What's going on in Turkey as of December 2013?

1st (or maybe the last) Round: Recep Tayyip Erdogan vs. Fettullah Gülen (a.k.a. “The Hizmet”)

Apparently there is something going on with Turkey as of we are about to welcome 2014. To put it in right words, R.T. Erdogan's squad and Fettullah Gulen's fellowship are fighting against each other like kilkenny cats, regardless of how intimate they were once as if their support to each other would never end.

But what happened? What put them apart, and brought them into this situation?

Obviously, they happened to taste the conflict, but how? It's hard to extract the reason from media since there are full of misleading news under the influence of money. But not to worry, I am about to reveal the answer to "why". Actually, nothing is new, as usual It's a struggle for power and their self-interests are no longer parallel.

Frankly speaking, I'm not interested in seeking "why" since it's unquestionable and clear as I declared above. However, I'm more curious of understanding “The Hizmet” ‘s position within current balances. Because it looks like that they're about to suicide! Take it this way, what if Erdogan manages to hold his position as prime minister after the next elections, how would Hizmet cover for such an aggressive attitude? To have a better idea, please check the cursing video recently released by Fethullah Gulen, below. Even if you don’t understand the language, you would definitely get the idea about the tension aiming at Erdogan:

Where am i going with that?

Actions hidden behind one word would best describe my conclusion: Imperialism. In other words, as far as i could follow and observe from Hizmet's past reactions & interactions, they were always syncing with world's power holders, as if they are the child of imperialism. They were always good at getting along with world's political balances, and taking their steps carefully without conflicting anyone and running their own agenda smoothly but not aggressively.

But who exposed the recent embezzlement that is deep enough to touch Erdogan's Squad if not himself? I don't want to play the Devil's Advocate, but there is something bigger than Hizmet behind this suspicious fight of those close buddies. I am not saying the accusations are wrong or they are a conspiracy set by Hizmet, and i am not saying Erdogan didn't deserve any of them, but what i am saying is "why today?". Does it mean, they were always hiding such an embezzlement, and hypnotize the public with lullabies? And all it appears as, this stage has been setup by Hizmet, to knock down Erdogan; but i am not going to fall into this game again. Because Hizmet never suicides!

Please share your comments, and let's discuss what's going on in Turkey on an objective platform?

Do Turks Celebrate Thanksgiving in Turkey?

It is thanksgiving time of the year. I seriously enjoy the tradition, the food (please no cranberry sauce for me), and the friendship shared at this time of the year. As a turkish-origin, whenever I join a Thanksgiving dinner, I receive the same or similar questions like:

• Do you guys eat turkey in Turkey?
• What do you call turkey in Turkey?
• Do you have electricity in Turkey?

The last one is unrelated but it was one of the challenging (!?!) questions I received about Turkey besides "Do you guys travel with Camels?" (well, the only place I've seen a camel-like animal was at a farm in Half Moon Bay, and it was a Lama).  But it is about time, and let me share this article written by Giancarlo Casale who put a respectful effort to answer the ultimate question:

How Turkey got its name after a Country?

Talking Turkey: The Story of How the Unofficial Bird of the United States Got Named After a Country


How did the turkey get its name? This seemingly harmless question popped into my head one morning as I realized that the holidays were once again upon us. After all, I thought, there's nothing more American than a turkey. Their meat saved the pilgrims from starvation during their first winter in New England. Out of gratitude, if you can call it that, we eat them for Thanksgiving dinner, and again at Christmas, and gobble them up in sandwiches all year long.

Every fourth grader can tell you that Benjamin Franklin was particularly fond of the wild turkey, and even campaigned to make it, and not the bald eagle, the national symbol. So how did such a creature end up taking its name from a medium sized country in the Middle East?

Was it just a coincidence? I wondered. The next day I mentioned my musings to my landlord, whose wife is from Brazil. "That's funny," he said, "In Portuguese the word for turkey is 'peru.' Same bird, different country." Hmm.

With my curiosity piqued, I decided to go straight to the source. That very afternoon I found myself a Turk and asked him how to say turkey in Turkish. "Turkey?" he said. "Well, we call turkeys 'hindi ,' which means, you know, from India." India? This was getting weird.

I spent the next few days finding out the word for turkey in as many languages as I could think of, and the more I found out, the weirder things got. In Arabic, for instance, the word for turkey is "Ethiopian bird," while in Greek it is "gallapoula" or "French girl." The Persians, meanwhile, call them "buchalamun" which means, appropriately enough, "chameleon."

In Italian, on the other hand, the word for turkey is "tacchino" which, my Italian relatives assured me, means nothing but the bird. "But," they added, "it reminds us of something else. In Italy we call corn, which as everybody knows comes from America, 'grano turco,' or 'Turkish grain.'" So here we were back to Turkey again! And as if things weren't already confusing enough, a further consultation with my Turkish informant revealed that the Turks call corn "misir" which is also their word for Egypt! By this point, things were clearly getting out of hand.

But I persevered nonetheless, and just as I was about to give up hope, a pattern finally seemed to emerge from this bewildering labyrinth. In French, it turns out, the word for turkey is "dinde," meaning "from India," just like in Turkish. The words in both German and Russian had similar meanings, so I was clearly on to something. The key, I reasoned, was to find out what turkeys are called in India, so I called up my high school friend's wife, who is from an old Bengali family, and popped her the question.

"Oh," she said, "We don't have turkeys in India.They come from America. Everybody knows that."

"Yes," I insisted, "but what do you call them?" "Well, we don't have them!" she said. She wasn't being very helpful. Still, I persisted: "Look, you must have a word for them. Say you were watching an American movie translated from English and the actors were all talking about turkeys. What would they say?"

Well...I suppose in that case they would just say the American word, 'turkey.' Like I said, we don't have them." So there I was, at a dead end. I began to realize only too late that I had unwittingly stumbled upon a problem whose solution lay far beyond the capacity of my own limited resources.
Obviously I needed serious professional assistance. So the next morning I scheduled an appointment with Prof. Sinasi Tekin of Harvard University, a world-renowned philologist and expert on Turkic languages. If anyone could help me, I figured it would be professor Tekin.

As I walked into his office on the following Tuesday, I knew I would not be disappointed. Prof. Tekin had a wizened, grandfatherly face, a white, bushy, knowledgeable beard, and was surrounded by stack upon stack of just the sort of hefty, authoritative books which were sure to contain a solution to my vexing Turkish mystery.

I introduced myself, sat down, and eagerly awaited a dose of Prof. Tekin's erudition.

"You see," he said, "In the Turkish countryside there is a kind of bird, which is called a Çulluk. It looks like a turkey but it is much smaller, and its meat is very delicious. Long before the discovery of America, English merchants had already discovered the delicious Çulluk, and began exporting it back to England, where it became very popular, and was known as a 'Turkey bird' or simply a 'turkey.' Then, when the English came to America, they mistook the birds here for Çulluks, and so they began calling them 'turkey" also. But other peoples weren't so easily fooled. They knew that these new birds came from America, and so they called them things like 'India birds,' 'Peruvian birds,' or 'Ethiopian birds.' You see, 'India,' 'Peru' and 'Ethiopia' were all common names for the New World in the early centuries, both because people had a hazier understanding of geography, and because it took a while for the name 'America' to catch on.

woodcock vs turkey

"Anyway, since that time Americans have begun exporting their birds everywhere, and even in Turkey people have started eating them, and have forgotten all about their delicious çulluk. This is a shame, because çulluk meat is really much, much tastier."

Prof. Tekin seemed genuinely sad as he explained all this to me. I did my best to comfort him, and tried to express my regret at hearing of the unfairly cruel fate of the delicious çulluk.
Deep down, however, I was ecstatic. I finally had a solution to this holiday problem, and knew I would be able once again to enjoy the main course of my traditional Thanksgiving dinner without reservation.

Editor's note:
Çulluk: woodcock
Reference Link

CANAKKALE (Dardanel) Off The Beaten Track

Located in the very northwest of Turkey, Çanakkale is a lovely coastal town connecting European and Asian territories like Istanbul where The Dardanelles Strait joins the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea. As the city is far away from the hustle and bustle of business life, it is a unique holiday destination where you’ll soon find yourself between the green and blue as well as steeped in history.

Center Of The City

Enter the city center built on the coastline and take a breezy seaside walk. Enjoying the invigorating sea air, follow the breeze and find yourself an inspiring place for spectacular views against deep blue sea. Let the night take you to the heart of the city which is within easy walking distance to the coastline. There is a daily ferry taking you to the beatiful island Bozcaada and there are frequent ferries linking this town to the Europe territory which is an area of unspoilt countryside laying claim history.

Gallipoli Battlefields

Gallipoli battle fields lie on the European part of the city, which was the major strong-point in the defense of the Dardanelles in the time of the World War I, changed the course of history. This area now invites you to enjoy several miles of golden sands lying in front of a forest near The Eagean Sea. From there, another beautiful island Gökçeada in the distance is reachable by taking a daily ferry. The evidence of the region’s eventful past can be seen everywhere.  The Ancient Abydos, where the story of Hero and Leander takes place, is to the west of this region. 

The ruins of Troy

No trip to Çanakkale would be complete without a walk in the ancient city, "Troy". The real history of Çanakkale started with Troy between 3500–3000 BC. The “trojan horse” takes its name from “The Trojan War” taking place in the 13th century BC, with Achilles, on the Achaean (Greek) side, and Hector on the Trojan side. The city Troy is a land holding 13 ancient civilizations during history. Passing through this land to the east, you’ll find Asos-Behramkale, one of the most important places hosting another ancient city “Asos”.