While many Turks do not celebrate Christmas, many-especially University students-are taking advantage of the winter break to head home and spend time with their families. Istanbul is covered in snow, and I imagine many people are relaxing and gathering their thoughts about the past year. I wish that I had more time in my week because I would like to be able to translate more blog enteries for you. Only a small fraction of the Turkish blogs are written in English, that I think will be my resolution for next year.

My most interesting find of this week is actually a post from one of the bloggers I regularly cover, Turkish Torque, who has a post about watermelon carvers in Akhisar that includes pictures.

Last week I posted about the trial of Orhan Pamuk, and from that post ensued a very lively debate about the situation between the Turks and the Armenians. This week the debate continues. Amerikan Turk (who I forgot to cover last week-sorry agabeyim) writes about the truth of the issue, and Erkan's Field Diary has more information about the trial, including the security issues that the author has to deal with. The outcome of this trial will be very important as the the future of free speech in Turkey.

As I am unwell today, I am not going to write a column that is up to my normal length (the mound of tissues next to my laptop keeps climbing higher and higher), but I would like to leave you with a few more tidbits. Metroblogging Istanbul writes about the facelift Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Street) is getting, the street connects to Takim Square and is a major shopping throughfare in Istanbul. It is one of my favorite places in Istanbul and a fun place to go to get away from a lot of the tourists. The White Path has an article about remembering Abdul Hamid II, a pro-American caliph. And the incomparable Mavi Boncuk has information galore about Ottoman and Turkish history.

See you at the new year!