Tosun Paşa - Hamam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gByui4rYHLE

Meltem, if you want to see how the poor cling to their religious beliefs, than watch this Italian movie:

You will seldom encounter a film that depicts a people and a culture with greater authenticity and sensitivity. The Tree of Wooden Clogs was justly awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. This film is in Italian with English subtitles. The DVD extras include a theatrical trailer and photo gallery. Although this film has a running time of almost three hours (177 minutes), it is never boring and holds viewer interest throughout. I highly recommend it.

clinging to religion is based on a strong emotional need approaching desperation. It is in times of helplessness and trouble that people turn to God.

Nobody could express this need for religion in hard times better than Chekhov in his "Uncle Vanya".

I know how you feel, thehandsom, first I thought the building collapsed because it was poorly constructed -- now I read
a gas leak from kitchen pipes caused a powerful explosion, leaving also at least 27 people injured. Gaspipe explosions can occur in any part of the world. This has nothing to do with religion.

http://www.arabia.msn.com/Channels/msnnews/article.aspx?CatID=2&ID=550237&S=Read

The Yazidi are adherents of the smallest of the three branches of Yazdânism, a Middle Eastern religion with ancient Indo-European roots. Yazidis are primarily Kurdish speaking, and most live in the Mosul region of northern Iraq. There are traditional communities in Transcaucasia, Turkey, and Syria, but these have declined since the 1990s, their members emigrating to Europe, especially to Germany.
The term Dasni or Dasny is misunderstood. A large Yezidi-clan/tribe is called Dasni. There are many Yazidis who belong to the tribe, and the two terms are sometimes seen as interchangeable. The Yazidis don´t use it for self-designation.
Yazidis make up an important Iraqi minority community. Estimates of the size of the Iraqi communities vary significantly, between 70,000 and 500,000. The Georgian community has declined significantly (decreasing from 30,000 during the 1990s to an estimated 14,000 in 2008), while communities in Armenia have been more stable (some 40,000 according to 2001 census). In Russia, the Yazidi population totals 31,273 (2002 census). In Syria, there are two main groupings, in the Jazira and the Kurd Daege, accounting for about 15,000 people. In Turkey, there are now just a very small remnant in some villages south-east of Diyarbakir, remnants of a community of some 80,000 in 1970 (declined to 23,000 in 1985 and to 377 people in 2007[citation needed]).
The Yazidi number around 200,000 to 300,000 individuals in total, but estimates vary on their population size, partially due to the Yazidi tradition of secrecy when asked about one´s religious beliefs. Lower estimates are around 100,000, and high estimates around 700,000. Expatriate Yazidi are concentrated in Germany, numbering between 20,000 and 40,000, mainly in Niedersachsen and Nordrhein-Westfalen, most of them from Turkey. A much smaller diaspora community is found in the Netherlands. Very small groups are also found in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the US, Canada and Australia, probably totalling to below 5,000 people.
Yazidi men in Mardin, late 19th century
The origins of Yazidism are ultimately shrouded in Middle Eastern prehistory. Although the Yazidis speak Kurdish, their religion shows strong influence from archaic Levantine religion, Islam and Christianity. Their principal holy site is in Lalish, northeast of Mosul. The Yazidis´ own name for themselves is Êzidî or Êzîdî or, in some areas, Dasinî (the latter, strictly speaking, is a tribal name). Some scholars have derived the name Yazidi from Old Iranic yazata (divine being), while others say it is a derivation from Umayyad Caliph Yazid I (Yazid bin Muawiyah), revered by the Yazidis as an incarnation of the divine figure Sultan Ezi (this is no longer widely accepted). Yazidis, themselves, believe that their name is derived from the word Yezdan or Êzid meaning God; however in ancient vernaculars of Kurdistan such as Urartian the term izid-u means "command" or "admonish". The Yazidis´ cultural practices are observably Kurdish, and almost all speak Kurmanjî (Northern Kurdish), with the exception of the villages of Bashiqa and Bahazane in Northern Iraq, where Arabic is spoken. Kurmanjî is the language of almost all the orally transmitted religious traditions of the Yazidis. Thus, religious origins are somewhat complex.
The religion of the Yazidis is a highly syncretistic one: Sufi influence and imagery can be seen in their religious vocabulary, especially in the terminology of their esoteric literature, but much of the mythology is non-Islamic. Their cosmogonies apparently have many points in common with those of ancient Persian religions. Early writers attempted to describe Yazidi origins, broadly speaking, in terms of Islam, or Persian, or sometimes even pagan religions; however, publications since the 1990s have shown such an approach to be overly simplistic.
The origin of the Yazidi religion is now usually seen by scholars as a complex process of syncretism, whereby the belief system and practices of a local faith had a profound influence on the religiosity of adherents of the Adawiyya Sufi order living in the Kurdish mountains, and caused it to deviate from Islamic norms relatively soon after the death of its founder, Sheikh Adî ibn Mustafa who is said to be of Umayyad descent. He settled in the valley of Laliş (some thirty-six miles north-east of Mosul) in the early 12th century CE. Sheikh Adî himself, a figure of undoubted orthodoxy, enjoyed widespread influence. He died in 1162, and his tomb at Lalish is a focal point of Yazidi pilgrimage. During the fourteenth century, important Kurdish tribes whose sphere of influence stretched well into what is now Turkey (including, for a period, the rulers of the principality of Jazira) are cited in historical sources as Yazidi.
The word Taus (in Melek Taus) is derived from the Indo-European root Diyus and is a cognate of Indian Diyuvuh and Greek Zeus. Ancient Indo-Iranians used to worship the souls of their fathers and grandfathers and glorified the souls of their dead. They also believed in a supreme God Diyvuh Pitar (The Father God) and several Devas who represented natural powers. After the arrival of Zoroaster, he kept Ahoramazda (Supreme God) and abolished the other gods such as Devas. Over time, Zoroastrians began to associate Devas with Satan and prohibited painting, statues, sacrifice of animals, alcohol and fasting. Zoroaster called those who did not follow his teachings demon worshipers. Despite the Zoroastrians´ efforts, large parts of the population kept their old beliefs in worshiping natural phenomena. According to scholar Taufiq Wahby and others, the word Dasni or Dasny, the ethnic self-designation of Yazidis, is a form of the old word Deva Ysne used by Zoroaster to identify those who did not follow his religion.
Melek Taus, the peacock angel
In the Yazidi belief system, the world was created by a god, and the world is now in the care of a Heptad of seven Holy Beings, often known as Angels or heft sirr (the Seven Mysteries). Preeminent among these is Melek Taus (Tawûsê Melek in Kurdish), the Peacock Angel. According to the Encyclopedia of the Orient, "The reason for the Yazidis reputation of being devil worshipers, is connected to the other name of Melek Taus, Shaytan, the same name the Koran has for Satan". Furthermore, the Yazidi story regarding Malek Taus´ rise to favor with God is almost identical to the story of the Islamic angel Iblis, except that Yazidis revere Malek Taus for refusing to submit to Adam, while Muslims believe that Iblis´ refusal to submit caused him to fall out of Grace with God, and to later become Satan himself.[9] However, according to the Kurdish linguist Jamal Nebez, the word Taus is most probably derived from the Greek and is related to the words Zeus and Theos, alluding to the meaning of God. Accordingly, Malek Taus is God´s Angel, and this is how Yazidis themselves see Melek Taus or Taus-e-Malak.
Yazidis believe that Melek Taus is not a source of evil or wickedness. They consider him to be the leader of the archangels, not a fallen angel, and therefore comparable to the Christians´ Lucifer, who is likewise considered the leader of the "seven who stand before the Lord" and of all other good angels. Also, they hold that the source of evil is in the heart and spirit of humans themselves, not in Melek Taus. The active forces in their religion are Melek Taus and Sheik Adî. The Kitêba Cilwe (Book of Illumination) which claims to be the words of Melek Taus, and which presumably represents Yazidi belief, states that he allocates responsibilities, blessings and misfortunes as he sees fit and that it is not for the race of Adam to question him. Sheikh Adî believed that the spirit of Melek Taus is the same as his own, perhaps as a reincarnation. He is believed to have said: "I was present when Adam was living in Paradise, and also when Nemrud threw Abraham in fire. I was present when God said to me: ´You are the ruler and Lord on the Earth´. God, the compassionate, gave me seven earths and throne of the heaven."
Yazidi accounts of creation differ from that of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They believe that God first created Melek Taus from his own illumination (Ronahî in Kurdish) and the other six archangels were created later. God ordered Melek Taus not to bow to other beings. Then God created the other archangels and ordered them to bring him dust (Ax) from the Earth (Erd) and build the body of Adam. Then God gave life to Adam from his own breath and instructed all archangels to bow to Adam. The archangels obeyed except for Melek Taus. In answer to God, Malek Taus replied, "How can I submit to another being! I am from your illumination while Adam is made of dust." Then God praised him and made him the leader of all angels and his deputy on the Earth. (This likely furthers what some see as a connection to the Islamic Shaytan, as according to legend he too refused to bow to Adam at God´s command, though in this case it is seen as being a sign of Shaytan´s sinful pride.) Hence the Yazidis believe that Melek Taus is the representative of God on the face of the Earth, and comes down to the Earth on the first Wednesday of Nisan (March/April). Yazidis hold that God created Malek Taus on this day, and celebrate it as New Year´s day. Yazidis argue that the order to bow to Adam was only a test for Melek Taus, since if God commands anything then it must happen. (Bibe, dibe). In other words, God could have made him submit to Adam, but gave Taus the choice as a test. They believe that their respect and praise for Melek Taus is a way to acknowledge his majestic and sublime nature. This idea is called "Knowledge of the Sublime" (Zanista Ciwaniyê). Sheikh Adî has observed the story of Melek Taus and believed in him.
One of the key creation beliefs of Yazidism is that all Yazidis are descendants of Adam rather than Eve. Yazidis believe that good and evil both exist in the mind and spirit of human beings. It depends on the humans, themselves, as to which they choose. In this process, their devotion to Melek Taus is essential, since it was he who was given the same choice between good and evil by God, and chose the good.
Yazidis, who have much in common with the followers of Ahl-e Haqq (in western Iran), state that the world created by God was at first a pearl. It remained in this very small and enclosed state for some time (often a magic number such as forty or forty thousand years) before being remade in its current state. During this period the Heptad were called into existence, God made a covenant with them and entrusted the world to them. Besides Melek Taus, members of the Heptad (the Seven), who were called into existence by God at the beginning of all things, include Sheikh Adî, his companion Shaikh Hasan, and a group known as the four Mysteries, Shamsadin, Fakhradin, Sajadin and Naserdin. The Yazidi holy books are the Kitêba Cilwe (Book of Revelation) and the Mishefa Reş (Black Book).
Two key and interrelated features of Yazidism are: a) a preoccupation with religious purity and b) a belief in metempsychosis. The first of these is expressed in the system of caste, the food laws, the traditional preferences for living in Yazidi communities, and the variety of taboos governing many aspects of life. The second is crucial; Yazidis traditionally believe that the Seven Holy Beings are periodically reincarnated in human form, called a koasasa.
A belief in the reincarnation of lesser Yazidi souls also exists. Like the Ahl-e Haqq, the Yazidis use the metaphor of a change of garment to describe the process, which they call kiras guhorîn in Kurdish (changing the garment). Alongside this, Yazidi mythology also includes descriptions of heaven and hell, with hell extinguished, and other traditions incorporating these ideas into a belief system that includes reincarnation.

MANDALİNALAR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqVHLHp2eNk

SEDEN GÃœREL -KEREMCEM - KÜÇÜK BİR AŞK MASALI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjwEfsqxntU&feature=related

Song for Sienna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6CkkKXPf10&feature=related

Legend has it that once there was a king who had a beautiful daughter. At her birth, the palace soothsayer predicted the princess would die from a snake bite on her sixteenth birthday. To shield his daughter from harm, the king built a castle for her on the little island.
On her sixteenth birthday, the princess received a basket of fruit in which was hidden a snake. The prophecy was fullfilled when the snake bit the princess and she died. To this day, the castle is called Maiden´s Castle or Kizkalesi.
http://www.muraservices.com/muraservices/Yaka/e-kizkalesi.htm

The Triumph of the Anti-Bush
A crowd of 200,000 in Berlin and an enthusiastic welcome in Jerusalem and Paris: Barack Obama´s whirlwind tour of the Middle East and Europe has fascinated the crowds and impressed politicians. Will it be enough to overcome doubts about his foreign policy expertise?

On the one hand, there were the American media pros working for the US presidential candidate, constantly searching for the best shots to use back home. They left nothing to chance, right down to the tiniest carefully choreographed details. "Message control" was the buzzword as they implemented "the plan" -- Barack Obama for president. John, does camera three have the Brandenburg Gate with him in the foreground? Jack, how can we best get the crowd into the picture with him, should he wave to the left or to the right? Linda, why do so few people in the front rows have Obama balloons?

On the other hand, there was the man himself. From the very second he walked onto the stage with an athletic bounce in his step, waved, smiled, it was obvious here was a man who so obviously knows where he stands and is so confident in his message. This doesn´t look like just another political product that needs to be sold -- at most just someone who needs to be coached in the details. Here comes a natural talent with the charisma of John F. Kennedy, the kind of man who only comes along once in a generation. And when he stood up to speak, it immediately became clear why it may be one thing when wannabe crowd-pleasers like Hubertus Heil, secretary general of Germany´s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), shout "Yes, we can" -- but it is another story altogether when Obama does it himself.

He gave an almost poetic speech, a tour de force through global politics, but without many specifics, in which he invoked what has fallen by the wayside during the Bush years without even referring to George W.: the partnership with Europe, cooperation on climate protection, phasing out nuclear weapons. On the topic of Afghanistan, he called on the Germans to play a more active role. He didn´t utter a single negative word abroad about his own government, about the lies that were used to justify the Iraq war, about the ongoing revelations of torture by the CIA, or the fact that 74 percent of Americans feel that their country is on the wrong path. On this very special Thursday evening at Berlin´s Victory Column, a crowd of 200,000 was fascinated by Obama, cheering this man who presents himself as a citizen of the world, and who they hope will become the next US president.

This was all quite a remarkable contrast to the last visit by an important guest from the US. It was just under seven weeks ago that George W. Bush -- the man who is still US president for the time being -- was in Germany. A quiet "couples evening" took place at the idyllic Meseberg Palace, 70 kilometers (44 miles) from Berlin, as the Merkels dined with the Bushs, undisturbed by the public interest. And so it was that the commander-in-chief of the world´s greatest superpower received the worst possible kind of political affront: He failed to attract anyone´s attention -- not even his opponents seemed to care anymore. Not a single demonstration. The small group of farmers who gathered on a field near a neighboring village were only interested in getting better prices for dairy products.

By contrast, the Obama trip covered eight countries in seven days, flying tens of thousands of miles in the Boeing 757 leased by the election campaign team (emblazoned on the side: "Change we can believe in, Barackobama.com"); from Washington to the deserts of Afghanistan to Downing Street in London, with stops in Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Germany and France; over 20 planned political meetings, including tête-à-têtes with four prime ministers, three presidents and a monarch; shooting hoops with US troops in Kuwait, drinking tea with a Sunni elder at his Iraqi clan house, dinner with Jordan´s King Abdullah II in Amman, and a press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysée Palace.

Obama, 46, arranged a monster program of events and saw it through with iron discipline and a constant smile, although the jetlag, as he himself admitted, was so severe that he could "fall asleep on his feet." He knew that this whirlwind tour could be the key to his bid to become the next president of the US.

Playing the Statesman-in-Waiting

Up until last week, opponent John McCain was barely trailing him in the opinion polls -- by 2 to 4 percent, with over 10 percent undecided. In almost every political arena, from the economy to health insurance, the Democrat leads the Republican by a comfortable margin. McCain, 71, can only score more points with his foreign policy experience. When Americans are asked which of the presumptive candidates for the White House they would most trust as the commander-in-chief in a time of crisis -- who, for example, would be in a better position to protect them from terrorist attacks -- the Vietnam War veteran comes up with a clear advantage. This motivated Obama to take his election campaign to the world stage. Now that he had recognized his own Achilles´ heel, he planned to make it unassailable. And on Monday, it looked as if it had paid off -- at least temporarily. The first post-trip Gallup poll showed Obama nine points ahead of McCain after the Democratic candidate´s mini world tour.

Obama at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Already during the first half of his trip, as he toured the Middle East, Obama took a very skilled and disciplined approach. He didn´t lecture, he listened. And when he commented, he carefully chose each word and weighed each phrase. Obama is a man who occasionally allows a brilliant phrase to overshadow the message itself and -- no stranger to vanity -- sometimes allows himself to get carried away by the engaging power of language. But this gifted orator managed to hold back. He played the statesman-in-waiting, not the election campaigner. And we only occasionally caught a glimpse of how difficult this was for him.

For instance, during a press conference in the Jordanian capital Amman, with the Temple of Hercules in the background, he bit on his lip as reporters fired one provocative question after another. No, not Iraq, but Afghanistan is the most important front in the war on terror, he insisted, adding that the two to three US combat brigades required there could only come from Iraq. He pointed out that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports his 16-month withdrawal plan from the country. The nuances of his ideas on Iraq are important to him. He wants to make distinctions as a counterpoint to Bush, who once famously said: "I don´t do nuance."

Above all during his trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories -- the world region with the largest political minefields -- Obama did not, as some expected, come across as a messianic savior. Before the trip, American comedian Jon Stewart joked that the presumptive Democratic candidate would certainly visit Bethlehem because "he has to see his place of birth." But Obama avoided making any grand gestures and made absolutely no attempt at walking on water. Instead, he seemed intent on becoming the new master of the low-key approach.

During his 34-hour stay in Israel, Obama encountered a country that is once again struggling to find its bearings, a nation that is deeply divided and plagued by scandal. The attorney general is soon expected to charge former Israeli President Moshe Katsav on two counts of rape; Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is being investigated on corruption allegations and will likely have to leave office in September; Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon continue to threaten Israel with attacks.

There is only one issue that practically all Israelis can agree on: Iran, with its fanatical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, must not be allowed to become a nuclear power. There is a slender majority that would still rather pursue tougher sanctions than air raids. But Israeli intelligence sources have been pushing for a military strike against Iran´s nuclear facilities -- the risky plan with unforeseeable consequences is gaining support among politicians. And as SPIEGEL learned in Jerusalem, Obama received a new and particularly alarming Mossad dossier on Iran from Olmert.

Israel is one of the few countries worldwide -- at least prior to the visit -- where a majority of the population would prefer to see McCain elected president. Experienced, graying old warhorses with military experience like Ariel Sharon enjoy more support there than young charismatic politicians. And American Jewish voters, whose support promises to be so crucial in swing states like Florida and Ohio on Nov. 4, are watching carefully. Ever since Obama said that he would seek unconditional talks with Iran, Jews in the US have been eyeing him with suspicion.

Not a Good Week for McCain


In the run-up to his visit to Israel, the Democratic candidate tried to compensate for his position on Iran -- and ended up making his worst foreign policy blunder: Speaking to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC in Washington in early June, he went so far as to assert that Jerusalem would "remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided." Not even the extremely pro-Israel Bush administration had gone that far. The Palestinians, who -- in agreement with the European Union and the United Nations -- claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, were furious; the extremists in Hamas called Obama a "Zionist poodle."


Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is struggling to counter Obamania.
The senator from Illinois bowed and was deeply moved at the Holocaust memorial, he remained respectfully silent at the Wailing Wall, and shook his head in Sderot -- an Israeli border town that has been plagued by rocket attacks from the nearby Gaza Strip -- when he was handed the remains of a Katyusha rocket. It was little more than the standard political visit, but Obama has the rare ability to give everyone the impression that there is no one more important to him.

"This will be the next president of the United States," wrote the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which until then had been critical of Obama. And their colleagues at Haaretz found that, compared to the Obama tour, the visit by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who had an opportunity last week to speak before the Knesset, was as insignificant "as a warm-up act for the Beatles." A survey conducted by Israel Radio following the visit revealed that 4 percent more Israelis favor the Democratic senator over McCain.

Next Obama endeavored -- tightrope act number two -- to reduce the reservations that Palestinians have about him. He had already revised his statement about Jerusalem. In an interview on CNN he said: "Obviously, it´s going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations." He traveled to see the leaders of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. He promised moderate Palestinians that under his leadership the US would push the Israelis to stop building new settlements and actively pursue the peace process. He may have only spent just under two hours in the West Bank, but even Palestinian skeptics were highly appreciative of the visit. When McCain visited Israel four months ago, he saw no reason to visit Ramallah.

The more moderate, nonpartisan and presidential the Democratic senator acted on this trip, the more it underscored the grating tones of his opponent: "Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign," a visibly more nervous McCain commented. Even the weather seemed to turn against the Republican. He set out to prove his expertise on energy issues by flying out to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. But the modest photo op was spoiled by a hurricane.

No, it wasn´t a good week for the McCainiacs. The head strategists of the Republican election campaign were up in arms over the "Obama orgy" that they believe America´s media had orchestrated while other supporters -- depending on their disposition -- struggle with bouts of Obamanic depression. The leading networks CBS, NBC and ABC did indeed send their anchormen to the Middle East, and it took plenty of chutzpah to bill the election campaign trip as a simple congressional delegation with Chuck Hagel (Rep.) and Jack Reed (Dem.) tagging along as decoration.

However, when CNN decided out of a sense of fairness to give McCain exactly the same prime airtime last Wednesday, it turned out to be rather counterproductive for the Republican. He was seen standing on some hilltop in Maine, his hair disheveled by the wind, and out of the blue he said "I will get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice, I promise you."

With an expressionless look on his face, he examined heads of cabbage at a supermarket in Pennsylvania and told housewives how concerned he is about the high prices of food and gasoline. Afterwards, viewers were treated to McCain with George Bush Senior playing a round of golf. The two men looked like a couple of pensioners -- active, but not necessarily so dynamic that people would be inclined to entrust them with the most important office in the world: more like the generation 70 and over.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,druck-568551,00.html

to all Turkish members, do you still have difficulties watching youtube?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zfDe9LeT1w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDoUt6cHMzA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDoUt6cHMzA&feature=related