Reaction from the ground in Turkey
Obviously, I have a lot to say about this subject. Quite a bit more than can be contained in our short-format concept here. I'll link to longer pieces as I write them. But briefly, Denise: What foreign observers might not grasp is that Turkey is so insane to begin with that this barely changes the mood on the street at all. The insanity's just getting a lot of international attention now, because the stakes are so high, but the emotional tone of life here seems pretty normal to me The natives are restless. What's new? People are always in a state of fulminating agitation around here. They are always saying the most draw-droppingly lunatic things, if not about Israel, then about a million other subjects.
Turks are remarkably credulous; they have no access to the media outside Turkey (it's the rare Turk who reads English or any other language.) The educational system gives them few tools critically to analyze things they hear in the media. It's pretty easy to get them worked up.
Politicians are always screaming their heads off in parliament; if not about this, about something else. Diplomats are always being recalled from one country or another in a state of high dudgeon. Shortly before this, Erdogan cancelled a state visit to Argentina because some Argentine city governor decided not to built a statue of Ataturk. It was, said Erdogan, an unforgivable insult to Turkish honor.
The press is talking about Erdogan being "furious," but as far as I know, he's never been seen in public in any other state. Traffic is always snarled because of some demonstration in Taksim Square involving one radical group or another. The police are always using water cannons. My friends and I regard pepper spray as one of those unpleasant nuisances of urban life. You try to avoid it, like bad traffic, but it barely makes more of an impression. There is always a sense here that things are on the verge of some kind of Apocalypse -- that you could wake up and be arrested, hit by a car, swallowed up in an earthquake. The guys whizzing around in their jihadimobiles and screamingAllahu Akbar are real, but then so are the young guys with whom I just went out for a few drinks -- a computer programmer, a chef -- who when asked what they thought about the Mavi Marmara shrugged indifferently and said,, "I don't care. I didn't know them [the Turks who were killed] What were they to me?" and "I don't give a sh*t; why should I care about the Palestinians just because they're Muslims? There are tons of people out there suffering in the world." These are smart, funny, sweet, attractive young men. They are, unfortunately, of draft age.
Barring miscalculation on either side -- a very real possibility -- I think this will blow over in a few weeks. Turks get very emotional and then forget quickly. But miscalculation is a real possibility, and if through some God-awful series of them this ends up in an outright Turkish-Israeli naval battle, young men like them will die.
A lot of people here see this for exactly what it is: A transparent attempt by the AKP to steal thunder from the CHP's new leader, Kilicdaroglu. (I mentioned him in an earlier post.) Polls had been putting the CHP ahead, and that couldn't be tolerated. There are a lot of Turks here who aren't dumb and see exactly what's going on. And, alas, a lot of Turks who are dumb and are falling for every word of it.
"Wag the dog," as a (Turkish) friend put on his Facebook profile, aptly.
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May '10
Re: Reaction from the ground in Turkey
Ouch. I need to go get moving on my Aataturk statue right away. I hope it doesn't need to be representational realism, as opposed to impressionistic, because I can't sculpt or whittle worth a street-vendor cup of Turkish coffee.
May '10
Re: Reaction from the ground in Turkey
Claire, your statement that "Turks are remarkably credulous" struck me as a great way to describe one of the ongoing cultural dynamics between the West and the "Muslim World".
Have you spent any time in the Middle East or living in an Arab culture? I haven't, but my impression is that Arab culture tends to produce "credulous" people as well, as we often hear about the "Arab Street" where effigies are burning and flags are being stomped into the ground in an enraged reaction to the latest rumor about cartoons of the Prophet being flushed down the toilet upside-down.
Re: Reaction from the ground in Turkey
Thanks, Claire. Let's hope for no "miscalculations."
Edited on Jun 1, 2010 at 8:52pmRe: Reaction from the ground in Turkey
INRS, One of my top priorities for reform, were I a Turkish politician, would be the educational system. Again, I can't confine this explanation to a short post, but if you want my (very) long take on the deeper problems here, including a discussion of the educational system, try this:
Everybody Knows, but Nobody Knows, Part I
Everybody Knows, but Nobody Knows, Part II
May '10
Re: Reaction from the ground in Turkey
Comments, please, on these op-eds (all linked at this location):
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/06/026471.php
May '10
Re: Reaction from the ground in Turkey
This commentary by David Solway strikes me as being a bit stark; he really slams most commentators who don't equate Erdogan as being the brother of Ahmadinejad; clearly things are not ideal, but is reality really this black and white?
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/ottoman-dreams/?singlepage=true