Turkish Forum

Tag: Mecca

  • Israel Matzav: Turkey dropping Greenwich in favor of Mecca

    Israel Matzav: Turkey dropping Greenwich in favor of Mecca

    Turkey dropping Greenwich in favor of Mecca

    The four-faced Mecca Clock Tower is seen in the holy city of Mecca

    In a further sign of its growing Islamization, Turkey is switching the meridian it uses to set its clocks from Greenwich Mean Time to Islamic Mean Time. It will be using the clock tower pictured above, which is located in Mecca (Hat Tip: Joshua I).

    According to a law passed in 1925, Turkey uses the 30th meridian east of Greenwich to set its time. This meridian, which passes through Izmit, puts Turkey in the same time zone as many European countries and is identified as GMT+2. The meridian our ministry wants to use now is 40th, which passes through eastern Turkey. If we adopt that, then Turkey will be GMT+3, which will distance us from Europe one more hour.

    As the 40th meridian also passes through Saudi Arabia, it will mean Turkey will be twinned with Riyadh instead of Athens, as it is now.

    Then I noticed something else relevant. It was a news report about the Mecca Kingdom Clock that is being installed in Zem Zem Towers Building, close to the Kaaba. Six tons of gold were used in that impressive structure.

    The Saudi Kingdom is now calling on Muslim countries to use Islamic Mean Time (IMT), which will based on this clock tower as a reference, and abandon Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). According to reports, many Arab media outlets, led by Al-Jazeera, are now arranging their programs according to the new time reference.

    Our ministry said it postponed the ending of winter time for “technical reasons.” We have not been told why, and the proposed dropping of winter time will take place in 2014 instead.

    We hear that the ministry is determined to use the 40th meridian. This will mean we will have to set our time according to IMT — that is, the Islamic time — from now on. Remember when the idea was first floated, and how international traders and financial concerns in this country had risen against it on grounds it would negatively affect Turkey’s foreign trade?

    So when will they be adding ‘Islamic’ to the name Republic of Turkey? What could go wrong?

    via Israel Matzav: Turkey dropping Greenwich in favor of Mecca.

  • Turkey to Probe Reports of Bus Attacks in Syria

    Turkey to Probe Reports of Bus Attacks in Syria

    By MARC CHAMPION

    ISTANBUL—Turkey’s foreign ministry said Monday it was investigating reports that Turkish pilgrims were shot at in Syria, leaving two wounded.

    Video footage posted on the internet by Syrian pro-Democracy activists showed wounded people being transferred from several buses to ambulances in Hatay, just across the Syrian border in Turkey, apparently after the pilgrims returned.

    According to Turkey’s NTV television, the Turkish pilgrims were on their way to Mecca in a convoy of buses on Sunday, when they came under fire near the city of Homs, close to Syria’s border with Lebanon. Three of the buses were hit and two people were injured, including a bus driver, NTV said.

    The buses were attacked after they got lost and asked directions at a checkpoint, and then turned back to Turkey, NTV said. It wasn’t certain Monday who fired at the buses; passengers said the Syrian military was responsible.

    A spokesman for the foreign ministry confirmed that “an incident” had taken place. “We are looking into it,” he said.

    Although close allies until the beginning of this year, Ankara and Damascus have become increasingly hostile since the regime of President Bashar al-Assad began a crackdown on opposition protesters this is believed to have claimed more than 3,500 lives to date.

    On Monday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan again lashed out at Mr. Assad. “If you believe in yourself as a leader, if you are confident, you will open the ballot boxes and everyone would go to vote,” Mr. Erdogan said in a speech to a meeting of Muslim clerics from Africa in Istanbul. “But with tanks and cannons you can only lead up to a point. A day will come when you will go too.”

    Pro-regime protesters attacked the Turkish embassy in Damascus and consulates elsewhere in the country 10 days ago, in the wake of an Arab League decision to suspend Syria from the organization.

    On Monday, several Turkish newspapers cited unnamed government officials saying Ankara had developed contingency plans to impose a military buffer zone or no-fly zone within Syria should the security situation there deteriorate significantly.

    “We have no confidence left in the regime, but at the moment we don’t think outside military intervention to be right,” Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul told journalists as he flew to visit the U.K. on Sunday, according to several TV and newspaper reports. “These are things that should be solved within Syria.”

    A Turkish official told The Wall Street Journal that Ankara now sought to stay in line with, or one step behind, the Arab League in applying further measures to pressure the Syrian regime.

    —Ayla Albayrak in Istanbul contributed to this article.

    Write to Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com

    via Turkey to Probe Reports of Bus Attacks in Syria – WSJ.com.

  • Turkey begins work on a project to link Istanbul and Mecca by express train

    Turkey begins work on a project to link Istanbul and Mecca by express train

    The Turkish government has announced the beginning of work on a plan to restore the Hijaz raliway line built during the Ottoman era in the early 20th century which links Istanbul in Turkey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

    turkish flag

    Official Turkish media outlets reported that the plan begins with preparations of the Hijaz railway route in Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. The plan includes the launch of a high-speed train linking Istanbul and Mecca, reducing the distance between the two cities to 24 hours over a 2,200-kilometer railway.

    The media reports noted that the train’s route will start in Istanbul and run via the Turkish cities of Adana and Othmaneya, before passing through Jordan with Medina as the train’s final destination.

    The Turkish Railway General Manager, Soliman Kraman, expects the high-speed train to make its first trip in four years’ time, adding that it would carry more than two million passengers every year to the Holy Land for Hajj and Umrah, in addition to its role in enhancing trade between the countries in the region.

    The Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hameed II, approved the plan to build the railway in 1900. The train was launched eight years later, but it was damaged during World War I, and its construction was interrupted.

    via Turkey begins work on a project to link Istanbul and Mecca by express train.

  • Holiday reflections

    Holiday reflections

    The exodus began several days before Turkey closed down for the Feast of the Sacrifice. For devout Muslims, Eid al-Adha is an important annual milestone linked to the pilgrimage to Mecca and to a test of their faith.

    Many of the travelers I encountered at İstanbul Atatürk Airport, dressed in light-colored garb, were clearly on their way to Mecca. But for many secular Turks, the holiday has lost some of its religious significance and it is above all a chance to escape abroad for a few days.

    Over the past two decades, Kurban Bayramı has undergone a significant evolution in Turkey. I remember my surprise, in my first years in this country, when I saw blood flow freely in the streets of my neighborhood. In the days before the holiday, the pathetic bleating of tethered sheep resonated loudly through the streets.

    Gradually, in line with rapid urbanization, the animals retreated to the outskirts and the slaughtering now takes place in designated parts of town, carried out by experienced butchers, thus sparing the animals unnecessary suffering. This year, the Directorate of Religious Affairs even advised families to keep young children away and avoid shocking them with the violence of the sacrifice. Animal rights and environmental groups are also increasingly suggesting that the sacrifice and the distribution of meat to the poor be bypassed altogether and replaced by financial donations to charitable causes.

    Religious holidays for some, cultural traditions for others, special occasions punctuate the rhythm of life in all societies around the globe, providing opportunities to step away from the daily grind, spend time with family and remember those less fortunate than we are.

    Americans will soon gather around their Thanksgiving turkey. What began as a harvest festival, a chance to give thanks for life’s blessings, has now lost most of its religious overtones. Today it is mainly seen as a cheerful meeting of friends and relatives around a table full of good food but as such, it retains all its importance. Christmas also centers on family spirit, but its present-giving aspect, exploited by the corporate world, has now grown out of proportion. In many European countries, Christmas lights have been on for weeks in preparation of the celebration on Dec. 25. Department stores have already rearranged their wares to encourage shoppers to spend on holiday gifts, prominently displayed.

    In Turkey, religion remains more present in everyday life than it is in most Western nations, and Kurban Bayramı is for many Turks first and foremost a religious festival. But commercialism is clearly creeping in, too. Travel agencies have been advertising breaks in the sun in lieu of the traditional family reunions for weeks, and shopkeepers have done their best to attract customers with special offers ahead of the celebration.

    Given the demands of modern urban life, moments when the frantic pace briefly stops are perhaps more needed than before. It is significant that even in the most secular Western countries, traditional holidays still bring countries to a halt. As more and more people suffer from the economic downturn, wreaking havoc on many economies, meetings with loved ones should also be a time to reflect about our way of life.

    In Turkey, distributions of food to the poor remain a strong tradition, but one that merely addresses the symptoms rather than the cause of income imbalances. Across Europe, social rights enshrined in law had to a large extent replaced philanthropy and charitable giving as a means of helping the most disadvantaged in society, but savage budget cuts introduced recently in several countries will undoubtedly leave many people a lot poorer. The fight for a fairer world is clearly not one that can be confined to a few days a year.

    İyi bayramlar!

    NICOLE POPE
    n.pope@todayszaman.com

    via Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news.