In the News: 18 October 2001, Milliyet Newspaper reports that the Department recommends against short 'manly' haircuts or hair-coloring for women -- without the permission of their husbands...

Those original dolmuş vehicles consisted mainly of oddly repaired American gas-guzzlers that were often rescued and resurrected from auto-graveyards of the time. In the original days, too, dolmuş drivers traveled according to no set time-schedule, but departed from the dolmuş durağı (mini-station) as soon as all the vacant seats had been occupied.

As mentioned, the dolmuş system has been modernized of late (since the turn of the century). These days, the vehicles travel according to a (sort of) set time-schedule -- are better maintained and (usually) adhere to a strict no-smoking policy. (Though as recently as last year, the early-morning driver of our dolmuş couldn't stand the nicotine-strain and frantically 'lit up' as we approached our final destination.) The 'no smoking' policy was forced on drivers when foreign tourists became downright militant in the late 90's, refusing to travel in any 'smoking permitted' dolmuş vehicle. And when dolmuş profits began to drop dramatically during the generally lucrative tourist season, so did the number of 'smoking permitted' dolmuş vehicles -- until the 'no smoking' dolmuş became the norm. And, in the year 2000, that 'norm' was formalized into law -- for the entire Turkish travel industry!

Disputes about dolmuş routes are still apt to lead to violence in the provinces, though... Around where we live (off the beaten track in Gümüldür near Izmir, along the Aegean seacoast) a dolmuş route-war erupted shortly after we returned for good in 1992. The Gümüldür dolmuş drivers (predominantly of Kurdish descent) became incensed because dolmuş drivers from other municipalities were entering Gümüldür to drop off and (as they left) to pick up passengers.

The Kurdish dolmuş driver response to this was to have family members roam the Gümüldür streets with wooden clubs -- to intimidate passengers so they wouldn't use the outsider mini-busses to leave Gümüldür.

[Updated 31 August 2003...]
After the DYP's stinging defeat in the November 2002 national elections, Tansu Çiller (who resigned as Party Chairperson, vowing never to return) was replaced by Mehmet Ağar...
The DYP's 2002 national election failure was so bad that the party couldn't even reach the 10% vote-count barrier -- so, it has no representation at all in the current Turkish Parliament. But, in theory, that could all change on 11 September 2003, when the Turkish Supreme Court rules about an alleged 2002 national election fraud. And, if the ruling favors the DYP, it could (with YSK approval) propel the party over the 10% barrier and allow 66 DYP members to take seats in the present parliament. By the same ruling, the AKP and CHP would lose 44 and 22 parliamentary seats, respectively. The AKP would still maintain its ruling majority and the CHP would still be the main opposition party, but the Turkish 'political psychology' would see a major shift. And what about Tansu Çiller? Would she feel vindicated by the Supreme Court ruling, and seek to be reinstated to her DYP Party Chairmanship position? Oh my...