Singer and producer Bülent Ersoy, a male-to-female transsexual and a national icon, was harassed by Mustafa TopaloÄŸlu, a singer who often appears on weekend programes airing on religious-leaning channels. While at an anniversary party for the Association of Customs employees on Friday, December 8, TopaloÄŸlu claimed to the press that “Miss Bülent” was not showing […]
filed under: News
Dry Bosphorus
Deniz Som, a writer for the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet,along with approximately 300 people protested the Ãœsküdar Municipality by drinking on the shore of the Bosphorus on the Asian side of the city. The Islamist-leaning Ãœsküdar municipal government has been fining people for drinking in public and putting their names on their publicwebsite. During the protest […]
The patients of a saint
A staff member of the biology department at Dumlupınar University, located in Turkey‘s province of Kühtaya, has been indicted along with his wife for allegations of blasphemy-namely, posing as a saint to bilk money from pious locals in the search of divine healing. The trial against Dr. Osman Nuri BenlioÄŸlu and his wife Hatice Kübra […]
Simply having a wonderful… New Year’s time?
A gander down the high streets through this European city in December has all the festive spirit of an American suburban shopping mall. The light posts are covered in garland and holly. Santa Claus in his rotund, velveteen splendor makes his usual appearance in storefront windows. Pine trees bedecked with shimmering bulbs and twinkling lights […]
The Talk In London – A New Yorker’s Report from the Field
“Are you replete?” my British wife wanted to know, her curiosity laced with earnest spousal solicitude. I froze, locked in a semi quaver’s worth of vamp-till-ready until context rolled in and I could brave my reply – a confident, if ever-so-slightly-belated, yes. This was dinner time, and my connubial blissmate had merely wondered, after all, […]
7 Turks arrested in environmental protest
ISTANBUL, Turkey – Seven environmental activists were arrested in Istanbul on Thursday after protesting the construction of new dams in Turkey that will submerge a national park and displace thousands of Kurds. They chained themselves to a tree in front of the Tunceli Association headquarters – a group involved in the infamous Ilisu Dam project […]