By Sait Kina's way of thinking, his 13-year-old daughter brought nothing but dishonor to his family: She talked to boys on the street, she ran away from home, she was the subject of neighborhood gossip.

Two months ago, when she tried to run away yet again, Kina grabbed a kitchen knife and an ax and stabbed and beat the girl until she lay dead in the blood-smeared bathroom of the family's Istanbul apartment.

He then commanded one of his daughters-in-law to clean up the mess. When his two sons came home from work 14 hours later, he ordered them to dispose of the 5-foot-3 corpse, which had been wrapped in a carpet and a blanket. The girl's head had been so mutilated, police said, it was held together by a knotted cloth.

"I fulfilled my duty," Kina told police after he was arrested, according to investigators' reports presented in the court case against the father and his two sons. "We killed her for going out with boys."

Dilber Kina's death was an "honor killing," a practice steeped in village traditions that is occurring with increasing frequency in cities across Turkey and other developing countries where massive migrations to urban areas have left families struggling to reconcile modern lifestyles and liberties with generations-old rural customs.

As members of Turkey's younger generation, especially girls, become better educated and more exposed to the world through television and city life, they are increasingly rebelling against parents who cling to traditions that prohibit socializing with the opposite sex, choosing a husband or visiting freely with friends outside the home.

Washington Post, older article another one will follow

ISTANBUL – TDN with wire dispatches

The head of Turkish State Railways (TCDD) said yesterday that the country's first high-speed train will begin test runs this month, the Anatolia news agency reported. "The high-speed train service would start in 2008 if the test runs between capital Ankara and central Anatolian province of Eskişehir were conducted successfully," said the report, quoting TCDD's Director General Süleyman Karaman. If everything goes according to plan, the train is expected to start transporting passengers within the year, he said.

Karaman noted that the Ankara-Eskişehir line was completed, and the TCDD planned to start the construction of Eskişehir-Istanbul line this year. Referring to similar high-speed train projects in other countries, Karaman said the countries generally preferred to construct the first line between the capital city and an industrial hub. "Therefore, we have started the construction work between Ankara and Istanbul," he said. Meanwhile, he said that the infrastructure of the high-speed train project between Ankara and central Anatolian province of Sivas was almost finished. "With this project, it will take two hours to travel from Ankara to Sivas, and such line has significance as it will connect Turkey's east to the west," he said. Karaman said the state company also aims to connect İzmir and Bursa by speed train. �This way, Istanbul-İzmir-Bursa will all be connected,� he added.

Moreover, with the implementation of high-speed train service, modern stations would be built across the country, said the report, adding that the first modern train station complex, which would include a hotel and a shopping mall, would be constructed in Ankara. Turkey started building high-speed rail lines between Ankara and Istanbul in 2003. The first phase of the project was the line between Ankara and Eskişehir. High-speed train will lower the 180-minute train travel from Ankara to Eskişehir to 70 minutes, said the report. TCDD purchased first high-speed train sets, with a maximum speed of 250 km per hour, from Spain's CAF company last year, it added.
TURKISH DAILY NEWS TOday

Deli Kizin, thanks for have taken the trouble translating the recipe. So kind od you, thanks. Not easy for me locating this white cheese in America.

http://serininlezzetgunlugu.blogcu.com/2557894/
Most tasty things I ever ate!!

Libralady, these mouthwatering Turkish "delights" might be more to your liking?
http://umami.typepad.com/umami/2008/03/i-love-simit.html

Turkish star Bülent Ersoy faces jail for criticising in Istanbul
The Guardian, Monday June 2 2008
Turkey's most popular singers is facing up to three years in jail after being accused of trying to weaken public support for the powerful armed forces.

In a case highlighting the pivotal role of the army in Turkish life, prosecutors have indicted Bülent Ersoy on charges of "making the public detest military service" after saying on nationwide television that if she had a son, she would not let him fight against Kurdish separatists.

Her comments, made last February, came after the army launched a controversial ground offensive in northern Iraq against the militant Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) - regarded by Turkey and many western countries as a terrorist organisation.

The offensive was the latest stage in a bloody conflict with the PKK that has killed around 37,000 people, including 5,000 Turkish soldiers, since 1984.

Turkey's leaders regard the PKK as an ethnic secessionist group which threatens the integrity of the Turkish state. But Ersoy questioned the rationale of the offensive, saying: "Of course the homeland is indivisible, but why are we sending these youths to death? If I had a child, I would not send him to the grave for the war of other people."

The singer, famed for her rendition of classical Ottoman music and as a TV personality, has been a controversial figure since undergoing a sex change operation in 1981. She had previously carved out a successful singing and acting career as a man.

Ersoy now faces trial under article 318 of the Turkish penal code, which makes it a crime to undermine the institution of military service.

Turkish human rights groups recently launched a signature campaign calling for the law to be repealed.

The indictment against Ersoy refers to an oft-quoted maxim, "Every Turk is born a soldier" and says her comments turned people against the military while encouraging the PKK.

"Her remarks were aimed at discouraging people from sending their sons to military service.

"For this reason, Ersoy was praised by Roj TV, known as the media arm of the PKK," it reads.

Military conscription is compulsory in Turkey, with no exceptions made for pacifists or conscientious objectors.

The country has previously been condemned by international human rights organisations for imprisoning conscientious objectors.

In 2006, the European court of human rights fined Turkey €11,000 (£8,63 over its treatment of Osman Murat Ulke, an objector jailed for two-and-a-half years after publicly burning his army draft card.

Delving into Turkish culture, I decided to visit a hammam, a bathhouse, in Istanbul, and chose one of the more upmarket establishments. I’m always up for adventure, but when nudity is involved, I prefer to play it safe. Off I went to ‘Cemberlitas Hamami’, near the Grand Bazaar in Sultanahmet, to experience a Turkish bath.

After choosing a body wash and scrub from the menu of services, I bid my boyfriend goodbye and set off into the female only section, armed with a scrubbing mitt, a small rectangular bar of soap, and a locker key. Once inside the locker room, I self-consciously undressed, leaving on my bikini bottoms.

The bathhouse is located near the Grand Bazaar in Sultanahmet.
The attendant gave me a “peptemal,” similar to an oversized tea towel. I wrapped myself in it, and proceeded nervously into the mysterious realm of the hammam, unsure of what I would encounter behind the heavy wooden doors.

I was greeted by a moist waft of steam, and when the door closed behind me, I was immediately struck by the beauty of the appropriately named “hot room.” Light streamed in from numerous tiny round skylights in the high domed ceiling, bathing the marble interior in a warm glow.

In the middle of the room lay an enormous round, flat stone, around the perimeter of which visitors were being washed and scrubbed within an inch of their lives. Women appeared to be “baking” on the stone’s center. Around the outer edge of the round room, bathing areas featured marble basins containing warm, clear water.


Having absolutely no understanding of hammam protocol and suddenly feeling very self-conscious, I headed to one of the marble basins to wash myself. To my amused embarrassment, as I tried to lather up, I realized my little yellow bar of soap wasn’t soap at all, but a plastic token!

Looking around, most of the women held the same token, only in different colors. Later I realized yellow was for a body scrub, and red for a scrub and massage.

Feeling a bit silly, I approached one of the women who had just finished scrubbing someone senseless, and showed my token. She abruptly motioned toward the center of the stone, so I gingerly climbed on, carefully avoiding the other bodies.

Surely this was meant to be relaxing, I thought, lying back with my towel still wrapped firmly around me. The warmth from the heated stone began to spread through me, and the soft rays of light sneaking through shapes in the domed ceiling filled me with a sense of calm.

Not for long! The hammam, is a busy, noisy place. A mother tried to calm her shrieking baby boy while her young daughter was being scrubbed. Naked women sat on a marble step, chatting, while they waited for their friends. I began to feel very self-conscious, not of my nakedness but of my modesty — I was one of the only women wearing bikini bottoms.

Everyone else seemed unconcerned, free and liberated. Bodies of all different shapes and sizes splayed out and bounced around under the scrubber’s mitt.


Then it was my turn. I moved to the outside, lay on my towel facing upwards, and handed over my mitt and token. The attendant produced a piece of gauze that she expertly dunked into the water and then filled with air, pumping it over my body and covering me in millions of soapy suds.

Bracing myself for the scrub, I was pleasantly surprised by the firm but gentle exfoliation. I was then flipped over like a breakfast sausage and the ritual was repeated. I wondered how many of these the attendant performed in an average day.

Next, I was shepherded to a basin, where I sat on a marble step and was doused in warm water, removing my protective bubble and returning me to my birthday suit. My hair was shampooed before the attendant left me to my own devices for a final rinse.

The bathhouse provides patrons with a serene environment in which to relax.
Squeaky clean, I made my way to the next room, where women waited for massages, wrapped in fluffy towels. As I didn’t opt for a massage, my hammam experience had come to an end.

After drying off and dressing, I entered into the balmy Istanbul night feeling a little bemused, a little relaxed and very, very, clean.

You are so funny, Libralady!