By A.J. Griffiths-Jones: Set against the backdrop of Japan’s beautiful changing seasons, from pink cherry blossoms to autumn leaves, rippling streams to snow-capped mountains, this is a wonderful tale of friendship and hope. At the start of the story, we meet our two main characters, Nana the street cat and a quiet studious young man…
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By A.J. Griffiths-Jones Now the construction season is well underway once again and websites are filled with advertisements for new builds, it’s no wonder that people who have enjoyed a few weeks’ stay in Turkiye are tempted to consider purchasing a permanent holiday home here. With so many properties on estate agents’ books right now,…
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Special feature by Laura Bower If you’ve spent any time in Turkiye, you may have seen someone walking with a curious, pear-shaped black case strapped to their back. Inside lies a saz, Turkiye’s most iconic folk instrument, with a teardrop-shaped body, a long slender neck and seven shimmering strings. Played with the fingers or a…
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Laura Bower looks back on the first-ever edition of Voices It’s Saturday, 24 September 2005. Tony Blair is Prime Minister, Doctor Who is back on TV screens for the first time since 1989, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles are newlyweds, and Roger Federer has just beaten Andre Agassi in the US Men’s Open. About 30,000…
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When Bev first flicked through a holiday brochure in 1994, she had no idea she was about to change her life forever. Didim looked appealing with sunshine, a pretty beach, and most importantly, the right price. That holiday introduced her not only to the town but also to her future husband, Metin, when Bev came…
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When Yolanda and her husband Nigel packed up their lives in Britain and moved to Akbük in 2005, they weren’t chasing a dream of business or adventure. They were chasing the sun. “We wanted to live in the sunshine,” Yolanda says simply. “A friend of mine at work in the UK was having an apartment…
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By Laura Bower If you’ve been monitoring the coastline around Didim, you might sometimes see a group of people clothed in matching t-shirts, baseball caps pulled low over their eyes, tooled up, piling out of a van like the Mission Impossible team, scouring the coast and filling up bags and bags of litter as they…
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By A.J. Griffiths-Jones This is one of those rare books that is worth reading again, as there is great richness in the detail of the author’s prose and many beautiful moments to appreciate time after time. The story begins in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 when World War II is on the cusp of being over.…
Read More By A.J. Griffiths-Jones Many tourists are drawn to Turkiye by glossy travel agent brochures depicting clean beaches, turquoise waters and all-inclusive resorts. However, there is so much more to discover about the culture and land here, which is both rich in history and breathtaking to visit. A vast country, located on the continents of both…
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Voices spoke to Didim chemist Tolga Oktaygil about what happens behind the scenes at a pharmacy in Türkiye. Interview by Laura Bower I need medicine! What are the main differences between the UK and Türkiye when it comes to getting cured? The main difference is that you can’t buy any medicine, not even paracetamol, anywhere…
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