Sabah
-- Four buses sprayed with bullets en route to Ankara
Four buses carrying 200 people came under fire while traveling between Istanbul and Ankara on the TEM highway, the daily Sabah reported Wednesday. The source of the gunfire has not been identified.
During the incidents, which happened as the convoy neared the capital, a window on one bus shattered and window on the other three buses cracked. Some of the passengers left the buses, while others tried to overcome the shock from their seats.
Passengers reported hearing a loud noise and said they first thought stones had hit the windows. After seeing the other buses stopped on the side of the road after the incident, one passenger said they realized the damage done to the windows was from bullets.
“As the windows are composed of double-layered glass, the bullets broke through the first layer but were stuck in the next layer. Otherwise, there could have been much worse consequences. As it was dark outside, we couldn’t see anybody,” said a passenger.
Gendarmerie teams started an investigation and took pictures of the damaged windows. After a statement was taken, the buses left the scene of the incident with their passengers. It was claimed that nighttime hunters might have been responsible from the issue.
The incident brought to mind the famous movie by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Babel,” in which bullets hit a bus traveling in a desert in Morocco.
Evrensel
-- Union directors get lucrative salary
Some union members earn lucrative salaries up to 26 times the minimum wage, daily Evrensel reported Wednesday. Unions heads allegedly earn 26 times the minimum wage, get bonuses equal to their monthly salary four times a year and are given one month’s salary as “pocket money” for each of the two religious holidays. According to reports, some union directors earn more than their members could earn in a decade, causing them to be alienated from their jobs and their members.
It is impossible to learn the real salaries of union officials without a court decision, the report said. After a decision of the Ninth Department of the Supreme Court of Appeals, the salary of the administrators of the Agriculture Labor Union was revealed. The salaries of the directors, which are valid for the next four years, were determined in a general assembly held in 2003. According to the assembly decision, the directors of Agriculture Labor Union directors earn 21,762 Turkish Liras per month, the report said. In addition to this, they are given four bonus monthly salaries a year, a clothing allowance of approximately 10,000 liras and religious holiday pocket money equaling one month’s salary.
Milliyet
-- Baby dies of hunger in Samsun
A 10-week old infant has died of malnutrition in the Black Sea province of Samsun, the daily Milliyet reported Wednesday.
Parents N.B., 25, and M.B., 26, from the Tekkeköy district, brought their baby Kübra to a hospital in Samsun on Monday after she became ill. The doctors could not save the constantly crying infant and they determined the cause of death as malnutrition. Father M.B. lost his right foot in a work accident in 2008. Mother N.B. said she has been begging on the streets for bread money ever since. “I lost my daughter Kumru 2.5 years ago at 5.5 years of age,” she said. “Now Kübra has died of hunger and poverty. I have two more children. They are hungry, too.” N.B. said they are surviving mostly on food supplied by their neighbors and she has taken her daughter to the doctor before, who gave her baby food, but it was not enough. “I have to beg, there is no food in the pot if I do not,” she said, in tears. Father M.B. said: “We need help. I have two more children, I cannot look after them. I am desperate.” District Gov. Köksal Sakalar said the family received 10,000 Turkish Liras-worth of support in cash and fuel subsidies in 2005. Kübra had been dropped by one of her siblings three days prior to her death according to N.B. Whether this was a factor in her death or not will be determined after the autopsy.
Takvim
-- Love claim on Facebook leads to criminal charges
A man who persisted in unwanted public displays of affection toward a distant relative on social networking site Facebook faces a six-year sentence for his actions, daily Takvim reported Wednesday
Samet Seis, 22, from the Black Sea province of Trabzon, allegedly became enamored with Özlem Seis, one of his distant relatives. After he wrote her a letter outlining his affection, she did not respond. Seis sent another letter with the headline “unrequited love,” which again went unacknowledged. Seis then sent his distant relative a Facebook message including a poem.
Havva Seis, Özlem Seis’ mother, filed a complaint against Samet Seis at the Akçaabat Public Prosecutor’s Office in Trabzon. In her petition, she said Samet Seis had harassed both her and her daughter and had friend-requested her daughter on Facebook several times. Özlem Seis also filed a complaint, claiming that in his letter he had called her a “witch.”
Prosecutor Celal Sarıdere filed charges seeking a sentence between nine months and six years in prison.
Facebook is a social network service with more than 600 million active users who may create a personal profile, add other users as friends and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile.
From Anatolia News Agency:
HÜRRİYET
-- VISA WAIVER PROGRAM WITH RUSSIA TO BEGIN IN APRIL
"Readmission agreement", the last obstacle before visa free tourist visits between Russia and Turkey, was signed Wednesday in Moscow. Visa free travel will begin April end.
-- IRAQI GENERALS IN CIA PLANE
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA, apparently took 320 high level Iraqi military officers and their families - which it promised to secure a new life in the U.S. before taking down the Saddam regime - to the U.S. through the İncirlik air base in Adana. Officials who witnessed the events, said the Iraqi military officers, entered Turkey with special permissions and were carried to the İncirlik base in buses where they boarded planes to the U.S. This went on until January 11, when the war began. At that time hundreds of U.S. intelligence operatives from the CIA and Military Intelligence units entered Iraq through Turkey.
MİLLİYET
-- ‘HOOD’ WOUND NOT TO HEAL FOR A GENERATION
According to several Wikileaks documents, former U.S. Ambassador in Ankara Ross Wilson used these words to describe the trauma after the "hood" scandal with Turkish soldiers in Iraq in a 2006-dated cable he sent to Washington. Wilson's message consisted of recommendations for Michael Hague, the U.S. Naval Forces Commander of the time, who was planning to visit Turkey. Wilson said in his message that relations between Turkish and U.S. special forces had probably suffered the greatest loss in the Iraq War. He said U.S. soldiers' detaining Turkish soldiers in Suleymaniyah and covering their heads with hoods had wounded Turkey's national pride.
-- TEKİN: WE CAN FORM COALITION WITH ANYBODY
Gürsel Tekin, deputy chairman of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said that CHP could form coalition with any party if necessary. Upon a question on whether a coalition with Justice and Development (AK) Party was among options, Tekin said CHP would not leave Turkey abandoned.
SABAH
-- TURKISH HEZBOLLAH OPERATIVE UNDER ARREST
A senior operative from Turkish Hezbollah's armed wing and his son were re-arrested on Tuesday just weeks after they were set free from prison under an amendment to Turkey's criminal procedures law which orders for the release of suspects who have stood trial with arrest for over five years. Suspects of the Turkish Hezbollah case were tried for murdering over 100 people including writer Konca Kuriş and Mehmet Sincar. Two senior operatives of the group, Edip Gümüş and Cemal Tutar - who were also released from prison after the amendment - have failed to report in ever since their release to a local police station, a measure to make sure that they do not run away. The two are still at large.
-- BULGARIA JOINS GREECE TO FENCE BORDER WITH TURKEY
Bulgarian government is planning to build a fence along its 143-km border with Turkey, according to a Bulgarian daily. The Bulgarian fence, similar to what Greece is set to construct along the Turkish border to ward off illegal migration, is aimed at preventing livestock from Turkey to cross into the Bulgarian side.
VATAN
-- TURKISH PRIME MINISTER POISED TO MEND TIES WITH BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is scheduled to participate in a meeting of the country's influential Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TÜSİAD). Erdoğan eyes to mend relations with the business group, which were strained after the premier's much-debated remarks in the run up to a referendum last September. He said, "Declare your stance. If it is no, say 'no.' If it is yes, say 'yes' [...] He who is neutral will be eliminated."
-- DIVINITY STUDENTS CLEARED FOR CAREER IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
Students of Turkey's Divinity High Schools, known as Imam Hatips, will be able to enter police academies under a new amendment to the country's higher education laws. Graduates from İmam Hatips were barred by a law dated back to 2001 from appealing for a career in law enforcement.
CUMHURİYET
-- HİZBULLAH OPERATION
Five people including head of the armed wing of Hizbullah Hacı İnan and head of Hizbullah's Istanbul branch İlyas Kutluman, who reported into a police station after their release, were taken into custody. Those who disappeared after the release are still at large. Kutluman's niece said his uncle reported in to the police station regularly and initiated procedures at the military recruitment office, and he did not understand why he was taken into custody.
-- TURKS AND KURDS TO LIVE TOGETHER
A survey conducted at 21 cities, by the "Wise Men Research Center" - which has members such as retired ambassador İlter Türkmen, former National Intelligence Agency Undersecretary Sönmez Köksal, Supreme Court Honorary President Sami Selçuk and former ministers - revealed striking results. 86% of Kurds said, they saw the Turkish flag as their own, while 9.9% said the Kurdish problem could only be solved with the foundation of an independent Kurdish state. The number of Zazas who believe so are as low as 5.9%.
RADİKAL
-- STILL ON THE FLOOR
The state followed him for 40 years, however, it also watched his death and did nothing. Four years passed since the killing of journalist Hrant Dink and the murder is still in the dark. Today, those who loved him and people with conscience will commemorate the deceased journalist on the pavement where he was murdered.
-- FOUR PKK TRUCKS STOPPED AT CUSTOMS
Turkish security forces seized medical and military supplies, electronic devices and PKK flags in four trucks traveling to Iraq via Turkey. The trucks were heading for Mount Qandil. Three of the trucks were stopped at Kapikule, while one was halted at Habur. Numerous documents belonging to terrorist organization PKK, medical tools and supplies, mobile phones, video cameras and other electronic devices were found in the trucks. Officials said the vehicles had departed from the Netherlands and they had been loaded in Germany.
TÜRKİYE
-- UNIVERSIAD TORCH REACHES ERZURUM
The torch of the 8th Winter Universiad which set off from Istanbul on December 8 reached Erzurum. State Minister Faruk Özak and Chairman of the Sports Clubs Union and President of the Football Federation was also at the city for the ceremony. Fenerbahçe's President Aziz Yıldırım who carried the torch for a while later handed it over to Galatasaray's President Adnan Polat.
-- FOUR TRUCKS CARRYING AID TO QANDIL CAUGHT AT BORDER
Three of the four trucks carrying equipments and medical stuff for PKK from the Netherlands were stopped at the Kapikule border gate while the other was stopped at the Habur border gate. Medical material and cell phones wrapped in red and green fabrics were seized in the trucks.
ZAMAN
-- UNIVERSIADE TORCH IN ERZURUM
The 2011 Winter Universiade torch arrived in the eastern Turkish province of Erzurum. Turkish State Minister Faruk Nafiz Özak welcomed the torch, while heads of Turkey's leading sports clubs were also present at the ceremony. Aziz Yıldırım, the chairman of Fenerbahce sports club, and Galatasaray's head Adnan Polat carried the Universiade torch.
-- PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN TO MEET WITH TÜSİAD
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will attend the 41st General Assembly of Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TÜSİAD) as the guest of honor tomorrow. Prior to the referendum held on September 12, 2010, TÜSİAD chairperson Ümit Boyner had stated that her organization had an "impartial" stance. Upon such statement, Erdoğan had said, "Whoever is neutral, will be eliminated".
YENİ ŞAFAK
-- TWO TURKISH BUSINESS HOLDINGS AMONG WORLD'S ‘TOP RISING STARS’
Turkey's Sabancı Holding and Koç Holding were named by the Boston Consulting Group among the top 100 business groups in the world that challenges global multinational companies. Sabancı and Koç have made to the top 23 in the "Top Rising Stars" from rapidly developing economies.
-- BODIES OF TWO MINERS RECOVERED EIGHT MONTHS AFTER ACCIDENT
Search and rescue teams reached to the bodies of two miners who were killed in a blast in a coal mine near the Black Sea province of Zonguldak in May last year. The two miners were trapped 720 meters below the surface when gas explosion ripped off the mine.
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