http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/Damascus/blog-145139.html

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/0/05/20060829211414!Susa_(Iran)_Wall_Painting.JPG

bawercan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuKP8JL9te0

BLUES

TB is killing me, I am on my way to Denver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHIXT6k24Zg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKXbsfV4djg

In Turkish:
http://www.ajans21.com/

Wiping The Tears Of Seven Generations
In December of 1990, 300 Lakota Sioux horseback riders rode 250 miles, in two weeks, through bitter sub-zero winter weather, to commemorate the lives lost at The Wounded Massacre of 1890. This program relates the story of how the Lakota Nation mourned the loss of their loved ones for 100 years. They also mourned the loss of some of their people's sacred knowledge which died with the elders that day. Then, inspired by dreams and visions of unity and spiritual awakening, a group of Lakota decided to bring their people out of mourning through a traditional Lakota ceremony which they call Washigila; "Wiping the Tears" The Bigfoot ceremonial Ride was that ceremony.


FilmFestivals, Screenings, Awards
American Indian Film Festival "Best Video" Award, 1991
National Educational Film Fest " Gold Apple: Award, 1992
C.I.N.E. "Golden Eagle" Award, 1992
American Film & Video Festival "Red Ribbon" Award, 1992
Munich International Film Festival "One Future" Prize, 1992
Parnu Anthropology Festival "Best Educational Film", 1992
New York Festivals "Silver Medal" Award, 1993

"Sensitive. Moving. Wiping The Tears Of Seven Generations is a model of the way art can be used to effect reconciliation and renewal" — Professor Huston Smith, Author of The World's Religions

region was famous for its marble quarries, which is at the origin of one of the explanations given for the name Marmaris. The quarries were in activity until the times of the 19th century traveller Charles Texier who mentions them. Marble has been a very important export product for the entire region of present-day Muğla Province since ages, with rich reserves starting from ancient Knidos at the tip of Datça Peninsula to inland Kavaklıdere's modern installations in full activity in our day. There are no quarries in Bozburun presently, but research is being pursued, sometimes also by referring to historic documents and traces, to locate them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozburun

?Gold from the bottom of the ocean? could be the name of these valuable sponges. They are porous animals of geometric shape which grow between 10 and 70 metres deep on stones in the ocean. World-wide, there are known to be more than 5000 different sorts of sponge living in the salty waters of the oceans. Only a few are able to live in the fresh water of lakes and rivers. Sponges vary in size, growing up to one metre in diameter.
?The best sponges have big holes and, after being squeezed, return to their original shape and size?, explains Selim Dincer. He should know because he is a specialist in sponges working at the Bodrum Institute for Marine Biology.

A sponge diving team normally consists of five divers, one leader on the boat and a cook. They all belong to the team, living and working on a boat called a ?tirandil?, built in the Bodrum area with a framework of wood and about 10 metres in length. One session of diving normally lasts about two to three hours. The equipment consists of a diving suit, a mask and, most important of all, the pump. Below the water, the diver breathes through a pipe called a ?nargile? (water pipe) or ?hookah?. With the help of this equipment, divers can reach depths of 150 metres. But the deeper the diver goes, the bigger the risk to the diver, which can lead to long-term injury and even the death of a young diver. When someone is suffering from this problem, they need to be got into a decompression chamber within 24 hours.

Quite often sponge divers find wrecks of old ships or ancient amphoras. ?When they cut a living sponge, it looks more or less like a glued piece of leather, much different than the sponge we know in our bathroom.? So says an American author of books about marine biology when writing about animals without a spinal column. When freshly brought home from the sea, sponges look like stomach sacks. http://www.alaturka.info/Sponge-Divers.2306.0.html?&L=5

The construction of the Ilısu Dam on the River Tigris, long a topic of debate because its waters will submerge the historic city of Hasankeyf, has again been the focus of protest, with some 100 villagers raising their concerns in the capital this week over the future of their own homes, as well as that of the ancient settlement.

Protestors gathered on Tuesday in front of the German, Austrian and Swiss embassies -- countries financing the multi-million dollar project -- where they unfolded banners reading slogans like "Austria, Switzerland and Germany: If you build Ilısu, we will seek asylum!" and "You are rich, we are poor!"
ZAMAN
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The reduction of water flow will be felt far beyond the farmlands.Abdullah Ramadan, an official with the Marshlands Revival Centre “depicted a grim picture for the newly revived marshlands [near the city of Basra] with the construction of the dam.”

“The marshlands are at risk of losing about 3 million cubic metres of water per year and this will endanger the life there,” Ramadan said.

Iraq’s fabled marshlands have been at the centre of water-related controversy for some time. Following the first Gulf war in 1991, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein revived a programme to divert the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers away from the marshes in retribution for a failed Shi’ite uprising.

Hussein’s plan transformed these wetlands into desert, forcing some 300,000 inhabitants out, according to Ramadan. Of the almost 3,600 square miles of marshes in 1970, the area shrank by 90 percent to 300 square miles in 2002.

However, since the start of the US-led occupation of Iraq in 2003, efforts to restore the marshes have gradually revived the area as water is restored to the former desert. Ramadan said that about one-third of those forced to leave the area after the marshes were drained have now returned.

“We were happy to get rid of Saddam, but now we got another enemy - Ilisu,” Ramadan said.
http://intercontinentalcry.org/stop-the-ilisu-dam-project-in-southeast-turkey/
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Ilisu must be a considered a political project predominantly motivated by the strategic interest of the Turkish government to strengthen its position of power vis-a-vis Syria and Iraq, and to control the unruly Kurdish areas. The environmental problems of the project are unresolved, and no lessons from the abysmal social record of earlier GAP projects have been learnt. The affected people are not being consulted about the project and, given the state of undeclared war in the Kurdish areas, have no possibility of defending their interests. Turkey is considered a bad risk by private banks, and any involvement of export credit agencies in Ilisu carries the risk of becoming a burden on the public purse.
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ILISU DAM LAWYER ON TRIAL FOR "INSULTING THE GOVERNMENT"
Tuesday, 11 March 2003
A leading lawyer in Turkey is to stand trial for insulting the Turkish state on 18 March 2003, for his criticism of the controversial Ilisu Dam project.

was born 1912 in Van, Turkey. He never knew his parents. With his words, "He is one of the children desolated by the World War I." He was taken from Van to Adana at a very young age and given to a poor family without child.

He started playing violin at the age of ten. In 1936 he graduated from the Teacher's School of Music and in 1942 from the Opera Department of State Conservatory in Ankara. The following ten years, he performed at the State Opera in Ankara as a celebrated bass baritone, appearing in operas such as Madame Butterfly, Fidelio, Tosca and Rigoletto. During his contemporary music education, he also studied Turkish folk music and consequently made regular radio programs, playing saz and singing folk songs, while he worked at the opera. A politically motivated arrest in 1952 and imprisonment for five years ended his career in the opera. After serving his "sentence for thought," he dedicated himself to folk music in his unique way.

While he roamed all over Anatolia from one village to another, he started compiling numerous folk songs. Then, he rearranged and performed them using western techniques. His western music career formed the basis of his approach to interpreting and performing traditional Turkish music. He argued that the authentic music should not be imitated as it is found locally but rather elabrorated into a national music with the enriching support of the international music, perceiving it as a contemporary of Atahualpa Yupanqui and Pete Seeger.

Ruhi Su combined his efforts of creating a national awareness of the rich Anatolian culture with his compositions based on texts of Sufi poets Yunus Emre and Pir Sultan Abdal and other Anatolian poets like Köroğlu (see Epic of Köroğlu), Karacaoğlan, and Dadaloğlu. He also established and trained a choir in the 1970s and conducted them in many concerts and recordings. His approach in bringing forth the ignored suffering of the oppressed and his love of humankind in his musical work has gained a great respect and support from his audience and had a deep effect on many musicians, who paved the path to a more open-minded society.

Ruhi Su died on September 20, 1985 and was buried at the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery in Istanbul. His wife Sıdıka Su died on October 18, 2006

Ruhi Su - Karayılan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-yp-YEwLQs