Skinheads' Fashionable Anger

Thor Steinar was the favorite clothing brand of the German neo-Nazis. Now this brand is sold to a company based in Dubai. The skinheads started to boycott the brand, saying that their "complex worldview cannot be printed on a T-shirt which is produced by an Arab."

I am not an admirer of the arabesque capitalism, but that's absolutely hilarious! If foreigners keep up with the hostile takeovers of their following favorite brands, the neo-Nazis may even alter their complex worldview after this commercial shock therapy.

The Value of a Turkish Soul

I observe one big problem in the Turkish culture, which is seriously contradicting with the Western European culture. That is, to summarize, the value which we attribute to the human life and especially our own lives. It can also be regarded as a general problem for most of the Muslim world.

In the West, the life of an individual is invaluable. In Turkey, it is not. This is why we can easily forget, say, the massacres that were committed against the Turks during the First World War.

This, to turn the page of the history and embrace the former enemies, can even be considered as a virtue. However, in some instances, it turns out to be a great shortcoming.

Here are two fresh examples:

* Some PKK terrorists killed six Turkish soldiers and wounded 11 in a southeast province with a remote-controlled mine yesterday. The Turkish people didn't react, like they didn't before. No protest marches, no mourning...

* In four days, five people died in the central Anatolia after they got bitten by ticks. The total casualties exceeded 140, but we didn't see any reaction in Turkey again, like we are seeing because of the swine flu, which didn't kill any Turks yet.

I believe that this is a negative result of the phenomenon, which I call Practiced Islam. The Real Islam, which I believe in, highly appreciates the value of one's life, while introducing a concept of Destiny that the individuals have control on.

However, the Practiced Islam, which was born as a religious deviation during the rule of Umayyad, strictly emposes another version of Destiny. It says that our Destiny cannot be changed. That is how all the Muslim world had been sentenced to a deadly fatalism, which always favors the ruling class.

So, basically, this is about culture and politics, not religion. Though, as it is not easy to alter culture in other means, we can use religion, as well as secular education, to get rid of this problem. The solution is to get back to the core values of Islam, especially regarding the belief of Destiny. Some writings of Ali Shariati, the Marxist Muslim, may be the best place to start.

What Goes Around Comes Around in Europe

Read some British newspapers today and see how the negative populism of French President Nicolas Sarkozy has created a backslash.

Actually, Sarkozy gets what he deserves: Suddenly, his pro-Nazi father and the Mussolini links of the family of his wife re-attract attention. And he is cursed as a diminutive egomaniac.

I always believe that all this man can create in Europe is division and confrontation, but unfortunately he never learns. Here is another example:

L'Express has reported today that Sarkozy cancelled the official visit to Sweden, because the Swedish Foreign Minister has recently spoke to Le Figaro and said that "Europe needs Turkey!"

You see, Sarkozy is such a half witted avenger. Everyone who doesn't agree with him should be worried. And everyone who agrees with him should be even more worried, as they are on the verge of extinction.

The Quote Of The Week

Cenap Şahabettin was a Turkish poet who lived between 1870 and 1934. I never liked his personality, which can be summarized as an over-cosmopolitinized identity with a clinical inferiority complex, but I love the wit in some of his words. Şahabettin is like a treasure for a quotation hunter, though I will give just five examples:

* You can see eagles and snakes on mountain tops. However, one of them comes there by flying and the other does it by crawling. Where you are is not more important than how you get there.

* A tin box makes the worst noise.

* You should either find a way or make a way. Otherwise, get out of the way.

* I rarely see a person who likes poplars, because they stand straight.

* Don't bridle a dog, he may assume that he is a horse.

A Comparison: Erdogan and Fascism

Here is what Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said in his party congress in Düzce a few days ago:

"Various ethnic identities have been expelled from our country in the past. It was actually the result of a fascistic approach."

Wow, what a brave democrat, right?

Before answering this question, you should know what the same Erdogan had said in the Rize congress of his former party in 1993:

"The Jew knows about my leader, but my brother in the mosque doesn't know about him enough. I'm asking you: All those people in our country, the US, the West and the Zionists, what are they afraid of? When I was following my (Islamist) leader in the past, I was young, but I had noticed that the US didn't like him; neither the West and the Jew did. The testimony of the enemy is the most reliable one. Because the Jew knows our leader very well."

Change, but what kind of change? Like a chameleon?

Turkey's New Foreign Policy

Two must-read articles:

The first piece is from Finland: "Looking for a New Strategic Identity: Is Turkey Emerging as an Independent Regional Power?" by Hanna Ojane and Igor Torbakov. They argue that the EU would be an asset for Turkey not for confirming its European identity, but for contributing to her rising regional (if not global) stature.

The second piece is a SETA article, written by Bulent Aras. It evaluates the prospective effect of Turkey's new Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, concluding that his era in Turkish foreign policy will deepen Turkey’s involvement in regional politics, international organizations, and world politics.

Beyond Istanbul

The Times has published an interesting travel article today. It highlights the Turkish inland, namely, the ancient Phrygia area which covers the inner Aegean region, west of Ankara.

And Daily Mail has listed today six things you must do in Turkey, focusing on the northwestern part of the country, from Troy to Gallipoli.

Both articles show us once again that Turkey means something more than Istanbul, touristically. Another example is the dreamy photo below, which is published today by the semi-official Anatolian News Agency. The location is Sultansazligi National Park near Mount Erciyes, the marshy home of several rare, migrating bird species.

* Click to enlarge

The Racist Farce

As the mainstream rightist leaders in Europe continue using an anti-Turkish tone, the far-rightists get more encouraged. After Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, Silvio Berlusconi has also joined the fight to attract some racist votes. OK, politics is always dirty, but don't they have some self-respect?

This trend in the elections for the European Parliament doesn't make me worried, as I am sure that these opportunist/xenophobiac politicians won't be around in 10 years (we have already seen that the anti-Turkish posters of REP have been removed instantly, not by the police, but by the people). These clowns just make me laugh.

Check what the British National Party did in their racist election campaign:

Steven Green vs. Hasan Akbar

Steven Dale Green, the American soldier who raped and killed an Iraqi teen, has been sentenced to life in prison. The fact that Green was spared the death penalty with a grin on his face would be a blow for America's international reputation, as can be seen from the initial reactions.

I am against the death penalty and I am happy to see that Turkey is ahead of the United States in this area, as Ankara had abolished this method of punishment years ago. However, the justice must be consistent anyway and anywhere. If this Kentucky jury can't condemn Green to death, whom will they? What kind of crime can be more brutal than the one committed by Green?

Maybe the Americans should start talking about abolishing the death penalty now. Otherwise, it may keep hurting the image of the US in the Middle East, which would be a disaster for the Obama Administration that was effectively elected to prevent it.

And those Middle Easterns are able to ask now: Then why did you condemn Hasan Akbar, another American soldier, to death for killing two fellow soldiers in 2003? Because he is black or because he is a Muslim convert? Or is killing two soldiers with a grenade a worse crime, comparing to rape and murder an Iraqi girl with her family, burn their corpses and then have a party? Is it the American justice?

How to Drive Sarkozy Crazy?

Shakhtar Donetsk won the UEFA Cup here last night, after a 2-1 victory over Werder Bremen.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a football fan, was probably eating his heart out in front of the TV set.

Why?

1) The last UEFA Cup final was being organized in the Asian part of Istanbul. That was a first in history and also a last, as the cup will be reorganized next year as the Europa League.

2) Michel Platini, the French President of UEFA, praised the Turkish organization. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was with Platini as he handed down the cup.

3) There were no French teams in the final, as both Paris St. Germain and Marseille were eliminated by Dynamo Kiev and Shaktar, two Ukrainian teams, in the quarter finals. The Ukrainians, another nation that Sarkozy opposes its EU membership, beat also the Germans in the end.

4) The president of Shakthar is Rinat Akhmetov (below), a practicising Tatar Muslim, who opposes Victor Yushchenko, the pro-EU President of Ukraine..

A sad night for the future of Europe, right, Monsieur Sarkozy?

A Just War?

I'm neither a militarist nor a pacifist. I just believe that sometimes you have to fight.

Yes, there are just wars. Most of the defensive wars, like the Turkish War of Independence or the Bosnian Muslim resistance, are as such. However, sometimes a military intervention can also be just, I guess.

I am reading about the Korean War nowadays, from the American, Turkish, Korean and Chinese sources (generally in English). I have been suspicious about it until now, but I am convinced that Turkey did the right thing by sending troops there.

That seemed to be a legitimate humanitarian intervention. Under the umbrella of the United Nations, the Turks helped South Koreans to survive in a war which was highly symbolic. The Turks and the Koreans, two brother nations for two millenia with relative languages, defended against the historically common enemy, the Chinese, at Kunuri and elsewhere. They succeeded together, even though they were not coreligionists...

Today, when we meet a Korean citizen or travel in Korea, we feel that the hard decision of our fathers was right. That's what we do when we see the long-lasting appreciation of the Koreans. That's what makes our martyrs to rest in peace in the Korean mountains.

What about the war in Afghanistan now? The UN is not there. NATO is. But is it a just war?

I'm still not sure, although I know why the Obama Administration wants more Turkish soldiers there. I saw the answer once again, after reading the memories of Anthony Herbert, the most decorated soldier of the Korean War. Here is a passage from his book, Soldier:

"The Turks were of about a company size. We established a perimeter on our hill and sat back to wait for some further word. I didn't speak their language and nobody in their group spoke English, so we spent a cold, quiet night and the next morning found ourselves surrounded by Chinese. I was nervous.

There I was with a unit that had never been in combat before, we were surrounded and I couldn't even talk to them. They couldn't have been happier. They were having a picnic. Every way they looked, it was the front. They could fire in any direction and kill Chinese. They used up most of the morning doing just that, while I sat around trying to figure out how I could get the hell out of there. By the time the sun was high, everybody's ammo was low, but the Turks were calm as hell about it.

They formed a skirmish line, fixed their bayonets and faced north with grins on their faces. I saw the direction they were facing and knew instantly it wasn't where I wanted to go. I jumped up and jammed my fist to the south. Their line whirled, and I suddenly found myself swept along in one of the most sucessful, old fashioned bayonet charges of the entire Korean War. I learned a lesson from that.

The Turks are never trapped. It's the people who surround them who are in trouble. Watching them use their bayonets that day was a revelation: They were dervishes. They had a peculiar style--one I hadn't learned back at Benning. They lunged, drove the bayonet into the abdomen, whirled, struck down hard on top of the rifle with their left hand and consequently disembowled their victims. My most vivid memory of that charge is of my gratitude to God or the United Nations or whoever was responsible for putting the Turks on our side."

Begüm, Hu

Let's continue with some more music and have more fun than we had in Eurovision 2009.

Here is the last musical masterpiece of mankind, the Turkish hillbilly version of Beggin':

The English translation of the Turkish lyrics:

Begüm (a Turkish female name), oh,

Blame it on yourself, baby

Begüm, oh,

My heart has ignored you (on MSN Messenger)...

I'll translate the rest when I can listen it without laughing.

Why Did Armenia Vote For Turkey?

Eurovision 2009 was dominated by Norway and the Turkish entry fell below expectations, as it ranked only 4th.

It can't be seen as a failure for Turkey, as the opponents of Hadise were much stronger, comparing to previous years. The number of good songs was greater and the amount of pointless nudity was relatively lower.

This is actually a big success for Turkey, because Hadise's performance was surprisingly mediocre last night. She was too excited that she couldn't sing or dance properly. Even after these shortcomings, if you just count the number of 12 points taken, Turkey would be in the 2nd place. Norway got the maximum from 16 countries -a record. Turkey got it from 6 countries. Bosnia, Greece and Iceland, from three countries each.

On the other hand, from an artistic perspective, Moldova, Bosnia, Sweden, Portugal, Britain and France should have been in better spots in the end, I believe. Though, I am not going to talk about the boring neighborhood lobby problem again...

I'll just point out to another fact: Armenia has awarded some points to Turkey this time! That's a first in the Eurovision history. But how did it happen?

It happened, because the rules are changed. Now the decision of a national jury is as potent as the popular vote. In the past, the common Armenians never awarded Turkey (as most of them are full of hate against the Turks, thanks to the diaspora education), but this time the Armenian jury awarded Ankara as a political move.

Turkey awarded six points to Armenia again. In the past, we have seen even 12 points, going from Turkey to Armenia. The reason is simple: Turkey doesn't have a hateful diaspora to teach how to get revenge in every instance for the mass killings of the Turks by the Armenian gangs in early 1900s. While Western European countries enforce strict laws against illegal immigrants, Turkey lets more than 70.000 Armenian workers to stay and work here, illegally.

Bottomline: Being a great country is not about the points you get. It's about your ability to turn the page, be humane and show it by your deeds.

Turkey's Rising Film Talent

Variety has published an interesting piece about Turkish cinema.

The article lists the populist directors and the talented upcomers decently, but fails to mention two diaspora directors of Turkey, Fatih Akin and Ferzan Ozpetek, who are as artistically great as Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Reha Erdem.

The Quote of the Week

"Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed." --Michael Pritchard

Visa Is Going, Going, Gone

When I wrote here the first time that the Turks didn't need EU visas anymore, some Western European friends lashed out at me. The first comments were written by our dear friend Hans, who was claiming that he was an "international lawyer" and I was "talking b.shit."

In two years and a half, we saw that both of these claims were wrong. The visa-free Europe for the Turks had been sourced from a de jure reality and it seems that it will become de facto very soon. Probably, sooner than the full EU membership of Turkey...

The latest retreat of the German Foreign Ministry is a clear evidence here. The German government has announced today that Turkish athletes, scientists, artists, truck drivers, etc, will not be asked for visas anymore. France, the UK, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Denmark are expected to follow the German example.

However, this won't stop here; because Germany will still not be practicing the international law in its full extent. The international law, confirmed by the international courts, keep ordering that the current visa regime was illegally invented by the Western European governments to cast the Turks out. Ankara Treaty and its additional protocols between Turkey and the European Economic Community require a complete restoration of law, which means that the current visa illegality will ultimately come to an abrupt end soon or less. Imagine, Fenerbahce football team will be able to travel without visas before playing an away match with Bayern Munich, but its fans will need visa! Do the German authorities really think that this new torture system will be sustainable?

Now I will watch if the Turkish government will also move up for this case, which has been fought for only by some courageous Turkish citizens up to now. I have doubts about it, but -luckily- the Turkish citizens don't depend on Ankara. A government initiative could accelarate the process, but it's not a requirement anymore.

After all, now I am sure that Turkey will finally be a Schengen country in the future, thanks to the international law and its binding rulings. I don't want anything for myself here, as I never had any problems with any kind of visa. I just want to see the justice is done. That's what all Europeans should pursue: Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus!

Border Obsession is Racism

Once again, another election approaches and two future-blind European politicians suddenly remembered Turkey's EU membership. Turkey hunting season opens...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy reiterated their opposition to Turkey joining the EU.

"We have to talk about the borders of this Europe," Merkel said. And Sarkozy agreed: "She is right – because a Europe without borders would be a Europe without a will, without identity, without values."

Somebody should teach them that borders don't have anything to do with identity, will or values anymore. Linking geographic boundries to national identity is something that only Hitler or another fascist leader could do. In today's networked globe, borders are always virtual and destined to disappear. There are countries, like Iraq, with permanent borders, but without a national identity or common social values. And there are borders between Turkey and Azerbaijan, even though their identities and values are almost identical.

Morover, thanks to the Customs' Union, there are already no borders for commodities between Turkey and the EU. So, what Sarkozy and Merkel actually opposes is the free circulation of the people. This is not only xenophobic, but also illegal, according to the rulings by the European Court of Justice.

As Daniel Cohn Bendit has recently responded to the absurd remarks of the hidebound-duo:

"Sarkozy keeps using this issue as a domestic politics card. He just wants to attract the far-rightist votes. The offer of priviliged partnership wouldn't provide the needs of Turkey."

In Europe's future, there should be no place for such old-fashioned, narrow minded, populist leaders. If they are not racists, then they are suffering from borderline personality disorder.

PS: I'm going to Bosnia, I'll be away for 2-3 days.

A Feminine Mosque

Turkey's first mosque designed by a woman was opened in Istanbul yesterday. Here are a lot of photos.

Firstly, I must clarify something: Zeynep Fadillioglu, a femail designer, has designed the interior of Sakirin Mosque, which is inside the Karacaahmet Cemetery on the Asian side of the city. The architect of the mosque is Husrev Tayla, a male expert.

Some found this mosque Orientalist, but I agree with Mustafa Cagrici, the Grand Mufti of Istanbul, who stated that this mosque is "both modern and respectful of Turkish culture."

As an enthusiast of old Ottoman mosques, I liked Sakirin Mosque in general.

What I liked:

* The dome and the minarets

* The garden and the fountain

* Some decorative details, like the dripping chandellier.

What I didn't like:

* The post-modern design of the the crescent-shaped mihrab on the quibla wall, as well as its color. Blue disturblingly contradicts with the red ceiling.

* Lack of ceiling and wall ornaments, like we see in Sultanahmet Mosque, where Pope Benedict XVI and Obama had also visited.

Even though I can sympatize with the feminist joy, I still believe that the architecture of the mosque overcome the class of the interior design. It could be better inside, but I'm happy to see that -whether perfectly or not- at least a woman did it; not another boring man...

The Quote of the Week

"What each of us wants to know today is how to get out of ourselves, how to escape from our mountains and sand dunes, how to define ourselves in terms of ourselves and not of someone else, how to stop being exiles in spirit." --Abdullah Laroui

I had read this sentence when I was twelve or thirteen years old in "L’histoire du Maghreb: Un Essai de Synthése" by Laroui. I was trying to teach myself French. I don't remember from where I had found that old book. Shortly afterwards, I lost it; but my notes remained. I had written down the sentence above in its Turkish translation. After years, I checked those annotations (which I have got as a Word document now), I translated into English and then googled. Bingo, thanks to Google Books, today I found two references to this sentence and its official English translation above. I'm lucky. I've always been.

The Turks Are Neanderthals!

The demonization of the Turks is not a new phenomenon in Europe. Here is a political cartoon in France, portraying the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid as "as the butcher of Armenians," decades before the so-called genocide. The media and the art are always useful tools.

The Kill-Bill-style bloody wedding in southeast Turkey has taught us something:

If somebody in southeast Turkey does something despicable, he/she is Turkish.

But if somebody is the victim of something despicable, he/she is Kurdish. The perpetrator must be Turkish, of course.

I believe that your ethnicity is not important a bit if you're dying, but this media hypocrisy is sickening anyway.

Even Reuters, BBC or The Times -which I generally find more reliable than the French or the German media- talk about "a Turkish wedding" and doesn't even mention the fact that all the murderers and their victims were Kurdish. In their stories, the word "Kurdish" can only be read as they report that the PKK was not involved in this crime.

The massacre in Mardin is horrible and unprecedented. It is surely a social problem for Turkey, but it has nothing to do with the Turks (see the feudal traditions of the upstate Kurds). However, anyone who follows the latest stories from the newspapers of Western/Central Europe is now probably convinced that the Turks are actually barbarians.

Here is a reader comment, published on the website of the Independent:

oomigoolies wrote:

Wednesday, 6 May 2009 at 09:00 pm (UTC)

The Turks are neanderthals, and there is nothing racist about it. They are primitive oafs bullies and sexually insecure mensch. You want to answer me, sunshine - do so in English please. This is UK where English is the language of choice.

* * *

Post a similar comment about any other nationality and see how long it will stay there... Ah, yeah, I love the Western European consistency in the understanding of free speech, but that's not what we discuss now.

The point is: Even this isolated crime in a rural Kurdish community can be used by the anti-Turkish front in the EU to alienate European peoples from the Turks. On the other hand, we're lucky that the Western European press is not monobloc. As an epilogue, I would like to translate an accurate analysis from the "Neue Westfalische," a German newspaper:

"After the Mardin massacre, the question should not be about Turkey's EU membership. Of course this can be discussed, but how can you do it over a horrible crime? Then should we kick Austria out of the EU, because of a father who raped his own daughter? Or should we make a difference between the "European crimes" -such as incest and school massacres- and the "un-European crimes" -such as honor killings and blood feuds? The government in Turkey should be criticized because of its ineffectiveness in the struggle against blood feud cases. But if we start to name every horrible crime as an obstacle to EU membership, then we will have no members left very soon."

Not Free, But Democratic Expression

Britain keeps giving good lessons to the world: Free speech is not unlimited, democracy defines its boundries. (Actually this has always been the definition, but some people started to pretend as if it is legally unlimited. Cheap heroism.)

Recently, British Foreign Ministry banned Michael Savage along with terrorists, neo-Nazis and skinheads.

The government says that their views might provoke violence.

This is exactly what it should have been done during the cartoon crisis: Isolate, exclude and estrange the fanatic.

Those cartoonists were principally working in the same way with Savage.

Their works were bringing about a deeper hatred and had got the potential to provoke a worse violence.

Of course, the Danish government couldn't expel them from the country, as most of them were Danish citizens. But this is not the point.

What wrong was the way that the Danish government didn't distance itself from those cartoons.

In such symbolic cases, the intent that you displayed is as important as the action that you take.

The British government is always successful to remain as a neutral party in such social clashes. No sympathy for Islamophiacs, neo-Nazis or anti-democratic savages...

Thanks to this lesson, now Denmark is also learning how to deal with such cases before the crisis looms. Everybody and every government can make mistakes. It's important to fix them as soon as possible.

More on Al-Sadr's Visit

The surprise Istanbul visit of Moqtada al-Sadr is still being discussed.

Why did he come?

I read two interesting articles which are both fresh.

Here is the Asharq Alawsat analysis...

And the Asia Times story...

Giving some insight info about this visit.

The Untold Methods of Ottoman Torture

Torture, espionage and piracy...

The world began talking about these topics again after decades, even centuries.

The American way of torturing and the French way of combatting piracy...

Or how they deal with spies in the US, in Israel, in Iran or in Pakistan...

These are all fresh news, but I would like to tell you something from the Ottoman history now.

It is true that the Ottoman Empire was the most tolerant country of its hey-day, but it was also the harshest one when it comes to law enforcement. As the most centralized state of its time, maybe that's why the Ottoman Empire was the strongest of them all.

Espionage and piracy were two crimes with the harshest punishment. Here are how they were executing pirates and spies:

The Hook: They built a wooden tower in Eminonu, Istanbul. There are hundreds of metal hooks, sticked into the walls of the tower. Each hook was as big as the ones that the butchers used. The spy or the pirate would be stripped naked and got binded. A simple crane would lift him/her several meters up. Then he/she would be released towards the hooks. A painful and slow death... And a strong message to the public.

The Cross: Especially for the spies. He/she would be binded to the cross, facedown, stark naked, legs and arms wide open. Firstly, the punisher would carve his/her scapular and groin. Then he would put burning candles into the bloody cavities. Finally, they would mount the cross to a camel, riding through the city from dawn till dusk. If the spy is still alive, he will be hanged in the evening.

The Stake: Especially for the pirates. The Ottomans probably learned a lot about this art during their battles against Vlad the Impaler. The details are like the cross execution, but there is an integral difference. Instead of nailing the criminal into a big pile, they were sitting him/her on a pale. The oily pale should be made of a strong tree and its diameter should be as wide as an arm.

I have learned today that an exciting high-tech renovation will soon take place in Istanbul's Topkapi Palace. Holographic janissaries (like the one above) will walk up and down the halls of the museum's weapons section and display their uniforms from different periods. Topkapi will be the first museum to use the hologram technology.

Here, I would like to tell you another anectode from the history: One of the sickest methods of execution had been practiced on the body of a janissary soldier. The Ottomans used this method, the artillery, only once.

In the end of 16th century, a janissary fell in love with the wife of an imam. The young lady also loved the soldier. So they decided to escape. In order to hide his lover, the janissary cut her hair like a boy. So they were going around together freely until they got arrested in Uskudar.

Ferhad Aga, then the Chief Executioner, invented the new punishment after he learned this story. He thought that neither the hook nor the cross nor the stake would be painful enough for this immoral janissary. So he ordered the executioners to strip the soldier naked and to break the joints of his wrists, elbows, knees and ankles by using iron hammers. It was done, but Ferhad Aga was still not satisfied. He wrapped up the janissary with oily rags, put the package into the barrel of an artillery, like a cannonball, and fired the fuse.

This innovative method was worse than any other Ottoman way of punishment or torture, including the hot cap, which was about putting a scorching iron pot on the head of the criminal, like a hat, until he dies. After the artillery execution, the history didn't record any other misbehaving janissaries.

Al-Sadr Is With U.S Admirals

Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr has resurfaced in Istanbul after two years of disappearance.

There are various reactions to his visit, but I would like to give you some interesting information that you can't find anywhere yet:

Moqtada al-Sadr is with American admirals now!

It may be just a coincidence, but surely an interesting one.

The admirals of the U.S Navy have come to Istanbul to participate in the Maritime Commanders Meeting 2009 between May 4-6. They all stay in Conrad Hotel.

Surprisingly, Al-Sadr chose the same hotel two days ago. His aides say that Turkish officials recommended the hotel. They claimed that they didn't know that American commanders were also there.

CIA had declared Al-Sadr as the leader of the Iraqi resistance. Consequently, the anti-US cleric had escaped to Iran to save his life. Now he is in Istanbul, alongside the American officials.

Turkey... What a mediator!

Temptation and Provocation

I am bored of writing of this subject over and over again, but I can't stop myself when I witness such standards.

The Advertising Standards Authority in Britain is investigating the ice cream advert above. If they acknowledge the complainants to be right, they will ban this ad.

How come?

With a legal base... The Committee of Advertising Practice rules on religious offence states that "portraying nuns in a sexual manner is inappropriate."

Then why can't we ban a cartoon that portrays a prophet in a terrorist manner? Isn't a prophet more important for a religion or is terrorism more appropriate than sexuality?

Let's be honest: Is it really about the freedom of expression or just about Islamophobia in Central Europe?

PS: I know that the British government would never allow such offensive cartoons, even though Britain is much more civilized than Denmark, thanks to her relatively multicultural policies.

Police Sentimentality

All over the world, annual May Day celebrations turned seriously violent only in Turkey and Germany.

The following photos from Istanbul and Berlin show the difference between the Turkish and the German police.

The former with a strong water cannon and the latter with a squirt gun!

But you can't stop the rainbows even with an aquatic howitzer, can you?

Istanbul

Berlin

PS: If the German squirt guns were full of something other than drinking water, I'll review my comparison...