Turkey launches ‘peaceful parks’ operation with 8,000 police officers across the country

Turkish police launched the “Turkey Peaceful Park” operation simultaneously across 81 provinces on July 23 with the participation of 7,968 police officers to “ensure the peace of citizens in the parks,” state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The operation has seen the inspection of 4,382 parks, with identity checks on 44,508 people and 4,215 vehicles.  

Accordingly, public order police personnel have detained 110 people across the country, have banned 39 vehicles from the roads and have caught 10 sought vehicles. 

Security forces have imposed a total fine of 105,929 Turkish liras (around $30,000) on 226 people and 191 vehicles for punitive, administrative and traffic fine payments. 

Additionally, one illegal gun, three shotguns, seven bullets, 10 sharp objects, one blank cartridge pistol, two grams of heroin, 131 grams of hashish, 54 grams of bonsai, eight drug pills and 37 packages of smuggled cigarettes have been confiscated.

Some 39 detection dogs were reported to have assisted in the operations.

July/24/2017 hürriyet daily news

Cat Stevens channels Sufi poet Yunus Emre for new folk album

Cat Stevens has channeled the Sufi poet Yunus Emre for a song about divine love as he announced his latest album since his return to Western folk pop.

“See What Love Did To Me,” released on July 20, is the first single off “The Laughing Apple,” which will come out September 15 and mark Stevens’s fourth album since he ended a three-decade retreat from music following his conversion to Islam.

The song is dominated by the gentle and joyous folk guitar that characterized the English artist’s hits in the 1970s such as “Wild World,” “Father and Son” and “Peace Train.”    

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/cat-stevens-channels-sufi-poet-yunus-emre-for-new-folk-album-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=115788&NewsCatID=383

Turkey’s Köprülü Canyon set to welcome 700,000 tourists for rafting

Turkey’s Köprülü Canyon, one of the world’s easiest rafting tracks, is set to welcome nearly 700,000 tourists this year, according to tour organizers in the region. 

The canyon in the Beşkopnak neighborhood of the Mediterranean province of Antalya’s Manavgat district is located on a 36,600-hectare area with over 100-meter-high walls and 14-kilometers-long streamline.

Rafting in the Köprülü Canyon can be done in two-person canoes or boats with a capacity of eight to 10 people by any enthusiast from any age group, without the need for any extra talent. A brief training, a helmet, a lifejacket, and an oar are enough to go rafting in the canyon. 

The head of the Köprülü Canyon Tourism Development Cooperative, Refik Armağan, said rafting activities started in the beginning of 1990 in the Köprüçay Stream – from where the canyon also takes its name, which begins from the Taurus Mountains and flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
 
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-koprulu-canyon-set-to-welcome-700000-tourists-for-rafting-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=115896&NewsCatID=379 

1,800-year-old mosaic found in ancient city of Perge

A 1,800-year-old mosaic, which showed the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra during the Trojan War in Greek mythology, was found at excavation works in the ancient city of Perge in Turkey’s Mediterranean region.

Perge excavations head and Antalya Museum Director Mustafa Demirel said a new mosaic was unearthed when the archeological team was working to open a shop in the west wing of the site.

“We have found a 1,800-year-old mosaic that depicts the sacrifice of İphigenia during the Trojan War in the city of ancient Perge. This finding, which makes us quite excited, was unearthed when we were working to open a shop in the west wing. We have found out that this was a sacred cult area,” he said.

Phigenia was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra in Greek mythology.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/1800-year-old-mosaic-found-in-ancient-city-of-perge.aspx?pageID=238&nID=115733&NewsCatID=375 

Göbeklitepe prepares for key UNESCO visit

Officials have been spending last-minute efforts as the Göbeklitepe archeological site in Turkey’s southeast, one of the leading historic values of the country, prepares to be nominated for UNESCO’s  World Heritage list in 2018 ahead of a delegation visit in September. 

Aydın Aslan, a culture and tourism director in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, has told state-run Anadolu Agency that they were very pleased to finally hear the nomination of the Göbeklitepe archeological site, accepted as the world’s oldest center of worship by Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry and many other international institutions and organizations, for this year’s 42nd UNESCO heritage committee meeting.

The site was included in UNESCO’s temporary list five years ago.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gobeklitepe-prepares-for-key-unesco-visit-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=115875&NewsCatID=375 

Excavations in Turkey’s southeast reveal 10,000-year-old belief in afterlife

An excavation in the Dargeçit district of the southeastern region of Turkey, which will soon be left under the reservoir waters of the Ilısu Dam, has revealed crucial information about the North Mesopotamian people’s social life 10 millennia ago, particularly about burial rituals and the ancient belief in life after death.

Bodies buried in the fetal position, with their knees pulled up to their stomach, were found in the basements of houses in the site, symbolizing the position of a baby in the womb, according to information provided by Nihat Erdoğan, the manager of the Mardin Museum who conducts the excavation of the site.

The findings point at belief in rebirth after death, Erdoğan told the Doğan News Agency. 

The decades-old Ilısu Dam project, which was first planned under Southeastern Anatolia Project’s investments in the 1960s, was first tendered in 1997. The potential damage caused by the dam’s construction, which is planned to be finalized this year, has been discussed for a quarter of a century.

Archaeologists have been carrying out intense work since 2008 in the large area, which includes the site known as “Boncuklu Tarla,” literally meaning “beady field” in English.

Houses with quarry stone walls and stiffened clay floors from the Aceramic Neolithic Age, which date back to 10,000 B.C. and 7,000 B.C., were found during the excavations at the site in Dargeçit.

“Since those times, people have used totems or amulets for thousands of years for abundance or spells, as part of their beliefs or as ornaments. Ornaments were made of colorful stones and natural materials such as animal teeth, horn, bone and nails or sea shells that were rubbed, scratched, drilled and stringed together,” said Erdoğan.

“The specific triangular pendants that were found at Boncuklu Tarla shows that the form of amulets, which have been believed to protect people from bad things and illnesses or to bring good luck, have not changed for 10,000 years,” he said.

Along with thousands of beads used in ornaments, obsidian or flint blades, waste from ornament making and stone chipping tools were found at the site.

The tools include blades, gimlets, arrowheads and microliths, said Erdoğan.

Traces of the Neolithic age have been found in several spots in Anatolia, where food production and settled societies had begun, he noted. 

The foundations of today’s civilization were laid during the Neolithic Age, when the socio-economic structures and social classes were formed, triggering rooted changes in human life, he said. 

The Boncuklu Tarla site was discovered in 2008, during a field survey. Its first excavations started in 2012. 
This year’s excavation, which began last week, will last until the end of October and the uncovered artifacts will be exhibited at the Mardin Museum.

July/20/2017 hürriyet daily news

Gaziantep cuisine sets eye on food Oscar

The southeastern city of Gaziantep, which has one of Turkey’s best cuisines and has been included in the UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, now aims to acquire a Michelin Star, known as the Oscar of food, with new restaurants serving unique tastes. 

To attain the goal, Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality is seeking to attract new venues to the city, including the Culinary Arts Center (MSM), which features a range of foods from Gaziantep cuisine, in one of the busiest spots in the city. 

Besides presentation, the center has also drawn attention for unique dinner sets depicting the promotional face of the city, thy Gypsy Girl. 

The center serves two different menus every week, including a seasonal dish, soup, main course and dessert. 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gaziantep-cuisine-sets-eye-on-food-oscar-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=113121&NewsCatID=377