From Harran in the sunset

Standing on Harran castle (a mainly Mamluk structure, I believe) in the last minutes of daylight.

I will show more of the castle itself also later. But that is then the last of this trip (which has filled these pages for some time now - later over to other cities and experiences).

Some more reading

Swedish Dagens Nyheter has a long article on the daily life of a psychiatrist in Gaza.

Not that it's really new, but Newsweek's feature on Islam in Europe may interest some.

Astonishingly, there are reports of a budding interest in renewable energy in the Gulf.

A BBC World series on modern child slavery.

Iraq reporting trip

Swedish journalist and author Johanne Hildebrandt (known as a war-correspondent not least from the Balkans in the 90's) is currently blogging at Aftonbladet from a reporting trip to Iraq - read here (in Swedish) on her experiences.

Dagens Nyheter has collected their reporting on Iraq here and has an interesting article on Iran here. Svenska Dagbladet also has some Iraq-reporting here and here.

Mud-brick dome

The brick beehive dome as seen from the inside.

Mosque silhouette

Some more views of the mosque, to take in the magnificence of the remaining structure.

Harran houses

Traditonal Harran dwellings were these so-called beehive houses, made I suppose of mudbrick (but what the mud is made of I daren't vouch for) - the domes were at least brick from the inside. The village has a historically Arabic-speaking population and lives off agriculture and tourism.

Enough!

International Crisis Group is one of the backers of a new campaign intended to support change and highlight and prevent atrocities, Enough-project to abolish genocide and mass atrocities. Initial focus is on complex African conflicts with humanitarian emergencies looming or underway and empowering change.

Middle East water situation

The World Bank recently released a Regional Report on Water, highlighting key challenges in the world's most water-scarce region. The theme may fit some of my recent postings, also.

Other World Bank work and news on the Middle East are to be found here.

And a Swedish-language op-ed on the global water situation and what can be done to alleviate it.

Harran mosque again

Better luck now! And so you can see some more angles of the mosque.

Mosque details

A little bit unlucky for the visitor but probably necessary for the preservation of the site (and maybe for safety for the visitor also) was the surrounding fence. Walking around in the ruins, which are enormous, would have been fantastic, but was impossible.

More pictures to come when the upload is performing better!

What's in a photo?

One thing I notice caring more about it photography as such. My own choice is to show you my world through a camera lens, even if I interspace more and more with links and announcements. This way I can mirror other interests I have, apart from photography and travelling. But photo and what a picture tells you is a central feature of this blog.

The debate on this photo is another spotlight on this. Read more about what's behind it here.

The Great Mosque of Harran

Some overview shots of the Great Mosque (Ulu Camii) in Harran - more detailed ones to come.
Harran is historically a city looking southward to the Arab world and was early a center of Islamic knowledge and science. The mosque is an Ummayad structure from the mid-8th century and the sheer size of it is amazing. The minaret is slightly over 33 meters high.

Harran was also a center of pre-Islamic knowledge and religion, peopled by a sort of moon-worshippers called Sabaeans (as I understand it), which lived on into later ages by being acknowledged as a people of the Book.

Some other photo galleries on the web with Harran pictures: here and here (at least the second one has a much larger range of Turkey images also).

Environment in the Mediterranean

Here you can read the executive summary of a large-scale report, prepared under UN auspices last year, on the environment situation in the Mediterranean region and the outlook for the future.

Harran plain

On these pictures taken from a hill in Harran out toward the plain, you can also see clearly how the irrigation is affecting and transforming the soil. Traditionally this has been farming land, but dry and now new wet-growing crops are also being used, completely changing the usage of land and water and their interplay in the future.

Freedom of expression

Some links and comments on a theme which I quite frequently touch on or link to (blogging makes you feel stronger affinity to other bloggers, I guess):

Here you can find the recent reports from the Committe to Protect Journalists on the number of journalists who were killed while performing their professional duties in 2006, as well as those who have disappeared. Swedish Martin Adler and Russian Anna Politkovskaja, whom I have previously mentioned (here and here), are among those thus recounted and commemorated.

Another related topic to explore is the life and works of bloggers in Iran.

Picture of the year

Sweden's Picture of the year -award was presented today. The picture of the year was taken by freelancer Casper Hedberg, i a for Aftonbladet - whose photographers received a range of mentions. Press-photographer of the year was Dagens Nyheters Paul Hansen, whose pictures you can also see a selection of in the linked article from his paper.

Irrigation!

On the plain south of Sanliurfa, heading towards Harran and the Syrian border, the heavy irrigation implemented along with the dams, and it's effects can clearly be seen.

Ayn-e Zeliha

This was the "other" pond in the complex, surrounded by teagardens and with little boats in it. Very pretty and calm surroundings for a family outing.

8 March

Today is my sister's birthday (congratulations!!!) and International Women's Day.

Among all the things going on today to mark the day, here is one.

I'd also like to share a collection of pictures from today's manifestations all over the world (borrowed from swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet). And the Swedish Red Cross-compilation of the situation of women in the world.

Late additions: read about the Turkish gender-gap here and about women in Iran (from BBC) here.

Viewing Urfa

Looking out over Sanliurfa from the top of the kale (castle hill).

Film festivals

This week, before International women's day on Thursday, I would like to give a little attention to two women's film festivals this spring - one in Egypt (this week) and one in Turkey (but that one is in May).

I am sure there are many more similar initiatives.

8 March addition: I found an additional Turkish festival, this time in Istanbul, beginning this weekend.

After the Friday prayers

Back in Sanliurfa,we spent the morning again in the calm and pleasant surroundings of the sacred ponds. The lunch ezan was beautiful and masses of people passed through to and from the midday prayers.

Human rights information

Later today, the Swedish government will launch it's 2006 country assessment reports on human rights in the world on this website.

Other relevant information and assessments on the global human rights situation can be found at Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International (in Swedish). A few other countries, most notable among them probably the USA, also launch their own country reports.

Gorge

Looking down from the bridge, you saw a dry riverbed (which I showed you previously). Looking up, you saw this mighty stone gorge!

Roman bridge

Here you can see some details of the magnificent bridge structure, including some very Roman columns on it!

Septimus Severus

An older, Roman, bridge, built by/for Septimius Severus (but I think before he became emperor) while commanding an army on this side of the Euphrates.

Literary award

Swedish radio has this week awarded their literary fiction prize to the young novelist Jonas Hassen Khemiri. Khemiri gets the award for his second novel, Montecore, which I have yet to read (but it's waiting in my shelf). He was also nominated to the August prize for the book.

His first book in 2003 "Ett öga rött" (One eye red?) was hilarious, not least due to his fantastic linguistic feeling, where the whole thing is written in spoken suburban slang.

Some more links on the author here and here.

Bridging the GAP?

Excuse the pun, I couldn't help alluding to the location of these sites in the so-called GAP-region (9 provinces included in the South-East Anatolia Project centred on large-scale national infrastructure developments such as the dams, but nowadays also a bit more oriented to local economic SME-development and other initiatives - some general information in English can be found here).

The bridge and stream here are the same ones as below, by the way.

Recommendations

This is a collection of recommendations that don't really fit a theme for a full posting, but that I still want to point you at because I myself appreciate knowing about them. Some of them also include onward links for further reading or similar features.

In media/reading:
as usual, the weekly Konflikt on the Iraqi resistance movement (in Swedish, with links to articles on the topic).
a Carl Bildt-interview in Zaman yesterday (conservative Turkish newspaper)
recent ICG-reports on the Middle East (scroll down to find links to most recent ones)
webportal Gapminder on globalization and development statistics

Films:
I usually stay away from films made from books I have really liked - I have frequently been disappointed after initial high expectations. But in recent years I have noticed 2 important exceptions to that rule that I will happily share with you and can warmly recommend - the Narnia-film and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Shopping:
My favourite jewellery designer, Egyptian Azza Fahmy now has a longed-for web presence (no web outlet - yet? - but you can feast your eyes on her typical designs in several collections).
Yet to come is a joint web outlet for handicrafts made by women's cooperatives in poor and underdeveloped South-East Turkey.
I have shown this previously, the Stockholm home-delivery service of ecological fruit&veg. Several of my friends and acquaintances are happy with it so far.

Seljuk bridge

There were some remains from later historical periods also, like this Seljuk bridge. The Seljuks were the first Turkish kingdom to encompass most of Anatolia, even if they did have other Turkic rivals, especially in the South-East (like the Akkoyonlus and Karakoyunlus and some Ayyubid offshoots in pockets, too, I believe, but never on a large geographical scale). But sometimes I suspect tho word is used also to claim something as ethnically Turkish in heritage without associating it with the late Ottoman perceived decadence. Anyway, the bridge and the water it crosses were suitably magnificent in this heritage-heavy surrounding!

Falafel rivalry in classical setting

A classical film theme in a different environment - a poignant illustration to the world today...

Riverbeds

I show you these images to give you some additional idea of the landscape - with magnificent mountains and rivers alongside the important cultural heritage value. But also very much marked by man and "development". And probably making for a very hard life for the population, both in historical times and today.

Commagenian palace

A distant view of a Commagenian palace ruin among the Taurus heights.

Greek meets Persian

Yes, the basic underlying Commagenian theme was very vividly illustrated in this mountainside relief!


And more pictures are still to come, have been offline for a few days...