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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Sept 19 2012
Jihad romance: We'd love you dearly if you converted!
BURAK BEKDÄ°L
According to the findings of an international survey, Turks adore
themselves but not any other nation, and the world does not care much
for them overall. Yet maybe it is better this way, as `to love oneself
is the beginning of a lifelong romance,' according to Oscar Wilde; or
to quote Paul Valery `love is being stupid together.'
It looks as though the Turks have faith in a lifelong romance.
According to Transatlantic Trends, an annual survey of public opinion,
85 percent of Turks have a favorable view of their own country ' where
even ducks can be raped (`Man rapes duck in Turkish village ` Hürriyet
Daily News ` Sept. 14, 2012).
But this `un-love' for other nations is not unrequited: Only 42
percent of the EU12 and 43 percent of Americans have a favorable
opinion of Turks and Turkey.
And according to an Islamist columnist, Turkey, (post-Assad) Syria and
Libya should spearhead efforts to build an `Islamic commonwealth.'
`Those were the days,' this columnist wrote with a painful longing for
the good old days when even `non-Muslim women in Muslim lands had to
cover their heads with a scarf.'
According to another Islamist columnist the only way we can come to
love America is if the whole country converted to Islam! Simple, just
like Malcolm X did, he wrote. Sure, he promised, we shall love America
if Americans lived true Muslim lives and `therefore, they did not
kill, steal or provoked enmity.' Perhaps the Americans should consider
this generous offer if they want to be loved by the Turks and other
Muslims. Once in a love affair, the now Muslim-Americans and Turks can
be stupid together.
But being Turkish is quite a face value these days: on the Middle East
kidnapping market Turkish passports are real top value. Before the
second kidnapped Turk in Lebanon was freed, Yemeni tribesmen kidnapped
a Turkish bus driver in the country's south to push the government to
release a jailed kinsmen. At the current pace of kidnappings, the
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs may soon have to launch a `Special
Department for the Release of Kidnapped Nationals.'
Turks may prefer to be `unhappy alone than unhappy with someone else.'
But it is sad that the famous motto we all learned at school in the
50s to the late 80s is still enjoying overwhelming popularity despite
the collapse of Kemalism: `A Turk's only friend is a Turk.' Religion
per se has failed to spark the love affair Turkish Islamists hoped it
would ignite with other Muslim nations. Apparently, Muslimness does
not suffice: Which sect are you? Which tribe are you? Do you believe
in Shariah? Are you secular? Do you shake hands with women? Why do you
have your wedding ring on your left hand? Are you an Arab Muslim or
non-Arab? Why did your ancestors enslave ours for centuries?
Perhaps more... Even Sunni Muslim Turks and Sunni Muslim Kurds are
killing each other in one of world's most violent conflicts of the
past half century. Apparently, there will be further bloodshed as long
as Turkish bigwigs believe that `a common faith' can solve this
dispute. Remember how the Turkish interior minister called the PKK
fighters a few months ago? `Oh, they are pork-eating Zoroastrians!'
And, more recently, how did a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and
Development Party refer to them? `Ah, oh, uh, these kids are Armenian
converts!'
We have no means to know if the honorable lawmaker knows things we
don't, like whether the Turkish authorities perform human skull tests
to determine the race of enemy fighters. We don't know either if that
lawmaker is equipped with a surreal talent to tell a body's ethnic
background just by looking at a photograph.
But in this age of Sunni-Muslim-Turkish supremacy, nothing should be
surprising. Dear seven billion plus inhabitants of the world: We will
love you if you convert to (Sunni) Islam and adopt Turkishness! No
deadlines, but just be smart enough not to miss this chance.
September/19/2012
Sept 19 2012
Jihad romance: We'd love you dearly if you converted!
BURAK BEKDÄ°L
According to the findings of an international survey, Turks adore
themselves but not any other nation, and the world does not care much
for them overall. Yet maybe it is better this way, as `to love oneself
is the beginning of a lifelong romance,' according to Oscar Wilde; or
to quote Paul Valery `love is being stupid together.'
It looks as though the Turks have faith in a lifelong romance.
According to Transatlantic Trends, an annual survey of public opinion,
85 percent of Turks have a favorable view of their own country ' where
even ducks can be raped (`Man rapes duck in Turkish village ` Hürriyet
Daily News ` Sept. 14, 2012).
But this `un-love' for other nations is not unrequited: Only 42
percent of the EU12 and 43 percent of Americans have a favorable
opinion of Turks and Turkey.
And according to an Islamist columnist, Turkey, (post-Assad) Syria and
Libya should spearhead efforts to build an `Islamic commonwealth.'
`Those were the days,' this columnist wrote with a painful longing for
the good old days when even `non-Muslim women in Muslim lands had to
cover their heads with a scarf.'
According to another Islamist columnist the only way we can come to
love America is if the whole country converted to Islam! Simple, just
like Malcolm X did, he wrote. Sure, he promised, we shall love America
if Americans lived true Muslim lives and `therefore, they did not
kill, steal or provoked enmity.' Perhaps the Americans should consider
this generous offer if they want to be loved by the Turks and other
Muslims. Once in a love affair, the now Muslim-Americans and Turks can
be stupid together.
But being Turkish is quite a face value these days: on the Middle East
kidnapping market Turkish passports are real top value. Before the
second kidnapped Turk in Lebanon was freed, Yemeni tribesmen kidnapped
a Turkish bus driver in the country's south to push the government to
release a jailed kinsmen. At the current pace of kidnappings, the
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs may soon have to launch a `Special
Department for the Release of Kidnapped Nationals.'
Turks may prefer to be `unhappy alone than unhappy with someone else.'
But it is sad that the famous motto we all learned at school in the
50s to the late 80s is still enjoying overwhelming popularity despite
the collapse of Kemalism: `A Turk's only friend is a Turk.' Religion
per se has failed to spark the love affair Turkish Islamists hoped it
would ignite with other Muslim nations. Apparently, Muslimness does
not suffice: Which sect are you? Which tribe are you? Do you believe
in Shariah? Are you secular? Do you shake hands with women? Why do you
have your wedding ring on your left hand? Are you an Arab Muslim or
non-Arab? Why did your ancestors enslave ours for centuries?
Perhaps more... Even Sunni Muslim Turks and Sunni Muslim Kurds are
killing each other in one of world's most violent conflicts of the
past half century. Apparently, there will be further bloodshed as long
as Turkish bigwigs believe that `a common faith' can solve this
dispute. Remember how the Turkish interior minister called the PKK
fighters a few months ago? `Oh, they are pork-eating Zoroastrians!'
And, more recently, how did a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and
Development Party refer to them? `Ah, oh, uh, these kids are Armenian
converts!'
We have no means to know if the honorable lawmaker knows things we
don't, like whether the Turkish authorities perform human skull tests
to determine the race of enemy fighters. We don't know either if that
lawmaker is equipped with a surreal talent to tell a body's ethnic
background just by looking at a photograph.
But in this age of Sunni-Muslim-Turkish supremacy, nothing should be
surprising. Dear seven billion plus inhabitants of the world: We will
love you if you convert to (Sunni) Islam and adopt Turkishness! No
deadlines, but just be smart enough not to miss this chance.
September/19/2012