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Mersin and Al Qaeda

“Bin Laden, during his meeting with Aktas and Kus, first suggested an attack against Incirlik Air Base, a sprawling facility used by U.S. troops or U.S. or Israeli ships using the Mediterranean port of Mersin, according to the police description of Yitiz’ interrogation.

But security at the air base and the Mersin harbor made the attack too difficult. Coast guard cutters protect the harbor and Turkish forces patrol the base’s perimeters. A high wall also was erected around the base before the Iraq war.”

If the security around Mersin’s port or Incirlik Airbase (70 km away) was not strong enough, Osama Bin Laden’s Turkish followers would have bombed these places instead of the synagogues, bank and British Consulate-General in Istanbul. Apparently, according to the article, Osama did not authorise the strikes in Istanbul and was angry that Turks/Muslims died. As if Osama cares about people dying.

Life in Mersin would have been far more interesting if an Israeli or American ship or two was blown up.

I think I prefer the currently unexciting Mersin than the alternative. Sometimes boring is better…

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After the rain came the wind. The iron sheeting on the ‘balcony’, where the smokers smoke, was making a fierce noise. Even the front door had to be locked to stop the wind from opening it.

After the wind came the rain with the wind. The electricity went in the early afternoon and did not return until the evening, well after work closed. Most of the afternoon I sat completing the little non-electric-based work I could whilst the office grew darker and darker as the sun went down. By 5:30 pm the candles took full effect.

This was the first black-out for the winter. Most likely it is not the last.

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At the moment the sun is shining. However, the last 3 days have been cold and wet. This morning the rain was very heavy. The last few days remind me a little of the late 2001 floods, except then it was 3 weeks on non-stop rain. Thankfully, that is unlikely to happen again soon.

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On Saturday, with Helin and Kerem, I went to the Metro Cinema to watch S.W.A.T., starring Australian boy Colin Farrell and Pulp Fiction maestro Samuel L Jackson. S.W.A.T. is an acronym for ‘Special Weapons and Tactics’ and this movie was centred upon the Los Angeles Police Force S.W.A.T. Team. In a summary, the movie was a good fun action movie of a higher complexity and standard than the average Stallone, Scwarzenegger stuff.

Movies often reflect some aspects of society.

Without giving the plot away, S.W.A.T. is about the good guys, the S.W.A.T. team, winning against the bad guys, a Mafia guy and his associates. What was most interesting for me was that the mafia guy was French and not the traditional Italian, Russian or Chinese. In my opinion, this is a reflection of American society’s recent disliking of the French over the war in Iraq. No coincidence, I say.

On the topic of Iraq, I am gladdened to hear of Sadamn’s capture. I hope it means the end of a terrible era in Iraq. I also hope it does not mean the re-elections of government in the US, UK and Australia.

Sadamn, show us where the weapons of mass destruction are! They must be somewhere; after all, the Australian Government put Australian soldiers’ lives in danger on the other side of the world because of the threat of WMDs.

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Court rejects application for under-age marriage

In the 21st century, how can a 16 or 17 year old person make the decision to choose their partner for the rest of their life? It sure beats me.

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Turkish Economy Grows 4.9 Percent In Third Quarter Of 2003

“Gross National Product figure for the third quarter of 2003 is 108 quadrillion 383 trillion 823 billion Turkish liras (TL) in current prices and it is 39 trillion 329 billion TL in real terms.”

Great to see the economy is moving.

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My neighbourhood is a mix of people, both poor and okay financially. In one section is a bunch of children around 10 years old. During weekends and school holidays they hang around the block between home and work not doing much. Sometimes they are fun and entertaining. Other times they are rude and downright offensive. Almost always when they see me they yell out my name and enthusiastically run towards me. I encounter them most often on the way to or from work. The kids often find my name hard to pronounce and on many occasions I am called ‘George’. Virtually the only English phrases I hear them say are the universal “What is your name?” “Where are you from?” and “How old are you?” The novelty for them of me as a foreigner will take a long way to wear off.

After Liam (my brother) visited Mersin the children kept asking “Aliam nerede?” (Where is Aliam?). They also ask for the photos he took of them. Even now, more than 3 months (wow, is it that long?) since Liam left, I still get the occasional question concerning his whereabouts. The kids would have little to no concept of Australia, a country so far away.

The children are undisciplined and behave erratically. One of the boys has a habit of repeatedly saying “I f**k you” towards me. On the outside I pretend to ignore or not understand. Inside, it irritates but I just have to stay calm. The other day a few alternate boys were mimicking him even though they couldn’t even pronounce the words properly, let alone understand their meaning. One time a kid threw a soccer ball at my back. I picked up the ball and threatened to throw it into the river. In a flash one of the girls had a stone in her hand ready to let it go in my direction. Several times the kids come outside work and create a racket, attempting to get my attention until they are shooed away. They are normally just bored.

Once the feelings of annoyance or happiness go away, my strongest feeling towards the children is of pity. If only they could be brought up in a disciplined matter. I doubt that has/is/will happen as their parents are likely to be either uneducated and/or working long hours and lack the knowledge or time to look after their children properly. Maybe I am judging too much into the situation and the children are only displaying the naiveté and freedom of childhood and will develop into well-mannered adults. Perhaps. After all, I was much older than 10 when my childish habits wore off.

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Some more goodies received in the mail this week. Thank you Mum and Dad for the 2004 Australian Bird calender. Thank you also Annie and David for the Christmas present. It will not be opened until Christmas!