It´s not in my Redhouse as such, but I was told that one of the Turkish names for ladybug is lucky bug.

I was talking with some friends in eastern Turkey when I spotted a ladybug on a concrete walkway where it was in danger of being stepped on. I got it to crawl onto my hand and put it in some bushes. My friends (most of whom spoke little English) seemed to respect this quite a bit and one of them told me that it´s name was lucky bug and it was good that I had rescued it.

They wanted to tell me more but we couldn´t communicate well enough to share further details.

Me too. The weddings I attended in Turkey were such happy affairs. My sympathies to the victims and to their survivors.

That´s a nice, conciliatory thought. Except...

He edited the October 15, 2007 publication date out of his cut-and-paste, thus very strongly implying that it was a current story. That´s dishonest. That´s the sort of thing trolls do.

Later on in his cut-and-paste, he edited the November 31, 2007 date out of the event schedule, demonstrating that he is not only dishonest but not especially bright. Thirty days has September, etc.

"American Facism Awareness Day" was a hoax. In 2007, some college students wrote and distributed a rather unclever flier  on "American Facism Awareness Day" which set off a minor furore at their campus. The perpetrators came out with an immediate retraction/explanation.  For anyone wanting details, including the retraction, check out some of the links at:

http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/islamo_fascism_awareness_week/

Only a dedicated troll would post this sort of inflammatory garbage on this forum at this late date.

In the runup to Obama´s visit, Turkey has been getting a lot more news coverage than usual in U.S. news media. Yesterday I heard a little piece on Efes on National Public Radio and today a quite long BBC piece on the graves excavations in the Southeast and the related political controversies.

The New York Times has an intersting editorial today at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/opinion/04sat1.html?ref=opinion

The text of the editorial is:

Mr. Obama and Turkey

President Obama has wisely decided to visit Turkey during his first official trip to Europe. The United States needs Turkey’s cooperation — in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as with Iran and efforts to broker Middle East peace. But there are also very worrying trends in Turkey’s relationship with Europe and its internal politics.

Mr. Obama must do all he can to help reverse those trends and anchor Turkey more firmly in the West.

The Justice and Development Party scored an impressive re-election in 2007 after pursuing market-oriented policies that brought economic growth and more trade ties with the European Union. That conservative Muslim party also expanded human rights and brought Turkish law closer to European standards.

Those reforms have since stalled — partly because of opposition from civilian nationalists and generals who still wield too much clout. (The trial of 86 people accused of plotting a military coup is a reminder of the dark side of Turkish politics.) But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also seems to have lost enthusiasm for the European Union bid and the reforms that are the price of admission. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has been especially unhelpful, making clear that he will do all he can to keep Turkey out of the European Union. Mr. Obama must persuade Mr. Sarkozy and others that admitting Turkey — a Muslim democracy — is in everyone’s interest. And he must persuade Ankara that the required reforms will strengthen Turkey’s democracy and provide more stability and growth.

We are concerned about Mr. Erdogan’s increasingly autocratic tendencies. His government’s decision to slap the media mogul Aydin Dogan with a $500 million tax bill smacks of retaliation against an independent press that has successfully exposed government corruption. Ankara’s willingness to help rebuild schools in Afghanistan is welcome. But the situation there is dire, and NATO also needs more troops and needs access to Turkish military bases to facilitate the transport of American soldiers and equipment into Afghanistan and out of Iraq.

Ankara has played a positive role, mediating indirect talks between Israel and Syria. With Washington’s encouragement, Mr. Erdogan could also use his relationships with Iran, Sudan and Hamas to encourage improved behavior.

Turkey’s cooperation with Iraqi Kurds has vastly improved. There are also reports that Turkey and Armenia may soon normalize relations.

We have long criticized Turkey for its self-destructive denial of the World War I era mass killing of Armenians. But while Congress is again contemplating a resolution denouncing the genocide, it would do a lot more good for both Armenia and Turkey if it held back. Mr. Obama, who vowed in the presidential campaign to recognize the event as genocide, should also forbear.

The Bush administration’s disastrous war in Iraq fanned a destructive anti-Americanism in Turkey. Mr. Obama’s visit is likely to soothe hostile feelings. But he must go beyond that to secure a relationship with an important ally and an important democracy in danger of backsliding.

It can be very difficult to find a downed plane in rough terrain, especially in the bad weather being described. Sometimes it takes months. The uncertainty and dread must be tearing the family members to pieces.

I feel very badly about the victims of this accident. In my mind there is a constant image of the poor reporter with a broken leg who is freezing to death while waiting for help. I know nothing of the politics or history of the people  in this crash and I am sad for them all. I don´t understand those who feel no sympathy or compassion for victims of an  accident like this.

There was a plane crash in my city last Sunday: no survivors. Seven adults killed, seven children killed. Three families wiped out. Perhaps this has clouded my thinking on the subject.

My knowledge of the subject is very much second-hand but since nobody else is stepping up here, I´ll give it my best shot. Perhaps one of our Turkish members will confirm, correct or clarify my information.

A guy, and friend, who worked for me in Turkey had to leave work for a few months to fulfill his obligation so that is the basis of my information. Assuming your friend is a college graduate, he should face much the same situation.

As a college graduate, my friend had the option of putting in six months as a private soldier at no pay or putting in two years as a paid officer. Since he had a wife and young child, as well as a steady job, he chose the six months.

He had to go to the regional center one day in October for testing and evaluation. On the basis of this, he went off to his service in mid-December. He took no leave during his service, as that would have  extended his time, and actually put in just a bit less than six months. The evaluation day and departure day were the same for all military inductees in the country; the dates are not staggered.

A Turkish man living abroad can also pay to have his military time cut down to only three weeks, as discussed in this link:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080216161236AApFYbX

It´s not a cheap way to get out: sums of 5000 to over 7000 Euros are mentioned in the discussion.

They´re known as Rocky Mountain Oysters where I live and are greatly prized in some circles. There´s even a yearly festival featuring them:

http://www.testyfesty.com/

The festival also features a lot of drunk people, drunken fights etc. so I´ve never attended it. Years ago I used to help rancher friends at branding time and sometimes was in charge of cutting the bull calves. Some of the old guys were very fond of them so we saved them and gave them to them. They claimed that the best way to serve them was diced and cooked in scrambled eggs.

I´m not sure what dialect of English you speak: certainly no U.S. speakers pronounce the "z" in azure the same as the "z" in craze. As Melek74 notes, the same "zh" sound is heard in leisure and measure.

Similarly, in over a year living in eastern Turkey among exclusive Turkish speakers, I never heard anyone pronounce the Turkish "j" like the sound in English jam, jar or Japan. The sound of the English "jar" would be spelled "car" in Turkish, the English "John" is Turkish "Can" etc.

I can´t speak to the British pronunciation, but Turkish "j" corresponds to the most common American pronunciation of the second "g" in "garage".

Some Americans do pronounce it with a "d" plus the "g" sound, as you hear in the last sound in the word "judge" but the first pronunciation is more common.

The Turkish "j" can also be described as "zh" as in Dr. Zhivago, which although a Russian name, is pronounced correctly by most English speakers.

The same sound also occurs as the "z" in azure.

Another way of looking at it is that Turkish "Jandarma" is pronounced identically to the French/English "Gendarme" , except for the final "a" vowel in "Jandarma", which is silent in the English.