photo

The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) has put a stop to the publication and sale of all books in its archives that support the theory of evolution, daily Radikal has reported.

The evolutionist books, previously available through TÜBİTAK´s Popular Science Publications’ List, will no longer be provided by the council.

The books have long been listed as “out of stock” on TÜBİTAK´s website, but their further publication are now slated to be stopped permanently.

Books by Richard Dawkins, Alan Moorehead, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Levontin and James Watson are all included in the list of books that will no longer be available to the Turkish readers.
 
In early 2009, a huge uproar occurred when the cover story of a publication by TÜBİTAK was pulled reportedly because it focused on Darwin’s theory of evolution.

The incident led to intense criticism and resulted in finger-pointing by various officials of that publication and its parent institute.

A few months later, the article in question appeared as the publication’s cover story.

Source: here