Karateci Kız (Karate Girl) From 1973, the Worst Movie Death Scene Ever

Karateci Kız (Karate Girl in English) is a 1973 Turkish martial arts film. Directed by Orhan Aksoy, the cast includes Filiz Akın and Ediz Hun.

The film has a famous scene that features the main character Zeynep (played by Akın) fatally shooting antagonist Ferruh (played by Bülent Kayabaş) multiple times as he lets out several drawn-out screams before dying. The scene is notorious for its exaggerated and melodramatic acting, with Kayabaş’s character screaming and convulsing in an overly dramatic fashion for an extended period. The scene also has been dubbed “the worst movie death scene ever.”

The film itself is a low-budget Turkish action movie, part of the Yeşilçam era of Turkish cinema, known for its unique style and often unintentionally campy aesthetic.

The Earliest Known Manufactured Mirrors (Approximately 8000 Years Old) Have Been Found in Anatolia (Modern-Day Turkey)

The first mirrors used by people were most likely to be a pool of water where they could observe their reflection and consider it magic. The first man-made mirrors were typically made of polished stone such as black volcanic glass obsidian and some examples of this kind of mirrors were found in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) and have been dated to around 6000BC.

Long before production of glass mirror, the ancient Egyptians made mirrors of metal (copper, bronze, silver, tin, etc). They flattened sheets of metal and polished them until it could be used as a mirror. The mirror they produced had rounded shapes, sometimes with ornamentation on the back side, and usually with a handle so that one could easily use the mirror for self-viewing.

It is believed that glass mirrors were invented at Sidon in the first century AD. After the discovery of glass making, the Romans produced glass mirrors by finishing them with a metal layer. Pieces of glass covered with lead were also found in Roman graves dating from the second and third century. Glass mirrors were quite common in Egypt, Gaul, Germany and Asia. The earliest glass made mirrors were only about three inches in diameter and mirror manufactured from metal was still preferable by many people due to the fact that glass mirrors still did not have a very good reflection. They became more popular after the invention of a technique which allowed glass manufacturers to make flat thin glass and spread hot metal onto the glass without breaking it. The first mirrors were used almost exclusively by the ruling classes.

People have used mirrors both as household objects and as objects of decoration throughout history. The earliest made mirrors were hand mirrors; mirrors large enough to reflect the whole body appeared in the 1st century AD. Celts adopted hand mirrors from the Romans and by the end of the Middle Ages had become quite common throughout Europe. They were usually made of silver, though sometimes of polished bronze.

Gorgeous Kodachrome Pictures of Denmark, Turkey and the Netherlands in 1958

These gorgeous pictures were taken by Julia Vanderveer Rees (1896 — 1997) during her trip around Europe in 1958. Vanderveer Rees, along with her husband John Owen Rees, traveled the world in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, due to Mr. Rees' position as an economic advisor with the United States government. 

Take a look at Denmark, Turkey and the Netherlands through these beautiful Kodachrome slides taken by Mrs. Rees in 1958. For more fascinating vintage pictures, make sure to visit gbfernie5's brilliant collections on Flickr.

Café Pa Porta, Nytorv 6, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Caritas or 'Fountain of the Golden Apples', Gammeltorv, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Easterly view along the Amagertorv, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Fishmarkets, Gammel Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Fishmarkets, Gammel Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark.

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Stunning Photochrom Postcards of Constantinople circa 1890

These postcards of the capital (then known as Constantinople) of the Ottoman Empire at the close of the 19th century were produced using the Photochrom process. The technique applies layers of artificial color to a black and white image with surprisingly realistic results.

Photochrom was developed in the 1880s by an employee of a Swiss printing company and involves coating a lithographic limestone tablet with a photosensitive emulsion and exposing it to light under a photo negative.

In 1923, after the Turkish War of Independence, Ankara replaced the city as the capital of the newly formed Republic of Turkey. In 1930, the city's name was officially changed to Istanbul. Take a look back at the city through these 21 stunning Photochrom postcards:

Galata Bridge and a view of Pera

Constantinople

A mosque and street market

The fountain of Sultan Ahmed

The Yeni Cami by moonlight

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Lost Istanbul: Beautiful Vintage Photos of the City by Renowned Photographer Ara Güler

Ara Güler (1928-2018) was an Armenian-Turkish photojournalist, also known as “the Eye of Istanbul.” A prominent global representative of the country’s creative photography, his pictures brought significant recognition of Turkey, and particularly Istanbul, abroad. Güler’s profound love for his hometown and its inhabitants is well expressed in his images: everyday people always busy with their life, at day and night, on water or land, in small alleys or on major streets. 

Take a look back at the city through 30 stunning vintage photographs taken by Güler from the 1950s to 1990s:

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Istanbul in the ’50s Through 20 Vintage Photos

Take a look back at Turkey’s largest city and its economic and cultural center through 20 fascinating vintage photographs:

Galata. (National Geographic)

Galata. (Hulton)

Galata Bridge. (Marka)

Kebab hawker surrounded by cats. (Roger Viollet)

Entry of the Eyüp Sultan Mosque. (Roger Viollet)

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The Drunk Basket, Istanbul, ca. 1960s

A drunken man placed in a basket and carried away, Istanbul, 1960s.⁣
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Many bars in Turkey would often employ basket men whose sole purpose was to take patrons home when they were too drunk to stand up. Most of these men would work as porters during the day and then would work as basket men at night to earn some extra money.⁣
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In Turkish these people are called “küfeci” and to be so drunk you couldn’t walk was called “küfe”. There’s also a saying in Turkey, “küfelik olmak”, which means “needing to be carried home in a basket”.⁣

(via History Cool Kids)

35 Beautiful Studio Portrait Photos of the Turk Women in the Early 20th Century

A set of beautiful photos from John Toohey that shows studio portraits of Turkish women from between the 1910s and 1930s. These photos were taken in Constantinople (Istanbul).

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45 Color Pics Capture Street Scenes of Istanbul in the Early 1970s

Istanbul is the most populous city in Turkey and the country's economic, cultural and historic center. It is a transcontinental city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosporus strait (which separates Europe and Asia) between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea.

Istanbul is one of the world's most populous cities, ranking as the world's fourth largest city proper and the largest European city. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives in suburbs on the Asian side of the Bosporus.

Istanbul is a bridge between the East and West.

These fascinating medium format photos from ICEAACH that shows what Istanbul looked like in 1971.

Gateway to the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul

Hawkers at Eminönü, Istanbul

Hawkers at Eminönü, Istanbul

Hawkers at Eminönü, Istanbul

Homes on the Bosphorus Strait, near Istinye, Istanbul

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Incredible Photographs Inside Derinkuyu, an Ancient Multi-Level Underground City of the Median Empire in Turkey

In 1963, a man in the Nevşehir Province of Turkey knocked down a wall of his home. Behind it, he discovered a mysterious room. The man continued digging and soon discovered an intricate tunnel system with additional cave-like rooms. What he had discovered was the ancient Derinkuyu underground city, part of the Cappadocia region in central Anatolia, Turkey.

The elaborate subterranean network included discrete entrances, ventilation shafts, wells, and connecting passageways. It was one of dozens of underground cities carved from the rock in Cappadocia thousands of years ago. Hidden for centuries, Derinkuyu’s underground city is the deepest.

The Derinkuyu underground city has 11 levels, extending to a depth of approximately 60 meters (200 ft), it is large enough to have sheltered as many as 20,000. It has wine cellars, stables for livestock, and even what appear to be chapels. The openings to each level are guarded by a huge circular rock door that can be shut by a single person from the inside to keep people out. The opening in the center acts as a peep hole. It also has an air ventilation and pluming system. The largest vent also acts as a well.

It was opened to visitors in 1969 and to date, about half of the underground city is accessible to tourists.

While there is no consensus for who is responsible for building Derinkuyu, many groups have occupied the underground city over the centuries. It is believed Derinkuyu was later expanded during the Byzantine era (330-1461 CE).

During this time the underground city was known as Malakopea (Greek: Μαλακοπέα). Early Christians used the tunnels to escape persecution during raids from the Muslim Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties.

Over time the need for underground shelter in Cappadocia ebbed and flowed with different ruling empires. In peacetime tunneling efforts were reduced as resources were diverted back toward the surface. During these times the subterranean city served as cold storage facilities and underground barns.

During the Roman persecutions of the 2nd and 3rd centuries (and the Arab raids between the 8th and 10th centuries) CE, use of the underground cities increased and tunnels were expanded.

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Before Istanbul, Here Are Studio Portraits of Constantinople Teenage Boys in 1930

A small photo collection was found by John Toohey that shows portraits of Turkish teenage boys in 1930. These amazing photos were taken in Sark Studio in Constantinople, the former name of Istanbul from ad 330 (when it was given its name by Constantine the Great) until the early 20th century.

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40 Vintage Covers That Show Famous Beauties on Turkish ‘Ses’ Magazine From the 1960s

The social movements in Turkey that occurred in the 1960s and ’70s, however, were more focused on reconstructing the Turkish state and society with socialist ideals in mind. In the 1980s, women’s movements truly became more independent of the reconstruction efforts to modify the state.

In 1886, a group of women collectively voiced their concerns against a male-dominated society through a magazine very few people know of. Şükufezar, meaning flower garden in Persian, was run by an editorial and writing team consisting only of women who refused to be acknowledged through their husbands’ names. Nearly a century later, other magazines would take the women’s issue and the feminist movements to a broader public. Here’s a look at some of beautiful Ses magazine covers in Turkey from the 1960s.

Ulla Nielsen, Ses Magazine [Turkey] (8 December 1962)

Candan Sabuncu, Ses Magazine [Turkey] (14 July 1962)

Scilla Gabel, Ses Magazine [Turkey] (7 July 1962)

Elke Sommer, Ses Magazine [Turkey] (19 May 1962)

Barbara Valentin, Ses Magazine [Turkey] (5 May 1962)

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