Hoş bulduk tunci.

I understand what you mean, HaNNo. You wonder why cep telefonu is not marked with accusative if in fact it is a definite object. And if it was not definite why there is no indefinite article.

It is an important question seldom discussed in Turkish language forums.

English uses indefinite article. So does Turkish. But they are only partly the same.

Four referential statuses can be identified in Turkish:

1. DEFINITE: Çocuklar arabayı yıkadılar. ‘The children washed the car.’

2. INDEFINITE: Bir odada birtakım kutular vardı. ‘There were some boxes in a room.’

3. CATEGORIAL: Sen daha çocuksun. ‘You are still a child.’ (The noun phrase indicates merely ‘the kind’ to which reference is made, the distinction between singular and plural is neutralized which shows in sentences like Kitap okuyor ´He is reading a book/books´.)

4. GENERIC: Eskiden çocuk, büyüklerine saygı gösterildi. ‘In the past, a child showed respect to his elders.’ (The noun phrase refers to any typical member of a class.)

English and Turkish differ in statuses 3 and 4 where English in general uses indefinite article but Turkish does not.

In your examples

Sağ eliyle sol kol|u|n|u tutuyor

Sol eliyle cep telefon|u tutuyor 

the objects are of the types 1 and 4. sol kolunu is definite, a certain person’s left arm. But I think cep telefonu in the second sentence has a generic reference. It is any phone, a typical member of its class  -  but certainly only one, so the categorial status is not possible.

If I am right  -  let’s see what natives say  -  I think the second sentence translates as ‘He is holding a mobile phone by his left hand.’

(Göksel  -  Kerslake: Turkish  -  a Comprehensive Grammar 2005)

Now that you ask  -  yes.

Behaving oneself is another thing. Insulting other people´s feelings seldom gives good results.

I cannot believe my eyes. The forum language is supposed to be English. Even if every single Turk ignored it it is still English.

What thehandsom wrote about is freedom of word, the right to think differently and express it in public. These values do not seem very popular at TC but I support them always and everywhere.

It is so cool that he is back.

How could a reflexive verb take an accusative object (or any object to that point)?

Altından Ağacın Olsa Zümrütten Yaprak

Akıbet Gözünü Doyurur bir Avuç Toprak

The oldest cemetery of Istanbul is Karacaahmet Mezarlığı in Üsküdar. It covers an area of 3 square kilometres and retains in its tombs and stones the history of 700 years. Many learned men, religious scholars and other notables of the city  -  as well as a number of ordinary city dwellers which rises up to millions  -  were buried in Karacaahmet over the centuries.

Karacaahmet cemetery was named after a famous Muslim mystic and Bektashi of the 14^th century. The cemetery was first established to serve the Bektashi community and Janissaries which were closely connected. Karaca Ahmet Sultan himself was buried in Manisa, but he has a symbolic tomb in Üsküdar also.

There was a reason for the cemetery to be located far away from the city center. Üsküdar had a special meaning for believers and it was seen as a good place for a final resting place.

O zamanlar hacca gidenler, Üsküdar´a geçtikleri andan itibaren sanki Kâbe´deymiş gibi kemâl-i edeple davranmaya özen gösterirlerdi. On those days Muslim pilgrims became attentive to the perfection of behavior which is observed in Kaaba as soon as they passed the strait to Üsküdar.

The graves are of two types: stone-covered sepulchres and wood-covered graves which were dug straight to the ground. The oldest headstone in Karacaahmet dates back to 1520 but in general there are hardly any memorials left from the 16^th century. Most of the stones were placed there three hundred years later.

Başlıklar mezarda yatan kişinin cinsiyeti, mesleği, rütbesi, sosyal mevkii, ailesi, felsefi ve dünya görüşü, ölüm şekli ve yaşadığı dönemle ilgili bilgiler verir. The headstones give information such as the gender, profession, military rank, social position, family, view of life, cause of death and lifespan of the person who was buried in the grave.

While the city around has been modernized Karacaahmet like so many historical sights has also suffered serious damage and its cultural value has not always been understood. New roads have divided it into slices and the living demand space from the dead. Parts of Karacaahmet cemetery were needed for new graves.

Mezarlığın çok önemli bir bölümü olan Seyitahmet deresi ve buradaki İranlılar Tekkesi de son yıllarda Karacaahmet´in bütünlüğünden çıkarılmış, dere yatağı tahrip edilmiş ve yaklaşık 35.000 m2 lik bir alan nakliyat şirketlerinin ambarı haline getirilmiştir. Seyitahmet valley which was a very important part of the cemetery, including the Iranian dervish lodge, was also separated from the wholeness of the cemetery in recent years. The old stream bed was ruined and an area of approximately 35 000 square metres became the warehouse of transport companies.

Many bird species nest in the cemetery. Most of the trees are cypresses but planes, bays and hackberries as well as numerous different plants also shadow the city of the dead.

http://www.azizistanbul.com/mezar.asp

http://haber.mynet.com/istanbulda-bulunan-gayri-muslim-mezarliklari-613622-ilginc-haberler/

http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karacaahmet_Mezarl%C4%B1%C4%9F%C4%B1

http://www.tarihbilinci.com/forum/mimari-eserler-68/karacaahmet-mezarligi-13107/

http://www.ihyaforum.com/tarih/28817-karacaahmet-mezarligi-tarihcesi-ve-onemi.html

Yes Erdoğan is a great populist. Even when he speaks abroad he speaks to Turks.

I see the populism of this comment differently, though. Recommending people to have more children in this overpopulated world always means encouraging to unsustainable development which in the long run is irresponsible no matter who says it.

I agree with stumpy, modesty in consuming is the best life style for both children and adults and if we don´t know yet how to find quality of life in immaterial things it is time to learn it. But I have a feeling there are places in this world where poor people just dream of putting their children to sleep with a full stomach.

Great attitude, melissa_oz. Thank you for it. I expected to be ignored or given a sour answer.

Go on discussing, do not let me interrupt.

In English please. I will not bother to tell you why.

**) To be exact, there is another reason also. olmak is used as a hanger

in cases where you have grammatical markers in your hands and you don´t know where to put them. Like the future marker  -  you cannot attach it into an adjective, can you?

Benim de arabam var.

> Benim de arabam olacak.