Too bad, they seemed to have encouraged most arts, perhaps it was the association with Islam, as many of the scarves women used to wear had them on the edges? Although I have also heard some Armenians claim they invented the art.

Perhaps they needed a Moiseyev of needle arts, but didn´t get one. I formerly worked in Broadway costume house. We made the garments for Tony award winning shows, famous stars and even some high level political persons. Many of the women who worked there I noticed,  were from former Soviet countries. They were very well trained in needle arts, and knew some very obscure skills.

By the way, I´m glad to see this subject is interesting, and brought a smile to dear Lemon´s face. I was afraid nobody would be interested in it.

Scalpel, where are you from?

I have long admired the Turkish needle lace. This video shows how to unwrap the cacoons and dye the threads. It´s interesting if you like and admire oyas.

The link doesn´t work for me. As for rock music, there seems to be a large variety of it.

My taste in music is pretty eclectic, I love Moğollar (Cahit Berkey), Tarkan, Bulent Ersoy, Gokhan Kirdar, Sertab Erener, Zeki Müren, Bariş Aksaru, Bariş Manço, Sezen Aksu, Arif Sağ, Ahmet Özhan, Kazim Koyuncu, Cem Karaca, Aşik Veysel, Selda Bağcan....the list could go on and on...but you get the picture. Turkey has a huge tradition to draw from and does so very well. Exactly how Moğollar us "rock" is confusing to me. They sound very Turkish and have fused the traditional with modern perfectly for my taste.

The fact of the matter is most of the persons shown and listed were smoking long before the health hazards were even known about.

I mentioned before how much smoking was promoted in the past. There were even doctors endorsing it. Many became habituated to smoking during this time. I smoked and did enjoy it. I found the social pressures and actual quality/taste of the product changed

Smokers have become the new socialy acceptable scapegoat. Look here how much vitriolic abuse has been heaped on smokers. 

The reality of the situation is American Indians smoked, without the addiction and harmful effects highly adulterated commercial products cause. So many other additives are added to the tobacco that it´s difficult to see what causes what. In fact the American Indians didn´t smoke only tobacco, they added other herbs to the mixture that countered the negative effects of tobacco.

I do feel that words can also cause harmful results as well. Telling a person you will get sick is like putting a curse on them. It sets in the power of suggestion. Instead one would better say you may get sick.

I personally find all the sanctamonious self rightous criticism of smokers highly offensive.

While I´m glad I stopped smoking, I must admit I enjoyed it a great deal for many years as did many others. Billions of humans were born, to grew up and lived full lives during that time.

I suspect all this is actually more of a diversionary tactic to take our eyes off of other issues.  If you really care about the health of the enviornment, what about using some of that energy working against the chemicals spewing out of the exhaust pipes, from smokestacks, factories, radioactive fallout from nuclear products, unhealthy food additives and the list goes on? The fact is, it´s easier to go after smokers. When I still smoked I was amazed at the vitriol leveled against me when I was quietly having a smoke.

You know they are even trying to make it illegal to use our fireplaces now.

Yunus Emre

A single word can brighten the face
of one who knows the value of words.
Ripened in silence, a single word
acquires a great energy for work.

War is cut short by a word,
and a word heals the wounds,
and there´s a word that changes
poison into butter and honey.

Let a word mature inside yourself.
Withhold the unripened thought.
Come and understand the kind of word
that reduces money and riches to dust.

Know when to speak a word
and when not to speak at all.
A single word turns the universe of hell
into eight paradises.

Follow the Way. Don´t be fooled
by what you already know. Be watchful.
Reflect before you speak.
A foolish mouth can brand your soul.

Yunus, say one last thing
about the power of words --
Only the word "I"
divides me from God.

Neredesin sen

sung by Selda Bagcan

Şu garip halimden bilen işveren azlı
Gönlüm hep seni arıyor neredesin sen
Tatlı dillim, güler yüzlüm, ey ceylan gözlüm
Gönlüm hep seni arıyor neredesin sen

Ben aglarsam aglayıp, gülersem gülen
Bütün dertlerım anlayıp, halımı bılen
Sankı kalbımı bılerek, yüzüme gülen
Gönlüm hep senı arıyor neredesın sen

Sinemde gizli yaramı kimse bilmiyor
Hiç bir tabib şu yarama melhem olmuyor
Boynu bükük bir garibimyüzüm gülmüyor
Gönlüm hep seni arıyor neredesin sen

WHERE ARE YOU?

My coy (lover), my flirty who understands that miserable condition of mine
My heart is looking for you all the time, where are you?
My soft-spoken, my good-humored, oh my gazella-eyed
My heart is looking for you all the time, where are you?

The one who cries when I cry and who smiles when I smile
Who understands all my troubles, who knows in what a condition I am
Who smiles at me as if (s)he can see my heart
My heart is looking for you all the time, where are you?

I have a hidden wound in my breast, no one knows
No doctor can find a cure for that wound of mine
I’m a poor, I’m unhappy, nothing can make me happy
My heart is looking for you all the time, where are you?

....no I was not that talented. I was finding the whole process too much trouble to continue. The anti smoking thing has become an international event. Soon there will be no place to smoke. I watched it cover the world.

Good luck with your efforts to quit. The questions are, do you still enjoy it, are you feeling negative health effects from it?

FWIW I quite cold turkey. In the end I think it´s the best way. I found taking walks and smelling flowers, taking deep breaths (instead of inhaling smoke) filling my lungs with fresh air helped.

It is hard to explain why people smoke. I know it would have been impossible to just "stop" smoking without the social infrastructure that helped. It becomes a part of you and it also entails many habits. There is the blowing of the smoke, flicking the ashes, lighting it, different ways of holding it. Then there are all the accroutrements to go with it. There are fancy lighters, holders, ashtrays and the list goes on.

I was quite an acommplished smoker. I had a rich aray of props to go with my smoking. I could blow beautiful smoke rings, and even blow rings in rings. I could light a match with my thumbnail, or a match book with one hand. There was a whole array of different ways to hold it. It seemed glamerous, a little risque. It was glamorized in the films. If anyone has seen the old films with Marlene Dietrich and others smoking. Look at this video of famous smoking actresses. The tobacco companies spent millions to have them smoke. I did some research on it and found $100,000 was not an unusual amount, plus free cigarettes, and that was in the 1940s.

Tobacco tastes good to some. I think much of the problems with smoking isn´t as much the actual tobacco as it is the additives.

Little by little it has ceased to have glamor. In fact smokers have become social pariahs. It wasn´t the nicotine I loved, it was all the little habits and affectations that went along with it I loved.

People here look at you now with a Ewww look when they smell your garments. You can´t rent an apartment, nobody wants to hire a smoker. All in all smoking is very hard to do here in the SF Bay Area. In fact pretty much all of California is anti smoking. I only have a couple of friends who still smoke. Being around them bothers me now. I love them, but the smoke bothers my sinus and I get congested after spending time with them. I shudder to think of what may happen if I am around friends who smoke. It really bothers me now.....

There is a lot to protest about as of late. Hey, it´s nice to see you here posting again. Hopefully you stay around a while and lend the forum the much needed texture and spice of your words.

I am sorry to hear that vineyards. geçmiş olsun. It is hard to see our parents weak. I hope you are able to bear up well. Take care of yourself.

I hope smoking in Turkey has diminished a great deal. I stopped smoking a few years ago and now find it really bothers me to be around the smoke from smokers. Where I live, in California, there are very strict anti-smoking laws. I used to hate them, but now I´m glad for their existance.

It is a difficult thing to stop smoking. It is more than one habit, it is many combined into one.