Bir Baskadir Benim Memleketim ...

It's a Small World ...

Did you know that the following Turkish VIPs, artists, writers and celebrities are all related by kinship?

According to Turkish genealogical researchers, all of the below personalities are related (in one way or another) to the great patriotic Ottoman poet NAMIK KEMAL:

Abidin Dino, Umur Talu, Mehmet Ali Aybar, Ebüziyya, Nazim Hikmet, Ömer Madra, Garan (the family of the spouse of Turkish journalist Mehmet Ali Birand), Rasih Nuri Ileri, Cemal Resit Rey, Vedat Tek, Ismail Hakki Arar, Nezih Neyzi, Osman Hamdi Bey, Can Arpaç, Sanar Yurdatapan, Hüsrev Gerede, Numan Menemencioglu, Alpay, and Abdülhak Hamit Tarhan.

Did you know that the grandfather of the daily Milliyet's columnist Umur (Ekrem) Talu is none other than Recaizade Ekrem, who happened to be a very close friend of Namik Kemal? The two were such close friends that Namik Kemal gave his friend's name as the middle name of his son Ali Ekrem Bolayir.

Morton Abramowitz and Richard Burt on Turkey and the EU

The cured man of Europe?

A book review by David Pryce-Jones


The Book: THE TURKS TODAY
By Andrew Mango
John Murray, £20, pp.292, ISBN:0719562295

Mustapha Kemal, otherwise Ataturk, took the corpse of the Ottoman empire
and re- animated it as Turkey. Breaking both the old sultanate and the
hold of Islam, he laid the foundation of a democratic state. It was an
extraordinary achievement, not to be witnessed again until Mikhail
Gorbachev broke the Soviet Union and the hold of the Communist party - and
that was more by accident than design.

In 1950 Turkey became the first Muslim country in history to replace its
government through a free election. Politics since then, it is true, have
been more a matter of strong personality than party and platform. As the
guardian of Kemalist secular and nationalist virtues, the army has staged
three coups. One unfortunate prime minister, Adnan Menderes, was hanged.
The Seventies and Eighties were particularly grim. Assorted terrorists,
Marxist or nationalist, secular or Islamist, Turkish fanatics or Kurdish
separatists, murdered almost at will, killing an estimated 35,000 victims.
Mehmet Ali Agca came out of this underworld of violence to shoot the Pope.
One way and another, much of the Kurdish area of eastern Turkey was
depopulated. But the army on each turbulent occasion returned power to the
civilians, and therefore democracy never quite fell off the tightrope it
was walking. In February 2003, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was elected prime
minister. He and his party were Islamists. Watchfully, the army waited in
the wings, in contrast to the Algerian army, which had chosen to cancel an
election rather than allow their Islamists to win it.



Andrew Mango knows Turkey well, and as the author of an admiring and
admirable biography of Ataturk he is a thorough-going Kemalist. In the
first part of this book, he describes how Kemalist secular and nationalist
values have managed to survive. He makes the point that Ataturk and his
heirs were determined to force Turks to think and behave like Westerners.
In this case, Westernisation and modernisation are supposedly one and the
same thing. The Turks, in a generalisation of Mango's, are 'avid for
modernity'. And this means adapting to fit in with the United States and
Nato, and of course the European Union, which to some Turks has the appeal
of the Garden of Eden.

In the second part of the book, Mango sets about describing how the Turks
have modernised, and continue to do so, in order to realise this idealised
vision. Much of this is a valiant effort of building dams and metalled
roads and pipelines, universities and schools and hospitals. Perhaps there
is no easy alternative, but he amasses the material like a gazetteer, with
humdrum statistics numbing page after page.

A random sample: research in
the Istanbul suburb of Bagcilar revealed
that the chief earner in two thirds of households had only primary
education, that in 18 per cent of households children did not attend
school, that in a quarter of households at least one child died in infancy,
that one fifth of the children suffered from a physical handicap, and that
seven per cent of the 40,000 inhabitants of the neighbourhood did not
feature in the population register.

Not to probe the corruption and nepotism which are such features of public
life is somewhat Panglossian. No mention of currency collapse. No mention
either of the military and scientific undertakings with Israel, and their
bearing on relations with the Arabs. Nothing about the newly independent
Turkic republics of Central Asia. No proper analysis of Greek malignancy
and the Cyprus question. Strangest of all, no reflections on the very
evident re-Islamisation of the country. The voices of imams and Islamists
are strikingly absent from this book.

The dangers are nevertheless real. Erdogan has an Islamist agenda whose
ends remain invisible as yet. Events in Iraq may once more fire Kurdish
separatism and the response of Turkish nationalism. In any case, are the
Turks really European any more than the Russians are? France and Germany
certainly think not. Does a secret inferiority complex drive this wish to
be seen as modern on the particular European model? Not to worry, Mango
thinks, everything will come out fine, it's only a question of time. We
have to hope he is right.

Of this World, On Her Own Terms

First check out this Washington Post photo:



The Washington Post caption: "In a nearly empty Olympic Stadium Friday morning, a woman wearing a track singlet over a traditional Muslim hijab, its white hood imprinted with the flag of Bahrain, set a national record in the 100-meter qualifying heats. So did a woman from Afghanistan, the first to represent her nation in the Olympics, who ran in loose-fitting pants and a T-shirt and finished 62nd out of 63 competitors."

When I first saw this front page photo I took a hard double-take because I've never before seen a woman in hijab running the 100-meters in an olympic competition.

Then I thought to myself, would I have the same reaction if, let's say, an Israeli athlete was running men's 100-meter with a yarmulka on his head? Probably not.

This lady is clearly not an Islamist because a true Wahhabi-style Islamist would not even appear on the same track with "naked" women from "infidel" nations.

This Bahrainian (correct?) woman (what a brave soul!) definitely wanted to be a part of this international event. She obviously did not want to miss out on being "a part of the action." Athens was the "place to be." So, there is no rejection or renunciation there.

But there is also this personal accounting, this struggle for personal dignity and identity. Perhaps it was out of her own free will, or perhaps it was due to a jealous husband, a disciplinarian father/brother/family, whatever. But for one reason or another, she was compelled to wear the hijab.

She probably said, "OK, fine, where's my hijab?" because she was intent on "taking care of business." The business of the Olympics and competing at a top-notch international level, that is.

And then a time will probably come when the Muslim ladies, handicapped due to the weight and non-aerodynamic qualities of the fabric they are wrapped in, will realize that they cannot become the fastest as long as they train and run covered with fabric from head to toe.

It's not politics. It's not religion. It's physics.

Then there will be a second round of reckoning for them -- would they continue to be "also ran"s?

Or would they realy want to go for it, even if it means wearing modern running gear, like all their competitors do? That's a choice they will have to make, not today, not immediately, but sometime in the future, eventually. It's waiting for them.

Sometimes form follows function, and not politics.

The non-hijab form that the Western politics could not dictate to the conservative Muslims, could cut inroads into fundamentalist Islam through the functionality and physical dictates of top-level Olympic competition. (Chalk up another one for Fukuyama.)

Floating

After a 6K run early in the morning, a hot muggy overcast summer morning, my body suddenly turned into

... a flotation device. I could see one foot being placed in front of the other. But whose feet were they?

Then it started to rain and I could feel rain drops fall on something that distinctly looked and felt like human skin.

A truly amazing site on the Turkish Jews who were/are allegedly descendants of Sabetay Sevi

It is a long list of Who's Who of Turkish Elite in Politics, Arts and Pretty Much Everything Else.

I knew all along that there are a great number of famous Turkish artists, writers, politicians and bureaucrats who are related by blood line or marriage. But this list is still something else...

After going through this jaw-dropping list, I feel totally ignorant of the Turkish history. I've got to do some more reading on the subject, right away.

Turkish Jazz Festival in New York, Sept 2004

An important development: the First Civilian Secretary General for Turkish National Security Council

Ambassador Yigit Alpogan, the current Turkish envoy to Athens, has been appointed the first civilian Secretary General of the Turkish National Security Council (NSC). Alpogan expressed determination to contribute to Turkey's European Union (EU) bid.

NSC is a Constitutional body formed after the 1980 coup. The 1982 Turkish Constitution defines NCS in Article 118.

NCS consists of the following members: President of the Republic, Prime Minister, Turkish Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Ministers of the Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Defense, and the Commanders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Gerdarmerie.

Since 1982, NCS Secretary Generals have been Turkish Armed Forces officers at the rank of a General (4 stars). The appointment of Amb. Alpogan is hailed by some commentators as a positive step towards bolstering the role of civilians in national security matters.

Taking a Taxi in Athens

Here is another proof that Turks and Greeks are a lot closer in national temperament and daily habits than most people give credit for.

Riding a taxi in Athens sounds a lot like riding a cab in Istanbul or Ankara...

And here is another humorous look at the facts of life in Athens by Dave Barry.

Turkey's Top-5 Problems

Yaman Torüner, Chairman & CEO, Istanbul Stock Exchange March 1990 - April 1994, a Central Bank Governor, was a DYP member of the Turkish Parliament from Afyon and a State Minister in the 53rd Turkish government formed by PM Mesut Yilmaz.

In a recent commentary he wrote for Milliyet, this is how he identified the TOP FIVE PROBLEMS IN TURKEY today:

1) Turks are not educated well.
2) There is a constant threat of political instability.
3) Contemporary urbanization is still an unrealized dream.
4) The social security system is not working.
5) The tax rates are unjust and the tax collection system is not working.

Iraq Requires Visa for Turks

Iraq is now requiring visa from Turkish visitors -- just like Turkey has been requiring for some time a Turkish visa for Iraqi tourists.

However, this reciprocation rubbed some Turkish observers the wrong way. They somehow believe that Iraq has no right to impose such a condition on the Turks despite the Turkish visa on the Iraqis. I don't get it.

Why doesn't Turkey first try abolishing the visa requirement for the Iraqis and then complain? Or am I being too fair here?

And Iraq is of course not the only country (by any means) that has a visa requirement for Turks. Here is a full list (in Turkish) of all the countries that require a visa for Turkish citizens.

Iraqis have also refused Turkish goods as payment for Iraqi oil. They want cold cash. That also does not augur well for the future of Turkish-Iraqi relations.

As I Watch the Athens Olympics

I love to watch the Olympics. I love the competition, the effort, the drive for excellence, and the whole youthful atmosphere... 16, 17, 18 year olds teaching us old geezers how to persevere and rise to the occasion under pressure-cooker conditions.

I myself really adore running, the whole track thing. I try to run regularly, perhaps 5 times a week. I started back in August 1999, when my bear-belly threatened to take off and go on its own way. So I started to run for 1 minute and walk for 3 minutes, and still double over with cramps and strange stabbing pains at every 100 feet or so. It's an addiction at this point.

For the last 6 months I think I am averaging about 15 miles a week. My shortest run is 3.2 miles. Longest is about 6 miles (which pretty much puts me out of commission for the following day).

For the last two years I keep dreaming about joining a marathon bootcamp but my common sense thankfully argues otherwise and I postpone the preposterous idea for another year. But one day I just may go for it. Who knows?

Considering the fact that I still have my knees attached to my legs and my legs to my hips, I must be doing "not too shabby," to use one of my favorite Americanisms.

Last year, as a member of my local Road Runners Club, I clocked a 33:41 at an official 5K race. This year I did not run any official races but I timed myself at 29:02 on a very up-and-down hilly course. I can probably do a 28 or even 27 (if the temperature is 70F or below) on a regular flat track. At my age I do not know if any further improvement is possible, prudent, or even necessary.

This year, while watching the Olympics, two meditations insist to take the front seat to my other thoughts and emotions:

1) Empty seats. Am I the only one noticing that most of the seats in those expensive stadiums and swimming halls are empty? Especially the gymnastics is a pain to watch. Basketball, the same story. An Athenian interviewed by NPR said the tickets are so expensive that most Greeks cannot afford to attend their own Olympics. What an irony. At the home of Olympic games, the owner of the house cannot afford to sit together with the guests.

Perhaps the whole terror scare played a part in the low attendance record. But whatever it is, there seems to be some truth to speculations by some olympic observers that Greece will not be able to pay the $10 billion that she dished out for the games, and that the financial consequences for Greece would be felt for some time to come.

2) Ancient Greece of Multi Gods vs. Orthodox Christian Greece of the 21st Century. OK, this may not be the most elegant way of putting it but I really believe that Ancient Greece probably has as much in common with Modern Greece as Hittites have with Modern Turkey -- that is, very little, except the geography.

I cannot imagine a starker contrast than that between the rough and tumble athletes of the old, cussing, cursing, wine drinking, racing naked, scheming and competing with Gods (plural, a plethora of them), the ancient Greece where MAN was the measure of all things possible and precious, where RATIONALITY gots its first kickstart, REASON, the frail vulnerable lonely HUMAN REASON, took its first trembling steps towards the circles, triangles, the math, the moon, the planets and beyond, and where the HUMAN CONDITION, with its tragedy, comedy, beauty and temporal brevity of it all, stood in the heart of the mystery of existence... The Odyssey of MAN leaving his comfortable confines and through the terror of the unknown trying to go back home again...

... versus the Orthodox Christian Greece of our day, with a NATIONAL religion, a deep seated mysticism going back to the "Desert Fathers" ... are these the same Greece's? Or is it just a geographical illusion played on our senses by a mind that telescopes time?

Every time I speak to a contemporary Greek it is obvious that that mischievous, iconoclast zest for life, that ZORBA wine coursing in the veins for human blood, is of course still there.

But I do not know enough about the Greek character or culture to discern whether the political zealotry and the collective unease that prompted Greece to take a few disasterous political adventures too many in the 20th century should be attributed to

1) PLATO's Greece where the conceited philosopher-king, who has read more books than anybody else, drunk with hubris, took the country by the throat in unexamined directions (see, Karl Popper, "The Open Society and Its Enemies"), or

2) the relatively new Greece shaped in the crucible of British and French nationalism, a new nation which for too long found its sharpest self-definition in anti-Turkism, with its militaristic-nationalistic-Orthodox pulse trying to redeem a re-discovered history, a Greece that tests an ancient hypothesis through a new masculine reflex, at times bordering a Hellenistic crusade?

Which Greece am I watching, I ask myself, as I sit before my TV set, drinking in the gorgeous Greek countryside, the blue endless sea and the white-washed houses, the olive groves and the overloaded donkeys, the winding village trails, the bees and flies buzzing under the hot August sun darting in and out of the purple thistle bushes, and wholesome patient smiling folks, aging gentlemen with curled moustaches and village ladies with kerchiefs carrying freshly picked tomatoes and eggs in their baskets, folks that look so much like their Anatolian counterparts on the other side of the Aegean...

Which Greece am I watching, I keep wondering as Michael Phelps racks up one medal after another... as the diminuitive Turkish Hercules, like super ants, lift twice and thrice their body weights and shatter world records...

The Greece of Thales, Aristotle and Socrates... or Venizelos, Grivas and Sampson?

And Jesus, who constantly stressed that this world was nothing and that the "real kingdom" was that "of my Father" on the other side... would he have approved all this jumping and running and jostling in Christian Greece for the highest, fastest, strongest, just to beat the other guy to the punch, for two cents worth of fleeting fame and fortune?

As Baltimore's hometown boy-wonder Michael Phelps steps out of the chrome blue pool dripping gold, I close my eyes for a commercial break and silently send a pair of doves from my heart, pure shimmering white doves, fluttering from the shores of the good country where I was born and raised, to the shores where the oldest experiment of the human mind is still unfolding in all its beauty and with all its questions.