Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Ankara: The Turkish Hate-Affair With The Color 'Gray'

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Ankara: The Turkish Hate-Affair With The Color 'Gray'

    THE TURKISH HATE-AFFAIR WITH THE COLOR 'GRAY'

    Hurriyet
    Aug 4 2011
    Turkey

    We Turks are an interesting species.

    Once we signed government cables that led to the deaths of over 1
    million Armenians. One day we marched upon the killing of an Armenian,
    shouting "We are all Armenians!"

    We loved a man, the founder of our country. No, we did not love him;
    we worshipped him. We jailed anyone who did not worship him. Now we
    jail anyone who still worships him.

    We had a great poet. We hated him. He died in exile. We hated him
    more. We tortured people because they read his poems. One day our
    government respectfully returned his stripped citizenship. Now we
    love him.

    There was this socialist Kurdish intellectual. He ran away from the
    junta of 1980. We hated him. A couple of days ago we gave him a hero's
    welcome, with the deputy governor of Istanbul standing in the queue
    of people greeting him on his return after 31 years in exile. Our EU
    minister met with him over words of extreme praise. The next day, our
    culture minister met with him, exchanging no less fancy pleasantries.

    We had a prime minister. We loved him. Then we hated him. We hanged
    him. Then we named airports and other monumental public places after
    him. Now we love him. I saw the state broadcaster airing emotional
    documentaries about the man of great tragedies. Once again, we
    worship him.

    Our generals hated Cemil Cicek, "that fundamentalist virus" in Prime
    Minister Turgut Ozal's Cabinet. Now our generals love Cemil Cicek,
    "that moderate patriot" in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's
    Cabinet.

    We intimidated the pious because "those uncivilized creatures
    contaminated our Western culture with their strange habits like praying
    and fasting." Now we intimidate the non-pious "because those infidels
    contaminate our Islamic culture with their sins like drinking alcohol
    and not fasting."

    We hated women who wore the Muslim headscarf because they were
    "soldiers in an army that sought to destroy Ataturk's Turkey." We
    now hate women who wear mini skirts or bikinis because they are
    "soldiers in the Antichrist's army that seeks to destroy our Prophet
    Muhammad's Turkey."

    We worshipped our military commanders who heroically fought the Kurdish
    terrorists. One day we greeted the Kurdish terrorists on red carpets
    upon their return from Kandil Mountain and jailed our commanders who
    had fought them.

    We tortured anyone who spelled the name Abdullah Ocalan without
    contempt. Then came the days when the government-embedded pundits
    proposed to make him a general in the Turkish military. We freed from
    detention a PKK terrorist and put her in Parliament because she had
    been elected. Then, we took a commander who had fought the PKK and
    put him to prison.

    We jailed people on suspicion that they might be planning to destroy
    our secular republic. Then we jailed people on suspicion that they
    might be planning to protect our secular republic. We expelled military
    officers because their wives wore the Muslim headscarf. We may soon
    expel officers because their wives do not wear the Muslim headscarf.

    We journalists remained on alert to see if the lights would be on
    at the General Staff headquarters, expecting a memorandum to any
    elected government. Now most of us do not even know the names of the
    force commanders.

    Hence, the exchange of roles in "New Turkey" is no surprise to anyone
    who can understand the Turkish love affair with the extremes. Elected
    governments resigned over any tension with the generals. Now generals
    resign over tensions with the elected government.

    Perhaps various shades of gray should be taught at painting classes
    in Turkish schools?

Working...
X