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Today a ro-ro ship sank whilst sailing from Mersin to Northern Cyprus. Unfortunately, at the time of the report, 3 crew are still missing.

Turkey is the only country that recognises Northern Cyprus and all the trade goes vis Turkey. Due to its proximity, Mersin is one of, if not, the main port for trade to and from Cyprus. With the lack of development in Northen Cyprus, there is a large trading deficit between it and the mainland. Many of the ships returning to Turkey are almost empty. With that trade differential, the freight cost from the island to the mainland is far cheaper than to the island. All of this may change in the future with the EU-Cyprus machinations.

FOOTNOTE: The search was called off. Unfortunately 2 crew members are still missing, presumed drowned.

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Recently I have remembered the old days of computing. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s during my primary and early secondary school years I recall using the early IBM, Amiga, and Atari computers, playing snake (I still play snake on the phone) and writing simple programs using BASIC. Well, today I searched google for BASIC and it turns out on 1 May the BASIC computing language celebrated its 40th anniversary!

Does anyone else remember BASIC?

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The biggest news story in Turkey on the weekend was Fenerbahce winning the Turkish soccer league when they defeated Denizlispor 4-0 in Denizli on Sunday. Afterwards, in towns and cities across Turkey (including Mersin), the Fenerbahce supporters drove around in their cars waving flags and tooting their horns. The largest crowd was on Bagdat Caddesi (Baghdad Avenue), Istanbul, in Fenerbahce’s heartland.

This championship is more special than the average one because it is Fenerbahce’s 15th meaning they have a 3rd star. Every 5th championship allows a team to display a 5-pointed star above their logo. Now Fenerbahce join Galatasaray with 3 stars. Besiktas have 2 and Trabzonspor 1 star.

Last weekend in Ankara Emre particularly did not want Fenerbahce to win this year as Fener would then joining his team (Galatasaray) with the same number of championship stars.

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2 random links and a blog concerning habits of the adult kind

Whilst searching the Internet with Google for Mersin links I came across a website detailing Mersin’s legal brothel.

I knew prostitution was legal at government-controlled brothels in Turkey and I knew Mersin had a brothel. However, I didn’t have a clue (nor care) about its location or details or why the women work there. Apparently the women who work there are there because they defaulted on paying debts and chose prostitution instead of prison. The first sentence in the article goes:

“Mersin:

Place is deader that most graveyards in the world.”

The article is interesting reading but not recommended for workplaces or other serious locations as the words are sharp and the website address is not appropriate to have in the ‘history’ directory of your browser. The article is at this location.

Next is another prostitution in Turkey article. This one is about the number of Russian prostitutes in Turkey and the economic contribution they make to the Russian economy.

“Three billion US dollars – this is the summary profit of Russian prostitutes in Turkey per year.”

Read about it here: Will Prostitutes Save Russia?

On the left column of my blog provider’s homepage they have a list of notable blogs the employees at Blogger find. In April one of the blogs chosen was Life at TJ’s Place. This is a very well-written blog about running a strip club. The introduction states:

“TJ’s is a gentlemen’s club in the Midwestern United States. I’m Kevin, the assistant manager. This is for all of you who think managing a strip joint would be the world’s greatest job.”

Happy reading!

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This week brother Liam is celebrating his 23rd birthday. I am sorry I cannot make it. The train line does not extend from Mersin to Adelaide (yet). Hey, if they can build a railway from Darwin to Adelaide surely the Mersin-Adelaide line is just around the corner (figuratively speaking).

And may all the Mothers, particularly the best Mother in the world (mine) have a wonderful Mother’s Day on Sunday. May their wishes come true and may they be treated with the care and love they deserve all year round not just for Mother’s Day.

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Last night I returned from Ankara and here are some random tidbits of the trip:

– Was wonderful to see Emre and Betul again. Also brilliant to meet Beyza, Ozgur, Deniz and Reyhimi (spelling?) for the first time.

– Middle East Technical University has an expansive and wonderful campus.

– I made a new personal record for the ‘Snake II‘ game on my Nokia phone: 1597.

– Drinking fresh, pasteurised milk from a carton again was a pleasure. In Mersin the only milk sold in the supermarkets is long life, although fresh, un-pasteurised milk is available in some specialist shops and by people selling it from the street.

– The Iranian visa is applied for! The same double-sided form completed twice, 2 photos and a photocopy of my passport is all it took. I was told to call the embassy 10-12 days after applying. If the government official in Tehran is happy the day he receives my application he should approve it. Then I will have to fork out USD$50 to the embassy and pick the visa up. One of the officials was kind enough to lend me a book on Iran.

– I asked the Australian Embassy officials many questions when having a signature witnessed by a diplomat. It was good to have the close access to them although they didn’t give me many brilliantly enlightening answers.

– The Turkish military owns a huge amount of prime real estate in Ankara.

– Some ‘exotic’ foods like coconut juice, rice noodles and sweet chilli sauce were in the local supermarket near where I was staying. They were at exotic prices, too. The Thai sweet chilli sauce was on sale for over 8,000,000 TL. The exact same bottle used to cost less than AUD$1 (1,000,000 TL) in Australia.

– On Sunday the central city streets were teaming with life in the spring sunshine.

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a) 10 new countries will join the EU

b) I’m off on the bus to Ankara tonight to see some friends

Have a great weekend whatever you do!

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An article on the new coins to be produced when Turkey takes 6 zeroes off its currency on 1 January 2005. Some of the article is confusing but the most interesting quote for me is:

State Minister for Economy Ali Babacan will decide which pictures and designs will be on the new currency. Ataturk’s picture, which is prevalent on the money in circulation today, will not be used on the new kurus coins.