Small Victories (Maybe) in Intercultural Mutual Understanding
Well, I'm not sure whether I've succeeded in conveying the social and political complexity of Turkey to my fellow Americans, but to judge from comments on my Facebook page, Ricochet members have done quite a good job of explaining the subtleties of American political life to Turks. You could have worse slogans here, I guess, than "We don't want voting like in Chicago."
Tangentially related: I know "conversation with the cab driver" is the biggest-ever cliche in journalism but what I can I say, he was a cab-driver, and this conversation last night was interesting. We had the usual exchange about where I'm from, how long I've been in Turkey, do I like it, what do I do. Then he asks what I think of Turkish politics and I say my usual polite, guarded bit about being concerned about certain things, and suddenly he lets fly: "What is this government doing! They're screwing up our relationship with America! They've screwed up our relationship with Israel! Now they're even screwing up our relationship with Germany, and they're giving us Arabs in return. Arabs! Do you realize what our history with them is? We need America! We need Israel! We don't need Arabs, they betrayed us!"
Erdoğan was giving some campaign speech in the background on the radio and obviously the sound of Erdoğan's voice was making this guy apoplectic. "The economy--who's getting rich? It's not people like us." He's gripping the steering wheel so tight I'm worried his knuckles will crack. "And your Obama, what's he talking about? Arabs, democracy? Why is he so naive?"
Right, then. Jump cut to dinner with a Turkish journalist who until recently has been an enthusiast of the AKP, but has gone sour on them. He's not going to vote for them, he told me. He's one of these guys who can't bear the CHP, though, because--well, at the deepest level, I suspect, because the progenitors of the modern party locked up his father. You never really forgive people for that.
We're not talking about politics, though, we're talking about relationships. Kemalist women, he complains, are empty-headed. "The problem is," he says to me, totally seriously, "I just have to face it: They're hotter."
Right, then. Jump cut to an AKP reception held by a Jewish member of the AKP team (yes, there's such a thing: all of one, apparently--which is I guess what you'd expect, demographically). I would have liked to talk to him but I didn't really get a chance; there were a lot of people there. This is a reception for the AKP, but somehow I can't find anyone who says he or she's going to vote AKP. One woman tells me, sotto voce, "I'm just here because my friends invited me. I think I'm going to vote BDP." That's the Kurdish party. I ask her why, noting that the vote will be wasted--they'll never cross the 10 percent threshold. "I know, but you can't think like that," she says. "And I just feel so guilty about the Kurds. We've treated them so badly."
Right, then. Jump-cut to the last conversation of the day, with someone who found me on Facebook and asked if I'd be willing to talk to him about the PKK. Sure, I said. I've never met the guy and have no idea who he is. But my gut says he's a real person, at least.
X: first i have to say sorry for bothering you and second thing that as I said before my English is so weak ... I was following your articles ... it sounds like a free person is writing them, a person who trying for justice ... but I have no idea why you just see one side of the problem in Turkey ... of course any one has different idea ... but sometimes with dialogs and trasnfering infromations to each other we can understand each other better. I'm xxxxxx ... I live in xxxxxx and I am doing cultural and political activities on my free time ...
Claire Berlinski: I try to write only about what I can see for myself--I've become very distrustful of other reporting, having too many times read things I know are not true in other publications. And since I live in Istanbul, I can't see what's happening for myself in, say, Diyarbakir. So I write less about that.
X: last winter I had a trip to Kurdish area in Turkey and north Iraq and got some info also from Iran I work on that for 3 months to understand what really my native is missing in Middle East. I met PKK guerillas also ... and I saw they are too much different than what all international media saying about them. I learn many things in my trip ... but the only thing I didn't undertand it was why everyone without trying to know their real idea they call them with bad subjects that I don't think they are
Claire Berlinski: how so?
X: they are trying now for 4. time in past 10-15 years to make peace in Turkey for Kurds and Turks ... but always Army and NATO attacking them and calling them trouble makers! it is unfair for me because I see many Kurds accept them as their political representative
Claire Berlinski: What do you see them doing to try to make peace??
X: they want same rights for Arabs, Kurds, Armenians and all natives in Turkey same as Turks
Claire Berlinski: They are right to want that, and I support them completely in that.
X: study mother lang ... speak own lang .. live with own culture and own lang
Claire Berlinski: But I do not support terrorist attacks on civilians.
X:so that what I also try to say ... they have never attacked civil people ... and after any civil attack they protest it also there is a Ergenekon and Gladio politics which trying to make bad image of them
Claire Berlinski: Who do you think attacked the bus stop in Etiler last week?
X: not them ... because they don't support this kind of attacks ... never! right now they are waiting for a peaceful elections ... because they really want BDP win and solve Kurds problem in right way! I can promise that ... because I am sure about them more about myself. AKP and Army tried too much to start war with them ... and then tell people they don't want peace in Turkey ... but after PKK decode their politics and didn't start war with Army ... now they are trying to make civil attacks and many news says unkown terrorist groups but they really mean by that PKK is the group who is doing that... I ask you something ... you are in Istanbul ... in Istanbul both AKP and PKK have power and can do what they want ... any good or bad feedback about PKK never make them angry to attack a journalist or civil person ... but let say about AKP! how many journalist arrested because they didn't agree AKP politics? ... how many person of BDP are in jail now? over 3000 person! and before elections! ...
Claire Berlinski: Do you think the AKP is behind the bombings?
X: AKP is behind all dirty politics to make Kurds silent! and to end up with Kurds last hope the next elections I mean. did you hear even how many MHP and AKP joined BDP? that makes AKP angry of course. from EU a Kurd group is going to Turkey to watch on elections that AKP don't cheat ... that is other bad news for them. in political way they lost already ... so the only hope for them is that everyone believe that PKK is terorrist and BDP is PKK's supporter and that is a good reason to ban BDP!
Claire Berlinski: Let me make a suggestion--if there is any evidence that the AKP, not the PKK, has been bombing Istanbul, that;'s a pretty big story. I could write about it. But I can't write that I met someone on Facebook who says this--that's not credible. Is there any way you can get me evidence of this?
X: Turkey lived those kinds of story many many times in last 80 years. I will try to find some stories ... but I can not promise and let me tell you something ... the reason of what I am doing now after my trip when I really know who is PKK and all medias are saying wrong news about them, I promised to myself to tell everyone what I saw ... I try to tell everyone who is real PKK ... but a little hard also
Claire Berlinski: think of this from a journalist's perspective--I can't just say "The AKP did it" without evidence.
X: how about PKK ? is there any evidence? except what government medias say
Right, then. It was late by this point, so I suggested we talk again another time. "Evidence" is usually a sticking point in conversations like this.
By the way, the PKK regularly takes credit for the kinds of attacks on civilians he says they would never support. My reservations about the AKP are considerable, but do not extend to seriously entertaining the thought that they're bombing shopping malls these days to make the PKK look bad. Electorally, the violence can only hurt them, so the idea makes no sense on the face of it.
So: I'd like to think a few more Turks now understand that you shouldn't model your democracy on Chicago, and I hope a few more Americans now grasp the dating dilemmas of liberal Islamists in Turkey. As for the rest, if you're confused, join the club.
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Comments :
Oct '10
Re: Small Victories (Maybe) in Intercultural Mutual Understanding
I call this the "civil society" effect: Meeting someone in person where you share a common purpose (or common external threat) makes you really, really want to like that person.
This is the same tactic Islamists use to suck up to the Western elite (even neo-nazis are trying it these days, I once stumbled on a website using that tactic).
Nov '10
Re: Small Victories (Maybe) in Intercultural Mutual Understanding
This is the most encouraging thing that I have read about Turkey in a long time.
Mar '11
Re: Small Victories (Maybe) in Intercultural Mutual Understanding
As the saying goes, don't assume a conspiracy when stupidity, venality and malice will adequately explain the situation. Having said this I will have to ask: What is it with the AKP that prompts this king of thinking, not just among Kurds, like your interlocutor, but also among non Kurds, as you have described elsewhere?
Re: Small Victories (Maybe) in Intercultural Mutual Understanding
Lack of transparency. The vast difference between rhetoric and reality.
Mar '11
Re: Small Victories (Maybe) in Intercultural Mutual Understanding
But surely there is the usual shenanigans one reads, like the appearance of the the home movies starring major opposition figures and the whole Ergenekon business, the latter two having a definite whiff if not of consipracy on a grand scale certainly of a frame up.
Re: Small Victories (Maybe) in Intercultural Mutual Understanding
That goes without saying. Or, actually, maybe it doesn't. It's good to keep pointing that out.
Aug '10
Re: Small Victories (Maybe) in Intercultural Mutual Understanding
That's one spunky cabbie.
And this
just made my day in some obscure way.
Maybe because I've listened to guys make similar confessions this side of the pond.
Feb '11
Re: Small Victories (Maybe) in Intercultural Mutual Understanding
AKP women aren't too shabby. Their hottest attribute: their really, really low expectations of men.
[Hurriyet (Turkey), May 24, 2011]
Family Counselor for Istanbul Municipalities Suggests Legalizing Polygamy
A family counselor who directs family education programs for Istanbul’s largely Islamist AKP-run municipalities, including Fatih, Umraniye and Eyup, suggested legalizing polygamy.
“A man looks for friendship, sexuality, motherhood and good housekeeping qualities in a woman. Unless you possess all these attributes, you ought to be ready for being cheated. This is a rightful search for a man,” said 35-year-old Sibel Uresin.and added, “A healthy woman who analyzes what she will have to go through in the case of a divorce should, in my opinion, consider polygamy as a form of salvation.
"According to Uresin polygamy is already a fact of life because 85 percent of men already cheat anyway....
“Rich men with solid careers and lots of sexual power can sometimes choose polygamy. Men go after women who are more flirtatious laugh more and who can satisfy them sexually. If I were a man, I would have been polygamous,” said Uresin....”
Now that's great Da'wa!
I'll take two, make one a Circassian.