Not Being Able to Present The Turkish Identity In Eurovision

(This discussion on Eksi Sozluk was opened to criticize Turkey's entry selection for Eurovision.)

Assuming that Eurovision is really a place to present an identity - an interesting thought though I must say -, right away, the question that comes to one's mind is what Turkish identity that is not well presented in Eurovision is like. We, as a nation, love to live at the peaks of a reactionary attitude. But, don't you think that slowly we need to start to understand that this land we live in has a history and that we didn't land here from space or even more absurdly from Central Asia? Our essence is a mixture. Only 7% of our genetic pool is originated from Central Asia while around 30% is from Middle East and another around 30% is from Europe.

We have made ourselves so deeply condition that we Turks have to be the center of the world, that we are a very special race crowned by the contemporary fact that we are a Muslim nation, we tend not to understand or see that we are owners of this also in terms of civilizations highly fertile land . Being cut from history other than the official one, we tend to forget what really matters is the LAND. Cultures flourishing on it don't vanish but only change form by interacting with each other. Have no illusions: We are Urartu, we are Hittite, we are Sumer, we are Persia, we are Antic Greece, we are Troi, we are Byzantine, we are Armenia, we are Seldjuk and we are Ottoman.

With this certain stupid idea what a real Turk is like (encoded by official and still too nationalistically oriented education system) in our head, we struggle to find whether we fit into that image. But the minute we try to fit ourselves into something is the actual moment where we put a distance to our true selves.

Manga, Mor ve Ötesi, Hadise, Kenan Dogulu - all of these artists are rooted from this land. They grew up here and they were loved here.They are PART of this land. They reflect this land. Without any complexes they should be accepted.

And if really needed - I don't see why we should it need it though - we shouldn't refrain from looking directly into the eyes of our sarcastic foreign friends and say "hey - we are this, I don't fucking care about the rest, really."

Don't think we are pure. Nobody actually is. But living up to the idea that we are mixture can be really nice - creative, passionate, joyful. And we have an opportunity where we could realize this state of mind more easily than most of the other nation states.

Armenians Killed 519.000 Turks

A sentence designed to continue like this: "... therefore incidents where 1.5 Million Armenians were killed cannot be called a genocide."

Numbers quoted might be correct or not. Incidents that happened could be called a genocide or not - this actually isn't the point. Far from it. But the claim that the suffering party has to be 100% the victim like in the Holocaust to call it a genocide is utterly foolish to me.

In the end, while until only 100 years ago, "Kurds, Armenians, Turks etc." lived in this land, now "Kurds, Turks etc." live. Find the difference between the two pictures.

Fenerbahce

One of the major ngo's with the greatest number of supporters in Turkey. The organization is actively working on fostering wannabe mafia culture in the country.

For other similar examples of this size, please refer to following articles;

(refer to: galatasaray)
(refer to: besiktas)

Duman Making Fun of Koran

(the discussion is about a particular song from the new album of a rock group named Duman which has lyrics where well-known Arabic words from Koran are selectively taken and distorted into funny Turkish words to criticise the religion)

If someone feels like it, it should be more than OK to make fun of Koran. Sacredness is all about one's personal perception. Someone else's sacred thing doesn't necessarily have to be mine as well.

If our dear religious friend is looking for the affirmation that he is not stupid or for the social applause he thinks he have earned for his very eligible art of submission in Duman's songs - well this is the wrong place to look for, I'm sorry. He needs to find about these in himself - only in himself.

If your faith is really that strong, why the need for to keep an eye on your surroundings?

To Feel Like Belonging To Only One Man All Your Life

At most, a sensitive little dick can feel like that.

Sour Dictionary - 1

Eksisozluk - literally meaning the sour dictionary - is the primary online community in Turkey where people share their (mostly bullshit but sometimes really) interesting thoughts. The site is reachable by anyone where articles are written by somewhat 20000 authors - in eksisozluk terminology so called "susers" - whose articles are being monitored by a handful praetors - voluntary legal counsels, mostly lawyers by profession - who make sure that the entries have no legal implications and moderators who are responsible that format rules are being followed. In this fashion on average every year about one million articles - entry in dictionary terminology - are recorded.

The authors include some really interesting fellows coming from all corners of the political spectrum. Sometimes the discussions become really harsh particularly around topics such as the Armenian genocide, Kurdish question, religion's role in the country and so on.

Overall it is a platform where a country's fiercely divided youth learns to co-exist with each other and learn about each other's thoughts.

I have been contributing in this community in the last 4-5 years under the nickname degisen - literally meaning "the ever changing one".

I decided to translate some of my contributions I will be doing to the dictionary here to give you an idea about current hot topics in Turkey and my point of view about these issues. After all, it's Turkey, on any given day the country is burning with discussions. Of course, I will take the pleasure to share my entries which are not that serious as well.

Label for these type of entries will be "sourdictionary".