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 15th 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 21st 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...
