News from the front

So, the ‘big stuff’ first.  There have been no new developments in the state of the country.  There is still a feeling that America and Europe do not understand the threat that the Gulenist network posed and are therefore critical of the mass shedding of teachers, civil servants, judges etc.  However, James Jeffrey, former US ambassador to Ankara, said recently in an interview:

“The Gülen movement has some infiltration at the least in the military that I am aware of. They of course had extreme infiltration into the police and judiciary earlier.... It is very clear that a significant segment of the bureaucracy in Turkey were infiltrated and had their allegiance to a movement, not a state. That of course is absolutely unacceptable and extremely dangerous. It is highly likely that it led to the [attempted] coup.”

Another birthday cake - Happy Birthday Talia!

What is the latest down in Calis?  Well, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing today – which might be partly due the fact that we finally remembered to plug it in (sorry all of you who have tried to call – it has been plugged in to the credit card machine for the last month!).  Turkish people are holidaying again – civil servants have had their leave reinstated and others are feeling confident that things have returned to normal.

Nostalgia - busy pool in 2010

Emre has been busy too – we have a cunning plan to fill the hotel with students from the university in winter (Fethiye is home to some of the faculties of Mugla university).  We did it about twelve years ago and it was a disaster: they had no money and couldn’t pay their rent half the time (no grants or even loans over here!) and they left the rooms in quite a state.  But this time we are better prepared – with rental contracts and deposits – so Emre has been at their ‘freshers’ week’ signing people up.

It feels good to have a few more guests in but I have been looking through old photos - pictures of the pool full of people, of Turkish nights and barbecues for 40 guests and 12 people in one car to go go-carting (see the Poppy Apart Hotel facebook page) – and hoping that tourism recovers quickly. 

A lively Turkish night - 2003

Happy 21st Emre!

As Turkey puts the attempted coup behind it there is, as I said in my last post, a feeling that this cloud may have a silver lining.  There is widespread agreement that the ‘Gulenists’ (followers of the Islamist cleric living in America) were responsible not only for the events of 15^th July but for other major political upheavals over the last few years.   Turkish people are full of ‘conspiracy theories’ (many don’t believe that the moon landings actually took place), but it seems that this time they were actually correct.

As a result, there is an acceptance of the huge number of people being sacked from their jobs and the thousands being imprisoned, though of course it is hoped that the charges against them are genuine and it is not being used as an excuse to get rid of opposition.

There is disappointment that foreign powers and media do not seem to understand the scale of the Gulenist infiltration of institutions and are therefore sceptical of the need for the current ‘cleansing’, and a feeling that in general the response by the international community to this crisis in Turkey has been "feeble" (Mustafa Akyol, Hurriyet Daily News).

News from closer to home....Poppy has had a good couple of weeks with some great guests keeping Kaan and I busy in the kitchen and keeping Emre up at night.  Generally, though, it is still quiet in Calis and August looks fairly grim.  Usually we would fill any empty rooms with Turkish guests but since all civil servants have had their leave cancelled for now, there are far fewer of those about too.

Emre celebrated his 21^st birthday on Tuesday; he was 2 when we opened the hotel and has had every birthday since there, with games in the garden, pool parties and even one year a troupe of dancers.  This year, as he is a little big for party games, I printed a lot of pictures of him and put them up round the bar and Kaan and I made a red velvet cake (first time – verdict: very yummy).   We also made 2 cakes on Sunday for some other birthday boys – see below.

 Emre went out in the evening with his friends and obviously had a good time, though he was complaining of a cold the next day!  Here are a few pictures of him through the years, which might look familiar to some of you...