‘Beyond the Coast’ Archives
More than just the Mosque…
Last week, two seemingly separate items caught my eye. One was “nationalization” of the building of the mosque/Islamic Center near WTC Ground Zero issue. The other was two pamphlets I received at home via the US Postal Service. These two events prompted me to expand my view of the situation. It has been almost four weeks since I wrote an [...]
Till death do us part…
It was August 1975. I had just completed my compulsory military service in the Turkish Army. My wife and I were spending the remaining days of the summer in Istanbul making our plans to return back to America, when my cousin and his family arrived for a one week visit. Although regular weekly or longer family visits were common in Turkey at the [...]
Mega Mosque near Ground Zero? Never!
Referring to his idea of covering the European landscape with mosques, the Islamist Prime Minister of Turkey declared: “Minarets are our bayonets; domes are our helmets; our mosques are our barracks; our believers are our soldiers”…With that, he spelled out his own version of Jihad for Islam to conquer Europe and convert the [...]
Missing Afghan soldiers and Russian spies…
Last week most Americans were “surprised” to hear that up to forty-six Afghan soldiers, some of whom are pilots, went missing from Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas over a period of two years. A few days later, they were further surprised to hear the FBI announce the arrests of ten Russian spies. These spies allegedly lived every [...]
The beautiful game
I played soccer since the day I could walk and kick a ball all at the same time. We called the game “football” when I was growing up in Istanbul, Turkey. I only learned that the same game was called “soccer” in America when I was twenty years old. That transformation took place when I was offered, and accepted, a full soccer scholarship [...]
We must support our friends…
In the early morning hours of May 31, 2010 Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) intercepted six ships heading for the Gaza Strip in international waters. These ships were known as the “Free Gaza” flotilla. The advertised purpose of the flotilla was to deliver medical and food aid to the Gaza strip. However, the real purpose of the flotilla was to [...]
Dear President Calderon…
There are a number of low points in our history where Americans may have thought, “We finally hit rock bottom.” The Japanese decimation of the US fleet in Pearl Harbor, our retreat from Vietnam and radical Islam’s attack on September 11 comes to mind. I also add the following events as low points: American hostages taken in Iran followed by [...]
Living through a military coup…
This month, Turkey marks the 49th anniversary of its May 27, 1960 military coup, remembered as a breaking point in its political history and a longstanding determining factor in Turkish politics. The first of its kind in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the 1960 coup resulted in the prosecution of 592 people and execution of three leading [...]
The Legend of Leander’s Tower
I grew up in the wonderfully magical City of Istanbul. The first 20 years of my life I played soccer in her streets, ran up and down any one of the seven hills she sits on and drove around the new and old parts of the city. One of the most intriguing, mysterious and romantic sights in Istanbul for me had always been what was called “Kiz [...]
The feeling of being an American…
It was a cold December day in 1979 when I landed at JFK airport in NY and stood in the line marked “Citizens Only.” Showing my brand new blue USA passport to the previously dreaded immigration officer was a proud moment for me; I was an American returning home from a business trip. For such a seemingly mundane event, it may be difficult to [...]
