Entries Tagged 'Turkey' ↓

On Friday, for the first time in my life, I bought a copy of an English-language daily called Today’s Zaman. What did I find on the back page? A story about a ghost hunt at a former asylum in my hometown! (Well, a cancelled ghost hunt anyway.)
Amazing coincidence.
The story was on the AP wire and [...]

I don’t remember where I saw it, but I recently read that any blogger who finds free Internet access at the airport just has to blog about it. Well, here’s a new take on that - I’m on a bus traveling to Ankara right now, checking my email, surfing the web, and writing this post.
I [...]

Oh man, was today ever nice. Last week was long and tiring (which is why I didn’t blog at all) with 8 hours on the road both Tuesday and Wednesday to get to interviews outside Istanbul; then I had a proposal due at the end of the week.
But today I just relaxed. The weather was [...]

I entered a supermarket In Bursa and immediately noticed that Michael Jackson’s Thriller was playing on the sound system in all its glory. Wow, I thought, it’s been a while since I’ve heard that.
On the ferry back to Istanbul I bought a magazine because the cover headline read “Faith 2.0″ and had features on cross-cultural [...]

I’m in Bursa for my weekly observation of the sermon selection meeting at the offices of the mufti. The ferryboat from Istanbul arrives early so I always have about three hours to kill. I’ve found that the most comfortable place to hang out is the Starbucks at a mall near the mufti building. This is [...]

Just 54 people voted in the Democratic primary in Turkey last Saturday, but thousands more voted around the world. Tonight I learned the Turkish results:
Obama: 60%
Clinton: 33%
I thought we’d learn the results for the global primary, but the election in London was held at a pub and I think they’re still trying to count the [...]

Turkey’s Parliament Votes to Lift Head Scarf Ban [NY Times]
Turkey’s parliament took a major step toward lifting a ban against women’s head scarves in universities on Saturday, setting the stage for a final showdown with the country’s secular elite over where Islam fits in the building of an open society.

You should read the rest of [...]