Author Topic: Some Actual Good News!  (Read 3042 times)

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Offline JohnF

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Some Actual Good News!
« on: February 26, 2016, 10:00:40 AM »
Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, both senior journalists with the Hurriyet were released from prison after the Constitutional Court decided their "fundamental rights" had been violated by their arrest.  These are the guys who broke the story (in the Turkish press) about the alleged weapons shipment, allegedly disguised as humanitarian aid, allegedly heading for IS or one of its fellow nutjob outfits.

It was good to see that their sense of humour and irony wasn't dulled by their 92 day stay in the Silivri Hotel:

“Sorry for keeping you waiting this long,” Dündar told reporters waiting outside the prison. “You know, the 26th is President [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan’s birthday. We are happy to celebrate his birthday with this release decision.”

Recalling that he was arrested on his wedding anniversary, Dündar said, “We wanted to give [President Erdoğan] a birthday present.”

Dündar praised the Constitutional Court’s decision, saying it was “historic” in terms of the state of freedom of expression in Turkey.


A very succinct GIRUY to little reginald.

HDN

But wait, there's more!  Yep, even more good news in the Turkish press this morning    :)

Scottish MSP Natalie McGarry, who is suspended from her party after police were called in by members of the Women for Independence group (which she co-founded) when an audit found a £30,000 discrepancy in their accounts, was briefly detained at a checkpoint in Diyarbakır.  Why?  Because she took her phone out - and we all know what the signs say at Polis checkpoints and border crossings...  NO PHOTOGRAPHS AND NO PHONES.

I suspect Ms McGarry got a bit of an insight into how the Polis operate in Diyarbakır compared the the east end of Glasgow    ;)

TZ

JF



Offline KKOB

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Re: Some Actual Good News!
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2016, 10:17:12 AM »
Don't she look like Stacey in S'tenders ! Pr'haps she's faaaaaaaaamly.

Offline Colwyn

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Re: Some Actual Good News!
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2016, 19:00:29 PM »
Turkish inflation has fallen substantially in March; from 8.78 to 7.46. This is mainly due to dropping food prices - a predictable consequence of Russia boycott of Turkish food imports. Conversely, the highest rises have been on tobacco and alcoholic drinks; predictable, but nothing to do with Russia I think.

Offline usedbustickets

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Re: Some Actual Good News!
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2016, 08:43:22 AM »
I aint seen too much evidence of falling food prices.  Meat and mince are still sky high, chicken is still more than last year, onions at 3tl a kilo, peppers around 5tl a kilo, spuds are down a bit, tomatoes are still high.  Now I know the typical turkish food basket is different from mine, but can't help feel that someone could be massaging these figures.

Offline kevin3

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Re: Some Actual Good News!
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2016, 12:30:50 PM »




    Fake figures.??            Never. !!

Offline JohnF

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Re: Some Actual Good News!
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2016, 12:50:56 PM »
As Mark Twain said, "Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable."

There is an alternative viewpoint on the figures for March, if you look at CPI:

Inflation fell from February’s 8.8% to 7.5% in March. The print undershot the 8.1% that market analysts’ had expected and represented a seven-month low. The core prices index, which excludes more volatile categories, such as unprocessed food and energy, increased 0.44% in March over the previous month (February: +0.25% month-on-month). Core inflation inched down from January’s 18-month high of 9.8%% to 9.7%.

I'm no economist, but it does make sense to remove the more volatile entries which can skew the trend - UBT's personal experience is also an indicator that maybe Kevin is right, the figures are being "massaged".

I dunno.

JF

Offline davybill

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Re: Some Actual Good News!
« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2016, 12:56:00 PM »
Yes a Kilo of tomatoes cost me one and a half lira on the market,  Terrible? :'( :'( :'( ;D

Offline JohnF

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Re: Some Actual Good News!
« Reply #7 on: April 05, 2016, 13:06:28 PM »
onions at 3tl a kilo

Thats an odd one - unusual to see an everyday vegetable more expensive in Turkey than the UK.

JF

Offline kayakebab

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Re: Some Actual Good News!
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2016, 07:25:40 AM »
Onions are really expensive at the moment, you can find for 2.5 on most stalls.
I remember last year potatoes went to 4tl, only 1tl this year.
Everything else I would say is pretty much same price as last year.
Fabulous strawberries at the moment for 5tl a kilo.
We could never afford to eat this healthily in the Uk.




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