wchua24

Gokhan Zan exited in the 55th minute to be replaced by Emre Asik due to a left knee injury he picked up while trying to stop Simao Sabrosa near the area. Turkey's defense looks ever more vulnerable after both central defenders were injured in Saturday's 2-0 loss to Portugal in the team's opening match of the European Championship.

Zan may have saved Turkey a goal, but his injury will prevent him from playing in the next match against Switzerland, the team announced on Sunday. He may even be missing in the latter stages, should Turkey progress. The team said whether he could play against Switzerland would be announced shortly before Wednesday's game, which may decide whether the Turks stay in the competition. Servet Cetin injured his knee early in the first half against Portugal but did not want to be replaced, he said after the game.

"I'm not fine. I think it's unlikely for me to play against in the match against Switzerland," Cetin said. "I played despite an injury. I should have not risked myself, but I had to play." Turkey coach Fatih Terim said he tried to use players with previous injuries "economically," during the Portugal game, but his options were limited.
Zan has had some serious injuries in Turkey this season, and Terim took him out soon after he collected another knock in the second half. He also did not allow Bayern Munich's Hamit Altintop to complete the game as he recently recovered from a broken foot and is not yet fit enough to complete a high-tempo match.

Forward Semih Senturk came from the bench to replace him late in the second half as Altintop grew increasingly tired and Turkey badly needed an equalizer. Now with a demotivated team and awash with injuries, Terim knows the match against Switzerland is extremely important. "Our second game will be almost a final between the two losing sides. They (Switzerland) also started with an unfortunate loss as the hosts," Terim said. "We have two more games. We won't be losing faith and fight until the end of it."

The Turkish chef's repertoire of healthy, tasty food includes pasta, fish and salad dishes that are always consumed with gusto. Turkish chef Yalan Kadir is the cook for Romania's team at the Euro 2008 Championship, and just the mention of him brings a smile to the faces of the squad's usually reserved officials, who begin licking their lips at the thought of his delicious creations.

"He cooks fantastically," said federation spokesman Paul Zaharia, interrupting his usually sober demeanor with a rare grin. Kadir arrived in the Swiss mountain St. Gallen, where the team is based during the championships, a week before the Romanian team, making his own preparations while the squad prepares for its opening match with France on Monday.

"I'll be doing five or six sour soups and cream soups a day instead of one a day," he told daily Pro Sport in a rare interview in April. "Gone are the days when I brought Romanian feta cheese and mineral water. It will all be brought locally." The most popular items on the chef's menu are his soups, especially ciorbe, a Turkish broth soured with lemon or borsch. "His food is delicious," official Dan Bragoanu said. "I like everything that I've eaten. It's tasty and nutritious."

Kadir has been with Romania's national team for about a decade, so it is no longer surprising that the central European nation's national team has a Turkish chef. Officials mostly shrug when asked for a reason. There is a Turkish influence on both Romania's language and cuisine, the southern and eastern parts of which were under Ottoman authority until the country won its independence after a bloody war in 1877.
Along with typical central European foods widely available in Romania--pork schnitzel, pickled cucumbers and bell peppers served with french fries--Kadir also serves the team variations on Turkish favorites, such as rice and meat stuffed vine rolls, roasted peppers in vinaigrette and smoked eggplant salad.

Other members of the Romanian team have a special affiliation with Turkey as well. Former star Gheorghe Hagi was a midfielder and coach at Galatasaray before coaching Bursaspor, while Mircea Lucescu coached Galatasaray and Besiktas. Kadir's menu does not just include the savory flavors associated with Turkish cuisine. Under the guidance of the team doctor and nutritionist Pompiliu Popescu, he even makes desserts. "He does all kinds of sweets, even chocolate ones," Zaharia said with a grin.

Currently there are 38 shelters with a capacity of 550 women being operated by civil society organizations and municipalities, although the law requires that every municipality with a population of 50,000 or greater must have shelters for women; this means there should be at least 205 such shelters. Eight new women’s shelters to be established in Turkey, in a cooperative effort by the Ministry of the Interior, the European Union and the United Nations, eight new women’s shelters will be established in cities throughout Turkey. The shelters will be constructed in Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Izmir and Samsun, and combined will have the capacity to house 500 women.

The shelter project aims to encourage the municipalities to fulfill their responsibility in this regard. It will cost 11.8 million euros and is scheduled for completion at the end of 2009. The Ministry of the Interior will finance 20 percent of the cost, while the rest will be funded by the EU. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will give technical support to the project.

Project coordinator Nazik Isık emphasized that their aim is to contribute to protecting the human rights of women and assist those who have faced domestic violence, adding that they want to encourage the municipalities to open more shelters. She said the eight cities were picked for their location, public transportation infrastructure, the willingness of the municipalities and in consideration of the advice of women’s associations.

UNFPA gender programs national coordinator Meltem Agduk said although the local administrations are willing to open shelters, they don’t have adequate knowledge or experience to do so. She noted that merely opening a shelter is not enough; saying that there must be certain standards and those personnel must be well trained. A sub-initiative of the shelter projects costing 1.36 million euros aims to fulfill the latter requirement. The personnel of the shelters will be trained as well as those running a telephone hotline for domestic violence.

According to a survey conducted by the Scientific and Technological Research Council
of Turkey (TUBİTAK) last year, although domestic violence is a widespread phenomenon in Turkey, half of the women subjected to it do not tell anyone. One out of six male university graduates are the perpetrators of domestic violence and 12 percent of female university graduates are subjected to domestic violence, revealing that the problem is not only one of the uneducated.