NYTurkishtimes: Recent Comments

Comment on The Reality of the Turkmen Population in Iraq

Orhan Ketene — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:28:03 GMT

The Turkmen population figures have always been suppressed for political reasons. This is expected from racist dominant powers of Iraq (Arabs and Kurds).
However, since the downfall of the Saddam regime, the Turkmens themselves should have conducted their own census by now. The Turkish supported Iraqi Turkmen Front has more 80 branches in Iraq.
In the past 7 years they would have been able to finish this issue and present the world their true number.

Comment on Turban Evrimi..........Evolution of the Scarf...! ?

auda furman — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:41:12 GMT

too much religion can only lead to problems. Now the women have to cover their hair and are even afraid to speak to anyone of the opposite sex. Their religion is too controlling.

Comment on The Beauty of İstanbul (power point)

Max Sullivan — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:44:19 GMT

The links you have provided here are really helpful. Many thanks for sharing such a valueable information

Max Sullivan,

Comment on Teach NBC Geography, There is no State of Kurdistan

Sermin Hatton — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:30:45 GMT

Please be more considerate...

Comment on Turkey and Armenia

Aydin Demir — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:54:13 GMT

This is not a genocide vs. no-genocide issue, this is a battle between the Christian world vs. Islam. I believe, the Christian world, mostly Europe, is still angry at Turkey, sour grapes, for annexing and converting the capitol of Christianity Constantinople, to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, renaming it Istanbul. For that reason, Turkey can't join the EU, for far less qualified Christian nations have been given membership privileges. For this reason, no matter what, Turkey will always be wrong when judged by the Christian world.

The Armenian attempt to buy history via lobbyists, spending millions upon millions of dollars to turn Armenian genocide into a political issue, in exchange for votes, takes away from credibility of the Armenian claims. I tend to believe there were war atrocities against the Armenians, and vise versa. War atrocities are part of war, and committed by all nations, including the Armenians, the French, and USA included. American soldiers returning from Vietnam were deemed "baby killers" for systematically annihilating whole villages, including women and babies. Killing innocent Vietnamese civilians "just because." And who can forget Nagasaki and Hiroshima, where USA dropped two atom bombs on civilian populations, killing the young, the elderly, the sick in hospitals and the unarmed men and women in response to Japans attack on Pearl Harbor, a military base. I believe USA is guilty of a double nuclear genocide. Yet, the USA will not admit to it, and thus the Armenians asking the USA, a country which committed a double nuclear genocide, to recognize a genocide and to act as a referee, is just hypocrisy. War atrocities are not acts of genocide. If that's the case, then the whole mankind is guilty of genocide, for killing, war and war crimes have been around since man's evolution.

If in fact, Turkey is wrong, and historians prove Turkey has committed a genocide, then Turkey must acknowledge this horrible event, and must rise above this dark chapter in their history. The Armenian Genocide must not become an election issue, or who is rich enough to buy history, because even if all the world's nations see it as a genocide, what matters most is how Turkey sees and acknowledges their history.

So far, this has been a very polarized, very biased, unfair and a unilateral discussion, without Turkey's input, where Armenia has been allowed to be the judge, the jury and the executioner. Let the unbiased historians decide whether there was a genocide or not, not those with an agenda trying to convince the whole world that a genocide took place, "Just because we say it did."

Comment on Turkey Fact Sheet - GDP and Employment

Kaan — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:05:10 GMT

Actually the article (the fact sheet) is all about 2008 since it is too late to talk about 2001 but as you know economics is all about comparison and I wanted to point the effects of the global crisis to our economy by comparing it to data on 2001 and 2002. It appears that the global crisis will hit Turkey and we will also pay the toll as others. It is more obvious when the effects we are experiencing are very similar to the ones in 2001. I added employment data which I found very interested and very related to Industrial Production. It is hard to analyse the pieces without seeing the big picture. As one of my professors told me, all the economists end their sentences with "on the other hand" that's why you don't see ecomists missing a hand...

Comment on Turkey Fact Sheet - GDP and Employment

Nesrin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:17:32 GMT

Did I miss part of the information? It talks about a sentence or two about 2001 then a few words about 2008. Is the meat of the information somewhere else or am I expecting too much?
Nesrin Asya

Comment on Ahıska Türkleri Kimdir?

Mofak Salman — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:11:48 GMT

A key to understanding why the maintenance of Iraq's territorial integrity is viewed by many as critical is knowledge of the country's enormous ethnic and religious diversity, the aspirations of these groups and the problems they now face. One of these ethno-linguistic groups is the Turkmen [ ], who have made a major effort to define themselves, both internally and to the world community. Their real population has always been suppressed by the authorities in Iraq for political reasons and is officially estimated at 2%, whereas in reality their number should be put between 2.5 and 3 million, i.e. 12% of the Iraqi population. The Turkmen of Iraq settled in Turkmeneli (Turkmen land) [ ]. Over the centuries, Turkmen have played a constructive role in Iraq, either by defending against foreign invaders or by bringing civilisation. Their monuments and architectural remains exist all over Iraq and they lived in harmony with all ethnic groups around them. They lived with justice and tolerance.
The Turkmen are a Turkic group with a unique heritage and culture, as well as linguistic, historical and cultural links with the surrounding Turkic groups, such as those in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Their spoken language is closer to Azeri but their official written language is similar to the Turkish spoken in present-day Turkey. The Turkmen of Iraq settled in Turkmeneli in three successive and constant migrations from Central Asia, and increased their numbers; this enabled them to establish six states in Iraq:
1. The Seljuks
2. The Atabegs
3. The Ilkhanids
4. The Jalairids
5. The Kara Koyunlu, “Black sheep”
6. The Ak Koyunlu, “White sheep”

Turkmen have been living in present Iraq for over a millennium. Yet, since they were left outside the borders of a new Turkey in an artificially created Iraq, Turkmen felt the heavy-handed treatment by successive Arab rulers, the worst of whom were the Ba’ath Party. Though the Turkmen of Iraq consist one of the three major entities of the modern Iraqi State, the Turkmen have had the least of advantages. Since the foundation of Iraq in the aftermath of the First World War, the existence of Turkmen has been denied by the official regimes in Baghdad in accordance with the state’s policy. It was the attempt at sealing the border with Turkey that motivated the Baghdad regime, and their protector Britain, to deliberately ignore the existence of the Turkmen people in the early years of Iraq.

Turkmen The Iraqi Turkmen live in an area that they call “Turkmenia” in Latin or “Turkmeneli” which means, “Land of the Turkmen”. It was referred to as “Turcomania” by the British geographer William Guthrie in 1785. The Turkmen are Turkic groups that have a unique heritage and culture as well as linguistic, historical and cultural links with the surrounding Turkic groups such as those in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Their spoken language is closer to Azeri but their official written language is like the Turkish spoken in present-day Turkey.

Comment on Turquoise Center Food and Craft Fair/Raindrop Dallas

Deniz — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:34:29 GMT

AWESOME!

Comment on The Beauty of İstanbul (power point)

ERcan Yerdelenli — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:46:09 GMT

Uzerine en cok siir yazilan, beste yapilan "Bu sehr-i Istanbul'ki hayali cihana deger" dedikleri Imparatorluk Pay-i Tahtimiz..
Bana gore ise "Cihan-i Pay-i Taht" Cunku, her yonuyle benzersiz bir sehir.
O haliyle de, ruhuna okunmus bugunki haliyle de essiz bizim ISTANBUL'UMUZ.