Three pots, five pans

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an criticized the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during a recent speech in Istanbul. He prefers to use another abbreviation, but that does not matter.  

He said, "Today, a terror organization, DAESH [an Arabic name for ISIL], operating in Syria and Iraq, is using the same method; it is trying to destroy whatever we have in our civilization, culture and roots. An Iraqi friend told me that they have burnt the beautiful library in Mosul. He also said they were torching mosques and tombs, destroying them and bombing them. Such a library in Mosul accommodating 8,000 rare pieces was burnt by the organization. Earlier, a similar incident was experienced in Timbuktu."  

He did not need to speak to an "Iraqi friend" to learn this; it was already printed everywhere as news. But, we know he does not like reading much. Good that he has a friend informing him of these incidents. 
I would like to inform him of another development: ISIL smashed and shattered historic artifacts of thousands of years in museums.  

You would remember, during the Marmaray construction, the footprints of Istanbul's first inhabitants were found; it was an archeological treasure from the Neolithic era. Erdo?an said, "Three to five pots and pans delayed the Marmaray for four years, isn't that a pity?" 

Two years after saying this, he has learned that these kinds of artifacts are the joint heritage of humanity; this is a positive development. 

Maybe they fear Demirta? 

Nowadays, politicians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) love to criticize Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirta? at every opportunity. There is one reason for it: Demirta? has emerged as an unexpectedly...