Türkiye My Love

Juz 30 - KUR'AN-I KERİM Ezberleme - Memorize Holy Qur'an

2009-07-03T21:07:00.006+03:00

İts a program to help you to memorize Kur'an
Actually its a free program you can download it from here
İmanStar
You can download the exe. and also all the audio files for the reciter you wish one by one and also the languge pack you wish it.
İ have found the audio files all together with the exe., so i have uploaded them at few parts so it would be easier for those who wish to download that program to have it
Juz30 Turkish lang pack

Audio files

İ have added the Turkish pack also so you would have Turkish translation as well , for other language pack you can find them at the site

İmaanStar

First you install the exe at folder then you instal each audio file or language pack to that same folder, when you finish, you will be having the program set and ready to use with the added translationa and audio files

İf you wish to have another reciter, also you can find it here at its original site.

Çocuklar ve Bilmiyenler İçin Namaz Nasıl Kılınır - How to Perform Namaz 'Salat' for Children

2009-07-03T20:59:00.004+03:00

İ came cross this, and i thought to collect them and upload all of them ' 7 parts' at one link for those who wish to download it.
İts nice actually, at Turkish of course, cartoon to teach Salat ' Namaz' to children and those who dont know how to pray
You would open it using RealPlayer
here
Çocuklar ve Bilmiyenler İçin Namaz Nasıl Kılınır

Kuran-ı- Kerim..Abdulbasit Abdulsamet İndir - AbdulBasit AbdulSamad Download

2009-05-28T10:58:00.010+03:00

He is/was one of the well known hafız (people who memorize Kuran and reads it- Recitation ) through the whole İslamic world, he had such a divin voice.
He was Egyptian, and you cant miss his voice at the radio in Ramazan, reading Kuran before ezan at İftar time.

Upon a wish from close people and friends who love his voice i have collected Kuran Kerim by İmam Abdulbasit Abdulsamet at 3 links to make it easier for downloads
May ALLAH grant us sevap of it. amin

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Part 4

İ have gathered them from
http://english.islamway.com/bindex.php?section=echapters&recitor_id=4

For those who cherish imam Abdulbasit....Enjoy !

More about Sheikh Abdul Basit 'Abd us-Samad the Egyptian Qari

More downloading sources

http://islamcokguzel.wordpress.com/2007/06/02/abdulbasit-abdulsamed-kuran-i-kerim-tum-sureler-indir/

Ps: Please, if you have any comment about the links, feel free to share, thank you

The Ottoman Palestine Pictures

2009-05-26T16:22:00.003+03:00

While going through one of the comments here, i have found the sender posting something about that title

1898-1914 ottoman Palestine photographs and ottoman soldiers in Palestine 1915-1917

And a link to rapidshare

İ got curios and tried to download it, but unfortunately it was broken

So, i searched our good old fellow google and i came cross this
Very interesting, specially that one

İ guess that is Sultan Abdulhamid II Tuğra.. signature if I'm not mistaken...?!

Here is the link to the full Gallery

http://www.barbaros.biz/PALESTINE_HISTORY.htm

Enjoy the history :)

Sultan Abdülhamid II

2009-02-20T03:07:00.005+02:00

"to have the scalpel cut my body is less painful than to witness Palestine being detached from the Khilafah state and this is not going to happen …let the Jews keep their millions and once the Khilafah is torn apart one day, then they can take Palestine without a price."
Said Sultan Abdülhamid II

Then he was named The Red Sultan and was accused of being a blood-thirsty dictator !
Would that ring a bell ?!!!

Well, let's read more about the unfortunate Sultan

BIOGRAPHY

Sultan Abdulhamid II was born in Istanbul on the 21st of September, 1842. His father is Sultan Abdul Medjid and his mother is Tir-i Mujgan Kadin Efendi. His mother is a Circassian originated. He lost his mother as a little child and he was grown by his step mother Pristu Kadın. He was weak child and used to fell sick often, by this reason, he was showed great interest especially during his father’s reign. He was very well educated and learnt to play piano besides his other courses.

Sultan Abdulhamid II lived a free life before he had married. After his marriage, he spent his all spare times with his family. He was inherited an empire which was about to collapse, by his political and social administrations, the empire was saved. He ruled the Ottomans for 33 years.

Abdulhamid was a religious, gracious and a generous man. He lived a life of a common person. During the Greece Campaign, it is informed him that, there was not enough money for a campaign. He spent his personnel wealth for the campaign.

He was also a brilliant carpenter, he used to make marvellous furniture and used to sell them gave that money to the poor. He was a really gracious man, he even forgave many people intended to him.

Sultan Abdul Hamid II had established universities, an Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Finance and Agriculture. Moreover, he openned a many primary schools, high schools, blind and dumb schools.

He had Sisli Etfal Hospital and Poorhouse built with his own money. He had the excellent drinking water called Hamidiye brought to Istanbul. He extended highways until the internal parts of Anatolia and had railways spread through Baghdad and Medina. He had rider trolley roads spread in capital cities.

1st CONSTITUTION PERIOD
The notables of Committee of Union and Progress (Ittihak ve Terrakki Cemiyeti) dethroned Sultan Abdulaziz under cover of the disorder in the Balkans and acssesed Sultan Murad V to the throne. After a short period, Sultan Murad V had left the throne because of his illness and Sultan Abdulhamid II was crowned.

Due to the relations with Europe, an intellectual group was emerged in the Ottoman Empire. Committee of Union and Progress was the voice of this intellectual group. They believed that the salvation of the empire is in Constitution. Abdulhamid had promised that, he will declare the Constitution before he was accessed. He kept his promise and in December, 23 1876 he declared the first constitution of the Ottoman Empire “The Main Laws” (Kanun-i Esasi).

The Period Constitution was not last so long. Because Mithat Pasha (Grand Vizier) was intending to restrict the Sultan’s authority. Abdulhamid hold Mithat Pasha responsible of the death of Sultan Abdulaziz and dismissed him. Mithat Pasha was exiled. Because of the Ottoman-Russian War, the members of the parliament had began to struggle with each other and they had not been working properly, the Sultan decided to dismiss the parliament as well and he had put an end to the Period Constitution.

1877 - 1878 The OTTOMAN - RUSSIAN WAR (93 WAR)

With the Treaty of Paris, the tension between the Ottomans and the Russians had been yielded. But Russia was not pleased with this condition. The neutralisation of the Black Sea had hindered Russia’s advantages. Moreover, Russia had been spreading the Pan-Slavist movement in the Balkans and the Black Sea. As a result of Russian propaganda, revolts had been risen in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Bulgaria. The Europeans had assembled a Conference by fear of a new war, the Ottomans declared the Constitution while the Conference was continuing. In this conference, autonomy of Bosnia-Herzegovina was decided. They wanted the Ottoman Army to leave Serbia. The Ottoman Government rejected this conference, and the Europeans assembled another conference in London but they could not have been accepted the Ottomans these articles. They could not have hinder another war in the Balkans.

The War had begun, by the Russian attack. They passed through the River Tuna and came to the Ottoman lands. They also marched through the Eastern Anatolia and captured, Kars and Ardahan, but, in Erzurum they were defeated by Ghazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha. In the Western parts of the Ottoman territory had been defended by the Ottoman Army led by legendary commander Ghazi Osman Pasha, unfortunately the war took so long and he could not have taken the aid from Istanbul and he could not have been resist anymore. The Russians captured Plevne and Sapka. By capturing this region they opened a passage through Edirne. When the Russian Army had began to marched through Anatolia, the Ottoman Government had asked for peace.

The DISSOLUTION of the OTTOMAN EMPIRE

After the Treaty of Berlin, the Ottoman Empire has entered the duration of dissolution. With the independence of the nations in the Balkans and the treaties signed after the Russian War the Empire began to loose power. Britain invaded Cyprus to hinder Russia’s policies about spreading through the Mediterranean Coast. The Ottoman Government temporarily had left Cyprus to Britain.

France has settled on Algeria and began to make plans on Tunisia. By the Treaty of Berlin France has gained the opportunity to dominate Tunisia. The Ottomans rejected French domination in Tunisia but they could not have been successful. After, French invasion in Tunisia, Britain got into action.

With the opening of the Suez Channel in 1839, Egypt’s geopolitical importance had increased. Britain and France became rivals on Egypt. Hidivi Ismail Pasha was failed to rule Egypt and economical problems had occurred, the European merchants began to attack the shops. These economical conflicts was threatening social peace there. Britain benefited from this chaotic condition and invaded Egypt (1882).

After, Greece became an independent state, the Greeks in the island of Kyrete had revolted in order to be occupied with it. The Ottomans stopped this revolt. But, Greece sent an army to the island and the Ottoman Government had declared war against Greece. The war was made in Teselya region and the Ottoman Army commanded by Ghazi Ethem Pasha defeated the Greeks in 1897. With reconciliation of the European countries a treaty was signed. With this treaty the island was given autonomy and in 1908 Greece invaded the island again. After the wars of Balkan, the Ottomans had completely lost the island.

The domination of Bosnia-Herzegovina was given temporally to Austria by the Treaty of Berlin. Austria invaded this region, after Sultan Abdulhamit declared the Second Constitution. There were internal conflicts going on and The Ottomans had to have accept the Austrian domination in Bosnia except the Yeni Pazar County 1908.

With the Treaty of Berlin, Bulgaria became a Princedom and divided into three regions. The East Roumelia and Macedonia were left to the Ottomans conditionally, and the condition was; a governmental restoration in these two regions. In the East Roumelia revolts had began in 1885 and Bulgaria declared that it has occupied the region. After the declaration of the Second Constitution, Bulgaria became independent and a Bulgarian Kingdom was established in 1908.

The SECOND CONSTITUTION

The supporters of the Constitution had been emerged a group and named themselves “The Young Turks” (Jon Turkler). The Young Turks had put pressure on Sultan Abdulhamid for the declaration of the Second Constitution. Especially, the members of the Committee of Union and Progress in Macedonia had organised revolts and the Sultan declared the Second Constitution in July, 23 1908.

The declaration of The Second Constitution brought peace and harmony to the country, the censorship was abolished, the press was freed and new political parties had been began to be emerged. The Main Laws (Kanun-i Esasi) was renovated and the Turkish people had found the opportunity to represent themselves in the parliament beside the Sultan again

31 MARCH EVENT

After the declaration of the Second Constitution some conflicts and struggles had been occurred between different groups. The opponents of the Constitution had co-operated with the hunter troops in Istanbul and revolted. The Action Army had arrived from Salonica and ended the revolt. This revolt was called as the 31 March Event, after this event Committee of Union and Progress gained power and Sultan Abdulhamid was dethroned, Sultan Mehmed Resad replaced him

ARCHITECTURAL WORKS

Sultan Abdulhamid II put great emphasis on cultural activities, fine arts, and architecture. He commissioned many foreign architects and renovated the country. Some works erected during his period are; Museum of Archaeology of Istanbul, Museum of Oriental Masterpieces, Grand Trading Centre, The Italian Embassy, Haydarpasha Medical School, The Building of the General Debts and The Ottoman Bank, Karakoy Trade Centre, The Palace of Macka, Is Bank Ankara, The Sırkeci Station, Kutahya Ulu Mosque, Istanbul Yıldız Hamidiye Mosque, Cihangir Mosque.

Tuğra...Sultan signature

Source:
http://www.osmanli700.gen.tr/english/sultans/34index.html

Actually, you can find many sources and readings about him, but most of them would describe how a blood thirst he was..not the other way around, being strong at that time make them have the loud voices !
The ironic thing, even Wiki, the English version is different than the Turkish and the Arabic version !
İsn't it İronic ?!
But that is the fact actually, some part of the world say a story and the other says another one !
The truth ?
Well, in my opinion the truth is what his sons and daughters have lived, and told about, is what his people told about and keep telling to their generations !

Pirincli Ispanak - Spinach with Rice

2009-02-05T01:23:00.002+02:00

İ just made this, it's more like the one we make it at home, but we add more tomato sauce to it along with meat broth.

1 bunch spinach, washed and drained
2 tbsp rice, washed and drained
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium tomato, diced
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch red pepper
1 cup hot water
Salt
Pepper

Sauce:
1/2 cup yogurt
1 garlic clove, smashed
Salt

First cut the spinach in large pieces. Sautee the onion with olive oil in a medium pot, then add the garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the smell comes out. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Then add the spinach, tomato, rice, red pepper, salt and black pepper in the pot. Cook for a few minutes, stir and add hot water when the spinach soften.

Cover the lid halfway and for cook about 20 minutes (until the rice is cooked) on medium-low heat.

Serve Spinach with Rice with the yogurt sauce.

If you like, you can also add some ground beef.

Source:http://www.turkishcookbook.com/archives/2006_02_01_index.php

Tuzda Balık..Fish in Salt .

2009-01-20T02:49:00.004+02:00

İ made that recipe .
Sounds good except i didnt put the Fennel seeds,and i guess that was a big mistake !
Because its sure need to be added something to it,or else it will be smell and taste some like egg !

INGREDIENTS:

Whole fish (we used Spigola but you can use any whole round fish you like or that looks good at the market on any given da
Lemon–slices & rind
Parsley
Small handful of Fennel seeds
Sea Salt -A ton!–read below in instructions the ratio
Egg
Olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

Stuff the cavity with parsley & lemon slices.
In a separate bowl put 3 1/2 pounds of coarse sea salt per 1 1/2 pounds of fish, a small handful of fennel seed, rind of one lemon and one egg for each fish & mix. It should have the consistency of for making good sand castles, add a little water if needed.
Rub the fish down with olive oil and then lay a 1/2 inch bed of salt in the bottom of a roasting pan. Place down the fish and cover with the remaining salt. There should be a 1/2 inch crust of salt all around the fish. It is not necessary to cover the head & tail.
Bake at 425 20-40 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. You can insert a fork into the center of the fish & when the tips are hot the fish is done.
Crack the salt crust table side or in the kitchen before to remove the access salt.

Source:

http://www.chow.com/recipes/11977

İ wish you'd enjoye it

You can watch it here

And here its in Turkish,but with pictures .

http://blog.milliyet.com.tr/Blog.aspx?BlogNo=111868

Now What ?!

2009-01-20T02:40:00.004+02:00

Actually,i don't know !
Are things going to be better ?!
Again,i don't know,but i doubt it !
Not for only the Palestinians,but for the whole area !
The area is on fire as you may see,and add this too
US has a very great existance here 'military one',add to this,the EU as in UK,France and German,offered to send their ships 'frigate or something' to the region,and so is Russia which is already there !
From reading the history,our history 'which we will talk about inşallah' and the world's history ...
Thats not good...not good at ALL !

Ps: Again ...
Apology needed !
This took time than it was expected ''i thought the world really care for that humanitarian stuff!'' but i didnt find it in my heart to do otherwise
And dedicate all that past time to war on Gaza and Palestinian people!
We still will not forget of course ,as they said,its over when its over !
But at least now we can talk about different things,and not feeling bad about it !

Views On Gaza Ceasefire .

2009-01-20T02:29:00.002+02:00

Eyal, legal worker, W Jerusalem
I am very upset because I think that we didn't achieve our goals. We should have finished Hamas and ended their attacks. I'm sure the rockets won't stop.
I'm sure Hamas is damaged, but I don't think it's as damaged as Olmert wants it to look like.
It's a political season and he has to show that he succeeded more than in Lebanon.

Rachel, W Jerusalem
It sounds pretty good. We're not withdrawing, which means the army can still react if they continue attacking Israel.
I don't think Hamas have been damaged enough. But at least our government are reacting – for eight years they haven't been reacting at all.
With Hamas I don't think it's that easy to have a deal, but Olmert tried his best.

Leon, retired, W Jerusalem
I feel elated. I am anxious to see a peaceful solution after so many years of hatred.
The ceasefire was right. There was tremendous pressure Israel to end the conflict because of all the casualties, and we want to show the world we are willing to take risks for a peaceful solution.
Only time will tell if the other side will compromise.

Erez, lawyer, W Jerusalem
I think the ceasefire came a bit early. I don't think this operation will achieve its goals.
A one-sided ceasefire will not be recognised by Hamas.
Hamas has not been damaged. They didn't fight. They just showed themselves as civilians, but most of them are terrorists. Once Israel leaves they will go out with their weapons again.

Then opinions of people whose land been taken,been into siege then finally were being killed !

Raafat, shop worker, Ramallah
I am so happy because in the end we won. Their plan was to destroy Gaza and destroy the fighters, but we won.
Hamas has not been damaged. It is not like if they destroy the regime they destroy Hamas – Hamas is part of the Palestinian people.
They damaged the schools, the mosques, the homes. If they think this is a win, then OK, they won.

Saeda, student, E Jerusalem
They had to stop the war in Gaza. They were killing boys and girls without reason.
Sure Israel is stronger, but it's our land and Hamas must defend it.
I hope there will be peace. But I think the Israelis will continue to kill children. Israeli soldiers are killers and don't like Palestinian people.
I don't know if Hamas will stop fighting.

Imad, shop owner, E Jerusalem
When I heard yesterday I was happy, because that's enough killing people.
I think the Israelis went out with a victory, they said they achieved their goals.
Hamas came out from this war less than they were before, they have a lot of work to do to recover, to rebuild the Gaza Strip, but we can't say they destroyed Hamas.

Nayef, shoe seller, Ramallah
Definitely Israel didn't mean the ceasefire as it seems, there is something behind it.
This is just Israeli propaganda, not stopping the war on Gaza.
They didn't finish the resistance or Hamas. It's still going and it will not be defeated.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/middle_east_views_on_gaza_ceasefire/html/5.stm

'Tungsten bombs'! ..War Crime ?

2009-01-20T02:10:00.003+02:00

'Tungsten bombs' leave Israel's victims with mystery wounds
As it declares a unilateral ceasefire, Jerusalem faces a UN call for a war crimes investigation
By Raymond WhitakerSunday, 18 January 2009

Israel was facing demands for war crimes investigations as it declared a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza last night after a 22-day assault in which more than 1,200 Palestinians, a third of them children, were killed and 13 Israelis died.
Two children were killed yesterday when Israeli tanks shelled a UN school in which families were sheltering, leading a UN spokesman, Chris Gunness, to say: "There has to be an investigation to determine whether a war crime has been committed." The call was dismissed by an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, who said: "These claims of war crimes are not supported by the slightest piece of evidence." But among numerous allegations of disproportionate use of force, questions are also multiplying about the use of unconventional weapons by Israel, including a new type of bomb that causes injuries that doctors have not seen before, and which they find impossible to treat.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, claimed in a televised address last night that the military operation had "fully attained" its goals, "and beyond". Israel had declared the ceasefire in response to an appeal from the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, but troops would remain for now in Gaza, and Hamas would be "surprised again" if it attacked.
But even though Mr Olmert said Hamas had been "beaten badly", rockets landed in Israel a few minutes before he spoke. Despite the desperate state of Gaza's population, Hamas leaders said they would continue to fight for an end to Israel's closure of crossing points into the territory and a withdrawal of the Israeli forces.
Mr Mubarak invited the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to discuss Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh today. The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said he might attend, and Gordon Brown is among other leaders due to take part.
Although Mr Olmert's announcement was only a first step towards halting the conflict in Gaza, the UN is not the only international body insisting that inquiries must be held as soon as possible into the tactics and weapons used by Israel. Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor who worked in Gaza's hospitals during the conflict, said that Israel was using so-called Dime (dense inert metal explosive) bombs designed to produce an intense explosion in a small space. The bombs are packed with tungsten powder, which has the effect of shrapnel but often dissolves in human tissue, making it difficult to discover the cause of injuries.
Dr Fosse said he had seen a number of patients with extensive injuries to their lower bodies. "It was as if they had stepped on a mine, but there was no shrapnel in the wounds," he said. "Some had lost their legs. It looked as though they had been sliced off. I have been to war zones for 30 years, but I have never seen such injuries before." However, the injuries matched photographs and descriptions in medical literature of the effects of Dime bombs.
"All the patients I saw had been hit by bombs fired from unmanned drones," said Dr Fosse, head of the Norwegian Aid Committee. "The bomb hit the ground near them and exploded." His colleague, Mads Gilbert, accused Israel of using the territory as a testing ground for a new, "extremely nasty" type of explosive. "This is a new generation of small explosive that detonates with extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 metres," he said.
According to military databases, Dime bombs are intended for use where conventional weapons might kill or injure bystanders – to kill combatants in a house, for example, without harming people next door. Instead of being made from metal, which sprays shrapnel across a wide area, the casing is carbon fibre. Part of the motive for developing the bombs was to replace the use of depleted uranium, but Dr Fosse said the cancer risk from tungsten powde was well known. "These patients should be followed up to see if there are any carcinogenic effects," he said.
While the loudest controversy has been over accusations that white phosphorus was illegally used, other foreign doctors working in Gaza have reported injuries they cannot explain. Professor Mohammed Sayed Khalifa, a cardiac consultant from Sudan, said that two of his patients had had uncontrollable bleeding. "One had a chest operation, and continued bleeding even after having been given large quantities of plasma," he said. "The other had what seemed to be a minor leg injury, but collapsed with profuse bleeding. Something was interfering with the clotting process. I have never seen such a thing before."
Dr Ahmed Almi, an Egyptian cardio-thoracic consultant at al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said he had seen a number of patients with inexplicable injuries. A boy of 14 had a small puncture wound in his head, but extensive damage to his brain, making it impossible to save his life. "I don't know the nature or type of these weapons that make a very small [entry wound] and go on and make massive destruction in the tissues," he said.
Israeli military representatives have refused to confirm or deny using specific weapons, but insist that all Israel's weapons comply with international law. Neither white phosphorus nor Dime bombs are illegal, but campaigners say the way they have been used, especially in Gaza's densely packed urban areas, could constitute a war crime.

Source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/tungsten-bombs-leave-israels-victims-with-mystery-wounds-1418910.html

More Readings:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200911916132228885.html

Ps:İ didn't publish pictures,they are awful,and you can see sample in the original article aboveMy heart just can't take anymore !

Shaky Truce İn Gaza.

2009-01-20T01:57:00.002+02:00

Actually as long as there is an army on their land,that is what it will be

Shaky !

Shaky truce holds in Gaza Strip

Palestinians have been venturing out to survey the devastation of Israel's war on Gaza as separate ceasefires called by Israel and the Palestinian fighters appeared to be holding.Israeli troops and tanks were on the move on Monday, heading away from some key points in Gaza towards the border, but it remained unclear whether they would withdraw completely for the Palestinian territory.
Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips, reporting from the Israel-Gaza border, said Israeli military sources were saying that it was largely reservists who were leaving Gaza.
"Regular troops, by and large, are holding their positions and will remain alert, they will remain poised, to deal with any violation, as Israel sees it, of the Israeli ceasefire," he said.
"Given that the Israelis were always very unforthcoming about exactly how many troops were in Gaza at the height of the fighting, it is difficult for us to say how quickly they will leave." Israeli army radio quoted unnamed military officials as saying that troops would pull out of Gaza by the time Barack Obama, the US president-elect, takes office on Tuesday.

'Hamas victory'
Hamas and other Palestinian factions have claimed victory in the 23-day conflict

Israel had said the aim of its operations in Gaza was to cripple Hamas's ability to launch rockets into the south of the country.
However, in a televised news conference on Monday, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, claimed their rocket-launching capacity had not been diminished, and threatened to renew fighting if Israeli forces did not withdraw.
"They [Israel] say they weakened Hamas. We assure you that what we have lost in this war is nothing compared to what we [still] have," the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesman said. The Israeli military said three rockets had landed in southern Israel since the Hamas-led truce announcement on Sunday.
Abu Obeida claimed only 48 Hamas fighters were among the 1,300 Palestinians killed in Israel's more than three-week assault. The Israeli military had claimed the figure was closer to 500.
He also reasserted that two Israeli soldiers had been captured early on in the fight, a claim which Israel denies.

Counting the cost
But the full price of the "victory" was only beginning to be revealed, as thousands of Gazans made their way back to previously inaccessible areas to find their homes and neighbourhoods devastated

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, in Gaza City, reported sewage on the streets as Gazans sifted through rubble of what was previously their homes to recover bodies and salvage whatever they could.
"The WHO [World Health Organisation] has been warning people that with the bodies now several weeks old ... [and] sewage flowing over many of the areas because of the destruction that happened to the infrastructure, it is ripe for an outbreak of epidemics," he said.
Scores of bodies have been discovered in the rubble of destroyed buildings since the fighting ended."We have pulled out the bodies of 15 children and women from under their house," Abed Sharafi, an ambulance driver, said in the early hours of Monday.
"They were so badly decomposed that we couldn't distinguish boys from girls. Some had been there for 15 days."

Homes destroyed

Bulldozers cleared tonnes of rubble from the streets, while the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics estimated that more than 22,000 building have been damaged or destroyed.

"We don't have homes anymore. I don't have anything anymore," Najette Manah said as she searched the wreckage of her home in Beit Lahiya.Meanwhile, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, was preparing to visit the Gaza Strip amid the lull in violence, Israeli officials said."Ban is planning to begin his trip in Jerusalem and from there he will visit several UN sites in Gaza," Yossi Levy, a spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, told the AFP news agency.
Israel announced late on Saturday that it was unilaterally ending its offensive in Gaza.
Following that news, Hamas and several allied Palestinian factions announced on Sunday a conditional, one-week truce.
"We in the Palestinian resistance movements announce a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and demand that enemy forces withdraw in a week and open all the border crossings to permit the entry of humanitarian aid and basic goods," Mousa Abu Marzuk, the deputy leader of Hamas's political bureau, said.
Besides Hamas, the Palestinian factions joining the ceasefire included Islamic Jihad, al-Nidal, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and al-Saeqa.

Source:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200911915726719317.html

Jewish Voice For Peace !

2009-01-15T18:08:00.007+02:00

İ just came through this today,and it actually cooled my heart a bit in those flammable events we have and watch everyday
Then,there is hope
Other people,specially fresh,and young generation fighting for the rights of others to live in peace
Refusing to be part of a killing machine aiming to civilians,women,children!
At their young age,they said NO !

Hats Off for them !

FREE THE SHMINISTIM – ISRAEL'S YOUNG CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS. The Shministim are Israeli high school students who have been imprisoned for refusing to serve in an army that occupies the Palestinian Territories. December 18 marks the launch date of a global campaign to release them from jail. Join over 20,000 people including American conscientious objectors,Ronnie Gilbert, Adrienne Rich, Robert Meeropol, Adam Hochschild, Rabbi Lynn Gottleib, Howard Zinn, Rela Mazali, Debra Chasnoff, Ed Asner and Aurora Levins-Morales and show your support by contacting the Israeli Minister of Defense using the form below. 40,000 LETTERS AND COUNTING!

http://december18th.org/

March. 27 2005 250 Israeli high school students declare refusal to serve

A new declaration of refusal by "shministim" - students of the 11th and 12th grades of Israeli high schools - addressed to prime minister Ariel Sharon, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, IDF chief of staff Moshe Yaalon and Education Minister Limor Livnat, has already collected 250 signatures of youngsters facing their term of compulsory military service.

The first members of the group are due to report at the IDF induction in the coming days, and the refusenik community is awaiting to see how the army treats them.

The text runs:

"We, boys and girls, citizens of Israel, who believe in the values of democracy, humanism and pluralism, hereby declare that we will refuse to take part in the policy of occupation and repression for which the Israeli government has opted. We come from a variety of backgrounds, but all are agreed that the following values are the basis of a just society. Every person is entitled to basic rights: the right to life, equality, dignity and freedom. It is our conscientious and civic duty to act in defence of these rights by refusing to take part in the policy of occupation and repression.

The occupation entails forfeiting human dignity and massive loss of human life. It affects the basic rights of millions of persons and causes daily killing and suffering. It leads to land confiscation, mass demolition of homes, arrests and extra-legal executions, ill- treatment and the murder of innocents, hunger, deprivation of medical care, collective punishment, construction and expansion of Jewish settlements and prevents any possibility of a normal life in the occupied territories and in Israel. This flagrant deprival of human rights runs counter to our entire philosophy, as well as international conventions which Israel has signed and confirmed.

The occupation does not contribute to the security of the state and its citizens, it merely harms them. It exacerbates despair and hatred among the Palestinian people, sustains terrorism and expands the cycle of violence. True security will be achieved only by ending the occupation, dismantling the Apartheid wall and working for a just peace agreement between the state of the Israel and the leadership of the Palestinian people and the Arab world overall. The present policy does not stem from defence needs, rather, from a nationalist and messianic world view.

The occupation corrupts Israeli society, rendering it militarist, racist, chauvinist and violent. Israel is wasting its resources on perpetuating the occupation and repression in the occupied territories, at a time when hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens live in shameful poverty. The state's citizens have experienced a decline of all public systems in recent years. Education, health care, infrastructure, pensions, social benefits and everything to do with the welfare of Israel's citizens - are neglected in favour of supporting settlements that a majority wants to see dismantled. We cannot stand by in view of this situation, which constitutes the "focussed liquidation" of the principle of equality.

We want to see the society in which we live pursuing justice, upholding equality for every person and citizen. The policy of occupation and repression is an obstacle to realisation of that vision, and we shall refuse to take part therein. We wish to contribute to society in an alternative way, which does not involve harm to human beings.

We call upon all young people awaiting induction, and all the soldiers of the Israeli army, to reconsider whether to risk their lives in taking part in the policy of repression and destruction.

We believe there is a different way."

Peretz Kidron

Yesh Gvul

Shministim Highschool Seniors Refuseniks

Shministim - Israeli Youth Refusal Movement

12-th Graders' Letter ('michtav shministim'
http://www.shministim.org/

In:http://www.btinternet.com/~musicweaver/shministim_links.htm

New Shministim Letter - February 12, 2005
http://www.nimn.org/Perspectives/israeli_voices/000442.php

Yesh Gvul ("There is a limit !") is an Israeli peace group that has shouldered the task of supporting soldiers who refuse assignments of an immoral or illegal nature. http://www.yeshgvul.org/

Source:
http://www.jerusalemites.org/articles/english/march2005/27.htm

Hats Off !
Seems there is hope after all !

More:
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

Filistin ! Palestine !

2009-01-15T04:13:00.003+02:00

Gazza ! Gaza!
Filistin ! Palestine!
The Dignity Boat
Filistin 'Palestine' - Turkish history
Gazza Under Fire !
Not Fireworks!
Ar ! Shame !
Where To Go?!
How Can You Be İn Silence?!
War Against Civilan Palestinians - Dr. Mads Gilbert, Gaza
UNRWA - Red Cross !

Şimdi, Dur Ve Düşün ! Stop And Think About İt.

2009-01-15T02:17:00.006+02:00

Now try to stop for a while and think about it!

We here have tried to give some of the historical background of that tragedy.

İt's actually plain history,and recent one too,so none can deny it,but they can represent it differently,or let's say,in a way that makes the victim become the butcher in the eyes of people who don't know the truth,or the history!

Now I'm afraid you can't say you didn't know!

OK,imagine yourself sitting peacefully in your own home,a regular peaceful person,so you don't have any sort of weapons in your home,except maybe for some knives you use them in your own kitchen!

Your home is nice,has a very rich soil,and also in a very good district,but as you are a peaceful person,and also a poor one,so you don't use the source that you have well

You just live your day!

One day,a far away neighbour came to your home,first he said he would help you to become in better position,to use your sources well

But of course he was using them for his own benefits.

You didn't like it,you started to demand him to leave your home,he said he will,but he didn't

You started to use force...you have tried to push him out,but he had a gun !

You still kept fighting ,sometimes pushing him and you get wounded

Sometimes you just yell and shout,sometimes your kids go and disturb him and run away!

Suddenly,you have found him brought some men back home...armed men

One today,then another the second day,third...!

You didn't understand...You went to him and asked who are they?!

He said they are some relative staying with me

You said,but it is my house,and i don't want anyone here including you !

He said,but they want a house,they don't have one !

You said...But İT İS MY HOUSE !

They can go and find themselves another house...buy one,anything...just not mine !

While you are arguing,your wife came screaming...come..come they took over our bedroom !

You went there,angry,wanted to kick them off,but they shot you on the arm,and they said,we will take this room !

You said with weak voice,but it is ours !

They said not anymore !

You said,how about our things,our clothes,they are there,it is ours ?!

They said,we will take them too,it will belong to one of us and his wife !

Wife ! You said .

You went that neighbour of yours,asked him what is going on,what wife

Who are those people,and what are they doing in my house?!!

He said,i told you,they want a house,and they don't have one,so they will live here with you,that's why they are bringing their families too !

FAMİLİES ?!!!

İt is MY HOUSE !

What are you talking about ?!!!

On that time,your kids,young ones and old ones were trying to kick those people out

Keeping their mother and sisters in one room so no one would harm them,and took the knives,sticks,or anything they can get,and try to fight those people back,kick them and their families out.

But what would knives and sticks do in front of guns and machine guns ?!!

Some of your boys got wounded,some got killed,some run away from the house scared,some got kicked out,but they stayed on the terrace,and some run back to their mother and sisters to protect them,and defending the rest of the house!

Your far neighbour said...ok..ok that's enough !

Now you two will share the house

Half is yours,and half belong to that man and his family.

You didn't like it of course...you said...but it is MY HOUSE !

By what right,by what law you give what it doesn't belong to you to other people?!

İt belongs to ME..not to you !

The other man ,the armed one,of course accepted it,and said i agree we both live together!

And they brought more of them to your home

You are going NUTS of course

Your neighbour go out,and say loudly so other neighbours hear,look here people,this house belong to those two,they will share it,and will live together

You close neighbours who know you,said it is not fair,it belong to this man,not to the armed one

Other neighbors,and also the police who has good relation with your far neighbour and the armed men said OK..and i also agree,and let's sign papers say this !

Arghhhhhhhhhh!

You are losing your mind !

They are stealing me !

You said NO!

İ will fight you back....

And you do,again with knives and sticks,and this time you had some help from your poor neighbours out there

The well armed one of them had gun where men in your house have machine guns

You kept fighting for a while,but it ended up that you lost,and armed men almost took over the whole house,and kicked you all in one room,and some of your boys still on that terrace !

More over,they took the yards too,back and front yards

They try to use even rocks to come back home,but armed men reply with gun shootings.

Time pass,and your boys on the terrace manage to get some weapons...some guns!

Guns yes, at least it's better than knives and sticks!

But armed men also have better machine guns,rockets and many other weapons,they got them from some far neighbours,but strong,rich ones who still have their eyes on that area!

Your boys lived out there,even it's cold,no good food,but still,it's their home !

They got married there,have children also there...and they kept trying to get their home back !

You went to the armed men,told them OK,let's have peace

İ accept that we share the house,and allow my boys back home

Armed men said no,your boys won't come back,we need more area,so half of the house is not enough

But we agree that we have peace

You keep living in that room ,you and your family there,and you don't demand that the rest of your family to come back

And your boys out there and their families stop throwing rocks at us,and keep living there

And we promise we won't attack them..

OK?

We have peace ?!

Of course you refused,and your kids out there also refused,they have home,and want to be back home,raise their children there

So they kept fighting.

Sometimes by throwing some rocks and other times by trying to fire at the armed men .

The armed men got annoyed from your boys shooting at them and throwing rocks

So they decided to go and wipe them off

They don't want them out there...they can go to other neighbours,do anything...just leave

Sounds of rocks on the glasses annoying them

Of course window's glass is bullet proof,but the sound is annoying and maybe sometimes it got scratched!

So,it's deal,the decision is taken,they will attack the boys,and kick them no matter how many of them they kill or injured,no matter if they kill them,their kids,their wives!

They just don't want them out!

They kept fighting them,killing kids,women,and when neighbours cry..STOP!

The armed men say, we defend ourselves..

When you cry STOP...!

Asking your old neighbour to do something...to anyone to do anything

The rich,strong powerful neighbour says....İt is the armed men right to defend themselves,and their house !

Their House ?!

GOD,have mercy...you cry with tears.

You...is the Palestinians

Your boys,are Hamas and the rest of the resistance

Your far away neighbour is Great Britain

Your powerful strong neighbour is US

Armed men are israel

Your poor neighbours are rest of ME

Now their numbers are 1000 died,and almost 4800 injured

İsn't about time to have peace in that house ?

Just a small question...

Would you and your boys considered to be terrorists ?

More Than 1,000...Not Enough?!

2009-01-15T02:03:00.004+02:00

'More than 1,000 killed in Gaza'

Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip have passed 1,000, medical sources in Gaza say, as Egypt continues efforts to broker a ceasefire.
Nearly a third of the dead are reported to be children and nearly 5,000 people have been injured.
After talks in Cairo, Hamas officials said they were happy with the broad outlines of an Egyptian initiative but that details remained to be worked out.
Israeli negotiators are to visit Cairo to hear to discuss Egypt's proposal.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said 1,013 people have died in the conflict which started 19 days ago.
More than 300 of the dead are said to be children, 76 are women and more than 4,500 people have been injured, of whom 1,600 are children and 678 are women.
Thirteen Israelis have been killed, including three civilians and one soldier from rockets fired from Gaza and nine soldiers killed in fighting in Gaza.

It is impossible to independently confirm casualty figures as Israel has refused to allow international journalists to enter Gaza.
Diplomatic push
Egypt has been leading efforts to broker a ceasefire, that could include a new force of peacekeepers to prevent smuggling on its border with Gaza.
After talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he hoped the Egyptian initiative would show results as soon as possible.
The UN secretary general is in Jordan on the next leg of a Middle East tour before visiting Israel, the West Bank and Syria.

Hamas officials have also been in Cairo for talks with Egyptian negotiators.
"The movement has presented a detailed vision to the Egyptian leadership so that it (Egypt) can continue its pursuit to end the aggression and lift the injustice on our people in the Gaza Strip," Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil said.
These details concerned how to ensure that border crossings into Gaza could be re-opened under international supervision, he said, and would be presented to Israeli envoys visiting Cairo on Thursday.
A senior Israeli defence official, Amos Gilad, is to travel to Cairo on Thursday, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.
Earlier on Wednesday, other Hamas officials had said the Egyptian initiative had been positively received but that more time was needed to discuss it.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, has said any ceasefire agreement would have to entail a halt to Israeli attacks, a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the opening of border crossings to end the blockade of Gaza.
BBC Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi says Israel will not agree to a deal that does not guarantee an end to Hamas's smuggling of weapons across the Egyptian border and the cessation of rocket attacks into southern Israel.
For its part, Hamas refuses to accept an agreement that could in effect spell the beginning of the end for its military wing.
Egypt and other key Arab states can put pressure on Hamas but the US remains unwilling to press Israel to make any concessions, our correspondent says.
'Seeds of extremism'
Israel launched its campaign against Gaza on 27 December, saying it wanted to end Palestinian rocket fire into Israel

Both Hamas and Israel rejected last week's UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The Israeli offensive has provoked widespread international condemnation at the cost in civilian casualties.
Bolivian President Evo Morales said he was cutting relations with Israel over what he called the "genocide" in Gaza.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria warned that Israel's campaign would fuel extremism and terrorism in the Arab and Muslim world.
"The effect of war is more dangerous than war. It is sowing seeds of extremism around the region," Mr Assad said in an exclusive BBC interview.
Israeli divisions?
On Wednesday, Israel continued to bombard the Gaza Strip and residents spoke of heavy machine-gun fire as Israeli troops fought Hamas gunmen near Gaza City.

Meanwhile, three rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, landing on open ground.
No casualties or damage were reported.
In another development, a newly-released audiotape said to feature the voice of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has called for a holy war to stop the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The authenticity of the tape, posted on a number of Islamic militant websites, could not be independently verified.
Humanitarian concerns have increased amid the fighting, although some aid is getting through to Gaza during daily three-hour lulls Israel has allowed to let in supplies.

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7828884.stm

Human Rights!

2009-01-13T17:29:00.004+02:00

Too much for human rights,eh?!

´´All European Union countries abstained and Canada voted against the resolution.´´
Then those same countries/people,walk around crying over human rights in other countries!
People in Palestine don't have rights ?

Or they are not human ?!!!

UN watchdog condemns war on Gaza

A resolution condemning Israel's military offensive in Gaza has been adopted by the UN Human Rights Council.
The non-binding resolution, approved in Geneva on Monday, said Israel's operation had "resulted in massive violations of human rights of the Palestinian people".
More than 935 Palestinians have died during the fighting, many of them women and children, and a further 4,300 have been wounded.
At least 25,000 have been displaced due to the ongoing bombardment, but are unable to flee the overcrowded territory as crossing points remain closed.
The resolution, drafted by Arab, Asian and African countries, called for an international mission to be sent immediately to the Gaza Strip to investigate Israel's actions.
It also called for an immediate end to the "launching of the crude rockets against Israeli civilians" by the Palestinian factions.

Israel launched its operation on December 27 after a ceasefire with Hamas ended a week earlier, stating its objective was to target the Palestinian faction's infrastructure and bring an end to the firing of homemade rockets into southern Israel.
'Fairytale world'Fewer states than expected supported the resolution, which passed by 33 votes to one, with 13 abstentions. The US, not a member of the council, took no part in the debate.
Israel dismissed it as one-sided and reflecting the "fairytale world" of the 47-member council.
The text of the document said the council "strongly condemns the ongoing Israeli military operations ... which have resulted in massive violations of human rights of the Palestinian people and systematic destruction of the Palestinian infrastructure".The resolution was opposed by Canada while European countries, Japan and South Korea abstained.The resolution was backed by, among others, Russia, China, Argentina and Brazil.During a debate on the resolution, Pakistan, speaking for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), denounced what it called Israel's "unrestrained use of force, killing of innocent civilians" and violation of UN havens.
At least 40 people died last Tuesday when the UN-run school they were sheltering in was hit by Israeli fire.

'Massive violations'
All European Union countries abstained and Canada voted against the resolution.Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera: "In the end they [the UN] passed the resolution, it was not unanimous. I would not say it was that heated, at the end of the day there were still differences of opinion.

Many states praised the Palestinian delegation for the flexibility they had shown in the negotiations, but they could not quite reach a consensus."
Speaking in the Gaza Strip, John Ging, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) operations in Gaza, repeated his call for an immediate end to the fighting.
"I say now, to all politicians, here in Israel and internationally, you have an obligation to the ordinary people in the name of humanity and all that is civilised, we need to stop this now. Those who help will never be forgotten.
"Israel is responsible for its own actions and it is very clear to us that there are a lot of actions in this conflict that will need to be fully investigated independently and internationally."Those who have been killed and injured, those who are innocent, deserve accountability."Peter Splinter, Amnesty International's representative at the United Nations in Geneva, backed the call for an investigation, saying "there must be a full accountability for war crimes".
"Evidence of war crimes is presenting itself each day," he told Al Jazeera.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a former UN secretary-general, added his perspective on the situation, saying the assault on Gaza "is a present the Israelis gave to the fundamentalists".
"It will reinforce extremists, fundamentalists, all over Arab countries and even inside Israel," he said.

Source:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009112152635783968.html

And here

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1054843.html

Just Rice?!

2009-01-13T16:38:00.002+02:00

Israel's Olmert: Rice embarrassed over UN vote

JERUSALEM – Israel's prime minister said Monday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was embarrassed by orders to abstain from voting last week on a U.N. truce resolution for Gaza that she helped arrange.
Israel had argued that the Security Council measure calling for a halt to the Gaza fighting — which passed Thursday in a 14-0 vote with the U.S. abstaining — was unworkable because it did not guarantee Israel's security.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he called President George W. Bush to seek an abstention from the U.S., a key Israeli ally at the United Nations.
"I said: 'Get me President Bush on the phone,'" Olmert said in a speech in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. "They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care: 'I need to talk to him now.' He got off the podium and spoke to me."
Olmert said he argued that the United States should not vote in favor, and the president then called Rice and told her not to do so.
"She was left pretty embarrassed," Olmert said.
A senior U.S. official in Washington disputed the account.
"The plan had been all along, as agreed by the secretary and the president, that if all of the pieces fell into place, we would abstain," the official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
"The government of Israel does not make policy for the United States," the official added.
The approved resolution called for "an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."
Rice said later that the United States "fully supports" the resolution but abstained because it "thought it important to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation," referring to an Egyptian-French initiative aimed at achieving a cease-fire.
Still, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said he was surprised by the U.S. abstention.
"We were told that the Americans were going to vote in favor," he said Friday, a day after the vote.
But when Rice came in to the Security Council chamber, she informed the Saudi foreign minister with an apology that she would abstain and would clarify later that the U.S. supported the resolution nonetheless, according to Malki.
"What happened in the last 10 or 15 minutes, what kind of pressure she received, from whom, this is really something that maybe we will know about later," he said.

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_us_rice

İf some countries do as they have been told 'even if they don't like and consider it not in their benefits ! ',and try to find themselves some excuses
What is the USA government excuse ?!
Not powerful enough ?
Not strong enough ?

Just a question coming into my mind to our Americas friends out there...
Guys,Who is making the decisions for you ?!

Denial as usual ! Phosphorus Shells !

2009-01-12T10:21:00.004+02:00

Denial as usual !
İsreal deny,what we already see with our eyes,what we hear with our ears,what is everyone screaming about..''it's happening ..it's happening..help those people !''
Maybe they can convince the world it is just fireworks?!
But would we/you believe it with comfortable conscious?!
İ know many politicians will....!
But how about you ?!

Gazans fear Israel using phosphorus

Doctors in Gaza City have told Al Jazeera that people have been admitted suffering burns consistent with the use of the controversial chemical white phosphorus.Human rights campaigners say that Israeli forces have used the munition, which can burn away human flesh to the bone, over Gaza City and Jabaliya in recent days.
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, said: "Doctors here say they are seeing unprecedented levels of deep burns."They cannot categorically say that white phosphorus is being used, they are saying that the munitions being dropped are unprecendented."
Residents in densely-packed Jabaliya have described Israeli forces exploding shells that drop scores of burning fragments and spread suffocating smoke
"Its the first time we see this type of weapon, it must be new and its seems like its phosphorous," one resident told Al Jazeera.
"Its suffocating and has a deadly poisonous smell that I am sure will cause a lot of sickness and disease on all of the civilians here," he said.Another witness said she saw "... a bright flash and then all of these sparks fell on our area ... landing all around us and in our homes. Our mattresses caught on fire".
Law 'violated'
The use of the munition in densely-populated areas violates the requirement under international humanitarian law for all feasible precautions to be taken to avoid civilian injury and loss of life, Human Rights Watch said.
International law permits the use of white phosphorus in order to cover troop movements and prevent enemies from using certain guided weapons.Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at the human rights group told Al Jazeera on Saturday that he had watched Israeli ground forces using white phosphorus.
"Clearly it is [white phosphorus], we can tell by the explosions and the tendrils that go down [and] the fires that were burning," he said."Today there were massive attacks in Jabaliya when we were there. We saw that there were numerous fires once the white phosphorus had gone in."We went by Israeli artillery units that had white phosphorus rounds with the fuses in them."
Major Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli army was "using munitions with accordance to international law".
"The policy of the IDF [Israeli Defence Force] is to not specify the types of munition, we have not done it before and we will not do it now."
Mark Regev, the Israeli government spokesman, said he was unable to confirm or deny whether the military was using the chemical, but that Israel did not use munitions that were banned under international law."I don't have the knowledge of the detail of what ammunition we are using. I can only know for a fact that Israel uses no ammunition that is outlawed under conventions and that Nato forces would not use in a similar combat situation," he told Al Jazeera.Israel used white phosphorus during its 34-day war against Lebanon's Hezbollah movement in 2006, while the United States used it during the controversial siege of the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004.

Source:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20091111392884765.html

İsrael.....UN !

2009-01-10T01:52:00.003+02:00

No Comment !

Powerful UN !

2009-01-10T01:37:00.004+02:00

Israel, Hamas brush off U.N. cease-fire resolution

Children walk past rubble left by an Israeli airstrike Friday in the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza (CNN) -- Israel continued its offensive in Gaza on Friday, hitting more than 70 targets, despite the U.N. Security Council's call for an immediate cease-fire.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was disregarding the U.N. vote because the resolution will not be heeded by "murderous" Palestinian groups. The firing of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel on Friday, he said, "proves the U.N. resolution is not practical."
"The state of Israel has never agreed that any outside body would determine its right to defend the security of its citizens. The [Israel Defense Forces] will continue operations in order to defend Israeli citizens and will carry out the missions with which it has been assigned in the operation," Olmert said.
The Cabinet also decided to continue humanitarian activity in Gaza and keep up efforts "to prevent the smuggling of war materiel into the Gaza Strip."
The Cabinet was briefed on meetings that Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad had with Egyptian officials over a proposed Egyptian-French truce plan.
Hamas also rejected the resolution, the Paris, France, daily newspaper Le Figaro reported.
The resolution "does not serve our interests nor that of the people of Palestine," said Hamas official Raafat Morra, speaking from Lebanon. "It does not take into account the aspirations and the principal objectives of the Palestinian people."
At least 792 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its air and ground assault, a U.N. official said, citing numbers from the Palestinian Health Ministry. See images from the offensive »
The official said the Health Ministry is reporting that about 3,200 Palestinians have been wounded in the past two weeks.
Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have also have so far been killed, IDF said. One soldier was moderately wounded and two others were lightly wounded during the day, but no deaths were reported Friday.
Israel has repeatedly defended its offensive, which it says is meant to stop Hamas militants from continuing to use the territory to lob rockets into southern Israel.

The Security Council called overwhelmingly for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza late Thursday, expressing "grave concern" at a mounting humanitarian crisis and heavy civilian casualties in the Palestinian territory.
Fourteen of the council's 15 members voted in favor of Resolution 1860, with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice abstaining from the vote on behalf of the United States. Rice said the United States prefers to wait on the results of ongoing Egyptian-brokered talks in Cairo between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The resolution "stresses the urgency of, and calls for, an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire which will lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."
Although the resolution does not mention Hamas by name, it does condemn "all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."
A resolution from the council, particularly one that passes with such large support, can put international pressure on parties involved in a conflict. But they are in no way binding, and many in the past have been ignored by warring factions.
The IDF said aircraft attacked more than 70 targets in Gaza identified as terrorist sites as Israel's offensive against Hamas stretched into its 14th day.

The IDF said its ground forces found a "rigged house containing a number of land mines" and struck "terror operatives who fired anti-tank rockets at them."
"In addition, the house used by terrorists that shot and killed Sgt. Amit Robinson yesterday was shot at by IDF forces today," the military said. The 70 targets included 20 "terror operatives," rocket launching areas, three houses of Hamas operatives that had been used to store weapons, two weapons smuggling tunnels and "a vehicle with armed terror operatives."
Israel said that its naval forces hit "at least ten armed terror operatives" Thursday night and "they continued assisting the ground forces throughout the night."
One location hit by Israeli missiles was a house in northern Gaza where six people were killed early Friday, the Ramattan News Agency in Gaza City reported.
In another attack, Israeli helicopters obliterated the house of a Hamas military commander in northern Gaza City on Friday, sources in the Hamas movement said.
Aqsa TV identified the man as Abu Farouk Dababesh. The Hamas sources said Dababesh's house was among 15 houses targeted by Israel on Friday.
Palestinian medical sources said 22 Palestinians were killed Friday.
The IDF said its missiles hit five Gaza sites where Hamas was launching rockets into Israel Friday morning, including one that was adjacent to a mosque.
The Israeli military said more than 30 rockets from Gaza landed in southern Israel on Friday, including two Grad missiles that fell on Beer Sheva. Two rockets hit Ashkelon and one landed at Ashdod. No damage or injuries were reported, the IDF said.
Israel took steps before Friday prayers to head off any possible violence in Jerusalem. West Bank entries into Israel have been halted through Saturday night and men younger than 50 were banned from entering Jerusalem mosques.
Also Friday, the U.N. said it would resume its suspended aid operations in Gaza.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees suspended food delivery operations Thursday to 750,000 Palestinian refugees after strikes by Israel killed one of its drivers and wounded another. The U.N. said the aid workers "had received Israeli clearance."
U.N. officials attended a high-level meeting at the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on Friday. There, "the U.N. received credible assurances that the security of U.N. personnel, installations and humanitarian operations would be fully respected," a U.N. statement said

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/09/israel.gaza/index.html?eref=onion

War Crime...And ? !

2009-01-10T01:05:00.004+02:00

Israeli strike on civilian house may be 'war crime' says UN
The United Nations has called for Israel to be investigated for war crimes over the shelling of a house full of Palestinian civilians which left dozens dead.

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the attack, first revealed in The Telegraph, on members of the extended Samouni family in the Gazan town of Zeitoun "appears to have all the elements of war crimes."
Her remarks came after the International Committee of the Red Cross accused Israel of breaking the rules of war by failing to help the wounded in the incident.
According to the ICRC, four infant children were found too weak to stand after clinging for 48 hours to what ambulance crew believed to be the corpses of their mothers while Israeli soldiers were less than 100 yards away.
Under the rules of war, soldiers have an obligation to treat properly the survivors of combat.
Speaking to an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council Miss Pillay said Palestinian militants firing rockets into Israel was "unacceptable'' but that it did not justify alleged abuses committed by the Israeli army.
She said conditions currently being endured by the 1.5 million strong population of Gaza "constitute egregious violations of human rights".
"Accountability must be ensured for violations of international law,'' she said.
"As a first step credible, independent and transparent investigations must be carried out to identify violations and establish responsibilities.
"I remind this Council that violations of international humanitarian law may constitute war crimes for which individual criminal responsibility may be invoked.''
Israel has denied there is any humanitarian crisis in Gaza and said it is working in concert with international agencies and doing everything possible to reduce civilian casualties.
More than a hundred Palestinian children have been killed since Israel launched operation Cast Lead two weeks ago.
The ICRC has demanded more access to Zeitoun to try to establish the exact death toll in an incident that could be the bloodiest of the conflict so far.
With Israeli forces still in the area and unwilling to let ambulance crews in, apart from a short time on Wednesday, it is not possible to say how many members of the Samouni clan died.
Some survivors said thirty, others suggest the toll might be as high as seventy.
The bloodshed happened after Israel launched its ground offensive last Saturday night.
Israeli troops supported by tanks took Zeitoun quickly and at dawn on Sunday they went house to house detaining men of fighting age and corralling the remaining people, mostly women and children, in a few large houses.
Up to 110 members of the extended Samouni clan were put into one building without water, heating or food.
At dawn on Monday it was shelled repeatedly by Israeli forces. Survivors described seeing bodies with brains oozing out.
Surviving members of the Samouni family described how the Israeli soldiers went from house to house detaining younger men and then crowding a large number, mostly women and children, into a single building.
Meysa Samouni, 19, said up to 110 members of the Samouni family were forced inside without running water or food.
She said: "When the missile stuck, I lay down with my daughter under me. Everything filled up with smoke and dust, and I heard screams and crying.
"After the smoke and dust cleared a bit, I looked around and saw twenty to thirty people who were dead, and about twenty who were wounded.
She said the survivors and walking wounded eventually emerged and found some Israeli soldiers who took two of the male survivors and let the rest pass.

Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4209242/Israeli-strike-on-civilian-house-may-be-war-crime-says-UN-gaza.html

Wondering...Why The Palestinians complain !

2009-01-09T05:38:00.003+02:00

As if saying....even its destroyed....its still ours...our place,our land ! A Palestinian man places a green Hamas flag on the rubble of a destroyed mosque after an Israeli air strike in Gaza

Mark Steel: So what have the Palestinians got to complain about?

To portray this as a conflict between equals requires some imagination
Wednesday, 31 December 2008

When you read the statements from Israeli and US politicians, and try to match them with the pictures of devastation, there seems to be only one explanation. They must have one of those conditions, called something like "Visual Carnage Responsibility Back To Front Upside Down Massacre Disorder".
For example, Condoleezza Rice, having observed that more than 300 Gazans were dead, said: "We are deeply concerned about the escalating violence. We strongly condemn the attacks on Israel and hold Hamas responsible."
Someone should ask her to comment on teenage knife-crime, to see if she'd say: "I strongly condemn the people who've been stabbed, and until they abandon their practice of wandering around clutching their sides and bleeding, there is no hope for peace."
The Israeli government suffers terribly from this confusion. They probably have adverts on Israeli television in which a man falls off a ladder and screams, "Eeeeugh", then a voice says, "Have you caused an accident at work in the last 12 months?" and the bloke who pushed him gets £3,000.
The gap between the might of Israel's F-16 bombers and Apache helicopters, and the Palestinians' catapulty thing is so ridiculous that to try and portray the situation as between two equal sides requires the imagination of a children's story writer.
The reporter on News at Ten said the rockets "may be ineffective, but they ARE symbolic." So they might not have weapons but they have got symbolism, the canny brutes.
It's no wonder the Israeli Air Force had to demolish a few housing estates, otherwise Hamas might have tried to mock Israel through a performance of expressive dance.
The rockets may be unable to to kill on the scale of the Israeli Air Force, said one spokesman, but they are "intended to kill".
Maybe he went on: "And we have evidence that Hamas supporters have dreams, and that in these dreams bad things happen to Israeli citizens, they burst, or turn into cactus, or run through Woolworths naked, so it's not important whether it can happen, what matters is that they WANT it to happen, so we blew up their university."
Or there's the outrage that Hamas has been supported by Iran. Well that's just breaking the rules. Because say what you will about the Israelis, they get no arms supplies or funding or political support from a country that's more powerful than them, they just go their own way and make all their weapons in an arts and crafts workshop in Jerusalem.
But mostly the Israelis justify themselves with a disappointing lack of imagination, such as the line that they had to destroy an ambulance because Hamas cynically put their weapons inside ambulances.
They should be more creative, and say Hamas were planning to aim the flashing blue light at Israeli epileptics in an attempt to make them go into a fit, get dizzy and wander off into Syria where they would be captured.
But they prefer a direct approach, such as the statement from Ofer Schmerling, an Israeli Civil Defence official who said on al-Jazeera, "I shall play music and celebrate what the Israeli Air Force is doing."
Maybe they could turn it into a huge nationalfestival, with decorations and mince pies and shops playing "I Wish We Could Bomb Gaza Every Day".
In a similar tone Dov Weisglas, Ariel Sharon's chief of staff, referred to the siege of Gaza that preceded this bombing, a siege in which the Israelis prevented the population from receiving essential supplies of food, medicine, electricity and water, by saying, "We put them on a diet."
It's the arrogance of the East End gangster, so it wouldn't be out of character if the Israeli Prime Minister's press conference began: "Oh dear or dear. It looks like those Palestinians have had a little, er, accident. All their buildings have been knocked down – they want to be more careful, hee hee."
And almost certainly one of the reasons this is happening now is because the government wants to appear hard as it wants to win an election. Maybe with typical Israeli frankness they'll show a party political broadcast in which Ehud Olmert says, "This is why I think you should vote for me", then shows film of Gaza and yells: "Wa-hey, that bloke in the corner is on FIRE."
And Condoleezza Rice and her colleagues, and the specially appointed Middle East Peace Envoy, could then all shake their heads and say: "Disgraceful. The way he's flapping around like that could cause someone to have a nasty accident."

Source:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/mark-steel-so-what-have-the-palestinians-got-to-complain-about-1218135.html

We Ask !

2009-01-09T05:30:00.002+02:00

Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask
Wednesday, 7 January 2009

A child injured in the Israeli bombardment of a UN school yesterday is taken to Shifa hospital in Gaza City

So once again, Israel has opened the gates of hell to the Palestinians. Forty civilian refugees dead in a United Nations school, three more in another. Not bad for a night's work in Gaza by the army that believes in "purity of arms". But why should we be surprised?
Have we forgotten the 17,500 dead – almost all civilians, most of them children and women – in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon; the 1,700 Palestinian civilian dead in the Sabra-Chatila massacre; the 1996 Qana massacre of 106 Lebanese civilian refugees, more than half of them children, at a UN base; the massacre of the Marwahin refugees who were ordered from their homes by the Israelis in 2006 then slaughtered by an Israeli helicopter crew; the 1,000 dead of that same 2006 bombardment and Lebanese invasion, almost all of them civilians?
What is amazing is that so many Western leaders, so many presidents and prime ministers and, I fear, so many editors and journalists, bought the old lie; that Israelis take such great care to avoid civilian casualties. "Israel makes every possible effort to avoid civilian casualties," yet another Israeli ambassador said only hours before the Gaza massacre. And every president and prime minister who repeated this mendacity as an excuse to avoid a ceasefire has the blood of last night's butchery on their hands. Had George Bush had the courage to demand an immediate ceasefire 48 hours earlier, those 40 civilians, the old and the women and children, would be alive.
What happened was not just shameful. It was a disgrace. Would war crime be too strong a description? For that is what we would call this atrocity if it had been committed by Hamas. So a war crime, I'm afraid, it was. After covering so many mass murders by the armies of the Middle East – by Syrian troops, by Iraqi troops, by Iranian troops, by Israeli troops – I suppose cynicism should be my reaction. But Israel claims it is fighting our war against "international terror". The Israelis claim they are fighting in Gaza for us, for our Western ideals, for our security, for our safety, by our standards. And so we are also complicit in the savagery now being visited upon Gaza.
I've reported the excuses the Israeli army has served up in the past for these outrages. Since they may well be reheated in the coming hours, here are some of them: that the Palestinians killed their own refugees, that the Palestinians dug up bodies from cemeteries and planted them in the ruins, that ultimately the Palestinians are to blame because they supported an armed faction, or because armed Palestinians deliberately used the innocent refugees as cover.
The Sabra and Chatila massacre was committed by Israel's right-wing Lebanese Phalangist allies while Israeli troops, as Israel's own commission of inquiry revealed, watched for 48 hours and did nothing. When Israel was blamed, Menachem Begin's government accused the world of a blood libel. After Israeli artillery had fired shells into the UN base at Qana in 1996, the Israelis claimed that Hizbollah gunmen were also sheltering in the base. It was a lie. The more than 1,000 dead of 2006 – a war started when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on the border – were simply dismissed as the responsibility of the Hizbollah. Israel claimed the bodies of children killed in a second Qana massacre may have been taken from a graveyard. It was another lie. The Marwahin massacre was never excused. The people of the village were ordered to flee, obeyed Israeli orders and were then attacked by an Israeli gunship. The refugees took their children and stood them around the truck in which they were travelling so that Israeli pilots would see they were innocents. Then the Israeli helicopter mowed them down at close range. Only two survived, by playing dead. Israel didn't even apologise.
Twelve years earlier, another Israeli helicopter attacked an ambulance carrying civilians from a neighbouring village – again after they were ordered to leave by Israel – and killed three children and two women. The Israelis claimed that a Hizbollah fighter was in the ambulance. It was untrue. I covered all these atrocities, I investigated them all, talked to the survivors. So did a number of my colleagues. Our fate, of course, was that most slanderous of libels: we were accused of being anti-Semitic.
And I write the following without the slightest doubt: we'll hear all these scandalous fabrications again. We'll have the Hamas-to-blame lie – heaven knows, there is enough to blame them for without adding this crime – and we may well have the bodies-from-the-cemetery lie and we'll almost certainly have the Hamas-was-in-the-UN-school lie and we will very definitely have the anti-Semitism lie. And our leaders will huff and puff and remind the world that Hamas originally broke the ceasefire. It didn't. Israel broke it, first on 4 November when its bombardment killed six Palestinians in Gaza and again on 17 November when another bombardment killed four more Palestinians.
Yes, Israelis deserve security. Twenty Israelis dead in 10 years around Gaza is a grim figure indeed. But 600 Palestinians dead in just over a week, thousands over the years since 1948 – when the Israeli massacre at Deir Yassin helped to kick-start the flight of Palestinians from that part of Palestine that was to become Israel – is on a quite different scale. This recalls not a normal Middle East bloodletting but an atrocity on the level of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. And of course, when an Arab bestirs himself with unrestrained fury and takes out his incendiary, blind anger on the West, we will say it has nothing to do with us. Why do they hate us, we will ask? But let us not say we do not know the answer.

Source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-do-they-hate-the-west-so-much-we-will-ask-1230046.html

UNRWA,Red Cross

2009-01-09T05:05:00.003+02:00

By what law they have been targeted ?!!!

Israel accused over Gaza wounded

The Red Cross has accused Israel of failing to fulfil its obligation to help wounded civilians in Gaza.
ICRC staff found four weak and scared children beside their mothers' bodies in houses hit by shelling in Zeitoun.
The Israeli military has not yet responded to the accusation, but said it worked closely with aid groups so that civilians could get assistance.
Meanwhile the UN said it was suspending aid operations in Gaza because of the danger to staff from Israeli attacks.
"We have suspended our operations in Gaza until the Israeli authorities can guarantee our safety and security," said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations relief agency Unrwa.
"Our installations have been hit, our workers have been killed in spite of the fact that the Israeli authorities have the co-ordinates of our facilities and that all our movements are co-ordinated with the Israeli army.
"It is with great regret that Unrwa has been forced to make this difficult decision."
Earlier, Unrwa said one person had been killed and two injured when a fork-lift truck on a UN aid mission came under Israeli tank fire at Gaza's Erez crossing.

The UN says the delivery had been co-ordinated with Israel.
The Israeli army has not commented on that claim but has said it is looking into the matter.
The aid agencies' concerns come amid fears the conflict with Gaza militants may spread, with at least three rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, prompting Israel to reply with artillery.
The incident followed Israel's heaviest bombardment so far of Gaza in nearly two weeks of conflict, with 60 air strikes targeting Hamas facilities.
Palestinian medical officials said at least 10 Gaza residents had been killed on Thursday.
More than 700 Palestinian and 11 Israeli lives are said to have been lost since the offensive began 13 days ago.
For a second day, Israeli forces observed a three-hour pause in fighting to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The first of what Israel said would be a daily ceasefire, on Wednesday, allowed aid agencies into the territory for the first time in days.
Efforts have continued to broker a full ceasefire - a senior Israeli official is in Cairo to hear details of a plan put forward by Egypt and France.
A Hamas delegation is expected in the Egyptian capital at some stage for parallel "technical" talks, Egyptian diplomats said.
'Access denied'
The International Committee of the Red Cross accused Israel of failing in its international obligations after its staff were met with "shocking" scenes.

One medical team found 12 bodies in a shelled house, and alongside them four very young children, too weak to stand, waiting by their dead mothers, the ICRC said.
Aid workers had been denied access to the site for days, it added.
"This is a shocking incident," Pierre Wettach, ICRC head for Israel and the Palestinian territories said in a statement.
"The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded."
Correspondents say the criticism is unusually strong, coming from an agency considered to be neutral.
The Israeli army told Reuters news agency that any serious allegations would be properly investigated once a formal complaint was received.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International accused both sides of using civilians as human shields.

At least three Katyusha rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into the northern Israeli area of Nahariya early on Thursday.
One hit a nursing home, leaving at least two people slightly wounded and a number of others suffering from shock, Israeli officials said.

Israel immediately responded with five artillery shells into Lebanon, calling it a "pinpoint response at the source of fire".
The rocket fire was condemned by Lebanon's prime minister.
The rocket attacks from Lebanon have raised concerns about a wider war in the region, says the BBC's Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen.
In Gaza, Israel continued its offensive overnight with 60 air strikes targeting police sites, 10 Hamas tunnels, weapons storage facilities, launching pads "and a number of armed gunmen", the Israeli army said.
Casualty claims in Gaza have been difficult to verify independently.
While the BBC has had Palestinian producers reporting from Gaza, Israel only allowed Western TV crews to enter on Wednesday, embedded with its army.

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7817926.stm

“This is an all-out war against the civilian Palestinian population”

2009-01-07T19:52:00.001+02:00

Dr. Mads Gilbert, Gaza, Dr . Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor in Gaza, tells Sky News that the number of civilians injured and killed in Gaza proves that Israel is deliberately attacking the population.

“Just a little bit more than an hour ago the Israelis bombed the central fruit market in Gaza city and we had a mass influx of about 50 injured and between 10 and 15 killed. At the same time they bombed an apartment house with children playing on the roof and we had a lot of children also. So this is really like speaking from the dumps of Inferno, it’s like hell here now, and it’s been bombing all night. Until now close to 500 people have been killed and the number of casualties is getting to 2,500 of which 50% are children and women.Are your hospitals reaching capacity? Can you deal with these people?We have been doing surgery around the clock. I have just talked with one of my colleagues in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), he's not been sleeping for three days and the hospital is completely overcrowded, we are running 6 - 7 Ors (Operating Rooms) and there are injuries you just don’t want to see in this world… children coming in with open abdomens and legs cut off. We just had a child that we had to amputate both legs and an arm. And their only crime is being civilians and Palestinians living in Gaza. The relief now is not more doctors and more drugs; the relief now is to stop the bombing immediately, this cannot go on, it’s a disaster.You’ve talked about the civilians, the women, the children, the men who aren’t involved in this, but are you also getting casualties that are Hamas fighters?To be honest, we came on New Year’s Eve in the morning. I’ve seen one military person among the tenths… I mean hundreds that we’ve seen and treated, so anybody who tries to portrait this as a totally clean war against another army are lying. This is an all-out war against the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza, and we can prove that with numbers. And you have to remember that the average age of the Gaza inhabitants is 17 years, it’s a very young population, and 80% are living below the poverty limit of the UN. So this is a poor and very young people, and they are able to escape absolutely nowhere, because they cannot flee like other populations can in war time, because they are fenced in and they are in a cage, so they’re bombing 1.5 million people in a cage… young people, poor people and, you know, you cannot separate between the civilians and the fighters in such a situation.”

Source:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21654.htm

How Can You Be İn Silnce ?

2009-01-07T19:19:00.004+02:00

İ came through this...and least i can do is publishing it here !
Not nice pictures yes,heart breaking ones...yes
Wish if we don't see them...also yes.
But you know...its not part of some horror movie,not some old history,we try to forget,and give excuses that,they were some barbaric times.
İts something happening these days,actually now,today,and yesterday
İts something these people living,and cant escape it.
So,can we really find it in our consciousness to just skip an eye ?!

Source:
http://www.elfarra.org/gallery/gaza.htm
I saw the images and they were disturbing. Images are of the Israeli assault against civilians in Gaza. I did not imagine things in Gaza are going as they are; therefore I forwarded it on to you so that you witness the crimes against humanity that the Israelis carry out.

Israeli air strikes hit civilian homes, and left women and kids without shelter

A Palestinian civilian, a victim as Israelis bomb his home leaving him with permanent disability

Paramedics attempt to rescue a family as their house is targeted by the Israeli air force

Again, paramedics try and evacuate a group of civilians from an area that was bombed

A ten year old child is killed when Israeli war planes target his home

A child less than 5 months old is killed in his home. Is he the terrorist or is the one that killed him the terrorist? Mohamed was the only son for his parents who were suffering infertility problems for five years. They are without kids again.

In three days, the Israeli army has killed more than 350 people in Gaza, 65 of them are children, and about 200 are civilians

Now they are 666 died and about 3100 injured .

Where to go ?!

2009-01-07T01:17:00.002+02:00

That was a scream from a Palestinie woman...
Where to go?!
Where to go ?!
They have destroyed our houses,they have destroyed everything
Where will we go ?!
Then this....!

Strike at Gaza school 'kills 30'

At least 30 people were killed and 55 injured when Israeli artillery shells landed outside a United Nations-run school in Gaza, UN officials have said.
A number of children were among those who died when the al-Fakhura school in the Jabaliya refugee camp was hit, doctors at nearby hospitals said.
Israel said its soldiers had come under fire from militants inside the school.
Earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of a "full-blown humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.
Speaking on the 11th day of the Israeli assault, a senior ICRC official, Pierre Kraehenbuhl, said life in Gaza had become intolerable.
Palestinian health ministry officials say 595 people have been killed since the attacks began, 195 of them children. Mr Kraehenbuhl said much more needed to be done to protect civilians.

The UN Security Council is set to resume debate on a ceasefire call in New York, with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, several Arab foreign ministers, UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice among those attending.
At least 70 Palestinians and five Israeli soldiers were killed on Tuesday.
One soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with militants in Gaza City, while four others were killed by shellfire from their own tanks earlier in the day, Israeli military officials said.
Israel says its offensive is stopping militants firing rockets, but at least five hit southern Israel on Tuesday, with one reaching the town of Gedera, about 40km (25 miles) from Gaza, and injuring a baby.
Four Israeli civilians have been killed by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since the offensive began.
In other developments:
Israeli forces push further south in the Gaza Strip and clash with militants near Gaza City
Skirmishes are reported on the edges of the Deir al-Balah and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza
Witnesses say Israeli tanks and soldiers are advancing on the southern town of Khan Younis
Venezuela orders the expulsion of Israel's ambassador in protest at the offensive and its "flagrant violations of international law"
Many claims cannot be verified. Israel is refusing to let international journalists into Gaza, despite a Supreme Court ruling to allow a limited number of reporters to enter the territory.
'Mortar fire'
The UN aid agency in Gaza, Unrwa, said three artillery shells had landed close to the al-Fakhura school on Tuesday afternoon, spraying shrapnel on people both inside and outside the building.

About 350 people had sought refuge at the school in an effort to escape the fighting between Israeli soldiers and militants on the outskirts of the Jabaliya refugee camp, to the east of Gaza City.
Television footage showed bodies scattered on the ground amid pools of blood.
The UN officials said they regularly provided the Israeli military with exact co-ordinates of their facilities, and that the school was in a built-up area.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply dismayed" that despite these efforts, three UN-run schools had been hit by nearby Israeli strikes.
The Israeli military said that, according to initial checks, its soldiers had come under mortar fire from militants inside the al-Fakhura school.
"The force responded with mortars at the source of fire," it said in a statement. "Hamas cynically uses civilians as human shields."
It later reported that two members of a Hamas rocket-launching cell had been among those killed at the school, naming them as Imad and Hassan Abu Askar.
Earlier in the day, at least three Palestinians were killed when another school was hit in the Shati camp, UN officials said.

Ten people were also injured at a UN health centre in the Bureij refugee camp.
Maxwell Gaylard, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for the Palestinian territories, described the incidents as tragic and demanded an independent investigation.
The director of operations for Unrwa, John Ging, told the BBC that conditions in Gaza were "horrific" and that nowhere was safe for civilians there.
Mr Ging said international leaders had a responsibility to act to protect civilians, some 14,000 of whom are sheltering in UN buildings.
'Immediate ceasefire'
Diplomatic efforts to try to end the violence are gathering pace.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he had asked his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, to help convince Hamas to co-operate with efforts to end the Israeli offensive. Syria is regarded as a main backer of Hamas.

Asked about the deaths at the UN school in Gaza, Mr Sarkozy said: "It reinforces my determination for all this to stop as quickly as possible."
He later held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh, who offered to hold talks with Israel and the Palestinians on border security without delay.
US state department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US would like to see "an immediate ceasefire" in Gaza.
US President-elect Barack Obama, meanwhile, broke his silence about the conflict, telling reporters that "the loss of civilian life in Gaza and Israel is a source of deep concern for me".
However, he also reiterated his principle that only President George W Bush would speak for US foreign policy at this time.
The BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York says the contours of an agreement are taking shape - international monitors along the Egypt-Gaza border to stop Hamas smuggling weapons and firing rockets at Israel, and the creation of a humanitarian corridor in southern Gaza to ensure that aid reaches the Palestinians.
The question now is whether Hamas will accept such a deal and if a call for a ceasefire will be heeded by Israel, our correspondent says.
Hamas has said that Israeli attacks on Gaza must stop and the crossings into the territory, which Israel controls, must be fully opened, before it agrees to a ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Miniser Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday that the military campaign in Gaza would continue until Israel had completely wiped out Hamas's ability to fire rockets into Israel.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7814054.stm

Ar ! Shame !

2009-01-05T06:11:00.003+02:00

The world says STOP!

İn Türkiye..Turkey

Thousands in Turkey protest Israeli massacre in Gaza

İn Mısır..Egypt

İn Lebanon

And the rest of the WHOLE world even in İsaerl !
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28435441/displaymode/1107/s/2/framenumber/7/

But the UN...living in another world !

UN fails to issue even a demand for Israel to halt attacks on Gaza

Gaza, January 4, 2009 (Ramattan) – The UN Security Council has failed to reach an agreement on a statement demanding the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The council held an emergency meeting late on Saturday night after Israel started a ground invasion.

The gathering followed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon's condemnation of the Israeli attacks.

He called for an "immediate" ceasefire of the hostilities which have claimed the lives of at least 460 Palestinians.

However, French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, who presides over the Security Council, said no formal agreement had been reached.

Libya submitted a draft statement that expressed "serious concern" about the ground invasion and called for an immediate ceasefire.

But the document was rejected, as it made no mention of the ongoing rocket attacks against Israel by Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza.

As Israel's closest ally, the United States regularly vetoes resolutions it sees as too critical of the Jewish state.

On Friday, President Bush made clear he would not condemn an Israeli ground offensive.

http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=39708

Maybe we can condemn the Gazian people for being killed by the İsraeli fire then ?!!!

WHAT A SHAME !

Not Fireworks!

2009-01-05T06:01:00.003+02:00

Need no guessing..!

Gazza !

İf this is what become of the houses,buildings,can you guess about the people there ?!

Gazza Ateşte ..Gaza in Fire !

2009-01-05T05:17:00.002+02:00

An organized army in war with women and children !

Well,that is how it is,the numbers now are 500 died and about 2500 injured
Consider that army has heavy weapons,airplanes,tanks...etc whatever you can think of,and in war with people of light weapons,and the heaviest thing they have are missiles with some kilo meters range !

The war is in city where people live,and then they blame the women and children for being in the way !

Then you read something like this,and all you can do is just laugh about it Laugh with tears in your eyes ... ''Hamas has held the people of Gaza hostage ever since their illegal coup against the forces of (Palestinian) President Mahmoud Abbas '' White House statement

Hostage ?!! People elected Hamas Hamas is the elected goverment of Palestine,people actually choose it So they are the ones who held people hostage,not the army who is serounding the people and killing women and children ?!

Hellooo,they live there,its their homes...sure when you fire there,women and children will be killed

They are hiding in their homes away from the fire,which it didn't let them get away easily,but track them down till their bedrooms!

And then,they say,its the women and children mistake...they should have left!

Leave where ?!

Where to go ?

Leave their homes and lands and go where ?!

İs there a safe place out there ?!!!

Israeli troops enter Gaza Strip

Israel has sent ground forces into the Gaza Strip after a week of air strikes to try to halt rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.
Its troops were reported to be engaged in heavy clashes with Hamas fighters in northern Gaza. Both sides have reported casualties in the fighting.
The UN secretary general called for an immediate halt to operations.
But an emergency Security Council meeting failed to agree a united approach to the Gaza conflict.
As dawn broke in Gaza a large plume of black smoke could be seen rising from part of the northern strip while the sound of exploding artillery shells - could also be heard. The shelling had continued through the night.

Witnesses say Israeli military convoys supported by attack helicopters crossed into northern Gaza at four separate points after nightfall on Saturday.
Advancing Israeli tanks were reported to be in battles around Gaza City and the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya, the Afp news agency reported. Hamas fighters replied with mortars and rockets, witnesses said.
The Israeli army said 30 of its soldiers had been wounded in the ground offensive, two of them seriously.
Palestinian medical officials said eight Gazans had been killed by Israeli troops, five of them gunmen.
'Not war-hungry'
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the objective of the ground operation was "to destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure in the area of operations".

"We are going to take some of the launch areas used by Hamas," Maj Avital Leibovitch told reporters.
Israeli officials have described the offensive as a "limited" operation.
The move into Gaza had been preceded by some of the heaviest Israeli air and artillery attacks on the territory in more than a week of bombardment.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the ground campaign against Hamas "will not be easy or short, but we are determined".
"Our aim is to force Hamas to stop its hostile activities against Israel and Israelis from Gaza, and to bring about a significant change in the situation in the southern part of Israel," he told a news conference.
"We have carefully weighed all our operations. We are not war-hungry, but we shall not allow a situation in which our towns, villages and civilians are constantly targeted by Hamas."
Mr Barak also said Israel would "keep a sensitive eye" on its northern border with Lebanon, where it fought a short but bloody war with the Shia Hezbollah movement in 2006.
"We hope the situation will remain calm. Nevertheless, we are ready and alert to face any unwanted development in that area," he added.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says this is probably just the first wave of the assault, since there are said to be some 10,000 Israeli troops and hundreds of tanks massed on the border with Gaza.
The government has also announced the urgent call-up of "tens of thousands" of extra military reservists.
Just before the ground offensive began, Hamas issued a statement promising that Palestinian children would be picking over the ruins of Israeli tanks and the body parts of Israeli soldiers.
The militant group's exiled political leader, Khaled Meshaal, earlier warned Israel against a ground offensive, saying that a "black destiny" awaited Israeli forces if the entered Gaza.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the offensive as "a vicious aggression".
Our correspondent says this promises to be a very bloody encounter.
'Alarm and dismay'
The UN session was convened a few hours after Israeli forces entered Gaza.
Talks lasted more than three hours and afterwards the Security Council's current president - France's Jean-Maurice Ripert - said there was a "general convergence" among some members, but he would not elaborate.

The UK ambassador to the UN, Sir John Sawers, said members had got close to an agreement. He added it was disappointing there could not be a firm statement from the UN as the situation on the ground escalates.
France has strongly criticised the Israeli land campaign. The British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, said the escalation of the conflict would cause alarm and dismay.
The US said it had told Israel's government that military action must be "mindful of the potential consequences to civilians."
The State Department also said Washington is "deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation" in Gaza, but said in a statement that Hamas holds the people of Gaza hostage.
Israeli warplanes and naval vessels have carried out more than 800 strikes on the Gaza Strip since the offensive started eight days ago, including 40 on Saturday.
The UN has warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis, and believes 25% of more than 400 Palestinians killed by Israel so far were civilians. Israel says about 80% of those killed were Hamas militants. Four Israelis have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza.
Mosque hit
Earlier on Saturday, at least 13 people were killed in one Israeli raid when a missile struck a crowded mosque in Beit Lahiya, Palestinian medics said.

Witnesses said more than 200 people had been inside the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque for evening prayers when it was struck.
Correspondents say Israel has accused Hamas of using mosques to hide weapons and ammunition, but this is the first time a mosque has been hit at prayer time.
Militants in Gaza fired more rockets into southern Israel on Saturday, one of which hit the port of Ashdod, injuring two people.
Around the world, demonstrations were held against Israel's military operations.
The biggest was in Paris, drawing more than 20,000 people. About 10,000 people protested in London.
In Israel itself, tens of thousands of Israeli Arabs gathered in the town of Sakhnin to protest against their government's actions.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7809959.stm

Filistin 'Palestine' - Türkiye 'Turkey' History

2009-01-02T04:23:00.002+02:00

The Ottoman Empire

We will go back to history,but this time to part of the history which we share it here with Filistin 'Palestine'

Filistin under the ottoman rule

Ottoman Jerusalem

Palestine as a part of the Ottoman Empire
In 1516 the Ottoman Turks conquered Palestine, and the country was incorporated in the dominions of the Ottoman Empire. Local governors were appointed from Constantinople, to which annual revenues were sent. Various public works were undertaken in Palestine, such as the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1537. Palestine remained under Turkish rule until World War II.

In the early sixteenth century, northern Palestine, as far south as Acre, was temporarily included in the Druse state established by Fakhr ud-Din and set up in defiance of Ottoman authority, but the new state did not last long.

Toward the close of the 18th century Napoleon undertook a campaign in Palestine, capturing Jaffa, Ramle, Lydda, Nazareth and Tiberias in 1798, but his siege of Acre was unsuccessful. In 1831 Mehemet Ali of Egypt intervened in Palestine. Under his son Ibrahim Pasha, Egyptian troops captured Acre, but in 1834 the Palestinians revolted against the Egypticians. By 1840 the Ottoman authority was fully reestablish in Palestine, and the Palestinian played an active role in encouraging the political reforms in the Ottoman Empire of 1876 and 1908.

The territory of Palestine under Ottoman rule was composed of two areas. The Independent Sanjak (district) of Jerusalem was subject to the High Porte in Constantinople. Rhe Sanjak extended from Jaffa to the River Jordan in the East and from the Jordan south to the borders of Egypt. The other area was part of the Willayat (province) of Beirut.

This part was composed of the Sanjak of Balka (Nablus) from Jaffa to Jenin, and the Sanjak of Acre, which extended from Jenin to Naqura.

His Eminence the late Haj Amin Effendi El Husseini, on behalf of the Arab Higher Committee for Palestine, testified on the 12th of January 1937, before the Palestine Royal Commission sent by the British mandatory Power. He explained the position of the Arabs under the Ottoman rule as follows:
Under the Ottoman Regime the Arabs formed an important part of the structure of the Ottoman Empire. It is wrong to say that the Arabs were under the yoke of the Turks and that their uprising and the assistance, which was rendered to them during the Great War, were merely intended to relieve them from such yoke. The fact is that under the Ottoman Constitution provided for one from of government of all Ottoman territories and elements.

The Arabs had a complete share with the Turks in all organs of the State, civil as well as military. There were Arabs who held the high office of Prime Minister and Ministers, Commanders of Divisions and Ambassadors…. There were Arab ambassadors, provincial and district governors. There were two Parliaments, two Constitutions. One was made in the early days of the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid, in 1876, and the other was made after the grant of the Constitution in 1908…but even in the Parliament under the first Constitution there were Arab representatives. In the first Parliament, you find the President of the Council of the House of Representatives was a Deputy from Jerusalem, Yusif Dia Pasha Al Khalidi. Moreover, the administration of Arab territories was entrusted to elected Administrative Councils. Those Councils were elected and existed in the provinces, districts, and sub-districts.

Those Councils were vested with extensive powers in all matters relating to administration, finance, education, and development, but, irrespective of all this, the Arabs were aspiring to he attainment of complete national independence and the regaining of the distinguished position which the Arab peoples had held in the past centuries, when the Arab peoples made the greatest contribution to civilization and to every phase of human activity.

Source:

http://www.jerusalemites.org/jerusalem/ottoman/index.htm

Sultan AbdulHamid II

He denied to offer palestine as Home Land for jews and as result of this he lose his throne

" Please advise Dr Hertzel not to make any serious move in this mater. I cannot give up even one small patch of land in Palestine. It is not something that I own as a part of my personal estate. "Palestine in fact belongs to the Muslim Nation as a whole. My people have fought with their blood and sweat to protect this land,let the Jews keep their millions and once the Khilafah is torn apart one day, then they can take Palestine without a price,to have the scalpel cut my body is less painful than to witness Palestine being detached from the Khilafah state and this is not going to happen …"

Mutlu Yıllar - Happy New Year

2009-01-02T03:06:00.003+02:00

Wish it brings us Peace,Love and Happiness to all of us :)

The Dignity Boat !

2008-12-31T06:05:00.006+02:00

(CNN) -- An Israeli patrol boat struck a boat carrying medical volunteers and supplies to Gaza early Tuesday as it attempted to intercept the vessel in the Mediterranean Sea, witnesses and Israeli officials said.

CNN correspondent Karl Penhaul was aboard the 60-foot pleasure boat Dignity when the contact occurred. When the boat later docked in the Lebanese port city of Tyre, severe damage was visible to the forward port side of the boat, and the front left window and part of the roof had collapsed. It was flying the flag of Gibraltar.
The Dignity was carrying crew and 16 passengers -- physicians from Britain, Germany and Cyprus and human rights activists from the Free Gaza Solidarity Movement -- who were trying to reach Gaza through an Israeli blockade of the territory.
Also on board was former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney.
Penhaul said an Israeli patrol boat shined its spotlight on the Dignity, and then it and another patrol boat shadowed the Dignity for about a half hour before the collision.

The Dignity arrives in Tyre, Lebanon, after it was reportedly rammed by an Israeli military vessel Tuesday

Resource:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/12/30/gaza.aid.boat/

Israeli vessel hits Gaza-bound boat

A small boat, damaged as it tried to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, has arrived in the Lebanese port of Tyre.The Dignity started taking on water after it was hit by an Israeli naval vessel as it approached the Israeli coast with its cargo of medical aid.
The Free Gaza Movement, which organised the attempt to reach the territory , said their boat was "rammed" and shots were fired when at least four Israeli vessels confronted them in international waters.Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, denied there had been any shooting but said that the ships had made "physical contact".
He said that the crew of the Dignity had failed to respond to Israeli naval radio contact.'Rammed'Elize Ernshire, one of the activists onboard the boat, told Al Jazeera by telephone that the boat was rammed twice from the front and then once from the side.
"It has destroyed the front of the boat and the roof ... and has left the cabin, the wheelhouse quite destroyed," she said.
"... we were threatened directly by the Israeli navy that if we continued on our course towards Gaza they would attack us again"Elize Ernshire,activist onboard Dignity
" ... we were threatened directly by the Israeli navy that if we continued on our course towards Gaza they would attack us again."Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, said that the incident was nothing more than a "propoganda stunt".
"Israel would never have done anything against international law, that is inconceivable," he told Al Jazeera.
"These people just want a headline, they don't really want to help the people of Gaza, if they wanted to help the people of Gaza they would be asking Hamas why they initiated the violence."Several small boats have arrived in the Gaza Strip carrying international activists and medical aid since August in defiance of the Israeli siege.Ernshire said that the incident would not stop the movement trying again to take aid to the impoverished territory."The majority of passenger here are determined, once we reach Lebanon, to keep continuing to organise such boats as these, to reach the people of Gaza," she said.Gaza's health system is struggling to cope with the casualties from four consecutive days of aerial bombardment by Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships.ShortagesHospitals were already facing shortages of medicines and other medical products due to the Israeli siege imposed after the Hamas government seized full control of the territory in 2007.

As well as more than three tonnes of aid, the Dignity was carrying three doctors to help treat the more than 1,600 wounded in recent days.Avital Leibovitz, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said that humanitarian aid was being allowed into the Gaza Strip and the medical supplies on the boat would not have made much impact on the humanitarian situation.
"Lets not talk about a blockade because it does not exist, the humanitarian corridor is active, alive and working," she told Al Jazeera.
"There are a numerous number of trucks enetring Gaza with food and medicine according to the requests of the aid organisations." Three Al Jazeera journalists were among the 15 people onboard the boat."Al Jazeera holds Israel responsible for the safety of the Al Jazeera journalists and everyone on board the Dignity," Wadah Khanfar, director general of the Al Jazeera network said in a statement.
"Al Jazeera's presence on the boat is to cover the expedition for news and journalistic purposes. We are deeply concerned for the safety and well being of our journalists."

Resource:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081230121412669439.html

NO Comment!

Numbers for today,

About 390 died and 1750 injured.

Numbers !

Sad how we refer to other human...just numbers ?!

No by God...its tragedy...not just numbers !

En Az - At Least !

2008-12-30T05:29:00.003+02:00

İ wanted to carry out from where we stopped,talk about history,food,traditions,things some know things some don't .

But i couldn't...!

İ really couldn't !

Not while watching people dying on the TV,women and children and counting numbers!
Every hour a new number!

Not while watching a small boy and a smal girl crying and shaking with sadness and fear
Afraid to sleep and afraid to wake up too!

Not while watching this look in the eyes,wondering silently what have they done for that ?!

What am i going to do ?
What is in my hand to do ?
Honestly....i don't know !

Countries like Mısır -Egypt. Tükiye -Turkey,Qatar,Saudi Arabia,Libya,Jordan,Algeria,and many many other countries are sending humanitarian aids,food,and medical supplies to Mısır-Egypt so they cross to Gazza through Egypt-Gaza border.

Do they need more there in Gazza ?

Ohhh,YES,they need much...they have nothing actually !

Maybe i also can help?
Sending even a blanket through the Red Cresent or The Red Cross ?
İ dont know !

But at least,i can do this for a start...
İ can share this with you all,and dedicate this week for them.
İ beg your pardon,i know this is a new blog,and it is not about Palestine,and also that is not what you came here to read,but i don't find it in my conscience to continue as if nothing happening.
Palestine is/was part of us and our history too.

And she is calling for help...i can't just skip an eye .

For Gazza,and people of Gazza,the Palestinians whose numbers have reached the 350 died and 1650 injured till now for just 3 days !

Light a candle

Make Doa ,Doa Et !

Pray

Even just hope

İt doesn't matter if we are Muslims,Christians,Buddist,Buddhist,Jewish...etc

They die there side by side,and fight there side by side,missiles don't target muslims but not none muslims,all are same,all are Palestinians!
So let's remember them in our,prayers,doas, thoughts,keep them in mind and wish them what we wish for our daughters,sons,women,and men
Safe and peace.

Filistin - Palestine

2008-12-29T02:33:00.004+02:00

Least we can do in time like this,is to have a momet of silence to pay our respect
And due to the event,we will talk a little about it..
Not about the event...opening TV would be enough,but about the facts lying behinde it
Misery of a whole nation !

1517 AD : The Ottoman Turks of Asia Minor defeated the Mamelukes, with few interruptions, ruled Palestine until the winter of 1917-18. The country was divided into several districts (sanjaks), such as that of Jerusalem. The administration of the districts was placed largely in the hands of Arab Palestinians, who were descendants of the Canaanites. The Christian and Jewish communities, however, were allowed a large measure of autonomy. Palestine shared in the glory of the Ottoman Empire during the 16th century, but declined again when the empire began to decline in the 17th century.
1831-1840 AD : Muhammad Ali, the modernizing viceroy of Egypt, expanded his rule to Palestine . His policies modified the feudal order, increased agriculture, and improved education. 1840 The Ottoman Empire reasserted its authority, instituting its own reforms .
1845 Jewish in Palestine were 12,000 increased to 85,000 by 1914. All people in Palestine were Arabic Muslims and Christians.
1897 the first Zionist Congress held Basle, Switzerland, issued the Basle programme on the colonization of Palestine.

1904 the Fourth Zionist Congress decided to establish a national home for Jews in Argentina.
1906 the Zionist congress decided the Jewish homeland should be Palestine.
1914 With the outbreak of World War I, Britain promised the independence of Arab lands under Ottoman rule, including Palestine, in return for Arab support against Turkey which had entered the war on the side of Germany.
1916 Britain and France signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided the Arab region into zones of influence. Lebanon and Syria were assigned to France, Jordan and Iraq to Britain and Palestine was to be internationalized.
1917 The British government issued the Balfour Declaration on November 2, in the form of a letter to a British Zionist leader from the foreign secretary Arthur J. Balfour prmissing him the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.
1917-1918 Aided by the Arabs, the British captured Palestine from the Ottoman Turks. The Arabs revolted against the Turks because the British had promised them, in correspondence with Shareef Husein ibn Ali of Mecca, the independence of their countries after the war. Britain, however, also made other, conflicting commitments in the secret Sykes-Picot agreement with France and Russia (1916), it promised to divide and rule the region with its allies. In a third agreement, the Balfour Declaration of 1917, Britain promised the Jews a Jewish "national home" in Palestine .
1918 After WW I ended, Jews began to migrate to Palestine, which was set a side as a British mandate with the approval of the League of Nations in 1922. Large-scale Jewish settlement and extensive Zionist agricultural and industrial enterprises in Palestine began during the British mandatory period, which lasted until 1948.
1919 The Palestinians convened their first National Conference and expressed their opposition to the Balfour Declaration.
1920 The San Remo Conference granted Britain a mandate over Palestine. and two years later Palestine was effectively under British administration. Sir Herbert Samuel, a declared Zionist, was sent as Britain's first High Commissioner to Palestine. 1922 The Council of the League of Nations issued a Mandate for Palestine.
1929 Large-scale attacks on Jews by Arabs rocked Jerusalem. Palestinians killed 133 Jews and suffered 116 deaths. Sparked by a dispute over use of the Western Wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque ( this site is sacred to Muslims, but Jews claimed it is the remaining of jews temple all studies shows clearly that the wall is from the Islamic ages and it is part of al-Aqsa Mosque). But the roots of the conflict lay deeper in Arab fears of the Zionist movement which aimed to make at least part of British-administered Palestine a Jewish state.
1936 The Palestinians held a six-month General Strike to protest against the confiscation of land and Jewish immigration.
1937 Peel Commission, headed by Lord Robert Peel, issued a report. Basically, the commission concluded, the mandate in Palestine was unworkable There was no hope of any cooperative national entity there that included both Arabs and Jews. The commission went on to recommend the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a neutral sacred-site state to be administered by Britain.
1939 The British government published a White Paper restricting Jewish immigration and offering independence for Palestine within ten years. This was rejected by the Zionists, who then organized terrorist groups and launched a bloody campaign against the British and the Palestinians.

1947 Great Britain decided to leave Palestine and called on the United Nations (UN) to make recommendations. In response, the UN convened its first special session and on November 29, 1947, it adopted a plan calling for partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem as an international zone under UN jurisdiction.
1947 Arab protests against partition erupted in violence, with attacks on Jewish settlements in retalation to the attacks of Jews terrorist groups to Arab Towns and villages and massacres in hundred against unarmed Palestinian in there homes.
15 May 1948 British decided to leave on this day, leaders of the Yishuv decided (as they claim) to implement that part of the partition plan calling for establishment of a Jewish state. The same day, the armies of Egypt, Transjordan (now Jordan), Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq joined Palestinian and other Arab guerrillas in a full-scale war (first Arab-Israeli War). The Arabs failed to prevent establishment of a Jewish state, and the war ended with four UN-arranged armistice agreements between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The small Gaza Strip was left under Egyptian control, and the West Bank was controled by Jordan. Of the more than 800,000 Arabs who lived in Israeli-held territory before 1948, only about 170,000 remained. The rest became refugees in the surrounding Arab countries, ending the Arab majority in the Jewish state.
1956 Attckes incursions by refugee guerrilla bands and attacks by Arab military units were made, Egypt refused to permit Israeli ships to use the Suez Canal and blockaded the Straits of Tiran erupted in the second Arab-Israeli War.Great Britain and France joined the attack because of their dispute with Egypt's president Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had nationalized the Suez Canal. Seizing the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula within few days. The fighting was halted by the UN after a few days, and a UN Emergency Force (UNEF) was sent to supervise the cease-fire in the Canal zone. By the end of the year their forces withdrew from Egypt, but Israel refused to leave Gaza until early 1957.
1965 The Palestine Liberation Organization was established.

1967 Nasser's insistence in 1967 that the UNEF leave Egypt, led Israel to attack Egypt, Jordan, and Syria simultaneously on 5th of June.The war ended six days later with an Israeli victory. Israel occuiped Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, Arab East Jerusalem, West Bank, Golan Heights.
After 1967 war, several guerrilla organizations within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) carried out guerrillas attacks on Israeli miletary targets, with the stated objective of "redeeming Palestine.
1973 Egypt and Syria joined in a war against Israel 'sentence has been corrected by me'to regain the territories lost in 1967. The two Arab states struck unexpectedly on October 6. After crossing the suez channel the Arab forces gain a lot of advanced positions in Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights and manage to defeat the Israeli forces for more then three weeks. Israeli forces with a massive U.S. economic and military assistance managed to stop the arab forces after a three-week struggle. The Arab oil-producing states cut off petroleum exports to the United States and other Western nations in retaliation for their aid to Israel.In an effort to encourage a peace settlement, U.S. secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, managed to work out military disengagements between Israel and Egypt in the Sinai and between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights during 1974.
1974 The Arab Summit in Rabat recognized the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
1982 Israel launched an invasion of Lebanon aimed at wiping out the PLO presence there. By mid-August, after intensive fighting in and around Bayrut, the PLO agreed to withdraw its guerrillas from the city. Israeli troops remained in southern Lebanon.
1987 Relations between Israel and the Palestinians entered a new phase with the intifada, a series of uprisings in the occupied territories that included demonstrations, strikes, and rock-throwing attacks on Israeli soldiers.
1988 The PNC meeting in Algiers declared the State of Palestine as outlined in the UN Partition Plan 181.

For more information:
http://www.palestinehistory.com/history/brief/brief.htm

http://www.palestineremembered.com/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine

Gazza....Gaza...!

2008-12-27T20:13:00.009+02:00

Sinking in blood !

Human rights ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only some human but not the others ?!

Which human,and what rights ?!

Aren't they human ?

İt can be your daughter,son,brother or sister,

Husband ,wife,father or mother,can't it ?!

Don't they have right to LİVE same as you and i do ?!!!!!!!!!!!

Israeli F-16 bombers have pounded key targets across the Gaza Strip, killing more than 200 people, local medics say.

Most of those killed were policemen in the Hamas militant movement, which controls Gaza, but women and children also died, the Gaza officials said.
About 700 others were wounded, as missiles struck security compounds and militant bases, the officials said.
Israel said it was responding to an escalation in rocket attacks from Gaza and would bomb "as long as necessary".

They were the heaviest Israeli attacks on Gaza for decades. More air raids were launched as night fell.

The operation came days after a truce with Hamas expired.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said "it won't be easy and it won't be short".
"There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight," he said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate halt to the violence, condemning what he called Israel's "excessive use of force leading to the killing and injuring of civilians" and "the ongoing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants".
Middle East envoy Tony Blair and the French EU presidency also urged an immediate ceasefire.
Palestinian militants frequently fire rockets against Israeli towns from inside the Gaza Strip; large numbers of rocket and mortar shells have been fired at Israel in recent days.
In a statement, Israel's military said it targeted "Hamas terror operatives" as well as training camps and weapons storage warehouses.

Hamas bases destroyedA Hamas police spokesman, Islam Shahwan, said one of the raids targeted a police compound in Gaza City where a graduation ceremony for new personnel was taking place.

At least a dozen bodies of men in black uniforms were photographed at the Hamas police headquarters in Gaza City.
Israel said operations "will continue, will be expanded, and will deepen if necessary".
It is the worst attack in Gaza since 1967 in terms of the number of Palestinian casualties, a senior analyst told the BBC in Jerusalem.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni defended the air raids, saying Israel had "no choice". "We're doing what we need to do to defend our citizens," she said in a television broadcast.
Israel hit targets across Gaza, striking in the territory's main population centres, including Gaza City in the north and the southern towns of Khan Younis and Rafah.
Hamas said all of its security compounds in Gaza were destroyed by the air strikes, which Israel said hit some 40 targets.
Mosques issued urgent appeals for people to donate blood and Hamas sources told the BBC's Rushdi Abou Alouf in Gaza that hospitals were soon full.
In the West Bank, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas - whose Fatah faction was ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007 - condemned the attacks and called for restraint.

But Hamas quickly vowed to carry out revenge attacks on Israel in response to the air strikes, firing Qassam rockets into Israeli territory as an immediate reply.
One Israeli was killed by a rocket strike on the town of Netivot, 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Gaza, doctors said.
"Hamas will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," spokesman Fawzi Barhoum was reported as saying.
The air strikes come amid rumours that an Israeli ground operation is imminent.
Calls for ceasefire
World leaders urged both sides to halt the violence.
A White House spokesman said the United States "urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza".
"Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop," the spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, added.
The UK Foreign Office said: "We urge maximum restraint to avoid further civilian casualties."
At least 30 missiles were fired by F-16 fighter bombers. Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that about 60 warplanes took part in the first wave of air strikes.
Egypt opened its border crossing to the Gaza Strip at Rafah to absorb and treat some of those injured in the south of the territory.
Most of the dead and injured were said to be in Gaza City, where Hamas's main security compound was destroyed. The head of Gaza's police forces, Tawfik Jaber, was reportedly among those killed.

Residents spoke of children heading to and from school at the time of the attacks.
Palestinians staged demonstrations in the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Hebron, and there were some scuffles with Israeli troops there.
Israeli security officials have been briefing about the possibility of a new offensive into Gaza for some days now, says the BBC's Paul Wood, in Jerusalem.
But most reports centred on the possibility of a ground offensive, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was not expected to authorise any operation until Sunday at the earliest.
Although a six-month truce between Hamas and Israel was agreed earlier this year, it was regularly under strain and was allowed to lapse when it expired this month.
Hamas blamed Israel for the end of the ceasefire, saying it had not respected its terms, including the lifting of the blockade under which little more than humanitarian aid has been allowed into Gaza.
Israel said it initially began a staged easing of the blockade, but this was halted when Hamas failed to fulfil what Israel says were agreed conditions, including ending all rocket fire and halting weapons smuggling.
Israel says the blockade - in place since Hamas took control of Gaza in June 2007 - is needed to isolate Hamas and stop it and other militants from firing rockets across the border at Israeli towns.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7800985.stm

Gaza...

What is Gaza ?

The Gaza Strip is not recognized internationally as part of any sovereign country. It is claimed by the Palestinian National Authority as part of the Palestinian territories, though following the June 2007 battle of Gaza, actual control of the area is in the hands of the de facto government dominated by Hamas. Israel, which governed the Gaza Strip from 1967-2005, still controls the strip's airspace, territorial water and offshore maritime access, as well as its side of the Gaza-Israeli border. Egypt, which governed the Gaza Strip from 1948-1967 controls the southern border between the Gaza strip and the Sinai desert

History of Gaza

Ottoman and British control (1517-1948)
In 1517 Gaza fell to the Ottomans and was part of the Ottoman Empire until the First World War.
Starting in the early 19th century, Gaza was culturally dominated by neighboring Egypt. Though part of the Ottoman Empire, a large number of its residents were Egyptians (and their descendants) who had fled political turmoil.
The region served as a battlefield during the First World War (1914-18). The Gaza Strip was taken by the British in the Third Battle of Gaza on 7 November 1917. The British government has financially supported the maintenance of a cemetery for fallen British soldiers from WWI.
Following World War I, Gaza became part of the British Mandate of Palestine under the authority of the League of Nations.
Jews were present in Gaza until 1929 Palestine riots, when Jews were forced to leave Gaza. After that the British prohibited Jews from living in the area, though some Jews returned and, in 1946, established kibbutz Kfar Darom near the Egyptian border.
British rule of Palestine ended with the Israeli War of Independence in 1948.

Egyptian occupation (1948-67)

Main article: Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt
According to the terms of the 1947 United Nations partition plan, the Gaza area was to become part of a new Arab state. Following the dissolution of the British mandate of Palestine and 1947-1948 Civil War in Palestine, Israel declared its independence in May 1948. The Egyptian army invaded the area from the south, starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
The Gaza Strip as it is known today was the product of the subsequent 1949 Armistice Agreements between Egypt and Israel, often referred to as the Green Line. Egypt occupied the Strip from 1949 (except for four months of Israeli occupation during the 1956 Suez Crisis) until 1967. The Strip's population was greatly augmented by an influx of Palestinian Arab refugees who fled or were expelled from Israel during the fighting.
Towards the end of the war, the All-Palestine Government (Arabic: حكومة عموم فلسطين hukumat 'umum Filastin) was proclaimed in Gaza City on 22 September 1948 by the Arab League. It was conceived partly as an Arab League attempt to limit the influence of Transjordan over the Palestinian issue. The government was not recognized by Transjordan or any non-Arab country. It was little more than a façade under Egyptian control, had negligible influence or funding, and subsequently moved to Cairo. Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip or Egypt were issued All-Palestine passports until 1959, when Gamal Abdul Nasser, President of Egypt, annulled the All-Palestine government by decree.
Egypt never annexed the Gaza Strip, but instead treated it as a controlled territory and administered it through a military governor. The refugees were never offered Egyptian citizenship.
During the Sinai campaign of November 1956, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula were overrun by Israeli troops. International pressure soon forced Israel to withdraw.

Israeli occupation (1967-1994)

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip again in June 1967 during the Six-Day War. The military occupation lasted for 27 years, until 1994. However, according to the Oslo Accords, Israel retains control of air space, territorial waters, offshore maritime access, the population registry, entry of foreigners, imports and exports as well as the tax system.[7]
During the period of Israeli occupation, Israel created a settlement bloc, Gush Katif in the south west corner of the Strip near Rafah and the Egyptian border. In total Israel created 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip, comprising some 20% of the total territory. Besides ideological reasons for being there, these settlements also served Israel's security concerns. The Gaza Strip remained under Israeli military administration until 1994. During that period the military administration was also responsible for the maintenance of civil facilities and services.
In March 1979 Israel and Egypt signed the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Among other things, the treaty provided for the withdrawal by Israel of its armed forces and civilians from the Sinai Peninsula which Israel had captured during the Six-Day War. The final status of the Gaza Strip as with relations between Israel and Palestinians was not dealt with in the treaty. The treaty did settle the international border between Gaza Strip and Egypt. Egypt renounced all territorial claims to the region beyond the international border.
In May 1994, following the Palestinian-Israeli agreements known as the Oslo Accords, a phased transfer of governmental authority to the Palestinians took place. Much of the Strip (except for the settlement blocs and military areas) came under Palestinian control. The Israeli forces left Gaza City and other urban areas, leaving the new Palestinian Authority to administer and police the Strip. The Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, chose Gaza City as its first provincial headquarters. In September 1995, Israel and the PLO signed a second peace agreement extending the Palestinian Authority to most West Bank towns. The agreement also established an elected 88-member Palestinian National Council, which held its inaugural session in Gaza in March 1996.
The PA rule of the Gaza Strip and West Bank under leadership of Arafat suffered from serious mismanagement and corruption. Exorbitant bribes were demanded for allowing goods to pass in and out of the Gaza Strip, while heads of the Preventive Security Service apparatus profited from their involvement in the gravel import and cement and construction industries, like the Great Arab Company for Investment and Development, the al-Motawaset Company and the al-Sheik Zayid construction project.
The Second Intifada broke out in September 2000. In February 2005, the Israeli government voted to implement a unilateral disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip. The plan began to be implemented on 15 August 2005 (the day after Tisha B'av) and was completed on 12 September 2005. Under the plan, all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip (and four in the West Bank) and the nearby Erez bloc were dismantled with the removal of all 9,000 Israeli settlers (most of them in the Gush Katif settlement area in the Strip's southwest) and military bases. On 12 September 2005 the Israeli cabinet formally declared an end to Israeli military rule in the Gaza Strip. To avoid any allegation that it was still in occupation of any part of the Gaza Strip, Israel also withdrew from the Philadelphi Route, which is a narrow strip adjacent to the Strip's border with Egypt, after Egypt's agreement to secure its side of the border. Under the Oslo Accords the Philadelphi Route was to remain under Israeli control, to prevent the smuggling of materials (such as ammunition) and people across the border with Egypt. With Egypt agreeing to patrol its side of the border, it was hoped that the objective would be achieved.

Türkiye Tarihi - Turkey's History

2008-12-27T18:41:00.003+02:00

We actually can't know people without knowing their own history,we cant understand them,get close to them without sharing some knowledge about them
So let's try to know more about the Turkish history with all its richness,and get more closer to Türkiye -Turkey ?

History of Anadolu -Anatolia

The History of Anatolia encompasses the region known as Anatolia (Turkish: Anadolu), known by the Latin name of Asia Minor, considered to be the westernmost extent of Western Asia. Geographically it encompasses what is most of modern Turkey, from the Aegean Sea to the mountains on the Armenian border to east and by the Black Sea and the Taurus mountains from north to south.
The earliest representations of culture in Anatolia can be found in several archaeological sites located in the central and eastern part of the region. Although the origins of some of the earliest peoples are shrouded in mystery, the remnants of Hattian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Hittite culture provides us with many examples of the daily lives of its citizens and their trade. After the fall of the Hittites, the new states of Phrygia and Lydia stood strong on the western coast as Greek civilization began to flourish. Only the threat from a distant Persian kingdom prevented them from advancing past their peak of success.
As Persia grew, their system of local control in Anatolia allowed many port cities to grow and to become very wealthy. Their governors did revolt from time to time, but it did not really pose a serious threat. Alexander the Great finally wrested control of the whole region from Persia in successive battles and achieved marked victories over his Persian foe Darius III. After his death, his conquests were split amongst several of his trusted generals and survived under constant threat of invasion from both the Gauls and other powerful rulers in Pergamon, Pontus, and Egypt. The Seleucid Empire, largest of the divided territories of Alexander, eventually was bled off by Roman interest in Anatolia and conquered or given away piecemeal.
Roman control of Anatolia was strengthened by a 'hands off' approach by Rome, allowing local control to govern effectively and providing military protection. During the reign of Constantine the Great, a new eastern empire was established at Constantinople, known as the Byzantine Empire. It succeeded initially due to its vast wealth and judicious rulers, but soon suffered from widespread neglect and a new empire borne from the earlier Mongol advance, the Turks. Seljuk and Ilkhanate armies soon whittled down the wide scope of Byzantine influence and trade by the gradual overrun of vital trading centers. The most powerful Turkish empire, that of the Ottomans, finally dealt the Byzantine Empire its death blow when Sultan Mehmet II conquered Constantinople in 1453.
The Ottoman Empire in Anatolia allowed other religions to maintain themselves long after 1453, and built upon their success by enlarging their territories, from North Africa to Europe beyond Thrace. Wars with Russia and other peoples in revolt prevented the Ottomans from taking advantage of their powerful position, and declined under ineffective leadership. Even their highly skilled army, the janissaries, were eventually disbanded after an attempted revolt. Reforms designed to improve the economy beckfired as burdensome taxes and levies turned away profitable trade, and desperation allowed the Empire to be sucked into World War I on the side of Germany and Austria. Following their defeat in the war, the Ottoman Empire was carved up and was now limited to Anatolia, but Greek aims in the region caused new tensions that boiled over into full-scale war. It was this war that allowed Mustafa Kemal Ataturk to make Anatolia into the new Republic of Turkey by defeating the Greeks and abolishing the Ottoman government for good in 1922. Since that time, Turkey has grown into a modern state that has enjoyed relative peace in Anatolia.

To be continue...

Bayburt Bölgesi - Bayburt Province

2008-12-26T22:22:00.004+02:00

Bayburt Province is a political province in the north-east of Turkey with capital Bayburt. Population of province is 85,455 and total area is 3,652 km².

Districts:

Bayburt province is divided into 3 districts :
Aydıntepe
Bayburt
Demirözü

Bayburt was once an important center on the ancient Silk Route and it was visited by Marco Polo and Turkish excursionist Evliya Celebi. The city welcomes you with the remains of its Byzantine Castle. There are several interesting mosques, Turkish baths and tombstones in the city as well as the Catalcesme Underground City and the natural wonder Sirakayalar Waterfall which are all attractive. The city deserves notice, although it has been designated as a province just recently.

The garrison town of Bayburt, about 77km/48mi southeast of Gümüshane, has been known by several different names in the course of its history. The Armenian Bagratids called it Paipert and the Ottomans (1361) Baiburt. It was here in 1364 that Alexios III defeated the Mongols and where in 1462 Mehmet the Conqueror confronted the Akkoyun Ogullari
Marco Polo stopped briefly in Bayburt on his journey to China. The town was destroyed in 1825 during the Russian invasion, afterwards being rebuilt. It stands on both side of the Çoruh Nehri in the shadow of its great fortress, likewise partly destroyed in 1829. The main mosque, the Ulu Cami, dates from the 16th century 20km/12mi to the southeast there are copper mines on a hillside just south of the little town of Maden.

Map:

Reference :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayburt_Province

http://www.planetware.com/turkey/bayburt-tr-gu-gub.htm

http://www.map-of-turkey.co.uk/map-of-bayburt.htm

http://www.mersina.com/Turkey/Blacksea/Bayburt/index.html

Güveçte Tahin Helvası -Tahini Helva in the Oven

2008-12-24T04:54:00.004+02:00

Very easy to make actually

İ will do it shortly and give you a feedback

400 plain Tahini Helva (crushed sesame seeds) - Turkish Tahini Helva is sold in blocks. They come plain or with chocolate, or with nuts like pistachio.. You can purchase some at Amazon.

1/3 cup milk
1 tsp butter, room temperature

Slice the helva with a knife. Then mash it with a fork while slowly adding the milk and butter.Butter the inside of the earthenware pot (Guvec/Terra Cotta). Pour the batter in it.Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C) and bake until the top is golden

For those who dont know Tahin Helva,here it is with Pistachio

And that one with Chocolate

Reference : http://www.turkishcookbook.com/

Domates Soslu Et - Meat with tomato sauce

2008-12-23T03:15:00.005+02:00

Domates Soslu Et

MALZEMELER :

Yarım kilo et(resimdeki gibi kesilecek)
2 adet patates

2-3n adet sivri biber
2-3 diş sarımsak

2 yemek kaşığı domates salçası
kekik,karabiber,k.pulbiber,tuz

HAZIRLANIŞI:
Eti;az sıvı yağ,2 diş sarımsak,kekik,karabiber,pulbiber,ve tuz ile birlikte düdüklü tencerede pişiriyoruz.

Patatesi çok az kızartıyoruz.

2 yemek kaşığı domates salçası ve az sıvı yağ ile birlikte pişirip sosumuzu hazırlıyoruz.

Pişen etin ve patateslerin üstüne salçalı sosu yayıyoruz.

Düdüklüdeki et suyunu da ilave ediyoruz.

Önceden ısıtılmış 190 derecedekifırında 15 dakika kadar pişiriyoruz.

Göze ve damağa fazlasıyla hitap eden yemeğimiz servise hazır.

AFİYETOLSUN…

İngredients :

Half kilo meat,cut as in the picture

2 potatoes

2-3 cayenne pepper

2-3 garlic cloves

2 tbls tomato pasta

thyme,black pepper,chili pepper or paprika,salt

Directions:

Put the meat,garlic,salt,black pepper,thyme together with some oil in the pressure cooker and cook it,or you can cook it the usual way if you don't have pressure cooker.

Fry potatoes a little.

Put the tomato pasta and a little oil together to prepare the sauce

Add the tomato sauce to the meat add potatoes as well,and just boil

İn a sauce pan,put the mix and put it in the oven at 190 degree for 15 minutes

And good appetite...

Reference : http://defnehobi.blogcu.com/domates-soslu-et_2211046.html

PS:İ did the translations myself and i not Turk,it is correct don't worry,but not the exact words :)

Seni Seviyorum...İ Love You

2008-12-21T03:14:00.005+02:00

We have talked about many things here...and we will talk more too
Just we take a small break and take our breath
We will do that with a poem
Shall we ? :)

Seviyorum Seni - Nazım Hikmet

Seviyorum seni
ekmeği tuza banıp yer gibi

Geceleyin ateşler içinde uyanarak

ağzımı dayayıp musluğa su içer gibi

Ağır posta paketini

neyin nesi belirsiz

telaşlı, sevinçli, kuşkulu açar gibi

Seviyorum seni

denizi ilk defa uçakla geçer gibi

İstanbul'da yumuşacık kararırken ortalık

içimde kımıldayan birşeyler gibi

Seviyorum seni

Yaşıyoruz çok şükür der gibi

I love you

like dipping bread into salt and eating

Like waking up at night with high fever

and drinking water, with the tap in my mouth

Like unwrapping the heavy box from the postman

with no clue what it is

fluttering, happy, doubtful

I love you

like flying over the sea in a plane for the first time

Like something moves inside me

when it gets dark softly in Istanbul

I love you

Like thanking God that we live

Ps: Dipping bread into salt and eating,is an indication or idiom used

Means when people are very poor and they have nothing to eat then salt and bread,would be a joy for them

Sometime when we want to say i would live with you in goods and bads we use this expression Saying ' i want to be with you even if we eat bread and salt' 'used in Egypt too ;-)'

Özür Dilerim - İ'm Sorry

2008-12-20T00:53:00.003+02:00

İ'm sorry,due to technical problem,i may not be active daily as i wish to be,please accept my apology .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7792688.stm

Edited : Ohhhh,WAİT...!
İts fixed :)

Menemen

2008-12-19T03:24:00.004+02:00

A dish for breakfast

Ingredients: (for 2)

*3 Eggs
* 2 Grated Tomatoes
* 1 Small chopped Onion
* 2 Small green Peppers (you can also use bell peppers; I like my peppers hot)
* A little Cummin, Black Pepper and Salt.
* Any kind of oil or butter (best)

Add the butter (1 tbsp is enough I guess) in a large frying pan.
Cook the onion for 5 mins until they get pink/brown.
Add the peppers and cook for 5 mins more.
Add the grated tomatoes and season with the spices and cook it until the tomatoes juice is absorbed. (not too runny)
Add the beaten eggs and cook for 2-3 mins until the white parts of eggs are totally cooked (don't cook the yolks too much though)
You can grate some cheese over it. (or add inside)

** I like this easy dish a bit juicy; so I don't cook tomatoes too much. We like to eat it in the pan itself, without emptying in a plate but of course in a café they will serve it more decently
And eat it with crunchy bread...and black tea!

*** It can be cooked without peppers if you don't like them

Source:
The all Lyrics.com

Bartın Bölgesi - Bartın Province

2008-12-16T01:24:00.002+02:00

Bartın is a small province in northern Turkey on the Black Sea, surrounding the city of Bartın. It is to the east from Zonguldak.
The town of Bartın contains a number of very old wooden houses which are no longer extant in other places.
In Bartın province is the ancient port town of Amasra (Amastris). This town is on two small fortified islands and contains many interesting old buildings and restaurants.

Districts
Bartın Province is divided into 4 districts :
Amasra
Bartın
Kurucaşile
Ulus

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart%C4%B1n_Province

Eid Traditions - Eid Al Adha Kurban Bayramı

2008-12-15T03:16:00.002+02:00

Turkey joyfully welcomes Eid al-Adha

This year,Monday is/was the first day of Eid al-Adha, Islam's most important four-day religious holiday during which millions in Turkey travel to spend time with family members and loved ones.

After the Eid prayer, performed on the first day of the Eid, animals are slaughtered as a reminder of the Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to God as an act of obedience and submission. The holiday is also when Muslims able to do so go on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Eid al-Adha is seen as a time of year when Turks actively socialize and reunite with friends and family, creating a positive atmosphere across the country with solidarity between relatives, neighbors and society at large, with communities not forgetting the needs of the poor and less fortunate even at this joyful time. It is a time of giving and sharing.
Eid al-Adha is also a day of remembrance for those who are no longer with us, with many visiting the graves of deceased relatives and loved ones over the holiday.
Common greetings during this holiday are the Arabic greeting "Eid mubarak," (May your Eid be blessed). Turks and Muslims living in areas where the Ottoman presence heavily influenced local customs say "Bayramın mübarek olsun" during Eid, also meaning "May your Eid be blessed."
Muslims put on their best clothes, called "bayramlık" in Turkey, often purchased just for the occasion. They visit loved ones and pay their respects to the deceased in cemeteries.
Young ones kiss the right hand of the elderly and press it to their forehead as a gesture of respect. Guests are offered perfume and traditional sweets such as baklava and lokum (Turkish delight) as well as meals cooked with the meat of the animal sacrificed by the family. Young visitors are typically offered a small amount of money.
Television and radio stations broadcast a variety of Eid programs, including movie specials, music programs and celebratory addresses from stars and politicians.
Turkish leaders' Eid messages emphasize solidarity and peace
Politicians on Sunday issued holiday greetings messages to mark Eid al-Adha. President Abdullah Gül in his message said: "Once again on the occasion of Eid al-Adha I see it as beneficial to emphasize the importance of everyone loving and understanding each other and showing respect for each other's values. We need to get rid of our prejudices and unite under common values for the future of Turkey."
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his message said: "We should not forget that what renders us strong is the solidarity of our people and their unshaken loyalty to our national unity. What has saved us from heavy troubles and made us one of the most dynamic countries of the world is our desire to be a nation. Such festivals are the most beautiful examples of this emotional unity. In this regard, it is very crucial to keep such traditions alive."
Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal also issued a message on Sunday in which he said he hoped for festivals when Turkey's territorial integrity, national unity and the secular republic are not under threat. "With this, I sincerely wish the Muslim world a happy Eid al-Adha and convey my deepest love and regards to all."
In his message to mark Eid al-Adha, Religious Affairs Directorate head Ali Bardakoğlu urged everyone to make sure that their sacrificed animals were slaughtered by skilful butchers and reminded them of the need to treat the sacrificial animal with compassion while preserving environmental hygiene.
Officials have warned drivers to be more careful when driving during the Eid vacation, saying roads and highways will be more crowded than usual. They noted that the number of casualties in traffic accidents significantly rises during these vacations, calling for greater attention and full compliance with traffic regulations. Drivers are particularly being cautioned to avoid drinking and driving as well as speeding

.
Last minute bargain prices make buyers happy
On Sunday, the eve of Eid al-Adha, animal sellers who traveled to large cities to sell sacrificial animals did so at very reasonable prices. Sellers who did not want to pay to transport the animals back to their village sold them at prices customers demanded. An animal seller, İmdat İnci, brought 60 cattle from Giresun, sold 54 and complained that he did not make sufficient enough profit.

Relatives visit soldiers' graves on eve of holiday

On the eve of Eid al-Adha, many people flocked to cemeteries to visit the graves of Turkish soldiers killed in clashes with terrorists.
Eid is an occasion of remembrance for loved ones who are no longer with us. Relatives of many fallen Turkish soldiers visited cemeteries on the eve of Eid al-Adha to tend to the graves of their loved ones and pray for their souls.
The mother of Pvt. Ahmet Er, who was killed in clashes with terrorists of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in 1992, visited her son's grave in Edirnekapı Martyrs' Cemetery, so that her loved one would not be alone on the eve of Eid. Shedding tears next to her son's grave, Fatma Er condemned terror and terrorists. "May God flush out all terror and terrorists. We have been enduring great suffering since the death of my son. There is no greater loss than the loss of a child," she said.
Nuray Yaylan -- the mother of Mehmet Yaylan, who was shot to death by terrorists in southeastern Şırnak province in 1996 -- spent the eve of Eid al-Adha in the Edirnekapı cemetery as well. "I am at the grave of my son. Here is his house. I am planting flowers for him. It was my son who used to bring me flowers, but I now bring flowers to him. My husband died of cardiac failure due to the sorrow of the loss of our son. My pains are renewed when I hear about the martyrdom of other soldiers," she stated.

Reference:

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=160945

Kurban Bayramı - Eid Al Adha

2008-12-08T03:14:00.003+02:00

Just in a hurry,giving you some idea about what is Eid Al Adha,then will be back to tell you more how we celebrate it in Türkiye - Turkey.
Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى ‘Īd ul-’Aḍḥā) or the Festival of Sacrifice (Turkish: Kurban Bayramı) is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims and Druze worldwide in commemoration of the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. The devil tempted Ibrahim by saying he should disobey God and spare his son. As Ibrahim was about to sacrifice his son, God intervened and instead provided a lamb as the sacrifice. This is why today all over the world Muslims who have the means to, sacrifice an animal (usually a goat or a sheep), as a reminder of Ibrahim's obedience to God. The meat is then shared out with family, friends (Muslims or non-Muslims), as well as the poor members of the community. (Islam names Ishmael as the son who was to be sacrificed, whereas the Judeo-Christian name Isaac).
Eid al-Adha is one of two Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims, whose basis comes from the Quran.[1] (Muslims in Iran celebrate a third, non-denominational Eid.) Like Eid el-Fitr, Eid al-Adha begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon (khuṭba).
Eid al-Adha annually falls on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja (ذو الحجة) of the lunar Islamic calendar. The festivities last for two to three days or more depending on the country. Eid al-Adha occurs the day after the pilgrims conducting Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan

Tam çözünürlük :
A plate served to guests during Eid-al-Adha, in Turkish traditions. It contains w:dolma (sarma, stuffed vine leaves), w:börek (a traditional Turkish pastry), and kavurma with a little piece of traditional home-baked bread... kavurma is a meat meal served during Eid-al-Adha and almost always made from the meat of the sacrificed animal (Eid-al-Adha being the Muslim holiday of sacrifice).

And here are some useful tips,when you planning your holiday in Türkiye 'Turkey' during Kurban Bayramı

Called Eid el-Adha or Eid el-Kebir in Arabic, Kurban Bayrami (koor-BAHN bahy-rah-muh) is the most important Islamic religious festival of the year, and a 4 or 5-day public holiday in Turkey. It will affect your travel plans, so be prepared for it. (Dates)
Kurban Bayrami, which starts on 10 Zilhicce (Dhul-hijja) in the Islamic lunar Hijri calendar, is also the time of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca (Haj), so both domestic and international travel is intense in Turkey at this time.
Kurban Bayramı doesn't mean you shouldn't go to Turkey. You should plan for the holiday, though. Depending upon where you travel, you may find it changes your plans very little.

Here's what to do:

1. Plan not to travel on the first or last days of the holiday period. If you can avoid traveling on the day before and the day after these dates, that's probably good too.
2. Have hotel reservations, if possible. (When the holiday falls in summer, everybody takes off for the beach...but not in winter!)
3. Have some cash on hand when the holiday week starts. You should be able to withdraw cash from ATMs (at least on weekdays), but it's good to have a reserve, just in case.
The good points: some museums and sights (such as the bazaars) may be closed on the first day of the holiday, but most will be open for some of the other days. There will be plenty to see and do.
You may also be invited to share in the festivities, as I was many years ago in eastern Turkey, which could make your trip particularly memorable.
Rest assured, tourism doesn't come to a halt during Kurban Bayramı, but it does change a bit. So long as you're prepared, it should be fun!

BANKS & BUSINESSES CLOSED
Most banks, business and government offices are closed for five days or longer, so you should stock up prior to the start of the holiday on Turkish lira cash and any supplies you may need. (A few shops and businesses stay open to provide essentials.)

TRANSPORT SNARLED
Planes, trains, buses and hotels are likely to be severely crowded during the holiday period. In Istanbul, more than 2200 buses depart the International Bus Terminal daily at the beginning of the holiday, with Turks off on vacation or to visit friends and family, so avoid travel then, or have iron-clad reservations and be prepared for delay and inconvenience.

BIBLICAL TRADITION
The festival celebrates the Biblical and Kur'anic account of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son on Mount Moriah, proving Abraham's complete obedience to God. In the story, God stays Abraham's hand at the last moment and provides a ram for sacrifice instead, praising Abraham for his faithfulness.
Following this tradition, the head of each Turkish household hopes to sacrifice a sheep on the morning of the first day of the holiday period. A lavish meal is made from the meat, friends and family are invited to feast, and the excess meat and the hide are donated to charity.
If you are anywhere around one of these family feasts, you may be invited to share in the bounty, as I was in Eastern Turkey: see the Eastern Sacrifice story in Bright Sun, Strong Tea. Don't miss the chance if you get it.

References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_ul-Adha
http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurban_Bayram%C4%B1
http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/Religion/kurban_bayrami.html

Turkish Cuisine

2008-12-07T03:08:00.004+02:00

Here,we will try to introduce you to some of the Turkish food,and some main traditional dishes.
Also yummyy i must say ;-)

Simple breakfast

Another one with almost same main dishes too

Or maybe some lunch

Another

Some Kebap

Another...

Döner that you like ?

İn sandwiches is better ?

Hungry yet ?

And how about deserts ?

Done yet ?

Ok,together,let's try to discover it more .

Menemen

Readings about The Turkish Cuisine

Artvin Province

2008-12-05T13:34:00.005+02:00

Artvin is a province in Turkey, on the Black Sea coast in the north-eastern corner of the country, on the border with Georgia (country).
The provincial capital is the city of Artvin.

Etymology:
(Georgian: ართვინი; Armenian: Արդվին; Russian: Ардвин, Laz:Art'vini). Artvin <>Livane and the area of Artvin today was once part of the larger Ottoman Empire district of Livane.

Geography:

Artvin is an attractive area of steep valleys carved by the Çoruh River system, surrounded by high mountains (up to 3900 m) and forest with much national parkland including the Karagöl-Sahara, which contains the Şavşat and Borçka lakes. The weather in Artvin is very wet, and the forest is every shade of green imaginable. This greenery runs from the top all the way down to the Black Sea coast. The rain turns to snow at higher altitudes, and the peaks are very cold in winter.
The forests are home to brown bears.
The Çoruh is now being dammed in 11 places for hydro-electric power, including the 207 m Deriner dam and others at Borçka and Muratlı.
In addition to ethnic Turks, the province is home to communities of Laz people, and Hamsheni Armenians.[2] In particular, there is a prominent community of Chveneburi Georgians many of them descendants of Muslim families from Georgia who migrated during the struggles between the Ottoman Turks and Russia during the 19th century. With such diverse peoples, Artvin has a rich variety of folk song and dance (see Arifana and Kochari for examples of folk culture).
Local industries include bee-keeping.

History:

The area has a rich history but has not been studied extensively by archaeologists in recent decades. Artifacts dating back to the Bronze Age and even earlier have been found. The Hurri settled in the Artvin area in 2000 BC and were succeeded by the Urartu civilisation, based in Lake Van. Later, the area was part of the kingdom of Colchis but was always vulnerable to invasions, first the Scythians from across the Caucasus, then the Arab armies of Islam, who controlled the area from 853 AD to 1023 when it was recovered by the Byzantines.
The Seljuk Turks of Alparslan conquered the area in 1064 AD; it was briefly recaptured by the king of Georgia with the help of the Byzantines, but by 1081 was in Turkish hands again. With the collapse of the Seljuks, the Artvin area came under the control of the Ildeniz tribe of the Anatolian Turkish Beyliks. Fighting for control between various Turkish clans continued until the Safavid Persians, taking advantage of this infighting, were able to conquer the area in 1502.
Eventually the Ottomans of Mehmed II were able to defeat the Greek state of Pontus on the Black Sea coast and thus control the mountain hinterland too. Subsequent expeditions into the mountains by Selim I gave them control of a number of castles and thus the whole district. By 1627, Artvin was securely in Ottoman hands, part of the sancak of Lazistan.
This lasted 250 years until the area was ceded to the Russians by the Ottoman Empire following the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829), and recovered and again ceded at the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. This to and fro-ing from Russia to Turkey continued with the Treaties of Brest-Litovsk, Moscow, and Kars. All this fighting and uncertainty between Russia and Turkey in the late 19th century caused the people of Artvin to suffer terribly, with much of the population moving westwards away from the Russian-controlled zones.

Christianity:

There are many Georgian churches from the period of the Tao-Klarjeti kingdom, such as Oshki, Khakhuli, Ishkhani, Shatberdi, Parkhali, and many others. In 1850, Pope Pius IX established the Armenian-Catholic Diocese of Artvin (Artuinensis Armenorum) for the Armenian Catholics of southern Russia. It was subject to the Patriarch of Cilicia in Constantinople. Its first bishop was Timotheus Astorgi (1850-1858), followed by Antonius Halagi (1859) and Joannes Baptista Zaccharian (1878). In 1878, Russia annexed the territory and united the diocese with that of Tiraspol. Russia subsequently prevented the appointment of a new bishop.
The Catholic Encyclopedia informs that the city had 5,900 inhabitants in 1894, a mixture of Armenians and Turks. There were nine Armenian Catholic churches, and four schools for boys, and three schools for girls. The diocese of Artvin had 12,000 Armenian Catholics, 25 mission priests, 30 Catholic churches and chapels, and 22 primary schools with almost 900 pupils. The girls were taught by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Post-1917
The Russians withdrew from Artvin following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917; when the First World War ended with the Ottomans on the losing side, British troops moved into the area in 1918, followed by Georgians. There were moves to incorporate Artvin into Georgia but a referendum was called in 1920, and, knowing that the majority of the population were Turks, the Georgians withdrew from Artvin in 1921 by the Treaty of Kars.

Places of interest :

The city of Artvin has an ancient castle and a number of Ottoman Empire period houses, mosques, and fountains.
Every June, there is a "bull-wrestling" festival in the high plateau of Kafkasör
Popular places for walking and outdoor expeditions.
The Kaçkar Mountains are among the most-popular venues for trekking holidays in Turkey.
Macahel Valley on the Georgian border, is another popular location for walking holidays.
Papart forest in Şavşat
Genciyan Hill in Şavşat, overlooks the border and the Binboğa lakes.
The lakes of Şavşat and Borçka and the crater lake of Kuyruklu.
The Çoruh River is excellent for rafting and championships have been held here (although this must be affected by the hydro-electric projects on the river???)
There are a number of Georgian churches in the valleys of Yusufeli.
Bilbilan Yaylası - a typical Turkish high meadow.
Savangin pre-historical cave with an inscription written unknown or unsolved alphabet

Well-known residents :

The singer and politician Zülfü Livaneli was born into a family from Yusufeli.
Folk rock singer, guitarist and composer Kazım Koyuncu was born in Artvin's Black Sea town of Hopa.
The bard of Artvin, poet Turgut Çelik
Folk singer Şükriye Tutkun
The father of TV personality Beyaz was from a village in Ardanuç.
Yakov Zarobyan, 1st Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia, was born in Artvin in 1908.

Districts :
Artvin province is divided into 8 districts

Ardanuç
Arhavi
Artvin
Borçka
Hopa
Murgul
Şavşat
Yusufeli

Refrence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artvin_Province

More pictures of Artvin

http://www.resimler.us/resimler2/artvinresimleri-1177

http://www.artvin.gov.tr/

Amasya Province

2008-12-05T04:17:00.009+02:00

Amasya is a province of Turkey, situated on the Yeşil River in the Black Sea Region to the north of the country. Area 5,520 km². Population 352,452.
Its provincial capital is Amasya, the antique Amaesia mentioned in documents from the era of Alexander the Great and the birth place of the geographer and historian Strabo. In Ottoman times Amasya was well known for its madrassas, especially as a centre for the Khalwati Sufi order.

Geography:

Despite being near the Black Sea Amasya is at a high altitude and has a dry climate with hot summers and cold winters. Amasya is an agricultural province known as the best apple growing province in the country, and also producing tobacco, peaches, cherries and okra.

Districts:

Amasya province is divided into 7 districts ):
Amasya
Göynücek
Gümüşhacıköy
Hamamözü
Merzifon
Suluova
Taşova

Refrence:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amasya_Province

More of Amasya's pictures
http://www.sonbaski.com/yenisite/amasya/amasya1.html

And another..

Karadeniz Bölgesi - Black Sea Region

2008-12-03T05:07:00.007+02:00

Black Sea Black Sea Region, Turkey

The Black Sea region has a steep, rocky coast with rivers that cascade through the gorges of the coastal ranges. A few larger rivers, those cutting back through the Pontic Mountains (Doğu Karadeniz Dağları), have tributaries that flow in broad, elevated basins. Access inland from the coast is limited to a few narrow valleys because mountain ridges, with elevations of 1,525 to 1,800 meters in the west and 3,000 to 4,000 meters in the east in Kaçkar Mountains, form an almost unbroken wall separating the coast from the interior. The higher slopes facing northwest tend to be densely forested. Because of these natural conditions, the Black Sea coast historically has been isolated from Anatolia. Running from Zonguldak in the west to Rize in the east, the narrow coastal strip widens at several places into fertile, intensely cultivated deltas. The Samsun area, close to the midpoint, is a major tobacco-growing region; east of it are numerous citrus groves. East of Samsun, the area around Trabzon is world-renowned for the production of hazelnuts, and farther east the Rize region has numerous tea plantations. All cultivable areas, including mountain slopes wherever they are not too steep, are sown or used as pasture. The mild, damp climate of the Black Sea coast makes commercial farming profitable. The western part of the Black Sea region, especially the Zonguldak area, is a center of coal mining and heavy industry. The North Anatolian Mountains in the north are an interrupted chain of folded highlands that generally parallel the Black Sea coast. In the west, the mountains tend to be low, with elevations rarely exceeding 1,500 meters, but they rise in an easterly direction to heights greater than 3,000 meters south of Rize. Lengthy, troughlike valleys and basins characterize the mountains. Rivers flow from the mountains toward the Black Sea. The southern slopes—facing the Anatolian Plateau—are mostly unwooded, but the northern slopes contain dense growths of both deciduous and evergreen trees.

Population:

The Black Sea region's population is 8,439,213 based on the 2000 census. 4,137,166 people live in cities and 4,301,747 people in villages. This makes it the only one of the seven regions of Turkey in which more people live in rural rather than urban areas. The population growth rate is 3.65‰, the lowest rate among all regions in Turkey.

Black Sea Region Provinces

Amasya Province
Artvin Province
Bartın Province
Bayburt Province
Bolu Province
Çorum Province
Düzce Province
Giresun Province
Gümüşhane Province
Karabük Province
Kastamonu Province
Ordu Province
Rize Province Samsun
Province Sinop Province
Tokat Province Trabzon
Province Zonguldak Province

Press the province for more details

Refrences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_Region,_Turkey

Tükiye bölgeleri - Regions of Turkey

2008-12-03T04:28:00.005+02:00

Turkey is situated in Anatolia and Southeastern Europe (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosphorus is geographically part of Europe, and Anatolia is part of Southwestern Asia), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria. The geographic coordinates of the country lie at: 39°00′N 35°00′E / 39, 35
Area: 780,580 km² land: 770,760 km² water: 9,820 km²
Turkey extends more than 1,600 kilometers from west to east but generally less than 800 kilometers from north to south. Total land area is about 779,452 square kilometers, of which 755,688 square kilometers are in Asia and 23,764 square kilometers in Europe (Thrace).
Anatolia is a large, roughly rectangular peninsula situated bridgelike between southeastern Europe and Asia. The Anatolian part of Turkey accounts for 97% of the country's area. It is also known as Asia Minor, Asiatic Turkey or the Anatolian Plateau. The term Anatolia is most frequently used in specific reference to the large, semiarid central plateau, which is rimmed by hills and mountains that in many places limit access to the fertile, densely settled coastal regions.

The European portion of Turkey, known as Thrace (Turkish: Trakya), encompasses 3% of the total area but is home to more than 10% of the total population. Thrace is separated from the Asian portion of Turkey by the Bosporus (İstanbul Boğazı), the Sea of Marmara (Marmara Denizi,), and the Dardanelles (Çanakkale Boğazı).

Regions:

The 1st Geography Congress, held in Ankara between 6-21 June 1941, divided Turkey into seven regions after long discussions and work. These geographical regions were separated according to their climate, location, flora and fauna, human habitat, agricultural diversities, transportation, topography and so on. At the end, 4 side regions and 3 inner regions were named according to their neighborhood to the four seas surrounding Turkey and positions in Anatolia.
Distinct contrasts between the interior and periphery of Turkey are manifested in its landform regions, climate, soils, and vegetation. The periphery is divided into the Black Sea region, the Marmara region, the Aegean region, and the Mediterranean region. The interior is also divided into three regions: the Pontus and Taurus mountain ranges, the Anatolian Plateau, and the eastern highlands. The seventh region of the country is the Arabian Platform in the southeast, adjacent to the Syrian border

Black Sea
Marmara
Aegean
Mediterranean Sea
Central Anatolia
East and Southeast Anatolia

Black Sea
Black Sea Region, Turkey
The Black Sea region has a steep, rocky coast with rivers that cascade through the gorges of the coastal ranges. A few larger rivers, those cutting back through the Pontic Mountains (Doğu Karadeniz Dağları), have tributaries that flow in broad, elevated basins. Access inland from the coast is limited to a few narrow valleys because mountain ridges, with elevations of 1,525 to 1,800 meters in the west and 3,000 to 4,000 meters in the east in Kaçkar Mountains, form an almost unbroken wall separating the coast from the interior. The higher slopes facing northwest tend to be densely forested. Because of these natural conditions, the Black Sea coast historically has been isolated from Anatolia.
Running from Zonguldak in the west to Rize in the east, the narrow coastal strip widens at several places into fertile, intensely cultivated deltas. The Samsun area, close to the midpoint, is a major tobacco-growing region; east of it are numerous citrus groves. East of Samsun, the area around Trabzon is world-renowned for the production of hazelnuts, and farther east the Rize region has numerous tea plantations. All cultivable areas, including mountain slopes wherever they are not too steep, are sown or used as pasture. The mild, damp climate of the Black Sea coast makes commercial farming profitable. The western part of the Black Sea region, especially the Zonguldak area, is a center of coal mining and heavy industry.

The North Anatolian Mountains in the north are an interrupted chain of folded highlands that generally parallel the Black Sea coast. In the west, the mountains tend to be low, with elevations rarely exceeding 1,500 meters, but they rise in an easterly direction to heights greater than 3,000 meters south of Rize. Lengthy, troughlike valleys and basins characterize the mountains. Rivers flow from the mountains toward the Black Sea. The southern slopes—facing the Anatolian Plateau—are mostly unwooded, but the northern slopes contain dense growths of both deciduous and evergreen trees.

Next,
Marmar

Refrences:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Turkey

Turkish language

2008-12-01T23:21:00.004+02:00

Turkish (Türkçe IPA [ˈt̪yɾktʃe] ) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide,making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe. Turkish is also spoken by several million immigrants in Western Europe, particularly in Germany.

The roots of the language can be traced to Central Asia, with the first written records dating back nearly 1,200 years. To the west, the influence of Ottoman Turkish—the immediate precursor of today's Turkish—spread as the Ottoman Empire expanded. In 1928, as one of Atatürk's Reforms in the early years of the Republic of Turkey, the Ottoman script was replaced with a phonetic variant of the Latin alphabet. Concurrently, the newly-founded Turkish Language Association initiated a drive to reform the language by removing Persian and Arabic loanwords in favor of native variants and coinages from Turkic roots.

The distinctive characteristics of Turkish are vowel harmony and extensive agglutination. The basic word order of Turkish is Subject Object Verb. Turkish has a T-V distinction: second-person plural forms can be used for individuals as a sign of respect. Turkish also has no noun classes or grammatical gender

Classification
Main articles: Turkic languages and Altaic languages
Turkish is a member of the Turkish, or Western, subgroup of the Oghuz languages, which includes Gagauz and Azeri. The Oghuz languages form the Southwestern subgroup of the Turkic languages, a language family comprising some 30 living languages spoken across Eastern Europe, Central Asia. and Siberia. Some linguists believe the Turkic languages to be a part of a larger Altaic language family.About 40% of Turkic language speakers are Turkish speakers.The characteristic features of Turkish, such as vowel harmony, agglutination, and lack of grammatical gender, are universal within the Turkic family and the Altaic languages. There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Turkish and the other Oghuz languages, including Azeri, Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, and Balkan Gagauz Turkish

History
See also: Turkic people and History of the Turkic peoples
The earliest known Turkic inscriptions reside in modern Mongolia. The Bugut inscriptions written in the Sogdian alphabet during the First Göktürk Khanate are dated to the second half of the 6th century. The two monumental Orkhon inscriptions, erected in honour of the prince Kul Tigin and his brother Emperor Bilge Khan and dating back to some time between 732 and 735, constitute another important early record. After the discovery and excavation of these monuments and associated stone slabs by Russian archaeologists in the wider area surrounding the Orkhon Valley between 1889 and 1893, it became established that the language on the inscriptions was the Old Turkic language written using the Orkhon script, which has also been referred to as "Turkic runes" or "runiform" due to an external similarity to the Germanic runic alphabets.

Old Turkic (Göktürkçe/Köktürkçe)
Türk Oğuz beğleri, budun, eşidin; üze Kök Tengri basmasar, asra yir telinmeser, Türk budun, ilinin, törünün kim artatı(r)?
Modern Turkish
Türk Oğuz beyleri, ulus, işitin; üzeride Gök Tanrı basmasa, altta yer delinmese, Türk ulusu, ülkeni, töreni kim atar?

With the Turkic expansion during Early Middle Ages (c. 6th–11th centuries), peoples speaking Turkic languages spread across Central Asia, covering a vast geographical region stretching from Siberia to Europe and the Mediterranean. The Seljuqs of the Oghuz Turks, in particular, brought their language, Oghuz Turkic—the direct ancestor of today's Turkish language—into Anatolia during the 11th century.[10] Also during the 11th century, an early linguist of the Turkic languages, Kaşgarlı Mahmud from the Kara-Khanid Khanate, published the first comprehensive Turkic language dictionary and map of the geographical distribution of Turkic speakers in the Compendium of the Turkic Dialects (Ottoman Turkish: Divânü Lügati't-Türk).[

Ottoman Turkish
Main article: Ottoman Turkish language
Following the adoption of Islam c. 950 by the Kara-Khanid Khanate and the Seljuq Turks, who are both regarded as the cultural ancestors of the Ottomans, the administrative language of these states acquired a large collection of loanwords from Arabic and Persian. Turkish literature during the Ottoman period, particularly Ottoman Divan poetry, was heavily influenced by Persian, including the adoption of poetic meters and a great quantity of imported words. The literary and official language during the Ottoman Empire (c. 1299–1922) was a mixture of Turkish, Persian, and Arabic that differed considerably from the period's everyday spoken Turkish and is termed Ottoman Turkish

Language reform and modern Turkish

Literacy rates before the language reform in Turkey (1927). The literacy rates rose to 48.4% among males and 20.7% among females in 1950.After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey and the script reform, the Turkish Language Association (TDK) was established in 1932 under the patronage of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, with the aim of conducting research on Turkish. One of the tasks of the newly-established association was to initiate a language reform to replace loanwords of Arabic and Persian origin with Turkish equivalents.By banning the usage of imported words in the press, the association succeeded in removing several hundred foreign words from the language. While most of the words introduced to the language by the TDK were newly derived from Turkic roots, it also opted for reviving Old Turkish words which had not been used for centuries.

Due to this sudden change in the language, older and younger people in Turkey started to differ in their vocabularies. While the generations born before the 1940s tend to use the older terms of Arabic or Persian origin, the younger generations favor new expressions. It is particularly ironic that Atatürk himself, in his lengthy speech to the new Parliament in 1927, used a style of Ottoman diction which today sounds so alien that it has had to be "translated" three times into modern Turkish: first in 1963, again in 1986, and most recently in 1995.[15] There is also a political dimension to the language debate, with conservative groups tending to use more archaic words in the press or everyday language.

The past few decades have seen the continuing work of the TDK to coin new Turkish words to express new concepts and technologies as they enter the language, mostly from English. Many of these new words, particularly information technology terms, have received widespread acceptance. However, the TDK is occasionally criticized for coining words which sound contrived and artificial. Some earlier changes—such as bölem to replace fırka, "political party"—also failed to meet with popular approval (in fact, fırka has been replaced by the French loanword parti). Some words restored from Old Turkic have taken on specialized meanings; for example betik (originally meaning "book") is now used to mean "script" in computer science.

Many of the words derived by TDK coexist with their older counterparts. This usually happens when a loanword changes its original meaning. For instance, dert, derived from the Persian dard (درد "pain"), means "problem" or "trouble" in Turkish; whereas the native Turkish word ağrı is used for physical pain. Sometimes the loanword has a slightly different meaning from the native Turkish word, giving rise to a situation similar to the coexistence of Germanic and Romance words in English (see List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents). Among some of the old words that were replaced are terms in geometry, cardinal directions, some months' names, and many nouns and adjectives.

More of the article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_language

Some useful links for Turkish Language.

İf you have any language related question,then Turkish Easy is what you looking for.
Turkish Delight
Turkish Language Class
For your travel...few lessons in Turkey Travel Planner

A Dream

2008-12-01T19:05:00.001+02:00

But you know.....
Dreams can come true ;-)

The Turkish Flag

2008-12-01T04:49:00.003+02:00

A reflection of the moon occulting a star, appearing in pools of blood after a great battle which the Ottomans defeated their enemies.
A dream of the first Ottoman Sultan in which a crescent and star appeared from his chest and expanded, presaging the dynasty's seizure of Constantinople (İstanbül).
True or fals...actually they are legends among other legends explaining the flag.
And if this say anything,it would refer to the meaning of the flag and its value .
Let's try to understand the meaning of the flag.

Meaning of the flag

It's very difficult to explain the real meaning of a flag; there are legends, actual stories, and outright misinformation about the reason of certain colors or designs were put on national flags. Also individuals may have their own interpretation of their own national flag. Religious symbolism can also be expressed via color, such as the crescent moon which is a traditional Islamic symbol.
Historical facts:"Red has been prominent in Turkish flags for 700 years. The star and crescent are Muslim symbols, but also have a long pre-Islamic past in Asia Minor. The basic form of the national flag was apparently established in 1793 under Ottoman Sultan Selim III, when the green flags used by the navy were changed to red and a white crescent and multi-pointed star were added. The five-pointed star dates from approximately 1844. Except for the issuance of design specifications, no change was made when the Ottoman Empire became the Republic of Turkey and the Caliphate (religious authority) was terminated by Atatürk. Many traditions explain the star and crescent symbol. It is known that Diana (Artemis) was the patron goddess of Byzantium and that her symbol was a moon. In 330, the Emperor Constantine rededicated the city - which he called Constantinople (today's Istanbul) - to the Virgin Mary, whose star symbol was superimposed over the crescent. In 1453 Constantinople (Istanbul) was captured by the Ottoman Turks and renamed Istanbul, but its new rulers may have adopted the existing emblem for their own use"

For more readings
http://www.allaboutturkey.com/flag.htm

Türkiye My Love Blog Rules

2008-12-01T03:07:00.002+02:00

Views of members,visitors do not represent the views of the site. Türkiye My Love Blog is not responsible for the opinions of its users.
The official language of the blog is English unless at posts related to other languages but with the English translation.
You may not type in all or mostly in capital letters since it's not only hard to read but also considered to be shouting and can be rude .
Do not post vulgar, hateful, threatening, derogatory, racist or obscene comments on this site. Any such content will be deleted
Avoid personal disputes and arguments. Personal attacks or insults directed towards other users will not be tolerated. If somebody posts an insulting comment do not reply to it,it will be deleted.

Let's İntorduce You to Türkiye 'Turkey' Shall we ? :)

2008-12-01T02:48:00.005+02:00

Türkiye 'Turkey' for those who doesn't know,is very much close to us Egyptian,in almost everything Traditions,manners,ethics...etc İn short,you wont be feeling a stranger when you are there :) So,let's take a look and know more ?

Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti ), is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace (Rumelia) in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhichevan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea and Archipelago are to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. Separating Anatolia and Thrace are the Sea of Marmara and the Turkish Straits (the Bosporus and the Dardanelles), which are commonly reckoned to delineate the border between Asia and Europe, thereby making Turkey transcontinental. Due to its strategic location astride two continents, Turkey's culture has a unique blend of Eastern and Western tradition. A powerful regional presence in the Eurasian landmass with strong historic, cultural and economic influence in the area between Europe in the west and Central Asia in the east, Russia in the north and the Middle East in the south, Turkey has come to acquire increasing strategic significance. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic whose political system was established in 1923 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I. Since then, Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West through membership in organizations such as the Council of Europe, NATO, OECD, OSCE and the G-20 major economies. Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the EEC since 1963, and having reached a customs union agreement in 1995. Meanwhile, as a Muslim-majority countryTurkey has continued to foster close cultural, political, economic and industrial relations with the Eastern world, particularly with the states of the Middle East and Central Asia, through membership in organizations such as the OIC and ECO. Turkey is classified as a developed country by the CIA and as a regional power by political scientists and economists worldwide.

For further more reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey

Hoş geldiniz,Ahlan wa sahlan,Welcome to Türkiye My Love

2008-11-30T03:32:00.002+02:00

Where you think you dont know her and find out her love is old and deep in your heart.
Where you think you are stranger and find out you are between your people.
Where you think you are away,and realize that you are in your second home.
Then you should know...it is her..Türkiye :)
Here in Türkiye My Love,we will try to know more about her,and her people,life there,and as much as we can ,we will go together to Türkiye.
Mind you,its still a new born blog,so have patience with us :)
With a smile we great you,and with smile we leave you :)
Görüşürüz
See you soon