Surreal fight in Rize involving Uzi, bats, kids, police

This is Sparta ... sorry Rize. The video below is one of the most fantastic fights you can see in YouTube. Some guys come to a grocer. They seem to be there to confront the owner. The owner of the grocer greets them with UZI ... yes UZI! A  sub machine gun which is hard to find even for many mafia organizations. And extremely illegal to possess in Turkey.

The owner of the grocer has an UZI but still calls the police. He must be quite scared. And before the police comes, he lowers his guard one second and one of the guys attacks him with a bat. After attacking a man holding a gun, an ultra fantastic and surrealistic fight begins. The attacker is severely beaten until and after police arrives.

Now the most unreal part. When all these were happening there is a kid in the scene. No one, including the owner who seems to be his dad, thinks about taking him out. Even in the presence of UZI sub machine gun. The boy is important here because after the man with the sub machine gun was attacked, the gun is out of sight for a while. And around the 7th minute into the video, the boy appears with UZI in his hand, watching the fight!

Watch it yourself. This is Rize,  the capital city of Rize Province in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. The gun culture in the region is quite known but having grocer owners with UZI is an extreme even for Rize.


Those who want to know what the hell is going on here : According to some Turkish sources, the grocer has changed hand and these "youngsters" were collecting "protection money" from the previous owner and demanding same from the new owner. Sometime back, this owner was attacked by a guy with knife. 
The youngsters in the video come to the shop to beat the owner. They come in as if they were ordinary customers and do not know each other. Owner realizes one of the guys have a hidden bat and takes UZI out. Some supposed to be attackers flee but owner traps a few in the shop and calls police. Meanwhile he sends out kids to his relatives to inform them (the people attacking the guy fiercely towards the end),

Turkey Public Holidays 2014 Calendar

Public holidays in Turkey fall into 2 groups: The ones which commemorate the important events from the foundation days of Turkish Republic and the religious holidays. There are only 2 religious holidays but they tend to be long, usually Turkish take a week long holiday during these holidays and business life almost stops.

If you are planning to visit Turkey, you should now this dates because many Turks travel within Turkey during long holidays and the hotel and flight ticket prices are quite expensive during these times.

Religious holidays for Muslim festivals and their date change every year since they are based on lunar calendar.

New Year Holiday  (Turkish Yılbaşı)
January 1st, 2014 Wednesday
Turkey celebrates Gregorian Calendar’s first year as new year and most of the time December 31st is also a half day holiday. Expect a very crowded and fully booked December 31st night.

National Sovereignty and Children’s Day  (Turkish Ulusal Egemenlik ve Çocuk Bayramı)
April 23rd, 2014, Wednesday
Grand National Assembly of Turkey has first opened its door at Ankara in 23 April 1920 and the day is a holiday for the commemoration of the event. This official holiday is dedicated to the children.

Labour and Solidarity Day (Turkish Emek ve Dayanışma Günü)
May 1st 2014, Thursday
This is May Day holiday, which was removed from the list of public holidays in 1981 by the military rulers of 1980 Turkish coup d’état. 28 years after, in 2009, May Day has been an official public holiday again. Since it falls on Thursday, expect Turks to attach it to next weekend with 1 day off on Friday and enjoy a 4 days long weekend.

Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day (Turkish Atatürk’ü Anma Gençlik ve Spor Bayramı)
May 19th, 2014, Monday
May 19th 1919 is a public holiday commemorating the beginning of national liberation movement initiated in 1919 by Atatürk’s landing in Samsun. The holiday is dedicated to the youth. In 2014, this public holiday will create a 3-days long weekend.

Ramadan Feast (Turkish Ramazan Bayramı)
July 27 2014 (half day) Sunday, July 28-29-30 2014 Monday – Wednesday

This religious holiday in Turkey (and in the rest of Muslim world) is Eid_ul-Fitr and one of the longest holidays in Turkey and if all these days are in weekdays, Turks tend to have a long 9 days holiday by merging this holiday with the weekends. Since July is summer time, many Turkish will flock to south coast for holiday and it would be difficult if not impossible to find hotel rooms and plane tickets during this time.

Victory Day (Turkish Zafer Bayramı)
August 30, 2014, Saturday

This holiday is for the commemoration of the victory at the final battle in Dumlupinar which has ended the Turkish Independence War in 1922 with a victory and it is dedicated to the armed forces.

Sacrifice Feast (Turkish Kurban Bayramı)
October 3rd 2014 (half day) Friday, October 4-5-6-7 2013 Saturday – Tuesday

This religious holiday in Turkey is Eid_ul-Adha and one of the longest holidays in Turkey and if all these days are in weekdays, Turkish tend to have a long 9 days holiday by merging this holiday with the weekends. It is very difficult to find tickets and hotel rooms around this time. This year, it seems like it wont be a 9 days holiday but a 5 days long weekend.

Republic Day (Turkish Cumhuriyet Bayramı)
October 28-29th, 2014 Tuesday, Wednesday
This 1.5 day holiday starts at 28th afternoon and October 29th is a full day holiday commemoration of the proclamation of the republic in 1923. This is a good opportunity to have a long 5-days weekend for many Turks.

Turkey’s First Apple Store opens in Istanbul Zorlu Center

When the first Apple Store On February 4th 2014, opens its doors in Istanbul Zorlu Center, Turkey will join 14 countries which have Apple Store. The huge Istanbul Apple Store will span across 2,000 meter squares and sell Apple products like Mac PCs, Apple Software, Apple TV, iPods, iPads and iPhones as well as 3rd party products like accessories. The Apple Store in Istanbul will feature cubical glass ceiling architecture which is currently used in only 2 stores in USA.

Istanbul Apple Store will also offer personalization services for purchased Apple products. For example, customers will be able to write their names behind iPad tablets using lazer or select the specifications of Mac computers before they purchase them. Like all Apple Stores, Apple Store in Zorlu Center will also feature Apple repair services.

Turkey is one of the focus areas of Apple and it is reported in Turkish media that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook will be in Istanbul for the opening of the Apple Store. Apple eventually plans to open 4 Apple Retail Stores in Turkey.

Zorlu Center in Istanbul will be home to Turkey’s first Apple Store which is scheduled to open in Feb 2014.

Tim Cook will also visit Ankara and meet Turkish President Abdullah Gul to discuss Fatih Project. This educational project involves 10.6 million tablets and Apple has given proposal for the project, which is not concluded yet, in June 2013.

Apple has opened its iTunes Turkey last year.

Currently Apple has 420 stores in 14 countries including United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Germany, China, Hong Kong, Japan, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzeland. The largest Apple Store in the world is currently located in Amsterdam’s Leidseplein Square.

Zorlu Center is composed of three residential towers, a 184 room Raffles İstanbul Zorlu Center hotel, a 2,300 seat Zorlu Center for Performing Arts Center and a large shopping mall. The Zorlu Center Shopping Mall is home to 200 shops ranging from Turkish luxury department store Beymen to international names such as Valentino, Stella McCartney and Pucci. On the European side of Istanbul near city’s business and finance center in Levent, it is also easily accessible from Asian side through Bosphorus Bridge.

First Snow of the Winter in Istanbul

December is one of the coldest months in İstanbul. It is very likely that you will have some rain, chilly winds and maybe even snow. This is the surprising part: heavy snow started falling on İstanbul’s outskirts on 11 December 2013 and continued until 13 December 2013. Actually this was the first snow of the winter in İstanbul and the city has been affected by the snow for three days. Everywhere was covered by the snow which created wonderful scenes from different views of İstanbul.

İstanbul, one of largest cities in the world with a population approximately 14 million, is located between two continents. The city is divided by Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) Strait and extends both on the European and on the Asian (Anatolia) sides of the Boğaziçi (Bosphorus). Since İstanbul is  a transcontinental city, straddling Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, the city receives air streams from Balkans, Siberia and Marmara.

İstanbul is also one of the most significant cities in history. Considering its long history, İstanbul has been a contact point of several civilizations and has served as the capital of four empires; respectively Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. İstanbul was also selected as joint European Capital of Culture for 2010. The historic areas of Istanbul were partially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Istanbul Bosphorus under snow. Seen from Bogazici University campus (European side)

Rumelihisari under snow in December 2013

General information about the climate in İstanbul is as follows: İstanbul has a transitional climate between a temperate Mediterranean climate and a temperate Oceanic climate with warm to hot, moderately dry summers and cool to cold, wet winters since it is bordering the Sea of Marmara which connects the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. Generally speaking winters are cold, with low temperatures averaging 4–5 °C (39–41 °F). Snow showers are rare (luckily we had one between 11- 13 December ), but it rains frequently. Starting from December till March temperatures are around 5-10 °C in İstanbul. Snow and strong winds negatively affect city transportation especially ferries. People prefer shopping malls or covered areas during colder season.

Approximately 11.6 million foreign visitors arrived in İstanbul in 2012 and tourists usually prefer summer and spring times. However during winter, sights are less uncrowded, prices for hotels are lower. After seeing the pictures of İstanbul in snow; it would be nice experience to try to visit İstanbul during winter times.

Halal Sex Shop opened in Turkey

Turkey's fırst Halal Sex Shop has been launched selling halal sex products and giving advises on how to have "halal" sex. The shop is opened by 38 years old Turkish entrepreneur Haluk Murat Demirel. The sex shop does not use explicit photos and does not sell haram products such as vibrators (masturbation is not halal). The halal sex shop on the other hand sells products “entirely safe,” and in compliance with Islamic norms such as condoms, massage oils, lubricants and herbal aphrodisiacs.

45 per cent of the halal sex shop are women. The shop does not have an official Halal certificate. The shop owner checks the products in Islamic sources and marks them Halal.

The entrance page on its web site there are 2 sections Erkek (Male) and Kadın (Female). It says completely safe, comply with Islamic norms and Halal sexual products.

Entrance page of Halal Sex Shop

"We use words which are delicate, not pornographic," he explains. "For example, instead of 'horny' we use 'desiring'. These details are important."

Turkey is a country where liberal and conservative values often conflict. Recently a Victoria's Secret shop silently pulled down their shutters before the prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was in this Ankara Shopping Mall, walked by. This was quite aggressively debated in social networks and internet in general.

FEMEN Turkey branch is active now

Ukraine based feminist protest group FEMEN has opened its Turkey affiliate. FEMEN Turkey Twitter page has announced the new development : We announce the debut of FEMEN Turkey office! Join Guntulu! Fight for democracy in your country.

Guntulu is the name of the young topless Turkish woman in the photo below whose boobs are painted to Turkish flag while her protest fist is all the way up. FEMEN is known for its topless protests. The abusive messages left under the photo of Guntulu shows that FEMEN members will have hard time in Turkey.

FEMEN Turkey Twitter account was suspended for half an hour but later activated again. The first message about Turkey after the opening was about ODTU (Middle East Technical University) in Ankara where students are protesting the government who is determined to cut 3,000 trees in ODTU forest.

Back in late July, Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet has announced FEMEN's plans to open up a Turkish branch:

We have met Inna Sevcenko in FEMEN Training center and she has said that she supports Taksim Gezi Park protests and FEMEN has drawn huge interest from Turkey. She has also said that to open up FEMEN branch in Turkey they have trained a Turkish woman in FEMEN Paris.
Source : Türk Femen’ler geliyor

Femen Turkey

FEMEN Turkey requested support from Turkısh women. They wrote in twitter and requested women to send them a topless photo where they write political messages on their breasts. A Turkish woman named Didem Dinç has been the first supporter. She has sent a topless photo of herself with "No to war" on her breast.

Didem Dinç

Rocker Imam of Antalya Turkey

Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı usually referred as simply Diyanet) has started an investigation for an Imam in Antalya Kaş for making rock music with a rock group he has founded with 2 friends. Imam Ahmet Muhsin Tüzer, probably the first Imam performing rock music in Turkey and in the world, has recently given a concert (you can watch some scenes from the concert below).

An inspector from Diyanet has arrived to Kaş (Antalya) and has talked with the official Diyanet workers and people watched the concert as well as Imam Tüzer.

"I have performed my music work without effecting my duties as an imam" said Tuzer. "I do not believe I have broken any law. I will continue my duties as an imam and my music".

Diyanet is known to be relatively open minded as it allows in vitro fertilization and birth control bills unlike many religious bodies around the world. Recently, it has allowed women to be trained as preachers and in March 2005 two women were appointed as vice-mufti in Kayseri and Istanbul. So an imam making rock music should not be a problem.

The Turkish girl who exposes her molester on Instagram

A Turkish woman has been a popular talking point today in Turkey after she has recorded her alleged molester and posted the video online. The woman, named Pırıl Polat according to Eksi Sozluk, was allegedly molested on the bus. But when this happened she had a very unique and courageous reaction and recorded a video you can watch below. The video does not contain any scene showing the old man molesting the young woman but she talks about it.

"The man you see next to me is touching me for half an hour" she says in the video. "Yes, see this pimp. Insallah, they have touched your mother". Pimp (pezevenk in Turkish) is used as cuss word for man. While she is recording this the "uncle" or the alleged molester just looks at the camera and appearently shows no response.

The topic named tacizcisini instagram hesabından afişe eden kız under Eksi Sozluk saw a heated debate on whether she was really molested or not.

Social Media Marketing Agency, fishbat, Reports on Turkey’s Increased Twitter Use in Wake of Political Protests

In response to an article published on The Wall Street Journal, social media marketing agency fishbat discusses the increased use of social media in Turkey to effectively achieve social change.

On June 9, social media marketing agency, fishbat, discusses an article published on The Wall Street Journal which analyzes Turkey’s recent increase in Twitter use due to growing political protests.

According to an article published on The Wall Street Journal, Twitter usage has skyrocketed recently in Turkey. Over two million tweets regarding the recent political protests were sent out last Friday over the course of eight hours. Since the protests started last week, the article says over 3,000 tweets are now being sent out every minute. About 90 percent of tweets about the protests are coming directly from Turkey, as compared to only 30 percent of tweets coming from Egypt during the Egyptian Revolution in 2011.

Many Turks have flocked to social media sites to voice their opinion about the protests, which traditional media outlets have ignored. Instead of publishing front page stories about the protests, the article says newspapers were publishing stories about the Prime Minister being awarded for his anti-smoking efforts.
Scott Darrohn, COO of fishbat, says Twitter can be a great source of information. “During crises, Twitter is often the go-to source for information,” he says. “When phone lines are down and traditional media is lagging, people can rely on Twitter to fish out valid information about what’s going on. I think that’s mainly why many people are using Twitter in Turkey right now.”

Only about 30 percent of people tweeting during the Egyptian revolution in 2011 were actually in Egypt, but around 90 percent of all the Gezi-related tweets came from inside Turkey, and 50 percent came from Istanbul, even though at times 3G and Wifi was unavailable in the area:

Darrohn also says social media could unite the people of Turkey. “Social media promotes collaboration and encourages people to connect around a common idea,” Darrohn says. ”It also allows people to express themselves. Perhaps the increased Twitter use will help people unite and bring about change. The use of social media to achieve change is a growing trend. There have been many recent successes, which only add proof that people are in fact listening. The use of these websites really can make a difference in the end.”
fishbat, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service online marketing firm and social media agency. We’re branding experts dedicated to making your business a part of conversations that are already happening. Through social media management, search engine optimization (SEO), web design, and cutting-edge public relations strategies, we can raise awareness of your brand, strengthen your corporate image, and place your business in front of your ideal audience.

Shopping In Istanbul: Istanbul's Shopping Mall Belt

This post is moved to Oravar : Shopping in Istanbul - Istanbul Shopping Mall Belt article.