Sinterklaas for one day in Turkey
ISTANBUL – Dutch Turks who live in Turkey pass the tradition of Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) on to their children. ‘I celebrated Sinterklaas in the Netherlands when I was little, so it’s nice to get my children acquainted with it too’, says one of them, Nermin Celik (38). If you want to see ‘Sint’ in Turkey, can go to the Dutch …
Autumn in Istanbul, that means you can still now and then enjoy a nice sunny day. But unfortunately: the sea of outdoor seatings in Beyoglu, the heart of modern Istanbul, is gone. Wipes clean by the municipality. There was hope this summer that there would be a new policy for outdoor seating, but no: they are gone forever.
For who has …
‘They always got back on their feet again’
For monthly magazine OnzeWereld (OurWorld) I regulary contribute to ‘Around the world’, a series in which every month another theme is reported about by several journalists around the world. For July/August the theme was the question: ‘Who do you take as an example in your life?’. I interviewed Delal Seven, and besides that there were stories from Mali, Yemen, Israel …
ISTANBUL – Metin (47) votes for Abdullah Öcalan. That the leader of the Kurdish seperatist movement PKK is in jail, is not relevant. Hij points at the posters of the candidate for pro-Kurdish party BDP. ‘I vote for Öcalan via him.’
The neighborhood Tarlabasi, a few minutes walk from Istanbuls central Taksim Square, is old, dilapidated and poor, and mainly inhabited …
ISTANBUL – North of the Turkish metropolis Istanbul the construction of two new cities is set to start, both with a potential population of at least one million inhabitants. At least, that’s what the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan wants. He announced the plan on Wednesday at an election meeting in Istanbul.
Both cities will be built on the Black Sea …
ISTANBUL – The Turkish metropolis will get a canal to connect the seas north and south of the city. The canal should reduce the number of ships passing through the Bosporus, the current connection between the Marmara and Black Seas, to zero. The Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Wednesday morning at a conference.
The canal, called Canal Istanbul, will …
Mostly material damage at Istanbul train station fire
ISTANBUL – No deaths or injuries were reported from the fire that hit the historical Haydarpaşs train station in Istanbul on Sunday afternoon. The material damage though seems huge: the roof was completely gutted, parts of it collapsed and the fire damaged several floors down from the roof, according to several Turkish media reports on Sunday. Exactly how serious the …
Turkish Prime Minister accuses Europe
ISTANBUL –Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan accuses Europe of supporting terrorists, and thus ascribes to them responsibility for the bomb attack in Istanbul yesterday. In the attack 32 people were wounded and the suicide bomber himself was killed.
Erdoğan mentioned the bomb attack in a speech he gave to an international congress in Istanbul. He blamed European countries for failing to get …
Fights over alcohol in Istanbul
ISTANBUL – At two galleries in Istanbul on Tuesday night five people were wounded after a group using sticks and stones objected to alcohol being consumed in the street. At the two galleries exhibitions were being opened with hundreds of guests from Turkey and abroad. Several Turkish media outlets reported that on Wednesday.
A group of about thirty people threw stones …
Increased security measures in Turkish tourist areas
ISTANBUL – In tourist areas of Turkey extra security measures are being taken against attacks by Kurdish separatist movement PKK, according to several Turkish media on Friday. That is one of the outcomes of deliberations between the Turkish government and the army on Thursday. Exactly which measures will be taken has not been revealed.
The security measures are being intensified after …
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