#Turkish language challenge

[metamorphesque]

Monte Melqonyan/Մոնթե Մելքոնյան (1957-1993)

Honestly, I don't even know where to begin. He's one of those extraordinary individuals about whom countless books could be written and numerous movies could be made, yet still, so much would remain untold. You might wonder, "He's a National Armenian Hero—cool, but why should I know about him?" My answer is simple: if the world had more people like him, especially in today's times, it would be a much better place. He fought for justice, embodied culture and education, and radiated a deep love for his people and humanity as a whole. I believe everyone should aspire to have a little bit of Monte's spirit within them, regardless of their nationality.

Now, it's important to note that some things written about him in the Western press can be questionable and inaccurate. So, I would advise taking most of the information from those sources with a grain of salt.

Monte was born on November 25, 1957, into an Armenian family in Visalia, California, that had survived the Armenian Genocide. From 1969 to 1970, his family traveled through Western Armenia, the birthplace of his ancestors. During this journey, Monte, at the age of twelve, began to realize his Armenian identity. While taking Spanish language courses in Spain, his teacher had posed him the question of where he was from. Dissatisfied with Melkonian's answer of "California", the teacher rephrased the question by asking "where did your ancestors come from?" His brother Markar Melqonyan remarked that "her image of us was not at all like our image of ourselves. She did not view us as the Americans we had always assumed we were." From this moment on, for days and months to come, Markar continues, "Monte pondered [their teacher Señorita] Blanca's question Where are you from?"

In high school, he excelled academically and struggled to find new challenges. Instead of graduating early, as suggested by his principal, Monte found an alternative - a study abroad program in East Asia. The decision to go to Japan was not random. He had been attending karate clubs and was the champion of the under-14 category in California. He also studied Japanese culture, including taking Japanese language courses. After completing his studies at a school in Osaka, Japan, he went to South Korea, where he studied under a Buddhist monk. He later traveled to Vietnam, witnessing the war and taking numerous photographs of the conflict. Upon returning to America, he had become proficient in Japanese and karate.

Having graduated from high school, Monte entered the University of California, Berkeley, with a Regents Scholarship, majoring in ancient Asian history and archaeology. In 1978, he helped organize an exhibition of Armenian cultural artifacts at one of the university's libraries. A section of the exhibit dealing with the Armenian Genocide was removed by university authorities at the request of the Turkish consul general in San Francisco, but it was eventually reinstalled following a campus protest movement. Monte completed his undergraduate work in under three years. During his time at the university, he founded the "Armenian Students' Union" and organized an exhibition dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey.

Upon graduating, he was accepted into the archaeology graduate program at the University of Oxford. However, Monte chose to forgo this opportunity and instead began his lifelong struggle for the Armenian Cause.

In the fall of 1978, Monte went to Iran and participated in demonstrations against the Shah. Later that year, he traveled to Lebanon, where the civil war was at its peak. In Beirut, he participated in the defense of the Armenian community. Here, he learned Arabic and, by the age of 22, was fluent in Armenian, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, Persian, Japanese, and Kurdish.

From 1980, Monte joined the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA – I promise to tell you more about them later) and quickly became one of its leaders. In 1981, he participated in the planning of the famous Van operation. In 1981, he was arrested at Orly Airport in France for carrying a false passport and a pistol. During his trial, Monte declared, "All Armenians carry false passports—French, American—they will remain false as long as they are not Armenian." Over the following years, he perfected his military skills at an ASALA training camp, eventually becoming one of the group's principal instructors.

Monte with his wife Seda

After being released from a French prison (once again) in 1989, Monte arrived in Armenia in 1991, where armed clashes between Armenians and azerbaijanis had already begun. He founded the "Patriots" unit and spent seven months in Yerevan working at the Academy of Sciences, writing and publishing the book "Armenia and its Neighbors." In September of the same year, he went to the Republic of Artsakh to fight for his fatherland and its people. Due to his military expertise, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Martuni defense district in 1992. His sincerity and purity quickly won the love and respect of the local population and the Armenian community as a whole.

Throughout his conscious life, Monte fought for the rights of Armenians, recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and the reclamation of Armenian homeland.

There are various versions of Monte Melqonyan's death circulating in both Armenian and azerbaijani media. According to official Armenian information, Monte was killed on June 12, 1993, by fire from an azerbaijani armored vehicle.

Monte remains a lasting testament to the incredible potential unleashed when the Armenian patriotic heart unites with sharp intellect.

In case you'd like to put a voice to the face and hear about the Artsakh struggle directly from Monte, here he is speaking about it in English.

[cipheramnesia]

Vampires. Of all the horror staples, vampires are the ones I feel the least connection with. Such a fine line, for me, between vampires and "some guy who's kind of a dick." Bit of a challenge to put a spin on the idea that makes me sit down and pay attention. Like, sure sure, keep your draculas and edgy goths or emos and nihilists, they're not it for me.

We got pretty close with Near Dark though. Southern fried vampire found family with Bill Paxton rocking a leather jacket and ray bans. Really something, mmm, something to it, like those first garage bands that were almost punk. You got Martin and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. All these little corner pieces of something like my kinda Vampire. You can see the picture and the rejects. No Dracula, no 30 Days of Night, no Interview With A Vampire (movies and books mind you). Something about those ones that work for me, the lack of romanticism of death, the humanity and pragmatism of immortality, the amoral consumption of humans. The unaffected coolness that comes with not trying to be cool.

All the years pacing around the edge of the Vampire, but make it rock, I think my first complete album fell into my lap, the movie that exploded into beautiful technicolor in the middle of all those outlines. It's as if everything snapped into focus all at once.

The Funeral [Cenaze] (2023), is a Turkish movie which starts out very simple, where a man who drives a refrigerated van (Cemal) is told to hide the body of a woman for a month. Take her away, make her disappear. As the woman, Zeynep, slowly becomes less dead, the thread of her experiences are drawn out, and Cemal falls deeper under her thrall to provide the human flesh she needs to grow strong. The Funeral moves in a slow spiral of hopelessness from a bitter cold world into something like a fantasy, a blood soaked fairy tale where Cemal and Zeynep can thrive in a way neither could in the dingy world of cheap motels and office buildings they came from. The camera work is gorgeous and the actors spend lingering moments finding their emotional place in the story - the shift in the relationship of Cemal and Zeynep from horrified caretaker to empathetic thrall is silent, and Zeynep herself barely speaks any real words. Her language is physical, agonic breathing and growls, predation and hunger. She is the synthesis of every vampiric concept into something that puts all the organic physicality of a vampire together with their uncanny supernatural power, and awe inspiring nobility.

What is the story if not the story of finding a way back from being dead, a way of finding magic in a broken world. It's beautiful and true and the vampire which feels complete for me.

[thedemonofcat]

I am interested in a comprehensive list of all the different names Jaskier is given in various translations. It would be fascinating to explore the meanings behind each name and any symbolism they might carry. I plan to group together languages that use the same name for him.

Jaskier: His name resonates universally, transcending languages and cultures. In Polish, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian, and Spanish, Jaskier translates to Buttercup. These small yellow flowers symbolize joy and happiness, evoking images of carefree days and childlike wonder. They also represent youth and innocence, which aligns with theories about Jaskier's non-human origins. Another significant symbolism of buttercups is their friendship connection, fitting perfectly with Jaskier's close bond with Geralt. Historically, buttercups were used in folk medicine, symbolizing healing and protection, despite their toxicity and the need for careful handling.

Dandelion: Known from the English, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Belarusian, and Turkish translations. Perhaps the most familiar name, Dandelion, typically appears in two forms: small white, fluffy flowers that can be blown away by the wind and bright yellow blooms. Dandelions symbolize resilience, thriving in challenging conditions and growing almost anywhere, symbolizing perseverance, strength, and the ability to overcome obstacles. Historically used in medicine, dandelions are associated with healing and survival. They also symbolize a connection to nature and freedom, perfectly reflecting the bard’s character. Some Native American tribes view the dandelion as a sun symbol, representing warmth, growth, and the sustaining force of life. This connection to nature and resilience mirrors Jaskier’s character, who, despite facing many challenges, remains resilient and deeply connected to the natural world.

Marigold: Used in Czech and Serbian translations, this name is perhaps the most unusual since there is already a character named Marigold in the series. Nonetheless, marigolds symbolize brightness and positivity. With their vibrant yellow and orange hues, marigolds represent warmth, cheerfulness, and the light of life. This fits well with a bard’s role, as marigolds also symbolize creativity. In Mexican culture, marigolds are central to Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations, symbolizing the connection between the living and the dead. In Indian culture, marigolds are used in religious rituals and weddings, symbolizing love, devotion, and the divine. They are often offered to gods and goddesses as a sign of reverence and respect.

Ranonkel: From Dutch, though translated to Ranunculus, which are buttercups. I'd like to discuss the story from Greek mythology that relates to Ranunculus, as it aligns with Jaskier's character. Ranunculus was a handsome and talented young man known for his beautiful singing voice, captivating everyone who heard him. However, he was also vain and self-centred, revelling in the admiration he received. One day, while performing in a meadow, Ranunculus encountered a group of wood nymphs (dryads). Enchanted by his voice and appearance, the nymphs stopped to listen. Despite their admiration, Ranunculus ignored them, focusing solely on his performance and delighting in his own voice. Pan, the god associated with rustic wilderness and nymphs, observed Ranunculus's vanity. To teach him a lesson, Pan intervened. He transformed Ranunculus into a delicate, beautiful flower that would forever bloom in meadows and fields—the Ranunculus flower. This mythological tale is an intriguing parallel to Jaskier's character and could potentially inspire a fanfiction story in the future.

Valvatti from Finnish. Valvatti, which, from what I can tell, translates to Sow Thistle, can symbolize resilience but can also symbolize unseen beauty. Despite being considered a weed, sow thistle produces small, yellow flowers that symbolize hidden beauty or overlooked potential. This can remind you to look beyond outward appearances and appreciate hidden qualities.

Rittersporn German. Otherwise known as Larkspurs, they can symbolize openness and lightness with their vibrant colours. They can also be used as symbols for thickness and are connected to strong bonds of love. Some cultures believe that larkspurs offer protection against negative energies or bad luck. Placing them in a garden or a bouquet is thought to bring positivity and ward off evil spirits.

Vėdrynas is From Lithuanian. Breaking from the flowers, Vedryans translates to Lark, which can be seen as the bringers of dawn and the start of a new day. Larks are symbols of songs and music, which goes great with a Bard. Larks are agile birds that soar high in the sky, symbolizing freedom, independence, and the ability to rise above challenges or limitations.

Blyskáč is from Czech. It translates to "sparkler" or "firecracker" in English. Once again, breaking from the typical flower names, blyskac can symbolize celebration. The firecrackers' brightness and sparkle evoke joy, optimism, and positivity. They are often associated with bringing good luck and warding off evil spirits in various cultural traditions. Firecrackers and sparklers burn brightly but quickly fade away. They symbolize the fleeting nature of moments and encourage living in the present and appreciating life's transient beauty.

These are all the names I could find. If I missed any or made any translation errors, please feel free to let me know.

[lightningmonarchda3]

HOW TO FIND AND DESTROY BOTS IN THE ASEXUAL TAG -- A Guide

the bots have become way more creative and sometimes they can go unnoticed by bot hunters because they aren't semi-naked trans women.

the most important thing is to check the tags of posts!!!

these tags are often what bots also tag wrongly in their posts along the asexual tag:

taylor swift

mariah carry

ryan gosling

yellowjackets

starwars

donald trump

the owl house

margot robbie

barbie

across the spider verse

super mario

rwby

and some others that i can't remember

some posts can be really challenging and some accounts can really fool you. the most creative one i've ever seen has to be this:

the bot only had like 5 posts and all of them were about usual, typical life. one was of 2 little girls (the bot's "daughters")

but if you looked at the tags of all of the bot's posts, it did not match at all. there was a mix of asexual, taylor swift, and donald trump

(and also, there's no way a middle aged proud republican would even know what tumblr is)

some other points:

look for bots in the latest section of the tag, not the top (more likely to find bots)

when you find a bot, go to the bot's account and report all of the posts and then the bot itself; even if not all the posts have the tag asexual, it's still a bot

(even if you believe that the user is an actual human person, but have used the asexual tag incorrectly, i would still report all of their posts and then themselves. you should never intentionally tag incorrectly)

the bots tend to reblog their own posts to increase the number of spam posts

stuff like ai art or scenery are usually bots (again, check the tags)

I have seen bots in other languages than English! I've only seen hindi and one that i think was turkish (again, the only way to say they're bots is to check the tags)

i bot hunted for about 1 to 1.5 hours today and i didn't found any bots after a while of scrolling. i think we reported most of them, but there are still some out there.

keep fighting!

we will get our tag back!

I will update this post as I learn more and what people say they see frequently in the comments and/or reblogs

[angelwishess]

1, 9, 10, and 18 for Kyra for that get to know your TWST OC ask thing!

Hi anon! Thank you for the ask! 💗

Questions for the TWST oc ask game here!

Club: Which club does your twst OC join and why? Is there anything memorable about the club fair day/their first day at the club? Which clubmate is their favorite?

Kyra is in the Equestrain Club!! Shes an animal lover through and through, and she couldnt pass up the chance to join!!! Her horse, Lady, was a noble gal. Extremely well trained and haughty, but she fell into a depression after an incident with her former handler.

Ever since Lady refused to run, often just staring into the wall of her stable. Kyra decided to try and take this challenge on, determined to get Lady back up on her feet and running like a horse should be !

Kyra was very gentle with Lady, and it was a slow process, but it was all worth it. Because slowly, Lady was acting like a proper horse again! Even more so as Kyra taught her how to misbehave and have fun galloping around again. You can bet you’ll find Kyra and Lady racing around as fast as they can, jumping around and having fun. Though its probably a safety hazard— nothing can really stop either of them from doing what they want. So! You can bet Kyra sneaks out Lady from time to time to go for a little run.

Lady adores Kyra, too! Super protective of her and… a man hater. Yeah.

As for club members, the one she gets along with the most is Silver! Though they’re very different, they get along really well! And bond during club hours :3

Name: What does your twst OC's name mean? Why does Rook/Floyd call them [insert nickname]?

OOOH IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE !!!!!

Depending on what language you check, it has different meanings, but every one of them suit her perfectly.

In Greek, the origin language for her name, it means “Queen”, “Ruler”, “Lord” or “Lady”; yet in Japanese it can mean “Glittering” or “Shiny”.

“Sun”, “Far-Sighted” and “Throne” in Persian, “Beam of Light” in Sanskrit, “Leader Of The People”, “Beloved”, “The One People Look To” in Russian, and “Beloved”, “Precious”, “Valuable” in Turkish.

As for her nicknames, I actually talked about why Floyd’s nickname for her is “Sea Angel” here!

As for Rook’s nicknames, he has two! Of course theres “Trickster”, but theres also “Princesse de la Lumière” , or “Princess of Light”! Kyra is very shiny, and she notably brings love and light along with her wherever she goes <3 (he also comments on how her beauty is ‘blinding’… yeah idk either but Kyra is flattered WHAHAHA)

Subject: What is your twst OC's best subject? Worst? Do they study with another whom excels at the same subject? Do they ask anyone for help with the subject they are bad at?

Answered this question here!~

Backstory: Tell me anything about your twst OC's backstory. Their childhood, their parents, their siblings etc. Does their backstory affect how they are as a character now and how they interact with the cast?

Kyra had a very lonely childhood. Never allowed to leave the castle she grew up in, alienated from the rest of her family and everyone else, seen as something ‘inhuman’. Her entire life, perfection was expected of her, it was an obligation. She was meant to be seen, never heard. A figurehead, someone who’s worth has always only been for her status and her beauty.

Coming to NRC, shes struggled a LOT with social cues. While back at home she knew how to handle many of the nobles and royals she interacted with, most of the time she never actually had to speak, seeing as she was expected not to.

Now… she basically cant shut up. There are some jokes that she doesn’t get either, and there are times where she takes things a little too seriously. She just… isnt used to interacting with other people as herself , and it takes her a long time to get used to it.

It definetly affects her relationship with some of the cast and how they develop in the storyline, which is why she values the people that accept her nonetheless so very much.

[kimberly40]

Why Did My Ancestor Change His Name?

When we think of tracing our family tree, we often envision following our family surname back thousands of years to the first bearer of the name. In our neat and tidy scenario, each successive generation bears the same surname—spelled exactly the same way in each and every record—until we reach the dawn of man.

In reality, however, the last name we bear today may have existed in its present form for only a few generations. For the majority of human existence, people were identified only by a single name. Hereditary surnames (a surname passed down from a father to his children) were not in common use in the British Isles prior to about the 14th century. Patronymic naming practices, in which a child's surname was formed from the given name of his father, were in use throughout much of Scandinavia well into the 19th century—resulting in each generation of a family bearing a different last name.

Why Did Our Ancestors Change Their Names?

Tracing our ancestors back to the point where they first acquired surnames can also be a challenge as a name's spelling and pronunciation may have evolved over centuries. This makes it unlikely that our present family surname is the same as the original surname bestowed on our long-distant ancestor. The current family surname may be a slight spelling variation of the original name, an anglicized version, or even a completely different surname.

Illiteracy

The further back we take our research, the more likely we are to encounter ancestors who couldn't read and write. Many didn't even know how their own names were spelled, only how to pronounce them. When they gave their names to clerks, census enumerators, clergymen, or other officials, that person wrote the name the way that it sounded to him. Even if our ancestor did have the spelling memorized, the person recording the information may not have bothered to ask how it should be spelled.

Example: The German HEYER has become HYER, HIER, HIRE, HIRES, HIERS, etc.

Simplification

Immigrants, upon arrival in a new country, often found that their name was difficult for others to spell or pronounce. In order to better fit in, many chose to simplify the spelling or otherwise alter their name to relate it more closely to the language and pronunciations of their new country.

Example: The German ALBRECHT becomes ALBRIGHT, or the Swedish JONSSON becomes JOHNSON.

Necessity

Immigrants from countries with alphabets other than Latin had to transliterate them, producing many variations on the same name.

Example: The Ukranian surname ZHADKOWSKYI became ZADKOWSKI.

Mispronunciation

Letters within a surname were often confused due to verbal miscommunication or heavy accents.

Example: Depending upon the accents of both the person speaking the name and the person writing it down, KROEBER could become GROVER or CROWER.

Desire to Fit In

Many immigrants changed their names in some way to assimilate into their new country and culture. A common choice was to translate the meaning of their surname into the new language.

Example: The Irish surname BREHONY became JUDGE.

Desire to Break With the Past

Emigration was sometimes prompted in one way or another by a desire to break with or escape the past. For some immigrants, this included ridding themselves of anything, including their name, which reminded them of an unhappy life in the old country.

Dislike of Surname

People forced by governments to adopt surnames that were not a part of their culture or were not of their choosing would often shed themselves of such names at the first opportunity.

Example: Armenians forced by the Turkish government to give up their traditional surnames and adopt new "Turkish" surnames would revert back to their original surnames, or some variation, upon emigration/escape from Turkey.

Fear of Discrimination

Surname changes and modifications can sometimes be attributed to a desire to conceal nationality or religious orientation in fear of reprisal or discrimination. This motive constantly appears among Jewish people, who often faced anti-Semitism.

Could the Name Have Been Changed at Ellis Island?

Stories of immigrants fresh off the boat having their names changed by overzealous immigration officials at Ellis Island are prevalent in many families. This is almost certainly no more than a story, however. Despite the long-standing myth, names were not actually changed at Ellis Island. Immigration officials only checked the people passing through the island against the records of the ship on which they arrived—records that were created at the time of departure, not arrival.

Pictured are my ancestors- My 3rd Great Grandparents Jacob Carpenter (seated on the front left) and Rachel Eveline Pyatte Carpenter and Family in Avery County, North Carolina

[odinsblog]

Racial covenants can be found in the property records of every American community. These restrictive clauses were inserted into property deeds to prevent people who were not White from buying or occupying land.

Racial covenants served as legally-enforceable contracts. They stipulated that the property had to remain in the hands of White people and they ran with the land, which meant that it could be enforced in perpetuity. Anyone who dared to challenge this ban risked forfeiting their claim to the property.

A survey of the 30,000 covenants unearthed in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties illuminates the wide variety of people targeted. An early Minneapolis restriction proclaimed that the "premises shall not at any time be conveyed, mortgaged or leased to any person or persons of Chinese, Japanese, Moorish, Turkish, Negro, Mongolian or African blood or descent." Before 1919, Jews were often included in this laundry list of “objectionable” people.

This language shifted with time. This eugenics-inspired list gave way to simpler declarations that the property could only be “be occupied exclusively by person or persons. . .of the Caucasian Race.” While many different kinds of people were targeted by racial covenants, every restriction identified by Mapping Prejudice bars Black people, as they were perceived by White Minnesotans to be particularly likely to decrease property values.

Real estate developers used racial covenants to sell houses, promising home buyers that covenants would protect their investment.

These same developers worked with park commissioners to make land adjacent to racially-restricted neighborhoods into public green space. These parks, they argued, would enhance the value of the property in these new neighborhoods. These rising values would also benefit municipal governments by swelling local tax coffers.

White homeowners also profited from racial covenants. A team of University of Minnesota researchers has demonstrated that Minneapolis houses that had covenants are worth 14 percent more than identical houses that never had covenants. This “bonus” value persists today, more than 50 years after the Fair Housing Act made these racial restrictions illegal.

The families who owned houses with covenants were able to pass that value on to the next generation. This intergenerational transfer of assets continues to drive the racial wealth gap in the United States today.

(continue reading)

[expelliiarmus]

✦ 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 ✦ ─── an introduction.

do not pity the dead, harry. pity the living, and, above all those who live without love.

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎.

name. harun jan polat. nickname. polat, the boy who lived, the chosen one, undesirable #1. age. forty seven. place of birth. godric's hollow, west country, england. date of birth. july 31st. ethnicity. turkish. gender identity. cis male. sexual orientation. bi - romantic, bi - sexual. spoken languages. english, turkish. education. hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry graduate. occupation. unemployed / on leave of absence ( currently ), auror ( formerly ). pets. a snowy owl called jadwiga. allegiance. undecided ( currently ) / the order of the stag ( formerly ) but still associated & connected to them… as much as his current capabilities allow him to.

𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄.

tattoos. none. piercings. none. glasses / contacts. yes, round frames he wears every day / no. scars. a lighting bolt shaped scar on one side of his forehead, several small and slightly faded scars littered all across his body.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘.

religious beliefs. agnostic / non - religious. astrology sign. leo, the lion. mbti. isfj, the defender. alignment. neutral good. temperament. melancholic / choleric. fears. ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░. hobbies. ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░.

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒 / 𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐒.

one.

harun has been close to death more times than he’s ever cared to count. fighting horrible people, misunderstood people, the dark lord himself… it’s been stressful, yeah. but he wasn’t truly nervous on any of those occasions, at least not in the way he should’ve. if you were to ask him the most nerve - wracking moment of his life ( or at least the one he remembers the most ) was right before jan was born… ginny’s pregnancy was difficult and they both experienced many things for the first time during this time period but, it wasn’t until his first born was about to be actually brought into this world that he started to panic. in his mind he had every reason to. he didn’t remember his father all he knew about him were stories and anecdotes, words of others, he didn’t get to experience what it was like… how it should be.  he feared he was never going to be a good father. that war had left his mark on him and turned into someone that was unable to nurture a life. it was terrifying, to realize that jan’s small existence and subsequently their entire life would depend on him; on his actions… just thinking about it made him feel frozen in place.  it was ginny, always so wise and intelligent who shoved some sense into him. sure, he didn’t have a father but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a father figure. the more he thought about it the more he realized she was absolutely right ( as always ). dumbledore, despite his many flaws, helped shape a brilliant and courageous young man. sirius, thought his presence in his life was short lived taught him so much too, same with remus… most importantly he’s had arthur and hagrid; two great man that showed him love, compassion, strength, character and humility.  plus he definitely knew what not to do if vernon’s treatment had taught him anything.  after this realization he decided to do as he’s always done. face a challenge head on, with all the bravery he could muster. 

two.

after the war was over and feeling hedwig’s absence harun decided to adopt another owl. he went once again to eeylops owl emporium, taking the time to reminisce about his first ever friend. hedwig was a beautiful and intelligent bird and he knew, more than anyone, he’d never be able to replace such a grand creature but he wanted a new companion, someone similar he could give a good life to. and so, he requested another snowy owl, one from the same family line.  it took a few months of waiting and although the owner of the shop had a difficult task in his hands he took it as his way of showing his respect and appreciation to the boy who lived.  jadwiga came to harun in spring, the grand - daughter of one of hedwig’s sister. it could’ve been a mirror image of headwig if it wasn’t for the fact that her spots were a lot darker than hedwig’s still… he loved her just the same.  he set her free and let her fly away before his family was found by orion lestrange. and although jadwiga did not want to leave her friend behind ( showing that she was in fact related to harun’s beloved friend ) he didn’t give him any other option. harun did not want her to die for him like hedwig had. 

three. 

harun made it a point to ask kreacher what he wanted to do once the war was over. he gave him the options to be freed, to go back to grimmauld place or to live with him ( and later the rest of his family ). for kreacher, someone who hadn’t really been asked what he wanted to do ever before it was a difficult thing to answer. that was fine with harun though, he gave him as much time as he needed.  as someone that had been in servitude for so long he didn’t know what he’d do with his freedom so he quickly disregarded that option. going back to the place that was the black’s legacy was tempting but at the same time heartbreaking; he could’ve stayed at hogwarts, it was nice being with other house elfs ( even if he didn’t actually show it ).  ultimately, he chose to stay at hogwarts; but harun visited him very often.  it was only when things started to become dire again that harun decided to take him to live with his family, he gave him his own room; he told him he didn’t have to do anything he didn’t want to do. he was treated like another family member instead of a servant.  when the polats were found by the wraiths he ordered kreacher to take his family somewhere safe. the first and last order he gave a long time friend in a really long time. 

[rusticjpg]

𝗜 𝗪𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗜 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡 [ … ] 𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗡𝗝𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦, 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗠!

//  (  pinar  deniz  .  cis  woman  .  she/her  )  ⸻  damla  yalçınkaya  ,  a  thirty  year  old  ,  has  survived  another  day  in  red  creek  where  they  have  lived  for  her  whole  life  (  give  or  take  a  couple  years  )  .  the  lazarus  is  known  for  being  industrious  and  reticent  and  is  often  associated  with  thunderstorm  that  brews  between  furrowed  brows,  and  the  expectation  of  order  posthaste;  a  slow,  suffocating  march  through  thoughts  in  a  prescribed  journal,  reluctant  reprieve  from  the  crack  of  a  racket  slamming  against  acrylic  ;  sunbeams  navigating  through  dense  woods,  trails  of  light  peeking  out  from  between  tree  branches  .  in  a  small  town  where  they  work  as  landscaper  at  deer  lake  word  travels  fast  .  it’s  hard  to  keep  a  secret  ,  and  it  looks  like  the  boogeyman  knows  that  [  INTENSE  SCRIBBLING  ]  .

(  🌲  )    ⸻   statistics

fetching  data  …  damla  asena  yalçınkaya

birthdate  +  place  ―  9  january  1994  +  red  creek,  mi

sibling(s)  ―  aras  yalçınkaya  (  older  brother,  owner  of  their  family  restaurant  lakeside  grill  ),  alara  yalçınkaya  (  younger  sister,  part-time  performer  ),  tba  (  youngest  sibling  )

cousin(s)  ―  selin  yalçınkaya,  taylan  yalçınkaya

child  ―  a  4  year  old  named  defne  sloan

current  residence  ―  cozy  little  house  on  norwood  street!!!  there's  a  few  flower  beds  full  of  tulips,  daises,  and  lavender  in  her  front  yard.  has  an  up  carl-'n-ellie-style  mailbox  with  her  and  her  daughter's  handprints  (  her's  in  green,  defne's  in  pink  ).  has  a  lil  fenced-in  garden  in  her  backyard  too  …  small  herb  patch  by  the  kitchen  door  ...  lil  bird-feeder  hanging  off  a  big  tree  'n  a  wooden  bench  underneath  it  ...  Yeth

been  back  in  town  for?  ―  a  year

sexual  orientation  ―  heterosexual

height  ―  5'9"

eyes  ―  green.  she's  got  faint  frown  lines  from  an  ever-present  little  scowl  she  sports,  furrowed  brows  and  all

hair  ―  chest-length  dark  brown,  always  styled  with  loose  waves

miscellaneous  features  ―  got  her  lobes  pierced  on  both  ears  &  a  single  helix  on  her  left  ear,  a  shitty  stick  'n  poke  of  the  word  'ace'  on  her  middle  finger  that  she  got  during  her  years  at  college

spoken  languages  ―  english,  turkish

education  ―  high  school  diploma  

zodiac  ―  capricorn  sun,  scorpio  moon,  virgo  rising

character  inspo(s)  ―  challenger's  tashi  duncan,  the  hunger  games'  katniss  everdeen,  yellowjackets'  shauna  shipman,  euphoria's  jules  vaughn  but  ONLY  specifically  in  that  one  monologue  where  she's  talking  about  the  ocean  ...  that's  damla  with  trees,  tlou's  joel  miller

label  ―  plastered  ‘the  lazarus’  on  her  because  tennis  has  been  her  whole  life  until  now,  and  losing  it  felt  like  losing  a  whole  chunk  of  herself.  and  now  she’s  learning  how  to  rebuild  it  …  resurrect  it  in  a  way  …  find  a  meaning  to  life  outside  of  rankings  and  medals  and  headlines  and  sponsorships  and  ad  campaigns  and  and  and 

(  🌲  )    ⸻   history

fetching  data  ...  trigger  warning  for  mentions  of  postpartum  depression

damla  lives  the  same  way  she's  born:  a  byproduct  of  her  parents'  all-consuming  love  for  her  older  brother.  where  aras  came  into  the  world  quietly,  she  cried  through  the  night,  an  ever-present  frown  on  her  face  (as  if  she  already  knew  she'd  spend  the  rest  of  her  life  trying  to  catch  up).  from  the  very  beginning,  her  existence  seemed  defined  by  the  shape  of  his—that  quiet  brilliance  and  good  nature.  it  wasn’t  his  fault.  aras  couldn’t  help  but  be  the  strong  oak  tree:  sturdy,  protective,  and  dependable,  casting  a  shade  so  deep  and  wide  it  left  little  room  for  anyone  else  to  grow.

damla,  by  contrast,  was  a  creature  of  the  undergrowth,  scrappy  and  strange,  more  at  home  among  the  bugs  at  deer  lake  than  the  polished  world  of  their  parents'  expectations-  of  the  family  restaurant,  lakeside  grill.  she  lived  at  the  edges,  a  creature  of  shadows  and  stillness  who  befriended  the  small  and  overlooked,  content  to  be  the  girl  who  checked  out  every  other  book  from  the  library  only  to  return  them  with  grass-stains.  her  intelligence  wasn't  the  kind  that  came  like  sunlight  breaking  through  clouds,  clear  and  undeniable.  every  inch  of  it  had  to  be  earned  through  late  nights  spent  gnawing  on  the  back  of  her  pencil  in  frustration.  and  yet,  she  adored  her  older  brother  in  the  way  only  a  younger  sibling  can:  fully,  painfully,  and  without  hesitation.

she'd  come  to  know  the  plight  of  an  older  sibling  very  soon.  alara  came  like  a  breath  of  fresh  air  that  stirred  up  everything  in  its  path.  if  damla  had  learned  to  grow  in  the  shadow  of  her  older  brother,  alara  was  the  wildflower  pushing  through  cracks  in  the  sidewalk—impossible  to  ignore,  impossible  to  keep  down.  she  watched  her  younger  sister  with  a  mixture  of  awe  and  frustration,  alara's  laughter  like  a  breeze  that  blew  through  everything,  stirring  up  what  damla  had  so  carefully  kept  still.  where  damla’s  calm  was  a  shield,  alara’s  energy  was  a  force  that  rattled  the  walls.  the  two  butted  heads,  the  contrast  of  their  personalities  creating  a  chasm  of  frustration  between  them.  and  yet,  damla  couldn't  help  but  carry  her  younger  sister  in  the  way  only  an  older  sibling  can:  fiercely,  protectively,  and  without  a  second  thought,  even  when  it  hurt.

[  youngest  yalçınkaya  sibling  loading!!!!!!!!!  BRING  THEM  TO  US  ]

the  one  thing  that  was  ever  wholly  hers  came  on  a  lazy  summer  afternoon  in  the  form  of  a  pick-up  game  of  tennis  against  her  older  brother.  it  wasn’t  a  grand  gesture,  but  a  soft  suggestion,  like  a  tree  offering  its  branch  to  a  wayward  vine,  inviting  it  to  grow  in  its  own  direction.  damla  was  10  when  she  played  her  first  game  against  him,  12  when  she  realized  she  was  good,  and  15  when  the  yalçınkaya  name  became  synonymous  with  the  promise  of  power  in  the  michigan  circuit  —  her  first  brush  with  sunlight  and  the  subsequent  realization  that  she'd  do  anything  to  keep  it.

16  saw  her  whisked  away  to  a  prestigious  tennis  academy  where  she  worked  herself  to  the  bone,  enough  for  everyone  to  wonder  just  when  she’d  go  pro.  but  18  came  and  subsequently,  princeton  university.  she  got  scouted  to  play  the  sport  for  them  but  her  heart  was  elsewhere  —  among  books  once  more,  among  her  environmental  studies  classes.  

the  conversations  didn’t  cease,  even  as  she  entered  her  sophomore  year  of  college.  it  was  then  that  she  met  high-powered  and  absolutely  slimy  27-year-old  businessman  named  damien  sloan,  at  a  high-profile  tournament  he  had  sponsored.  he  pursued  her  relentlessly  (think  flowers,  advice,  and  lots  of  promises  about  turning  her  into  the  next  sharapova).  she  wasn’t  interested  at  first—too  busy,  honestly—but  eventually,  his  connections  and  the  glamorous  life  he  offered  won  her  over.  they  started  dating  during  her  junior  year,  and  with  his  encouragement,  she  left  school  to  go  pro.  from  20  to  25,  damla’s  career  skyrocketed.  she  cracked  the  top  50  globally,  and  damien,  now  her  manager,  helped  craft  her  image  as  the  “small-town  girl  with  big  dreams,”  scoring  her  tons  of  sponsorships.

just  as  fast  as  he  had  helped  her  career  skyrocket,  he  managed  to  throw  a  wrench  into  things  when  she  falls  pregnant.  she’s  at  the  absolute  height  of  her  career  then,  but  she  had  the  kid  anyways,  a  baby  girl  she  named  defne!  much  to  damien's  chagrin,  by  the  way.  he  pressured  her  to  return  to  tennis  quickly  to  maintain  all  of  her  sponsorship  deals  despite  how  she  was  struggling  with  post-partum.  but  nevermind  damien!  damla  loves  tennis  and  she  wants  this!  and  when  damla  puts  her  mind  to  something,  it's  only  a  matter  of  time.

in  this  case?  it's  eleven  months  after  giving  birth  that  she's  back  on  the  court  again.  her  performance  is  shaky,  but  it  gets  better  with  time.  that  is  until  she  sustained  a  particularly  bad  shoulder  injury  at  27.  it  forced  her  to  step  away  indefinitely  to  recover,  which  she  worked  tirelessly  to  try  to  do  but,  a  year  later  and  it  became  clear  that,  even  if  she  did,  it  wouldn't  be  near  the  previous  level  of  performance.  her  sponsors  withdrew,  and  she  officially  announced  her  retirement  shortly  after.  by  then,  her  marriage  had  all  but  crumbled.  a  messy,  messy  divorce  ensued  but  she  walked  away  with  full  custody  of  her  daughter  and  a  significant  settlement.  

at  29,  she  returns  to  her  small  hometown  with  her  daughter  in  tow.  mainly  because  her  dad  seems  to  be  in  a  bad  way,  health-wise  (despite  his  insistence  against  the  notion).  it’s  a  good  thing  she  does  too,  because  the  year  she’s  spent  at  home  turned  out  to  be  his  very  last.  in  the  wake  of  his  death,  she  took  up  a  landscaping  job  for  the  very  woods  she  used  to  roam.  when  she’s  not  doing  that,  she’s  teaching  peewee  tennis. 

(  🌲  )    ⸻   persona

fetching  data   ...   industrious,   pragmatic,   loyal,   spiteful,   misanthropic,   blunt,   judgmental

brutally  honest  &  independent  to  a  fault!  she  does  not  tolerate  inefficiency  and  runs  that  damn  lake  like  it's  the  navy  SNJJDNSKS.  okay  no  but  seriously,  she  presents  herself  as  very  tough  as  nails,  no-nonsense  kind  of  gal  because  she  is!  very  much  a  "if  you  want  something  done  right,  you  have  to  do  it  yourself"  kind  of  girl.  maybe  it  comes  with  the  territory  of  being  2nd  oldest  of  4/eldest  daughter  but  yeah  ..  highly  practical,  PROTECTIVE,  very  determined,  and  incredibly  dependable  in  a  pinch.  like  yeah  she's  gonna  bail  you  out  but  the  lecture  you'll  get  on  the  way  back  home  (and  for  the  rest  of  your  life)  will  honestly  be  a  worse  fate

keeps  to  herself  and  likes  it  that  way.  or  she's  learned  to,  over  the  years.  she  does  Not  sugarcoat  her  personality,  including  her  very  dry  humor  and  smart  mouth  that  people  do  not  usually  take  kindly  to

has  had  a  temperamental  streak  in  the  past,  during  games  especially.  there  are  an  endless  amount  of  clips  of  her  smashing  the  FUCK  out  of  a  racket  and  getting  into  verbal  fights  with  the  umpire  and/or  her  opponents.  flipping  them  off,  etc,  very  classy  stuff.  but  now  when  she's  feeling  like  that,  she  just  touches  grass  literally  or  makes  another  appointment  with  her  therapist.  we  love  a  self-regulated  queen  (she's  trying  to  be  better  for  her  daughter)

luuuuuvs  nature  &  anything  outdoorsy  but  she's  partial  to  hiking,  camping,  and  gardening.  i  think  i  can  see  her  woodworking  too.  anyway,  the  first  thing  she  did  with  her  divorce  money  was  take  defne  on  a  roadtrip  to  see  all  the  national  parks  yup  yup  yup

(  🌲  )    ⸻   plots

childhood  friends/enemies/first  loves/etc!  people  she  knows  through  her  family  (her  siblings  +  her  cousins  too!),  her  family’s  restaurant,  school,  tennis,  etc  

she  attended  many  a  gala/charity  ball/insert  other  ways  of  naming  hoity-toity  events  here  when  she  was  married  to  damien,  so  it’d  be  cool  to  have  plots  with  people  she  may  have  met  there!  

give  me  someone  who  absolutely  cannot  stand  damla  

deer  lake  frequenters

babysitters  for  her  daughter  

neighbors  on  norwood  street  

tennis  fans!  

anything  and  everything  truly  

[indigostudies]

feeling enthusiastic tonight so i wanted to talk about my favourite things about the languages i speak/am studying!

mandarin chinese:

singular character words are fairly rare! unlike english, due to the high number of homophones in the spoken language, most words are comprised of two or more characters for clarity's sake. for example, while 孩 does by itself mean child, usually it's combined with another character (ie 孩子，小孩儿，etc.) due to it sounding similar to other words (还，骸).

in spoken language, you often need the entire context to understand the meaning. due to homophones, if you're missing the surrounding context, then it can be easy to misunderstand what someone's saying.

homophones generally! i've been known to love a good tongue-twister, and being a native chinese speaker is definitely part of that—there's just so many good ones! this also crops up in social media/memes, where a homophone is substituted for the original character(s).

the written language! i'm definitely more biased towards simplified chinese, but i can still read traditional chinese, and i think chinese is one of the most beautifully-written languages. it's just so logical! the strokes follow a certain order, and everything is contained in "boxed" that are very pleasing.

german:

poetry! german is known for literature, and i love reading poetry in german, even if not having studied it in a while means i have to look things up pretty frequenty ^^°°

the pronunciation! while i'm definitely at an advantage since i have an ear for languages and can nail german pronunciation at a natural level, i love speaking german—especially the longer words! i love the way the letters sound together (i'm definitely biased towards the eu/äu combination haha).

the ß!

gothic script—this appears a lot in historical german print, and i love it, even if it does make it a bit of a challenge to read anything haha.

kurmanji:

the various possessiveness contructions—there is no verb corresponding to the english to have, so instead you have to use the verb hebûn, to exist, so for example, two brothers of me exist (du birayên min hene, using the izafe construction) or for me two brothers exist (min du bira hene, without izafe, possessor is in the oblique case at the start of the clause) would be used instead of "i have two brothers".

the xw dipthong—i'm probably biased because i love "uncommon" sounds and letter combinations, but not only does the x in kurmanji sound nice (it's sort of like the ch in bach, or the ch in loch), when combined with the w it makes a sort of hissing sound which i'm very partially to.

mongolian:

sounds absolutely gorgeous!! central asian languages generally sound very pleasing to me, but i especially love the guttural sounds in mongolian.

the traditional script is one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen. i have yet to learn how to write in it (at least without a lot of tears on my part), but there's a user on xhs that writes in traditional script, and it's just. stunning. it's fluid, and curling, and just! aaaa!!! i love it. also it's written vertically, which is a fairly uncommon thing as far as languages go.

it's got a ton of different dialects! i'm a known enjoyer of dialects and regional language variations, so of course this is like a goldmine to me.

korean:

i know i said that the mongolian script is gorgeous, but look, i love writing systems in general, and korean is just. so orderly! so perfect for my pattern-obsessed little mind! also, it only takes, like, half an hour to memorise. 12/10 i love it.

a very specific point, but the various ways to say goodbye! you specify whether the person you're speaking to are staying or leaving.

turkish:

probably the most agglutinative language i'm aware of—a lot of words, especially more "modern" (ie new) words are formed by taking a base word and then adding on "meaning" or semantics to it, for example the word for a shoe cabinet is literally "that which stores the covers for the feet".

neutral pronouns! spoken mandarin is also neutral in pronouns, but in turkish both the written and spoken form of the third person pronoun is neutral. while it does make it a little bit frustrating if you're trying to, say, discuss feminist theory, it does mean that no gendered assumptions are made about, for example, a job position.

that's all i can think of right now! if anyone else wants to ramble excitedly about the languages they're studying/speak, please feel free to add on!

[writingquestionsanswered]

How would you go about hiding a character's gender while writing in English? My story is about a lesbian relationship in Turkey, and both the protagonist and her girlfriend are women, and that's not a secret. The reason I want to hide the girlfriends gender is to create ambiguity about why their relationship is viewed so harshly by my protagonist's family, and only make it clear at the climax. The girlfriend has a very unisex name, and in Turkish, hiding her gender would be relatively easy, since Turkish has no gendered pronouns, but I'd like to continue writing this story in English, as I already have been, since it's my stronger language

Hiding Character's Gender from Reader

This is going to be tricky for a whole heap of reasons, so let's dig into it...

1 - Pronouns and Names - When it comes to referring to someone, we can either use a pronoun (he/she/they) or a name (Cassandra, Cassie, Peanut, girlfriend, "the girl with the red hair.")

2 - English Pronouns are Gendered - In English, we typically use he/him for men and boys, she/her for women and girls, and they/them for people who are nonbinary, groups, or when gender is unknown. However, gender and pronoun don't always go together. You can have men or women who prefer they/them pronouns, and nonbinary people who use he/she/him/her. This reality provides you with the opportunity to subvert reader expectations that pronoun and gender go hand-in-hand. You've been using she/her to refer to the girlfriend, but you might consider the possibility of her using she/they or she/he/they, which will challenge the reader's understanding of the relationship between gender and pronoun, and will give you the ability to clarify the character's gender later on.

3 - When Gender is Known and Pronouns are Traditional - If you want to stick with she/her pronouns for the protagonist's girlfriend, you run into the issue that the protagonist knows the girlfriend uses she/her, and the family would also know that, and odds are the narrator knows that. So, if you want to hide the girlfriend's gender from the reader, you will simply have to avoid having the protagonist, her family, and the narrator use pronouns to refer to her. That's going to be tricky, because all that leaves are names, nicknames, pet names, and placeholder names...

4 - Names, Nicknames, Pet Names, Titles, and Placeholder Names - Another way to refer to someone besides gender is with a name, whether that's their given name, a nickname (a shortened version of their given name), a pet name (an earned nickname), a title (ie: girlfriend), or a placeholder name (a descriptive nickname used in place of a known name.)

Since you say your protagonist's girlfriend has a gender neutral name, we'll use the gender neutral name "Taylor" in this example...

Name: Taylor Nickname: Tay Pet Name: Peanut Title: Girlfriend Placeholder Name: The Red-Haired Girl

Typically in fiction, we alternate between pronouns and names to avoid repetition. So if you're not using pronouns, you can only alternate between the character's name, nickname, pet name, and title. Place holder names are really only used when the character's actual name isn't known, so you probably won't have an opportunity to use that much if at all.

5 - Avoiding the Need All Together - The trickiest part of all will be that you're going to have to do your best to minimize your need to refer to the girlfriend at all. That's going to take some clever wording and creativity.

So, let's try it with pronouns and then using the points listed up above... And let's say the protagonist's name is Gemma...

Example with Pronouns:

Gemma and Taylor arrived at the Swanson's house late in the afternoon. As they climbed the steps toward the front door, Taylor let out a beleaguered sigh and pressed her lips into a tight line. "It'll be fine," Gemma said, taking her hand. "I will be with you the whole time." Taylor nodded and Gemma reached to open the front door. Her little brother, Ted, was in the front room playing Nintendo. He barely looked up at them as he was deeply engaged in what looked like a boss battle. Gemma's parents, Anna and Fred, were in the kitchen, prepping dinner. "You're late," said Anna, giving her daughter a disapproving look while refusing to even look at Taylor. "I didn't know you were bringing a guest." "She's not a guest, Mom. She's my girlfriend, and her name is Taylor."

Example Using Only Names and Limiting Need:

Gemma and Taylor arrived at the Swanson's house late in the afternoon. As they climbed the steps toward the front door, Taylor's lips pressed into a tight line after releasing a beleaguered sigh. "It'll be fine," Gemma said, weaving their fingers together. "I will be with you the whole time." Taylor nodded and Gemma reached to open the front door. Her little brother, Ted, was in the front room playing Nintendo. He barely looked up at them as he was deeply engaged in what looked like a boss battle. Gemma's parents, Anna and Fred, were in the kitchen, prepping dinner. "You're late," said Anna, giving her daughter a disapproving look while refusing to even look at Taylor. "I didn't know you were bringing a guest." "Tay's not a guest, Mom. We're together, and you know that."

1 - By rewording "Taylor let out a beleaguered sigh and pressed her lips into a tight line" to "Taylor's lips pressed into a tight line after releasing a beleaguered sigh," I was able to eliminate the need for a pronoun all together.

2 - I eliminated the need for the pronoun "her" in "taking her hand" by having Gemma simply weave their hands together rather than singling out Taylor's hand.

3 - By using "Tay" in place of "she" in "She's not a guest," I was able to eliminate the pronoun. By using "we're together" instead of the gendered label "girlfriend," I was able to keep things ambiguous.

So, while it's going to take a lot of work, it's completely possible. :)

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[kirstythejetblackgoldfish]

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's Essay on Syria, Turkey and Kurds

The Geopolitical Chessboard of the Kurds and the Middle East

For over a millennium, the greater Middle East—including the Levant, Iraq, Arabia, Egypt, andNorth Africa—was governed by grand empires, from the Umayyads and Abbasids to the Ottoman Caliphate. These lands were united under the banners of dominant powers that shaped their shared political and cultural destinies.

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I redrew the region’s borders, ushering in an era of nation-states defined by ethnic and national identities. The Anatolian heartland gave rise to the Turkish Republic, while the Arab-majority territories fragmented into independent states such as Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and others. Yet amidst this post-imperial restructuring, one people—the Kurds—were left without a homeland, their aspirations for statehood eclipsed by geopolitical interests.

The Kurdish people, with their unique language, culture, and national identity, were divided among four states: Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. For decades, leaders like the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi acknowledged the historical injustice faced by the Kurds, advocating for their right to self-determination. However, the contemporary trajectory of Kurdish aspirations has become entangled in complex power dynamics, with external actors exploiting their plight for strategic gains.

Israel’s Calculated Support

Israel’s recent political and logistical support for Kurdish independence in Iraq and Syria, far from being a gesture of solidarity, is a calculated maneuver to undermine Arab unity. By bolstering the Kurds, Israel seeks to destabilize its regional adversaries, particularly Iraq, whose strategic depth and historic role in the Arab-Israeli conflict make it a formidable opponent.

Iraq's military has historically posed a significant challenge to Israel, actively participating in wars and providing critical support to Arab fronts, especially Egypt and Syria. Following Egypt’s withdrawal from the Arab-Israeli conflict after the Camp David Accords in 1977, Israel turned its focus to Iraq. It sought to weaken the nation internally, using Kurdish uprisings in the north as a means to distract and fragment Baghdad’s central authority, often collaborating with external powers like Iran during the Shah’s era.

Now, in 2025, Israel is employing similar tactics in Syria. By lobbying the United States to support Kurdish autonomy in Syria, akin to the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, Israel aims to fragment the Syrian state further. A weakened Syria would no longer pose a geopolitical threat, enabling Israel to maintain regional dominance.

The Domino Effect: Turkey in the Crosshairs

The establishment of an autonomous Kurdish entity in Syria could have far-reaching implications, not least for Turkey. With over 15 million Kurds concentrated in its southeastern regions, Turkey faces the prospect of heightened internal unrest should Kurdish separatism gain momentum.

Historically, Ankara has viewed Kurdish independence as an existential threat. The potential for a Kurdish state spanning Iraq, Syria, and Turkey is not merely a theoretical possibility—it is a scenario Israel might exploit to curb Turkey’s regional ambitions. Should Kurdish forces falter in Syria, the resulting vacuum could invite greater Turkish influence, creating a direct geopolitical confrontation with Israel.

Turkey’s growing involvement in Syria, from its military presence to its declarations of protecting ethnic and religious minorities, signals a revival of Ottoman-era aspirations. Damascus, in Turkish political rhetoric, is often portrayed as a city of historic significance, underscoring the deep interconnection between Turkish and Syrian politics.

Unintended Consequences

The chaos unleashed in Syria mirrors a recurring theme in modern interventions: the unleashing of forces that spiral beyond control. Efforts to destabilize Damascus have set in motion a chain of events that could redraw the region’s geopolitical map, with Turkey as the next potential target for destabilization.

This dynamic recalls the unintended outcomes of past interventions. The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 inadvertently handed Baghdad’s influence to Iran. France’s role in Libya’s destruction in 2011 paved the way for Turkey’s resurgence in North Africa, while Britain’s involvement invited Russian influence into Libya’s strategic corridors.

A Volatile Future

The current state of the Middle East is a testament to the unpredictability of modern conflicts. What began as a campaign to unseat regimes or redraw borders has unleashed a cascade of rivalries, alliances, and power shifts. In Syria, the presence of Kurdish forces under U.S. and Israeli protection signals a deliberate strategy to prevent the restoration of Syrian sovereignty. Washington’s construction of a new military base in Kobani, coupled with Israel’s extensive presence in Kurdish areas, underscores their intent to cement a foothold in the region.

The geopolitical chessboard is in constant flux. The question is not merely about Kurdish independence but about the broader realignment of power across the Middle East. As history has shown, once the horses of war are unleashed, their path is seldom predictable.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi

[gemsofgreece]

This is something brilliant I found on quora. Aside from the band-orchestra comparison that I have no opinion on as I should know many, many languages to dare tackle that, and which is a parallel that could perhaps only be justified coming from a man passionate enough to get a PhD in Greek literature and ethics, Mr Bošković is actually on point in what he says.

Typical western academia gets wet over Ancient Greek and typically scorns Modern Greek without a proper explanation, to the point of just referring to one form of the language: Greek, and calling it dead. In their minds, there can only be one form of Greek, the ancient one, and it is dead for good. Modern Greek doesn’t belong with their academic and lingual concerns.

But Bošković, who has obviously studied a greater span of the Greek language than the average stuck-up classicist, puts it so well and in such a short and simple text that I could never do it. I always thought Modern Greek is more flexible than Ancient Greek but I couldn’t explain why well. Here it is then: what many don’t realise is that Modern Greek operates in a very liberal fashion. It takes elements from large lingual pools. It has the Ancient Greek pool all to itself, to take elements at will. It can choose between very archaic, Koine / biblical / medieval or folk neo-linguistic elements or fuse them all together, technically without restrictions. The historical contact to Latin, Italian, Turkish, Slavic, Arabic and Albanian populations gives it access to the Romantic, Anatolian, oriental and non-Greek Balkan pools. Modern Greek has a very good ability to bend foreign elements enough to make them adjust to the Greek core of the language, instead of adjusting to them (ie all foreign loanwords are bent to follow Greek grammatic rules of inflection and their vocalisations usually change enough so that they are entered smoothly in the language). The local idiomatic element is also significant in every region and is particularly alluring in prose and verse (hence my recent comment that I prefer modern - but NOT contemporary - Greek prose).

That doesn’t mean that I don’t love Ancient Greek prose and verse. But here is the crucial nuance: the ancients and medieval people did their best to write in the highest form of the language they could master. When we read an ancient text, we witness the earnest efforts of the ancient poets and writers to be glorified through their writing.

Modern speech is unfortunately deteriorating* and we can’t compare the potential of the two ages of the language. Contemporary writers aren’t putting an effort to write in the highest lingual form they can master. On the contrary, they strive to be relevant and, in fact, as non-challenging as possible, so that they will cater to a wide, mainstream audience. And because everyone can write nowadays - it is not an activity saved for the wisest or most educated - there is a load of mediocre lingual usage inside which a specimen of high lingual form can be viewed as eccentric, pretentious and eventually undesirable.

Because of this, Modern Greek cannot utilise all its tools anymore (as well as many other languages to their own degree, of course). Reading the Iliad in its original has been fantastic so far and I was wondering why we can’t write like this anymore but now I am realising that there is nothing to prevent us from doing it from a technical aspect. There are no dead words in Greek. There are words which have become rarely used enough that some people would consider you a weirdo for using them and others would themselves refuse to learn, convinced there is no use in taking an extra step. Words that are recorded in texts, words whose meaning we know, can’t be dead, even if they are rarely used. It’s the obsession of the average person to follow the mainstream trend that threatens a word more than anything else. Another fact is that Greeks of different ages fluctuate between different forms of grammar, unsure whether a more archaic or more modern inflection is appropriate. The truth is that there is no wrong way, however Greek linguists lately try to wipe out older, more archaic forms in exchange for newer, simpler ones. The intent is always to become as approachable, as unchallenging as possible. There is no de facto death of older types of usage as long as they are recorded and we know how they work and some of us use them still - it’s literally a few linguists trying to give Modern Greek a distinct, simpler identity by ignoring the language’s most crucial characteristic: its flexibility.

Νεφεληγερέτης Ζεύς is a common characterisation of Zeus in the Iliad (Nepheliyerétis Zeús - Zeus the Cloud-gatherer) . There is no real reason to prevent someone from using this phrase intact nowadays, as both roots of the first word do exist in modern Greek. And even if someone was too self-conscious about writing so ambitiously, they could do with a more modern or folkish version like νεφελοστοιβάχτης or συννεφοστοιβάχτης or νεφομαζωχτής or νεφελαθροιστής (ie nephelostiváchtis, sinephostiváchtis, nephomazochtís, nephelathristís). Would they though? No, they wouldn’t. Why take the extra step?

My point is, Modern Greek is an overlooked, extremely potent language and we do exactly nothing with or about it.

*Whoever is quick to argue that a language never deteriorates because it always morphs into a reflection of its respective nation / society and its needs should either stop fooling themselves or immediately get alarmed by the current state of the respective society at question.

[staincdvermillion]

𝑐𝘩𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟⧸𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒 : kaan aydem ›› second in command ›› nightshade .

i . ╱ statistics    

full name. kaan eren aydem. name meaning. ' king of kings '. nickname. n/a. age. thirty2. date of birth. 5th november, 1992. zodiac sign. scorpio. place of birth. ankara, turkey. gender. cismale. pronouns. he/him. sexual orientation. pansexual. languages. turkish, english, french, among others. occupation. second in command. allegiance. nightshade . face claim. alperen duymaz. height. 6'0. hair color + style. it can vary. most often, it's longer, with slight curls. other times, it's a more reasonable cut. eye color. dark brown. tattoos. he only has two small tattoos. piercings. none. wardrobe style. his style changes depending upon the atmosphere. while he tends to favor his suits, ever the businessman. he also does tend to dress down, with a lot of black clothing. combat boots, leather jackets .

ii . ╱ personality

traits. debonair , callous. alignment. neutral good. mbti. entj-a , the commander. temperament. phlegmatic. enneagram. type 8 , the challenger ; wing 7 , the enthusiast. type of intelligence. intra-personal. archetype. the joker / the joker .

iii . ╱ backstory

you had been born your father's son. his firstborn. the heir to the legacy that he had spent decades creating. crafting to be the empire that you would one day be the king of. king of kings, he would say. while you stood beside his desk. watched as he worked. there had been expectations placed upon your shoulders from the moment you had taken your first breath. you had known this. had been advised of this from the first moment that basic language had been understood. and perhaps that had shaped you. molded you into the man that you would eventually become . even when your brother had been born. an almost opposite version of who you were. as if the weight of the world had been placed upon your shoulders. as if you had become atlas himself. a figure that you had read of in one of your many books, the ones that had littered your floors. covered your walls. frivolous reading, as your father had said. for the information that you read, that you retained would mean nothing for the duties that you faced. those that had been placed within your hands even before you could see over the kitchen counter . in all the ways that your father had been, you parroted. you became his carbon copy. the identical creation, as if you had been nothing more than a lab experiment. the days of being a child, a young boy. had long passed, traded in for the training that your father had put you through. because there would be no rest for the wicked. no moment of reprieve until you stood upon the mountain of your kingdom. as if you were zeus, peering out from olympus itself. the king of kings . even before you had found yourself at the door of nightshade. many would have claimed that you had been born for the role. for the leadership placement that you had stepped into. for you had climbed the ladder far more quickly than any before you. for you had known your way around a gun. a bomb. any of the weapons that they had placed before you. intelligence damn near beaten into you from all the books that you had read. the hands on experience that you'd been granted since you had been no taller than the rifle itself. your father would have been proud, to see you take your place amid the most ruthless. even if he would have chided you for the second in command that found itself attached to your name . but you had been satisfied with your spot. with the power that you had gained for yourself. the endless weapons at your disposal. the fear that slipped into a person's eyes when you stepped forward. when you greeted them with your name ... your title ... the organization that you represented. blood had long stained your hands. and it would be a cold day in hell when you decided to not do it again .

[crownedbydestiny]

Is that DEVRAN ERDEM? I heard the THIRTY-SIX year old is the LEADER of the KURTLAR. I’d stay away from them if I were you. I heard they were EGOTISTICAL, but they are also COURAGEOUS, so proceed at your own risk.

wc (wip). pinterest.

Basics.

full name: Devran Fadel Sahin nickname(s): Dev age: Thirty-Six birthdate: July 26th star sign: Leo gender: Cismale pronouns: He/Him sexuality: Bisexual Birthplace: Ankara, Turkey current residence: Los Angeles, California languages: Turkish, English, Spanish, and some French.

Reflection.

face claim: berk cankat hair color: chestnut brown eye color: light brown height: 6’0” build: lean, athletic build tattoos: a large compass on his right shoulder scars: too many to keep track of

Personality.

characteristics: ambitious, fearless, confident, arrogant, stubborn, creative, sweet talker, pretentious, self-absorbed, selfish, energetic, persistent, supportive, demanding, socially active, egoistic, responsible, the perfectionist, ready to take challenges, possessive fears: failure and decaf coffee passions/hobbies: painting, drawing, baseball, lock picking, origami, collecting and restoring vintage cars, kickboxing, feeding the birds in the park, golf, tennis, and target practice character inspo: tony stark (iron man), bruce wayne (the dark knight), jordan belfort (wolf of wall street), logan huntzberger (gilmore girls), lando calrissian (star wars) drugs/ alcohol/ smoking: yes / yes / nocolors: a combination of classic neutrals, black, navy, charcoal, and rich jewel tones: emerald green, royal blue, and a deep burgundy. 

Backstory.

Devran Erdem was born to lead. From the day he first opened his eyes in Ankara, the weight of his legacy was thrust upon him. His father, Mikail Erdem, was the undisputed heads of the Kurtlar, one of Turkey’s most powerful and feared gangs. The Kurtlar had long established their dominance over Turkey's criminal underworld, a force that controlled everything from illicit trade routes to smuggling operations, but Mikail’s vision was even grander. He had set his eyes on the world beyond Turkey’s borders, a vision that would eventually become Devran’s responsibility. Mikail wasn’t a man who dabbled in emotions or sentiments. He loved Devran, but he loved him with an expectation that was as unyielding as the Turkish mountains. There was no room for softness, for deviation, or for anything less than total commitment to the Kurtlar cause. From an early age, Devran was taught that his life had no choices—his destiny had already been decided. There was no question that he would inherit the leadership of the gang. Mikail pushed his son relentlessly, grooming him to be the perfect heir to a criminal empire that operated with brutal precision.

Devran, while never subjected to the same physical violence that many of the gang’s lower-ranked members faced, was disciplined in a different way. Mikail's way of teaching was rooted in the harshest forms of responsibility. He didn’t coddle Devran. There were no distractions—no allowances for childhood whims or dreams outside the scope of the gang’s interests. The message was clear: Devran's life would revolve around taking over the Kurtlar, no matter the cost. If someone or something interfered with his role, they were to be removed. Even if it meant sending away someone Devran loved, or making a sacrifice, it was always justified as being for the “greater good”—the preservation of the Kurtlar and their empire.

Leila, Devran’s mother, was his only reprieve from this relentless structure. While Mikail’s world was one of control, power, and secrecy, Leila operated in a different realm. A shrewd businesswoman, deeply intelligent and cunning, she ran multiple high-profile cultural institutions, including museums that housed priceless works of art. Unlike Mikail, Leila never forced Devran to fit into the rigid mold of a criminal heir. She saw beyond the harsh demands of the gang life and nurtured Devran’s intellectual and creative side. Leila saw in him a mind capable of much more than just ruling a criminal empire—she saw a young man who could build something larger than the street-level violence Mikail demanded. Leila’s influence on Devran was profound. She introduced him to the arts, encouraging him to explore the world of history, culture, and beauty. The hours they spent together at her museums—surrounded by works from ancient civilizations and modern masterpieces—shaped Devran into someone who would grow to appreciate the power that came with knowledge and refinement. She also taught him the importance of business acumen, of navigating the world of high society, and how wealth and influence could be wielded without always resorting to violence. But while Leila’s vision for her son was based on a world of sophistication, Mikail’s vision was rooted in power. Devran’s upbringing was thus defined by an inner conflict—torn between his father’s world of ruthless ambition and his mother’s desire for him to embrace his intellectual and creative potential. This constant tug-of-war created a person who, on one hand, was capable of cold, calculated decision-making, but on the other, had a deep affection for the finer things in life.

When Devran turned 32, Mikail’s influence was stronger than ever, and it was clear that his father’s death would only occur when Mikail decided it was time for Devran to take the reins. But Devran had always known that the true shift would come when he was ready to make his own moves. Mikail’s power was deep, his control unshakeable, but Devran was already thinking beyond Turkey’s borders. He understood that the Kurtlar’s dominance could not remain confined to Ankara and the surrounding regions—it needed to be global. This drive led him to the United States.

For the past three years, Devran has been leading the Kurtlar’s expansion into America. He was methodical, meticulous, and ruthless in his approach, knowing that the United States presented new opportunities, but also new dangers. Devran understood that it wasn’t just about brute force; in America, power was just as much about influence and finesse as it was about violence. The Kurtlar had already been making inroads into smuggling, art trafficking, black market jewelry and diamonds, and forgery. Devran, with his blend of street-savvy cunning and refined business acumen, saw the opportunity to carve out a significant new territory. It's how he found himself in Los Angeles, running the Kurtlar division. Devran found himself in an inner struggle—he was torn between the empire his father had built and the world his mother had dreamed for him. But in the end, he knew that his fate was sealed. He would lead the Kurtlar, and he would make sure they became an unstoppable force in the U.S. and beyond. The only question was whether he could find any peace in the space between his two identities—the ruthless gang leader and the man who could have been something entirely different. And in the heart of his empire, amidst the luxury and violence, Devran Erdem would forever battle the question: Could he ever truly be both?

[xscrilege]

 ❝  hazal filiz küçükköse. cis woman. she/her.  ⸻ my oh my, it seems FEYRAH DEMIRCI was spotted around the city  listening  to  WHO IS SHE?  by  IMONSTER. usually , they spend their days  at  DEMIRCI ESTATES & CO  working as  CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DEMIRCI ESTATES & CO.  between you and i, the  39  year old  HUNTRESS/HUMAN  is avoided for being  CUNNING. but once you get to know them , you will find that also have the tendency to be pretty  INCESIVE  as well .  can’t help but wonder if there’s more to their story , especially when they are hiding something … In city full of life and darkness , something is brewing within the shadows … and with them being part of  THE BROTHERHOOD , the city will certainly live up to its name. ⸻

001.    GENERAL INFORMATION.

OFFICIAL  NAME ﹕  feyrah demirci.

NICKNAMES  +  ALIASES ﹕ fey , that bitch , .

D.O.B ﹕ january 1st.

AGE ﹕  39.

GENDER ﹕ cis woman.

PRONOUNS ﹕  she+her.

SEXUALITY ﹕  heterosexual.

PLACE  OF  BIRTH ﹕  infernis.

ZODIAC  SIGN ﹕  capricorn.

FINANCIAL  STATUS ﹕  high class.

OCCUPATION ﹕  chairman of the board of demirci estates & co.

LANGUAGES  SPOKEN ﹕  english , spanish , turkish , russian , mandarin.

002.    PHYSICAL TRAITS.

HAIR  COLOR ﹕ brown.

EYES ﹕  brown.

HEIGHT ﹕  5' 8''.

BUILD ﹕  slim.

TATTOOS ﹕ n/a.

PIERCINGS ﹕  ears.

SCARS ﹕  n/a.

SPECIES﹕  human.

SCENT ﹕ soft rose petals, rain-kissed English ivy, lemon blossom and soft spring musk.

003.    MENTAL ANALYSIS.

POSITIVE  TRAITS ﹕ cunning , fierce.

NEGATIVE  TRAITS ﹕ incisive , cutthroat.

LIKES ﹕ money , flipping houses , sex , drinking piping-hot no-foam skim lattes, traveling to Paris.

DISLIKES ﹕ being told what to do , messy places , people who can't do their job.

MORAL ALIGNMENT ﹕ chaotic .

TEMPERAMENT ﹕ choleric.

DEADLY SIN ﹕ greed .

ELEMENT ﹕ air.

PRIMARY INTELLIGENCE TYPE ﹕ linguistic .

EMOTIONAL STABILITY﹕ it's there.

ALCOHOL USE﹕ socially

PRONE TO VIOLENCE?﹕ yes .

DRIVES / MOTIVATIONS﹕ herself .

004.    FAMILY.

MOTHER ﹕ eda demirci ( deceased ).

FATHER ﹕ ahmet demirci ( deceased ).

SIBLINGS ﹕ 2 younger ones

CHILDREN ﹕ n/a.

SIGNIFICANT  OTHER ﹕  n/a.

005.    BIOGRAPHICAL DATA.

⸻ the demircis’ is a name all of inferis recognize , both by humans and supernatural due to the wealth , status , and pretty much a name that owns many properties and some have hunted during the years . Albeit , not all demirci have went into the hunting life. the demirci’s have the largest real estate empire it all of europe and feyrah happens to be chairman of the board of her family’s company since her father's death 5 years ago.

⸻ growing up , feyrah always had her parents , mostly her father , wrapped around her fingers . While she was never the golden child , she was the one who always had it her way . As the oldest sister, feyrah saw herself as the maternal figure of the household and her siblings viewing her as such whenever their parents weren’t around . while bit eccentric and happily morbid feyrah was a very popular student with a streak . She was the president of the student council and the head cheerleader in her squad as well as captain of her debate club . She graduated in high honors  .

⸻ going forward she started working in her family’s company . working her way to the top rather than it being handed to her. over seeing her family’s work and life built in real estate . making sure to expand their company in other parts of the country rather than just infernis. feyrah is a force.

⸻ an exceptionally capable businesswoman with a very forceful personality. aggressive, smart, pragmatic , driven, commanding, and precise. Feyrah didn’t get to where she is in life by being easy-going. she sees people around her as nothing more than "dogs / pets" she can use as much as she likes. She rose to the top of the real estate world by driving for perfection, working tirelessly, and facing every challenge head-on. Many of her co-workers say that she is too demanding, direct, and cutthroat. But if she were a male, would she be called a “Devil” for that?