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. [more inside]
posted by chillmost on Feb 23, 2009 - 121 comments

A Mid-summer Night's Story - one of hundreds of novels, poems, and tales in English translation at Suat Karantay's Contemporary Turkish Literature pages. Also: Turkish Poetry in Translation (the side-by-side translations of Dağlarca are particularly well-done), and selected stories of childhood & youth from Turkish authors in the mid 20th century.
posted by Wolfdog on Jun 25, 2008 - 4 comments

Poor localization causes a simple, if slightly inflammatory, text message to go awry.
posted by adamdschneider on Apr 21, 2008 - 21 comments

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 by mediareport on Feb 4, 2007 - 10 comments

From Rebetika to Surf Rock: Misirlou is a melody that has spanned genres, from Greek, Turkish and Jewish folk songs to the classic Dick Dale version on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack to the Black-Eyed Peas, to the obligatory Greek folk version/Pump It mash-up.
posted by costas on Jan 23, 2007 - 35 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

Karakuri automata are representative of the highest technology in the Edo period (1603 to 1867). Automata were also crafted hundreds of years ago in Europe: The Dulcimer Player by Pierre Kintzing , made in 1772; The Singing Lesson, created by Robert-Houdin; three androids by Jaquet-Droz; the Pooping Duck by Vaucanson (the first link at the top). Ancient robots. The first automaton was created by Al-Jazari: video of his clock. The history of automata [pdf]. Contemporary toy automata. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Jan 14, 2007 - 18 comments

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 by jonson on Oct 12, 2006 - 19 comments

Spiderman as a villian! Just to keep the trend for the day going.. (Via I-mockery by way of Fark)
posted by Elim on Jun 30, 2004 - 1 comment

The Russian cup of tea is a marvelous triumph of quality over schedule. It is also remarkably similar to the way the Turks make tea.
posted by leapfrog on Mar 2, 2004 - 13 comments

Turkish Star Trek [via Boing Boing]
posted by feelinglistless on Dec 10, 2002 - 8 comments

In college, I had an Turkish Electrical Engineering professor who used to open every class period with a story about Hoja (or Hoca, spelled the Turkish way), the bumbling yet clever 'folk philosopher'. He is known throughout the middle east also as Mulla Nasrudin and people from Azerbaijan to North Africa claim him as their own. Here are a few collections of stories about this 'comic sage': The definitive Hoja resource, a geocities site, Turkish Trickster, This reminds me of a story..., turkish humor. Enjoy!
posted by jnthnjng on Oct 29, 2002 - 5 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