The above photo is of “Yunus Et Market“. In English this means: “Dolphin Meat Market”. Unlike most butchers in Turkey, this butcher in Silifke specialises in dolphin meat.

The dolphin meat is a by-product of the tuna trawlers in the Adriatic. The butcher receives the meat at a discount price as it cannot be sold in the EU or EU member countries. With Turkey beginning official membership talks with the EU there is strong pressure for the trade to be made illegal, drastically affecting Yunus Et Market and other dolphin meat distributors.

I’ve never knowingly tasted dolphin meat so I can’t give a first-hand account. People have said the taste is a cross between game and red meat.

Although not official, I’ve heard one of the main uses for dolphin meat is as a filler for lamb and chicken doner stacks. Apparently the meat is very good for holding the doner stacks together and the flavour does not differ enough from either chicken or lamb to be greatly noticeable.

When you next have a doner in southern Turkey you may want to ask the restaurant if it contains dolphin meat.

For a while in the last week this website was down. An anti-war hacker (with a Turkish email address, oddly enough) accessed the server my website is hosted on and promoted an anti-war message written in poor English. All is okay now and this website has moved to a new server.

Last night the moon was full and low over Mersin:

LIBBY Taheny is more water-wise than most. Along with some of her neighbours in Union Street, Northcote, she is already conserving water by installing a drip irrigation system in her garden, recycling the rinse water from her washing machine and installing flow reduction devices.

But even she had her eyes opened when she attended a series of information sessions organised by commmunity education group Watermark Australia.

“The information we learnt was amazing,” she says. “Just realising how much water is used in the production of food; how much we waste; how crucial the water problem is in Australia.”

Ms Taheny, a horticulturist, along with a small group of neighbours, felt that as individuals there was not much they could do to influence water policy. But they could make practical changes and perhaps persuade others to do the same.

UPDATE: Below is the photo accompanying The Age article. Auntie Libby (on the far left) thinks the photo is ‘horrendous’ so that is good enough reason for me to include it 🙂

Reading the TV guide on Saturday I discovered my favourite American comedy Married… With Children is showing on CNBC-e at 19:15 Monday to Thursday and 11:30 Saturday and Sunday morning 🙂

For the first time in living memory I have had 2 or more consecutive days off work and not travelled. Well, I did travel a short distance–down the coast with Levent to his family’s rental flat in Tomuk. Coincidentally, Buket and her family were staying only 3 levels above in the same complex and building!

Lots of swimming in the sea and pool, eating of great food (icli kofte, lamb stew, a full Turkish breakfast and amazing lahmacun) and chatting with good people all took place; email writing, hotel searching and long-distance bus travelling did not.

I am now refreshed, slightly sunburnt and ready to get back to work.

Sunday night I receive a phone call from Fiona. 4 boats carrying Australian evacuees from Lebanon, along with Canadian and US ships were due to arrive overnight. Although still tired from Friday night, I left my flat and walked down to the port.

One of the buses hired by the Canadians waiting in front of the port entrance. The Canadian buses were newer and of higher quality than the Australian buses.

This night the terminal was better organised, with more police and a tape restricting media access, allowing the refugees more direct movement to the buses. When I arrived the night’s first boatload of Australian evacuees were being processed.

Stuart, Fiona and Serpil were again hard at work although James had returned to London on Saturday. Also in attendance was a Reuters journalist from Pennsylvania.

Australian tax dollars well spent

An evacuee being interviewed. Note: Elif in orange

Whilst waiting for the second Australian boat Serpil explained to me why Turkish TV news and current affairs programmes often repeat the same footage over and over again. Turkish video operators do not take any background footage and only shoot the dramatic scenes. In other words, they don’t tell a story.

The Turkish Red Crescent gave out red and white carnations to the arriving refugees.

The second Australian boat, a ferry from Kocaeli (Izmit) arrived shortly before the first Canadian vessel. To minimise confusion the Canadian passengers remained on their ferry until all Australians were in the terminal.

Australian refugees exiting the ship

More passengers departing the ferry

The ferry terminal exit. Note the posters promoting places in Mersin Province on the windows

Evacuees waiting for a bus with an ambulance in the background. Note the small backpack worn by the Australian official. The backpack holds water that the wearer accesses by sucking a tube.

After the second Australian boatload had departed on the buses I left with Stuart and Fiona.

During the night a total of more than 800 Australians along with hundreds of Canadians and 1,000 or so Americans arrived. More people arrived Sunday night/Monday morning than all previous nights combined.

Shortly before 3 am Friday the first Australian refugee boat arrived from Lebanon to Mersin. Port employees, orange-jacketed Australian officials, wheelchair pushers and first aid workers all scurried to meet the hired ferry.

Waiting for the passengers to exit

Ambassador Jean Dunn personally met all of the evacuees as they left the boat and the Turkish Red Crescent gave them carnations. The sickest, oldest and less abled passengers were placed in wheelchairs and pushed into the terminal building for arrival processing.

Evacuees departing boat

Once the last of the 340 refugees left the boat I followed the media pack back downstairs to the area in from of the terminal entrance. Gradually, they exited the building and went onto the waiting buses to be taken to the Taksim International Hotel.

Lady in wheelchair exiting ferry terminal

The Lebanon evacuees had not only escaped a warzone but also spent 9 hours on a bumpy ferry ride on a boat without functioning airconditioning! They were tired and exhausted but also happy to have made it onto safe land. As they exited, I offered them the local sweet cezerye. Many asked if it was Turkish delight. One woman headscarfed woman gave an impromptu interview. She had just learnt her sister and Auntie escaped the southern Lebanon and was very joyful despite not sleeping for 9 days!

The Turkish media pack

The time between leaving the ferry terminal and entering the buses was extremely important for the journalists. They had to find a suitable interviewee with an catchy story to tell and chat with them long enough to obtain good quotes/soundbites. However, as soon as James, Fiona or Serpil had found an interviewee, the Turkish media pack surrounded the interview and reduced its quality.

After the final boat person entered the buses, Stuart, Fiona, James and I jumped in Stuart’s rental car and headed off to the Taksim. From living in London, Stuart’s sense of direction and landmark memorisation was excellent.

Ataturk picture and Australian flag behind table of food and water for the Lebanon evacuees, Taksim International Hotel foyer

The refugee check-in gave Stuart, Fiona and James more time to conduct interviews and take photos. The Australian government officials were very generous to allow the journalists to work.

Once all interviews were conducted, we left to drop James and Fiona back off at the Hilton. Stuart and I then headed onto my work office as Stuart needed to send photos to the News Limited tabloids and there was no internet access at the Hilton. Most of Stuart’s photos he chose to send were close-ups of refugees.

After 7 am, I finally arrived home for a short sleep. My sleep was very short as I was due to return to work at 9!