About Joe

After previously blogging from Mersin, Turkey and Adelaide, South Australia I'm now based in Perth, Western Australia. This WordPress blog at joe.in usurps my previous Blogger-based blog which ran from October 2003 to April 2010 at taheny.com.

Let Me Access Blogger.com, Dammit!

Posted on Monday, 6 August 2007 by Joe

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I've got several things to write about but I can't access

http://blogger.com so I can't log-in to post!

Hope to write again soon when blogger.com is functioning. Are any other
bloggers facing the same problems or is the problem just a local one?

Kizkalesi Thursday

Posted on Saturday, 28 July 2007 by Joe

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The weather has been very hot recently. Thursday morning Hamdullah, Zeyni, Izzet and I caught the bus (5 YTL each way) 70 km west along the coast to Kizkalesi.

With a metre-long pide (bread) at the restaurant

The island castle of Kizkalesi (Maiden’s Castle) provides the backdrop for beachgoers, swimmers, a simit (bread-ring) seller and a dog.

A family on a pedal boat enjoying the late afternoon sun. Korykos, the castle on the land in the background, used to connect with Kizkalesi in ancient times via a causeway.

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Cafe Kirimizi (Cafe Red) Wednesday Night

Posted on Saturday, 28 July 2007 by Joe

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Celebrating the end of the Conversation English course that I took over after Peter returned to Australia. From left to right: Levent, Vural, Vuslat, Ferdi, Irfan, Ebru, myself and Alaattin.

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Turkey Elects, Sunday 22 July 2007

Posted on Sunday, 22 July 2007 by Joe

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The almost constant noise and colour of political campaign vehicles has finished and, in a few hours time, Turkey will go to the polls to elect a new parliament.

If I could vote, who would I vote for? Definitely not the ultra nationalist MHP or isolationist Genc Party. I would probably vote for an independent candidate.

Who will win the largest number of seats? Probably the currently ruling AK Party. Will they retain a majority? Who knows…

The Turkish Daily News provides a run-down of the Mersin election candidates, parties and issues.

For the overall election issues and latest news, visit Wikipedia’s Turkish General Election, 2007 page

Hamdullah, my flatmate, as he is a public school teacher, will man the election booth at his school today.

My 2004 local government election special is here

PS: Like on previous election days, the sale of alcohol is banned today.

ELECTION RESULTS (2007-07-24): As expected, AKP recorded the highest vote percentage with almost 47% of the total. AKP’s percentage actually increased from the 2002 vote but their number of seats gained was reduced although they will still have a majority in parliament. CHP and MHP were the other 2 parties reaching the 10% vote threshold required to enter parliament with 21% and 14% respectively. More than 20, mainly Kurdish, independent candidates also gained enough votes to enter parliament.

Mersin Province was one of only two provinces (along with Osmaniye) to give the most votes to the fascist MHP. However, in Mersin there was only 6% difference between 3 parties with MHP gaining 31%, AKP 27% and CHP 25%.

Election result maps are displayed by the BBC and Wikipedia.

For the most comprehensive Turkish election news and coverage in English see Erkan’s field diary.

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Beirut Lebanon – Photos Part 2

Posted on Sunday, 22 July 2007 by Joe

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Following on from part 1.

What does ‘heart’ mean?

A old mansion, a mosque and various-aged apartment blocks, Ras Beirut

The Corniche

Hard Rock Cafe – I mainly included this photograph because of the super guitar shadow

A Lebanese Army jeep and tank cruising the streets

A typical yellow Beirut-Damascus service taxi and driver. I was going to take this vehicle back but ended up in a newer car.

The mountains splitting Lebanon in two get cold in the winter

Posters of this man and boy were common on the highway towards the Syrian border.
UPDATE: the people in the photo are “MP Walid Eido and his eldest son, who were killed in the massive Manara car bombing last month”. Thanks adiamondinsunlight!

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Beirut, Lebanon – Photos Part 1

Posted on Sunday, 22 July 2007 by Joe

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The writing linked to these photos is located here.

A bridge destroyed during the 2006 war with Israel, part of the main Damascus-Beirut highway

A new shopping centre under construction in central Beirut

Razor wire in the foreground, Place de l’Etoile’s clocktower in the centre and Al-Omari Mosque in the background.

A skyscraper left abandoned after either the 1980s civil war the or 2006’s war with Israel.

CORRECTION; from comments: “The abandoned skyscraper is the Burj El Murr (Murr Tower), which was only partially built when the civil war broke out in 1975. Its frame was finished during a lull the following year, making it a prime militia location for the “hotel wars” of 1977-78. Your photo is of the old Holiday Inn, which was open and functioning for a few swinging years before the war started.
(If you look at the top floor, you will see the tell-tale bulge of one of the old-style Holiday Inn revolving restaurants!)
The Holiday Inn was _also_ used during the hotel wars (hence the name …).”

Thanks again adiamondinsunlight!