Eideard

Turkey condemned comments by US Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry as “unfounded and inappropriate” after he said the country is ruled by Islamic terrorists and questioning whether it should remain in the Nato alliance…

“Obviously when you have a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that sort of activity against their own citizens, then yes – not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong in Nato, but it’s time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it,” Mr Perry said…

Turkey noted that it had joined Nato when Mr Perry was just 2 years old, and cited its long history of fighting terrorism, including co-chairing the Global Counterterrorism Forum with the United States.

“We strongly condemn the unfounded and inappropriate allegations expressed yesterday evening about our country during a debate held in South Carolina by Texas Governor Rick Perry…Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said in Ankara.

He noted that Mr Perry trailed in the race for the Republican nomination to oppose President Barack Obama’s re-election next year and said, “This reflects the commonsense of the US electorate.”

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the Obama administration fundamentally disagreed with the assertion that Turkey was run by Islamic terrorists.

Pretty much anyone with an education above that of a Texas 6th-grader and the ability to read and comprehend words of three or more syllables would disagree with the crap that rolls off the tongue of one of Texas’ more prominent Republican ignoranuses.

Consumers will not need any form of wallet to go shopping by 2016, the online payment firm Paypal says. But it is not the UK or the US that is leading the march to empty their pockets, it is Turkey, not known for its early adoption of new technology.

The death of cash has been talked about for a while. Claims were made by Visa a few years ago that the date would be 2012, which now seems unlikely. Now analyst firm Forrester, in a report paid for by Paypal, is the one wading in on the debate saying the tipping point is just five years away.

Near-field communication (NFC) on both mobile phones and in cards allows quick payments for smaller purchases by using a radio signal that activates when the chip is placed near a reader.

Market research company Allied Business Intelligence thinks that the watershed – or wallet-shed – moment will be even earlier, in 2014…

The countries which most prominently use credit cards – the US, the UK and Canada – have been relatively slow to change their ways. But one surprising country is amongst the leader in trialling the way forward for mobile payments – Turkey…

There are not that many branches of banks outside Istanbul so, until very recently it has been a cash-based society. ATMs are a fairly new concept. Not all cards work in all machines and the banking industry has been very fragmented.

In a country which is still classed as a “developing nation”, no one system of electronic transfer has yet become established so new ideas have less of a problem getting accepted. Another advantage it has is that the country has a relatively young population, willing to try new things who have not developed long-term habits which are notoriously difficult to change.

Mobile phone operator Turkcell is responsible for one of the success stories. Within four months of launching, 100,000 pre-paid cards registered on mobile phones were sold. They are used to buy goods from shops or for sending money and can be used without a bank account. Money can even be taken from ATMs.

Ironically, there is no money to made from cash transactions so making it as easy as possible to spend digital money is in a company’s interest, taking small percentages of the cost of payment as a transaction fee and lowering the cost of processing physical money.

It is those smaller transactions, still predominantly in cash, that could be the biggest change…

It’s all OK with me. As long as I am assured by my bank these transactions are secure – and insured by the bank – I only foresee one problem. As much of a geek as I am, since I’ve retired I have no need for a smartphone. So, my cell phone is capable of nothing more than voice calls.

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Four people were pulled out alive Monday from the rubble of the Turkey earthquake after one managed to call for help with his mobile phone…

Dozens of people were trapped in mounds of concrete, twisted steel and construction debris after hundreds of buildings in two cities and mud-brick homes in nearby villages pancaked or partially collapsed in Sunday’s earthquake.

Worst-hit was Ercis – an eastern city of 75,000 close to the Iranian border that lies in one of Turkey’s most earthquake-prone zones – where about 80 multistory buildings collapsed.

Yalcin Akay was dug out from a collapsed six-story building with a leg injury after he called a police emergency line on his phone and described his location, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Three others, including two children, were also rescued from the same building in Ercis 20 hours after the quake struck, officials said…

As over 200 aftershocks rocked the area, rescuers searched mounds of debris for the missing and tearful families members waited anxiously nearby. Cranes and other heavy equipment lifted slabs of concrete, allowing residents to dig for the missing with shovels. Generator-powered floodlights ran all night so the rescues could continue.

Aid groups scrambled to set up tents, field hospitals and kitchens to help the thousands left homeless or too afraid to re-enter their homes. Many exhausted residents spent the night outside, lighting fires to keep warm…

The bustling, larger city of Van, about 55 miles (90 kilometres) south of Ercis, also sustained substantial damage, but Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said search efforts there were winding down. Mr Sahin expected the death toll in Ercis to rise, but not as much as initially feared. He told reporters rescue teams were searching for survivors in the ruins of 47 buildings where dozens could be trapped, including a cafe…

More than 2,000 teams with a dozen sniffer dogs were involved in search-and-rescue and aid efforts.

Several countries offered assistance but Mr Erdogan said Turkey was able to cope for the time being. Azerbaijan, Iran and Bulgaria still sent aid, he said.

I decided a long time ago that life was tough enough without adding earthquakes to the potential of forces completely out of your control that could affect your life.

Gaza demonstrators carrying pictures of Erdogan, flags of Turkey and Palestine
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Turkey’s prime minister planted himself at the heart of the Arab world’s turbulent politics on Tuesday, when he declared himself a champion of the Palestinian cause during a speech at the headquarters of the League of Arab States.

“Our Palestinian brothers should declare an independent state,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced to an assembly of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. “Now is the time to have the Palestinian flag in Gaza, and the Palestinian flag should go to the United Nations,” Erdogan said to applause from the audience.

“Let us hoist the Palestinian flag to the sky, and this should be a symbol of justice and peace in the Middle East.”

Erdogan put an end to decades of relative Turkish isolation from the Arab world. During a speech that sought to highlight shared history, values and faith, he frequently referred to Arabs as “brothers.” He also addressed the sweeping political changes that are rapidly transforming many Arab countries by repeating his endorsement of the rebel Transitional National Council in Libya, which recently captured the capital of Tripoli…

In a move that is sure to win support on the streets of many Arab cities and towns, the Turkish leader continued his diplomatic offensive against Israel. “They [Israel] should pay the price for these attacks and crimes they committed,” Erdogan said, reminding the audience of the botched May 2010 Israeli commando raid against a Turkish-led humanitarian convoy sailing to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

The Turkish government expelled Israel’s ambassador this month and suspended all bilateral military agreements after the Jewish state refused to apologize or pay compensation for eight Turks and an American who were shot dead by Israeli troops…

Egypt is the first stop on what some are calling the Turkish prime minister’s “Revolution Tour.” He is scheduled to travel next to Tunisia and Libya, two other North African countries that have seen their dictators overthrown during the Arab Spring.

I don’t know enough about Erdogan to have full confidence in his new and dynamic diplomacy. Decades ago, a part of my political heart and lived and died in Turkey’s fight for democracy. He appears to have dedicated one plank of his new career to rejection of military saviors for Turkey. That could just be self-preservation. He says he is willing and ready to be the seed to coalesce all Arabs – and freedom loving sentiment – for Palestinian justice and statehood. That may be opportunism.

Whatever his eventual harbor, Western nations who have relied on Israel and Arab puppets for so many generations have a new challenge at hand. His nation is Turkey.

Turkey has set the stage for a potential naval confrontation with Israel by announcing that Turkish ships attempting to breach the maritime blockade of Gaza will be given an armed escort…

Incensed by Israel’s refusal to apologise for its deadly raid on a Gaza bound aid flotilla last year, which led to the deaths of nine Turkish activists on board the MV Mami Marmara, Mr Erdogan has announced a series of sanctions against the Israeli government in recent days…

“Turkish warships will be tasked with protecting the Turkish boats bringing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Arabic television network Al Jazeera.

“From now on, we will no longer allow these ships to be the targets of attacks by Israel like the one on the Freedom Flotilla, because then Israel will have to deal with an appropriate response…”

He did not reveal whether Turkish naval vessels would enter the territorial waters of either Israel or Gaza. The raid on the Mavi Marmara took place in international waters just outside the blockaded zone.

The saddest commentary of all is that an armed escort is needed to bring humanitarian aid to a region under the thumb of Israeli military occupation.

Turks cared more for Furkan Dogan than does the Obama government

Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and suspended military accords Friday, a day after publication of a U.N. report saying that Israel had used unreasonable force in a raid on a Gaza-bound ship that killed nine Turks.

Stung by Israel’s refusal to meet demands for a formal apology, pay compensation to families of the dead, and end the blockade of two million Palestinians living in the Gaza enclave, Turkey announced it was downgrading ties with the Jewish state further.

“Turkey-Israel diplomatic relations have been reduced to a second secretary level. All personnel above the second secretary level will be sent home by Wednesday at the latest,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara…

Israel Friday said it accepted the findings of the U.N. report, and that it hoped to mend ties with Turkey, but reiterated that it would not apologize for the deaths. Of course not. Arrogance is thematic in Israeli politics.

Immediately after the attack on the aid convoy last year, Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel, suspended joint military exercises, and barred Israeli military aircraft from Turkish airspace.

Friday, Turkey went a step further by putting military pacts with its erstwhile ally on ice…

Erdogan’s stand on the Palestinian issue has held Turkey in good stead among Arabs agitating for greater democracy, notably in Egypt and more recently Syria…

Davutoglu also said support would be given to Turkish and foreign victims of the Israeli raid to seek justice from courts. One of the nine Turks killed was a U.S. citizen.

I presume you can guess how much support the United States has offered the family of the American murdered by the Israelis?

Yeah – I couldn’t find any support either from the Obama administration for Furkan Dogan the unarmed 19-year-old who was shot five times by Israeli gunmen. Obama did the usual “regrettable” everyone gets when the Israelis murder civilians. Furkan Dogan’s father has received no reply from requests to Hillary Clinton. And nothing additional that could be taken as criticism of Israel for the nine killings of members of the peace flotilla.

The global battle between hacker activists and police has intensified with 32 arrests in Turkey and an admission from Spanish police that the group Anonymous had successfully attacked their website in response to arrests made there.

Turkish police arrested 32 suspected local members of Anonymous, including eight minors, according to state news agency Anatolian. The arrests followed a complaint from Turkey’s directorate of telecommunications, whose website was taken down on Thursday…

Turkey is due to introduce an obligatory nationwide internet filtering system in August that will see users forced to sign up to one of four filters.

These are labelled “domestic”, “family”, “children” or “standard”, but hacker activists gathered under the Anonymous umbrella claim they will lead to state control of individual internet use, and allow authorities to keep records of such use.

The police operation in Turkey followed the arrest of three alleged leaders of the so-called Anons in Spain on Friday…

The group says it is not involved in credit-card fraud, but has been held responsible for attacks on the servers of both Mastercard and Amazon.

I wonder how many will do serious time, how many will cooperate and become agents for the Federales in a couple more countries?

Istanbul is renown as the place where east meets west, the only city in the world to straddle Europe and Asia. But it may soon lose this unique status if the Turkish government goes ahead with a plan to divide it in two.

The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former Istanbul mayor, has announced what he described as a “wild project” to split the city into European and Asian sides to make it easier to govern. “We will build two new cities in Istanbul due to high population,” Erdogan said, announcing his party’s manifesto for June elections.. “One on the European side and one on the Anatolian side.”

Istanbul’s official population is soon expected to reach 17 million, with thousands more unregistered people living in the city.

Tahire Erman, an urban planning expert at Ankara’s Bilkent University, said this caused significant problems for authorities: “[Istanbul] is already overgrown, and there are already many problems in the provision of infrastructure and municipal services to the city.”

Should the plan go ahead, the two cities would be well connected by transport links promised by the ruling party, including a third bridge over the Bosphorus, the strait that divides the European and Anatolian sides of the city, and two tube tunnels for cars and rail transport under the water. Two bridges and frequent ferries already connect the two sides of the city…

Plans have been announced to build a new financial district in Atasehir, a booming district on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, as part of a government pledge to increase Turkey’s global stature by 2023, the centennial anniversary of the Turkish republic.

The politicians in power think it’s a wonderful idea. The politicians out of power think it’s a silly idea. The concept does make sense. If anyone had their brains switched on after World War Two, the same might have been done with London, Tokyo or Los Angeles.

House built from erionite-rich tuff blocks – in Nevada

New data shows that people exposed to the mineral erionite found in the gravel of road materials in North Dakota may be at significantly increased risk of developing mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer most often associated with asbestos exposure…

Erionite is a mineral that occurs naturally and is often found in volcanic ash that has been altered by weathering and ground water. Erionite forms brittle, wool-like fibrous masses in the hollows of rock formations. Its color varies from white to clear, and it looks like transparent, glass-like fibers.

With similar properties to asbestos, erionite may pose health risks to those who breathe in the fibers. Erionite exposure has been associated with an unprecedented mesothelioma incidence in some Turkish villages in Cappadocia, and it has been widely believed that exposure to erionite was limited to that part of the world.

Erionite deposits are present in several parts of the U.S., including California, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona and Nevada. In North Dakota in particular, researchers have found that more than 300 miles of roads were paved with erionite-contaminated gravel over the last 30 years.

In this study…international researchers from the U.S., Italy and Turkey sought to examine the potential health risks for those exposed to erionite by comparing air samples, microchemistry, tissue samples and other data from North Dakota with those found in affected parts of Turkey.

Cripes. What are the odds?

Given the quantities of tuff and volcanic ash in our neck of the prairie, I think I’ll ask the same questions of folks working in public health in New Mexico.

Thousands of people gathered along the shores of Istanbul on Sunday afternoon to welcome home the Mavi Marmara, the ship that was raided by Israel as it led a flotilla aimed at breaking the blockade of Gaza.

Nine people were killed in the raid last May, which drew international condemnation and helped lead to the easing of restrictions on Gaza. The raid also created a diplomatic standoff between Turkey and Israel.

Groups waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and chanting anti-Israel slogans stood by the ship, which had been confiscated by Israel. On its return on Sunday, it was decorated with posters of the dead passengers.

“Welcome to your soil,” said Ahmet Dogan, father of Furkan Dogan, a 19-year-old Turkish-American citizen who was killed in the raid. “Dear Mavi Marmara, hold your head high, you’ve done your duty, acted as the shield for the innocent…”

Turkey, which had long been a close ally of Israel, has demanded an apology and compensation for the deaths of the activists killed in the raid and recalled its ambassador. Israel has refused to apologize…as usual.

The Obama government, like every preceding government for the past 60 years, babbled a few criticisms of the Israelis – and returned to doing nothing for the dispossessed victims of Israeli expansionism.