Three newspapers, three headlines. Cumhuriyet, strong defender of the secular republic, says: “Fine for AKP” – and they write that this proves the Constitutional Court considers the AKP to really be a focal point of anti-secular activities. Zaman, religious and pro-AKP: “Closure rejected” – and on the bottom of the page a picture of a smiling and …
Istanbul is an amazingly big city, and the district of Güngören is far away from where I live. That’s why I didn’t hear anything about the bombing until I got an email about it, about half an hour after it happened. I heard explosions last night, many even, but I had learned not to pay too …
Turkish would-be immigrants unmoved by Dutch court decisions
ISTANBUL – Any excitement among Turks who plan to move to the Netherlands after two legal verdicts challenged immigration rules? None whatsoever. The embassy and the consulate in Turkey only got a handful of phone calls asking about the verdicts and their implications, while the Turks and their Dutch partners who are affected don’t even bat …
While the expected end of governing AK Party is getting closer and closer – the Constitutional Court will start discussing the closure case against the party on July 28 – the party’s leaders on the international scene act like it’s business as usual. Well, what else can they do? Very carefully, a tiny little beginning has been made …
Sometimes, when I’m on a boat on the Bosporus, I get this urge to shout YAHOOOOO very loud, just out of happiness. And yesterday, I finally did it. Only I was not on a boat, but in the Bosporus, swimming back-stroke beneath Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge (the northern-most of the two Bosporus bridges). Now and then a wave hit my …
Quite a fuss this week in the Netherlands about immigration laws. A judge ruled that it is not legal to ask non EU citizens to do a language and culture test before coming to the Netherlands to get married or to reunite with their family. The test has been common practice for some years now, …
I recently read that the amount of ‘Islamic hotels’ is increasing in Turkey. No alcohol is served there and there are separate swimming pools for men and women. I don’t really have an opinion about that. I think there’s apparently a market for this sort of hotel, and if there are people who want to enjoy their holidays …
A first aid kit, a flashlight with spare batteries, a stock of non-perishable food and a fire extinguisher. Where to get the last one, no idea. But I should buy these things, according to a website that informs about what to do when an earthquake occurs.
There is an earthquake about to happen in Istanbul, that’s for sure, although …
In Tuzla, we don’t work with wool
The shipbuilding business is growing rapidly in Turkey. Especially in Tuzla, south of istanbul, it’s powering ahead. Unfortunately the number of fatal accidents is also on the rise. The employers say: “Accidents are inevitable in this industry. Here in Tuzla we’re not working with wool.”
After her husband died, nobody from his work-place came …
I read a lot of newspapers, but the local rag is not one of them. Probably it’s called ‘Our Istanbul’ or something like that. I’m told this rag publishes a list of which days the water will be cut off in which parts of the city – that’s how the municipality tries to make the water supplies last for …
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