A Lost Map On The Tramway In Istanbul In Turkey, there lives a mysterious minority known as the “secret Armenians.” They have been hiding in the open for nearly a century. Outwardly, they are Turks or Kurds, but the secret Armenians are actually descendants of the survivors of the 1915 Genocide, who stayed behind in Eastern Anatolia after forcibly converting to Islam. Some are now devout Muslims, others are Alevis –generally considered an offshoot of Shia Islam, even though that would be an inaccurate description by some accounts–, and a few secretly remain Christian, especially in the area of Sassoun, where still there are mountain villages with secret Armenian populations. Even though Armenian Gypsies wouldn’t strictly qualify as Secret Armenians, they share many traits with the latter, including reluctance or fear to reveal their identity even to fellow Armenians.
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posted by the man of twists and turns
on Dec 15, 2012 -
15 comments
No line of unlicensed Star Wars figures is as sought after as the Turkish line known as Uzay.
STARS WAR UZAY set includes: Stormtroper, Imperial Stormtoper, Head Man, Chewbacca (Monkey Man), Artoo-Detoo, Imperial T E Fighter Pilot and See-Threep.
posted by timshel
on Mar 28, 2012 -
28 comments
Taksim Trio is a super-group from Istanbul composed of Hüsnü Senlendirici, one of the greatest clarinet players alive, Aytac Dogan on qanun (zither) and Ismail Tuncbilek on saz (long necked lute). More of their music that can be found on
Youtube. A glowing
Album review & some background. Their
Myspace.
posted by growabrain
on Oct 15, 2011 -
6 comments
The Internet can be a powerful tool when it comes to collaborations between artists of all ilks. Laptop band Project Jenny, Project Jan harnessed said power when it set out to create a video for its new song,
“Lucky Me,” producing a lovely, painterly video courtesy of a Turkish
Ebrû artist the band had never met.
Hikmet Barutçugil redefined the aspects of Ebrû with a scientific approach and managed to transfuse marbling into other disciplines, from architecture to popular crafts.
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posted by netbros
on Apr 23, 2011 -
1 comment
Inventor of the Döner has died. As anybody who has been drunk at 2 a.m. in Germany knows, the
Döner is a staple of German fast-food cuisine. Although similar dishes have been around for a while, the modern version is believed to be invented in 1971 in West Berlin by Mahmut Aygün. From there it spread to many other cities and
countries in Europe and
beyond. Mahmut Aygün died at the age of 87 last month in Berlin.
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posted by chillmost
on Feb 23, 2009 -
121 comments
Victorian Turkish Baths - "Can the active, fox-hunting, cricketing, boating Englishman bear the same kind of treatment that benefits and gratifies the indolent, languid, luxurious Turk?"
posted by tellurian
on Jan 17, 2007 -
12 comments
Fatima Polattas filed charges against Turkish police for raping her while she was in their custody; she's now
facing charges for insulting the security forces and her country's moral integrity for talking about what happened to her, and could spend up to six years behind bars. This is easily the most disturbing thing I've read all day.
posted by lia
on Apr 4, 2001 -
8 comments
I have no idea what this is. monty python meets the near east. (warning: fairly loud audio; flash required)
I would think this was one of those "viral marketing" sites except that it's in... turkish?
any ideas what this is? babelfish doesn't translate turkish.
posted by rebeccablood
on Feb 9, 2001 -
8 comments
