Zioume.....: November 2006

The Cypriots and the Kurds

Turkey complains vociferously about the European Union's unfair treatment of the politically and economically isolated Turkish Cypriots. Why then shouldn't Turkey grant a big chunk of its own citizens - the Kurds - the same rights it demands for people who are not even Turkish nationals?

There are many similarities between Northern Cyprus and the Turkish southeast, where many of Turkey's estimated 15 to 20 million Kurds live. They are geographically similar and are located in sensitive areas - the one off Syria's coast, the other bordering Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Both are relatively isolated and poor, though the Kurds are a lot poorer than the Turkish Cypriots. In both cases, poverty is linked to the unresolved political and security issues around their identity and political status.

But it's the differences that are more striking. Turkey is loudly championing the rights of Turkish Cypriots in the EU. But anyone who champions Kurdish rights in Turkey risks being accused of separatism and even terrorism.

While Turkey expects international support for its Cyprus solution, based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality between the two communities, it argues the precise opposite for its own Kurdish citizens.

Full article in IHT.

Izakaya　（居酒屋）

People compained that I post to many pics of food.
So this is one is of me eating at an Izakaya style restaurant.
THIS IS NOT A PIC OF FOOD.

Mt. Fuji (富士山)

Yokohama

At a japanese restaurant with friends
(Kyriakos asked me not to show him in this picture)

Yokohama from 69 stories up.

Yokohama by night

Karaoke

It was a great night...awful singing, free drinks, all good...

Fatal lack of protein and essential fats

The death of Ana Carolina Reston illustrates the dangers of anorexia. She was a 5ft 7in Brazilian model who had worked for Giorgio Armani died aged 21 weighing six stone after eating a diet of tomatoes and apples

Anorexia has an appreciable death rate — up to 10 per cent — and even in patients who don’t die many are permanently damaged. Ana Reston also suffered from bulimia, a much more common complication of anorexia over the past 10 to 15 years. It increases the danger of serious metabolic disorders as the recurrent vomiting alters the body’s electrolytes and biochemical balance. It is also very bad for the teeth, destroying the enamel.

Although Ms Reston was still six stone she was tall. In her case renal failure was her cause of death. The kidneys, and other vital organs, need at least 800 calories a day to function efficiently, but her diet would also have been seriously deficient without the essential proteins necessary to maintain the structure of them and other vital organs.

A correct balance of proteins, fats, hydrates as well as vitamins and minerals would have been needed to keep Ana Reston’s metabolism working, even if the protein lack hadn’t induced kidney failure.

Full Article in Times