luz

é como a torre de Galata: as fotos do Douro nunca são suficientes.

não há outra luz, esta portuguesa.
(İstanbul is pure gold, like Prague, the fiery color of sunsets on every window of the Asian shore)

10 poems for İstanbul

just had to repost it, from weloveist.com:
(giro giro é eu só não ter reconhecido dois)
nem todos, alguns já por aqui andam e talvez várias vezes.


Dear İstanbul
Necip Fazıl Kısakürek

Like they melted my soul and frost it in a cast
And placed it on land as İstanbul
Is something fumes in me, air, color, affection, climate
Is my darling that went beyond time and space
Its flowers are golden stars, Its water is shiny
Moon and Sun are two İstanbulian from immemorial times
Sea and soil, achieves a meet only in it
And dreams achieves an example in it, in it
İstanbul, my precious one
My country, ah my country
İstanbul,
İstanbul….
History’s eyes there, holes on bulwarks
Redwood, shapely redwood, curtain to afterlife
Curveted on cloud, the greyish horse dating from Fatih (Sultan Mehmed II)
Domes made of diamonds, maybe 1 billion carat
Minaret through skies is index finger
Same meaning in every decoration; We will die, no way?
Death is more alive than life, mercy more dominant than sin
While Beyoğlu stomps, cries Karaca Ahmet
Find that meaning, ah find !
Only find in İstanbul!
İstanbul,
İstanbul…
Bosphorus is a silver brazier, boils the coolness
In Çamlıca, lies on floor, the deepness of skies
Playful waters are guests of the ground floor of waterfront
Chrestfallen about new world, old ambassador in Picture
Everynight fire breaks out from windows in Üsküdar
Haunted hardwood mansion, big as a city…
Some sound, i don’t know if its like tambour or its like lute
Causes my clerk groan in rooms that have a bay window
Its woman is like sharp knife
Warm as fresh blood
İstanbul,
İstanbul…
Time makes a gergef* on seven hills
Seven colours, countless appearances from seven sound
Eyüp* is orphan, Kadıköy* is decorated, Moda* snippy
Wind in island, is cause of flying skirts
Everytime in break of day, arrows darts from bows
Screams still come from Topkapı palace
No lover exists as mother, no land as İstanbul
Not only laughing one even the crying one is fortunate..
Its night smells lillian
Its Turkish senses nightingale
İstanbul,
İstanbul…


*gergef  - A tool that girls use while decorating clothes, fabrics with colourful fibers, with needle

Tell Me About İstanbul
Nazım Hikmet
Stop! Let the water of the coffee boil,
Tell me about İstanbul, how was it?
Tell me about Bosphorus, how was it?
June is washed by the runaway rains with vibrations,
Would that seven hills get dried by
Such a hot sun like a mothers care…
Tell me people laughed there,
In trains, ferries, buses.
I like it even if its a lie, say it.
Always agony, always agony, always agony
Had enough…
Stop! Let it stay, don’t turn the TV on
Tell me about İstanbul, how was it?
Tell me about the city of cities, how was it?
While looking in my forbidden eyes from the hills of Beyoglu,
Make compliment about bridges, Sarayburnu, minarets and halic.
Could you say a hello, secretly…
Tell me people laughed there,
In trains, ferries, buses.
I like it even if its a lie, say it.
Always agony, always agony, always agony
Had enough…
Stop! Leave it, don’t move stay like that, please
Your scent is like İstanbul, and your eyes like İstanbul nights.
Now come and hug, hug me the one with henna.
Under the sky, just there together
The dream of starting over by saying thanks god
Is like a river in the desert of your longing.
Tell me people laughed there,
In trains, ferries, buses.
I like it even if its a lie, say it.
Always agony, always agony, always agony
Had enough…


Dream of İstanbul
Mehmet Akif Ersoy

 The boat was rolling over in an ocean…
The dream threw me on the shores of Marmara!
I saw from only a couple of miles away
your blackened İstanbul clear as crystal,
Its forehead shining like a crescent:
She’s laughing; coquettish, charming and attractive.
What base destitution now, alas!
What arrogance, what ostentation!
Many schools are opened, men and women study;
factories are in full steam, textile industries progress.
Printing houses work day and night.
New companies emerge for the benefit of the people,
New parties arise to enlighten the people,
Economy prospers
And ships unload wealth from length to length of her shores.


İstanbul
Ümit Yaşar Oğuzcan

 A room in the house, İstanbul in the room
A mirror in the room, İstanbul in the mirror
The man lit his cigarette, an İstanbul smoke
The woman opened her purse, İstanbul in the purse
The child cast a fishing line, I saw,
And he started to draw it, İstanbul on the line
What kind of water is this, what kind of İstanbul
İstanbul in the bottle, İstanbul on the table
It walks with us, stops with us, we are puzzled
She is on one side, I am on the other, İstanbul in the middle
Once you fall in love, I understand
Wherever you go, there you see İstanbul.


İstanbul Epic
Bedri Rahmi Eyüpoğlu

Just say “İstanbul” and I think of
A basket full of reddish-colored grapes
On a fine evening at Sehzadebasi
A girl walks by, ruthlessly female
Three candles on top of the basket
I would kill myself for her attitute
Taste of grape honey on her full lips
Desire filling her from top to toe
Willow tree, summer breeze, harvest dance
Surely she was born in a wine cellar
On a fine evening at Sehzadebasi
Once more the keel of my heart
Runs aground on the rocks
Just say “İstanbul” and the Grand Bazaar
Comes to mind the Algiers March
Arm in arm with the Ninth Symphony
A perfect bridal suite a splendid dowry
Only the bride and groom missing
For sale cheap cries the auctioneer
And in the corner a pot-bellied oud
Bedecked with mother-of-pearl
Tamburi Cemil Bey on old 78s…


İstanbul
Ivan Bunin

Starved, mangy dogs with mournful, pleading eyes,
Descendants of the ones that in a bygone
Age from the steppeland came, and, stung by flies,
Dragged in the wake of dusty, creaking wagons.
The conqueror was rich and powerful,
And with his hordes, proud city, he invaded
Your palaces, and named you İstanbul,
And then sought rest, a lion gorged and sated.
But faster move the days than birds in flight!
Black loom the trees in Scutari; unnumbered
The tombs they shade, their marble shapes as white
As bones bleached by the rays of many summers.
Upon the dust of shrines and temples falls
The dust of ages, and the plaintive howling
Of dogs the gloom of desert sands recalls
Beneath Byzantium’s walls and arches crumbling.
Bare the Serail, its glory spent and past,
Its trees, now dry, bent low in desolation…
O İstanbul! Dead nomad camp, the last
Great relic of a last and great migration!

- - -

oriente

railtrip

home is

onde o teu telemóvel se lembra da pass do wifi.

'if my heart were a wild bird'

"If my heart were a wild bird, it would nest in your twisted curl
Wherever I am, oh jinn, my love is by your side "(...)
Fuzuli, here. and here. a book to own, here. a cool teacher here.
the story of Leyla and Mejnun.

and some more awesomeness, from here.

The Folk Song of Suzi

The face of the Mountain of the Forty Saints
Covered the plain with darkness
I died.
Suzi, Suzi, the place struck us down.
It is pitch black under the bridge
Mother, come and find me.
My hair is full of sand.
Bring a comb and comb it.
The water rushed
Through the central arch of the bridge.
I died.
Suzi, Suzi, the Tigris separated us.



kırklar dağının düzüğüğüğüey,
ziyaret çarptığ bizi.
kör olasın suzan suzi, suzan suzi suzan suziğeğeğey
sular apardi bizi.

köprü altı kapkara,
suzan gel beni ara.
saçlarıma kumlar doldu,
tarak getir sen tara.

- -

Kırklardağı'nın yüzü
(Kırklardağı'nın düzü)
Karanlık sardı düzü
(Karanlık bastı bizi)
Ben öleydim
(Kör olasın zalım Suzan)
(Suzan Suzi) Ziyaret çarptı bizi

Köprüaltı kapkara
Anne gel beni ara
Saçlarım kumlara batmış
(Saçlarıma kumlar doldu)
Tarak getir de tara

Köprünün orta gözü
Sular apardı düzü
Ben öleydim
(Suzan Suzi) Dicle ayırdı bizi

(Ek)
Gazi köşkü serindir
Dicle suyu derindir
Ağlama sen garip anam
Kadir mevlam kerimdir

uma história de amor entre uma rapariga ortodoxa siriaca e um muçulmano, que acaba com a morte dela, pois bem,

a cidade de Diyarbakir tem sido fustigada pela guerra entre o governo e os movimentos radicais curdos, depois de cancelada a trégua que permitiu anos de prosperidade no país. a aliança com as forças ocidentais deram a desculpa ao governo turco para pôr fim às tréguas. depois das quantidades disparatadas de armas que os americanos puseram na mão dos curdos, que de repente passaram a heróis do ocidente, era um defecho à espera de acontecer. (o que acontecia se as mesmas quantidades disparatadas de armamento tivessem sido oferecidas aos bascos ou a qualquer outro grupo separatista da europa?) como sempre, são os civis as vítimas primeiras e últimas.
Diyarbakir tem uma história mais antiga do que a maior parte das cidades, fica nas margens do Tigre onde há muitos milhares de anos nasceram as primeiras civilizações.

The area around Diyarbakır has been inhabited by humans from the stone age with tools from that period having been discovered in the nearby Hilar cave complex. The pre-pottery neolothic B settlement of Çayönü dates to over 10,000 years ago and its excavated remains are on display at the Diyarbakır Museum. Another important site is Girikihaciyan Tumulus in Egil.[11]

"The first major civilization to establish themselves in the region of what is now Diyarbakır were the Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni. The city was first mentioned by Assyrian texts as the capital of a Semitic kingdom. It was then ruled by a succession of nearly every polity that controlled Upper Mesopotamia such as the Aramean, Assyrians, Urartu, Armenians, Achaemenid Persians, Medes, Seleucids, and Parthians.[12]
The Roman Republic gained control of the city in 66 BC by when it was named "Amida".[13] In 359, Shapur II of Persia captured Amida after a siege of 73 days which is vividly described by the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus."
da wiki. pobre sorte a do crecente fértil.

nao me lembro de ver este conflito nas notícias. o pkk que é considerado uma organização 'terrorista' é patrocinado por pelo menos duas grandes associações curdas que têm sede na Bélgica e na Holanda.

“What people here in the west do not realize is that we are one step away from a civil war.”
your hair is full of sand...

às vezes

vejo comentários e opiniões ah isto está tudo uma porcaria, vai tudo acabar, está pior que nunca, está tudo a fechar, etc etc. quando vou ver nove e meia em cada dez a pessoa tem da minha idade para cima. Infalível.

desculpem lá

mas se estivéssemos em determinados países a sede do Bloco já tinha explodido. viva a liberdade em Portugal.

meshes of the day

#guincho #beach #guinchobeach #kite #bulutlar #flyinghigh #kitesurferbeach #winterbeach #iyiyaksamlar #aminhapraia #merhabadostum

A video posted by Ana V (@amesadeluz) on Feb 25, 2016 at 8:56am PST

hayaller şehri, İstanbul

é que nem se brinque: o homem tem um nariz igual ao meu.
(playlist) pelo mesmo user, há outras playlists. o orientalismo visto do avesso, ou melhor, do direito.
e fora de brincadeira, um dia hei-de entender isto, a história do sultão Abdulaziz, um amante das artes e compositor de 'fusão' da música clássica romântica europeia com a música otomana.

bulutlar, bulutlarin üzerinde ou com a cabeça nas nuvens que cá em baixo está frio

of life and literature (boza finale)

sempre pensei que na cozinha está um centro de qualquer coisa, na cozinha e nas fiandeiras. li o enorme livro de Pamuk sobre a boza, a história da boza, mil receitas, explicações e variações nacionais, onde beber, quando, como, ao que sabe, ao que cheira, qual a textura, e tanto mais. mas nunca na vida podia imaginar o sabor desta bebida de séculos que aumenta o leite às mulheres, deu força aos soldados, chegou a ser vendida em mais de mil estabelecimentos a ela dedicados em Istanbul e que permite aos muçulmanos uma bebida não alcoólica apesar do seu meio grau de álcool.

cheers! çok teşekkür ederim, Okan!
hmm, çok hafif bira, tatlı, pürüzsüz, biraz mayhoş, cremsi, ve çooook iyi!
(oğlum hala seviyor) leblebi yok: onları yedim!

ah vidinha

dentro do bólide, de PC e telemóvel, a tentar entender que tipo de sar se aplica às águas interiores enquanto o campeão treina.

detours and discoveries on the Douro, pelo rio acima, nehir, Douro

um excelente artigo sobre o que é viajar no Douro na companhia da Douro Azul, empresa com que tenho colaborado vai já para dois anos, e que admiro bastante. houvesse mais como esta empresa e como as pessoas-pilar que a fazem mover. de tirar o chapéu.

portrait in words

Imaginary August
C.D. Wright

If one stood perfectly still. Even in the withering hours
of then. Hair down to here. Being alive and quiet.
One could forget oneself. Forget what one didn’t even recognize.
How mad it felt. Subliminally. One could pick out goldfinches
and mourning cloaks among the dying stalks of cosmos,
and across the ditch of gray wastewater they use to irrigate
the burial ground, a young man in a late-flowering tree
taking our photograph.

- -

the situation, massive

"Many people ask me about the "low" TV ratings of Kösem and a few people posted about it before. So I feel the need to post about it.
First of all, there are over 260 Turkish TV channels in Turkey including the local, regional, national and international ones. 28 of them are at least national channels that everyone in Turkey would have on their satellite or cable TV ( I counted them ). Around 15 of these channels are kind of entertainment channels that have their own series. There are 80+ new Turkish TV series that still continue like Kösem. With the old TV series that ended and are broadcasted again and the foreign TV series like Game of Thrones, the number goes up to a zillion.
In short, there are lots of channels and series and the battle for the ratings is very cruel. TV channels are ruthless in their ways to get more ratings.
How are the ratings counted?
There isn't a single rating type. There are a few of them like AB, ABC+, DE and Total depending on the income, education and age of the viewers. There are many dynamics and criterias that affect the ratings.
The most important rating types and what TV channels and advertisers care is the AB and Total ratings.
A/B Rating: AB audience are the wealthy and/or highly educated people
D/E: People with the lowest income
Total Rating: All viewers
Some TV series are made especially for AB viewers whereas some of them are made for the Total audience. A TV series that get the first place in AB ratings make a lot of income via the commercials. On the other hand, a TV series that get the first place in total ratings but let's say 20th place in AB ratings gets many people's attention but doesn't make as much income as the series which gets the first place on AB ratings.
For instance, Ferrari would advertise in a show which gets the top place on AB ratings and Fiat would advertise to total audience. And Ferrari would pay much more than Fiat to advertise for the top AB show. And Ferrari's commercial would be watched only by AB people (Approx %9 of the nation). That isn't a lot but that would be a targeted advertisement to the targeted audience.
Kösem is the most expensive Turkish TV series ever with its $US60M budget for the first season. It is the big gun of Star TV. It is a show that's made especially for the AB audience to cover its high costs and make a big profit. After all it is a commercial poduction.
Star TV decided to pull its big gun on Thursday evenings, prime time (8PM-12AM), a day when it is too difficult to get high ratings. Because there are many shows that night on different channels like Kurtlar Vadisi, a mafia series on it's 13rd season or there is a UEFA cup match every other week on Thursday evenings. There is almost no way for a TV series to beat an international soccer match in Turkey.
So is Kösem doing well rating wise?
Yes and no. It's been on Top 5 of the AB ratings list every Thursday and it even got the first place 5 of the 14 times it was on TV. On the other hand, it gets 10 or 20 something place in Total ratings. It is really interesting. How can a show that's on top in AB be on 20s place in total ratings? Well, it shows that Kösem gets the attention of highly educated and/or wealthy people big time and it doesn't really interest other kinds of people that much. As long as the show is on top in AB ratings, it isn't in danger and it can continue. But it still needs to get a little better place in total ratings to attract more people. If the ratings go down to a dangerous level, the TV channel may change the day or the hours it is aired. I heard that Kösem is planned to have 4 seasons and I don't think it will end any time soon.
Here you can see the ratings day by day: http://www.acunn.com/reyting-sonuclari?tarih=2015-11-12
As stated many times before, Kösem is a fictional TV series inspired by history, NOT a documentary. It is a show about the harem life. The producers depict the life in the harem in the way they wish to show. There are lots of differences between what happened in history and in the series. I'd say %75 of the series is fictional. It is not a history lesson. It doesn't teach history. On the other hand, it can make history more interesting for people and make people open books and read more about history of Europe, Asia and Africa. As most of the period dramas or movies based on novels or real stories, Kösem is simplified too. There were more characters, Şehzades and Sultanas, battles and Paşas in history than in the series.
But still, there is a big opposition against Kösem in Turkey. Many people think that it is madness and they show Sultans as people who spent all of their time in the harem with women eventhough they spent most of their time on the battlefields. Some people believe that they show the Turkish history in a wrong way. Many campaigns have been started on change.org to stop Kösem even before it started. Here are some of them:
A campaign against Kösem that's been signed by 95k people: https://goo.gl/S6Rxib
All campaigns against Kösem on change.org:
https://www.change.org/search?q=k%C3%B6sem
Some members in the group think that it is insulting to call Kösem a soap opera. I don't know why. I'd like to call it a period drama. What kind of series do you think is Kösem?"

do face.

I wish we had at least one period drama in this country.
but then... we never had Yeşilçam.

different subject: i might start using mailchimp.

Boza

Şimdi biraz bira gibi kokuyor.

olhar não é ver, ver não é viver

I like it. let's not go anywhere

image power, Artvin

#Turkey: An old man from Artvin showing the riot police a tear gas capsule and asking: Why? pic.twitter.com/yZa5e5ng8W

— Anonymous (@Crypt0nymous) February 22, 2016

images from several sources.

resisting for the mountain.

o estado autorizou uma mina de ouro em Artvin. locais e ambientalistas tentam travar a destruição da montanha.  para seguir: a associação ambientalista de Artvin. o mesmo acontece em noutras zonas do mar negro, como se pode ver nos documentários Polluting Paradise ou a Few Brave People.

#Artvin halkı güne dirençli ve zinde başlıyor. direnmek bulaşıcıdır ve sağlığa yararlıdır :) #ArtvindeMadeneHayır pic.twitter.com/D5Px1WDKLg

— Yeşil Artvin Derneği (@yesilartvinder) July 1, 2015

Cari açık açılır, kapanır
Cerattepe yarası kapanmaz https://t.co/9O3PT6DWfL #hurriyet @Hurriyet #Cerattepe pic.twitter.com/nDFouCJ9we

— melis alphan (@melisalphan) February 22, 2016

aldeia, köy