US IS THE BIGGEST CAUSE OF GLOBAL INSTABILITY, But It Pretends To Be The Solution!

'The US is the biggest cause
of global instability, but it
pretends to be the solution!'

Arab Regimes Are Funding
Israel’s War on Gaza

(M. Javed Naseem)

The evil Zionist occupying forces of Israel are raising hell in Palestine. The game of death & destruction is being played to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians from Palestine. The Evil Empire (US & EU) are patronizing the genocide. As per The Economist, deaths in Gaza surpass 14,000, according to its authorities; more than a third of the dead are children.

On November 21st the Gaza Media Office rather than the health ministry reported new numbers. According to them, the latest death toll is 14,532. The Gaza Health Ministry has announced it will resume its count. 200 medical personnel have also died as a result of Israeli artillery, airstrikes or ground offensives. Around 1.6 million people, or about 70% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, have also been displaced, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles has said.

The entire world is watching the bombing and killing like spectators and still there are those shameless politicians, with no integrity and principles, who are siding with the apartheid Israeli regime in their crimes against humanity. In the midst of its ongoing war against the Gaza Strip, the occupation state has enjoyed considerable latitude, thanks in no small part to western support, notably from Washington, which proudly touts itself as a champion of global human rights whereas in reality, they are mere hypocrites.

The glaring double standards of this western policy are exemplified by decades of documented abuses and war crimes in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, and beyond.

Human rights appear to be the last thing on the American mind. As Israeli behaviors worsen, the US is doubling down on its unwavering support for the Israeli war machine and its settler-colonial project, which has resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of Palestinian lives over the past seven decades.

Meanwhile, the Iranian news agency 'Tasnim' has reported that 5,000 US troops are involved in Gaza offensive. Israel’s ground operation of ethnic cleansing in Gaza is supported by 5,000 US troops. 

"Surely, they themselves are the mischief makers, 

but they do not perceive." - (al-Quran 2:12)

The US is the biggest cause of global instability, but it pretends to be the solution!
The Israel-Hamas war shows that Washington is the single most disruptive force in the world.
By Tarik Cyril Amar (For rt.com)

A halfway even-handed international community would have to step in and protect the victims of the disproportionate Israeli retaliation, which multiple international voices have called a genocide and an ethnic cleansing. Failure to do so reveals profound bias and dysfunction. That much is obvious.

Yet there is another aspect of this catastrophic crisis, which receives less attention than it should. The global failure to hold back Israel’s aggression is due to only one part of the world, the West. And the West follows the lead of the US. Ethically, those who fail to stand up for the victims of a genocide or, even worse, side with the perpetrators are responsible for their own failure. Yet, in terms of power, US behavior is decisive. Just imagine a world in which Washington had reacted differently and restrained Israel. Its allies and clients would, of course, have fallen into line.

Whether in nominal terms or adjusted for purchasing power, America outdistances other nations, with 40% of all money spent on the military worldwide in 2022.

There is clear, again quantitative, evidence that Washington’s influence is highly disruptive. According to the conservative journal The National Interest, between 1992 and 2017, the US has been involved in 188 “military interventions.” This list is incomplete; it does not include, for instance, the Gulf War of 1990 or the pivotal role Washington played in provoking and then waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Moreover, as you would expect, given the source, these are conservative figures. By 2022, Ben Norton, a well-informed critic of US politics on the left found 251 military interventions after 1991.

The US has not only shown a high propensity to pursue its perceived interests abroad by military force – instead of diplomacy or even “merely” economic warfare, i.e. sanctions. What is at least equally concerning is that this preference for direct violence as a tool of policy is accelerating. The National Interest finds that – again between 1992 and 2017 – America was engaged in four times as many military interventions as between 1948 and 1991 (“only” 46 times). Likewise, the Military Intervention Project at Tufts University’s Center for Strategic Studies has found that the US “has undertaken over 500 international military interventions since 1776, with nearly 60% undertaken between 1950 and 2017” and “over one-third” of these missions occurring after 1999. US bellicosity has grown over time (though not evenly) and, recently, after the end of the Cold War and the former Soviet Union, that growth has sped up.

These wars, moreover, have been extremely destructive. According to exhaustive research conducted by the Costs of War project at Brown University, the so-called “Global War on Terror” after 2001 alone produced between 905,000 and 940,000 “direct war deaths.” The same research project notes that the “destruction of economies, public services, infrastructure, and the environment” by these wars has caused an additional “3.6-3.8 million indirect deaths in post-9/11 war zones.” The fact that most of these deaths were “indirect” shows that, even without engaging in violence directly, Washington has an extraordinary knack of spreading lethal disruption.

The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft is explicit about the “practical and moral failures of US efforts to unilaterally shape the destiny of other nations by force,” and seeks to promote “a fundamental rethinking of US foreign policy assumptions.”  

The most important challenge of international security, therefore, is to manage a US that is especially dangerous now, by historical standards, and, even in decline, remains extremely powerful. It is sad to say, but in terms of achieving global stability, America is precisely not what it imagines itself to be: an “indispensable” part of the solution. In reality, it is the single worst problem.
(Courtesy: https://www.rt.com/news/587409-israel-hamas-war-washington-problem/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Email)

Palestinians believe they can’t coexist with Israel – poll
Many Palestinians say they will “never forgive” Israel for its military action in Gaza, according to a survey

According to a poll of Palestinians conducted by the Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD), some 90% of respondents believe that “coexistence [with Israel] is increasingly impossible” given the scale of its military action in Gaza.

The poll, conducted between October 31 and November 7, also found that 98% reported they will “never forget and never forgive” Israel.

Elsewhere in the AWRAD poll, 100% of respondents said that there is no “safe space” in Gaza, while 65% view Israel’s offensive as a “war against all Palestinians” and not solely against Hamas.

It also found that almost half of people, 48%, said that their homes had been destroyed or partially damaged and that 90% supported a ceasefire. A total of 91% of respondents said that they had no trust in information provided to them by the Israeli military.
(Courtesy: https://www.rt.com/news/587514-gaza-israel-palestinian-poll/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Email)

How Arab Regimes Fund Israel’s War on Gaza

Arab states that have normalized relations with Tel Aviv are among the leading cash contributors to Israel’s military-industrial complex. These Arab billions are now flowing into the Occupation state’s senseless war on Palestinians in Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank.

Over the course of its short history, Israel has instigated atrocities against both the Palestinian people and neighboring Arab states, often using internationally banned chemicals such as White Phosphorus which has been deployed against Gaza and Lebanon in recent days.

Arab states funding Israel’s war economy

A report released by the Israeli Ministry of Defense reveals the financial windfalls that normalization created for the occupation state’s arms industry: in 2022 alone, 24 percent (equivalent to $3 billion) of Israeli military exports found their way to Arab countries that had formalized relations with Tel Aviv.

This marked a notable increase from 16.5 percent in the previous year. In 2021, Bahrain and the UAE alone accounted for 7.5 percent ($853 million) of Israel’s arms exports.

Geographically, the Arab signatory states to the Abraham Accords emerge as the third-largest group of countries importing Israeli weapons, following those in Asia-Pacific (30 percent) and Europe (29 percent).

This illustrates the significant role these Arab states play as major contributors to both Israel’s military-industrial complex and its economy.
(Courtesy: https://geopolitics.co/2023/11/18/how-arab-regimes-fund-israels-war-on-gaza/)

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PALESTINE IS BLEEDING And The World Is Watching The Genocide.

 

Palestine Is Bleeding And

The World Is Watching The Genocide.

Evil Empire Is A Party To The Conflict.

“You Have No Friends Or

Helper But Allah!”

(M. Javed Naseem)

 “… and Fitnah (tumult and oppression) is

worse than killing. And they will never cease

fighting you until they turn you back from your

religion (Islamic monotheism) if they can.”

(al-Quran 2:217)

The Believers, especially Muslims, should know and understand how the Unbelievers are trying to wipe them out. They are bringing death and destruction to their dwellings. Even the schools and the hospitals are not spared. The hypocrites got united for Ukraine but they are not doing anything to help the oppressed Palestinians. Therefore, in response, Muslims should also get united, put their act together and start a concerted effort to thwart all oppressive campaigns. Allah has commanded them:

“The Unbelievers are protectors, one of another.

Unless you do this (protect each other), there

would be tumult and oppression (Fitnah) on

earth, and great mischief.”

(al-Quran 8:73)

 

The fake Zionist Jews of Khazaria, who are settled on the Palestinian stolen land (they were put there by the Evil Empire), are a very racist and evil group of people. They want to kill all Palestinians and confiscate their territory which they claim is a part of the “promised land”. The Evangelist Christians are with the Zionists and are helping them in the genocide. The Believers (Muslims) should bear in mind that they cannot count on the support or help of the Unbelievers. Nobody would be with them in the fight against injustice and oppression – except Allah. If they have faith, they will succeed. Here’s what Allah the Almighty promised to Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.):

“O Prophet! Rouse the Believers to the fight.

If there are twenty amongst you, patient and

persevering, they will vanquish two hundred;

if a hundred, they will vanquish a thousand

of the Unbelievers; for these are a people

without understanding.”

(al-Quran 8:65)

O Muslims! Count on yourselves, on your Faith and the Mercy & Grace of Allah in your noble mission. Don’t count on any help from the Unbelievers (America and Europe). They have the same agenda to control the entire world, and they are pursuing it as one nation. They consider Islam and Muslims as an obstacle, therefore, they are doing their best to remove that obstacle. Allah has already told you clearly in the Quran that you have no friends in this world but Him.

“They will not find that they have any

friend or helper other than Allah.”

(al-Quran 33:17)

”You cannot escape in the earth, for

besides Allah you have no protecting

friend nor any helper.”

(al-Quran 42:31)

Allah declared in the Quran: “Fitnah (tumult or oppression) is worse than killing!” But that Fitnah (killing and oppression) has been going on in Palestine and many other Muslim countries for more than 70 years. It is about time that Muslims put an end to it and enforce justice. They need to get together and fight the evil jointly so that justice prevails in Palestine and in all other Muslim countries under Western invasion. There cannot be peace without justice!

Tumult and oppression can only be eliminated by force. It demands sacrifices but it can be done. It’s a long process though. The blacks in South Africa and in the United States have shown that it is possible. But it depends on the minorities as to how bold and courageous they are; and how much they want to sacrifice. If they are afraid of the majority or the numbers, they’ll never achieve success. They must have courage, resolve and fighting ability to take on the armed state goons. They should bear in mind that death comes only once and the time for it is fixed. Why fear then? If they don’t fight back for justice and their own survival, they would be killed anyway – as is being done for the last 70 years or so!

The Muslim believers should get the inspiration from the Quran and from the first war of Islam – Badr – when 313 devoted believers destroyed more than 1000 oppressors. Injustice should be fought back with all the force. Allah commands them.

“And fight them on until there is no more

tumult or oppression (Fitnah) , and there

prevails justice and faith in Allah altogether

and everywhere; but if they cease,

verily Allah does see all that they do.”

(al-Quran 8:39)

It is time for Jihad and the Commandments of Allah are very clear in situations or the conditions like today. Unfortunately, Muslim leaders of today are not Muslims in the true sense. They are plain hypocrites (Munafiqeen). They are corrupt, crooks and are playing puppets in the hands of their colonial masters just to stay in power. They are responsible for bringing misery, destruction, bloodshed and civil wars in many Muslim countries. They are helping the Zionists to destroy Muslim countries. Their pay-back time will be coming soon.

The prevailing question for the fake and coward Muslim leaders of the world is:

On The Day Of Judgment

How Would You Answer Allah?

Did you enjoin what is right?

Did you forbid what is wrong?

Did you fight injustice, oppression?

Did you help the victims of aggression?

Don’t you know that silent spectators

are partners of the oppressors?

You better prepare some answers now!

You can't simply blame the unbelievers or non-Muslims for the cruel game of 'death & destruction' being played in Palestine and Syria. Muslims leaders of the world are equally responsible for these atrocities. Allah commanded them to fight evil, maintain peace & justice and enjoin righteousness. Similarly, the Jews and the Christians were also commanded by the Almighty God to stand up for justice and obey God's commands. Unfortunately, they also failed mankind.

The Bible says:

“They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” – (Titus 1:16).

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ISLAM ITSELF IS DESTINY And Will Not Suffer Destiny!

 

Remembering Iqbal (Nov. 9)

"Islam Itself Is Destiny

And Will Not Suffer Destiny"

--- Allama Iqbal

(M. Javed Naseem)

 

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“Nations are born in the hearts

of poets; they prosper and die

in the hands of politicians”

– Allama Iqbal

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An independent state (Pakistan) for the Muslims of South-Asia was the brain-child of Muhammad Iqbal, (commonly known as Allama Iqbal), the spiritual disciple of Rumi. I cannot find words to pay him enough tribute worthy of his contribution not only to the creation and history of Pakistan but also towards the motivational and inspirational poetic literature of Urdu and Persian languages.

9^th of November was the day when Iqbal was born in 1877. And I would like to take this opportunity to remember this great personality of the East, and, at the same time, remind the new generation of Muslims about the legacy of Iqbal. His message is universal and alive. He wanted you to wake up and take charge of your own destiny. You and only you can change the plight of the Muslim Ummah!

 

The Open University, UK, adds:

Mohammad Iqbal was born in 1877 in Sialkot, Punjab, to father Sheikh Nuruddin Mohammad, a tailor by profession and of Kashmiri background, and mother Imam Bibi. He was educated at the Scotch Mission College, where he also took up poetry, and later, in 1895, at Government College, Lahore, where he would come into contact with Sir Thomas Arnold. In 1903, he published a treatise on economics entitled “Ilmul-Iqtesad”, and in 1904, he wrote the Indian patriotic song “Sare Jahan se Achccha Hindostan Hamara”.

He would once again work with Thomas Arnold when he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, as a student of Philosophy in 1905. He obtained his degree at Cambridge and went on to Munich University where he obtained a doctorate; his thesis was entitled, ‘The Development of Metaphysics in Persia’.

He later qualified as a barrister. In London, he delivered a series of lectures; his lecture at Caxton Hall was widely reported in the papers. While in Europe, Iqbal became influenced by Kant, Bergson and especially Nietzsche.

 

In August 1908 he returned to Lahore where he joined the Government College as a part-time professor of philosophy and English literature while also practicing as a lawyer in Lahore High Court. After a while, he resigned from the College and focused on law. Besides law he found time to develop his poetry in the 1920s, but he was also drawn into politics by his friends, Jogendra Singh, Zulfikar Ali Khan and Khawaja Shahabuddin.

His Persian ‘masnavi’ sequence ‘Asrar-i-Khudi’ (1915), (‘Secrets of the Self’, 1920), and ‘Rumuz-i-Bekhudi (1918), ('The Mysteries of Selflessness', 1920) were the foundation of Iqbal's philosophical poetry. In them he combined his ideas of the ego striving to achieve freedom and to develop a fuller personality with the moral, spiritual and intellectual values of Islam. He continued to develop these ideas in his poetry for the rest of his life. It is on the basis of these that he is known as the poet-philosopher of Pakistan.

From 1926 to 1930 he served on the Punjab Legislative Council and was President of the All-India Muslim League in 1930. That same year, he gave evidence before the Simon Commission, and in 1931-2 he was a delegate to the Second and Third Round Table Conferences, visiting London again.

By the mid-1930s, his health had deteriorated so much that he had to decline to give a series of Rhodes lectures at Oxford in 1935. He continued to write poetry but died on 21 April 1938. He is buried near the Shahi Mosque in Lahore.

(Courtesy: www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/mohammad-iqbal)

(Allama Iqbal's memorial plaque in a garden near Heidelberg
University, Germany, where he lived in 1907)

Muhammad Iqbal studied at two German Universities – Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and the Heidelberg University at Heidelberg. He received his Ph.D degree in philosophy. Heidelberg city has named a boulevard after his him. It is called “Iqbal Ufer”.

 

As per Iqbal Academy, Pakistan, Iqbal is the best articulated Muslim response to Modernity that the Islamic world has produced in the 20th century. His response has three dimensions:

1. A creative engagement with the conceptual paradigm of modernism at a sophisticated philosophical level through his prose writings, mainly his ‘The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’, which present his basic philosophic insights.

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“The main purpose of the Quran is to awaken

in man the higher consciousness of his manifold

relations with God and the universe.”

--- Allama Iqbal

(From: The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam.)

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2. His Urdu and Persian poetry which is the best embodiment of poetically meditated thought, squarely in the traditional continuity of Islamic literature and perhaps the finest flowering of wisdom poetry, or contemplative poetry or inspired poetry in the modern times.

3. As a political activist/social reformer – rising up to his social responsibility, his calling at a critical phase of history.

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‘Why have You made me born in this country,

The native of which is content with being a slave?’

--- Iqbal

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Iqbal on Western Democracy:

“Woe to the constitution of the democracy of Europe!

The sound of that trumpet renders the dead still deader;

Those tricksters, treacherous as the revolving spheres,

Have played the nations by their own rules, and swept the board!”

“Robbers they, this one wealthy, that one a toiler,

All the time lurking in ambush one for another;

Now is the hour to disclose the secret of those charmers –

We are the merchandise, and they take all the profits.”

-- Muhammad Iqbal

(From: Divine Government, Javid-Nama)

Iqbal's ‘Magnum Opus’: Javid-Nama

‘Iqbal’s magnum opus’, writes his biographer S. A. Vahid, ‘is the Javid Namah. Within a few years of its publication the poem became a classic, and. one great scholar proclaimed that the poem will rank with Firdausi’s Shah Namah, Rumi’s  ‘Mathnawi’, Saadi’s ‘Gulistan’ and the ‘Diwan’ of Hafiz. Nor was this tribute an exaggeration, as subsequent criticism showed ... In judging a poem we have to consider two things: the style and the substance.

So far as the style is concerned, Javid Namah belongs to the very first rank of Persian verse. It is unsurpassed in grandeur of expression, in beauty of diction and in richness of illustration.

As regards theme, the poem deals with the everlasting conflict of the soul, and by telling the story of human struggle against sin, shows to mankind the path to glory and peace. In every line the poet makes us feel that he has something to say that is not only worth saying, but is also fitted to give us pleasure. Thus, as regards style as well as theme the poem is a masterpiece.’
The ‘Javid-Nama’, having been frequently reissued in lithograph – the edition on which the present translation is based was published in 1946 at Hyderabad (Deccan) – was first translated, into Italian, by Professor Alessandro Bausani under the title II Poema Celeste (Rome, 1952).

A version in German verse, Buch der Ewigkeit (Munich, 1957), has come from the pen of Professor Annemarie Schimmel.

A French version, by E. Meyerovitch and Mohammed Mokri, has the title Le Livre de l’Éternité (Paris, 1962).

In 1961 a translation in English verse was published in Lahore, ‘The Pilgrimage of Eternity’, by Shaikh Mahmud Ahmad. The poem has thus reached a truly international public, and has already taken its rightful place amongst the modern classics of world literature.

(Courtesy: www.allamaiqbal.com/works/poetry/persian/javidnama)

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BURSA: The First Capital of The Ottoman Empire; Tomb of Osman Gazi

 

Bursa: The First Capital

Of The Ottoman Empire

Sogut: The City Of Ertugrul Gazi

Bursa: The City Of Osman Gazi

And His Son Orhan Gazi

(M. Javed Naseem)

(Bursa cable-car station)

When the conquest of Anatolia by the Seljuks began in 1071, the Turkish tribes coming from Central Asia settled down on their new lands. Afterwards, when the fall of the Seljuk Empire started, it crumbled in the thirteenth century. Many small Turkish principalities sprang up, one of which was the Ottoman Beylik in the northwest of Anatolia. Ottomans expanded quickly as they conquered additional lands from the Byzantine Empire.

Osman Bey, the founder of the Ottoman Beylik, who was born in the town of Söğüt in Bithynia in 1258, conquered Bilecik, Yenikent, İnegöl and İznik in 1299. That year is considered as the founding year of the Ottoman Empire that lasted for over six hundred years.

When Osman Bey decided to take the city of Bursa (originally Prusa), he began preparations to besiege the city in 1317. First, he wanted to cut off the city’s access to the sea; he then built a fort near Kaplıca and appointed his nephew Ak Timur as its commander. His slave, Balabancık, was given the command of a second fort in the mountains behind Bursa, to prevent enemy from reaching the city from both sides. Turks demolished the fort of Atranos Beyce and made their encampment at Pınarbaşı. Leaving the army’s control in the hands of his son Orhan Bey, Osman Gazi returned to Yenikent.

The siege lasted eight years, and meanwhile Osman Gazi who fell seriously ill could no longer fight. He ordered his son Orhan Gazi to take Bursa. Orhan began by taking first the Evrenos Fortress. The fortress’ governor fled into the mountains. Orhan Gazi sent Mihal Bey to chase the governor of Bursa demanding his surrender. The governor sent expensive clothes and forty thousand gold coins as a gift to show his submission. After consulting his father, Orhan Gazi allowed the governor to leave the city with his family and entourage. They made their way to Gemlik on the north coast of Bursa and sailed for Istanbul. In 1326, the Turkish army entered Bursa.

(Osman Gazi's tomb in Bursa)

 

This news reached Osman Gazi on his deathbed, and he died knowing his greatest goal had been achieved. The taking of Bursa marked a turning point in the Ottoman History. Orhan bin Osman, who was born in 1281, the year of his grandfather Ertuğrul Gazi’s death, became the second Ottoman sultan. His elder brother advised him to mint money with his name on it. He was also advised to wear clothes which would distinguish him from his subjects. Another important piece of advice was to form an army composed of infantry soldiers who would be paid out of the treasury.

Previously, coins were minted in the name of the Seljuk sultans, but in 1328, following his brother's advice; Orhan Gazi became the first Ottoman Sultan to mint his own coins. He also introduced white uniforms for his soldiers, replacing their former red and black uniforms.

In 1335, Bursa became the first Ottoman capital. Orhan Gazi ruled for nearly 35 years till his death in 1360. He was succeeded by his son Murad, who was born in 1326. Sultan Murad Han bin Orhan bin Osman Gazi was the third Ottoman sultan. 

(Ertugrul Gazi's tomb in Sogut)

 

The city of Bursa is located in the northwest of Turkey and it has strategic importance. It is situated between the cities of Ankara and Istanbul, separating it from Istanbul by the Marmara Sea, as it overlooks the Marmara Sea to the north, and is bordered on the south side by the famous Ulu Dag Mountain. Bursa is Turkey's fourth most populous city and one of the most important industrial cities of the country. In size, it is bigger than Istanbul but has a population between 2 and 3 million people, compared to over 15 millions of Istanbul.

Bursa’s silk industry has a long heritage. The city was a center of silk trade in the 15th century and by the 17th century was famous in Europe and Asia for its silk textiles, which are still produced today. Other industries include cotton and woolen textiles, canned foods, dairy products and machinery. Bursa University was established in 1975.

(Osman Gazi's son Orhan Gazi's tomb in Bursa)

 

Ertugrul Ghazi was the father of Osman Ghazi and he lived in Sogut till his death. After his death, and after many conquests, Osman Ghazi made Bursa the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Sogut is a long drive from Istanbul. We wanted to visit the tomb of Ertugrul and his companions but the tour operators were too greedy to let us do that. All of them demanded between $100 and $150 per person, which was enormous by any standard. With the inflation, a US dollar is worth 28-TL (Turkish Lira), therefore, the country should be cheaper for dollar-spending tourists. But unfortunately, it is not. They rip you off. All of them – the taxi drivers, the hotels, the restaurants, bars, clubs, sightseeing trips, boat tours and cruises. Even the shopping for gifts, sweets and souvenirs is very expensive. If you get out of the tourists zone, the country is much cheaper and the people are nicer too. 

(Ertugrul Gazi's tomb/memorial in Sogut)

 

The best way to visit the tomb of Ertugrul is to drive there (you can rent a car) and spend the night in a hotel. Day trip from Istanbul to Sogut is very cumbersome for families.

(600-year old historical Inkaya tree, near Bursa)

Turkey's 600-year Old Historical Inkaya Plane Tree

Bursa is also called the 'Green City' because of its green spots, parks and reservations. All around Bursa, there are monumental centuries old trees that defy time. The best known of these trees is the İnkaya (Grand) Plane tree, which is over 600 years old, in İnkaya Village, which is 4 km away from Çekirge neighborhood and on the Uludağ road. By size and volume, it is Turkey's largest tree. Its diameter is 3 meters; it is 10 meters in circumference; and its height is 37 meters. It has 13 main branches and the thickness of each branch is almost the size of a normal tree trunk. It has plenty of natural fountains around it. The area has become a big attraction with a lot of restaurants, cafe and small stores selling the souvenirs.

(Bosphorus cruise tour in Instanbul)

Cruise tours

Istanbul is surrounded by water and islands. The Bosphorus cuts the city itself into two halves – one half in Asia and the other half in the European continent. Hence, it is called the city of two continents. The visit to Istanbul is not complete without a boat tour in the Bosphorus. There are both day tours and the night tours with dinner and belly dance shows.

We did a day cruise into the Bosphorus and it was fantastic. There are boat tours with breakfast; with lunch and with dinner+belly dance. The prices range between $20 to $50 per person. While it is warm during the day time, it get chilly in the evening. Turkish Airline offers promotional and cheaper tickets. Istanbul is an old historical city and is worth visiting. It offers a lot in every field – history, culture, tourism, sports, shopping, fashion, food and fun. There is plenty to see and enjoy for every taste.

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