November 11, 2008 * The residents of the village of Çavuştepe, in the eastern province of Van, Turkey, have sacrificed 44 sheep in honor of Barack Obama becoming the forty-fourth president of the United States. In overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, the practice is believed to protect people or property from bad luck. The posters read "You are one of us" and "We love you." Abdulkerim Kulaz of Çavuştepe village said Obama's election and his Muslim ancestry have excited the villagers. Kulaz said Obama's election was a "proof of an end to racism in the world." * Hürriyet reports (in Turkish) that group of several thousand Alevis took to the streets of Ankara on Sunday in protest against the AK (Justice and Development) Party of Prime Minister Tayyıp Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül. The Alevis, who comprise perhaps as much as 20% of Turkey's population, are Shiite Muslims who have traditionally had a reputation for being strong supporters of the Republican People's Party, currently in opposition. Photos of the protest can be seen here. * Sex workers in Turkey are seeking to establish a union. Prostitution is legal in Turkey, although only a small percentage of sex workers officially register with government offices as required. The goal of the union is to help make work conditions safer for prostitutes. * A police station in Hakkari, on the border with Iraq, was attacked yesterday by PKK guerillas coming over the border from Iraq. Turkish military helicopters pursued the guerillas into Iraqi territo