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TURKEY: 'WAKE UP! YOU'LL NEVER BE PART OF E.U.' AUTHOR SAYS
AKI, Italy
June 5 2007
Rome, 5 June (AKI) - Author Feridun Zaimoglu is known as "the voice"
of Germany's Turkish immigrant community. It is a reputation earned
through fiction which has dealt with the sense of loss of identity loss
but also discovery of new opportunities that so many tens of thousands
of Zaimoglu's countrymen and women who left their native Turkey for a
better life in Germany have experienced. His book of the same name,
Kanak Sprack, the curious mix of German and Turkish spoken by the
so-called "Gast-Arbeiters" or guest workers, has won cult status.
For someone so in tune with the fears and aspirations of Turks living
in one of Europe's most advanced nations and its economic powerhouse,
the 43-year old - 35 of which he spent in Germany - Zaimoglu depicts
Turkeys' ambitions to join the European Union in the bleakest terms.
"Europe is a grand vision for Turkey, but those who had this dream
have finally woken up and realised that the country will never enter
the EU," Zaimoglu told Adnkronos International (AKI) in an interview
in Rome.
"Europe has decided it wants to be a spectator and has put Turkey
on the stage asking it to play the role of an archaic society in the
throes of deep transformation, sharp political contrasts, the clash
between new and old elites.
"Turkey is like a toy in the hands of children, some of whom want to
break it while other who find it fun want to keep it the way it is,"
Zaimoglu added.
The author was in the Italian capital for public reading of an
unpublished excerpt at a literature festival in the Ancient Roman
Basilica of Maxentius where he was scheduled to share the stage
with Elif Shafak, a female author who fell foul of Turkey's laws
prohibitting any reference to the mass killings of Armenians under
Ottoman rule in the early 20th century.
"European intellectuals have always protrayed Turkey as an enemy,
that still clings to the past," said Zaimoglu, acknowledging however
that some of these stereotypes are based on reality.
"It cannot be denied that real dangers exist for authors in Turkey,
in relation to what is said and how it is said," he added.
Zaimoglu in many ways considers himself a "German author" and says
his narrative style has been influenced by that of the Brothers Grimm
in their fairytales. In recent days his novel "Leyla" a book that
treats themes close to his heart has gone on sale in Italy. It is the
story of a girl who flees from her violent father and traditional,
domineering family, first to Istanbul then to Germany - a tale of
courage and the choosing by its heroine of a a better future.
"Without wishing to idealise the female condition, I see that in
Germany, in the immigrant community, it is always the women who
more readily break with tradition and its hierachies. Often the
immigrant elite is made up of women. The men on the other hand have
more difficulty in fiding their place, they are less pragmatic,
think too much in terms of honour."
"It's a pity that until now not enough stories of first generation
women immigrants have been told, These stories are of great battles,
great sacrifices but also great successes," Zaimoglu said.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.p hp?cat=CultureAndMedia&loid=8.0.421995864& par=0
AKI, Italy
June 5 2007
Rome, 5 June (AKI) - Author Feridun Zaimoglu is known as "the voice"
of Germany's Turkish immigrant community. It is a reputation earned
through fiction which has dealt with the sense of loss of identity loss
but also discovery of new opportunities that so many tens of thousands
of Zaimoglu's countrymen and women who left their native Turkey for a
better life in Germany have experienced. His book of the same name,
Kanak Sprack, the curious mix of German and Turkish spoken by the
so-called "Gast-Arbeiters" or guest workers, has won cult status.
For someone so in tune with the fears and aspirations of Turks living
in one of Europe's most advanced nations and its economic powerhouse,
the 43-year old - 35 of which he spent in Germany - Zaimoglu depicts
Turkeys' ambitions to join the European Union in the bleakest terms.
"Europe is a grand vision for Turkey, but those who had this dream
have finally woken up and realised that the country will never enter
the EU," Zaimoglu told Adnkronos International (AKI) in an interview
in Rome.
"Europe has decided it wants to be a spectator and has put Turkey
on the stage asking it to play the role of an archaic society in the
throes of deep transformation, sharp political contrasts, the clash
between new and old elites.
"Turkey is like a toy in the hands of children, some of whom want to
break it while other who find it fun want to keep it the way it is,"
Zaimoglu added.
The author was in the Italian capital for public reading of an
unpublished excerpt at a literature festival in the Ancient Roman
Basilica of Maxentius where he was scheduled to share the stage
with Elif Shafak, a female author who fell foul of Turkey's laws
prohibitting any reference to the mass killings of Armenians under
Ottoman rule in the early 20th century.
"European intellectuals have always protrayed Turkey as an enemy,
that still clings to the past," said Zaimoglu, acknowledging however
that some of these stereotypes are based on reality.
"It cannot be denied that real dangers exist for authors in Turkey,
in relation to what is said and how it is said," he added.
Zaimoglu in many ways considers himself a "German author" and says
his narrative style has been influenced by that of the Brothers Grimm
in their fairytales. In recent days his novel "Leyla" a book that
treats themes close to his heart has gone on sale in Italy. It is the
story of a girl who flees from her violent father and traditional,
domineering family, first to Istanbul then to Germany - a tale of
courage and the choosing by its heroine of a a better future.
"Without wishing to idealise the female condition, I see that in
Germany, in the immigrant community, it is always the women who
more readily break with tradition and its hierachies. Often the
immigrant elite is made up of women. The men on the other hand have
more difficulty in fiding their place, they are less pragmatic,
think too much in terms of honour."
"It's a pity that until now not enough stories of first generation
women immigrants have been told, These stories are of great battles,
great sacrifices but also great successes," Zaimoglu said.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.p hp?cat=CultureAndMedia&loid=8.0.421995864& par=0