Day Opening - January 10

Alicia Machado.

Turkish mavericks....

Its always fun to read the 'high school' articles of mr. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis, an unknown guy in the scientifically world.
But he likes the ramble and support terrorism against France, the UK and everything he hates: everybody who disagrees with him.

This maverick writes sometimes an article. He doesn't get paid for it since his back ground is full of lies and fake certificates.

Anyway, enjoy how he encourage terrorism for the sake of Turkey!!

Empty the Louvre!

Turkey must cause a lethal blow to France's image of Embodiment of Culture, Epitome of Education, and Epicenter of the Lights. Instead of foreign governments asking the return of archeological treasures stolen by the criminal French archeologists, local organizations set up by correctly guided immigrants, destitute French of the lower classes, and (culturally and nationally awaken) Britons, Occitans, Catalans, Corsicans, Alsatians and Basks of France must demand the morally imposed action.

An organization named "Do not visit the Louvre Genocide" must daily mobilize protestations and manifestations outside the former royal palace of France to prevent tourists from visiting the stolen collections that the French have disreputably gathered there over the past two centuries.

Another organization named "Money to France's victims, not thieves" should collect money from tourists ready to visit night clubs, casinos and cabarets, and fund NGOs engaged in former French colonies.

Independence for Catalonia, Bask Country, Corsica, and Polynesia

Even more aggressive against France the Turkish foreign policy should be in cases of the still existing French colonies; French Polynesia should become an immediate Turkish concern, and Turkey with its allies in Oceania, Australia and New Zealand, should fuel strife and clash, insurgence, and a successful outcome of the indigenous people's liberation movement.
A global effort of methodic and systematic defamation of France must be undertaken - not to diffuse lies (as the typical French policies would in similar cases) but to reveal the truth to billions of people allover the world about crimes perpetrated by the France in Africa and the Middle East, in Asia (particularly with respect to the Eastern Christians, the Aramaeans, and the Armenians, whom French gangsters masqueraded as missionaries either multi-divided or turned them their own countries, namely the Ottoman Empire and Iran, with the well-known disastrous consequences) and in Oceania. French colonial crimes in America should not be forgotten either.

It is impossible for Turkey to get successfully engaged against France without 100 Ph.D. published, publicized, commented and quoted in more than 10 languages allover the world.

Remove French Cultural Centers from allover the world!

Another effort should be deployed in the former French colonies; through the formation of bilateral NGOs (Turkish / Algerian, Turkish / Syrian), all French colonial deeds carried out and policies implemented against the normal formation of National Identity (of the various colonized peoples) and the elaboration of a true, locally centered, historiography should be denounced.
Accordingly, these NGOs, as social groups of pressure, should demand that all French institutes and colleges, universities and cultural centers in Damascus or Sanaa, Cairo or Rabat be closed down, as diffusing racist versions and visions of History.

As a matter of fact, Turkey needs a theoretical background to fight at an academic - cultural - political level against France, denounce the French colonial crimes (either in Morocco or in Corsica), and mobilize local masses allover the world against France (either in oppressed, Gaelic, Brittany or in semi-liberated Tunisia).


What the theoretical background of the Turkish attack against France should be we will analyze in a forthcoming article.

Time can make you Happy

In 1999, I started a yahoo group. One of the first members and later moderators is Johanna from a place in the centre of Finland. Above a picture of her. Made several years ago. Not always happy, but determined to make something out of her life.


Then she disappeared, but came back with a beautiful message and picture: her son:
Miika Jaakko Sakari.

Here Johanna with her Miiki.
A happy family, with her boyfriend and child. And peaceful rest. Time can do so much, but think in the positive direction.

Are Belgians Turks (part two)

Turkish Daily News: In a move that is destined to bring Belgians and Turks together as brothers, Professor Ahmet Arslan said that when the Selçuk part of the Oguz tribe formed a state in Central Asia, their capital was called Genk, having the same name as the city of Genk in Belgium.

Actually Genk was a Celtic village originally known as Geneche.

Turkish Daily News: He also said the symbol of Genk Municipality was a double headed eagle, and added as his conclusive proof, “In the Selçuk tribe, the same symbol was used. One head symbolized Interior Oguz while the other Exterior Oguz.”

The double headed eagle is a common symbol, usually associated with the Eastern Roman Empire.

Turkish Daily News: Referring to the city of Genk in Belgium, Arslan said: “There are many dark haired, light skinned people there. This is the basic characteristic of the Oguz tribe.”

Is he referring to the Turks that live their or the native Belgians? That "characteristic" is "characteristic" of many tribes. Moreover, definitions as to what constitutes "light skin" vary.

Turkish Daily News: The molecular genetic studies the department had conducted showed the main migration route from Central Asia followed the north west and west of the Caucasus Mountains, Arslan said.

He said there were close blood ties between Europeans and Turks as a result of these tribal migrations. These migrations did not expand to Western Europe, nor to Eastern Europe until the advance of the Ottoman Empire. The Oghuz Turks consisted of multiple tribes whose original homeland was in the Ural-Altaic region of Central Asia. Due to the dissolution of the Göktürk Khanate in the 8th century, the Oghuz migrated westwards to Transaxonia. From this base they would over centuries would establish the Seljuk Empire and continue west into Western Asia and Eastern Europe. While Turks did dwell in the Black Sea Steppes, and the Oghuz became first associated with the Hunnic invasions in the 3rd century (BC), the 8th century marks their first significant migration from the ethnic Turkic homeland. The Seljuks are derived from this Steppes area and migrated into Persia in the 9th century, mixing heavily with the Persians before advancing westward.

Genetic research and anthropology on Anatolia concludes the following:
1. Turkish was imposed on non-Turkic peoples
2. The original inhabitants (Mediterranean) were absorbed into the new population
3. Only 30% of present-day Turkish genes are derived from Central Asia
4. There has been continuous gene-flow from Central Asia to Anatolia for some 40 generations at a rate of 1% per generation
5. Modern Turks are closer to Iranians, Caucasians and Russians than Turkic populations in Central Asia

6 Of One A....

Today, I went to my hair dresser in Akmerkez. After that a quick snack at McDonald's.

I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets.
I asked for a half dozen nuggets.

"We don't have half dozen nuggets", said the teenager at the counter.

"You don't?" I replied.

"We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply.

"So I can't order a half-dozen nuggets, but I can order six?"

"That's right."

So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.

Day Opening - January 9

The IBM PC was introduced in 1981. It was perhaps the first to wear the "PC" label, but that was IBM's only innovation.

Lets talk American

Barack Obama....


Jesus Christ

Hillary Clinton.

Who of the 3....

Belgians are Turks?

Okay, the American's make jokes about the Polish, the Spanish about the Portuguese people and the Dutch about Belgium, which is our national right...don't take that away from us...))
Anyway, I had a good laugh this morning reading the article "Belgians are Turks, says Turk academic'.

Professor Ahmet Arslan said that when the Selçuk part of the Oğuz tribe formed a state in Central Asia, their capital was called Genk, having the same name as the city of Genk in Belgium. He also said the symbol of Genk Municipality was a double headed eagle, and added as his conclusive proof, “In the Selçuk tribe, the same symbol was used. One head symbolized Interior Oğuz while the other Exterior Oğuz.”

Interpreting history, by all meaning, especially through philology, the study of ancient texts and languages, is the only valid parameter. Not some kind of cheap redenations. Philology also includes the close study of texts and their history. It includes elements of textual criticism, trying to reconstruct an author's original text based on variant manuscript copies. And therefor you need to understand the classical languages.
History from the Belgium takes its name from the Belgae, the early Celtic tribes who had settled in the area of the Low Countries during Preobscene era.
I am waiting on the moment that this professor claims that Brussels is built by Turks. Maybe a good way to become a EU member....

Day Opening - January 8

Panama canal, Panama.

Day Opening - January 7

London

Day Opening - January 6

Pearl-qatar, Doha, Qatar.

Poem by Dylan Thomas

Clown in the Moon

My tears are like the quiet drift
Of petals from some magic rose;
And all my grief flows from the rift
Of unremembered skies and snows.

I think, that if I touched the earth,
It would crumble;
It is so sad and beautiful,
So tremulously like a dream.

Dylan THOMAS

Day Opening - January 5

Georgia, the country, not the state.

Changes on this blog

Seda

Above Sandra.

I posted earlier that this blog will go through several changes. Not only the host will be a different one, but some co bloggers will be added as well. Unfortunately, Derya will not be able to be a regular blogger anymore, due to her job which requires a lot of time. She also told me that she cannot gain access to typepad. We will figure out how we can solve this since we like here comments and opinion. Its annoying that wordpress is banned in Turkey, so is blogspot in Syria.
New co bloggers will be Seda, a Turkish friend living in Greece, and a dear friend of mine, for years, Sandra. Born in Suriname and raised up in the Netherlands.
And last but not least: Bea, who will move back to the USA will contribute as well.
Together with a Dutch in Armenia, and an Greek/Australian in Greece, we will have a nice team here.

And there might be a chance that another 'yabanchi' will join this team.

Will keep you updated.

No freedom of religion in Turkey...

As Turkey is trying to convince the world in general and the EU in particular, about their religious freedom, below you will find an article about the intolerance the Turkish state imposed on non Suni Muslims and other religions. This is not an act of the AKP party but institutionalized the last 60 years.
While Turkish citizens are crying that there is no place to worship in Europe, Turkish people over there knows better: their Mosques and school are funded with government money. Even cultural centre's are established for a better understanding.

The ignorance or arrogance of some Turkish people is astonishing.
The article below is from here


"In Turkey, the freedom in need of expansion is freedom of religion. While each of the issues that is currently on the agenda is a priority issue, each also touches on a broader question which remains off the agenda: freedom of religion and belief in Turkey itself.

A significant problem facing religious groups in Turkey is the nation’s biased religious registration laws. Registration is required for religious leaders and institutions to serve the spiritual needs of their constituents.
Currently, the Sunni branch of Islam is the only “state-sanctioned” form of religion.
The Alevi Islamic Community is not recognized as a separate religious group and is instead considered to be a de-facto group within Sunni Islam. This lack of distinct recognition severely limits their ability to form their own houses of worship and leaves them suspect to the laws of the state that pertain to Sunnis.
The Shi’a community is not recognized as a separate legal entity either.
The Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Jewish communities are recognized as having “a special legal minority status.” However, this only applies to the individuals within these communities and not to their religious institutions, which severely hinders the ability of these groups to perform a wide range of functions necessary to maintaining and serving the needs of their respective adherents.

All other religious groups, including the Roman Catholic Church, mainline Protestant and Evangelical groups, have no official legal status within the Republic of Turkey.

Religious education is another significantly contentious religious freedom issue in Turkey.
There are two aspects of religious education that are particularly troublesome: the first is that Turkey requires a majority of its population to take state-mandated religious education classes; the second problem is the current restrictions that religious groups face in properly educating their clergy. Turkey currently requires all Muslims in the country, regardless of their sectarian affiliation, to partake in religious education classes.
Minority religious groups are exempted from these religious classes. The Alevis, and other Turkish Muslim minority groups, claim that these classes teach only the Sunni form of Islam that advances religious beliefs that are in conflict with their own religious teachings. These groups also complain that many of these mandatory classes actually demean and dismiss their beliefs.
Many other minority religious communities in Turkey face serious problems in educating their believers.
In 1971, the Turkish government closed all university-level religious schools, both Muslim and Christian.
There are numerous restrictions in place that hinder the ability of these institutions to reopen their doors, such as a requirement that all students be Turkish citizens, a very serious problem for Greek Orthodox clergy.
The government argues that these restrictions are necessary to prevent radical Islamic groups from opening their own religious schools that could spread a violent and extremist form of Islam.
These restrictions disproportionately burden the nation’s religious minorities.

The Greek Orthodox population has fallen to approximately 3000 people over the past several decades. They do not have a large enough population to maintain the primary Greek Orthodox seminary in Turkey – the Halki Monastery. Halki Monastery was among those university-level religious institutions closed by the government, and it faces numerous restrictions to reopening.

The Turkish Government will currently not allow any foreign students to be educated at Halki. Without foreign students, there are not enough Turkish Greek Orthodox seminarians to maintain an official seminary. In addition, due to legal restrictions mentioned above, this Monastery cannot call upon foreign seminarians to travel to Turkey to train the students of the Monastery.
In approximately a generation, the Greek Orthodox population will no longer have the capacity to train new theological leaders. Furthermore, due to legal restrictions that any religious leader in Turkey must be a citizen and be educated in Turkey, within a few years there will be no one that is eligible to be the new Patriarch of Constantinople. As a result, this religious group will have no way of practicing its faith or continuing its traditions. Without the ability to practice their faith or continue their traditions, the Greek Orthodox community will slowly disappear to the pages of history. The continued closure of Halki threatens the very survival of Turkey’s ancient Greek Orthodox minority and the “primus inter pares” of Orthodoxy, the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Turkey’s Greek Orthodox community is a victim of a silent genocide as their population, religion, and way of life are eroded over the years by actions taken by the Turkish government.

The Government periodically meddles in the internal functioning of religious communities. The Higher Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of the Government in a dispute over the Greek Orthodox Patriarch.
The government refused to recognize the use of the term “ecumenical” in reference to the Patriarch. This means that the Turkish government refuses to recognize the Patriarch as leader of anything more than the country’s small Greek Orthodox community, in contrast with the esteemed position that the Patriarch holds amongst other Orthodox communities worldwide.
As the government only allows Turkish citizens to be members of the Orthodox Church hierarchy, this condition places a great strain on such a small population.

Another cause for concern in Turkey is the recent string of attacks against Christians. In January 2007, a protestant church in Samsun was severely vandalized. In April, three workers at a Bible house in the city of Malatya were viciously murdered. The victims’ throats were slashed, and a fourth person inside the building was attempted to escape by jumping out of a window and was severely wounded. It is imperative that the international community pressure Turkey into prosecuting those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.

Every community of faith needs the freedom to practice their religion without worrying about either themselves or their religious institutions being physically harmed."

Sobering information about Drunk driving...

A friend of mine told me the following some rather sobering information about punishment for drunk driving convictions in other countries than in the Netherlands, where we have a zero-tolerance policy against drinking and driving.

He told me that
-In Australia, the names of drunk drivers are printed in newspapers under the caption, "He's drunk and in jail."
-In Malaysia the driver is jailed and, if married, the spouse is jailed too.
-In the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden there's an automatic jail term of one year.
-In Turkey, drunk drivers are driven twenty miles out of town and forced to walk back home.
-In Bulgaria, a second drunk-driving conviction results in capital punishment.
-In El Salvador, your first offense is your last -- execution by firing squad.

So, if you live in the centre of Istanbul, and they drive you out of the city, then another 30 km, wow, that's a hell of a distance. But if prefer the Turkish option over the El Salvadorian one...
But are these stories true?

Day Opening - January 4

Neo-nazi's in Russia...

Fear or being misinformed?

Below you will find a comment, published on TDN forum, of a British friend of mine who lives in the Netherlands.
I don't say that I agree or disagree with him, but it shows how bad the Turkish Republic is doing its PR, relying on the USA to enter the EU.

Very often you hear (mostly Turkish) diplomats telling the world just how strategically (militarily) important Turkey is for the security of Europe and especially the EU.
Nope! The EU is not looking for an extra army. These people sometimes forget that there are enough nuclear powers in the EU, not to speak of far more advanced armies as it is already.

There is also this story about being 'a bridge between the West and the Muslim world'. Nope! EU has it's own institutions and channels for this. They don't need some kind of broker or middle man. Anyway the Turks will never be accepted by the Arabs as a go between.

How about Turkey being the most important energy hub for the EU? Nope! Useful but not the most important. Again the EU has it’s own institutions and channels for this and again there is no need of yet another broker.

Then you have the story about how beneficial Turkey’s accession would be for the job markets in the EU, how this would solve the social welfare costs for the aging population of Europe.

Turkey’s accession would be for the job markets in the EU, how this would solve the social welfare costs for the aging population of Europe. Nope!

Truth is, is that although unemployment in the EU is at an all time low, still more than the half of the social welfare recipients in the EU are immigrants (1st 2nd and even 3rd generation) from outside the EU. A big proportion of them are Turks (or shall we say Turkish passport holders). Why should this trend change once Turkey is in the EU? They will just create an even bigger burden on the tax payers then they do now.

Its up to you to comment.

Shnorhavor Nor Tari!

I'm a bit late, but this is the first time in five days or so that I am online. I wish all of you a very happy, successful and peaceful 2008!

In Armenia the "holiday season" only really started on the 31st and will last for another week or so. Christmas is celebrated according to the Orthodox calendar on January 6 and then what is called the 'Old New Year' on January 13.

However, the real New Year is much bigger than Christmas and the celebrations last about a week starting from January 1st. So this whole week is a week off for almost everyone, including me. New Year's Eve is usually celebrated at home with family, but from January 1st people visit their friends, neighbors and relatives and eat and drink a lot. In every house there is a table filled with food and drinks standing ready for use because at any given moment guests can show up.

This can be lots of fun, but the downside of this is that many people spend more than they can afford on their New Year's table. A friend who has a shop in a small town in the north of Armenia once told me that all the money he makes in the run-up to New Year has to last him until April, because until then people just don't have money to spend. A taxi-driver in Yerevan told me the other day that for taxi's it is basically the same: For quite some weeks after New Year business is slower than usual, because people just don't have money to spend.

I'm off to another food fest at friends!

Day Opening - January 3

More pictures of Maarssen.