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Turkish	English	Examples, supplements, and explanations
T
taarruz uçağı	attack aircraft
Tacikistan (Tacik, Tacikçe, Özbekçe, Rusça)	Tajikistan (a Tajik person/thing, the languages of Tajikistan [Tajik, Uzbek, Russian])
takiye/takiyye/takıyye	The [Islamic] principle that deception is an acceptable practice in certain circumstances, if one's religious beliefs are endangered. For someone to say the opposite of what he/she believes to gain an advantage. Related to müdara. 'Takiye' illustrative political cartoon. In the News... Gözcü Gazetesi, 27 May 2003 See translation at right. Right click or use 'Print Preview' to view image enlargement...	For example, the Taliban's duplicity concerning the whereabouts of Osama bin Ladin after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 is 'acceptable practice' according to this principle. In the news: 27 May 2003, Editorialist Sadettin Okka wrote (in the following paraphrased translation): Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan recently said, "Those trying to spoil the harmony between us (the ruling AK Party) and our Turkish military are making a serious mistake. To put forth that point of view is a treachery to the country." I don't know what harmony he (the Prime Minister) can be talking about!... The things that the AK Party leadership does, makes the hair stand up on the backs of the necks of those connected with the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). The TSK is very closely bound to the fundamental values of the Turkish Republic and to Ataturk's first-principles, but the (religion-based) AK Party leadership stubbornly opposes all such values and principles and, occasionally, they don't even try to hide their true intentions behind the takiye subterfuge. The Chairman of the Turkish Joint Chiefs of Staff has already publicly explained himself, regarding [the AK Party's] discomforting activities! The real treachery is found in the deceptive attempts (by the AK Party leadership) to gnaw away at secularism and at Ataturk's first-principles. [from Editorial COMMENT, Gözcü Gazetesi]
talan	pillage, plunder, raid, loot	talan etmek; to pillage, plunder, raid, loot talancı; pillager, looter
tampon devlet	buffer state	...is a 'small and powerless' country which acts as a 'buffer' between two or more 'powerful' competing countries. In the years before India's independence, Tibet, Afghanistan, and Iran acted as buffer states that ameliorated clashing British, Chinese and Russian interests in the region.
Tanrı	God	Also see Allah.
tarafsız	neutral	tarafsızlık; neutrality tarafsız bölge; demilitarized zone
tarih	date history	bugünün tarihi; today's date tarihte bugün; today in history Left click for image enlargement.
tarım	agriculture
Tarsus	ancient city in the İcel province of southern Turkey *How the city got its name...* - in Turkish - Left click for photo-article enlargement.	...is now a modern commercial city (est. pop. 90,000 in 1995), on the railroad line leading eastward to Adana. History: A very ancient city, with settlement on site from Neolithic times; city first mentioned in 7 BC; a leading industrial and cultural center of the Roman and early Byzantine empires. Destroyed by Arabs c. 660 AD; rebuilt 8 AD and held successively by Arabs, Byzantines, Crusaders, Christian Kingdom of Little Armenia, Mamelukes; became Turkish city in 16th century. Birthplace of St. Paul.₅₀
Tarzanca	a (jokey) language-name -- given by Turks to the less-than-perfect Turkish spoken by us struggling Turkish language-learners	Me Arnold. You Fatma... You dancey?
Taşkent	Tashkent [the capital city of Uzbekistan]
tatil günleri	holidays; vacation days; non-working days of the week
tavla Modern vs. Classic backgammon Left click for image enlargement and legibility.	backgammon How to cheat at backgammon Left click for image enlargement and legibility.	...is a board game for two players, who throw dice and move pieces accordingly.
Tayland (Taylandlı, Tay Dili)	Thailand (a person/thing from Thailand, Taiwanese -- the Thai language)	In the News: 26 October 2001, death-toll stands at 13 after explosion that rocked the country's largest military ammunition dump -- 60 wounded.
TBMM	See meclis.
TCK	See Türk Ceza Kanunu.
temsilci	[a] representative	ABD Temsilciler Meclisi; United States House of Representives
tercihli tarife	preferred tariff, preferential tariff
terörist (terörizm)	terrorist (terrorism) Short of an apology... Left click for image enlargement and legibility.	In the news: 10 February 2005... After the Fox TV Network aired Part-One of a 2-part episode of its '24' spy-thriller series (in which members of a Turkish-American family were portrayed as terrorists plotting against the USA), Fox's Turkish-American TV-viewers flooded the network with protest letters and messages -- and the Turkish Ambassador to the USA (Faruk Loğoğlu) made a formal written complaint. In response, just before the Part-Two broadcast, Fox arranged for 24's leading-star, Kiefer Sutherland, to make the on-air statement, "It was not our intention to offend anyone." Dismayed Turkish-Americans who had hoped for a straight-forward apology, were unsatisfied with the Sutherland statement. Gözcü Gazetesi, 10 February 2005 (See mini photo-article at left and click here to learn more about the Turkish reaction at home to news of the provocative '24' two-parter -- and to an ill-conceived episode of 'West Wing'.) Also see the following 'Black Comedy' Cartoon...
Political Cartoon War 'Black Comedy' Cartoon The Real Terrorists...? After fleeing Kabul*, an al Qaida* cave-dweller says to his leader: They're dancing, feeding the birds, and even flying kites... I swear, Osama... These people are terrorists! Thanks to 'Bülent çiziyor' Hürriyet Gazetesi 15 November 2001 Click following for more Political Cartoons of Turkey (Türkiye)**
tesettür	the practice whereby fundamentalist Muslim women cover their hair and faces, wear long all-enveloping garments, and avoid contact with men not related to them Left click for photo-article enlargement.	tesettürler, fundamentalist Muslim women* who cover/veil themselves in extreme ways* Click to see... tesettürler swimwear tesettürler wedding guests In the news: 10 August 2003 -- The State-subsidized wedding of Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan's son (Necmettin Bilal) was attended by 10,000 invited guests -- reminiscent of a bygone Ottoman age. There were some Westerners in attendence. The most prominent among them was Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi who, some said, gaffed by kissing the bride's hand after the wedding ceremony -- in violation of Muslim 'rules'. But the majority of guests were a mixed assemblage of Turkish religionists, secularists, politicos, bureaucrats, and military -- and some 'others' of unspecified foreign origin. It's estimated that 80% of the female guests were tesettür to one degree or another. A few Turkish newspapers expressed concern at the signal being sent to the West (and to domestic religionists too) by the extreme garb of some of the tesettürler wedding guests (see newsphotos and mini-article below). Other newspapers skirted around the political implications, highlighting instead the 'fashionable' aspects of tesettür. Still other newspapers reveled in the foreign newspaper coverage. Lifting a line from The Times (London), Hürriyet Gazetesi coined the term Türbanlı Diana (Muslim Princess Diana) for the bride (17-year-old Reyyan née Uzener) -- in reference to her covering from head to toe in white. (See photo-article at left.)
Tesettürler Wedding Guests The caption reads: "It's as if they were coming to a wedding in Iran, not in the world capital-city of Istanbul..." Gözcü Gazetesi, 11 August 2003 Left click for photo-article enlargement.
Tevrat	[the] Torah [the] Old Testament
teyakkuz	being on alert [against attack]	Polis ve FBI teyakkuzu; [a] Police and FBI alert
tezkere	note, message (written) official communication message permit, license, certificate a permit for a foreigner to reside in Turkey, temporarily a parliamentary permission (requiring a majority vote)	In the News: Late February 2003... The Turkish Parliament agonizes over decision to give temporary residence-permission to American soldiers in the run up to possible war with Iraq -- and in the face of considerable public anti-war sentiment. 1 March 2003, Turkish parliament votes in favor of the temporary residence-permission 264-250 [with 19 abstentions] -- but the constitutional motion (which requires an absolute majority to pass) fails to carry by 3 votes. The 4-month old AKP majority government is in disarray. Its lame-duck Prime Minister (Abdullah Gül) and its un-elected Prime-Minister-in-waiting (Tayyip Erdoğan) begin intense backroom-talks to explore possibility of a parliamentary re-vote, in light of the many abstentions. 5 March 2003, Turkey's highest-ranking Army General (Özkök), publicly announces in favor of the re-vote -- which provides 'encouragement' (and cover) for abstaining parliamentarians to "consider the country's national-interests" before voting again. A date for the re-vote (14 March) is unofficially circulated... August 2003 Update: The tezkere re-vote never took place. So, American army troops were re-deployed to the southern front for the war -- and, as a result, Turkish-American governmental relations remain strained.
THY	Türk Hava Yolları -- Turkish Airlines
tırmanma	escalation
top	cannon, artillery [piece]	top bataryası; [an] artillery battery
topal ördek	[a] 'lame duck' -- [an] elected or appointed political official serving in his/her last term, who must leave office at the end of term -- who is, therefore, no longer 'a force to be reckoned with' by other, lesser officials
toplama kampı	[Nazi] concentration camp	In the news: 2 July 2003, After fending off a barrage of German media and EU member attacks questioning his moral credentials for his brand new job as the rotating EU president, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lashed out at a particulary insulting German MEP, Martin Schulz, suggesting that the EU rep should play the role of a Nazi concentration camp guard in an upcoming Italian movie production. Shulz wasn't as good at taking abuse as he was at giving it and demanded a full and abject apology. When Berlusconi refused, it sparked an international row between the two countries (former WW II fascist allies).
topyekun karşılık	massive retaliation
topyekun savaş	total war
Trablusgarp	Tripoli [city in Lybia]	...compare with Tripoli in Lebanon, etc.
TSK -- Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri	Turkish Armed Forces
tugay	[a military] brigade	55'inci Tugay [the Taliban's] 55th Brigade In the News: 16 October 2001, The Taliban's elite 55th Brigade, made up of volunteers from Pakistan and the Arab countries -- has been targeted for defeat by the allied military forces of the 'War on Terrorism' coalition...)
tuğgeneral	brigadier general
tuğgeneral	brigadier general
[New] Turkish Lira	See Yeni Türk Liraşı
Tuna Nehri	the Danube River [river of Europe]	Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It flows from the Black Forest mountains of western Germany and flows for some 1,770 miles (2,850 kilometres) to its mouth on the Black Sea. Along its course, it passes through nine countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine.₆₆
Tunus (Tunuslu, Arapca)	The Republic of Tunisia (a Tunisian person/thing, the language of Tunisia [Arabic])	A finalist country for the 2002 Football/Soccer World Cup tournament...
tutulma	astronomical eclipse	Also see: Güneş tutulması.
tümen	army/marine division
türban - Selim III holds court in his harem - Ottoman-age turban-wear - male and female - Left click for image enlargement. Back to the future? - Turkish women in 1933 (top) and in 2003 (bottom) - Left click for image enlargement. Bending the interpretation of the law... Left click for image enlargement.	turban -- the headgear of a sultan of the Ottoman Empire -- first popularized by Mehmet, The Conqueror (after he took Constantinople in 1453), to signify that he was a Muslim. It remained popular among Turkish sultans (and ordinary male-and-female Turkish subjects too) until the middle of the 19th Century -- when it was replaced by the fez, which, in turn, was seen as a religious symbol by Atatürk who banned it in 1925, as part of his program to secularize the newly formed Republic of Turkey. Also see Kemalism. turban -- the headdress of a conservative Muslim woman -- which became a potent political symbol in Turkey, when Necmettin Erbakan made it so in the 1980's Koranic scholars say 'No'... Left click for image enlargement. Women's head-converings are not created equal...It's important to note the difference (as secular Turkish officials try to do) between an 'extremist' woman's türban and an 'ordinary' woman's scarf. The former is classified as a political symbol in Turkey and as such is not to be worn while attending (or working at) government-sponsored institutions or events. The latter (scarf) is classified as a symbol of modesty and is perfectly acceptable, as long as it's removed once the wearer enters government premises. But, nothing is simple is it? And the line gets blurred, between a 'turban' and a 'scarf' and a 'government sponsored event' -- depending on who's doing the interpreting of the law. As seen at left...	türbanlı; (a conservative Muslim woman) with hair covered türbansız; (a modern Muslim woman) with hair uncovered Endlessly in the news: May 2005 -- In a 'toe to toe' battle royale with Court President Mustafa Bumin, TBMM President Bülent Arınç threatens to emasculate (or shut down) the Turkish Constitutional Court, over the issue of turban-wearing by female university students. In perhaps his most vehement declaration on the 'turban issue', Necmettin Erbakan threw fact and logic out the window (at a political-religious rally in Gaziantep in 10 November 1987) and in reply to a question about head-covering for women, he floridly exclaimed that, "It's a sin for a woman to go out in public without being covered. It's anti-religious, a total denial of religion." The partisan crowd of his followers roared its approval and, from that day forward, the female-Muslim turban became the unofficial symbol of the religious-right political-movement in Turkey. And, even though Erbakan's own political fortunes have faded since his heady days as Prime Minister in 1996-97, the turban 'cause' is still alive and well in Turkish politics -- championed most effectively at the moment (December 2003) by the AKP. Not a frivilous issue...a Turkish husband killed his wife in December 2003 because she refused to wear a türban in public. In the Holy Koran: There are 6 verses in the Koran concerned with the subject of 'covering'. But there is nothing in those verses that says an absence of covering is in any way 'sinful'. And, according to three of Turkey's most noted Koranic scholars (one who has received death threats because of his expert opinion), none of the verses specifically mention 'head covering'. [See article at left.] You can check for yourself if you like, in the following referenced Suras (chapters) and verses of the Koran: The A'raf Sura (Sura vii) -- verses #22, #26, and #31; in the Nahl Sura (Sura xvi) verse 81; in the Ahzap Sura [Sura xxxiii] verse 59; and the Nur Sura [Sura xxiv] verse 31. But, despite the fact that the Koran itself attaches no sin (nor merit) to the act of 'covering', Erbakan struck gold with his Koranic 'mis-interpretation'. Conservative Turkish Muslims jumped on his bandwagon and have never gotten off. And that's especially true of the latest crop of velvet-gloved religious-right politicos -- who (unlike Erbakan) have learned how to take just an inch at a time, in their continuing quest. Religion or Politics or...? tessetür (2003), wedding guests (2003), Merve Kavakçı (M-Idioms), murderous devotion (D-Idioms), OpEd #1 (Y-Idioms), OpEd #2 (M-Idioms).
Türk Ceza Kanunu Often seen abbreviated: TCK	The Criminal Code of the Turkish Republic	In the news: 27 September 2004... One of the European Union's conditions of membership is that a joining-country's laws and criminal code must be compatible with the EU standard. Turkey's extant criminal code needed 'modernization' according to the European Parliament -- before Turkey could be given any membership consideration by the clubbish Euro-body. And, after agonizing for weeks about what changes ought to be made (see the wrangle over adultery), the TBMM finally passed the new criminal code unanimously today, in accordance with EU's wishes. June 2005... Tougher censorship restrictions aimed at the Turkish news media (including heavy fines and jail time) were added to the TCK by the AKP religious-right ruling party. The media's dire warnings have so far fallen on deaf ears.
[yeni] Türk Lirası	See New Turkish Lira	Modern Turkish Currency
Türkiye (Türk, Türkçe)	The Republic of Turkey (a Turkish person/thing, the Turkish language) Established by Atatürk after the Turkish War of Independence.	Topographical map of Turkey and adjacent countries, etc. Left click for image enlargement.
Türkmenistan (Türkmen, Türkmence)	Turkmenistan (a Turkmen person/thing, the Turkmen language)

Turkish Newspaper Readers Encyclopedic Dictionary 'T'

Turkish Newspaper Readers
Encyclopedic Dictionary
'T'