Alex - Aþk Senin Adýn

it is about about Sabahattin Ali  who was a famous Turkish novelist, who was once arrested for a poem he wrote criticizing Ataturk´s policies, which was a slander of two other journalists.

After proving his allegiance to Atatürk by writing the poem "Benim Aþkým" (My Love or My Passion)

 I enjoyed eating there

 

the Gelik Et Restaurant in Bakirköy is deservedly one of the most famous restaurants in all of Istanbul. There is no way to confuse this place with its sister fish restaurant nearby because as soon as you enter this huge, tastefully decorated and well-lit establishment the aroma of cooked meat simply transports you to a sensory heaven where vegetarians have never been.

Although usually crowded on weekends the place has a capacity of over eight hundred on two levels and has a delightful outdoor dining area and playground for several hundred more during the warmer months. Not that you´ll really mind waiting a few minutes for a table, as the open kitchen displays a mouthwatering array of meat with a capital M! The Gelik döner is superb with its light yoghurt and tomato sauce and they have a whole selection of generously cut steaks, chops, and kebabs; however there are a couple of items that they´re famous for and my favorite by far is the Gelik kebab, known as kuzu tandir. Almost impossible to find outside of Konya, these rich, fatty, and deliciously tender hunks of stone hearth-baked lamb are enough to clog your arteries with delight. Gelik is also renowned for their special rice, baked with mushrooms and currants. Definitely order a portion of kasarli köfte (a ground beef patty filled with cheese) for everyone to taste but don´t waste your time on the ample selection of appetizers and salads - you can get them anywhere. Go straight to the kuzu tandir and you won´t be disappointed! If you don´t have time for a relaxing dinner, they do a brisk business at their high-volume fast food counter located next door which specializes in kuzu tandir sandwiches. The Gelik Et Restaurant is surprisingly easy to get to as it´s near the water between the Crown Plaza Holiday Inn, the Galleria mall, and the waterfront marina in Ataköy. You can either catch a dolmus to Bakirköy or take the train from Sirkeci station to Bakirköy. Either way it´s only a ten minute walk down to the water along a very pleasant pedestrian shopping street filled with upscale shops. Cross over the highway running alongside the Marmara Sea using the pedestrian walkway and turn left at the bottom of the stairs. It´s about a hundred meters down the road, near a Mobil gas station. Not very expensive as nice restaurants go, you can expect to pay about $25 for dinner for two. I hear they have fabulous desserts but as I always stuff myself on baked lamb, anything else is just a friendly rumor!

There is a beautiful Minaret in Koya  Ince Minaret Medrese (literally, the medrese with the thin minaret) is a 13th century medrese (school) located in Konya, Turkey, and built between 1258-1279 by the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate vizier Sâhib Ata Fahreddin Ali who later founded the Anatolian Turkish Beylik of Sâhib Ata.

Yes, turn to another page,  there are so many beautiful subjects when it comes to Turkiye.

Schluss jetzt, FIN..................finito

end of childish talk and accusations

Justine:  If you get youtube please listen to Aynur "Ahmedo"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgcJfYlA6d0

forget the movie, read now this article about Leyla:

In all corners of the world, there are people of courage who live their lives determined to do the right thing for themselves and for those around them. These are people who are admired for their actions. They are never accredited timely but the righteous hope that they will be eventually recognized for their good will. In the predominantly Kurdish region of Turkey (see Northern Kurdistan), Leyla Zana has been living a life of constant struggle, determined to attain the rights of her people and in search of democracy in a place where such an idea seems unreachable. One may find it ironic that she has been accused of separatism and hate when she only speaks of peace and democracy. However, it is not irony but the lack of democracy where she lives that effectuates hate in circumstances where individuals like her are forced to strive for peace and are punished for it.

In Turkey, Kurds are subjected to terror and barbaric torture and a policy of forceful assimilation. Everything from social and political inequalities exists for the Kurds and the region in which they live is economically undeveloped. Although much of the world has claimed that the country represents a democracy in the Middle East, one can easily argue that this is far from the truth. Kurds who have spoken up about the injustices have been punished, labeled as threatening the Turkish state, and imprisoned. Leyla Zana’s story is symbolic to all those who have tried to take the peaceful road and have been penalized for doing so.

Leyla Zana was born in a Kurdish village near the city of Diyarbakir (Amed) in 1961. She married the former mayor of Diyarbakir and political activist, Mehdi Zana, who would later spend over a decade in prison for his non-violent political activities in favor of equal rights for the Kurdish people in Turkey. He was later recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. In 1991, while Mehdi Zana was serving his long sentence in prison, Leyla became the first Kurdish woman in Turkey to be elected to the Turkish parliament.

Leyla Zana gives speech in traditional Kurdish clothing

During her inauguration as Member of Parliament in the Turkish National Assembly, Leyla took her oath of allegiance in Turkish as required by the law and ended her oath with the following phrase in the Kurdish language:

“I have completed this formality under duress. I take this oath for the brotherhood between the Turkish people and the Kurdish people.”

These words are precisely and unmistakably those of peace, friendship and equality. However, her audience responded to her gesture by calling her a separatist and a terrorist, and said that she should be arrested. Turkish law forbids any public use of the Kurdish language in Turkey and by politicians; a law designed as part of a larger campaign of ethnocide against people of Kurdish descent in Turkey. Her audience’s wishes were fulfilled when she was arrested and charged with treason. Still, Leyla defended herself,

“Since we have come to Parliament, we have defended equality, democracy and brotherhood. We have asked to end the bloodshed. If these actions are crimes, we accept that.”

Leyla Zana’s advocating of peace was ignored and she would spend the next ten years of her life behind bars. She was accused of separatist motives and was tortured by Turkish guards and police; circumstances hard to imagine for most as she has been brutally beaten and tortured on much more than one occasion in her life.

Leyla Zana was later recognized as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 while still in prison. In 1995, Leyla was awarded with the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. She was freed on June 6th of 2004 when she could finally accept the prize and address European Parliament with words of peace. She said that a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey must be found.

Leyla Zana still keeps a smile while handcuffed and in custody

In recent years, despite EU pressure on Turkey for democratic reform, the Kurdish people are still oppressed and people are still arrested unjustly. And today, Leyla once again faces the risk of imprisonment for charges violating her right to freedom of speech.

Since her release, Leyla Zana has faced multiple retrials regarding her case. And in March of this year, Leyla was reportedly sentenced by the High Criminal Court in Ankara to seven and a half more years in prison along with three other members of the former Democratic Party (DEP); a party outlawed like other Kurdish parties after being accused by the Turkish government of having separative motives despite their lack of proof. Apparently, the court still views the four former members of having intent to undermine the Turkish government despite their words of peace contradictory to such claims.

http://zaneti.blogspot.com/2007/05/obstacles-for-peace-democracy-and-leyla.html

John F. Kennedy once said, "If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable.

 At the age of 20, he developed a passion for various outdoor sports. He made the first paragliding flight over Mount Erciyes, climbed up the Great Demirkazýk mountain´s north wall, and dove into the underground waters of the Altýnbeþik and Kýrkgözler Caves.

Between 1992 and 1994, Mahruki climbed the five highest former Soviet mountains in Asia (Khan Tengri, Lenin Peak, Peak Korzhenevskaya, Communism Peak and Peak Pobeda), which are all over 7,000 metres high. This achievement gained him the honorific title "Snow Leopard", awarded by the Russian Climbing Federation. This recognition led him to his high altitude mountaineering career.

Mahruki summited Mount Everest (8,848 m.) on May 15, 1995, being the first ever Turkish and Muslim person to do so. In 1996, he completed the climbing of Seven Summits in seven continents (Everest, Aconcagua, Vinson Massif, Kilimanjaro, McKinley, Elbrus and Kosciuszko), being the youngest person to do so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasuh_Mahruki

Seven centuries ago, Yunus Emre attained to the apogee of the intellectual and aesthetic tradition of Turkish humanism. He gave eloquent specimens of humanitarianism and universalism. He made a poetic plea for peace and the brotherhood of mankind-a plea for humanism which is still supremely relevant in today´s world convulsing with conflict and war:

Come, let us a1l be friends for once,
Let us make life easy on us,
Let us be lovers and loved ones,
The earth shall be left to no one.

Friend: With great frequency, the poet refers to or addresses "The Friend." In most cases, "friend" stands for "dost," which also means "lover," "mistress," and "God." Although it is conceivable that Yunus Emre sometimes employs "dost" in the strict neutral sense of "friend," his mystic orientation and the context of reference in the poems make it clear that he stresses the sense of "God as the divine beloved." "Beloved" and "the Loved One" (which are also frequently used in the translations) should be interpreted as references to God rather than any human being. This use is quite common in the vast corpus of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish mystic literature.