Gov’t hammers the Military’s service plan, works on shortening military service!

If newly proposed service plan Chief of Staff I harshly criticised before would be taken into agenda by the government, my personal support for AKP would cease immediately. According to a Friendfeed feed 200 thousand out of 800 thousand servicemen is used in services wtihin the army. Officials want more time for college graduates. They so love to have us serve for them… I know this very well from my 5 month service…

New Turkish military service plan ‘unfair,’ AKP official says

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Kerpeten

Made famous with the Turkish TV Series Ezel. Barış Falay acts as the character called Kerpeten Ali/ Ali the snip. The tool is sometimes called a kelpeten, which seems more faithful to its origin.
Mavi Boncuk

Kerpeten: TR kıskaç, pense, EN Pincer, Pliers[1], FR Pinces, GM Zange, SP Alicates (The term comes from the Arabic al-laqqat, “claw.” )
First recorded in Kâtip Çelebi Tuhfet-ül Kibar fi Esfar-ül Bihar; ed. Orhan Şaik Gökyay 2007
kelbeteyn Persian kalbat?n ?????? / Arabian kalbat?n ??????
First recorded in Franciscus Meninski Thesaurus Linguarum Orientalium (1680)[2] kelbet?n vulg. kelpetin

Learning not to trust? The OECD on Turkish education

Earlier this month, the OECD published its latest annual survey of educational developments across its 31 member countries, Education at a Glance 2010. There are many gaps in the data relating to Turkey, but the picture that emerges is a familiar one: gradual improvement from a very, very low base. Less familiar are numbers relating to politics and trust, which I?ll come to shortly.

Religion, money and violence: the attack in Tophane

It seems to me that two aspects of last week?s attack on a number of galleries in Istanbul?s Tophane neighbourhood warrant attention: the reasons behind the violence and the violence itself. (For a first-hand account of the attack, see Jen Hattam?s blog, while there are some typically informative comments to be found on Jenny White?s site.)

Many of the responses to and analyses of the attack in the days that followed focused on the reasons rather than the violence. A widespread initial assumption was that the attack was a flexing of conservative religious muscle. Whether prompted by alcohol being consumed on the street, or by alleged insults directed at women from the neighbourhood, the suggestion was that the attack was a response to the galleries? perceived disregard or disrespect for the religious sensibilities of local residents.

UN committee decries lack of progress in Turkish women’s rights

NGOs criticize Turkish minister over UN report handling

Fatmagül’s fault: Rape promotion

Istanbul independent sneaker store promotes subculture