Showing posts with label topkap? saray?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label topkap? saray?. Show all posts

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Photo

Syrian Forces Advance on Restive Town Near Turkey:

All I can say is that if violence in Syria spills over into Turkish border towns, Assad can bend over and kiss his ass goodbye.



One of the things I love about this city is that anywhere you look, there are minarets in the skyline. Makes it so much more interesting.



Must stay hotels: The House Hotel Galatasaray









I found these photos in a thrift store in Istiklal, Istanbul. 



#turkey #bursa Sa?anak ya?mur dolu ortal??? sel götürdü (Taken with Instagram at Alt?parmak)




The Blue Mosque


Blue Mosque


Presidential Palace


Independence Avenue




Inside Grand Bazaar




Street Market (one of many)





Istanbul, Turkey

Before returning to Amsterdam from Cairo, I stopped in Turkey to explore Istanbul. Spent most of the time wandering around the city, walking along the coast on the Asian side, and eating more than a lifetime’s worth of donor kebabs. And there was also the time spent in a government funded hospital for a day on an IV due to food poisoning acquired during my last day in Cairo. 



My Dad and I in Kapadokya.

I know. We should be better than this. The photo couldn’t be helped.

Mrs. Tragos and I are back from a week. My Dad and Uncle came to visit us in Turkey. We took them up and down the Bosporus in Istanbul, back to our place in Ankara, and then off to Kapadokya, land of hot air balloons, fairy chimney rock formations, and, apparently Turkish viagra.

We had just pseudo-spelunked through a network of caves and tunnels that form an ancient (as in Hittite and Roman) underground city where people used to hide from invaders for months at a time. The engineering feats—rock-disk wheels that open only from the inside; fake wells that serve as air ducts; cook fires and kitchens whose fumes dissipate before being seen above ground; sewage systems; water supply systems—made modern hubris a sillier and self-indulgent thing.

More reports to follow when I have slept a bit.





Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Istanbul - Turkey



The “extra” artifacts they don’t have anymore room for, or the ones still waiting to be examined and cataloged?



While ballooning in the gorgeous valleys of the Cappadocia region of Turkey, the captain pointed out a single eagle perched atop one of the areas famous Fairy Chimneys. He moved the balloon around the spire and I was able to capture this photo of the baby eagles chillaxin in the nest. What a fabulous sighting! 



honey roasted turkey sandwich.



Yerebatan Sarayi Cistern, Istanbul Turkey: “Every year I go here for like an hour and just sit doing nothing, taking in all of the beautiful architecture and details each visit renders new inspiration!” -Mevesh (Designer)



Istanbooool.



(by  chalchiuhtlicue on Lomography)

i really want to go to turkey.

Turkey: Backward Step for Women’s Rights - HRW:

(Istanbul) - The Turkish government’s changes to the current Ministry for Women and Family is a step backward in its struggle to combat gender inequality and violence against women, Human Rights Watch said today. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an announced that the “Ministry for Women and Family” will be replaced by a “Ministry of Family and Social Policies,” ending a much-needed explicit focus on women’s rights, Human Rights Watch said.

Erdo?an made the change on June 8, 2011, four days before the June 12 general election, as part of a revised structure for the Council of Ministers. This is much more than just a name change and signals a reduced emphasis on women’s rights, and efforts to promote the rights to non-discrimination and freedom from violence will suffer, Human Rights Watch said. Rather than taking the spotlight off women’s rights, Turkey needs to take urgent steps to combat endemic violence against women, Human Rights Watch said.

“The Turkish government’s decision to scrap the Ministry for Women flies in the face of research showing major shortcomings on women’s rights and horrendous violence against women,” said Gauri van Gulik, women’s rights advocate and researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Women in Turkey need more determined action by the government, not less, to protect women’s rights in practice.”

The existing ministry’s mandate was dedicated to working on issue relating to women’s rights and the family. The new ministry, however, will deal with issues of concern relating to children, the aged, the disabled, and the families of soldiers who die during active service, as well as family and women’s rights. The existing Directorate for the Status of Women will be a department within the ministry.

A Human Rights Watch report issued in May documents brutal and long-lasting violence against women and girls in Turkey by husbands, partners, and family members, and the survivors’ struggle to get protection. A study by Turkey’s Hacettepe University has shown that about 42 percent of Turkish women experience physical or sexual violence inflicted by a relative at some point in their lives.

Turkey has improved its laws, setting out requirements for shelters for abused women and protection orders. However, gaps in the law and implementation failures by police, prosecutors, judges, and other officials make the protection system unpredictable at best, and at times downright dangerous, Human Rights Watch said.

In addition to the high rates of domestic violence in Turkey, other statistics speak to broader gender inequality in the country. In 2010, Turkey ranked 83 on the United Nations Development Programme’s global Gender Inequality Index - down six places compared with 2008. Women hold just 9 percent of seats in the national parliament, and only 27 of the country’s nearly 3,000 mayors are women.

Women are 27 percent of the paid work force. Only about 19 percent of women are engaged in income-generating work in Turkey, and in the eastern part of the country, the figure is about 10 percent. Illiteracy figures released by the government show great disparities between men and women: 3.8 million of the 4.7 million people who are illiterate are women. “Women in Turkey have a long way to go to get their rights or even to be protected from violence,” Van Gulik said. “The government needs to send a strong signal to all women that it cares and intends to protect and promote their rights.”



Istanbul.



HANDS UP IF YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gives Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu a high five at the start of their bilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi.

(Photograph by Reuters)



Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Istanbul - Turkey