Black Tent

Mustafa was the prince with the most potential of any other, during the 600 plus years existence of the Ottoman Empire. He was the hope for the majority of the people living in and out of the empire, to ascend to the throne.His father was Lawmaker Sultan Suleiman, who ruled the empire during the empire's zenith years. He was untouchable, revered, and feared. But, once looking past his mighty title, name, and qualifications, study shows that he made questionable decisions, one of them being the decision to order the execution of his eldest son - Mustafa.This story is a fictional telling of what happened when Mustafa rode into the Ottoman Empire’s campsite, and entered the shadowy big black tent, where his sultan father was waiting for him. What I will do is take you back to October 6, 1553, and bring forward previously unknown and intriguing events from that day, told in a fictional telling. Purchase the book and take a ride to a different world.Thank you and take good care,

The Mission of Bandirma Ship

The Mission of Bandirma Ship

The 'Bandırma' was an Ottoman ship, which became famous for the historical role in taking Mustafa Kemal Ataturk from the city of Constantinople to the northern city of Samsun on May 16, 1919.  This journey marked the start of the Turkish National Movement against the Imperial powers.  

     Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

The 'Bardirma' became famous, when it sailed with the important guest of Mr Kemalr, to the city of Samsun.   Mr Kemal was the Inspector of the 'Ninth Army Troops' of the Ottoman Empire.  

Mr Kemal was sent to Anatolia by Vahdeddin Sultan's Decree to oversee the 'Turkish National Movement' to free the Ottoman lands from Imperial powers of England and France; to name a couple of ambitious and opportunistic powers.  

Mr Kemal was accompanied with 22 officers, 25 soldiers and 8 administrative staff.  The crew sailed on the old ship named 'Bandirma' with an un-functioning compass and set foot on land in Samsun, 3 days later, on May 19, 1919. 

     Bandirma Ship

Upon landing, Mr Kemal started the movement that resulted in the declaration of the 'Republic of Turkey' a short 4 years later.

Thank you for reading,

Ben

Meyve Veren Agac Taslanir

Meyve Veren Agac Taslanir

'The tree that gives fruit, will be stoned' this is a very meaningful Turkish proverb. 

First the meaning in Turkish, and afterwards, in English. 

'Meyve Veren Agac Taslanir' bir Atasozu'dur. 

Anlami ise cok manalidir.  

Bir insan toplumda bir seviyeye ermis, ve bilgili, becerikli, ve son olarak basarili ise, kiskanilir.  Bununla kalmiyip, bir cok elestiriye ve saldırıya maruz kalır.

Bu yuzden boyle bir saldiriya maruz kalirsaniz sabirli olmanizi tavsiye ederim.  Ve sagkin davranin kendinizi savunurken. 

Now in English. 

Bu Atasozun ingilizce tercumani soyledir 'The tree that gives fruit, will be stoned'.  

What does this Turkish proverb mean?

Whoever is qualified, informed and successful; is doomed to be the aim of jealousy.  This person will be criticized, with many hurtful and false rumours said; which will whispered by people around him/her. 

Therefore, my advise is to learn to be patient, when hearing false accusations about yourself and always act calm when confronting these individuals. 

Sincerely, 

Sirinnar Radio

Sirinnar Radio

Has anyone heard of 'Sirinnar Radio'?

Here is a link, in case you would like to view the webpage, and listen to the radio. 

www.sirinnar.net/

This is a radio station, broadcasts from the beautiful city of Gaziantep, which is located south-east of Turkey.  

"What kind of music is this?"

Folk, to be specific, it is Anatolian Folk Music.  

Anatolian (Turkish) folk music, 

(Turk Halk muzigi) combines the very different and distinct cultures/civilizations that have lived in Anatolia over the past many, many centuries.  

This music was the most popular music genre of the mighty Ottoman Empire.  

After the foundation of Turkish Republic in 1923, the founder of the Republic, Mr Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, commissioned a wide-scale classification program and archived all of the samples of Anatolian folk music in the territories, this lasted until 1953. 

There was a collection of more then 10,000 folk songs from a wide body of languages, cultures and civilizations. 

Sirrannar Radio, offers a 'rich' variety of 'peaceful' music, to the listeners.  

I whole-heartedly recommend this station to people who are looking for something different. 

Thank you for reading.  

View from the Pera Hill

View from the Pera Hill

I would like to share the transcript of the seventh speech of mine, with some alterations made to it over the years.  This speech was given to my peers in January of 2012; for our Toastmasters group. 

Here it is below.  

Toastmasters, Speech number 7

View from the Pera Hill

On the communication manual it states that project 7 should be a “Research Your Topic” speech.  I actually did not know we were following the manual this close, really? Therefore thought back and realized that my last two speeches were not exactly done as the manual wanted and I want to correct this today.

Speech 5 guideline states that this should be a something that has an element of “Your Body Speaks”.  I definitely did not do that. I remember, I just stood out here and therefore, I would like to show you my delayed reaction…”Ohhh my, a TV!!” and “I cannot believe my eyes!".  (Make like your hands are in the air and start jumping around).  For those of you who missed my speech 5, this was a speech about the first time a Television was brought into our home, when I was only 5 or 6 years old.  

Speech 6 guideline states that it should have “Vocal Variety”. Again, I did not do that.  But, I want to correct this and here is my impression of, Lets see if you can guess this character actor? “Ahhh, A make him an offer, he can’t refuse…”  (Say it with an Italian accent) Anyone? The answer is Marlon Brando, starring in the oscar winning role of the The Godfather.

Most of you do not know, but I love to write.  I have over a dozen short stories in my native language.  I am in the process of slowly converting these stories into English.  My goal one day is to take a long leave of absence from work and try to chase this dream of mine to convert the stories into English and also expand these short stories into novels.

My speech today is titled “The view from the Pera Hill”.  I am not referring to Pisa in Italy.  I might add that, that would be a nice place to visit, right?  It would be nice to see the Leaning Tower, can you imagine standing by the leaning tower and having your partner take your picture while you are doing this (Make like you are holding up the tower).  Also, did you guys know that Pisa has less than 90,000 residences, but over a million tourists visit that city each year? That is over 10 times the population. Think about that. If we use the percentage calculation for Edmonton, that would mean that if there is 1 million residences living here (Give or take), we would have 10 million tourists visiting here. Imagine the traffic? Yuk!!

Also, my speech today is a just a very small part of one of my short stories.  The story is based in the year 1453.  This is a very important year.  It is said that “History, is written by the victor”, (Say this in an English accent), that is suppose to be an English accent by the way.  Can anyone guess who said that very famous phrase? Winston Churchill is the answer. 

I do not like wars, I am absolutely against them. “Wars are no solution to peace!” Therefore, I took an event which was a very important date in the history of Europe. 

The concurring of Constantinople. 

The fall of the old Rome. 

The end of the Byzantium Empire. 

The beginning of the mighty Ottoman Empire. 

My birth city, the city on the seven hills.

Therefore, what I did was that since the city was going to fall to the New lions of Anatolia. I dreamt up a way for not one person to die while the ruling hands changed in this city.

I describe the conversation between Fatih Sultan Mehmed; the young 21 year old conquer of the city that backs onto the Golden Horn body of water.  A body of water which holds 3000 years of treasures.  And the conversation is with a 74 year old Priest Patrick Gennadius Skolarious, who lives in the St. Aposteli Church.  A Church which has a secret item buried deep in the catacombs below it.  And, whoever has possession of this item, which dates back to the City of Jerusalem, and prior to that, to the town of Bethlehem.  The item once owned by a poor Sheppard, we all know who I am referring to.

Whoever has possession of this item, would have his one wish granted.  This conversation occurred between the two characters at 3 am on May 25, 1453 in the wooded parts of the Pera Hill on the East/North side of the Golden Horn body of water, overlooking the treasure below, the walled city of Constantinople. 

The trade occurs which saves every person, not one drop of blood spills, and everyone’s happy.

I am running out of time and therefore leave it to your imagine of how the two characters meet and communicate.  How one is at the prime of his life, full of brute force and the other advanced in years, full of wisdom share. 

Thank you for reading.