Author: Aylin D. Miller

  • Season’s greetings from ITU

    Season’s greetings from ITU

    Season’s greetings from Istanbul Technical University

    Dear Colleagues,

    As we are approaching a new year, we are in great excitement. I am proud to announce to you that 2023 marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of Istanbul Technical University (ITU). To highlight this landmark year, we are organizing a series of events including conferences, seminars, concerts and sports activities, publishing books and documentaries. One of our main goals, in this respect, is to bring together our students, graduates, academics, employees, and stakeholders from all around the world to celebrate such a special milestone. I, therefore, warmly invite you to join our celebrations!

    As it is well known, bees are the major pollinators of our ecosystem. As a university identifying itself with bees, we continue to pollinate science and technology with more than 250.000 graduates in every part of the world. We are working hard to embrace more and more students each year from diverse countries, making international collaborations with many universities, and striving for the best for the education of our students.

    ITU is an institution that guides the engineering education of the future. As a strong partner of the European Engineering Learning Innovation and Science Alliance (EELISA), we are defining a common model of the European engineer for a bright and sustainable society. Connecting campuses from different European countries, EELISA also aims to bring the state-of-the-art research to our students. As a research-intensive university, we contribute to this goal with excellent pioneering research projects recently funded by the European Research Council (ERC). Our academics are shaping the future of engineering with these projects involving our graduate and undergraduate students.

    I sincerely wish that the New Year brings health, success, and peace to all my dear colleagues, their families and countries. ITU is always open to new collaborations in order to transform our world into a more sustainable environment.

    Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu
    Rector

    itu 250 years new
  • Do Greek and Turkish people live together peacefully

    Do Greek and Turkish people live together peacefully

    Do Greek and Turkish people live together peacefully in any one country or island? If so, what is it called?

    This may come as a surprise to you…but Greeks and Turks nowadays live peacefully together just about everywhere they cohabit.

    Football excluded where hotheads will shout and do whatever… Try to think of one instance where there has been a hate crime between Greeks and Turks in recent years. I personally can’t but I’m ready to be corrected if wrong.

    Let us take the place where there was and is the most recent history of confrontation: Cyprus. People don’t live together anymore mostly but they visit and work together (There are currently thousands of Turkish Cypriots employed in Greek Cypriot businesses). No hate crimes. The fact that the old generations, embroiled in the old troubles are dying off or too old to care has assisted in this, naturally. Young people don’t want the mistakes of the past.

    London and Britain in general. The Cypriot community is large, residing mostly in the capital, and Greek and Turkish Cypriots live side by side with no problems. They have a long standing Cypriot club in North London where they gather too.

    Rhodes. The small Turkish minority has lived peacefully with Greeks for decades.

    Western Thrace is a peculiar case, since there is contention if the people there are muslim Greeks or Turks. However there is peace none the less.

    So who is the instigator of confrontation? It would seem that it’s politicians, revisionists and nationalists. That is, people with no soul, fools and haters. Unfortunately it takes one rotten apple in a position of authority to make the whole barrel go bad.

    Christos Terzis

  • Do Greeks wish the best for Turks?

    Do Greeks wish the best for Turks?

    Do Greek people know or care that average Turks like them and wish the best for them?

    The answer is yes. Most Greek people know and believe that most Turkish people are decent friendly folk that want nothing more than be good neighbours and develop good relations.

    Moreover we care if many of our neighbours wish us well and want the best for us. We would be ungrateful if we didn’t. My father always says “ingratitude is the worst sin”. The mere thought of someone wishing me well is enough to warm my heart. With my biraz türkçe I understand (correct me if I’m wrong) that when Turks say komşu, in regards to countries, they mean Greece and they don’t much use the term for other neighbouring states, and this for me is a compliment. I still remember seeing photos of some Turks who went to the streets of Istanbul to celebrate Greece getting the Euro 2004 cup.

    Honestly, from the bottom of my heart and drawing from the love of Jesus, I wish and pray that Greeks and Turks come closer, develop understanding and tolerance and if at all possible be united in determination to overcome any obstacles for peace and fraternity among us. Much blood has been spilled for us to ignore the actions of the past and even worse, repeat them.

    A solution to the Cyprus wound would very much help in this. I understand however that the reality of politics, greed, nationalism, finance and rooted hatred are very hard to ignore, let alone set aside, and that politicians with their ubiquitous snake like double tongue will pursue their aims no matter what. I admit that I dislike and distrust the whole Turkish government and opposition apparatus. Hey…I don’t trust our own much anyway… Trust is a hard thing to achieve on the political scene, but the every day Yiannis, Mustafa, Aişe and Maria need not drift in the same path. Praying for the day that we won’t have one arm outstretched for a handshake while we keep the other firmly on the gun.

    Christos Terzis

  • F-16, F-22, F-35, and Eurofighter Typhoon?

    F-16, F-22, F-35, and Eurofighter Typhoon?

    What are the main differences between the F-16, F-22, F-35, and Eurofighter Typhoon?

    F-16 : the lightest of the bunch. Single engine multi-role fighter in several generations of upgrades. Nearly 5,000 built. Single air intake underneath the fuselage and one vertical stabilizer along with the main wings and horizontal stabilizers. It probably has the smallest combat radius while having a maximum ordnance load of 17,000 lb. It’s likely the slowest of the 4 as well. Avionics vary by generation but some are getting very advanced upgrades for a light fighter design. A new one will cost you at least $30 million.

    f16

    EF-2000 : Second smallest of the bunch and there have been over 500 built. Twin engine multi-role fighter with dual intakes under the fuselage and a delta wing configuration with forward canards and 1 vertical stabilizer. It can reach Mach 2 and supercruise. It is getting an AESA radar upgrade to keep its avionics up to par with others. It has some low-observable considerations in its design but is limited. Its combat radius is a little bit better than the F-16 depending on the ordnance load of which it can carry 19,800 lb total. A new one will cost you around $119 million.

    ef2000

    F-35: 2nd largest of the group. Single engine multi-role fighter with air intakes on the sides with conventional wings, horizontal stabilizers and two angled vertical stabilizers. It uses extensive computer modeling for low RCS and also has the most recent RAM (but economic) technology so far. It has an extensive ECM suite, situational awareness system and AESA radar with extensive abilities. It can act as a “mini AWACS” and helps to manage and coordinate the battlefield. It carries a limited strike and air-to-air mix of ordinance internally (about 5,700 lb) and can also carry 15,000 lb of ordnance externally. Its combat radius depending on the variant is as good or better than the previous two with just internal fuel and although not a design requirement it can supercruise in sprints of up to 150 miles. A new A variant will cost you under $90 million, B (VTOL) variant around $115 million and the C (naval) variant around $107 million. There have been over 350 made with plans for close to 3,000 across several countries with the US ordering over 1,000.

    f35

    F-22: the largest and most expensive of the group. A twin engine fighter with wings similar to the F-35’s, it is primarily an air dominance fighter with some secondary strike capabilities. It was was designed with an all-aspect attention to RCS reduction and is the hardest to spot on radar or IR of the bunch. It also is utilized as an intelligence platform analyzing and collecting/intercepting signals. Its AESA radar received an upgrade with the abilities of the newer F-35’s radar. This gave it the improved abilities with the ground strike function added as well as upgrades to include battlefield situational awareness management. Its ECM hardware allows it to recognize, triangulate and guide air-to-air missiles without ever turning on its radar. It was the first to achieve supercruise and flies over mach 2. It can do sprints of at least 100 miles in supercruise. It’s intercept range varies on the use of supercruise but can be the furthest of all the jets on internal fuel. It can carry a full air-to-air load of 8 missiles internally or carry 20,000 lb of external ordnance. A new one would have cost about $150 million but the US won’t sell them to anyone. Only 180+ were made and there are no plans for more.

    f22
  • TURKEY REALLY SHOCKED ME

    TURKEY REALLY SHOCKED ME

    Joe tells about his shocking journey to Turkey

    Turkey is often misrepresented in western media and I want to share with you my experience of how this country really shocked me and changed how I travel and see the whole world.

    HELLO THERE:
    I’m Joe, relatively new to YouTube but really excited to be a part of this community. I live small and sustainably in my home on wheels (a lovely van called Freyja) and from time to time out of my backpack (I have not named the backpack yet). On this channel, I bring you along on my travel journeys off the beaten track where I try to show you the beauty of untouched nature and wander into places where most tourists don’t dare to go.

  • We invite you to be PEACEFUL, not HATEFUL

    We invite you to be PEACEFUL, not HATEFUL

    We condemn the Producers of the movie Smyrna and their supporters and organizations

    “War is murder unless unless it is based on legitimate grounds.”
    M. Kemal Ataturk

    There is a part of the sentence that describes the movie SMYRNA, which will be in theaters nationwide in the UK on December 4th, and in the US on December 8th, for one day only. That part of the sentence reads: “moving drama about an elderly Greek American woman whose family diary recounts the Turkish occupation of the cosmopolitan city of Smyrna in 1922; where Greeks, Turks, Jews, Armenians, and Levantines once lived together harmoniously.”
    That should actually read like this: “ “moving drama about an elderly Turkish woman whose family diary recounts the 1919 invasion of the cosmopolitan city of Smyrna by the Greek Army, who committed atrocities against the civilian Turkish population in the villages and towns, where Greeks, Turks, Jews, Armenians, and Levantines once lived together harmoniously.”

    The advertisement for the film is historically incorrect, describing a “historic film about the Turkish occupation in 1922”… “The historical events and facts” clearly show that the occupying side was the Greeks, not the Turks. The Ottoman Empire was occupied and partitioned by the Allied Forces following its defeat in World War I….IZMIR (Smryna), which has been under Turkish rule beginning in 1081, and part of the Ottoman Empire since 1426, was invaded by the Greek Forces on May 15, 1919. The idea to occupy İzmir came from then British Prime Minister of the time, Lloyd George, with the suggestion of Greek Prime Minister Elefterios Venizelos; after The Ottoman Empire, suffering defeat, signed the Mudros Armistice Agreement at the end of World War I.
    Article 7 of the Mudros Armistice Agreement specified that the allied forces had a right to occupy any strategic location in the event of a threat to the security of the allies. Using Article 7 as an excuse, Great Britain, France and USA came to an agreement and decided for the occupation of Izmir by Greece, on behalf of the Allied Powers; even though they did not have the right to do so! There was no event that would endanger the security of the Allied Forces in İzmir… Despite this, the occupation of Izmir by the Greek Army happened on May 15, 1919; violence and massacres took place with the cooperation of local Greeks, in and around Izmir. The Armistice of Mudros was abolished with the signing of Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923; following the Turkish victory in the War of Independence. Even though the Greek occupiers tried to conceal massacres on local Muslim populations; testimonials of British, American, Swedish and Canadian officials in the British archive documents clearly reveal the facts. And there are books written about the historical facts by unbiased Greek historians.

    But the most powerful confirmation of these facts came from a very unexpected source; the person who came up with the suggestion to invade Izmir; The Greek Prime Minister Elefterios Venizelos himself! In 1928, Venizelos changed his attitude and made attempts to start a friendship with Turkey and the founder of the newly established Turkish Republic, Atatürk. As a matter of fact, he nominated his old enemy Atatürk for the Nobel Peace Prize on 12 January 1934. And, In 1981, the centennial of Atatürk’s birth, the memory of Atatürk was honored by the United Nations and UNESCO by declaring it that year “The Atatürk Year” in the World. These two extraordinary facts are clearly enough to show the worldwide acceptance of the great Turkish military leader and peace-loving statesman Atatürk, and the injustice and oppression that was once committed against the Turks. His old enemy, Venizelos, admitted Greece’s past mistakes against the Turks; The United Nations, on the other hand, told the world that there is no other peace-loving leader like Atatürk. He is the only person worthy of such recognition by UNESCO

    How could this be possible if he was the commander of a cruel and murderous army as described in the movie SMYRNA?

    Although the Greek and Turkish peoples went to war due to political problems and went through very difficult times, their common cultural and artistic values have brought them closer together over the centuries. We, as the followers of the legendary world leader Ataturk around the world; with the awareness of the enlightenment that Atatürk brought to the Turkish people and the philosophy of peace he wished for all humanity; and with respect for Venizelos’ great step for friendship, condemn the producers of the film Smyrna and everyone and every organization who supports such productions by distorting historical facts for the sake of their political ambitions. We invite you to be PEACEFUL, not HATEFUL.
    Atatürk World Platform-AWP