Game Fixing Case Goes to Trial

Download the Full Text Submitted to the Court in Istanbul.


Mavi Boncuk | 


Turkey's parliament is poised to override a presidential veto and approve a reduction in prison terms for match-fixing, a move that could lead to lighter sentences for suspects in a recent rigging scandal. The country's ruling and two main opposition parties say they will again vote for the new reduced term of a maximum three years in prison later Friday. 


Parliament first voted for the changes earlier this month, only eight months after it approved sentences of up to 12 years for anyone convicted of rigging games. President Abdullah Gul vetoed it on the grounds that it was giving "the impression of a special arrangement" to save suspects in the recent match-fixing scandal, including Fenerbahce President Aziz Yildirim. 


A court says a total of 93 suspects will go on trial on Feb. 14.

Anonymous Video on Fetullah Gulen and Turkey!

I am sharing this propaganda video so that more people can watch and form an opinion, pro or con and think about its possible source. How similar is the content of this video to other similar allegations about the Gulen Movement. Who is behind the events that was used as clips.


Mavi Boncuk |


Anonymous Video on Fetullah Gulen and Turkey!

A monument to the 1918 Battle of Bash Aparan

A monument to the 1918 Battle of Bash Aparan[1], at which the Armenians repelled a force of Ottoman soldiers (Aparan, Armenia, built 1979)
Photograph: Frédéric Chaubin. 
Mavi Boncuk |


[1] The Battle of Bash Abaran (Armenian: Բաշ Աբարանի ճակատամարտ Bash Abarani chakatamart, Turkish: Baş-Abaran Muharebesi) was a battle of Caucasus Campaign of World War I that took place in the vicinity of Bash Abaran, in 1918. 


The Ottoman divisions attacked on May 21, but after three days of fierce combat the Armenians remained firm and the Ottoman regiments retreated in defeat. Armenian forces headed by Drastamat Kanayan with the support of forces of Movses Silikyan, fought against the 3rd Regiment of the 11th Caucasian Division and then launched a counter-attack against the Ottomans in May 25. And then Drastamat Kanayan's forces, with also the support of Movses Silikyan's infantry, drew back the Ottomans to the north of Bas-Abaran on May 29. 


The victory here, as well as at Sardarapat and Karakilisa, were instrumental in allowing the Democratic Republic of Armenia to come into existence.


See also: Armenian Sources

Ashura 2011

The Day of Ashura (Arabic: عاشوراء‎ ʻĀshūrā’, Ashura, Ashoura, and other spellings; Turkish: Aşure Günü) is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram.


Mavi Boncuk | 
Thousands of Shiites gathered in İstanbul's Halkalı district on Monday, the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar, to mourn the martyrdom of Husain ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala 1,372 years ago.

Ashura is a religious observance marked every year by Muslims. The word "ashura" literally means "10th," as it is the 10th day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic year. Ashura is a traditional observance that is now recognized for different reasons and in different ways by Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Even in predominantly Hindu country like India, Ashura (often called Moharram) is a public holiday.

Commemoration of Ashura has great socio-political value for the Shi'a, who have been a minority throughout their history. "Al-Amd" asserts that the Shi'a transference of Al-Husayn and Karbala ' from the framework of history to the domain of ideology and everlasting legend reflects their marginal and dissenting status in Arab-Islamic society

From the period of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905–11) onward, mourning gatherings increasingly assumed a political aspect. Following an old established tradition, preachers compared the oppressors of the time with Imam Hosayn's enemies, the Omayyad. On the other hand some governments have banned this commemoration. In 1930s Reza Shah forbade it in Iran. The regime of Saddam Hussein saw this as a potential threat and banned Ashura commemorations for many years. In the 1884 Hosay Massacre, 22 people were killed in Trinidad and Tobago when civilians attempted to carry out the Ashura rites, locally known as Hosay, in defiance of the British colonial authorities. 

A companion of Muhammed, Ibn Abas reports Muhammed went to Medina and found the Jews fasting on the tenth of Muharram. Muhammed inquired of them, "What is the significance of this day on which you fast?" They replied, "This is a good day, the day on which God rescued the children of Israel from their enemy. So, Moses fasted this day." Muhammed said, "We have more claim over Moses than you." Muhammed then fasted on that day and ordered Muslims too 

Mavi Boncuk | 

Yes, I Would...: An American Woman's Letters to Turkey

Author:	Katharine Branning
Publication Date:	June 16, 2010
ISBN:	1935295063 / 9781935295068
Price:	$18.95
Binding:	Cloth
Trim:	6" x 9"
Page Count:	320

Yes, I Would... comprises a series of imaginary letters written to Lady Mary Montagu, whose famous "Embassy Letters" were written in 1716-1718 during her stay in Turkey as the wife of the English ambassador. The author uses themes dear to Lady Mary, such as culture, art, religion, women and daily life, to reflect on those same topics as encountered during the author's past 30 years of travel in Turkey.

Author interviews:

Yes, I Would Love another Cup of Tea

Katharine Branning, is the author of "Yes I Would Love another Cup of Tea: An American Woman's Letters to turkey."


Katharine Branning has degrees from the University of Paris, Sorbonne and the Ecole du Louvre, where she majored in Islamic arts, with a specialty in Islamic glass. A graduate of the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science, she has been a librarian at the French Institute of Architecture in Paris, France, at the French Embassy Cultural Services and the Alliance Française in New York City. For her work promoting the French language and culture through the creation of numerous libraries in both France and the United States, she has been awarded the Ordre national du Mérite from the President of France, one of the nation's highest honors. 


She has studied the Turkish language and literature at the Institute of Langues Orientales in Paris and with Prof. Talat S. Halman at New York University. As an independent researcher and glass artist, she has conducted annual field work relative to architecture and decorative arts in Turkey every year since 1978. 


She currently lives in New York, where she is Vice President of Education at the French Institute Alliance Française.


Mavi Boncuk |


Yes I would Love another Glass of Tea : An American Woman's Letters to Turkey (38:54) LECTURE