#turkish summer series

[alias-a]

Do you know what love is? It's to panic when you think about the likehood that you could lose them; it's to start loving what you hated; to see a little light in them, to believe that they'll get better.

It's when you can't leave when you should.

When you say goodbye, you mean stay.

[legacygirlingreen]

August 30th 1889 // Farmer Sebastian Sallow x Reader (Part 3)

Part 3 of the short series. Link for Masterlist can be found here:

Word Count: 2,500

Audio found here

And my flight was awful, thanks for asking

The sun was going to set in an hour or so, and she knew that her mother would call her for dinner when that happened, yet she couldn’t force herself to leave. Currently perched under the tree next to her neighbor while they both read quietly. On occasion Sebastian would look up, making sure no sheep had wandered off from where he’d taken them to graze, before looking back down at his book. More often than not she’d take that as an opportunity to stare at him. 

Since coming back for the summer, Sebastian had grown darker in complexion, as his hair had grown slightly lighter, and more similar in color to carmel, from being in the sun all day. He was more beautiful now than he had been when they’d met a few months ago. 

“You know I can feel you staring” he said smugly as she blushed and looked back down at her book, afraid of the boy making fun of her. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I am simply reading” she said with a sigh as he plucked the book from her grasp making her shoot him an annoyed look. 

“Ah yes, page 137. The same one you’ve been on for the last hour. What do you find so interesting on this page to linger? What’s it say?” he quizzed her and her eyes grew wide knowing she had paid more attention to his side profile than the book. 

“Uh…” she struggled to find an explanation, seemingly unable to provide insight on what the pages contained. Eventually she gave up, crossing her arms and pouting while muttering out “garçon de ferme” as laughter ripped from his throat. 

She had realized quite early on that Sebastian understood her native tongue. The boy was as brilliant as her Gran had suggested, knowing not only English and Gaelic as one would predict, but also French, Latin, German, Greek, Italian and even some Turkish.

“Oh how I’m going to miss that sass soon mon chou” he said with a laugh, the pet name rolling off his tongue. The unfortunate nickname had come from Sebastian, who upon learning that the French phrase mon chou for “darling”, also translated to “cabbage” in english. 

“What do you mean you’re going to miss me soon?” she asked quietly, still unaware he was soon departing Hogwarts. He figured her grandmother had taken the time to explain that come September he’d be back at school and not in Feldcroft, but he had assumed wrong. 

“Oh… um… school is starting back and I am beginning my 4th year.” Sebastian explained hoping she wouldn’t take it poorly. He was no stranger to how tightly the girl had latched to him, finding security and comfort in his presence. He had learned of her father’s dreadful passing and how unsafe she had felt leaving home. There were no other children her age in the village. 

Sebastian would be lying if he tried to deny he hadn’t found the younger girl’s company to be pleasant. She was brilliant, even for her age, which he finally confirmed as ten, nearly eleven but her birthday was after the school year began so she’d have to wait a full year before starting Hogwarts. 

He shared books with her, often ones that had difficult to understand material, and she easily grasped it. They had thought provoking discussions on magical theory, despite her not having shown signs of having any yet. In a small way he wishes she had, so he could teach her spells for when he wasn’t there. Regardless, Sebastian felt that this summer in Feldcroft had been the most comforting he’d experienced since moving here after his parents died. 

He’d start each day by finding her already reading on the lawn of her Gran’s, fruit in hand and a smile on her face. She’d help him with his chores and bring a book along when things got boring. On days his chores weren’t as involved they’d walk to the shore and skip rocks, or spend time swimming together. He had brought her to some ruins nearby, nothing too far, but they’d explored them until the sun set, finding treasures long forgotten. 

Sebastian realized she hadn’t spoken as he’d been lost in thought reminiscing on the summer.  When he looked down, he saw the young girl with tears in her eyes, staring off into the fields, not responding. The sight of her so saddened instantly made him want to draw her into his arms and let her know it was going to be okay. He settled on a less intense version as he turned his body towards her, wiping a tear off her face.  

“Hey don’t cry, it’s going to be alright… I can visit sometimes on the weekends or maybe your mum will let you visit me in Hogsmeade or -” he tried to reason with her, not caring what his classmates would say about him hanging around with a girl a few years younger if they saw him in Hogsmeade with her. Instead she shut him off with a quiet whispered phrase. 

You’re leaving me too. 

The words had immediately torn at his heart. He cursed Merlin for making her too young to come back to school with him, punishing her with another year in this stupid Scottish Hamlet alone. For allowing her father to be struck down in such a poor way, leaving her at the loss of a male figure in her life. At how her Gran continued to get worse and worse, knowing the old woman would soon likely depart as well, leaving this girl even more alone. He hated it more than anything that he couldn’t do anything about it. 

The young girl had stood not long after saying the words, grabbing her long skirt in her hands and running away from him. Her book abandoned as she sprinted back towards the hamlet from the small field they were in. She ran into the small wooded area at the base of the mountain, using the trees to hide from him as she ran.

Sebastian didn’t care he was abandoning his uncle’s sheep when he sprinted after her. If one ran off he’d spend all night chasing it down. Right now he needed her to stop running from him so he could help her see he didn’t have a choice in the matter. He couldn’t leave knowing she was upset with him. 

“Y/n stop!” he shouted as he got closer, her shorter legs no match for his longer ones. When he got right behind her, he didn’t even think, as he reached down to scoop her up and lift her petite body into the air as she kicked. 

“Put me down!” she cried out, more tears falling and he shook his head, pulling her close to him. Sebastian had hoped the girl would relax in his arms but it seemed to have the opposite effect. She trembled against him so violently as she continued to struggle, begging to be put down, to let her get some distance from him. 

Suddenly, and without warning a loud sound in the space next to them boomed through the air. In the panic Sebastian dropped the girl, watching as a small willow tree emerged from the ground and sprouted to a decent height as he stood there amazed. The girl had also stopped trying to escape simply to look, surprised at how it simply sprung up from the ground before them. 

Sebastian reached out, touching its soft light purple flowers in awe. In all the ways he’d seen or heard of someone’s magic manifesting he’d never heard of something this spectacular. In a moment of confusion, sadness and anxiety she had sprouted an almost fully grown tree, one that was often referred to as his namesake no less. 

He couldn’t help but stare at the tree in amazement, looking intently at its branches and bark. He studied the roots, imagining that to anyone else, they would assume it had been alive for decades, not to have just sprouted from the ground in a moment of emotion. But it was here, in a simple flash. Standing tall, proud, and beautiful.

“You just, your, you-” he stuttered, looking for the words to say as she looked at him confused. While the young girl knew that the subsequent tree sprouting from the earth had to have been a result of her emotional distress, she didn’t understand his reaction. 

Eventually Sebastian found the words he’d been searching for as he grabbed her again without much warning. This time she didn’t fight it, allowing him to wrench her into his arms as he picked her small body up and spun it through the air. 

“Your magic, it’s brilliant! It’s so wonderful!” He said as he laughed under the canopy provided by the willows branches. 

To say the girl had emotional whiplash at the situation was an understatement. To have gone from happy, to saddened to shocked all in a few moments, was a lot to process. Not to mention something she could only compare to warmth in her stomach at being picked up by the boy… 

Sebastian set her back down, using his thumbs to brush aside the almost dried tears from her face before smoothing her hair back down. 

“Tell me what you were thinking of when it happened,” he asked her. 

The girl knew exactly what thought spawned the massive tree in front of them, but that didn’t mean she felt so inclined to share with him out of fear of embarrassment. So she opted to look up at him, while softly shaking her head “no” as she got lost in his brown eyes. 

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to… I can tell you how it happened for me if you’d like? I’ve never told anyone, not even Anne” He offered and at the opportunity she raised an eyebrow, eager to know more about him. Especially if that meant getting information no one knew. 

“Okay…” she said before taking a seat at the base of the tree she conjured, sitting along one of its roots before tucking her legs to the side so her skirt wouldn’t move too high. Sebastian decided to take a seat next to her, laying his legs out in front of him. He could tell he’d brown a smidgen over the summer as his pants rose up higher on his legs than previously. 

“Well, it wasn’t long after my parents had died. I  was 8, almost 9. I wanted to visit their graves but Anne refused to go with me, and Solomon refused to take me. So I snatched the bag of floo powder and snuck out of the house in the middle of the night. Once I got there, I’m not really sure why, it all sort of hit me at once. I kept thinking of how pretty my mom used to look while she was brushing her hair and singing quietly to herself. All of a sudden I looked down and where my tears had hit the ground, some asphodels were sprouting from the freshly dug grave. They still are there ya know, to this day. In fact almost the entire area has been taken over by them the last time I visited. Only thing visible is the stone marker itself.” He explained, as he twirled his wand with one of his hands unconsciously. In the other he realized the girl had slipped her own hand without him noticing. 

“I overheard my mom talking to Gran about how worried she was that I am a squib… since my magic didn’t present itself when my papa died. I suppose now that’s not an issue” she said gently and he squeezed her hand before letting go of it. 

“That’s not possible for a witch as brilliant as you...” he said before turning around and running his open palm over the bark of the tree still in awe of it. 

“I kept thinking about how sad I was going to be without you here” she mumbled quietly as she refused to look at him.

He thought for a moment before he turned back towards her. 

“You thought about how much you were going to miss me, and in turn sprouted a sallow” he said through a chuckle. 

“A what?” She asked, confused.

Sebastian gestured to the tree they were sitting under before saying, “Willows, oftentimes called sallows” then he pointed at himself continuing “Sebastian Sallow”. 

“Oh. I didn’t realize that” she said, almost embarrassed. She hasn’t understood that she had created something so closely linked to him out of the fear of him leaving. 

“I think it’s sweet… I’m going to miss you too, you know... If I could throw you in my trunk I would” he explained with a laugh. 

“You are?” She asked timidly while scooting closer to him. Sebastian looked down at the girl whom he’d grown so fond of, so protective over, in such a short amount of time. 

“Of course I am,” he reassured her. 

“I don’t want to be alone here” she said sadly and once again her eyes welled up with tears. 

“I know you don’t, and I wish I didn’t have to go… I promise to write every day. And visit some weekends. I’ll even ask your mum to bring you to hogsmeade some weekends the school lets us visit and I can introduce you to my friend Ominis. And then next year you’ll be at Hogwarts with us” he explained, trying to cheer her up.

“Okay…” she said with a sad nod. Sebastian still felt bad so he clutched his wand, pointing it towards his open hand and conjuring her a little flower before placing it behind her ear. 

“Cheer up, it’ll be Yule time before you know it…” he told her before standing and offering a hand to pull her up. 

“It’s getting late, I need to go wrangle the sheep and you should get back to eat with your family. I’ll bring your book back later” Sebastian said and she turned to walk back to town alone. 

“How about you see Anne and I off in the morning?” He asked as she looked back at him. 

“I’d like that,” she said quietly while looking at her shoes. 

“Good. I’ll meet you by the floo tower tomorrow morning then.” He told her and with that she left before she kept crying in front of him. Once she was out of sight he reached up, still awestruck at the tree. Quickly he reached up and broke off a small strip of flowers and put it in his pocket for later.

[princesssarisa]

This… out of curiosity

Do you also know the different names meanings of Snow White?

Well, her name is just "Snow White," and all her foreign names (Schneewittchen, Blanche Neige, Blanca Nieves, etc.) tend to mean either "snow white" or "white snow." Although one interesting exception is her Turkish name, Pamuk Prenses, which means "cotton princess" – i.e. with skin white as cotton.

Of course in the series Once Upon a Time, her "real world" name is Mary Margaret. "Mary" means "bitter," "drop of the sea," or "beloved"; "Margaret" means "pearl." But I wouldn't call that a real adaptation.

I can list the different name meanings of the actresses who have played her in the various adaptations, though:

Marguerite: "pearl."

Adriana: "from Hadria"

Galina: "calm"

Elke: "noble"

Carol: "free woman" or "song"

Doris: "Dorian woman"

Julie: "youthful"

Zaynep: "precious gem"

Maresa: a cross between Mary ("bitter," "drop of the sea," or "beloved") and Theresa ("summer" or "harvest")

Peggi: derived from Margaret, meaning "pearl"

Mary Jo: Mary means "bitter," "drop of the sea," or "beloved," while Jo is derived from Josephine, which means "he [God] shall add"

Elizabeth: "my God is an oath"

Anna Jo: Anna means "grace" or "favor," Jo means "he [God] shall add"

Sarah: "princess"

Sakiko: "blossom child"

Irene: "peace"

Kath: short for Katherine, meaning "far off" or "pure"

Natalie: "Christmas"

Yuri: "lily"

Eileen: "beautiful bird"

Edie: "prosperous in battle"

Elaine: "torch" or "light"

Venus: "love"

Monica: “advisor”

Wendee: derived from Gwendolen, meaning "white ring."

Camryn: "crooked nose"

Kristin: "Christian"

Laura: "laurel"

Ginnifer: "white phantom," "white wave," or "fair one"

Eliza: derived from Elizabeth, "my God is an oath"

Lily: "lily," of course

Chloë: "green shoot"

Tijan: "faithful," "peace," or "gift from God"

Rachel: "ewe"

[usafphantom2]

Ukraine Says It’s Getting Long-Range Strike Missiles With Its F-16s

A top Ukrainian defense official says the country is awaiting strike weapons with a range of 300-500 kilometers for its future F-16s.

Thomas NewdickPUBLISHED Feb 5, 2024 6:10 PM EST

F-16 for Ukraine will be getting a long-range cruise missile, according to the country's Air Force chief.

USAF

An undisclosed type of air-launched cruise missile with a range of up to 300 miles will be among the munitions delivered to Ukraine alongside its long-awaited F-16 fighters, according to Lt. Gen. Serhii Naev, the commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In a statement reported by the Ukrainian RBC news outlet, Naev said that the deliveries of F-16s were expected to be accompanied by air-to-ground missiles to arm them, with a range of “300-500 kilometers” — 186 to 310 miles. Naev added that the weapons were expected to arrive in “further military aid packages,” but provided no more details.

Lt. Gen. Serhii Naev, the commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Back in the summer of last year, when the idea of Ukraine getting F-16s finally became a more concrete reality, we looked at the extensive ‘menu’ of possible air-to-ground and air-to-air munitions to arm these aircraft.

What is especially notable about Naev’s claim, however, is the stated range of 186 to 310 miles — a significant distance. Exactly what missile he is referring to isn’t clear, but among the likely candidates that fits that description is the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile or JASSM.

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle loaded with five JASSMs at Eglin Air Force Base, on May 11, 2021, as part of Project Strike Rodeo, which you can read more about here. U.S. Air Force

In its initial AGM-158A form, the JASSM has a range of around 330 miles and weighs 2,250 pounds. The extended-range AGM-158B variant, or JASSM-ER, has a publicly stated range of at least 575 miles. An even longer-range version of the JASSM is in the works, but this has not been fielded yet by the U.S. military.

F-16 carrying JASSMs on a test flight. U.S. Air Force photos by Staff Sgt. Brandi Hansen

Although in service for some 20 years, JASSM remains a very sophisticated weapon, with significant low-observable (stealth) characteristics that add dramatically to its survivability. Full of complex and classified technologies, this air-launched cruise missile, even if supplied in its oldest form, would be a massive leap in capability for Ukraine. It would be especially useful for deeply penetrating the dense Russian air defense overlay that sits atop occupied territories in Ukraine.

While the U.S. has exported JASSM widely to key allies, handing it over to Ukraine to be used against a major foe, and having the possibility of it falling into enemy hands, remains a questionable proposition. Yet at this point, considering similar escalation in high-end weaponry provided to Ukraine, it certainly is possible.

U.S. Air Force personnel load AGM-158 JASSM-series cruise missiles onto pylons under the wing of a B-52. U.S. Air Force

Another long-range weapon integrated on the F-16, but less well known, is the AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missile–Expanded Response, better known as SLAM-ER, introduced on Turkish Vipers.

In the past, The War Zone argued that the SLAM-ER could be the most likely U.S.-supplied air-launched cruise missile for the Ukrainian F-16, also bearing in mind its availability in the U.S. Navy inventory and its lower degree of technological sensitivity compared to JASSM. The missile has a range of about 170 miles.

A Turkish F-16 carrying a SLAM-ER captive round during integration work. Lockheed Martin

As previously described, the highly accurate SLAM-ER can be used in a fire-and-forget mode against a known target. Alternatively, it can be operated using a ‘man in the loop’ (MITL) control concept. This involves a two-way datalink pod on the launching aircraft that allows the missile to be manually steered by the aircraft’s crew to its final impact point after it makes its way autonomously to the target area. This allows very precise targeting, re-targeting in real-time, and even the ability to engage certain moving targets.

Then there is the U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow, and the similar French-supplied SCALP EG cruise missiles have already been used to significant effect, launched by Ukrainian Su-24 Fencer strike aircraft.

A SCALP-EG, the French variant of the Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missile, loaded under the wing of a Su-24 Fencer. Ukrainian Ministry of Defense screencap

Many observers were surprised at how quickly Storm Shadow and SCALP EG were integrated on a Soviet-era platform. While it’s notable that neither of these weapons has been integrated on the F-16, there may well be time to complete such work before these jets arrive in Ukraine. The missiles should be able to be integrated with relative ease, considering they use the same NATO-standard data bus architecture that’s found on the Viper. The 2,900-pound weapons could potentially be mounted on the inboard wing stations, which can accommodate 3,500 pounds. While the Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG export configurations have a range of around 155 miles, the non-export configurations are roughly double that.

Another European air-launched cruise missile that has been suggested for Ukraine is the German Taurus KEPD 350, although its supply has so far been blocked by the German government. Nevertheless, if the go-ahead were given, the manufacturer, Taurus Systems, says it would take between 12 and 18 months to be integrated onto the F-16. This missile has a stated range of around 500 kilometers (310 miles).

Then there is the possibility that an indigenous weapon could foot the bill. This would most likely be an air-launched variant of the ground-attack-optimized Neptune cruise missile. We have seen no information that Neptune is being adapted for air launch, but it’s worth mentioning it as a possibility, even if remote.

In our previous analysis of potential Ukrainian F-16 weapons, one, in particular, was described as “perhaps the most likely and exciting new advanced weapon Ukraine would receive with its Vipers.” This is the AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW), which could still be a critical tool for these fighters, despite its much shorter range than some other options.

A pair of live JSOWs on a Greek F-16. Ioannis Lekkas

“[JSOW] is very well suited for the unique combat environment in Ukraine. It can autonomously glide to its target from over 70 miles away when launched at altitude or over a dozen miles when launched at low altitude. It could be especially useful for target geolocated static/semi-static air defense systems and its imaging infrared sensor it uses for terminal homing is impervious to radio-frequency jamming. It has a very small signature, as well, making it that much harder for Russian air defenses to shoot down.”

Despite being unpowered, its range is sufficient for JSOW to be launched from outside the range of the enemy’s air defense systems. What is more, JSOW is available both with a unitary blast-fragmentation/penetrator warhead (as used by the U.S. military), while earlier versions, which may still be available, can also carry submunitions warheads, a type of payload that Ukraine has already made use of on other U.S.-supplied long-range weapons.

At this point, there has been no confirmation from U.S. officials that an air-launched standoff munition will be included in future arms transfers to Ukraine. But it would clearly make sense as Ukraine seeks to target objectives further from the front lines.

Other longer-range weapons have already been able to bring destruction to Russian command posts and logistic storage sites, as well as air defenses and docked vessels, that were previously outside the range of Ukrainian attacks.

Any new air-launched standoff munitions for Ukraine would likely be used against similar target sets.

As Nayev noted in the same article, the appearance of longer-range systems, including the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, provided to Ukraine earlier in the conflict, has had a tangible effect on how Russia is able to wage its war, pushing logistical support and command posts further from the front lines.

An M142 HIMARS launches a rocket against the Bakhmut direction on May 18, 2023, in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. Photo by Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

“This has led to an increase in the logistical burden of transporting ammunition and material resources, the complication of troop management, the loss of offensive capabilities, and the transition to forced defense (and eventually to the ‘gesture of goodwill’ from the right bank of the Dnieper and the evacuation from Kherson,” Naev said.

Nayev’s ironic description of Russia’s “gesture of goodwill” refers to the retreat across the Dnieper River in late 2022, part of a withdrawal of the Kremlin’s forces from the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

These types of impacts have been repeatedly seen with advanced weapon systems. ATACMS ballistic missiles provided by the U.S. rolled back the menacing threat, at least to a significant degree, from Russian attack helicopters, for instance.

Based on previous patterns, we may well first learn of the identity of any new type of air-launched cruise missile for Ukraine once it starts arming the country’s F-16s.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (right) sits in an F-16 fighter at Skrydstrup Air Base in northern Denmark, on August 20, 2023. Photo by MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Whatever the case, the prospect of F-16s taking the war to the Russians in Ukrainian Air Force colors is moving ever closer.

Last month, a senior Pentagon official said that the United States expected the Ukrainian Air Force to achieve initial operating capability on F-16s by the end of this year.

Already, a multinational training effort for Ukrainian F-16 pilots is taking place in the United States and in Europe.

“We are aiming to provide an initial operating capability for Ukraine with its F-16 program in 2024, which would entail trained pilots, the platforms, but in addition, trained maintainers and sustainers, infrastructure, and spare parts, ammunition,” Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told reporters on January 24.

One of the first five ex-Netherlands F-16s that will be used to train Ukrainian pilots as part of a European initiative arrived in Romania last November. Dutch Ministry of Defense

As we have discussed in the past, however, working up to even austere initial operating capability is a major task for a country that’s not only at war but has no real experience in daily operations with Western-made, NATO-compatible fighters.

At this stage, the focus is very much on training pilots and maintainers, as well as securing the F-16s themselves, with the jets being sourced from a variety of European nations. So far, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway have all said they will provide Ukraine with F-16s. The Dutch Ministry of Defense confirmed only today that it would provide another six F-16s to Ukraine, on top of the 18 examples it had already earmarked for the F-16 training center in Romania.

The specifics of how Ukraine will actually take its F-16s to war remain unclear, including what weapons they will be armed with. It’s notable that none of the European partner nations that have committed to providing F-16s to Ukraine arm them with JSOW or JASSM, so these would likely have to come from the United States or another benefactor, regardless. Regardless, the provision of any type of weapons for the F-16s would need to be signed off by Washington.

It has long been expected that once combat-capable, Ukrainian F-16 pilots will use the fighters to try and wrest air superiority over Ukraine, as well as use the aircraft’s superior air-to-air radar and weapons to tackle cruise missiles and drones.

On the other hand, the success that’s already been achieved by the Storm Shadow and SCALP EG, and the limited stocks of both those weapons, could see Ukraine want to push its F-16s into offensive operations sooner rather than later. In that context, the appropriate standoff weapons to arm them would be fundamental. Standoff strike would also be an easily executable mission for new F-16 pilots.

It needs to be remembered, however, that, like other long-range strike weapons provided by Western allies, the F-16 and standoff missile combination will not be permitted for use against targets within Russia’s internationally recognized borders.

Now that Kyiv has secured F-16s, and their arrival in the country might now be counted in months only, it’s understandable that securing weapons for these aircraft is now a higher priority. While there are no other signs that a specific air-launched cruise missile has already been approved for transfer to Kyiv, Nayev’s words clearly point to aspirations to use the F-16 in a long-range strike role, holding yet more critical Russian targets to threat within Ukraine’s borders.

Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com

[sphelelesworld]

Turkish dramas 🦋

Okay, alright, as someone who truly believes that the world is filled with so many entertaining stories and shows that all need to be explored regardless of whether they're in different languages or not ( and I think that if you don't watch something because you're reading subtitles, you're missing out) I mean there are so many pros to exploring other cultures and languages.

Now that I am done with my little rant todays focus will be in Turkish dramas I recommend.

The difference in Turkish dramas compared to the rest of the other dramas I’ve watched like ( k dramas/ Korean dramas, Brazilian-dramas, telenovelas and more …) is probably just how entertaining they are without further ado my top recommended Turkish dramas

1. Hercai

The drama was recommended right smack in the middle of lockdown, so let's just say it saved me from boredom! In my opinion, this is the best Turkish drama I've ever watched. The storyline was amazing and filled with plot twists and crazy storylines. You'll never get bored watching it for a moment. You end up falling for the characters and getting caught up in Hercai's world. 10/10

summary

Miran is seeking revenge for his parents death so he plans to marry daughter Reyyan from the family who was responsible for that. unexpectedly he falls in love with Reyyan.

2. Adim Farah

alright running second is Adim Farah is the most recent drama, I've watched and oh my soul it's amazing its got action, comedy and a beautiful love story and if you're a big fan of a bit of mystery as well. 10/10 ( second season coming soon)

summary: farah is a 28 year old Iranian woman who works illegally as a cleaner in istanbul and witnesses a crime commited by the mafia her life takes a huge turn

3. ask 101(love 101)

Someone said summer, yeah, this is the one. This show is two seasons and is a gripping story of friendship, love, and coming of age. 8/10

summary: love 101 ( ask 101) is a Turkish teen drama, that follows a group of 17-year-old misfits who set their mind on keeping their favourite teacher in town through a whole lot of scheming.

4. midnight at pera palace

It's so good, I binge-watched the whole series in one go. It's giving mystery, it's giving suspense, and it's giving what it needs to 9/10

summary: a young journalist, Esra’s encounter with the legendary Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul. When Esra is assigned to write a piece about the hotel, she accidentally discovers that one of the historic rooms is a portal to the year 1919. Thrust into the past, she lands in the middle of a political conspiracy against the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Together with Ahmet, the quirky hotel manager, Esra must protect the course of history and the future of Turkey. But Istanbul in 1919 is a dangerous place, and when Esra meets Halit, the handsome and mysterious owner of Istanbul’s wildest club, she realizes that in the Istanbul of 1919, nothing is as it seems and no one is who they say.

5. Who were we running from ( Biz kimden kaçiyorduk Anne)

Another thriller packed drama, with a while lot of mystery overall you will not regret watching although trigger warning things can get intense. 7/10

Summary: mother and her young daughter Bambi are on the run, away from someone, staying in luxury hotels, keeping on the move, leaving a trail of bodies behind…

Alrighty folks that’s just the few of my fav recommendations !! I hope you enjoy 🙂

There’s many more recommendations 🤭to come

[mariacallous]

Recent coverage of the war in Ukraine in the Western media has focused heavily on Kyiv’s land offensive, especially attempts to push toward the Black Sea coast. Much of the scrutiny, rightly or wrongly, has been on Kyiv’s lack of significant progress so far this year, with nothing comparable to last year’s breakthrough offensives in Kharkiv and Kherson.

While some of this criticism may be justified, the almost singular Western focus on territorial breakthroughs has distracted from the fact that Ukraine is fighting a medium- to long-term war on multiple fronts against a significantly larger and heavily entrenched foe. What’s more, the lack of a major Ukrainian land advance obscures the very real battlefield successes Ukraine has had in other theaters of the conflict—most notably in Russian-occupied Crimea and the Black Sea.

A crucial part of Kyiv’s long-term plan for the war is to push Russia out of the Crimean Peninsula and the rest of the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s coastline. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, headquartered at the Crimean port of Sevastopol, has been a critical component of Moscow’s war effort. Russian warships operating out of Sevastopol have enforced a blockade of Ukraine’s coastline and launched cruise missiles to rain hell onto Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

But over the last several months, Ukraine has achieved a series of startling victories in and around Crimea, including missile strikes against the Kerch Strait bridge and multiple daring attacks on the Black Sea Fleet itself—with major impacts on the Russians’ ability to operate on the peninsula and in the western Black Sea.

In September, the Ukrainians carried out a series of missile strikes against Russian naval assets in Sevastopol, including a landing ship, a submarine, and the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet itself—reportedly while several high-ranking commanders were inside. Some of these strikes were carried out using Storm Shadow cruise missiles recently supplied by Britain and France. The Ukrainians have also ratcheted up their strikes against Russian logistics, repair, and infrastructure hubs on the peninsula with the intent of degrading Russia’s ability to support its fleet. Earlier this month, Kyiv claimed responsibility for two further attacks on the Russian fleet, using a new type of sea drone to strike the Russian cruise missile carrier Buyan and carrying out a sabotage attack on the Pavel Derzhavin, a Russian patrol ship. These strikes came after the Ukrainians had methodically attrited Russian anti-missile defense structures in Crimea over the previous weeks.

These successes constitute a major breakthrough for Ukraine. Its strikes against Crimea have now made it all but impossible for the Russian Black Sea Fleet to continue to operate freely in the western Black Sea. The Russian Navy has responded by moving its warships farther east, to the naval base in Novorossiysk, a port city on the Russian mainland. The effect is to push the Russian fleet farther and farther into the eastern recesses of the Black Sea—a step toward Kyiv’s long-term objective of removing the Russians from the occupied peninsula by rendering it unfeasible for operations. This combination of attrition and displacement has had the effect of diminishing the Russian fleet’s capacity to patrol the waters near the Ukrainian ports, partially relieving pressure on the international shipping lanes in the Black Sea. This could allow Kyiv to achieve another goal of these operations: opening up Odesa’s three deep-water ports to international merchant shipping for grain and other goods.

The Russian blockade of the Ukrainian ports had been alleviated by a Turkish and U.N. deal brokered in the summer of 2022 that had allowed certain amounts of Ukrainian goods—especially grain—to be exported through civilian shipping corridors. Moscow had been offered limited sanctions relief in exchange. The Kremlin withdrew from the agreement in July 2023, reestablished a blockade of all commercial shipping flowing to Odesa, and began a series of drone and missile strikes against Ukrainian grain export facilities. The cumulative effect of the blockade was to make insurance prices for shipping in and out of Ukraine spike and allow Russian grain exports to start dominating the markets. In August, Kyiv’s response was to institute an alternative humanitarian sea corridor that ran closely along the Ukrainian coast and would be protected by the navies of NATO members Bulgaria and Romania. The gamble that Russian threats to interdict shipping were a bluff and that they would not fire on internationally flagged ships paid off. By now, 32 intrepid international vessels have left Ukraine’s ports for Africa and elsewhere with their holds full of grain.

Ukraine has also undertaken successful commando raids by small teams of elite naval infantry to achieve its objectives. In Crimea, Ukraine managed to destroy or disable Russian anti-air missile installations in preparation for bombardment of the peninsula. Among other objectives, these actions allowed Ukraine to retake strategically located oil and gas drilling rigs captured by the Russians at the start of the war, which they had used for maritime radar surveillance. The fact that Kyiv only has a limited arsenal of Western-provided precision long-range missiles means that the Ukrainians have had to be very resourceful with their deployment, including by eliminating as much of Russia’s air defense as possible before launching them.

At the same time, the Ukrainians have also been successful in developing a new generation of sophisticated, locally made sea drones capable of striking past the defenses of the Russian fleet. The Russian anti-missile and traditional ship defense systems have proved incapable of offering protection against this new generation of sea drones, including the Ukrainian “Sea Baby” series of partially submerged attack drones. Representing a tiny fraction of the cost of an advanced Russian battleship, landing ship, or submarine, these relatively inexpensive and quickly constructed drones have proved themselves to be a radical innovation.

By the end of the summer, the Ukrainians had proved not only capable of sinking or maiming serious Russian naval assets, but also of making the further use of Sevastopol unsustainable for the Black Sea Fleet. The British Ministry of Defense assessed that Russia had “relocated many of its prestige assets—including cruise missile capable ships and submarines—from Sevastopol to operating and basing areas further east, such as Novorossiysk.” Furthermore, on Oct. 5, the leader of the Russian-occupied Georgian region of Abkhazia, which is located even farther east than Novorossiysk, made public statements that his Moscow-backed region would soon host a “permanent point of deployment” for the Russian Navy. Such a base would be located almost at the very eastern end of the Black Sea, suggesting that the Russians have concluded that stationing naval assets anywhere near Ukraine and its now heavily mined shoreline is untenable.

These successes have had the effect of severely restricting Russia’s range of mobility in the Black Sea. British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said, “The functional defeat of the Black Sea Fleet, and I would argue that is what it is, because it has been forced to disperse to ports from which it cannot have an effect on Ukraine, is an enormous credit.”

Given that the total liberation of Crimea is a key objective for Kyiv, these significant Ukrainian successes must be put into the same context as the other developments in this multifront conflict—something that much of the Western press and commentariat have failed to do. By effectively dislodging the Russian Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol and unilaterally opening a grain shipment corridor, Kyiv has achieved stunning successes with only limited naval capabilities. While Ukraine is still a long way from hoisting its flag over Simferopol, the Crimean capital, this kind of progress would have been unthinkable last year.

The success of Ukrainian naval operations against the Russian fleet has been all the more remarkable as Ukraine functionally no longer has a navy. Since 2014, the Russians have sunk, captured, or incapacitated all major Ukrainian warships except the flagship frigate Hetman Sahaidachny, which the Ukrainians themselves scuttled in early 2022 to prevent it from falling into Russian hands. Ukrainians have begun to routinely crack jokes about the mighty Russian Black Sea Fleet being sunk by a nation with no navy, but Russian naval officers are unlikely to be smiling.

The Ukrainian military has proved itself capable of incorporating new equipment into its arsenal quickly and to devastating effect—whether that be homegrown sea drones or Anglo-French-supplied missiles. If Western governments want to see more successes on the battlefield, providing Ukraine with more and longer-range missiles to continue denying Russia the freedom to move in Crimea would be a good place to start. Either way, Western observers should stop focusing only on the land war and put these remarkable Ukrainian achievements into the context they deserve. Otherwise, arguing in favor of providing Kyiv with the tools it needs to liberate its territories will be harder than it needs to be.

[luvwich]

get to know me

tagged by @ghostoffuturespast 💞

Favorite Color: love pink, though 90% of my wardrobe is black or on the olive green to dark khaki spectrum

Currently Reading: just finished a dashiel hammett binge, going to pick up Jitterbug Perfume by tom robbins next, and in fanfic world i've just started No Ordinary Love (not sure if bizu is here on tumblr?) and caught up with ghost's So it Goes

Last Song: i just got back from an electronic music festival and couldn't tell you the name of the last track i heard there at noon on sunday in a forest grove surrounded by hundreds of ecstatic fools, most of whom had been dancing for anywhere from twelve to twenty hours straight... but it's engraved in my heart and i'd know it if i heard it again. have been recovering in total silence since then, and will probably break the fast soon with something funky or jazzy

Last Movie: The Great Beauty, italian film from 2013. stunning photography, meditative existential and hilarious, can't recommend it enough if you like an artsy slow burn

Last Series: The Bear was so good that i haven't been able to start anything new since then, the bar has been set too damn high

Sweet, Spicy, Savory: i'm a fiend for desserts, but spicy soups rule my heart

Craving: spicy soup!!! always

Tea or Coffee: i'm a true switch on this one, i have coffee every morning and tea in the afternoon

Currently Working On: crawling bleeding over the finish line on my longfic Arpeggio, and have a couple other fics very slowly marinating. i went on a huge writing tear over the summer and am a bit wrung out at the moment; trying to be easy on myself and not force it. my other big timesuck hobby is making perfume and i have a few projects in flight there, having recently received some new natural materials from a turkish vendor that i've been experimenting with. the creative process and timeline for fragrance is so different from writing, and i'm glad i have both of these outlets to drive me slowly insane in two totally different ways

still catching up on my dashboard so i'm not sure who's been tagged yet but i will tag @merge-conflict @fly-amanitaa @shimmer-like-agirl @haveyouseenmymarbles with no pressure as always!

[whumpookies]

Winnie the whumpoohkie where art thou?

Hope you're well! X

Ah anookie

I wish I could say I'm whumping away and yet I can't.

Life is as to everyone else is taking over currently,

and I must admit I'm lacking the inspiration of whump from the Turkish series,

only one has come to a whumping which is what I have done the last two sets,

I hope to improve on that but most new series are currently on their summer break alas for now.

But I'm good, and keeping the whump alive as much as I can I just haven't gotten around to batch gifing for drafts which I really must do.

Thank you for being concerned I am still here and still making whump cookies as and when I can, give me three weeks and I'll have a bit more time 🤣

[yutofia]

https://www.tumblr.com/yutofia/750766348863455233/youre-turkish?source=share

How did you learn Turkish? I will go to Turkey during the summer vacation and meet my Turkish friends. No matter how hard I try, I cannot learn.

i didn't plan on learning it. ever since i was a baby there were always some turkish series or music video on the telly at our house. just by listening and then watching turkish cartoons i learned it.

[chaosoftheages]

All About Me Post!

I'm giving y'all a full about me post because I have nothing better to do besides do random shit so here y'all go :3

Name: Autumn

Birthday: May 27th

Age: High School-aged, not saying exact age or grade

Gender: Non Binary!

Pronouns: They/Them

Sexuality: Aro-Ace

Relationship Status: Single

Nationality: German-American(My family immigrated from Germany; I also have some Italian, Dutch, Irish, Scottish, and Cherokee mixed in too I think. Idk my heritage is all over the place.)

Social Media:

My Tumblr! (Your here, so no link for you :3)

My AO3

My Wattpad

My Instagram

My Spotify

My Fanfiction.Net

Important Posts Abt My Fics!

OC LIST

Standalone Headcanons

Father & Son Headcanons

Father & Son Infection AU Status

Father & Son Infection AU: Stages Of Infection

Random Facts About Me!

I'm a Ravenclaw. They are said to be curious, creative, and eccentric. They are logical, rational, quick thinkers, and they value learning, wisdom, wit, and and intellect. They are also very academically motivated. Believe me. I have a necklace, a purse, a bunch of bracelets, a journal, and a fucking HOODIE for Ravenclaw merch

I was RAISED by Disney. I grew up on it. It's my life. My favs are Frozen, Moana, and The Incredibles.

I'm writing a novel! An actual novel. It's called Shadows Of The Unknown, and it's part of a true crime series I mapped out.

I'm learning French, German, Spanish, and Turkish through Duolingo(The goddamn owl is MOCKING ME I SWEAR TO GOD-)

I've been writing since elementary school. It's been a rough journey, that took me from the traumatizing Wattpad, to the complication FanFiction.Net, to where I am now on AO3.

I can play the piano, violin, and the steel drums.

I did cross country and wrestling in middle school. I could probably easily overpower you and outrun you depending.

I'm neurodivergent (ADHD)

I have PTSD(I'm a sexual assault/attempted R*pe survivor)

Favorites!

Favorites Colors: Blue, Black, White, Purple, Pink

Fandoms I Will Write For: Alan Becker, Stranger Things, Rick & Morty, Pokemon

Favorite Books: Adam Silvera's Death Cast books, Twisted Series by Ana Huang, Soul Snatchers by Jackie Egan, The Girl Who Survived by Lisa Jackson, Dog Man series by Dav Pilkey

Likes:

Friends

Writing

Reading

Music

Theater

Broadway

Beanies

AO3

Spicy Food

Summer

Fall/Autumn(hey it's my name :D)

Fears:

Atychiphobia- Fear Of Failure

Autophobia: Fear of being alone

Arachnophobia -Spiders

Claustrophia -Tight spaces

Genophobia- S*xual Intercourse

Spheksophobia- Wasps/Hornets

Apiphobia/Melissophobia- Bees

AO3 Fic Masterpost

Basically just the main series I write for.

Father & Son

Father & Son Infection AU (Link coming soon!)

Alan Becker AU's

Adventures In Stick City

I take fanfic requests and will accept fanart of Father & Son or my standalones I also take fanart requests if anyone wants me to draw them something. I cannot draw this bundle of silly sticks for shit(I can't draw for shit lol), but I'll do my best.

Autumn out!

[brookston]

Holidays 10.29

Holidays

Black Salsify Day (French Republic)

Bob Ross Day (Abeldane Empire)

Candies Day

Coronation Day (Cambodia)

C6HO Day (Kentucky)

Cumhuriyet Bayrami (North Cyprus, Turkey)

Cyrus the Great Day (Iran)

Feed the Birds Day (UK)

Festival of Global Climate Change

Fiestas Patrias begins (Honduras)

Halloween Eve Eve

Hermit Day

Hide From Everyone Day (a.k.a. Hermit Day)

International Internet Day

Laugh Suddenly For No Reason A Lot Today Day

Naming Day (Tanzania)

National Boner Day

National Book Day (Brazil)

National Cat Daddy Day

National Cat Day

National Hermit Day

National Martina Day

Oatmeal Day

PSC Awareness Day

Sea Slug Day

Separation of Church and State Day

Turkish Republic Day (Turkey)

World Online Networking Day

World Psoriasis Day

World Stroke Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Gnocchi Day (Argentina)

National Disgusting Little Pumpkin-Shaped Candies Day

National Oatmeal Day

Poperinge Beer & Hop Festival begins (Belgium) [Every 3 years, 3rd Friday, but postponed from 2021]

5th & Last Sunday in October

European Summer Times Ends (EU) [Last Sunday]

International Creole Day (Dominica, Saint Lucia) [Last Sunday]

Jounen Kwéyòl (Creole Day; Dominica, Saint Lucia) [Last Sunday]

National Grandparents Day (Australia) [Last Sunday]

National Student Baptism Day [Last Sunday]

Reformation Sunday [Last Sunday]

Visit a Cemetery Day [Last Sunday]

World Swim Hat Day [Last Sunday]

Independence Days

Turkey (from Ottoman Empire, 1923)

Westarctica (Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Abraham of Rostov (Christian; Saint)

Andrei Ryabushkin (Artology)

Chef (a.k.a. Theuderius; Christian; Saint)

Chiara Badano (Christian; Blessed)

Colman mac Duagh (Christian; Saint)

Douai Martyrs (Christian; Saint)

Gaetano Errico (Christian; Saint)

Ghatasthapana begins (Nepal)

Isis/Osiris Mysteries II (Pagan)

James Hannington (Anglicanism)

Kojagrat Purnima [15th Day of Dashain]

Lazarus Long Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Mary of Edessa (Christian; Saint)

Maximillian (Christian; Saint)

Narcissus of Jerusalem (Roman Catholic Church)

Nut Day (Pastafarian)

Robertson (Positivist; Saint)

Warren the Warthog (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Historically Unlucky Day [10 of 11]

Historically Bad Day (Stock Market Crash, Hurricane Sandy & 8 other tragedies) [10 of 11]

Lucky Day (Philippines) [58 of 71]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Premieres

All I Want for Christmas Is You, by Mariah Carey (Song; 1994)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, with Alex Haley (Biography; 1965)

Being John Malkovich (Film; 1999)

Blue Moon, 24th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2019)

Bullwinkle Busts a Brush or The Cleft Palette (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 226; 1963)

BUtterfield 8, by John O'Hara (Roman à clef Novel; 1935)

Create Dangerously, by Albert Camus (manifesto; 1957)

Don Giovanni, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Opera; 1787)

The Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour (Radio Series; 1929)

Get Nervous, by Pat Benatar (Album; 1982)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Film; 2010)

Hemispheres, by Rush (Album; 1978)

Hulu (Streaming Network; 2007)

The Huntley-Brinkley Report (TV News Show; 1956)

Jingle Bell Rock, recorded by Bobby Helm (Song; 1957)

Keeping Up Appearances (UK TV Series; 1990)

Last Night in Soho (Film; 2021)

Man of the Century (Film; 1999)

Mind Games, by John Lennon (Album; 1973)

My Generation, by The Who (Song; 1965)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Animated Film; 1993)

The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James (Novel; 1880)

Portrait of a Moose or Bullwinkle Gets the Brush (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 225; 1963)

Princess Mononoke (Anime Film; 1999)

Ray (Film; 2004)

Red Riding Hoodwinked (WB LT Cartoon; 1955)

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! (WB Animated Film; 2021)

The Sentinel, 25th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2020)

Trip for Tat (WB MM Cartoon; 1960)

Welcome to the Pleasure Dome, by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Album; 1984)

What’ll I Do?, recorded by Frank Sinatra (Song; 1947)

Wild Target (Film; 2010)

Today’s Name Days

Ermelina, Hermelindis, Melinda (Austria)

Časlav, Honorat, Ida, Narcis (Croatia)

Silvie (Czech Republic)

Narcissus (Denmark)

Alf, Alfred, Fred, Fredi (Estonia)

Alfred, Urmasimo (Finland)

Narcisse (France)

Ermelinda, Franco, Grete, Melinda (Germany)

Abramios, Melina (Greece)

Nárcisz (Hungary)

Ermelinda, Michela, Massimiliano (Italy)

Elva, Elvijs, Fortuna, Laimonis (Latvia)

Gelgaudas, Narcizas, Tolvydė, Violeta (Lithuania)

Noralf, Norunn (Norway)

Euzebia, Franciszek, Longin, Longina, Lubogost, Narcyz, Teodor, Wioletta (Poland)

Anastasia (Romania)

Zinaida (Russia)

Klára (Slovakia)

Narciso (Spain)

Viola (Sweden)

Garrison, Cyrano, Cyrena, Narcissa, Narcissus (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 302 of 2024; 63 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 43 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Gort (Ivy) [Day 27 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Ten-Xu), Day 15 (Geng-Shen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 14 Heshvan 5784

Islamic: 14 Rabi II 1445

J Cal: 2 Mir; Twosday [2 of 30]

Julian: 16 October 2023

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 22 Descartes (11th Month) [Robertson]

Runic Half Month: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 3 of 15]

Season: Autumn (Day 36 of 89)

Zodiac: Scorpio (Day 6 of 29)

[stelly38]

In the final scene of the 1979-80 season of Dallas, JR Ewing (Larry Hagman) hears a noise outside his office, walks out to the corridor to look, and is shot twice by an unseen assailant.  The episode, titled “A House Divided,” was broadcast on March 21, 1980, and was written by Rena Down and directed by Leonard Katzman.  Viewers had to wait all summer to learn whether JR would survive, and which of his many enemies was responsible.  

JR was a villain on the series who regularly double-crossed business associates, plotted against his own family, called wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) a “slut,” and had her committed to a sanatorium so he could take custody of their infant son.

Ultimately, in the “Who Done It?’ episode which aired November 21, 1980, the shooter was revealed to be Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby). Kristin was JR’s scheming sister in law and mistress who shot him in a fit of anger.  JR did not press charges, as Kristin claimed she was pregnant with his child as a result of their affair.  

“Who Done It?” was, at the time, the highest-rated television episode in US history.  It had a Nielsen rating of 53.3 and a 76% share, and it was estimated that 83 million people watched the episode, more than the number of voters in that year’s presidential election.  The previous record for a TV episode had been the 1967 finale for the The Fugitive.  “Who Done It?” now sits second on the list, beaten in 1983 by the final episode of MASH.  The “Who Done It?” episode was an international event, with more than 350 million people tuning in to find out who shot JR.  A session of the Turkish parliament was suspended to allow legislators a chance to get home in time to view the conclusion of the cliffhanger.  

Text is from the Wikipedia entry for “Who Shot JR?”.  My italics.  

[pockcock]

2, 5, 27, 28 🌷

2-Do you drink tea or coffee? How do you take it?  I hate this but coffee triggers my anxiety and can't drink unless it's decaf (which is fucking hard to find here unless it's starbucks). I love tea tho! I have my own mixes and I love koridashi <3 %100 recommend it! My personal favorites are hibiscus, peach and apple tea!

5-Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?  No :(( because I'm such a messy sleeper KENDODJDODD I kick them all out of the bed. BUT, fun fact, I sleep with two heavy duvets (one wool, one cotton) and uGHH it's so snuggly and so sweet! But since summer has arrived, it became super hot so I gotta remove one but I don't want to :(((

27-What’s your favorite book? Or just one you’ve read a few times?  The Thief of Always by Clive Barker. Absolutely terrifying. When I first read it as a kid, I was mortified and was like "...this is literature!" I absolutely recommend, it's a kids' book but it gives the chills in the best way possible! Other than that, I'm very into The Song Of Ice And Fire series. I read the first three books in Turkish when I was in middle school and now I'll read them in English then in French. God bless my e-book reader!

28-How are you, really?  Well, nervous and excited! I'm finally graduating after 5 years of uni life and I don't know what to do. My therapist recommended me enjoying the graduation experience for at least three months and just "stop undermining yourself, please!" OENDODJDOD so, yeah, I'm excited for this next year. I'm scared, hopeful yet excited.

[suckerforcate]

Get to know me <3

Tagged by @sapphicsbeloved <3

Relationship: single

Favourite Colour: purple and dark green

Favourite Food: burger, my grandma's soup and anything turkish

Song stuck in my head: Flowers (Miley Cyrus)

Last thing I googled: Aviator (Cate Blanchett's Movie)

Current time: 9:26 am

Dream trip: always London

----------------

Comfort Movie: Lord of the Rings

Comfort Food: my grandma's soup

Comfort clothes: my flannel and my Carol Sweater

Comfort Song: Viva la Vida (Coldplay)

Comfort Book: The Rivers of London - Series

Comfort Game: Uno

----------------

3 ships: Jopper, Carol/Therese, Janeway/Seven

1st ever ship: prob Hermione/Ron

Last Song: Rivers (Frank Turner)

Current read: what abigail did that summer (Ben Aaronovitch)

Currently Consuming: sparkling water

Currently watching: Game of Thrones

Currently Craving: Mc Donald's

I tag @daydream-cement, @wlwmitchell, @cissyenthusiast010155 and @na-shoba and anyone who wants to do it! ♡

Some of you might have already done this, I didn't check! Love you <3

[mariacallous]

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has a new leader for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion. After a recent series of corruption scandals at the agency, previous Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov resigned from his post at Zelensky’s request on September 4. His replacement, Rustem Umerov, is a Muslim and an advocate for the rights of Crimean Tatars. Though he has no military experience, Umerov does have connections in Turkey and several Arab countries, which could prove valuable as Kyiv seeks to convince largely neutral countries to take Ukraine’s side in the conflict. He’s also joined multiple rounds of peace talks with Russia (and may have been poisoned in the process). Meduza examines Umerov’s biography and shares insights from sources in Ukraine about the country’s new defense minister.

A member of the ‘Crimea lobby’

Rustem Umerov is 41 years old. He was born in Uzbekistan to a Muslim family of Crimean Tatars who had been deported by the Soviet authorities from the Crimean city of Alushta in 1944. The family returned to their native peninsula in the late 1980s.

After studying economics in college, Umerov started his career as a manager for the Ukrainian mobile operator Lifecell in 2004. In 2010, he entered the investment business, working as a managing director for ICG Investments and iCapital before starting his own investment firm, Astem, together with his brother, Aslan Omer Kyrymly.

According to the Ukrainian outlet New Voice, the brothers also founded the Astem Foundation, which has contributed funds to Stanford University’s Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program, a fellowship for Ukrainian lawyers, businessmen, public figures, and entrepreneurs.

In 2007, Umerov helped create the Crimean Tatars’ Association, a nonprofit representing Crimean Tatars’ interests in Ukraine. From 2007 to 2019, he served as an advisor to longtime Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev.

In 2012, Umerov became a co-founder and board member of the Crimean International Business Association, and in the summer of 2021, he was elected co-chairman of the international summit Crimea Platform. Last year, he described the conference as an “international venue at which we’ll discuss the fate of our Ukrainian Crimea in the future.”

A source from the Ukrainian government who knows Umerov described the new minister to Meduza as a “representative of the new generation of the Crimean Tatar elites”: “These are guys in the Ukrainian government and business world whose fathers and grandfathers fought for their people’s rights. Like Mustafa Dzhemilev, for example.”

According to the source, other members of this group include Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova, Permanent Ukrainian Presidential Representative in Crimea Tamila Tasheva, and several officials in the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. “It’s sort of like a lobby for Crimea and Crimean Platform,” he said. “They fight to ensure that Crimea will always remain part of Ukraine. It’s an important part of [Rustem Umerov’s] life and work.”

An experienced negotiator

In the spring of 2022, after the start of the full-scale war, Umerov took part in the Russia–Ukraine peace negotiations in Belarus and Turkey. On March 29, 2022, he attended a meeting in Istanbul where Kyiv offered “permanent neutrality” to Russia in exchange for international legal guarantees.

Umerov’s knowledge of Turkish and his links to Turkey came in handy during his talks with Russia, in which Ankara frequently served as a mediator, a source close to Ukraine’s security forces told Meduza. According to the source, Umerov managed to establish good relations with Turkey’s foreign minister (who previously served as its intelligence chief), Hakan Fidan.

Another source in the Ukrainian government said he has also heard about Umerov’s connections to Turkish politicians. Before branching into politics, Umerov was an investment advisor for the Turkish company Turkcell, Turkey’s leading mobile operator and owner of the Ukrainian company Lifecell, where Umerov began his career.

Poisoned at a peace negotiation?

In March 2022, at a meeting with a Russian delegation, Umerov was allegedly poisoned. According to investigative journalists at Bellingcat, the incident occurred at a round of negotiations late in the evening on March 3. The Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who took part in the talks in an unofficial capacity, and another participant who has not been named publicly were reportedly affected, as well.

“Later that night, the three members of the negotiating group returned to their apartment in Kyiv and felt the first symptoms, which included inflammation of the eyes and skin and piercing eye pain,” investigators said. The Wall Street Journal described similar symptoms.

Experts concluded that the symptoms were most likely the result of poisoning by unidentified chemical weapons, but definitively determining their cause was impossible because of the lack of equipment at the site. “The experts said the dosage and type of toxin used were likely insufficient to cause life-threatening damage and most likely were intended to scare the victims as opposed to cause permanent damage,” Bellingcat wrote.

Initially, Umerov denied having experienced poisoning symptoms, but he later confirmed it indirectly. “At the moment, everything is fine; there are no difficulties. I’m already working. I’m in action. At one point, there was something, but I can’t diagnose myself or express my personal opinion; it’s a delicate issue,” he said in an interview with the Ukrainian outlet New Voice in April 2022. After the apparent poisoning, Umerov temporarily suspended his participation in negotiations, according to the Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo.

In March 2023, Umerov joined Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, on a visit to the UAE and shortly afterward accompanied Volodymyr Zelensky to Saudi Arabia, according to Forbes Ukraine. He also helped organize talks between Zelensky and the Saudi authorities in July 2023, a source close to Ukraine’s security forces told Meduza.

Umerov’s many connections have made it possible for him to help the Ukrainian president’s office and its head, Andriy Yermak, to build a strategy for working with the Middle East and the Global South, according to a Ukrainian official who knows the new defense minister:

Thanks to Rustem, some very significant things have happened for Ukraine. This includes [prisoner] exchanges, Ukraine’s involvement in the fate of our Azov fighters, and President Zelensky’s participation in the [2023] Arab League Summit — a first for Ukraine. Furthermore, we understand the level of influence Russia has on these countries, and the [Ukrainian] president was allowed to participate despite that.

The official emphasized that Umerov has played a crucial role in establishing Ukraine’s bilateral relations with the Muslim world.

Additionally, the Ukrainian outlet Babel has reported that Umerov was involved in the Black Sea grain deal negotiations.

In September 2022, Umerov flew to Saudi Arabia during the large prisoner exchange there, according to a Meduza source close to Ukraine’s security forces. This is consistent with other sources’ accounts of Umerov’s international relationships, as Turkey and Saudi Arabia served as the deal’s mediators. A source familiar with the exchange process confirmed to Meduza that Umerov indeed “may have [flown] to Saudi Arabia as part of the exchange,” but the source did not elaborate.

Vitaliy Shabunin, who heads the nonprofit Anti-Corruption Action Center, wrote about the exchange process on Facebook. “Since February 2022, Umerov — an important member of the group that conducts all of the closed negotiations over the release of POWs — has freed more than 2,000 of our people, including the Azovstal fighters,” explained Shabunin.

Umerov’s appointment as defense minister says a lot about Kyiv’s current approach to the war, a source in the Ukrainian government told Meduza. On one hand, they said, it shows how important Crimea still is for Ukraine. On the other hand, Umerov is among the most active proponents of Zelensky’s “peace formula” at international forums.

Zelensky first presented his “peace formula” to the leaders of the G20 in November 2022. The plan comprises 10 principles: nuclear, agricultural, and energy security; the release of all prisoners linked to the war; the restoration of Ukraine’s territory according to the borders agreed upon in 1991; the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the cessation of hostilities; the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes; environmental protections; the prevention of further escalation; and a signed document confirming the end of the war. The “formula” was developed by the Ukrainian president’s office along with the country’s Foreign Ministry, and Rustem Umerov has helped promote it at international venues.

“Ukraine’s new defense minister is a good diplomat. He will actively recruit other states to support the Ukrainian ‘peace formula.’ First and foremost, he’ll recruit governments that haven’t defined their position on the war: the Global South, the Arab world, Africa, and Asia,” said a Ukrainian politician who spoke to Meduza. “I wouldn’t consider any of those things good news for Russia.”

A ‘strong manager’ who ‘brought in cash’

In 2019, Umerov was elected to Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada as a member of the Holos party. As a parliamentary deputy, he was actively involved in issues related to the economy and ethnic minorities and helped draft dozens of bills.

On September 7, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Umerov as the head of the State Property Fund, an executive agency responsible for state property’s privatization, leasing, and use. “The proposal [for me to lead the State Property Fund] came from the president during one of the reports on POWs and armaments,” Umerov said in an October 2022 interview with Forbes Ukraine.

According to Umerov, one of his main goals as the fund’s leader was to attract foreign investors in Ukraine, even with the war still raging. “Umerov is a strong manager who understands how systems work and how to build these systems. In his year as the head of the State Property Fund, he achieved major results, bringing in the kind of cash it hadn’t seen for decades — largely thanks to his business-minded approach. He found good investors and started selling [Ukrainian] assets,” a source in the Ukrainian government told Meduza.

In the source’s view, all of these qualities should help the country’s new defense minister continue the reforms he’s initiated, including the development of Ukraine’s recently created Defense Procurement Agency and the digitization of the Defense Ministry.

A new kind of defense minister

Umerov’s appointment as Ukraine’s new defense minister would have been impossible if it weren’t for his “decent relationship” with Zelensky Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, a source close to Ukraine’s security forces told Meduza. Support from Ukraine’s international partners has also played a role, and Umerov’s candidacy received active endorsements from public organizations and anti-corruption activists such as Vitaliy Shabunin and Daria Kalenyuk, who spoke about it with their Western partners, according to Meduza’s source.

“Umerov is a new kind of person for the [Ukrainian] Defense Ministry. He has no military training or experience in the ministry. But we’ll see,” a source close to the Ukrainian security forces told Meduza.

The source added that he doesn’t foresee Umerov’s appointment directly impacting the court of the war: “In any case, under a law on security forces passed in 2018, only a civilian can become the head of the Defense Ministry.”

The Defense Ministry is responsible for the army’s budget and logistics, its awards, and strategic issues, while decisions about military operations fall to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a post currently held by General Valeriy Zaluzhny. Meanwhile, the General Staff determines the army’s resource requirements.

“So, Umerov is not going to be in charge of combat operations but will focus on matters related to the military-industrial complex, Ramstein negotiations [with NATO partners], and so on,” said Meduza’s source close to the Ukrainian security forces.

In his resignation statement, outgoing Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov said that one of Ukraine’s priorities moving forward will be to build long-term partnerships with key allies in order to establish real security guarantees and defense capabilities.

Umerov is expected to work on these issues as well — or, more precisely, to continue working on them, if the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s Vitaliy Shabunin is to be believed. According to Shabunin, “Umernov has been overseeing covert shipments of heavy weaponry from countries since the start of the war, which are not publicly disclosed.”

“Hopefully, it strengthens the Defense Ministry. Because before this, it seemed like we were having bad luck with appointments in this agency. Within the ministry, we understand all of our problems,” a source close to Ukraine’s security forces told Meduza.

According to the source, Reznikov’s dismissal was the result of numerous corruption scandals linked to the ministry.

“The defense minister allows that kind of thing in contracts and claims that he can’t control it, while meanwhile the whole world is collecting [donations] for drones for Ukraine, and volunteers are trying to help bring [victory] closer… Of course, trust [in Reznikov] was undermined,” he said.

[thesadnessbecomehappy]

handsomeness carved into the masterpiece of God. (2001)

Archen Aydin (Thai: อาเชน ไอย์ดึน; born 10 March 2001), nicknamed Joong (Thai: จุง) is a Thai actor and singer signed to GMMTV.[1] He is best known for his roles in 2Moons2 (2019), Star & Sky: Star in My Mind (2022), and Hidden Agenda (2023).

Early life

Joong was born in Thailand but moved with his mother and stepfather to Turkey when he was eight years old. He lived in Turkey for ten years and can speak fluent Turkish.

Joong returned to Thailand after nine years to attend university, where he enrolled at Stamford International University in Bangkok to study Creative Media Design.  In 2023, he changed his major and is currently studying at Bangkok University at the School of Communication Arts, majoring in Broadcasting and Streaming Media Production. Joong won "Mister Teen Thailand" in 2018.

Career

In 2019, Joong started his acting career when he signed to talent agency Motive Village and made his television debut in 2Moons2.

In 2020, Joong became a member of Motive Village's boy group, OXQ. The group debuted on June 4, 2020 with the lead single "Me". However that November Joong revealed that he had become an Insight Entertainment trainee, confirming his departure from both Motive Village and OXQ. As a trainee under Insight Entertainment he participated in the pre-release single "I Like U Summer".

In September 2021, Joong announced through his social media accounts that he had signed a contract with the production and talent agency GMMTV. In 2022 he would star in his first series with the company, with a leading role in Star & Sky: Star in My Mind alongside Natachai Boonprasert. For the series, Joong released the single "My Starlight". The pair would later reprise their roles in Star & Sky: Sky in Your Heart and Our Skyy 2.

In 2023, Joong starred in the series Hidden Agenda.

Beginning in 2024, it was announced at the GMMTV 2024: Up & Above Part 1 press event that Joong would become the new host of the long-running variety show School Rangers and would star in the upcoming series Ploy's Yearbook and The Heart Killers.