Istanbul
Behind the glorious bazaar
Kapali Çarsi, the Grand Bazaar, is Istanbul’s famous shopping destination for tourists from around the world, the ultimate Oriental shopping experience. Located adjacent to Sultan Ahmet, around the corner from The famed Blue Mosque, Haggia Sophia and Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar employs around 26,000 people and hosts between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. A grand cacophony of sounds, scents and colors populated by gaily dressed visitors from all corners of the earth gaily flock […]
Children and Kumkapi
Children and Kumkapi Both Turkish law and International Law through UNHCR make specific provisions for the handling of children in Detention. In Turkey, Detention Centers are termed Removal Centers, an upgrade from the term “Guesthouse”. The Turkish Law #6458. Article 59 http://www.goc.gov.tr/files/files/eng_minikanun_5_son.pdf states in paragraph (c) the best interest of the child shall be considered, and families and unaccompanied minors shall be accommodated in separate areas. Sounds like a good plan and would be if […]
The Dublin Convention
Anywhere but Here The Wall of Deterrence has been carefully constructed by the EU. The repercussions from this wall play out hourly on major media platforms across the EU with images of desperate refugees plucked from the waters of the Mediterranean, sitting hopeless in camps, families scaling barbed wire confronted by men with clubs, all are becoming the norm. WHY the movement now?? The cornerstone of the wall is Dublin III – established as the […]
Dining with Detainees
Istanbul is a city of great beauty, great history, and great cultural diversity. It sits on two continents joining the east and the west, literally. Down along the northern coast of the Marmara Sea, just around the bottom of the Golden Horn lays Kumkapi, famous for its fish restaurants, alive at night with the sounds of music, laughter, meals shared, Turkey at its most hospitable; a theater front, hiding in plain sight if one […]
