tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51758906155297265812024-03-13T15:46:37.208+03:00The Turkish LifeThe Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.comBlogger245125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-58231560656497285642023-04-12T00:17:00.002+03:002023-04-12T00:21:33.572+03:00Running For Earthquake Relief<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHjMN_m-PVvFWV_B-gLoRHIGKBityCgrShJ5jCm3LaUscuBFlzFC462Gpu46FNU6YmDmftJZK8sNdVBbu6hwtHPFVzy3s-cmsyi-HbrwHDICiswbKWmbEO9auwBV-NSp8k_xhGiBLn1MsWxTIG8XnF1RFStzjujXNqz2d8nWbAPLY07drYzUj2upM/s1140/IMG_6970.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="750" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHjMN_m-PVvFWV_B-gLoRHIGKBityCgrShJ5jCm3LaUscuBFlzFC462Gpu46FNU6YmDmftJZK8sNdVBbu6hwtHPFVzy3s-cmsyi-HbrwHDICiswbKWmbEO9auwBV-NSp8k_xhGiBLn1MsWxTIG8XnF1RFStzjujXNqz2d8nWbAPLY07drYzUj2upM/w211-h320/IMG_6970.jpg" width="172" /></a></div><br />All of us in Turkey are still devastated by the <a href="https://themarkaz.org/letter-from-turkey-solidarity-grief-anger-and-fear/" target="_blank">major earthquakes</a> that laid waste to vast swaths of the country's southeast on 6 February this year, killing more than 50,000 people. Across the 10 affected provinces, more than 200,000 buildings have been destroyed or badly damaged; millions of people are displaced.<p></p><p>The road ahead is a long and difficult one for the survivors. Many <a href="https://www.theturkishlife.com/2023/02/how-to-help-after-devastating.html" target="_blank">independent Turkish NGOs</a> are doing incredible work assisting with immediate needs and longer-term recovery but they are in dire need of resources and support.</p><p>I'm running the Istanbul Half Marathon on 30 April along with other members of my Istanbul Expat Runners team to raise money for the <a href="https://turkeymozaik.org.uk/" target="_blank">Turkey Mozaik Foundation</a>'s Kahramanmaras Earthquake Emergency Relief Fund.</p><p>Founded by expat Turks living in the UK, the Turkey Mozaik Foundation is a registered, reliable charity that directs your donations to <a href="https://turkeymozaik.org.uk/earthquake-emergency-relief-fund/" target="_blank">vetted Turkish civil society organizations</a> as grants to carry out specific projects in the earthquake zone, from delivering emergency food packages and setting up clean-water infrastructure to providing psychosocial support and establishing safe spaces for women and children.</p><h2 style="text-align: center;">🔈 <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/page/jennifer-hattam" target="_blank"><b>DONATE NOW</b></a> </h2><p>Thank you for contributing to this effort through your donations and shares 💜</p>The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-78239009917356644152023-02-14T23:00:00.031+03:002023-08-02T15:05:59.097+03:00Solidarity = love<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhka-glwL4G3JQhVGYqcMoFDMb0vo8E2UzJrN9jInig2zDeZiPjSzsOd1BLyKGKSU1RJd8cs4F7uDwEyT62S2y1g2ceua4OIMjlT_QvvWukXqXFYXwqcpCMRJ4khZFFQWO7mUPIvwK7K5tzqCVKmrgDe0hplSsvhR1O68rN6uK-l_oWBvJkroChFJ60ck/s2048/deprem%20yardim%20truck.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhka-glwL4G3JQhVGYqcMoFDMb0vo8E2UzJrN9jInig2zDeZiPjSzsOd1BLyKGKSU1RJd8cs4F7uDwEyT62S2y1g2ceua4OIMjlT_QvvWukXqXFYXwqcpCMRJ4khZFFQWO7mUPIvwK7K5tzqCVKmrgDe0hplSsvhR1O68rN6uK-l_oWBvJkroChFJ60ck/w240-h320/deprem%20yardim%20truck.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; text-align: start;">A truck full of aid ready to </span><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; text-align: start;">head </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; text-align: start;">to </span></span><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; text-align: start;">the </span><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; text-align: start;">earthquake zone</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table>It's been just over a week since earthquakes ravaged southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria, and 'unbearable' is the word that keeps coming up as we try to process each day's horrors. More than 35,000 people (and counting) are now dead in Turkey, over 5,000 people dead in Syria, and vast swaths of cities have been destroyed, leaving millions displaced in frigid weather. Everyone I speak to has been touched by this disaster, everyone knows someone who is gone forever or has lost everything. <div><br /></div><div>Through their pain, Istanbul and other cities around the country have rallied in an incredible way. Municipal buildings, restaurants, homes, galleries, and gyms were converted into collection points and filled with volunteers and donated goods. Film-crew trucks, moving vans, planes, and ferries were loaded up with deliveries of aid - winter clothes, food, water, diapers, medical supplies, tools, generators, sleeping bags, tents - purchased by individual citizens, governments, and companies alike. Shopkeepers helped box up donations and carry them out to cars, offered discounted prices, or threw in extra goods for free. The mobilization was stunning. It still felt excruciatingly insufficient. </div><div><br /></div><div>My heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who has given their money, time, or other resources in any way. To those who sent cash directly to me to be spent in Istanbul, I thank you for your trust as well. These funds bought blankets, warm hats, flashlights, batteries, underwear, sanitation supplies, grocery cards, medical supplies, three sturdy family-size tents (two with stoves), and tools for search and rescue teams, went to a fund to purchase container homes for doctors volunteering in the earthquake zone, and offered a bit of direct support to families left penniless.</div><div><br /></div><div>The need is huge, and will continue to be for a long time, both for humanitarian assistance and longer-term rebuilding. Civil society in Turkey is brave and determined, but needs support. I urge anyone who can to give – now, later, regularly if you're able – to any of the local NGOs listed in my "<a href="https://www.theturkishlife.com/2023/02/how-to-help-after-devastating.html">how to help</a>" post.</div>The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-68496678348541167322023-02-06T14:03:00.042+03:002023-04-12T14:32:49.296+03:00How to help after devastating earthquake in SE Turkey and Syria<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZE8zCJ86cNKJLcYiBE_GIgW1NOJzk8brG7qqGmhxc76b1V6LIEEMxv7eb2DVrsVWJv5e4e3RVjBxPk6VQ3P2mZOPhNcT5j_Rntz2xHJfsX7zaoH0jlwQZJ4V2BhN2LpW144WiHEfrnJxyk4K5arEySwhyx-tHMk2wi50BTNWxvLq3kpHIb5gsznMI/s750/gec%CC%A7mis%CC%A7%20olsun%20tu%CC%88rkiye.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZE8zCJ86cNKJLcYiBE_GIgW1NOJzk8brG7qqGmhxc76b1V6LIEEMxv7eb2DVrsVWJv5e4e3RVjBxPk6VQ3P2mZOPhNcT5j_Rntz2xHJfsX7zaoH0jlwQZJ4V2BhN2LpW144WiHEfrnJxyk4K5arEySwhyx-tHMk2wi50BTNWxvLq3kpHIb5gsznMI/s320/gec%CC%A7mis%CC%A7%20olsun%20tu%CC%88rkiye.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><i>[Updated 14 February]</i><div><br /></div><div>We woke up Monday morning in Istanbul to devastating <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/05/turkey-earthquake-istanbul-death-toll/" target="_blank">news</a> from southeast Turkey and Syria, where a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and dozens of aftershocks overnight have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/feb/09/earthquake-turkey-syria-in-turkiye-2023-live-updates-latest-news-maps-quake-death-toll-kahramanmaras" target="_blank">now</a> left more than 30,000 people dead in Turkey and an additional 3,000 in Syria, with tens of thousands injured and the death tolls still expected to rise further. Thousands of buildings have been destroyed or damaged, included historical structures. Here’s some reliable ways you can help:<div><br /></div><div><b>Donate money to NGOs working on the ground in Turkey:</b></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>(** links are best bets for donating from outside Turkey/with international credit cards. </i><i>For reference, 500 TL = 26.50 USD / 25 EUR / 22 GBP / 35.50 CAD)</i></div><div><br /></div><div>** Donate to the esteemed Turkish volunteer search and rescue organization <a href="https://www.akut.org.tr/en/donation" target="_blank">AKUT</a> (Türkçe'de bağışlar: <a href="https://www.akut.org.tr/bagis-yap" target="_blank">https://www.akut.org.tr/bagis-yap</a>)</div><div><br /></div><div>** Donate to reliable civil society groups that are providing immediate relief and medium- to long-term recovery to survivors via UK-based <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/kahramanmarasearthquake" target="_blank">Turkey Mozaik Foundation</a> or US-based <a href="https://donate.tpfund.org/campaign/tpf-turkiye-earthquake/c465112" target="_blank">Turkish Philanthropy Funds</a> (100% of donations go to recovery efforts in both cases).</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Donate to the Istanbul Medical Chamber to <a href="https://www.istabip.org.tr/7469-konut-tipi-konteyner-ve-malzeme-alimi-icin-bagis-kampanyasi-baslattik.html" target="_blank">buy medical supplies and containers</a> for doctors to stay in while volunteering the earthquake zones. They are sending regular convoys of volunteer and supplies by car from Istanbul.</div><div><br /></div></div><div>** Donate to the volunteer response being carried out in Turkey by the trusted, independent NGOs <a href="https://fonzip.com/ihtiyacharitasi/afet-haritasi-deprem-yardim-kampanyasi" target="_blank">İhtiyaç Haritası</a> (Needs Map) or <a href="https://ahbap.org/disasters-turkey" target="_blank">Ahbap</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>** Donate to <a href="https://www.hayatadestek.org/bagis/" target="_blank">Hayata Destek</a> (Support to Life), a Turkish NGO experienced in providing humanitarian relief and working with underserved communities. </div><div><br /></div><div>** Donate to the <a href="https://gogetfunding.com/queer-relief-fund-for-the-6-february-earthquake-lgbtqia-and-or-sw-survivors/">Lubunya Deprem Dayanışması</a> solidarity fund to help LGBTQ+ people impacted by the earthquakes, or to the Aman Project specifically to help affected <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/aman-project-turkey-program" target="_blank">LGBTQ+ refugees</a>. (Depremden etkilenmiş ve destek ihtiyaç olan LGBTQ+ kişiler yardım başvurusu yapabilir <a href="https://form.jotform.com/230401334601034" target="_blank">burada</a>.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Donate to efforts to help animals in the disaster zone coordinated by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CoZPuu9o3yI/?hl=en" target="_blank">Dört Ayaklı Şehir</a> (Four-Legged City), an organization recommended by a good friend of mine who is active with animal rights in Turkey. A Turkish vet friend recommends the <a href="https://fonzip.com/varf/bagis" target="_blank">Work Animals Rescue Foundation</a>, which is doing similar <a href="https://www.instagram.com/infowarf/" target="_blank">work</a> helping farm animals, street animals, and pets.</div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><b>Donate goods in Turkey:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Donate NEW winter clothes/shoes, blankets, sleeping bags, diapers, baby formula, food parcels, hygiene supplies, heaters, generators, etc. at collection points set up by local/district/city officials. Check their social media accounts for the latest needs before buying/delivering: </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/W8msm2CjoC4wYc999" target="_blank">Cihangir Semt Konağı</a> (inside the İspark garage below Cihangir Park, upstairs next to the health center) </li><li>İBB Logistic Centers in <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/gAPyj9Z6cMzHe3gWA" target="_blank">Yenikapı</a> and Kartal (call ALO 153 for details) - OPEN 24/7</li><li>Kadıköy Belediyesi Başkanlığı building (Fahrettin Kerim Gökay Cd. No:2 in Hasanpaşa)</li><li><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/vs9rk6HfDWppNWWRA" target="_blank">Şişli Belediyesi Başkanlığı</a> building (Darülaceze Cd. No:8 in Şişli Merkez) - OPEN 24/7</li></ul></div><div>A full list of <a href="https://instagram.com/p/CoUuIJqO_2P/?hl=en" target="_blank">official collection points for earthquake aid</a> in each Istanbul district has been posted on Instagram by Turkish Dictionary.</div><div><br /></div><div>Buy tents, hygiene packs, coats, boots, blankets, sleeping bags, food packages, etc. <a href="https://umuthareketi.izmir.bel.tr/" target="_blank">online</a> to be sent to the quake areas with İzmir municipality teams (try Firefox browser instead of Chrome).</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Volunteer in Turkey:</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Donate blood at Kızılay sites around Turkey: <a href="https://www.kanver.org/" target="_blank">https://www.kanver.org</a></div><div><br /></div></div><div>Multiple NGOs operating under the <a href="https://afetplatformu.org.tr/" target="_blank" v="">Afet Platformu</a> umbrella are coordinating volunteer efforts for humanitarian relief in affected cities. If you speak Turkish and are willing to volunteer, fill out this form: <a href="https://form.jotform.com/230361452031037" target="_blank" v="">https://form.jotform.com/230361452031037</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>You can also sign up for Afet Platformu's <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5BpeIbnIqeoLF1b0snh-wPUx4PQIzsl3RLlWE6Q26oHS70g/viewform" target="_blank">donor pool</a> and get updates on the latest needs.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Have an empty home/apartment you're willing to open up to a displaced family? Want to provide rent support to displaced people? Know someone who lost their home and needs somewhere to live? Apply to the <a href="https://birkirabiryuva.org" target="_blank">Bir Kira Bir Yuva</a> (One Rent, One Home) website set up by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality and the charity İhtiyaç Haritası (Needs Map).</div><div><br /></div></div><div>Thousands of refugees live in the affected parts of Turkey. If you can speak Persian or Arabic and want to help, contact the <a href="https://twitter.com/gocmensendikasi/status/1622506585091190785" target="_blank">Göçmen Sendikası Girişimi</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you speak multiple languages and are willing to work with or volunteer for international rescue and relief team or media organizations, you can sign up to this <a href="https://fmaturkey.org/translator-and-fixer-list-turkey-earthquake-support/" target="_blank">directory</a> created by the Foreign Media Association in Turkey.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Donate to rescue and relief efforts in Syria:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>** To support rescue and recovery efforts in Syria, donate to the <a href="https://www.whitehelmets.org/en/" target="_blank">White Helmets</a>, the <a href="https://www.sams-usa.net/donate/" target="_blank">Syrian American Medical Society</a>, <a href="https://molhamteam.com/en/campaigns/439" target="_blank">Molham Team</a>, the <a href="https://childguardians.enthuse.com/emergencyearthquakeappealsyria#!/" target="_blank">Syrian Child Protection Network (Hurras)</a>, <a href="https://donate.chooselove.org/campaigns/emergency-earthquake-appeal/" target="_blank">Choose Love</a> or <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/page/turkey-earthquake/" target="_blank">Basmeh Zeitooneh</a> (the latter two are also working in Turkey).</div><div><br /></div><div>** Support the engineers at <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sahayahazir" target="_blank">Field Ready Türkiye</a> (Sahaya Hazır İnovasyon Derneği) who work in Gaziantep, Turkey, and northwest Syria. Among other things, they make cheap, low-tech airbags for search and rescue from buildings which have collapsed. "If we move fast they can make more," a good friend who previously worked with the team writes. "The workshops in Syria also have vast experience of fixing essential medical equipment, and making insulated shelters - both greatly needed right now."</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Spread (good) information:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>If you know people in the affected cities who have been left without shelter, some <a href="https://otelz.com/gecmisolsunturkiyem" target="_blank">hotels and other accommodation facilities</a> are offering free places to stay for earthquake victims. And here's a <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/viewer?mid=1aQ0TJi4q_46XAZiSLggkbTjPzLGkTzQ&ll=37.9849403958198%2C38.48452665004177&z=8" target="_blank">map</a> of other places offering shelter and support.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/60b0edcfb75d40d9a77f8c4df6f6be0e?portalUrl=https://geo.bimtas.istanbul/geoportal" target="_blank">Add locations</a> of collapsed and heavily damaged buildings to this GIS map so teams can reach them more quickly.</div><div><br /></div><div>Be careful about sharing information if you don't know the source; check with <a href="https://teyit.org/" target="_blank">Teyit</a> or <a href="https://www.dogrulukpayi.com/" target="_blank">Doğruluk Payı</a> – both members of the International Fact-Checking Network – to see if claims on social media have been verified.</div><div><br /></div><div>This post is a work-in-progress, I’ll be updating it as I can.</div></div>The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-33742193247011837252021-04-12T21:30:00.035+03:002021-07-01T14:19:12.074+03:00Üç bayan on the loose on the Karia Yolu<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oll2e8NDb4I/YN2h0KtBJWI/AAAAAAAAFjQ/A7vNumQKYi4V9r0SkzUmrBH_QBaTH3GLACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/IMG_2041.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oll2e8NDb4I/YN2h0KtBJWI/AAAAAAAAFjQ/A7vNumQKYi4V9r0SkzUmrBH_QBaTH3GLACLcBGAsYHQ/w150-h200/IMG_2041.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty but scratchy<br />vegetation</td></tr></tbody></table>"Three ladies, aren’t you scared??" the farmer asked incredulously as he pointed us in the direction of the gate that led out of his field and onto the dirt road climbing out of Bağlarözü bay.<p></p><p>Used to getting such responses to our hiking adventures in Turkey, we scoffed amongst ourselves at the question. But had we known what we'd be getting into before we finally reached his farm, we might indeed have been a little trepidatious.</p><p>Our first hike on the <a href="https://www.cariantrail.com/" target="_blank">Carian Trail</a> as it winds its way around the Datça Peninsula in southwestern Turkey started off easily in the beachside village of Palamutbükü, following rural roads past newly tilled fields with chamomile flowers growing wild on their edges. The signpost for Knidos pointed us up a trail into the scrabbly hills, and then down again onto a rocky path overlooking the watery gradient of blues where the Aegean Sea blends into the Mediterranean.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1g5uxnsYPOA/YN2h8w9FSfI/AAAAAAAAFjU/fW_Pnokslz0-eqhe8RNrqlBr52E7wJsoACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/IMG_2030.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1g5uxnsYPOA/YN2h8w9FSfI/AAAAAAAAFjU/fW_Pnokslz0-eqhe8RNrqlBr52E7wJsoACLcBGAsYHQ/w150-h200/IMG_2030.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It all seemed so easy <br />at the start... </td></tr></tbody></table>Somewhere around the halfway point of what was supposed to be a 7.5-hour hike on "a mix of path and dirt road undulating around the coast," I was brought up short. We must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. But how? A rocky slope rose up steeply to one side of the narrow path; to the other side, there was only the sea. Pausing to contemplate the situation, I leaned on one hand against the rock and realized there were red and white paint stripes blazed onto the stone right next to my palm. So we were still on the trail after all. But there was nowhere for me to step next.<p></p><p>Right beyond my feet, the path ended in a steep drop-off to the sea, where the incoming tide crashed against a large, jagged rock, thwarting any thought of jumping into the surf. I sat down and scooted myself as far over the edge as I could go while still holding on, but my feet still dangled above the slippery rock. Even if I could make it down without twisting an ankle, or worse, we would be in the sea, with who-knows-how-many similar maneuvers ahead.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WLKQzrnE4SQ/YN2iEKMWGII/AAAAAAAAFjc/D7usWmHHHsMmK1jXZrv1_Oaosv_buDkbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/IMG_2054.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WLKQzrnE4SQ/YN2iEKMWGII/AAAAAAAAFjc/D7usWmHHHsMmK1jXZrv1_Oaosv_buDkbQCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h150/IMG_2054.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The path was supposed<br />to go above the shore,<br />not <i>in</i> the sea...</td></tr></tbody></table>I recalled seeing a dirt road branching off up over the hills some ways back – maybe we could scramble our way up to reach it? Neither option seemed great, but we had to choose one, so up we went, trying to pick our way along loose scree and around unforgiving scrub. The undergrowth released aromas of rosemary, marjoram, and lavender while sharp, hard branches of other plants scratched into our legs.<p></p><p>Judging by the gap in photos on my camera roll, it was a good two hours before we emerged onto the surprised farmer's land and were gratefully reunited with the fickle trail markers and (at least for a while) a wide road. As the daylight began to wane, shapes started to emerge from the rocky landscape we now shared with a few herds of goats – remnants of the city walls of ancient Knidos, our destination at last.</p>The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-20597637199615756942021-02-01T19:00:00.005+03:002021-04-05T23:21:30.695+03:00Istanbul's 'First of the Month Church'<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lNcB4PHMKa0/YFOnBKVw8XI/AAAAAAAAFcA/2xPb_sx2jFcHrdZBpA6hwE64f6B_9W_LQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/ayinbiri1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lNcB4PHMKa0/YFOnBKVw8XI/AAAAAAAAFcA/2xPb_sx2jFcHrdZBpA6hwE64f6B_9W_LQCLcBGAsYHQ/w213-h320/ayinbiri1.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>"</span>The ones for marriage are four lira; the rest are two lira," the older woman explained patiently as I surveyed the plastic takeout containers arrayed across the tables she and a few others were setting up on the sidewalk before the sun had even fully risen. Each small tub was filled with tiny colorful trinkets loosely connected in some way to the label on its lid: "araba için" (for car), "okul için" (for school), "bebek için" (for baby), and more than a dozen others.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Despite the early hour, a small trickle of people, mostly women, were already finding their way to this drab street corner around the back side of the sprawling İMÇ complex in Unkapanı, where high walls hid all but the cross atop the Ayın Biri Kilisesi.</p><p>I can say without a doubt that I've never run to church before, but not knowing whether this tradition that I'd heard about over the years would be continuing during pandemic times, I figured this way I would have gotten my morning exercise in regardless. So I pulled on long tights instead of my usual shorts, tossed a long-sleeved shirt, a T-shirt dress, and a scarf (just in case – having grown up Protestant and being nonreligious for decades, I'm never quite sure what the etiquette in an Orthodox church should be) in my running backpack, and headed out the door, catching glimpses of a rich violet and magenta sunrise between buildings in Beyoğlu and crossing the Atatürk Bridge over the Golden Horn with morning traffic on one side and fishermen lined up on the other.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3RcMO3DzVl8/YFOnN_kPneI/AAAAAAAAFcE/7owyH3cBe4go92cRgU1tezZhiSXQaZckQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/ayinbiri4.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3RcMO3DzVl8/YFOnN_kPneI/AAAAAAAAFcE/7owyH3cBe4go92cRgU1tezZhiSXQaZckQCLcBGAsYHQ/w150-h200/ayinbiri4.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>The Ayın Biri Kilisesi, a Rum (Greek) Orthodox church, is best known – as its extremely literal nickname, "First of the Month Church," suggests – as a place to go on the first day of each month, to seek good fortune in some aspect(s) of your life. (Its "real" name is variously listed as Vefa Kilisesi, after the neighborhood, or Meryem Ana Kilisesi, based on <a href="https://www.fatihhaber.com/ayin-biri-kilisesi/940/" target="_blank">one story of its origin</a>, in which the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to an Albanian Orthodox girl and told her that there was a holy spring underneath her family's garden and that a church should be built there.) As with many such folk traditions, actual religiosity seems to be no barrier to participation, with members of the majority Muslim population joining the city's few remaining Christians. After the year we've all had, I too figured any potential source of luck was worth giving a try.<p></p><p>After slipping my more-modest change of clothes on over my running kit, I selected five gold-hued trinkets from the tables outside the church, each attached to a short, brightly colored ribbon with a small safety pin: a hamsa/Hand of Fatima, <i>başarı için</i> (for success); a dragonfly, <i>kariyer için</i> (for career); a lock and key, <i>huzur mutluluk için</i> (for serenity and happiness); a heart, <i>sağlık için</i> (for health); and a slightly different heart, <i>aşk için</i> (for love).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BzadFeJhNC0/YFOnYsNCaQI/AAAAAAAAFcM/tu-u_BjkAD84INIpFE3y7MWjtZBU7UdiACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/ayinbiri3.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BzadFeJhNC0/YFOnYsNCaQI/AAAAAAAAFcM/tu-u_BjkAD84INIpFE3y7MWjtZBU7UdiACLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h150/ayinbiri3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Though I'm told the first-of-the-month ritual can draw hours-long lines when it fall on a (non-lockdown!) Sunday, on this Monday morning, the courtyard enclosed by the church's walls was serene. A handful of visitors sat on benches, chatting and drinking tea alongside some scattered gravestones and column capitals, while others lit candles inside a cabin-like building, or waited to get into the main church. One man walked around handing out candy, which I later learned is a show of gratitude displayed by someone whose wish made previously at Ayın Biri had been granted. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2UQ6hf1I7AM/YFOnhNlOQmI/AAAAAAAAFcU/j5z_CQgRHNUiuSYugOzpi41-zsfs0c1gQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/ayinbiri2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2UQ6hf1I7AM/YFOnhNlOQmI/AAAAAAAAFcU/j5z_CQgRHNUiuSYugOzpi41-zsfs0c1gQCLcBGAsYHQ/w213-h320/ayinbiri2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>Icons adorned the walls inside the small but prettily decorated and lovingly tended church, where a slightly bewildering array of rituals awaited. (Fortunately, I ran into a friend who'd visited previously and could provide some guidance.) From one booth, a man offered small keys for four lira each. Next were candles lined up on a stand with a slot for donations. In the corner, a priest asked me my name, then placed a heavy embroidered cloth over my head and intoned some almost inaudible words. Here and in a small chamber downstairs that also houses a holy spring said to date to the early 1700s, people paused before icons hanging on the walls. Holding up their little keys, they mimed the motion of unlocking each side of the cabinets around the images, or tracing their outlines. My nominally Catholic friend suggested I cross myself with each trinket as I moved along the line, which I did, crossing the one representing the wish I <i>most</i> want fulfilled in front of a few different icons for good measure.<p></p><p>If any of my wishes come true, I'll do as tradition holds I should and return the "blessed" key to the church, along with sweets to share with those who haven't been so lucky yet.</p>The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-43464615419313549662021-01-06T19:00:00.161+03:002021-04-11T19:39:30.267+03:00Epiphany on the Golden Horn<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-75D-PUpXrW8/YAw9zOXXC2I/AAAAAAAAFX0/NLferIK5y4EwE0jIP7DmscnS3hbeg6SKQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1114/epiphany-procession.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1114" data-original-width="768" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-75D-PUpXrW8/YAw9zOXXC2I/AAAAAAAAFX0/NLferIK5y4EwE0jIP7DmscnS3hbeg6SKQCLcBGAsYHQ/w138-h200/epiphany-procession.jpeg" width="138" /></a></div>The bell began ringing out at 12:30 pm sharp, its sound carrying to the water's edge from an unseen church somewhere behind a cacophony of buildings in various states of (dis)repair. No gentle tinkle but an effortful pealing, it continued for a full five minutes as the assembled crowd shuffled a bit impatiently. As its clanking ebbed away, voices murmuring in both Turkish and Greek came to the fore and police swept the spectators to the sidelines. The Patriarch was arriving.<p></p><p>Every year on 6 January, Istanbul's small remaining Greek Orthodox community celebrates <a href="https://www.duvarenglish.com/orthodox-christian-worshippers-plunge-in-istanbuls-golden-horn-to-retrieve-cross-to-mark-epiphany-gallery-55759" target="_blank">Epiphany</a>, the baptism of Jesus – a day they call Theophany – at the Church of St. George in the Fener neighborhood along the Golden Horn. Following what I'm told is always a lengthy mass, the congregation processed to the nearby waterfront, where they joined the awaiting press cadre, at least one Turkish tour group, and assorted other bystanders as a drone circled overhead and small idling boats churned up the waters.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7s3KCy0wqok/YAw993bq6RI/AAAAAAAAFX4/cVtU2kREr_cOQOZ9FDpmrHNooxwsNV6mwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1007/epiphany-swimmers.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="1007" height="195" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7s3KCy0wqok/YAw993bq6RI/AAAAAAAAFX4/cVtU2kREr_cOQOZ9FDpmrHNooxwsNV6mwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h195/epiphany-swimmers.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>On a pier across a short stretch of water, two men in swimming briefs paced, stretched, and swung their arms. All the while they each kept a keen eye on His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, as the elderly archbishop slowly ascended a platform set up for the occasion, topped with a scroll on a stand.<p></p><p>My position in the crowd meant I couldn't see the movement of the Patriarch's hand, so before I knew it, the two men were in the water, racing to be the first to retrieve the wooden cross that His Holiness had tossed in as per tradition. Pointing my camera in their general direction, I clicked as fast as I could until after one had reached the cross, kissed it, and held it triumphantly aloft. It was all over so quickly; as a woman next to me laughed to her friend afterwards, "I don't even know what I took pictures of!" </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gdihHFmxEcg/YAw-HQipHiI/AAAAAAAAFYA/v3_LkrWV-wglOg3Yj7AX0iXA1I-fIWfEgCLcBGAsYHQ/s921/epiphany-cross2.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="921" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gdihHFmxEcg/YAw-HQipHiI/AAAAAAAAFYA/v3_LkrWV-wglOg3Yj7AX0iXA1I-fIWfEgCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h133/epiphany-cross2.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>Similar <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pandemics-europe-coronavirus-pandemic-greece-europe-0546d445c0b9a6ef38511d6e5138b40e" target="_blank">ceremonies</a> were prevented in Greece this year due to the coronavirus pandemic – in Thessaloniki, police and coast guard patrolled the waterfront to prevent them, according to the Associated Press – and both the <a href="https://www.ekathimerini.com/236307/gallery/ekathimerini/in-images/epiphany-celebrated-in-istanbul" target="_blank">crowds</a> and the number of participants in Istanbul were much diminished. (Last year's event drew some 30 swimmers on a frigid day, many of whom had traveled from Greece or other Orthodox countries.) But I was pleased to have finally (after all these years!) witnessed this distinctive event, getting my renewed vows to <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/search/label/new%20things">Try More New Things</a><sup>TM</sup> (2021-Style, i.e. locally) and resurrect this long-moribund blog off to a good start, at least for now...<p></p>The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-5905105608925375992020-12-29T19:09:00.001+03:002021-04-11T19:32:21.828+03:00Outdoor dining is dead, long live outdoor dining<p>I'd been eyeing the roadside kebab shop for a while, as there seemed to be a steady stream of customers whenever I walked by after my physiotherapy sessions. Then, quite suddenly, all indoor *and* outdoor seating at restaurants and cafes was banned once again in Turkey as a coronavirus prevention measure. Takeaway, however, was still allowed. On this particular day, I was starving, having missed lunch; the weather was still mild, despite it being early December; and I figured I could furtively scarf down a <i>dürüm</i> in a couple of minutes while lingering on the street corner out front.</p><p>But I hadn't given Turkish ingenuity and hospitality enough credit.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cakMUaX0cuM/YHMd_VqGTVI/AAAAAAAAFd8/_KzzNxoPrnAD60ZVh1g2pJPAIszoC_RyACLcBGAsYHQ/s1333/sidewalk-durum.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cakMUaX0cuM/YHMd_VqGTVI/AAAAAAAAFd8/_KzzNxoPrnAD60ZVh1g2pJPAIszoC_RyACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/sidewalk-durum.jpg" /></a></div>No sooner had I approached the server standing outside the door and ordered my Adana <i>dürüm</i> (<i>acılı, tabii ki, ama domatessiz lütfen</i>) than he had swooped up a piece of cardboard and placed it just so on the edge of what used to be the shop's outdoor-dining area. (Can't sit on the cold ground, your reproductive organs might freeze.) <p></p><p>As I sat on my cardboard-covered perch, eating my <i>dürüm</i> and sipping my <i>ayran</i>, situated at a safe distance away from other customers doing likewise, I noticed there were people sitting in the cars parked in front of the shop. They were eating their kebabs as the server dashed back and forth to their car windows to deliver post-meal tea and retrieve the empty glasses. It was almost like being at an American drive-in.</p><p>Restaurants, cafes, and bars are suffering heavily during these shutdowns, to be sure. But these examples of resourcefulness are cheering in their small way. A neighborhood bar is packaging up its <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CFMzWl5AhIo/" target="_blank">cocktails to go</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CInoYbEgZVr/" target="_blank">bottling its mixers</a> for sale. The owners of a <a href="https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/istanbul/2020/essential-bites-lavas-meze/" target="_blank">popular <i>meyhane</i></a> have opened a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/musterekmeze/" target="_blank">takeaway <i>meze</i> shop</a> and even deliver locally by bicycle. One street in Karaköy is doing its best impression of a European Christmas market, the scent of cloves and cinnamon drawing passersby to long tables outside bar-restaurants that are selling cups of mulled wine and slices of cake to take in hand as you stroll. It's something I've not really seen in Istanbul before, but a new tradition I certainly wouldn't mind seeing endure after the pandemic is (<i>inşallah</i>) behind us next winter.</p>The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-40967857748473107532020-05-03T12:52:00.004+03:002021-03-31T17:46:31.946+03:00Social solidarity amid COVID-19: Ways to help the people who need it most<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Image via <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B9sh4URATBx/" target="_blank">New Economy Coalition</a></i></td></tr>
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I read a comment recently about the coronavirus pandemic that really resonated with me: We may all be in the same storm, but we're not all in the same boat.<br />
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Every day, it seems, I read (and <a href="https://www.equaltimes.org/across-the-world-construction#.Xq1wNRMzYWo" target="_blank">sometimes</a> <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/2020/05/world-stays-home-street-vendors-fight-survive" target="_blank">write</a>) about how this disease and its wide-ranging impacts are laying bare long-standing inequities in our societies, about the workers who can't afford to stay home, the refugees who don't have a home to stay in, the women for whom home in the most dangerous place, the 30 million people who have lost their jobs in the U.S. alone.<br />
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It's a stark reminder that as fear, loneliness, and insecurity batter us all, some of our vessels are definitely more seaworthy than others.<br />
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For those of us fortunate enough to be safe, employed, and in good health right now, I've compiled this very incomplete list of ways to help those who aren't. If you're an American who's received the $1,200 <a href="https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments" target="_blank">stimulus check</a> and doesn't need that financial assistance, I humbly suggest joining me in donating all or part of that as a way to start.<br />
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And please do reach out to propose any recommended additions to this list.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<b>TURKEY</b></h2>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Meeting basic needs</b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Ahtapot Gönüllüleri</b> — This volunteer association's "<a href="https://www.ahtapotgonulluleri.org/kardes-aile-ol" target="_blank">Kardeş Aile</a>" (Sister Family) project asks one family to support another struggling through the COVID-19 crisis by buying them the groceries they need through an online delivery platform or sending them a gift card.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Askıda Fatura</b> – Municipalities around Turkey – including <a href="https://askidafatura.ibb.gov.tr/" target="_blank">Istanbul</a>, <a href="https://www.bizizmir.com/askidafatura" target="_blank">İzmir</a>, <a href="https://ankaratekyurek.com/" target="_blank">Ankara</a>, and Antalya – have set up websites similar to Bi'Komşu where people can anonymously pay unpaid utility bills for those in need. </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Bi'Komşu</b> — This new website (its name means "A Neighbor") allows users to anonymously <a href="https://bikomsu.com/" target="_blank">pay the utility bills</a> of people who have requested support. You can search by neighborhood, choose a recipient at random, or search for urgent cases. The website is in Turkish, but you can read about it in English <a href="https://www.duvarenglish.com/health-2/coronavirus/2020/04/27/izmir-entrepreneurs-launch-website-to-help-residents-pay-each-others-bills-during-covid-19-unemployment/" target="_blank">here</a>. <b><i>[Update: This campaign has now ended] </i></b></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Bodrum Humanity</b> – Tourist-dependent towns like Bodrum are expecting major losses of income this year. This <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bodrumdainsancayasam/" target="_blank">local NGO</a> is delivering food packs and other supplies to needy families of laid-off building staff and hospitality workers and helping with rent payments as part of its mission to provide humanitarian support for the local community. <a href="http://bodrumdainsanca.org/banka-hesap-numaralarimiz/" target="_blank">Bank details for donations</a> are on their website. </li>
</ul>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>İnşaat-İş</b> — <a href="https://www.equaltimes.org/across-the-world-construction#.Xq1wNRMzYWo" target="_blank">Construction workers</a> union İnşaat-İş has created a <a href="https://twitter.com/insaatsendika/status/1246474809359376385" target="_blank">solidarity fund</a> for its members who have lost their jobs amid the coronavirus crisis. Contact the listed numbers (in Turkish) to find out how to contribute.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>İthiyaç Haritası</b> — The innovative "Needs Map" is just that, a map of people and organizations around Turkey that need support. If you read Turkish, you can donate directly to a need of your choice through their <a href="https://www.ihtiyacharitasi.org/" target="_blank">website</a>, or send a general donation through <a href="https://donate.tpfund.org/campaign/needsmap/c278873" target="_blank">Turkish Philanthropy Funds</a>, which has a thorough explanation in English of the project. </li>
</ul>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>TİDER</b> — The only Turkish member of the Global FoodBanking Network, <a href="https://www.tider.org/" target="_blank">TİDER</a> operates "support markets" where people can get free groceries and other essential household goods. You can <a href="https://fonzip.com/tider/bagis#/" target="_blank">donate</a> to their work, or apply to be a <a href="https://www.tider.org/tur/destek-ol/gonullu-ol/basvuru" target="_blank">volunteer</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Turkish Philanthropy Funds</b> — Money raised through the <a href="https://donate.tpfund.org/campaign/tpf-covid-19-community-relief-fund/c279449" target="_blank">TPF COVID-19 Community Relief Fund</a> goes to community organizations working on the ground in both Turkey and the U.S. to support vulnerable populations, quarantined individuals, and healthcare workers.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;"></ul>
</div>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Supporting refugees and migrants</h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Ad.dar</b> — This community center for Syrian and Syrian-Palestinian refugees in Istanbul is collecting <a href="http://www.addarcenter.org/donate/" target="_blank">donations</a> to provide <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/supermarket-cards-for-the-ad-dar-community?fbclid=IwAR0IEpSps4eHccU-1W89_Dzpr6iLCR3M3TpUMKYay4b3bwLIr18U9CQgqYM#/" target="_blank">supermarket gift cards</a> for struggling families.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Common Sense Initiative</b> — This <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsenseinitiative/" target="_blank">group</a> of activists, artists, and journalists who support migrants and refugees in Istanbul has helped families furnish their flats with donated goods and is <a href="https://twitter.com/CSinIstanbul/status/1247507112969801728" target="_blank">delivering food baskets</a> to families who have lost work or income due to the coronavirus. You can send donations to their <a href="https://www.paypal.me/IstanbulInitiative" target="_blank">PayPal account</a> or contact them through social media for their Turkish bank account information.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Open Arms Kayseri</b> — This center for refugees in central Turkey is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OpenArmsinKayseri/posts/2373096169595665?__tn__=-R" target="_blank">delivering emergency food packages</a> to the needy during the coronavirus pandemic. Their Turkish bank details for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OpenArmsinKayseri/about/?ref=page_internal" target="_blank">donations</a> are on their Facebook "About" page (under "More Information"), or you can buy some of the cute items crocheted by refugee families from their <a href="https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/OpenArmsKayseriShop" target="_blank">Etsy shop</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>ReVi</b> — This group of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/reviizmir/" target="_blank">İzmir-based volunteers</a> has started a <a href="https://www.revifamily.org/coronafund" target="_blank">Coronavirus Fund</a> to help refugee families in need. If you don't want to donate by credit card, they have <a href="https://www.revifamily.org/support" target="_blank">accounts</a> in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Australia, and Turkey for direct local money transfer.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Tarlabaşı Dayanışma</b> — This <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TarlabasiDayanisma" target="_blank">community association</a> in the Tarlabaşı neighborhood of Istanbul has put out an urgent call for funds to help migrants and others in need. Just 60 TL can provide hygiene supplies (soap, sanitizer, masks, gloves) and a grocery card. Message them on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TarlabasiDayanisma/posts/1262016880671480" target="_blank">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/TarlabasiDayani/status/1247582802327023620" target="_blank">Twitter</a> to find out more.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Turkey Volunteers</b> — With school classes having moved online, refugee kids who don't have access to computers at home are at risk of falling further behind. If you have a reliable, working <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Syrianchildrenschoolingproject/posts/1630527553768601" target="_blank">secondhand computer to donate</a>, email this group at the listed address.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Yusra Community Center</b> — This volunteer-run space for refugees and other displaced people in Istanbul needs <a href="http://yusracommunitycenter.org/donate.php" target="_blank">funds</a> to support its community through the COVID-19 crisis.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Helping the homeless</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Çorbada Tuzun Olsun</b> — This Turkish NGO feeds the homeless and is advocating for longer-term solutions to homelessness amid the pandemic. You can apply to <a href="https://corbadatuzunolsun.org/index.php/gonullu-ol/" target="_blank">volunteer</a> on their nightly food distributions, or <a href="https://corbadatuzunolsun.org/index.php/bagis-ve-sponsorluk/" target="_blank">donate</a> money.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Donating blood</h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Kızılay</b> — The combination of the coronavirus pandemic and the month of Ramadan (when many people are fasting and may not be able to give blood) has created an <a href="https://twitter.com/drkerem/status/1255577211677130752" target="_blank">urgent need</a> for blood and plasma donations in Turkey. The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) has an <a href="https://kanver.org/KanHizmetleri/KanBagisiNoktalari/" target="_blank">online map</a> of its donation points.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Protecting women from domestic abuse</h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Mor Çatı</b> — Reports of domestic violence are up all around the world amid the coronavirus crisis. You can <a href="https://morcati.org.tr/bagis/" target="_blank">donate</a> funds directly to the Turkish women's shelter foundation Mor Çatı, or buy some of their cute <a href="https://morcati.org.tr/mor-cati-urunleri/" target="_blank">merchandise</a> to support their life-saving work.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<b>UNITED STATES</b></h2>
<i><b><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><b><br /></b></i></div>Update: With a new round of stimulus checks being issued, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/23/how-to-donate-your-600-stimulus-check.html" target="_blank">CNBC</a>, <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/c/blog/donate-stimulus-check" target="_blank">GoFundMe</a>, and <a href="https://qz.com/1949058/where-to-donate-your-stimulus-check/" target="_blank">Quartz</a> all have lists of different ideas for donating any money you don't personally need. </b></i><i>NPR also has some good <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/04/09/831250235/dont-be-discouraged-here-s-how-to-help-during-coronavirus" target="_blank">general tips</a> on helping people who are struggling, financially and otherwise.</i><br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Meeting basic needs</b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>10Give10</b> —This grassroots initiative is asking Americans to <a href="https://10give10.org/" target="_blank">donate just $10</a> of their stimulus check to families hit hardest by COVID-19. The money will be distributed by the nonprofit <a href="https://www.givedirectly.org/" target="_blank">GiveDirectly</a>, which provides low-income families, most headed by single mothers, with $1,000 cash, no strings attached. </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Coronavirus Relief Fund</b> — Not sure who to donate to? This fund answers that question for you by splitting your <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/coronavirus-relief#" target="_blank">donation</a> among 13 worthy organizations.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Davis Street</b> — This comprehensive resource center for low-income members of the San Leandro, California, community is <a href="http://davisstreet.org/index.php/family-services/food-clothing/" target="_blank">operating an emergency food pantry</a> and continuing to offer a primary care clinic and other services. They are in need of monetary <a href="https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/DavisStreetGive?code=Home+Page" target="_blank">donations</a>, sanitizing items, and unexpired food, and also accepting volunteers under the age of 50 who are willing and able to come onsite.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Feeding America</b> — This nationwide network of <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/hungry-jobless-americans-turning-food-banks-survive-pandemic-054655218.html" target="_blank">food banks</a> has established a <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/take-action/coronavirus" target="_blank">COVID-19 Response Fund</a> to help food banks across the country secure the resources they need to effectively and safely support communities.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>YMCA of San Francisco</b> — Tax-deductible donations to the Y's <a href="https://www.ymcasf.org/sustainability-fund" target="_blank">COVID-19 Sustainability Fund</a> support emergency childcare for kids of healthcare and frontline workers; expanded food pantry services and locations for families struggling with food insecurity; and other essential safety-net services.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<h3>Helping the homeless</h3><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The more than half-million homeless people in the US are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/us/coronavirus-homeless.html" target="_blank">at higher risk</a> of catching and dying from COVID-19. This list of <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/142ujDFShUrUdnrv2eur-LtJ-m31HDhx_LG9hdmp75rU/edit" target="_blank">San Francisco Bay Area groups</a> supporting the homeless was put together pre-pandemic by the team at the 99% Invisible podcast, whose "<a href="https://99percentinvisible.org/need/" target="_blank">According to Need</a>" series is an invaluable listen for understanding why homelessness has become such an intractable issue in the Bay Area.</li></ul></div>
<h3>
Supporting refugees and migrants</h3>
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>International Refugee Assistance Project</b> — This legal-aid organization for refugees is also now <a href="https://refugeerights.org/covid-19-response/" target="_blank">helping vulnerable clients in urgent situations</a> with emergency funds to meet basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing, and helping them get access to medical care and mental health support. You can <a href="https://refugeerights.org/donate/" target="_blank">donate</a> or apply to <a href="https://refugeerights.org/hope-help/volunteers/" target="_blank">volunteer</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Karam Foundation</b> —This nonprofit has launched an <a href="https://give.karamfoundation.org/campaign/emergency-support-for-refugees-affected-by-covid-19/c277420" target="_blank">emergency campaign</a> to help Syrian refugee families settled in the U.S. who are suffering economically from repercussions of the coronavirus.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Helping local businesses survive</h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Small Business Relief Initiative</b> — One of the depressing things about this pandemic, even for those of us who are secure ourselves, is thinking about how many beloved restaurants, bars, cafes, shops, and other small businesses might not survive. Through GoFundMe's <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/small-business-relief-fundraisers" target="_blank">Small Business Relief Initiative</a> page, you can search for favorite businesses near you that are facing financial loss.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Reaching out / donating time</h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Kindness of Strangers</b> — Sign up with this site to be (or connect with) a <a href="https://www.akindstranger.com/" target="_blank">kind stranger</a> who donates as little as 30 minutes of time to someone who needs help or company. You can offer a skill like yoga tips or math tutoring; advice or mentorship; or just a listening ear to someone who is lonely. The site has <a href="https://apnews.com/5c53788c782b08980c0405cfc6465244" target="_blank">partnered</a> with senior homes across the U.S. so people can "adopt a grandparent" too. </li>
</ul>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<b>EUROPE</b></h2>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Help Refugees</b> — Funds donated to this group's <a href="https://donate.helprefugees.org/campaigns/coronavirus-appeal/" target="_blank">coronavirus emergency appeal</a> support efforts to help displaced people living in overcrowded and unsanitary refugee camps in Greece and elsewhere in Europe. This assistance includes providing doctors and nurses to those who have none, providing emergency isolation accommodation for the sick, and distributing soap and hand sanitizer.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Mind</b> — Mental health is a serious concern globally as isolation conditions in many countries drag on. Donations to this UK-based charity <a href="https://www.mind.org.uk/donate/donation-appeal-march2020" target="_blank">help fund their hotline</a> and other support networks for people, including frontline workers, who are feeling overwhelmed or despairing.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Women's Aid</b> — Like other organizations working with survivors of domestic violence, this UK-based charity says it has seen a huge increase in demand for its services since the pandemic started. <a href="https://www.womensaid.org.uk/urgent-appeal/" target="_blank">Donations</a> help keep its live chat hotline going so women who aren't safe at home have somewhere to reach out.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<b>GLOBAL</b></h2>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Doctors Without Borders</b> — Medical personnel from Doctors Without Borders are working to <a href="https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/covid19" target="_blank">respond to COVID-19</a> in hard-hit communities around the world, including in the United States. You can donate to their efforts <a href="https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/onetime.cfm" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Informal Workers' Campaigns</b> — The world's 2 billion informal workers depend on their daily earnings to survive and face the risk of falling into extreme poverty as a result of government-ordered lockdowns. The global network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing & Organizing has compiled a list of <a href="https://www.wiego.org/support-informal-workers-campaigns" target="_blank">fundraising campaigns</a> led by membership-based organizations of informal workers and their allies.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>International Rescue Committee</b> — The IRC has launched <a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/live-updates-go-inside-ircs-response-covid-19" target="_blank">coronavirus preparedness and response programs</a> in over 40 countries, including the United States, Greece, Syria, and Yemen. <a href="https://help.rescue.org/donate" target="_blank">Donations</a> help fund their on-the-ground response to the outbreak. </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Translators Without Borders</b> — Reliable information is essential for combatting coronavirus. Translators Without Borders is seeking <a href="https://translatorswithoutborders.org/covid-19" target="_blank">volunteer translators</a> in a number of Asian languages to help ensure broad access health-related information. You can also <a href="https://translatorswithoutborders.org/support-us/donate/" target="_blank">donate</a> to their work.</li>
</ul>
</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-60979762147886749192020-04-26T20:00:00.026+03:002021-04-11T19:37:53.502+03:00Pide to the people"Sıcak sıcak sıcaaaaak!!!!" <br /> <br />"Var mı, pide isteyen?!?!"<br /><br />Since Turkey began weekend lockdowns in its large cities earlier this month – fully confining everyone except certain essential workers to their homes – normally raucous Istanbul has been eerily quiet on Saturdays and Sundays. No matter how late of a lie in I indulge myself with (because really, what's the point of getting out of bed when you can't leave the apartment?), the silence of the streets outside hangs heavily, as if the whole world had vanished while I slept. <br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mglNVeaJu9w/YHMkGpikjoI/AAAAAAAAFeE/FrmW485f1TgiHDo0wI__jLrYNBREm6mWACLcBGAsYHQ/s1333/IMG_6116.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="1000" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mglNVeaJu9w/YHMkGpikjoI/AAAAAAAAFeE/FrmW485f1TgiHDo0wI__jLrYNBREm6mWACLcBGAsYHQ/w150-h200/IMG_6116.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>Then it happens. The low thrum of a small van inching its way down the street, followed by the crackle of a portable speaker, or an unamplified, full-throated cry. "Geldi geldi geldi!!!!" <br /><br />Sometimes it's just one voice, other times a competing cacophony. Either way, the sounds break the silence, and the spell that seems to have been cast on the neighborhood. When I pop my head out the window, faces up and down the street mirror my own. The old, infirm, or simply weary lift baskets over their windowsill or balcony railing, lower them on a rope, and wait. The rest stuff a few coins in pockets, slip on some shoes (what are those again?), and rush out the door, not wanting to miss the highlight (OK, the only event) of the day: bread delivery time.<br /><br />For many Turks, a meal without bread is unthinkable. An estimated <a href="https://www.yenicaggazetesi.com.tr/turkiyenin-kaynaklarini-istanbul-tuketiyor-188601h.htm" target="_blank">20 million loaves</a> are sold daily in Istanbul (population 16 million) alone. I've seen Turkish friends refuse to eat breakfast because there was no fresh bread, only the slices left over from the day before. A Turkish colleague told our WhatsApp group that even during the 1980 military coup, when tanks patrolled the city’s empty streets, bread was distributed in large trucks to each house or apartment.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UGcgaUreUYA/YHMkOlnRt4I/AAAAAAAAFeI/DNSi9ZOIR0cKDkly6OobmQ6V3n9bTFtqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1333/IMG_6117.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="1000" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UGcgaUreUYA/YHMkOlnRt4I/AAAAAAAAFeI/DNSi9ZOIR0cKDkly6OobmQ6V3n9bTFtqwCLcBGAsYHQ/w150-h200/IMG_6117.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>So certainly a little thing like a global pandemic wasn't going to keep the <i>halk</i> from their <i>ekmek</i>. The Interior Ministry's curfew order included an exemption allowing people to leave their homes to walk to their nearest bakery. <a href="https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/chpli-belediyelerin-ekmek-dagitmasi-da-yasaklandi-1732539" target="_blank">Politicians jostled</a> to be the heroes <a href="https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/gundem/2020/04/23/zeydan-karalar-bedava-ekmek-yasagini-5-kurusla-asti" target="_blank">providing bread</a> to the cooped-up masses, posting videos on social media with <a href="https://twitter.com/Mrt_Ongun/status/1248916318428037120" target="_blank">soothing footage</a> of loaves coming out of ovens and being brought to homes. And local bakeries took to the streets with their delivery vans.<div><br /></div><div>I'll be honest – even as starved for activity and interaction as I am on weekends, the standard white loaves, more air than bread, weren't going to entice me to run after the bakery van. But this weekend, their siren call became very beguiling, with the addition to their offerings of the <a href="https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/istanbul/2020/yearly-bread-ramadan-pide/" target="_blank"><i>Ramazan</i> </a><i><a href="https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/istanbul/2020/yearly-bread-ramadan-pide/" target="_blank">pidesi</a>.</i> This pillowy flatbread is made during the holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims abstain from food and drink during daylight hours, then sit down to a fast-breaking meal called <i>iftar</i> at sunset.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UHzHAmwN3_M/YHMkY2TQ8OI/AAAAAAAAFeQ/G3rxd2zTBSQ7nej4E419PXq7_UwJrpxvwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1333/IMG_6118.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="1000" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UHzHAmwN3_M/YHMkY2TQ8OI/AAAAAAAAFeQ/G3rxd2zTBSQ7nej4E419PXq7_UwJrpxvwCLcBGAsYHQ/w150-h200/IMG_6118.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>Even for the non-religious, the sight of people <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2011/08/iftara-davet.html" target="_blank">coming together each evening</a>, whether at huge tables set up by the municipality or on small stools set up around a newspaper-covered folding table, creates a sense of shared urban conviviality. Of course in 2020, coming together is <i>tehlikeli ve yasaktır</i>, as is jostling in front of the <i>fırın</i> to buy a fresh-out-of-the-oven <i>pide</i> in the last possible minutes before <i>iftar</i> so it's still piping-hot at fast-breaking time.</div><div><br /></div><div>On weekends, then, buying <i>pide</i> from the bread van is about as close as we can come to a communal experience. So I wasn't going to miss out on that. And if a bread that's usually torn into pieces and shared has to be eaten by one person while it's still warm and at its tastiest, well, it's the kind of year in which sacrifices must be made. But only one <i>pide</i> a day, no matter how many times the vans cruise down my street. Even in a pandemic, you have to draw the line somewhere.</div>The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-46575181845927319792017-04-23T23:00:00.000+03:002017-05-01T23:44:09.206+03:00A Lycian Way mini-adventure: Rest day in Kemer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy toes in the sand</td></tr>
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You know you're in an Antalya beach resort when... your friend leaves her wallet on the minibus and you're alerted to this fact by your Turkish fellow passengers calling out not "Abla" or "Hanımefendi" or "Bayan" or even "Hey lady" but "<a href="http://carpetblog.typepad.com/carpetblogger/devushkas/" target="_blank">Devushka</a>! Devushka!"<br />
<div>
<br />
In case it wasn't already clear from the Cyrillic signs on shops selling fur coats and skimpy bathing suits, that was a pretty good hint that the holiday town of Kemer is known as a destination for Russian tourists. And though I try not to be overly judgmental, it was hard to escape the feeling that they'd given all foreign visitors a pretty bad rap.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qCa2uKv1Glg/WQeciuBdOqI/AAAAAAAADC8/2Ai2UXQEmRgW0gonl_F3x14SjaaLzoUcwCEw/s1600/serefe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qCa2uKv1Glg/WQeciuBdOqI/AAAAAAAADC8/2Ai2UXQEmRgW0gonl_F3x14SjaaLzoUcwCEw/s200/serefe.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheers to new adventures</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There were exceptions, of course -- the friendly, chatty hunter who had just come down from Tahtalı Dağı and showed us photos of the cave where he'd set up the blackened <i>çaydanlık</i> that he'd hauled up to the summit in his backpack comes to mind.<br />
<br />
But on the whole, we received the surliest welcome in Kemer that I've ever experienced in famously hospitable Turkey -- from brusquely impatient waiters to the hotel staff pounding on our door and following us down the hallway to repeatedly demand payment up front for our room. One woman I sat next to on a bus softened noticably when she found out I was American, and not Russian. Finally! A country with an even worse international reputation than my own.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last sunrise in Lycia (for now)</td></tr>
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Though Kemer's beautiful long stretch of both sand and pebble beaches was whipped by wind in the afternoon and marred by cat-calling <a href="http://tureng.com/tr/turkce-ingilizce/magandas" target="_blank">magandas</a> in the early evening, our little band of hikers was happy to trade our boots for sandals, sit in the sun, and finally make a proper toast to adventures just had, and those yet to come.</div>
</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-20478213287641543922017-04-22T23:29:00.000+03:002017-05-01T00:05:53.157+03:00A Lycian Way mini-adventure, day 5: Tekirova to....?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S7AY_0juV_c/WQZNtDjOmyI/AAAAAAAADCY/ZJM4tR3J_CUe46r8ifZ5cVj0Nf06D2iDgCLcB/s1600/mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S7AY_0juV_c/WQZNtDjOmyI/AAAAAAAADCY/ZJM4tR3J_CUe46r8ifZ5cVj0Nf06D2iDgCLcB/s200/mountain.jpg" width="147" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poppies and a misty mountain</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fortified after yesterday's exertions with <i>börek</i> and eggs at a local <i>pastane</i>, we picked up the trail again (after plodding across none-too-memorable Tekirova) on a service road behind the sprawling Rixos hotel, whose waterpark and shabby outlying buildings butt up right against the woodlands on the outskirts of town.<br />
<br />
It was an inauspicious start to the day's hike, but after a short jaunt through sparse forest, across a campground/equestrian center, and past some flower-dappled fields backdropped by a mist-shrouded Tahtalı Dağı, we were back on favorite territory: curving coastal paths above the Mediterranean Sea, more slate blue than turquoise on this overcast morning, but beautiful nonetheless.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XUxLLBDRKRg/WQZNuDn5D8I/AAAAAAAADCk/TEPZJBV6NPMkzoqlaAUJqpcFyf0sbCcPgCEw/s1600/phaselis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XUxLLBDRKRg/WQZNuDn5D8I/AAAAAAAADCk/TEPZJBV6NPMkzoqlaAUJqpcFyf0sbCcPgCEw/s200/phaselis.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lovely Phaselis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The promise of visiting the ruins of <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2011/10/famished-in-phaselis.html" target="_blank">Phaselis</a> had been a major motivation to get our tired legs moving once again, though having not been to the site in nearly five years, I'll admit I feared for the worst. Would it be blighted by garish concession stands, filled with ham-fisted restorations, or marred by new roads? Thankfully, the remains of this ancient maritime city were exactly as I remembered: an evocative series of arches and tombs and column capitals half-hidden away in the woods, centered around a wide paved-stone road leading to the sea.<br />
<br />
There weren't many other visitors at Phaselis when we passed through, but those who were there seemed to be having so much fun, their joy was infectious: a young pair faux-fencing with sticks, a Turkish woman flamboyantly play-acting on the stage of the ancient theater, a group of tourists arraying themselves on the theater steps for cheesy-album-cover-style photos.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K-4CRLJLTDo/WQZNrwRB8kI/AAAAAAAADCk/BZb8BvSnCR4bacYDgVc6o9Ia4vuUclQxgCEw/s1600/coast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K-4CRLJLTDo/WQZNrwRB8kI/AAAAAAAADCk/BZb8BvSnCR4bacYDgVc6o9Ia4vuUclQxgCEw/s200/coast.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seaside serenity</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We took a few band photos of our own on the dramatic, volcanic-rock-like cliffs past Phaselis, then lost the trail in a maze of low brush before deciding to break for lunch overlooking the sea, across a small bay from the town of Çamyuva. Continuing on through a predictably garbage-ridden picnic area, we followed an asphalt road to the main highway, where the trail waymarks led -- in very <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hikingistanbul/?fref=ts" target="_blank">Hiking Istanbul</a>-esque fashion -- through a graffitied underpass and across a large construction site where a fresh pair of tunnels emerged from the hillside.<br />
<br />
What our guidebook described as a forest track seemed to be en route to being turned into forest road, with rocks piled underfoot and some new crash barriers alongside. With one member of our party hobbled by painful blisters, we stood little chance of reaching the next village by nightfall, and after climbing up this unappealing series of switchbacks for about 45 minutes, we decided it wasn't worth continuing on.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL_1nVBlRAU/WQZNup72zCI/AAAAAAAADCg/nkK24wwPtP8SII0b5tz4T2pZmwQa0WBIACLcB/s1600/tunnels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL_1nVBlRAU/WQZNup72zCI/AAAAAAAADCg/nkK24wwPtP8SII0b5tz4T2pZmwQa0WBIACLcB/s200/tunnels.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unlovely construction</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We hiked back down, crossed through the construction site and the underpass again, and ended our hiking adventure -- this installment, at least! -- hailing a minibus by the side of the highway.<br />
<br />
Four-and-a-half Lycian Way segments down, just 24 <span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">½</span> more on to go on future excursions before I can get the trail's waymark tattooed on my arm. Kidding. Kinda.</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-8849384762045485392017-04-21T23:47:00.000+03:002017-04-26T22:51:20.371+03:00A Lycian Way mini-adventure, day 4: Çıralı to Tekirova<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Tired as my legs were, I nearly broke into a run when I spotted the yellow signpost in the distance, at the end of yet another field of rough red rocks. But when I reached the post, my heart sank. We had already been walking for nine hours on what we'd been led to believe was a hike of about that length, the daylight was starting to wane, and if the yellow sign was correct, we still had more than three hours to go to reach the next town.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-20-pwBPDDpo/WQD3_d61hPI/AAAAAAAADBs/yLcQmOnVIbEb9wNxdZ3n4_U4rz2LINCtQCLcB/s1600/seaside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-20-pwBPDDpo/WQD3_d61hPI/AAAAAAAADBs/yLcQmOnVIbEb9wNxdZ3n4_U4rz2LINCtQCLcB/s200/seaside.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can't get enough of that<br />
turquoise water</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We'd started out the day from Çıralı in high spirits, if a bit leery of the dark clouds roaming across the sky. A short climb above the seafront took us on a route leading up and down a series of small coves and the rocky cliffs overlooking their beaches, each vista seemingly more photo-worthy than the last. Turning inland brought us first across the exposed, drab, rocky remains of old mining operations, then into an overgrown meadow that hid any official trail markers, leaving only other hikers' rock cairns to follow through a maze of bushes and tall grasses.<br />
<br />
Then we climbed and climbed over rocky slopes where hardy flowers bloomed between the stones, going higher and higher until stopping for a rest at one point, I turned around to be awestruck by the vast panorama below, spreading out to the ocean and those little coves we'd visited hours before, each inch of the view earned by our calloused feet and straining muscles.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yWg7w9J9FnE/WQD4gZkK2BI/AAAAAAAADB0/KUqcNl2kj9wSbTIlXfDeJMlaKlG_XEW9QCLcB/s1600/flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yWg7w9J9FnE/WQD4gZkK2BI/AAAAAAAADB0/KUqcNl2kj9wSbTIlXfDeJMlaKlG_XEW9QCLcB/s200/flowers.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hardy and beautiful flowers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Invigorated by the sight of how far we'd come, we marched forward until the pine-needle-strewn paths turned again into rocky outcroppings and the time we'd allotted for the hike passed without any indication that we might be nearing its end.<br />
<br />
Night started to fall not long after we came across the yellow sign, and the question of whether it would be more dangerous to continue on in the dark, make a a treacherous beeline down a steep ravine to the distant highway that was the only sign of civilization in sight, or try to find shelter (since we were carrying none of our own) in the woods for the night shadowed our every footstep.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yhnBsLqvy30/WQD414AeCfI/AAAAAAAADB4/wB289HtSmwI_BEhkNRvfEudafR9oiutVwCLcB/s1600/vista.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yhnBsLqvy30/WQD414AeCfI/AAAAAAAADB4/wB289HtSmwI_BEhkNRvfEudafR9oiutVwCLcB/s200/vista.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We started all the way down there<br />
at sea level</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I tried to quicken my pace even as I felt my feet begin to stumble from fatigue, the red-and-white slashes of paint on rocks alongside the trail becoming harder and harder to see as the light faded further. Digging out extra batteries for one of two failing flashlights, we continued on in the dark, tracing the uneven path and searching for trail markers with our narrow beam of light.<br />
<br />
It was hard to know if minutes had passed, or hours, but eventually the hum of cars on the distant highway had started to seem louder -- or was it just our weary minds' wishful thinking? Then the flashlight's beam caught a piece of styrofoam on the ground, then a wire fence, then an electric pylon, then finally, mercifully, a dirt road. Never had I been so happy to see the signs of development encroaching on nature.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YhjLQ7RAqJY/WQD5NFyKhwI/AAAAAAAADB8/LW4bA_JZDgwj2BEzuUeuDDJGuD9mTF0lwCLcB/s1600/rocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YhjLQ7RAqJY/WQD5NFyKhwI/AAAAAAAADB8/LW4bA_JZDgwj2BEzuUeuDDJGuD9mTF0lwCLcB/s200/rocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So damn many rocks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For our final hours in the dark, I'd driven myself forward with thoughts of a cheeseburger, a giant plate of fries, and a cold beer (if not three). But by the time the dirt road turned into an asphalt one and reached town, it was past 10pm, too late to buy alcohol from the shop, and the only restaurant within crawling distance was dry. We fell upon our kebabs and <i>pide</i> like a pack of wolves on their prey and toasted our safe arrival with soda and <i>ayran</i>.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow, onward to Roman Bridge?</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-3393405579129789752017-04-20T22:37:00.000+03:002017-04-25T00:24:43.935+03:00A Lycian Way mini-adventure, day 3: Adrasan to Çıralı<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RzJi5tlBgdU/WP323QlT6PI/AAAAAAAADAw/8cp-gM_NjRs1c4Vb45dMMlF6fbpMeo8yACLcB/s1600/adrasan%2Bcountryside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RzJi5tlBgdU/WP323QlT6PI/AAAAAAAADAw/8cp-gM_NjRs1c4Vb45dMMlF6fbpMeo8yACLcB/s200/adrasan%2Bcountryside.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green hills above Adrasan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The path out of Adrasan rose up above the greenhouse-dotted valley, across high meadows bright with flowers and fresh green shoots of grass, past a shepherd perched on a rock under a tree as his small flock grazed nearby, and alongside a rough shack where an enterprising local had set up shop selling fresh-squeezed orange juice to thirsty hikers.<br />
<br />
After these bucolic scenes, the trail took a turn for the monotonous as it wound up into rocky forest, pretty but with little to differentiate one stretch from the next. The remnants of ancient Phoinikous, which we'd eagerly noted in our guidebook as something to make up for the lack of sea views on this inland segment of the Lycian Way, failed to reveal themselves amongst the craggy natural stones scattered all over the hillside.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ni4LIg5ukrM/WP5lbOUY9zI/AAAAAAAADBA/qoDIvLadpjMcoDsbpLocja12s1j_5lCNQCLcB/s1600/woods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ni4LIg5ukrM/WP5lbOUY9zI/AAAAAAAADBA/qoDIvLadpjMcoDsbpLocja12s1j_5lCNQCLcB/s200/woods.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strange trees and rock cairn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Then the forest became thicker and lower, closing in on us almost jungle-like, cutting off phone and GPS signals and restricting our vision to no more than a few meters as the narrow path zigzagged through unfamiliar trees with twisted reddish trunks that felt as smooth and cold as carved and polished wood. It was easy to imagine ourselves in some kind of fairytale, or perhaps -- remembering the disquieting howls we'd heard earlier from an unseen male voice, or catching a glimpse of a dark green snake slithering across our path -- a darker kind of fable.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3rlJcDt_cbs/WP5q4r8gVTI/AAAAAAAADBQ/sXy8y2m8dFQ1GjoEEO0QKudCvUZP6XzPgCLcB/s1600/tomb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3rlJcDt_cbs/WP5q4r8gVTI/AAAAAAAADBQ/sXy8y2m8dFQ1GjoEEO0QKudCvUZP6XzPgCLcB/s200/tomb.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarcophagus in ancient city of Olympos</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Following a long descent, the trees around us opened up once again and we emerged into the ruins of ancient Olympos like explorers stumbling upon a lost city (never mind the parking lot and ticket booths across the river). Moss grew over the inscriptions and carved reliefs on heavy sarcophagi and stone walls seemed to melt into the surrounding greenery and soil. We walked under sturdy arches and through a crumbling theater half reclaimed by the landscape, marveling at how such historical richness could be left in such glorious disarray.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yRjzr6vytpk/WP5r_3Mf1CI/AAAAAAAADBY/NUqeu8j_0k4-aep7uMmNrioiXlytxpLKgCLcB/s1600/olympos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yRjzr6vytpk/WP5r_3Mf1CI/AAAAAAAADBY/NUqeu8j_0k4-aep7uMmNrioiXlytxpLKgCLcB/s200/olympos.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olympos beach at dusk</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Just when we thought we'd reached the end of the site and the seafront beyond where our path should continue... we ran up against a fence. Laden as we were with our heavy packs and having already walked for 16 kilometers, backtracking was not an option worth considering. So like the seasoned urban hikers we are, over the fence we went -- onto the gleaming white stones of Olympos beach, the long sweeping curve of the sea framed by dramatic cliffs catching the last gleams cast by the setting sun.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow, onward to Tekirova!</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-63042514817092488842017-04-19T22:00:00.000+03:002017-04-21T07:43:09.309+03:00A Lycian Way mini-adventure, day 2: Karaöz to Adrasan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aefP-_TZqHY/WPkevqSGEEI/AAAAAAAADAA/m30U0v15U4AigEjOE5hrc9cxnELNDcLyQCLcB/s1600/boya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aefP-_TZqHY/WPkevqSGEEI/AAAAAAAADAA/m30U0v15U4AigEjOE5hrc9cxnELNDcLyQCLcB/s200/boya.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trail marker in flower-filled meadow</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Re-scrutinizing our maps over breakfast this morning, we realized we had spent a good chunk of <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2017/04/a-lycian-way-mini-adventure-day-1.html" target="_blank">yesterday's walk</a> near, but not actually on, the Lycian Way, which would apparently have taken us over a long stretch of beach rather than through the town of Mavikent and its outskirts. So it wasn't until today that we were really able to get into the swing of one of the key elements of this long-distance hike: spotting little red-and-white stripes of paint on tree trunks, electric poles, and rocks large and small, high and low, and sometimes nearly covered by the flowers gloriously blooming all over the trail.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7UGBwq0Hy_Y/WPmKJc9pIbI/AAAAAAAADAQ/2r69emIl8E4u5S_3YMyiJC7MJ1CNYK_yACLcB/s1600/cairns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7UGBwq0Hy_Y/WPmKJc9pIbI/AAAAAAAADAQ/2r69emIl8E4u5S_3YMyiJC7MJ1CNYK_yACLcB/s200/cairns.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Field of cairns</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"There's one!" became a frequent cry between us as we peered down two paths after a junction, trying to figure out which one to take. After a while it became almost second nature to scan the landscape for these trail markers as we picked our way up the steep, hot climb after the Gelidonya Feneri (lighthouse) or strolled through shaded woods. At some points, there was extra navigational help from rock cairns perched on the side of the path or on top of a larger rock. In one rather spectacularly odd case, we crossed a rock field dappled with dozens of cairns, giving the area an eerie, almost funereal feel.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7ysee1e5_EE/WPmM5W7Ae-I/AAAAAAAADAc/loS6Bphb4IQCBfsvNQrIQ-HKXiBGl_j-gCLcB/s1600/cove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7ysee1e5_EE/WPmM5W7Ae-I/AAAAAAAADAc/loS6Bphb4IQCBfsvNQrIQ-HKXiBGl_j-gCLcB/s200/cove.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Korsan Koyu ("Pirates' Cove")</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Early on in today's hike we came across a group of sleepy backpackers breaking camp in a gorgeous cove, the turquoise water lapping gently at the shore. The sight gave me a bit of a pang about not sleeping under the stars, but given the <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2016/06/whats-going-to-save-turkish-tourism.html" target="_blank">dire state of Turkey's tourism industry</a> lately, I'm happy this time around to be putting some money in the pockets of the families running the pensions we're staying at instead. Nothing like a socially conscious excuse to enjoy a few creature comforts.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow, onward to Çıralı!</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-18692186210859988912017-04-18T22:17:00.000+03:002017-04-21T07:44:11.092+03:00A Lycian Way mini-adventure, day 1: Kumluca to Karaöz<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When you've been trying for nine years to find a friend or two who wants to tackle part of Turkey's most famous long-distance hiking route with you, the last thing you want to hear before you finally set out on the trail is pouring rain. But pour it did as <a href="http://katrinkaabroad.com/" target="_blank">Katrinka Abroad</a> and I lay in our beds in our pension in Finike last night, the rumble of thunder adding to our trepidation about what the morning would bring.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rqU3f8_stHg/WPZlC0RLwsI/AAAAAAAAC_o/LU3dda3nrT0kDHSy0rV-jv5I6LI7vl1tQCLcB/s1600/kumluca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rqU3f8_stHg/WPZlC0RLwsI/AAAAAAAAC_o/LU3dda3nrT0kDHSy0rV-jv5I6LI7vl1tQCLcB/s200/kumluca.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amidst the holiday homes and hotels<br />
of Kumluca</td></tr>
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But with the skies clearing as we ate our breakfast, we set off in high spirits from Finike, hopping a minibus (as suggested by our <a href="http://cultureroutesinturkey.com/the-lycian-way/" target="_blank">guidebook</a>) to skip 10 kilometers of plodding down the flat and scruffy shoreline that ran alongside the road and start our on-foot adventure in Kumluca. Frankly, we should have followed the book's recommendation to the letter and minibused it all the way to Mavikent, sparing ourselves an outskirts-of-Istanbul-esque ramble through half-built housing developments and around greenhouses and water-treatment plants.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P2JmLIgjVE8/WPZlBxYRHwI/AAAAAAAAC_k/YoMvSioTQV4sVx4Yd24SXaseh-Tk7FkvwCEw/s1600/house.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P2JmLIgjVE8/WPZlBxYRHwI/AAAAAAAAC_k/YoMvSioTQV4sVx4Yd24SXaseh-Tk7FkvwCEw/s200/house.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old beach house in Mavikent</td></tr>
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Things got better as we passed through the small town of Mavikent, where there was a beautifully overgrown cemetery, a sweet old lady growing gorgeous roses all around her house, dilapidated wooden houses on stilts along the beach, and a big rock to clamber up on and eat our packed lunch.<br />
<br />
It was there, by the rock, about 10 kilometers into our walk, that we found our first official signage for the Lycian Way, the 540-kilometer route stretching along Turkey's Mediterranean Coast from Fethiye to Antalya. (We picked the trail up well into its second half, and will hike for less than a week -- this time around!)<br />
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From there, though the path largely continued following a road, it became a much more scenic and dramatic one, undulating above the coast with picture-worthy views of the turquoise sea around nearly every bend.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">En route to Karaöz</td></tr>
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By late afternoon, we'd reached Karaöz, a small farming village near the water, and found accommodations at a simple pension run by a friendly couple with a dog, two ducks, and at least one green thumb for gardening. Though it was a fairly easy day hiking-wise, our dinner of <i>yayla çorbaşı</i> and grilled <i>çipura</i> still felt well-earned -- and tasted delicious.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow, onward to Adrasan!</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-8427431695949769422017-03-07T22:03:00.000+03:002017-03-09T22:07:37.311+03:00When politics intrudes on paradise<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This time of year, the Mediterranean village of Adrasan used to be bustling with backpackers, spending a night or two in town as part of their trek along the <a href="http://cultureroutesinturkey.com/the-lycian-way/" target="_blank">Lycian Way</a>. But this week, I seem to be the only tourist for miles.<br />
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"We would be on full staff in March," the owner of the otherwise empty hotel where I'm staying tells me. "As you can see, the weather is so good for hiking, but with the terrorism and the politics..."<br />
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Such cares couldn't feel further away while walking alongside Adrasan's serene beach, looking out over its glimmering bay from the tree-dappled mountains that rise up from the shoreline, or eating a hearty home-cooked meal alongside its lazy river. Yet for those who depend on tourism for their livelihood, the effects of distant disasters and decisions are felt especially keenly in places like this.<br />
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Before opening the hotel, its owner had operated a pair of restaurants on the nearby beach. All told, he's been in the tourism business in Adrasan for 25 years, but is originally from Diyarbakır, in southeast Turkey. I asked him why he left his hometown. He shrugged. "Same as you moving to Istanbul..."<br />
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I hadn't said anything about my reasons for relocating, but it was a more than fair point. I don't have a ready answer as to why I uprooted myself from everything I knew nine years ago. In some ways, it doesn't really matter what someone is seeking, or escaping; we end up somewhere, we may struggle a bit (or a lot), but eventually we build new lives. And then the bombs come -- or the tourists don't -- and we may feel like we're too invested to leave.</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-738631772660770102017-01-19T18:35:00.000+03:002017-03-07T23:48:25.038+03:0010 yıldır<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A soft rain fell as people gathered in Istanbul this afternoon to once again mark the anniversary of the death of <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2014/01/hepimiz-hrantz.html" target="_blank">Hrant Dink</a>. The Armenian-Turkish journalist was assassinated in front of the office of his newspaper, <i><a href="http://www.agos.com.tr/en/home" target="_blank">Agos</a></i>, 10 years ago today. His family is still seeking justice for the murder.</div>
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Where the outcry over Dink's killing in 2007 spurred hope that some old wounds in Turkey might yet be healed, the country today <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/01/turkey-hrant-dink-assassination-anniversaire.html" target="_blank">seems more divided and damaged</a>, as Dink's widow, Rakel, reminded in her <a href="http://bianet.org/english/society/182849-rakel-dink-10th-anniversary-address" target="_blank">speech</a> with a wrenching rundown of the past decade's pain:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>What has happened in the last 10 years? Oh my darling. The Malatya massacre, İskenderun, Sevag Balıkçı, Roboski, Gezi, Suruç, Diyarbakır, Sur, Mardin, Nusaybin, Cizre, Şırnak, Tahir Elçi, Ankara, July 15th, Maçka, İzmir, Gaziantep, Ortaköy, Airport attack and the war in the Middle East. Operations, terror...</i></blockquote>
The always-poignant commemoration was a bit subdued this year; under the "state of emergency" imposed since last summer's <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2016/07/a-view-from-istanbul-during.html" target="_blank">failed coup</a>, there was no march from Taksim Square to the <i>Agos</i> offices in Harbiye. With Istanbul having suffered yet another horrific <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/01/turkey-nightclub-shooting-reina-nightclub-istanbul-victims-search-continues" target="_blank">terror attack</a> less than three weeks previously, security was high, with bag checks to enter the cordoned-off area in front of <i>Agos</i>, and both visibly armed and plainclothes police mingling amidst the crowd.<br />
<br />
But none of this could diminish the power of the words spoken there, both those by Rakel Dink, and those earlier in the remembrance:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>"We are all Turks, Armenians, Kurds, Laz, Circassian, Alevi...</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>"We are in front of Agos today in these difficult times...</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>"We are sustaining your voice and your struggle, but we miss you."</i></blockquote>
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The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-56753924639468450942017-01-08T14:33:00.001+03:002017-01-08T14:42:58.937+03:00A death in the mahalle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The steadily falling <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/heavy-snow-brings-istanbul-to-standstill" target="_blank">snow</a> that has blanketed Istanbul over the last 36 hours has brought a welcome hush to the city's noisy, jostling streets and a momentary sense of peace that has lately been in far too short of supply. But the edginess created by recent months' <a href="http://time.com/4626174/turkey-istanbul-izmir-kurdish-isis-erdogan/" target="_blank">terrorist attacks</a> was quick to grip my heart once again at the sound of a loud voice on the street outside my apartment building.<br />
<br />
Cautiously looking out the window, I felt the tension in my chest immediately ease, replaced with a warm sadness at the sight of dozens of people lined up in the snow-covered street, holding their gloved hands up in prayer as an imam in a long cloak and red-and-white cap recited verses over a green coffin.<br />
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Bundled up for the minus-zero temperatures, the mourners listened quietly and still as the <i>ruhuna fatiha </i>was read. Afterwards, some consoled each other, touching the sides of their heads together in greeting, while others reached out to lay a hand on the coffin as the open-bed truck belonging to the municipal funeral services department slowly pulled away down the street to transport the body to its final resting place for burial. <i>Başınız sağolsun.</i><br />
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The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-39020008733725485392016-12-04T18:19:00.001+03:002016-12-04T18:24:08.040+03:00A thank-you letter to my fundraising supporters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dear friends,<br />
<br />
Thank you so much for your support for my <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2016/11/running-so-kids-can-be-kids-not.html" target="_blank">fundraising campaign</a> last month! I know everyone has many, many good causes competing for their attention and funds so I really appreciate your devoting some of yours to mine.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LEIdT79UBR4/WEQtZ-eV9QI/AAAAAAAACvk/nbnbPvdW1KYWH-cI2SNWKKqAN04E3J_agCEw/s1600/childrensrightsphoto2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LEIdT79UBR4/WEQtZ-eV9QI/AAAAAAAACvk/nbnbPvdW1KYWH-cI2SNWKKqAN04E3J_agCEw/s320/childrensrightsphoto2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Children should be playing and learning, not working!</td></tr>
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Thanks to your generosity, I concluded my campaign with a total of 6,454 Turkish Lira ($1,833 US) — more than twice my original fundraising goal! I also surpassed my goal of successfully reaching out to more than 40 individual donors. And I'm quite pleased to report that among the 70 runners raising money for the Turkish NGO <a href="http://www.hayatadestek.org/" target="_blank">Hayata Destek Derneği</a> (Support to Life Association), I raised the 2nd-highest total number of donations, and brought in the 3rd-highest number of individual donors :)<br />
<br />
Your donations will provide more than 25 migrant farmworker children with school supplies, educational materials, and the hygiene items they need in their tent homes. Overall, 324 children will be assisted by Hayata Destek's fundraising campaign!<br />
<br />
In a country where neither <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/search/label/running" target="_blank">running</a> nor individual charitable giving are common pursuits, I'm also proud to be among nearly 5,000 runners who raised more than 6.7 million Turkish Lira for 29 worthy NGOs by running the 10k, 15k, or full 42k race in the Istanbul Marathon and fundraising through the wonderful organization <a href="http://www.adimadim.org/" target="_blank">Adım Adım</a> ('Step by Step').<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Running on the Galata Bridge, crossing the finish line, showing<br />
off my finisher's medal, and enjoying a post-race beer.</td></tr>
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Last but not least, I had a fantastic race too :) It was my fourth time running the 15k in Istanbul, and I smashed my previous personal best by nearly seven minutes, completing the course in 1:32:58 (one hour, 32 minutes and 58 seconds). Despite rain overnight and a tumultuous sky in the early morning, we ended up with a gorgeous day for running. After finishing my 15k, I met up with runner friends to cheer on the marathoners at the finish line and then enjoy a couple of well-deserved beers by the water.<br />
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This year, I've overcome my intimidation about running with other people thanks to an excellent small group of runner pals who challenge and encourage me on early Sunday morning trail runs in and around the Belgrad Forest north of the city. I know pushing myself with them was a big factor in my success at the race — as was knowing you were all cheering me on from near and far!<br />
<br />
I encourage you all to learn more about the excellent work of Hayata Destek and their ongoing efforts to combat child labor in Turkey and help provide relief aid and psycho-social support to some of the more than 3 million refugees now in this country. You can read more about them in English at <a href="http://www.hayatadestek.org/en/" target="_blank">http://www.hayatadestek.org/en/</a> and follow along (mostly in Turkish, but also with photos!) at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HayataDestek/?fref=ts" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/HayataDestek/?fref=ts</a>.<br />
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Thank you again so much for your support!<br />
<br />
With love and solidarity,<br />
<br />
Jen</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-42998151667244052362016-11-11T18:39:00.003+03:002017-02-17T10:09:07.593+03:00America voted. Now what?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Eight years ago this month, I took a nap late in the evening and then awoke again in the wee hours, packed up some bottles of champagne and walked through Istanbul's for-once quiet streets to a fellow expat's house. There a group of Americans and their friends held a vigil through the night, drinking, eating, and goofing around, but mostly glued to the TV and our laptop screens as we watched the <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2008/11/its-morning-in-america.html" target="_blank">election results</a> roll in back home. We got to pop those champagne corks around sunrise, which seemed utterly fitting, and as I made my sleepy but thrilled way back home, it felt like the world outside shone just a bit brighter.<br />
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There was a little déjà vu, if a lot more anxiety, Tuesday evening in heading out around midnight, already sleepy but determined to watch this year's returns until the bitter end. And bitter it was. There's already so much armchair analysis and so many emotional outpourings online, I don't really feel like opining further here. But if you, like me, believe in progressive ideals and are concerned about the effect the U.S. presidential election might have in terms of racial/gender/LGBTQ equality, the environment, human rights, global peace, and much more, you might, like me, need a little shot in the arm and some ideas about what to do next.<br />
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So I'm starting (and will keep updating) a list here of other people's writing that I feel provides one or both of these things; if you have more suggestions, send 'em my way. (Admittedly, this is an American-centric list, and post, but many of the issues we face are global ones, and I'd love it if this inspires anyone to take like-minded action in their own countries.)<br />
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<b>Get fired up:</b><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/inspiring-down-ballot-wins-that-defy-racism-sexism-204623375.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw" target="_blank">Inspiring Down-Ballot Wins That Defy Racism, Sexism</a> -- Short profiles of the nine women of color elected to the U.S. House and Senate this week, including my new California senator, Kamala Harris. (Another article has more on <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/something-to-celebrate-6-women-who-won-historic-firsts-20161109" target="_blank">female firsts</a> in this election, including the first Somali-American woman to be elected to public office in the United States.)</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/election-hate-trump-president-racism" target="_blank">Don't Mourn, Fight Like Hell</a> -- "Trump appealed to America's worst impulses. Now it's on the rest of us to show, to prove, that this is not all that America is. This is a time when we're called on to do things we may not have done before. To face down bigotry and hate, and to reach beyond our Facebook feeds in trying to do so."</li>
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<li><a href="http://usuncut.com/news/newamericaforallofus/" target="_blank">Here's what progressives need to do to stop Trump’s insane agenda</a> -- "We need to take back Congress in 2018 like our lives depended on it because they do."</li>
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<li><a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/11/forget-canada-stay-and-fight-for-american-democracy.html" target="_blank">Forget Canada. Stay and Fight for American Democracy</a> -- "Fighting for democracy is part of America's heritage, from abolitionists to suffragettes to the progressive reformers. Maybe you thought that fight was confined to history. It will go on."</li>
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<li><a href="http://www2.nybooks.com/daily/s3/nov/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival.html" target="_blank">Autocracy: Rules for Survival</a> -- "Believe the autocrat. Do not be taken in by small signs of normality. Institutions will not save you. Be outraged. Don’t make compromises. Remember the future."</li>
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<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1SaD-gSZO4" target="_blank">The Morning After</a> -- "Let’s get off the floor and get busy." The brilliant Samantha Bee's call to action. Need further convincing that the 2018 midterm election can matter? Watch her trenchant piece from earlier in this campaign season about the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw41BDhI_K8" target="_blank">2010 midterm</a> -- you know, the one that only 40.9% of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot in -- and then read about some of the <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article113977353.html" target="_blank">voter-suppression laws</a> enacted by people that apathy allowed to sweep into office.</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.theestablishment.co/2016/11/11/we-have-to-create-a-culture-that-wont-vote-for-trump/" target="_blank">We Have To Create A Culture That Won't Vote For Trump</a> -- "We’re going to need every single one of you. Because what we need to do is hard. Very hard. We have to create a culture that won’t vote for Trump, that won’t vote for anyone like Trump ever again. And in order to do that we have to shift our focus from our politicians, our electoral college, our TV pundits—and we have to start focusing on our communities. Because Trump did not elect himself."</li>
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<li><a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/11/how-the-loyal-opposition-will-work-in-trumps-america.html" target="_blank">Citizens, United</a> -- "Despair is a counterproductive response. So is denial — an easy temptation in the wake of the inevitable postelection pleasantries and displays of respect needed to maintain the peaceful transfer of power. The proper response is steely resolve to wage the fight of our lives."</li>
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<li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/23/trump-changed-everything-now-everything-counts?CMP=share_btn_link" target="_blank">Trump changed everything. Now everything counts</a> -- "With due respect for the colored ribbons we’ve worn for various solidarities, our next step is to wear something on our sleeve that takes actual courage: our hearts... There’s safety in numbers, but only if we count ourselves out loud."</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Get active:</b><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="http://jezebel.com/a-list-of-pro-women-pro-immigrant-pro-earth-anti-big-1788752078" target="_blank">A List of Pro-Women, Pro-Immigrant, Pro-Earth, Anti-Bigotry Organizations That Need Your Support</a> -- Put your money where your mouth is and donate to the ACLU, EarthJustice, the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and other groups fighting for the rights of vulnerable people. Many of these organizations need volunteers too. (And here's a <a href="http://www.sfweekly.com/opinion/views/views-fight-back-trump-presidency/" target="_blank">local list of progressive advocacy groups</a> in the San Francisco Bay Area for my people back home.)</li>
<br />
<li><a href="https://www.rescue.org/volunteer#how-can-i-volunteer" target="_blank">Volunteer with the International Rescue Committee</a> -- What better way to fight back against the nasty anti-immigration rhetoric of this president-elect's campaign than to help assist newly arrived refugees in the U.S. with mentoring and job-seeking assistance?</li>
<br />
<li><a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/after-trumps-victory-stand-with-your-community-20161109" target="_blank">After Trump's Victory, Stand With Your Community</a> -- "If you have any privilege at all, this is a time to put it on the line, beginning where you live. Even if you don’t, this is a time to reach out."</li>
<br />
<li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/if-youre-overwhelmed-by-the-election-heres-what-you-can-do-now_us_5822c7d0e4b0e80b02cdf133" target="_blank">If You're Overwhelmed By The Election, Here's What You Can Do Now</a> -- Volunteer. Donate. Be good to each other.</li>
<br />
<li><a href="http://www.whatcanido.io/" target="_blank">What Can I Do?</a> -- 10 things you can do to make the world a better place, and how you can connect to social movements that matter.</li>
<br />
<li><a href="https://bitchmedia.org/article/10-ways-resist-trump/activists-share-ideas-you-can-do-right-now-lgbt-feminist-activism-hearken" target="_blank">10 Ways to Resist Donald Trump</a> -- From offering your skills to diversifying your media, activists share concrete actions you can take right now.</li>
<br />
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/ReportTrumpHate" target="_blank">Report Hate</a> -- Witnessed or experienced a hate crime, harassment, or bullying in the aftermath of the election? <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeG2kb0wvqmbZ1K8B6zJceK49gFKZFzCg3HW5LSVGS2MPRPGw/viewform?c=0&w=1" target="_blank">Report what you're seeing and hearing</a> to help create a national database and map.</li>
<br />
<li><a href="https://www.splcenter.org/20150126/speak-responding-everyday-bigotry" target="_blank">Speak Up: Responding to Everyday Bigotry</a> -- Advice and scripts for addressing sexist and racism remarks and policies at home, in the workplace, and on the street.</li>
<br />
<li><a href="https://medium.com/@debraguckenheimer/post-election-10-things-you-can-do-7cc880c15c6b#.9zwkuc9kl" target="_blank">Post-Election: 10 Things You Can Do</a> -- From educating yourself about injustice to advocating for inclusive policies to stopping acts of hatred.</li>
<br />
<li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-hope-filled-messages-parents-are-sharing-with-their-kids-post-election_us_582362b6e4b0e80b02ce6eda?ir=Impact" target="_blank">The Hope-Filled Messages Parents Are Sharing With Their Kids Post-Election</a> -- Anyone with children in their lives can help reinforce lessons of <a href="http://www.tolerance.org/election2016" target="_blank">tolerance</a> and equality. These additional ideas are targeted at <a href="http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/election/" target="_blank">teachers</a> but many can be adapted by anyone who wants to advance dialogue.</li>
<br />
<li><a href="https://www.positive.news/2016/economics/23630/project-redirecting-us-election-cash-toward-long-term-progress/" target="_blank">The project redirecting US election cash toward long-term progress</a> -- The Movement 2016 platform was working before this election to encourage people to give directly to grassroots organizations rather than presidential campaigns, and plans to keep doing the same in the run-up to the crucial 2018 mid-terms.</li>
<br />
<li><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/someone-made-a-guide-for-what-to-do-when-you-see-islamophobi?utm_term=.arka1zDqR#.yrlMmqenb" target="_blank">A Guide For What To Do When You See Islamophobia</a> -- This bystander's guide works for addressing any kind of harassment in a public space.</li>
<br />
<li><a href="http://www.vox.com/presidential-election/2016/11/10/13586322/trump-brexit-safety-pin" target="_blank">A small way to show solidarity after Donald Trump’s presidential win, inspired by Brexit</a> -- Wear a safety pin on your clothes to show your neighbors that you will stand up for them if they face post-election attacks or harassment. (Essential: You have to actually <i>do</i> that, or it's an empty gesture.)</li>
<br />
<li><a href="http://www.evadienel.com/backstoryblog/2016/11/9/my-commitment-25-percent-to-advance-women-and-girls" target="_blank">My Commitment: 25 Percent to Advance Women and Girls</a> -- A great idea worth emulating from a writer friend of mine: "Starting right now, and through 2017, I will reduce the cost of my communications services by 25 percent for any organization that is advancing opportunities for women and girls. And if a client pays me my full rate, I'll donate 25 percent of that income to a group that stands up for women and girls."</li>
</ul>
</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-71808705798946868312016-11-03T11:51:00.000+03:002016-12-04T18:26:21.985+03:00Running so kids can be kids -- not farmworkers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Runners are often advised to rekindle their love for their sport in tough or unmotivating times by remembering the joy and freedom they felt <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/search/label/running" target="_blank">running</a> as a child. But not all children have the freedom to run and play. In Turkey, at least 1 million young people under the age of 18, including both Turkish children and Syrian and other <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/search/label/refugees" target="_blank">refugee</a> children, are spending their childhoods working — at least 400,000 of them in grueling seasonal migrant agricultural labor — instead of learning and playing.
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<a href="https://ipk.adimadim.org/kampanya/CC10138" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3DCyHxeL2gE/WBr3fhGZ-iI/AAAAAAAACsw/OuyBstar1xQ9tIW9g26iQi4JhOwTxKt6gCLcB/s320/Jennifer%2BHattam.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Helping some of these children get back to school is the reason why I’m running the 15k race in the Istanbul Marathon on 13 November for <a href="http://www.hayatadestek.org/en/" target="_blank">Hayata Destek</a>, a Turkish NGO that provides social support to vulnerable communities, and its "<a href="http://www.hayatadestek.org/en/project/combating-child-labour/" target="_blank">This Work is Not Child's Play!</a>" campaign.
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<br />
For each 250 TL I raise (that’s just $80, €72, or £65), Hayata Destek will be able to provide one migrant farmworker child with school supplies, educational materials, and the hygiene items they need in their tent home.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;">> DONATE NOW</span><span style="color: red;">:</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://ipk.adimadim.org/kampanya/CC10138" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Jennifer Hattam's campaign page</span></a></blockquote>
I know there are many, many organizations and causes in need of funding right now. I've chosen this one not only because of the good work they do, but also to help support <a href="http://www.equaltimes.org/the-renewal-and-repression-of#.WBsAcGSKQy4" target="_blank">Turkish civil society</a>, which is both increasingly embattled and woefully <a href="https://futureworldgiving.org/2015/02/26/why-arent-turkish-people-giving-regularly-to-civil-society-organisations/" target="_blank">underfunded</a>. The group through which I'm carrying out my funding drive, Adım Adım, has done amazing work over the past eight years promoting two things that were once very foreign in Turkey: running and individual charitable giving. I trust their vetting of the organizations they choose to partner with; the founders have even started a new project, <a href="https://acikacik.org/" target="_blank">Açık Açık</a> ("Openly") to promote transparency among Turkish charities.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the Adım Adım donation pages are only in Turkish, so if you need a little help navigating them, here's a quick translation:<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WNDFD71RAyI/WBr56zhPdOI/AAAAAAAACs8/FBWwLF6FB9EtSWVIYaUrM4dzmuKXpnJywCLcB/s1600/13920151_1091638214217895_406298528940626375_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WNDFD71RAyI/WBr56zhPdOI/AAAAAAAACs8/FBWwLF6FB9EtSWVIYaUrM4dzmuKXpnJywCLcB/s320/13920151_1091638214217895_406298528940626375_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"We're running so children working in seasonal<br />
agriculture can be children,<br />
because this work is not child's play"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At the top of my <a href="https://ipk.adimadim.org/kampanya/CC10138" target="_blank">campaign page</a>, you'll see my information, including the campaign I've chosen to support and how I'm doing at meeting my goal. Scroll down below the "Neden Koşuyorum" (Why I'm Running) section and underneath "Kampanyamı Destekle" (Support My Campaign"), click on the orange button labeled "Online Bağış Yap" (Make An Online Donation).<br />
<br />
From there, type in the amount you want to donate ("Bağış Miktarı") *in Turkish Lira* (<a href="http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/">Xe.com</a> is a good currency converter); your credit card number ("Kredi Kartı Numarası"), expiration date (“Ay” is month, “Yıl” is year), and card security code ("CVV"); your name (“Adın Soyadın”); and your email address (“E-Posta Adresin”). Then click on the red button marked “Bağışla” to make your donation! 100% of all funds raised go to my selected charity, Hayata Destek.<br />
<br />
If you have a Turkish bank account and want to donate via electronic funds transfer, click on “Havale/EFT yapmak istiyorum” to see the recipient bank name (Finansbank / İstanbul Maçka Şubesi), account name (Hayata Destek Derneği / STL), and IBAN numbers for Turkish Lira, US Dollar, and Euro donations. Don’t forget to write the code “CC10138” in the explanation section ("açıklama") so that the donation gets registered to my campaign.<br />
<br />
If you have any questions or difficulties making a donation, please PM me. If you have trouble donating from abroad, I'd be happy to accept donations to my personal PayPal account and then send them through to Hayata Destek myself.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://ipk.adimadim.org/kampanya/CC10138" target="_blank">Please help me meet my fundraising goal</a> of 3000 TL ($961 / €865 / £779), which will support 12 children in going back to school. All it takes to meet that goal is for 40 of you to donate 75 TL ($24 / 22 Euro / 19 GBP) each! Thank you for your support!<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><span style="color: red;">UPDATE:</span> Thanks to the generosity of my supporters, I concluded my campaign with a total of 6,454 Turkish Lira ($1,833 US) — more than twice my original fundraising goal! These </b><b>donations will provide more than 25 migrant farmworker children with school supplies, educational materials, and the hygiene items they need in their tent homes. Overall, 324 children will be assisted by Hayata Destek's fundraising campaign. Read more in my <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2016/12/a-thank-you-letter-to-my-fundraising.html" target="_blank">thank-you letter</a> to my fundraising supporters.</b><br />
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The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-35431243072701434062016-09-25T15:24:00.000+03:002016-10-04T09:41:30.827+03:00An urban island nocturne<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As modern urban dwellers, we're generally out of touch with the world's natural rhythms, waking to alarm clocks instead of the sunrise and going to sleep under the glow of streetlights that obscure our view of the stars. A friend confessed <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JM9NZVDyk7Y/V_K7qm4ys5I/AAAAAAAACqg/oppNePZa_9ATn8qJtsMir0juETS6UI2fACLcB/s1600/14542585_1201357129928612_8931893654890603493_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JM9NZVDyk7Y/V_K7qm4ys5I/AAAAAAAACqg/oppNePZa_9ATn8qJtsMir0juETS6UI2fACLcB/s320/14542585_1201357129928612_8931893654890603493_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to hike through the night. <br />
Photo by Nick Hobbs/<a href="https://www.facebook.com/hikingistanbul/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1201357083261950" target="_blank">Hiking Istanbul</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
recently that while newly living in an Istanbul apartment with a Bosphorus view, there were some nights that the water was so brightly illuminated she thought there must be floodlights on at a nearby stadium or construction site. "And then," she said with a laugh, "I realized it was the full moon!"<br />
<br />
An urge to overcome that sense of disconnection is part of what drove two dozen nature-starved Istanbul residents to do something a bit mad on a recent Friday night.<br />
<br />
The 9 p.m. ferry from Eminönü to Büyükada, the largest of the Princes' Islands off the city's coast, was mostly empty. During the hour-and-a-half ride, those of us traveling alone with backpacks and walking shoes eyed each other curiously, finally working up the nerve to ask, "Are you going on the hike?"<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e1kf7Ru4Ybs/V_K8Jca4YII/AAAAAAAACqk/4lgRt4OpDCsXNMSyFX57vWnwsRtEAE6ZwCLcB/s1600/14543857_1201358733261785_5018969384636678939_O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e1kf7Ru4Ybs/V_K8Jca4YII/AAAAAAAACqk/4lgRt4OpDCsXNMSyFX57vWnwsRtEAE6ZwCLcB/s200/14543857_1201358733261785_5018969384636678939_O.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking in the view.<br />
Photo by Nick Hobbs/<a href="https://www.facebook.com/hikingistanbul/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1201357083261950" target="_blank">Hiking Istanbul</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After disembarking and assembling as a group around 10:30 p.m., we reviewed the plan: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1197138593642560/" target="_blank">to walk through the night under the full moon</a> around the quiet country roads and sparsely wooded paths encircling the island.<br />
<br />
The glow of streetlights dogged us for longer than expected, but once we'd escaped their intrusive glare, it was just us and the night. We strode forward surprisingly assuredly under moonlight strong enough to cast shadows of tree branches as distinct as any you'd see in the daytime. The only sounds at times were crickets chirping, a murmur of wind, and the ground crunching underfoot. (Those moments, unfortunately, were few and far between thanks to the loud and banal chatter of a handful of hikers who ignored repeated requests, first politely and then not-so, to allow others to enjoy a quiet walking meditation.)<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lmsCUXauaZ8/V_K-Qlm16wI/AAAAAAAACq8/qE9hyx5uKzUU4YKSyVC3kqjgiUnHKlwhACLcB/s1600/IMG_7864.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lmsCUXauaZ8/V_K-Qlm16wI/AAAAAAAACq8/qE9hyx5uKzUU4YKSyVC3kqjgiUnHKlwhACLcB/s200/IMG_7864.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The empty streets of Büyükada.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
From the top of the island, rocky outcroppings glowed white in the moonlight as the lights of the city sparkled far beyond. Though the islands are far from its heaving crowds and densely packed development, Istanbul in some ways never seems so massive as when viewed from this remote vantage point, its buildings upon buildings sprawling out along the distant horizon as far as the eye can see. Beneath us, the rolling slopes of the islands themselves spilled down to the dark sea. Vain attempts to capture the scene photographically only served to show to how much more the eye can see than an iPhone.<br />
<br />
As the night wore on, our feet started to move forward almost mechanically as a dreamlike state began to cloud our tired minds. Creating an 18.5 kilometer hike on this small island meant looping back to some of the same points and starting out anew on a different trail, adding to the disorientation as we wondered amongst ourselves, "Have we been here before or I am just imagining things?"<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o3kMa0bbgcg/V_K8rVe9pRI/AAAAAAAACqs/pfXEx1oVH_MCcY00kKZWBj5VDwJCJGktwCLcB/s1600/IMG_7868.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o3kMa0bbgcg/V_K8rVe9pRI/AAAAAAAACqs/pfXEx1oVH_MCcY00kKZWBj5VDwJCJGktwCLcB/s200/IMG_7868.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First light from the ferry.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Notions of a middle-of-the-night swim were thwarted by the high walls erected around the island's privatized beaches, and we ended up <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hikingistanbul/posts/1190612321003093" target="_blank">finishing our route</a> earlier than expected, with nothing to do but plop down on the sidewalk on the outskirts of town and stare at the sea until the first ferry back to the mainland departed at 5:50 a.m. As we walked to the dock, the streets of Büyükada were still shrouded in darkness and had something of the feel of an abandoned movie set. Scattered lights shone from only a bakery or two, the smell of fresh bread emanating from within.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rOd8lFsEQ2k/V_K85BcTnDI/AAAAAAAACq0/54Z9fsDRUSITyR3utGywTdNtXcN7Ie-HgCLcB/s1600/IMG_7885.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rOd8lFsEQ2k/V_K85BcTnDI/AAAAAAAACq0/54Z9fsDRUSITyR3utGywTdNtXcN7Ie-HgCLcB/s200/IMG_7885.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back to the city.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The first glimmers of dawn only began to appear in the sky as the ferry made its languid way around the smaller islands, picking up a scant few passengers on each one. Unable any longer to resist the embrace of sleep, we stretched out on the vinyl-covered benches and fell into deep slumbers, rousing periodically to watch and photograph the progress of the sun into the sky until the familiar minarets and skyscrapers and apartment blocks were again in view, all bathed in a warm, welcoming glow.</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-1664719166393948662016-07-19T13:36:00.000+03:002017-04-26T22:09:45.236+03:00 A view from Istanbul during the #TurkeyCoupAttempt<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Glancing at the to-do list on my desk that I’d scribbled just hours before, the scrap of paper seemed to have appeared from some alternate universe too banal to be believed.</i><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.citylab.com/politics/2016/07/istanbul-coup-aftermath/491639/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6jN85rqtFMY/V4yHnUMYjWI/AAAAAAAACms/Sh4gozX5nYg7k-NwPemfD8_fGJL9KKA-QCLcB/s320/CityLab%2Bhomepage%2BTurkey%2Bcoup2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>My story featured on the CityLab homepage.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Set alarm for 6 a.m. Take out the trash when I go out for an early-morning run. Bring some money to buy fruit for breakfast on the way home.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Cowering on the entryway floor at 3 a.m. as jets roared past, their sonic booms shaking the building and threatening to break the windows, hadn’t been part of the plan....</i><br />
<br />
As shots rang out outside my window and concerned messages pinged in from friends and family around the world, my editor at <a href="http://www.citylab.com/" target="_blank">CityLab</a>, <i>The Atlantic</i>'s website on urban issues, asked me if I'd like to write something about my personal experience of being in Istanbul during what turned out to be a failed military coup.<br />
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Read the rest of that essay, "<a href="http://www.citylab.com/politics/2016/07/istanbul-coup-aftermath/491639/" target="_blank">Istanbul, the Day After</a>," on CityLab.<br />
<br />
For more on the politics of the coup attempt, its aftermath, and its possible ramifications, here are some news, analysis, and commentary pieces I think are worth a read:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>"<a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/15/the-night-erdogan-almost-lost-turkey-coup-attempt-military/" target="_blank">The night Erdoğan almost lost Turkey</a>," Noah Blaser, <i>Foreign Policy</i>, 15 July 2016</li>
<li>"<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/16/opinions/turkey-coup-attempt-white/index.html" target="_blank">The tragedy of Turkey's attempted coup</a>," Jenny White, <i>CNN</i>, 16 July 2016</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21702321-recep-tayyip-erdogan-calls-his-opponents-traitors-and-now-considers-his-case" target="_blank">Turkey's failed coup gives its president a chance to seize more power</a>," Piotr Zalewski, <i>The Economist</i>, 16 July 2016</li>
<li>"<a href="http://warontherocks.com/2016/07/turkeys-last-coup-what-i-saw-in-ankara/" target="_blank">Turkey's last coup: What I saw in Ankara</a>," Selim Koru, <i>War on the Rocks</i>, 16 July 2016</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.politico.eu/article/turkeys-paradoxical-coups-military-politicians-armed-forces-erdogan/" target="_blank">Erdoğan’s Pyrrhic victory</a>," Hugh Pope and Nigar Göksel, <i>Politico</i>, 17 July 2016</li>
<li>"<a href="http://qz.com/734268/erdogan-promised-to-bring-true-democracy-to-turkey-instead-hes-held-it-hostage/" target="_blank">Erdoğan promised to bring true democracy to Turkey. Instead, he’s held it hostage</a>," Elmira Bayrasli, <i>Quartz</i>, 17 July 2016</li>
<li>"<a href="https://medium.com/@calibasak/no-ordinary-weekend-personal-reflections-on-a-failed-coup-ed7caa1d4e97#.sa5gklgjt" target="_blank">No ordinary weekend: personal reflections on a failed coup</a>," Başak Çalı, <i>Medium</i>, 17 July 2016</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/coup-plotters-targeted-turkish-president-with-daring-helicopter-raid-1468786991" target="_blank">Turkish president foiled coup with luck, tech savvy</a>," Dion Nissenbaum, Adam Entous, and Emre Peker, <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, 17 July 2016</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-eyewitness-idUSKCN0ZY2FP" target="_blank">Brutality of Turkey's failed coup caught on phones, social media</a>," Ayla Jean Yackley, <i>Reuters</i>, 18 July 2016</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/opinion/how-the-internet-saved-turkeys-internet-hating-president.html" target="_blank">How the internet saved Turkey’s internet-hating president</a>," Zeynep Tüfekçi, <i>The New York Times</i>, 18 July 2016</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/world/europe/turkey-erdogan-crackdown.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Vast purge in Turkey as thousands are detained in post-coup backlash</a>," Tim Arango, Ceylan Yeginsu, and Ben Hubbard, <i>The New York Times</i>, 18 July 2016</li>
<li></li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/the-view-from-taksim-square/" target="_blank">The view from Taksim Square</a>," William Armstrong, <i>The Times Literary Supplement</i>, 19 July 2016</li>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S4Mvd-iUupI/V45CH7T6JMI/AAAAAAAACnA/Dzewzzpubz0jRIgPAEEKGDjpZWXD_mb1ACLcB/s1600/darbe-haber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S4Mvd-iUupI/V45CH7T6JMI/AAAAAAAACnA/Dzewzzpubz0jRIgPAEEKGDjpZWXD_mb1ACLcB/s320/darbe-haber.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>As it happened: CNN Türk page for "news related to the </i><br />
<i>15 July 2016 coup". The main headline reads: "Group of <br />
<i>soldiers in the TRT building have issued a statement."</i></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">{This post has been <a href="http://www.jenniferhattam.com/2016/07/in-istanbul-during-turkeycoupattempt.html" target="_blank">cross-posted</a> from my <a href="http://www.jenniferhattam.com/" target="_blank">professional website</a>.} </span></i></div>
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The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-87353692056386910502016-07-10T11:54:00.000+03:002016-07-15T12:20:42.174+03:00Fear, flux, and forgetting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When suicide bombers staged a deadly attack on check-in counters at Brussels Airport in March, I wasn’t the only person to breathe a small sigh of relief over my local hub being Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport, where all passengers and bags are screened at the curbside entrances to the terminals. Taking my laptop out of my carry-on and stripping off my belt and boots twice per trip suddenly seemed not a hassle but a boon.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36658187" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kl9d7laZ9bk/V4igeNTMQPI/AAAAAAAACmI/iteA-muPAicPB8KXYTr-IggwQzD1fEDPwCLcB/s320/Istanbul%2BAtaturk%2Bairport%2Battack-BBC%2BNews.jpg" width="244" /></a></div>
But on June 28, that extra layer of security itself became a <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36658187" target="_blank">target for suicide attackers</a>, who killed at least 45 passengers, visitors, and staff at Europe’s third-busiest airport. It’s not the first time Istanbul has been hit by terrorism in recent months, and it likely won’t be the last. But in this ancient, ever-dynamic metropolis, fear and forgetting are vying for supremacy – and both are changing the city in discomfiting ways.<br />
<br />
I first passed through Atatürk Airport in spring 2001, arriving alone from the U.S. to visit an American friend who had recently relocated to Turkey. September 11 was still five months in the future and my passport, now bulging with extra pages, was nearly blank. My 15-year relationship with Istanbul that began on that trip has since gone through all the stages of a difficult love affair: infatuation at first sight, longing from afar, thrill of discovery, arguments, disappointments, rejection, new hope, repeated heartbreak, determination to try again. (Of course, since this is a city we’re talking about, these are all one-sided emotions, but, well, some relationships are like that, <i>değil mi</i>?)<br />
<br />
Over the same period, trips to what was once a strange and unfamiliar airport – the first I’d ever visited alone in a country where I didn’t speak the language, its halls filled with an eye-popping array of the world’s people, carrying out their sad farewells, joyous reunions, and anxious or excited waits in a multitude of attires and tongues – had become grindingly rote. The travelers I know in Istanbul gripe about the long lines at passport control, the regular delays, the mediocre dining and drinking options (unless you have the golden ticket to the THY executive lounge), the high likelihood of having to be shuttled out onto the tarmac to board your plane, and the overcrowded gate areas, where holiday-makers and Hajj pilgrims alike spill out of the seats and onto the ground, turning aisles into obstacle courses of suitcases and sprawling bodies. Atatürk’s chronic overcrowding has been cited by the Turkish government as a reason for building a <a href="http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/2015/04/forests-and-lakes-destroyed-to-build-istanbuls-vast-3rd-airport-aerotropolis-covering-76-square-kilometers-of-land/" target="_blank">massive (and controversial) third airport</a> on Istanbul’s remote Black Sea coast.<br />
<br />
In recent months, though, a resurgence of political violence in the country’s Southeast and a handful of previous terror attacks in Ankara and Istanbul – including <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2016/03/vibrant-vexing-and-all-too-vulnerable.html" target="_blank">one on the bustling pedestrian thoroughfare İstiklal Caddesi</a>, close to my home – had done what once seemed unthinkable: left Atatürk Airport at times feeling almost like a ghost town. The <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2016/06/whats-going-to-save-turkish-tourism.html" target="_blank">dramatic drop in tourism to Turkey</a> has been as palpable at the airport as it has on İstiklal and in Istanbul’s central <a href="http://www.salon.com/2010/12/02/confessions_fearful_traveler/" target="_blank">Taksim Square</a>, all places I love to hate for their chaotic crowds and crumbling, inadequate infrastructure.<br />
<br />
But like misfortune befalling an annoying friend or relative you might complain about in private but never truly wish ill, seeing these places so subdued has been a burden rather than a relief. I can hardly enjoy the relative peace and quiet of an airport, a street, or a square when I know that the reasons for the unfamiliar calm are anything but peaceful, that the sheer excitement I once felt as a tourist to Istanbul must now be shot through with trepidation for anyone who still dares to visit our battered and beleaguered city.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-swLI5rGp2d8/V4ikn_amLII/AAAAAAAACmU/TUuexq4qOFkc3KvCH-rcW6F5JRSSE8CRwCLcB/s1600/construction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-swLI5rGp2d8/V4ikn_amLII/AAAAAAAACmU/TUuexq4qOFkc3KvCH-rcW6F5JRSSE8CRwCLcB/s320/construction.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our city of chaos and endless construction</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Within 12 hours of last week’s attacks, Atatürk Airport was back up and running, a fact that seemed to shock many who commented on social media about how strange it was to see passengers going about their travels amid bullet holes and debris. Others noted throughout the day how quickly the cleanup was proceeding, and how the city lacked a memorial like the public messages of grief and solidarity that quickly appeared in the Belgian capital after the Brussels attack.<br />
<br />
After eight years living in
Istanbul, none of this really came as a surprise to me. Ours is a city in constant flux, one being endlessly torn down and rebuilt. We swim in Bosporus bays in the shadow of bridge construction, dine on sidewalks next to torn-up streets, shop in grocery stores and underground arcades with exposed wires hanging from the ceiling. We cross construction sites on our daily commutes, squeeze past cement mixers, walk under rickety scaffolding, and go to art exhibits in crumbling buildings awaiting renovation. We search in vain for beloved bars and cafes <a href="http://www.theturkishlife.com/2012/12/farewell-inci.html" target="_blank">swept away by the tide of redevelopment</a>, and stand perplexedly in front of new neon signage, wondering how we could have already forgotten what so recently occupied the space where this brand-new shop now stands.<br />
<br />
In short, we live with chaos and we live with erasure. And these days we -- like so many others the world 'round -- live with terrorism too.</div>
The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175890615529726581.post-70299651133920940992016-07-05T16:34:00.000+03:002016-07-05T17:04:22.894+03:00Bittersweet bayram<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
With smiling children in colorful costumes dancing, playing, and waving balloons around <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/04/01/134951290/five-songs-from-the-zenith-of-turkish-progressive-rock" target="_blank">Turkish rock icon</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar%C4%B1%C5%9F_Man%C3%A7o" target="_blank">Barış Manço</a> as he sings "Bu Gün Bayram" ("Today is <i>bayram</i>"), the video for this cheery-sounding song makes it at first seem the picture of a nostalgic remembrance of <a href="http://www.mymerhaba.com/Bayrams-in-Turkey-119.html" target="_blank">holiday festivals</a> past, when life was simpler and nothing more exciting than to wake up to a day off school, with sweets to eat and new clothes to wear.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_z6fM85ldXs" width="560"></iframe>
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But listening to the lyrics of "Bu Gün Bayram" after coming across it on Twitter today, the first day of Şeker Bayramı in Turkey (known as Eid al-Fitr elsewhere in the Muslim world), it quickly became clear that this is a melancholy song, tinged with loss. Reading up about it on Turkey's famous crowd-sourced "dictionary" <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkantrowitz/2013/07/10/how-the-founder-of-turkeys-original-social-network-explained-it-to-his-microsoft-co-workers/#2978cfff1377" target="_blank">Ekşi Sözlük</a>, I learned that it figures in many young Turks' early holiday memories -- and that it is interpreted as being about a widower taking his children to <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=visiting-cemeteries-a-long-bayram-tradition-2009-09-18" target="_blank">visit the grave</a> of their mother on the first morning of <i>bayram</i>.</div>
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All the more fitting for the start of this year's holiday, which follows a week in which terrorist attacks have killed at least 44 people in <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36675713" target="_blank">Istanbul</a>, 222 in <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/iraq-baghdad-bombings-kill-23-160703045945293.html" target="_blank">Baghdad</a>, 20 in <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/03/asia/bangladesh-terror-attack-moments/" target="_blank">Dhaka</a>, and 4 in <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36706761" target="_blank">Medina</a>. People in each of these cities are celebrating the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Now for many, those celebrations co-mingle with mourning. A grieving parent may well be acting out the very words to this song right now. <i>Hepinizin başı sağolsun.</i></div>
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<i>Since you went</i><br />
<i>Inside me there’s such a hurt that</i><br />
<i>Only you understand</i><br />
<i>You are now far away</i><br />
<i>With the angels in heaven</i><br />
<i>You dream about us and cry</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Today is bayram</i><br />
<i>The children are up early</i><br />
<i>Dressed in their best clothes</i><br />
<i>Wildflowers in their hands</i><br />
<i>Don’t cry today, mommy</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>You, in the summer nights</i><br />
<i>Sometimes through the stars</i><br />
<i>You winked at us</i><br />
<i>You, in the cold days</i><br />
<i>My memory of you warmed my heart most</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Today is bayram</i><br />
<i>The children are up early</i><br />
<i>Dressed in their best clothes</i><br />
<i>Wildflowers in their hands</i><br />
<i>Don’t cry today, mommy</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Today is bayram</i><br />
<i>Hurry, children</i><br />
<i>Mommy is waiting for us</i><br />
<i>The angels lamenting on bayram</i><br />
<i>These flowers please them</i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(All translation errors and awkwardness are mine alone)</span></div>
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The Turkish Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02298420450701642296noreply@blogger.com3