29 Mart 2024 Cuma

"Crash & Release": Car of "Marble-piercer" Village Chief Gets Pierced by Steel Road Barrier, in Rize

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 29 March 2024)














  A marble barrier would have been too much to ask fate for.

Yesterday, Okan Seymenoğlu (42), the village chief of Mermerdelen 
(which translates to "marble-piercer") village in Rize, hit a road 
barrier that pierced his car and he and his three passengers were injured 
in the crash.  The four were returning from the funeral (!) of Mehmet 
Sultan Allahverdi who died in a landslip during drinking-water pipeline 
excavations in Trabzon's Hayrat district.

Besides Seymenoğlu, Reşit Aydın (68), Levent Kalkavan (46) and 
Mehmet Çelik (47) were injured and all of them were taken to a 
hospital for treatment.




28 Mart 2024 Perşembe

"Meow & Release": Beloved Cat "Faruk" Gets Test Proctor Fired, in Istanbul

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 28 March 2024)














                                  Geçmis olsun Faruk!

Last Saturday, the IELTS test, which is aimed at excusing high school
students from having to take university preparation classes, was given
at the Terakki Foundation Schools in the Etiler neighborhood of 
Beşiktaş, Istanbul. 

F.A. was serving as the proctor for the test and wanted to shoo away a
cat named Faruk who entered the classroom through an open window. 
However (!), Faruk regularly comes into classrooms and roams the 
corridors of the school, about which F.A. was unaware since he was
assigned for the test by an outside company. 

In any case, in his ardor to shoo away Faruk F.A. either caused or 
forced Faurk to fall from the second-floor classroom.  Because of 
this controversy about the beloved Faruk, IDP, the firm that assigned 
F.A. to proctor the test,  disowned and fired him. (!)

As for Faruk, veterinarian Batuhan Nathur stated this about the 
feline's condition: "I can't yet give you good news because Faruk's
condition right now is critical.  If everything goes well, Faruk will
fully recover in 2-3 weeks."



27 Mart 2024 Çarşamba

"Pray & Release": Mosque and Minarets Demolished - Blocked Sabiha Gökçen Airport's New Runway, in Istanbul

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 27 March 2024)














                    And during Ramazan! Tövbe! Tövbe!

A new runway was recently opened at Sabiha Gökçe Airport in Istanbul -
Runway-24.  However (!), the minarets of a nearby mosque presented an
obstacle to the new runway and the decision was made to demolish
them.  

Yet, another problem has arisen with the mosque in question: the dome
of the mosque is interfering with the ILS approach system's functions.
In addition, a cargo company's office must be shaved down.  So, after
the upcoming Ramazan holiday is over the mosque's dome will be 
demolished and a new, lower one built instead. 

If that wasn't enough, the new runway's lighting system is still not in
place and the fact that planes must make a 230-degree turn to reach
the terminal has slowed arrivals considerably.  

Also, now that the AJet airline company has made Sabiha Gökçen it's 
main base of operations the terminal building has been found to be 
insufficient but it is unknown when construction of the second terminal, 
to be built by Tabanlıoğlu Mimarlık, will begin. 

And the Malaysian company (!) that manages Sabiha Gökçen Airport's
General Directorate has appointed Serhat Soğukpınar to the leadership
position but the Turkish side has yet to make a similar appointment. 





26 Mart 2024 Salı

"Beat & Release": Killer's Crocodile Tears in Court Are Shed for Naught - No Sentence Reduction, in Ankara

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 26 March 2024) 














                          "I want my mommy!!"

Samet Özgül, a student in the history department of Gazi University in
Ankara, was working as a motorcycle courier when on the night of 5
November 2022 he was involved in a traffic dispute and then beaten by
three people and stabbed to death in his throat.  The killer, Halil İbrahim
 Demirci, was given a life sentence, while his father Mustafa Demirci
and Bülent Acıkgöz were each given 12-year sentences in connection
with Özgül's murder. 

An appeals court in Ankara voided these sentences, asserting that 
there was not enough convincing evidence for the crime of "aiding an
intentional murder" to convict Mustafa Demirci and Bülent Açıkgöz.
In addition, this court ruled that "despite Halil İbrahim Demirci's 
regret he was not given a 'good behavior' sentence reduction." (!) 

The first court then re-tried the case and reaffirmed the original 
conviction of Mustafa Demirci and Bülent Demirci because the two 
"distracted the victim's attention and hindered his self-defense" so
that Halil İbrahim Demirci could carry out the murder.   

With regard to withholding a "good behavior" sentence reduction for
the killer, the court explained that "the suspects left the victim to die
and walked away calmly."  Additionally, the court noted that Halil
İbrahim Demirci's crying in court (!) to emphasize his regret was not
a convincing reason to warrant the reduction. 

Will wearing a tie in court be the next reduction to fall? 




25 Mart 2024 Pazartesi

"Beat & Release": Two Women Who Faked Being a Lawyer and a Doctor, Respectively, Jailed

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 25 March 2024)














                 Madam councilor, before and after. 

When the Adana public prosecutor got a tip that Betül S. (37) was 
stalking the corridors of the Adana courthouse as a would-be lawyer 
using another real lawyer's name and trying to hoodwink potential 
clients, an investigation was begun.  

Betül hanım took pictures of herself dressed in lawyer robes in 
courtrooms and the courthouse restaurant and posted them on social 
media.  She was arrested in one of the courtroom corridors.  A search 
of her home yielded a false lawyer ID, lawyer robes, an unlicensed 
revolver (!) and many legal documents evidently used in her scam. 
She was brought up on a number of related charges and jailed. 

The incident with Betül hanım brought to mind the case of Ayşe Özkiraz,
who tried to pass herself off as a doctor in Tekirdağ Çerkezköy State 
Hospital but was caught and jailed when she drew the suspicions of the 
real doctors there.   

Ayşe hanım even had a wreath sent to Çerezköy Hospital on the occasion
of her birthday last October with the message "We love you - the pride of 
Çapa! Happy Birthday to my Dr. Ayşe" (Çapa Medical School is in 
Istanbul).  

Ayşe hanım's father Ali Özkiraz, a farmer in Tokat province, lamented
that "she duped me for years.  I sold my tractor to be able to send her
money.  She got 35,000 TL from me for medical books." (!) 

A birthday selfie, in more ways than one.



24 Mart 2024 Pazar

"Beat & Release": From Africa With Love...and Maybe HIV?, in Karabük

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 24 March 2024) 
















                                  The usual suspects.

On a "confession" page opened in the name of Karabük Univeristy on
social media, some Turkish students are asserting that after having been
"together" with foreign Black students they have gone to the hospital
suspecting they have contracted HPV or HIV (!).   Meanwhile, the 
Karabük provincial health directorate has announced that there has not 
been an increase in either HIV or HPV-positive incidents in the city. 

The "confession" page on Instagram (kbuitiraf.et) is full of assertions 
from Karabük students that they think they have contracted venereal 
diseases after having had sexual relations with African students, and 
that although the Africans do not show signs of the diseases they may 
be carrying them.  Yet, local health officials contend that there has been
no uptick in venereal diseases. 

According to the university's 2023 activities report, there are 45, 890
students at the school, 11, 908 of whom are foreigners - 8,673 males
and 3,235 females.   The largest number of foreign students are Syrians
(1,498), followed by Chadians (1,386) and Iraqis (844).   The former
dean of Karabük University, Prof. Dr. Refik Polat stated that "we have
more than 1,300 Chadian students out of 5,000 students from Africa 
who will bring Karabük to Africa and Africa to Karabük."  Polat was
succeeded by Prof. Dr. Fatih Kırışık last year. 









23 Mart 2024 Cumartesi

"Beat & Release": Just Another Routine Murder, This Time in Izmir

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 23 March 2024)














A very modest jewelry store and the impulsive, elusive F:B.

The evening before last in Izmir's Bornova district, Enes Özkurhan (24)
came to a police station and told police that there was a dead body in 
the trunk of a car bearing license plate number 35 TU 261, parked at a 
private hospital.   The police went to the scene and found the body of a 
male with three bullet holes in the head.  They then determined that the
deceased was Bekir Bozar (68), the owner of a jewelry store. 

In his statement to police, Özkurhan "explained" that on the evening of
19 March his childhood friend F.B. (24) summoned him to drive his
car, in which F.B. and Bozar were passengers.  They next headed to 
Bozar's home to drop him off but en route F.B. and Bozar got into an
argument about money, prompting F.B. to shoot Bozar in the head three
times. (!)

After the murder, Özkurhan and F.B. put Bozar's body in the car trunk
and headed for Manisa, returning to Izmir the next day, whereupon 
Özkurhan went to the police station and F.B. fled.    It turned out that 
F.B. had stolen gold from Bozar's jewelry store to settle debts he had 
with 14 people.  Özkurhan was jailed and police are looking for F.B.