Erkan's secret Iftar - I fast My Way...

Pictures are taken with a hidden camera in Macka. Therefore the quality is not that good.
Erkan Saka, of Erkan's Field diary was caught on camera while breaking the fast on Saturday, 22 September. He was served a nice meal with a French PR guy. Look at his drink at the left side of his plate!


Erkan, almost starved to death, using some good Efes beer and his rice to digest his Indonesian food.
Later that evening he admitted that he was a Besiktas Hooligan...
Anyway, Denis, my French friend, and I told him to be more careful about his image..))

Last of the Iraqis - 3 - The Jail

As the date of My wedding anniversary becomes closer, I decided to make a surprise trip for both of us, me and my wife, to celebrate our anniversary for 3 weeks in Jordan. I wanted us to relax, live a normal life for a while, see our parents and have some fun and because I wanted it to be a surprise, I didn't mention it because my wife (of course) reads my blog. Anyway, I started to arrange the requirements of the trip, I needed to book tickets, and take a sick leave, because it's the only type of leaves that I can have, and I have to go to Al-Sadir hospital (formerly known as Al-Qadesia hospital) which is in Al-Sadir city (formerly known as Al-Thaora "the revolution" or Saddam city)! I don't know why they force any one who wants to take a leave to take it from there! I know there is a thin line between Braveness and stupidity, but this is a necessity to me and I have to go and that's what I did, Al-Sadir City is somewhere that not only Sunni are afraid to go but even most of the Shiite who doesn't live there, like my friend who is Shiite and whom I asked to accompany me there and was terribly afraid to do so, I know Al-Sadir city is the stronghold of Al-Mahdi army, but people thinks that it's the grave of anyone who dares to go there of course except the people who lives there, anyway I decided to go, I decided to take the risk to have some peace later. I wear raged clothes, and didn't shave that day so I will not bring attention.....

Continue reading here.

Mijn Istanbul - My Istanbul

A couple of weeks ago I met for the first time with the Dutch journalist Bernard Bouwman. He is correspondent for the Dutch quality newspaper NRC in Istanbul. Also for the impartial Dutch TV station NOS and the Radio 1 he is the correspondent. He is an interesting person who studied History, Philosophy and International Relations in Utrecht, the Netherlands, France, Washington DC and the UK. He got his Ph.D in Political Science at Oxford University.
He lives in Istanbul since 1999 and speaks Turkish.
This year his book was released 'Mijn Istanbul' (My Istanbul). He sent it to me by post since he is on a well deserved holiday. Today I received it and started reading. Must say, it's fabulous how he describes all kinds of situations he went through in Turkey, interviews with famous Turkish people. A book full of anecdotes. Unfortunately, it's still only available in Dutch. But English translation will follow soon. I don't think that it will be translated in Turkish...some 'sensitive' things would not be appreciated by a small minority. But his love for Istanbul is obvious.