The Ergenekon Affair: - The Killer Elite that fuels unrest in Turkey. On 22 January, Turkish police arrested 33 individuals, some connected with the military, in the largest concerted action against the "deep state" , which is heavily involved in Corporate Crime. This might resonate with some US observers.
posted on May 5, 2008 - View this thread

Labour, which had started the disasters of Cyprus by denying it any decolonisation after 1945, had now completed them, abandoning it to trucidation [by doing nothing when Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974]. London was quite prepared to yield Cyprus to Greece in 1915, in exchange for Greek entry into the war on its side. Had it done so, all subsequent suffering might have been avoided. It is enough to compare the fate of Rhodes, still closer to Turkey and with a comparable Turkish minority, which in 1945 peacefully reverted to Greece, because it was an Italian not a British colony. In the modern history of the Empire, the peculiar malignity of the British record in Cyprus stands apart.

The Divisions of Cyprus, an article in The London Review of Books by historian Perry Anderson, is an excellent history of Cyprus from 1878 to the modern day as well as a polemic against the way that outside powers have treated the island.
posted on Apr 17, 2008 - View this thread

Whether on fretless electric guitar or fretless Turkish banjo, mister Salih Korkut Peker sounds mighty fine. And here he is again on banjo, getting down on some Turkish grooves with percussionist Gencer Savaş. Sweet! [note: see hoverovers for link descriptions]
posted on Mar 6, 2008 - View this thread

Qantara (meaning bridge in arabic) is a German based website looking to have dialogue with the Islamic world. Turkey is carrying out a radical revision of Islamic texts trying to define modern Islam. Through dossiers and dialogue and slideshows Qantara is helping this debate.
posted on Feb 26, 2008 - View this thread

"It serves 125, takes eight hours to cook and is stuffed with 12 different birds..." [via Cynical-C]
posted on Dec 17, 2007 - View this thread

Since the passing of Art Buchwald (previously on MeFi), we're looking for something to replace his traditional Thanksgiving Humor Piece (seen here), with varying success. MeFi's Own rstevens has a collection of LOLGRIMS, MeFi's own Lore offers some catering services for the 21st Century (featuring the next step in Turducken evolution). Formerly MeFi's Own Lileks has a cheap video on how to make a cheap Thanksgiving dinner. A faux-conservative blogger (who's no Colbert) suggests renaming the holiday. The "Creatures in My Head" guy has his own disturbing version of a turkey. A video game site has games that (kinda) fit the holiday. A semi-NSFW site for dudes has the Worst Thanksgiving Dishes (not sexist, but PETA-ist and NPR-ist) But the most obvious Thanksgiving tradition (via YouTube) is the WKRP Turkey Drop (and aftermath).
posted on Nov 22, 2007 - View this thread

Chew On This. Take a deep breath, swallow hard, and follow the food you eat on its day-long journey through the digestive system.
posted on Nov 22, 2007 - View this thread

Preparing a turkey the MANLY way. Naturally, one of them involves a lot of bacon.
posted on Nov 16, 2007 - View this thread

Garra Rufa treatment, video, before and after pics. Fish that will eat you alive and make you healthy, "when you get over the ick factor, the nibbling can have a calming affect".
posted on Oct 22, 2007 - View this thread

Turkish MPs back attacks in Iraq. [BBC] The vote was taken in defiance of pressure from the US and Iraq, which have called on Turkey for restraint. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the motion does not mean a military operation is imminent. But he said Turkey needed to be able to respond to a recent rise in bomb attacks blamed on PKK rebels from Iraq [Previously]. Also, [SeaTimes] Flourishing Kurdistan raises specter of war. Needless to say, this is giving the Bush Administration a four alarm Turkish headache on two fronts.
posted on Oct 17, 2007 - View this thread

Genocide: An inconvenient truth "The Armenian genocide bill has been attacked by both the right and the left -- and it may make matters worse. But it's necessary." [Cookie.]
posted on Oct 16, 2007 - View this thread

Genocide: An inconvenient truth "The Armenian genocide bill has been attacked by both the right and the left -- and it may make matters worse. But it's necessary." [Cookie.]
posted on Oct 16, 2007 - View this thread

The gaida is a bagpipe from Southeastern Europe. Gaida mp3s? Lots of 'em here. Gaida on the YouTubes? Why, yes. Yes, of course. Certainly. There's a bunch. Really. A lot. And electric ones? Yup. And here's a deflated one. But do any hippies play this thing? And dance to it? Sure! But the real question is: What is the problem with this gaida?
posted on Sep 10, 2007 - View this thread

Derinkuyu wasn't discovered until 1965, when a resident cleaning the back wall of his cave house broke through a wall and discovered behind it a room that he'd never seen, which led to still another, and another. Eventually, spelunking archeologists found a maze of connecting chambers that descended at least 18 stories and 280 feet beneath the surface, ample enough to hold 30,000 people. [flickr]. [wiki].
posted on Aug 31, 2007 - View this thread

Secular or islamic society? Kemal Atatürk - the Father of modern day Turkey - is watching closely and so is it's secular minded military. Is the country inching closer to Islam or Democracy? A 90% (!) turnout of the 42 million voters is to be expected for this important decision. Al Jazeera has a insightful special covering the event.
posted on Jul 22, 2007 - View this thread

Reviews of Dating Tips...? Comic book review blog Hoopla! takes a break from the funny books and instead reviews internet dating tips. Much hilarity ensues.
posted on Jun 19, 2007 - View this thread

Newsfilter: Turkish Troops Enter Iraq
posted on Jun 6, 2007 - View this thread

Two podcasts from the BBC. Around the world, by every measure, America's reputation and image has never been so poor. Part 1: Venezuela; Part 2: Turkey
posted on May 9, 2007 - View this thread

Can't sleep, Turkish Star Wars will eat me [IMDb, previously]
posted on Mar 19, 2007 - View this thread

Can't sleep, Turkish Star Wars will eat me [IMDb, previously]
posted on Mar 19, 2007 - View this thread

Can't sleep, Turkish Star Wars will eat me [IMDb, previously]
posted on Mar 19, 2007 - View this thread

Can't sleep, Turkish Star Wars will eat me [IMDb, previously]
posted on Mar 19, 2007 - View this thread

Turkey Cinemascope is a series of dramatic photographs from director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Shot all across Turkey, he used them to record locations he was scouting for his films. Many are panoramic, some are epic, others intimate, and all are beautiful. (via and via)
posted on Feb 26, 2007 - View this thread

"The Uncontainable Kurds" (NYRB). Nice summary of recent Kurdish politics in Iraq, Iran and Turkey.
posted on Feb 11, 2007 - View this thread

The Rålamb Costume Book. Illustrations of Turkish officials, various important occupations and just plain folks, obtained by Claes Rålamb, Swedish ambassador to the Ottoman Court, in 1657. More about Rålamb and Sultan Mehmet IV.
posted on Feb 4, 2007 - View this thread

Hrant Dink, Armenian Newspaper Editor, Murdered in Istanbul an ethnic Armenian newspaper editor that was sentenced to 6 months in jail for "insulting Turkishness" by discussing the Armenian Genocide in Turkey was shot dead while leaving his newspaper office today.
posted on Jan 19, 2007 - View this thread

Orhan Pamuk, "My Father's Suitcase" (The Nobel Lecture, 2006), "The Pamuk Apartments," and "On Trial."
posted on Dec 27, 2006 - View this thread

Soup has a history. Enjoy this comprehensive history of the humble (and sometimes not so humble) dish. A widely stated "fun fact" is that the earliest soup was made with hippopotamus bones, but fortunately today you have much tastier options. One favorite, chicken soup, is easy to make and really is good for you [pdf] .
posted on Dec 26, 2006 - View this thread

Hundreds of hand-drawn turkeys. Teaching assistant for a Psych class is on copier duty: multiple-page midterm for a class of over 700. Appends "Draw a turkey" to the last page of the test. Here are the results. Gobble. [via mefi projects]
posted on Nov 22, 2006 - View this thread

Talking Turkey Thanksgiving for those in the $1.5 billion turkey business is as insane as Black Friday for retailers and Christmas for ministers. Ever wonder what a day in the life of getting your favorite bird is like? By the way, your average run-of-the-mill Butterball ain't the only game in town anymore. Do you prefer free-range or antibiotic-free turkey? Fine. How about the Heritage Turkey: a behemoth that boasts the ability to actually fly, looks like a B-1 Bomber on the wing, and has darker, more succulent gourmet meat. It never hurts to have any pictures, either. Happy Thanksgiving!
posted on Nov 22, 2006 - View this thread

How to harvest a turkey. [via Make]
posted on Nov 22, 2006 - View this thread

Turkish Star Trek. For some reason, there's a one off Turkish cover version of The Man Trap, that old episode of ST:TOS with the salt monster that leeches saline from your body with its fingertips. And while it's been mentioned before, that was years ago, before the actual episode could be found on YouTube.
posted on Oct 12, 2006 - View this thread

Head-On is a riveting 2004 German film which garnered spirited praise and quite a large share of hype. The film went on to win numerous awards. Days after receiving the Golden Bear, some colorful information about the film's female lead broke in the German tabloids and led to a reaction from her traditional Turkish family nearly identical to actions of her eponymous character's parents in the movie. Is this simply a case of life imitating art, or perhaps an inevitable repercussion of casting someone who's life so closely coincides with that of her on screen persona?
posted on Jun 13, 2006 - View this thread

Deep throat. Warning: YouTube link, SFW. Not the adult film Deep throat, or the Watergate informant. More on the artist Claude Vonstroke here.
posted on Apr 23, 2006 - View this thread

A Kurdish family in Turkey can only walk on all fours. Some claim that their genetic defects have led to a sort of "backward evolution." An upcoming BBC documentary (pdf) will share their story.
posted on Mar 7, 2006 - View this thread

Turkey gets tough in Valley of the Wolves Iraq. Previously, Turkey has reenvisioned Star Wars and the Wizard of Oz to the delight of many. Now, Turkish movie-goers are clamoring for this Rambo rip-off in which a Turkish intelligence officer seeks out a rogue unit of U.S. troops led by Billy Zane! The film, which also features Gary Busey, begins with a scene based on the U.S. raid of a Turkish special forces office.
posted on Feb 7, 2006 - View this thread

Iraq - All oil, no gas. A consortium of 34 Turkish companies have joined together to stop all exports of petrol / refined oil products to Iraq, because Iraq's government owes them over $1 billion that they have so far been unable to pay. Iraq's largest refinery was forced to shut down in December, after its truck drivers walked off the job due to insurgent threats. They reopened ten days later, only to shut down again after an insurgent swarm attack killed and wounded more drivers. The refinery has once more ceased activity, as their reserves of refined fuel are full and there is no way to get them to their customers. Iraq's diesel-driven power plants are undersupplied too, leading to worsening outages.
posted on Jan 22, 2006 - View this thread

On December 16th the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk goes on trial charged with insulting the Turkish nation, after stating that the killing of 30,000 Armenians and Kurds by the Ottoman Empire was genocide (as discussed before). The trial is being seen by some as a key test for Turkey as it starts on the road to EU accession. Listen to him talk about his work and read extracts.
posted on Nov 30, 2005 - View this thread

turkey tryptophan wont make you sleepy
posted on Nov 24, 2005 - View this thread

A good film to watch BEFORE you bust out that turkey deep fryer for Thanksgiving tomorrow [12.7MB mpg file]. I've never eaten this delicacy nor seen one of these things used but after a moment's thought, it's not surprising just how dangerous they are. Be safe tomorrow, ye deep-fry eaters. [via Bifurcated Rivets]
posted on Nov 23, 2005 - View this thread

Just in time for Thanksgiving ... from the people who make Cooks Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen, a free website full of advice for planning your harvest celebration.
posted on Nov 2, 2005 - View this thread

"The year is 2010 and the European Union has rejected Turkey. Fascist governments have come to power in Germany, Austria and France and are inciting violence against resident Turks and Muslims. A vengeful Turkey joins forces with Russia and declares war against the EU. Turkish commandos besiege Berlin, obliterate Europe and take control of the Continent.

"Some critics will be quick to dismiss 'The Third World War,' a new futuristic novel by a 30-year-old Turkish writer, Burak Turna, as the wild imaginings of a conspiracy theorist and literary shock jock - and in many ways it is."

Turna is also the author of Metal Storm, which revolves around a US invasion of Turkey. Both books have been runaway best-sellers.
posted on Oct 12, 2005 - View this thread

Secularism: The Turkish Experience. Here is a transcript (pdf file). It talks about the Turkish system and it contrasts the social system of the Ottoman empire, the "millet" system, with the modern one, called "laiklik" which is based on the French model.
posted on Sep 23, 2005 - View this thread

The BTC Pipeline opened today after more than 10 years and $4B (US) in development. It runs from the Caspian Sea across Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, through the Caucasus mountain range to the Mediterranean. The project is so large and far-reaching some have called it Pipelineistan. The UK Independent calls it The Pipeline That Will Change The World. It travels through some of the most politically unstable regions in Central Asia, but is of such strategic importance political leaders have been replaced and the U.S. is willing to risk the wrath of neighbors Russia (with a competing pipeline of its own) and Iran to place permanent U.S. military bases along its path. It even merits personal visits from the U.S. Energy Secretary and President. Its opening may very well mark the return of the Great Game.
posted on May 25, 2005 - View this thread

Armenian Genocide Plagues Ankara 90 Years On This weekend, Armenians commemorated the 90th anniversary of the genocide of 1915. But Turkey has yet to recognize the crime -- the first genocide of the 20th century. By refusing to use the word "genocide," Turkey could complicate its efforts to join the European Union.
posted on May 18, 2005 - View this thread

"Between 1915 and 1918 the Ottoman Empire, ruled by Muslim Turks, carried out a policy to eliminate its Christian Armenian minority. This genocide was preceded by a series of massacres in 1894-1896 and in 1909, and was followed by another series of massacres beginning in 1920. By 1922 Armenians had been eradicated from their historic homeland." Since the early 1920s, successive Turkish governments have maintained an ostentatious silence on the subject, broken only to issue denials that the genocide ever occurred, and denunciations of those who assert that it did. In 1990, for example, the Turkish ambassador to the U.S. dismissed the holocaust as resulting from "a tragic civil war initiated by Armenian nationalists."

This Sunday in NYC, thousands will gather to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the genocide and protest the Turkish denials.
posted on Apr 14, 2005 - View this thread

The Death of a Muslim Woman In many cases, fathers -- and sometimes even mothers -- single out their youngest son to do the killing, Boehmecke said, "because they know minors will get lighter sentences from German judges."
posted on Mar 3, 2005 - View this thread

Documents: U.S. condoned Iraq oil smuggling Documents obtained by CNN reveal the United States knew about, and even condoned, embargo-breaking oil sales by Saddam Hussein's regime, and did so to shore up alliances with Iraq's neighbors. The oil trade with countries such as Turkey and Jordan appears to have been an open secret inside the U.S. government and the United Nations for years.
posted on Feb 3, 2005 - View this thread

Old Istanbul Postcards. If you have any fondness for old city views, this is irresistible. Here's a look at the Old City of Istanbul a hundred years ago (Hagia Sophia is just left of center), and here's the gate of the Ottoman War Ministry, now Istanbul University (map). There's lots more where those came from. (Via Desultory Turgescence.)
posted on Dec 3, 2004 - View this thread

Çatalhöyük , a site for kids devoted to the archeological excavations of the remains of a Neolithic town in central Turkey. A great introduction for all ages to this important city, with activities, quicktime tours and links to more in depth resources.
posted on Oct 19, 2004 - View this thread