Events of the past 3 or so months:
– Toroslar Belediyesi, one of the 3 local suburban Mersin councils painted a 4,500 square metre flag on the side of a hill overlooking Mersin. As this editorial concludes, the flag was a piece of self-promotion. Unfortunately, all levels of government waste far too much money promoting themselves at the expense of decent services.

The flag in question
– Plans for a ski resort at Karbogazi in the Gulek region of Tarsus, Mersin Province were made.
– Hungarian DJ Niki Belucci performed at Hot Nightclub, Mersin. Not Safe For Work (NSFW) photos can be seen here and here.
– Southern Turkey’s “drought” of 2 months broke.
– Today’s Zaman, a new English language daily newspaper began publication in Turkey.
– Hrank Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin, was shot dead in Istanbul. This incident shook the whole country. Here is an editorial surrounding the incident I largely agree with.
– An American basketballer, Nikki Blue, shared her experiences living in and playing for Mersin
– I went to the Adana races with Peter. This was my first ever day at a Turkish race meeting. I didn’t win any bets.
– Vodafone has quickly taken over Telsim’s name after purchasing the mobile phone service provider.
– After seemingly years under construction, the multi-storey Marina Vista Shopping Centre opened in Mersin. Located next to Burger King and adjacent to the yacht harbour, Marina Vista is in a very good position. The centre was opened prematurely with most of the spaces then still vacant. That is slowly changing. The top floor has a 4-screen cinema and below that is a food hall including a McDonald’s restaurant. McDonald’s has not had a Mersin presence for 3 or 4 years. When I first came here there were two restaurants, including one I went to for my second ever Turkish date (she chose the venue).
– The Mediterranean Challenge Cup international tenpin bowling tournament was held at Mersin Rollhouse.

– Peter, Sebi, Tugba, Mehmet and I attended Foster’s Party at the Armada Club.
– Pearl Jam announce their 2007 European tour. Unlike last year, this time I won’t be attending.
– The cost for an adult to take an intra-city Mersin bus ride rose from 1 YTL to 1.25 YTL.
——————-
I used to practice my Turkish reading weekly Zaman in Romania π
Who says Mersin has no action??? A lots of things are happening there
Thanks, that was very interesting, Honestly I missed your Mersin reports since you’ve been to Pakistan.
I’d like to comment on
Today’s Zaman. Not criticizing on its quality overal, however I find the articles dealing with politics to have a very pro-government (AKP) and anti-secular bias. I think one need to know this when reading the newspaper as it looks very innocent but it’s not neutral at all in that political aspect.