Israel And Turkey, Friends No More
Istanbul, Turkey: Let me begin with shvitz, a Yiddish term I believe that refers to special baths.
When the hotel I was staying at in Istanbul advertised that guests were welcome to enjoy the Turkish Bath in their basement, I took them up on it. There were two other blondish guys in their birthday suits in the small room sweltering in the small room when I got there. They were drinking beer and conversing in a strange language I later identified as Swedish.
I was in town to speak at a session on Internet freedom at the 17th International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA 2011) at Sabanci Center. They were there, as I slowly learned as engineers loaned out to the America’s Westinghouse Corporation to build some nuclear plants in Turkey. Apparently, they were to have been built by the Tokyo Electric company that now has a nuclear disaster of their own on their…
Turkey’s Military Chiefs ‘Resign’
Photo: ozgurmulazimoglu (CC)
With allegations of military officials, academics, politicians and many others campaigning to overthrow the government, over 400 people are estimated to be brought to trial. The head of the Turkish armed forces and other military officials have decided to resign due to extending circumstances. Al Jazeera reports:
General Isik Kosaner, the head of the Turkish armed forces, has quit along with the heads of the ground, naval and air forces.
The country’s state-run Anatolia news agency said the military chiefs have asked to leave their posts because of tensions with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the recently re-elected prime minister.
Antolia reported Kosaner as resigning “as he saw it as necessary”.
This is the first time so many top commanders in Turkey have resigned at once.
Al Jazeera Turk’s Elif Ural said while there has been no official comments yet, the prime minister will be releasing a written statement within the next hour or two.
[Continues at Al…
Turkey’s Museum Of Hair
Oddity Central examines one of the planet’s most disturbing “museums,” The Hair Museum in Avanos, Turkey. Every inch of every surface is covered in human hair, culled from tens of thousands of women and tagged and labeled. Great fun for the whole family!
The Hair Museum of Avanos, in Cappadocia, is definitely a must-see if you’re into bizarre tourist spots.
Ever since 3000 BC, Avanos has been known for its high quality earthenware, made from the mineral-rich mud of the Red River, but in recent years, the town has mostly been mentioned in relation to a unique hair museum created by skilled Turkish potter Chez Galip. The unusual establishment, located under Galip’s pottery shop, is filled with hair samples from over 16,000 women. The walls, ceiling, and all other surfaces, except the floor, are covered with locks of hair from the different women who have visited this place, and pieces of paper with…
An Archaeological Dig in Turkey is Reshaping Human History
Patrick Symmes writes on Newsweek:
A temple complex in Turkey that predates even the pyramids is rewriting the story of human evolution.
They call it potbelly hill, after the soft, round contour of this final lookout in southeastern Turkey. To the north are forested mountains. East of the hill lies the biblical plain of Harran, and to the south is the Syrian border, visible 20 miles away, pointing toward the ancient lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, the region that gave rise to human civilization. And under our feet, according to archeologist Klaus Schmidt, are the stones that mark the spot — the exact spot — where humans began that ascent.
Sheep Gives Birth To Human-Faced Lamb
From Australia’s dailytelegraph.com:
A sheep gave birth to a dead lamb with a human-like face. The lamb was born in a village not far from the city of Izmir, Turkey.
Erhan Elibol, a vet, performed a caesarean on the animal to take the lamb out, but was horrified to see that the features of the lamb’s snout bore a striking resemblance to a human face.
“I’ve seen mutations with cows and sheep before. I’ve seen a one-eyed calf, a two-headed calf, a five-legged calf. But when I saw this youngster I could not believe my eyes. His mother could not deliver him so I had to help the animal,” the 29-year-old veterinary said.
The lamb’s head had human features on – the eyes, the nose and the mouth – only the ears were those of a sheep.
Vets said that the rare mutation most likely occurred as a result of improper mutation since the fodder…
New Turkish Film On Israeli War Crimes
From PRESSTV:
A damning Turkish motion picture, aimed at depicting the “Israeli crimes against humanity,” is set to further alienate Ankara from Tel Aviv.
The movie would “depict Israel as it is – with bloody hands, merciless… flouting all human values,” against a backdrop of the Palestinian suffering in the blockaded Gaza Strip, the national daily Vatan quoted Turkish scriptwriter Bahadir Ozdener as saying, according to an AFP report.
“What we do is fiction,” said Ozdener. “But what about what they do, their crimes against humanity? They are real.”
Tel Aviv took issue with Ankara over the “Valley of the Wolves” – the TV series boasting Ozdener’s contribution which, besides other patriotic depictions, featured the emancipation of a Turkish boy captured by the Israeli intelligence apparatus, Mossad.
Reacting to the series, Israel called Turkish ambassador Oguz Celikkol to account, seating him on a low couch and removing the Turkish flag from the table of discussion.…
