Is it more difficult for a Turk to elect a Kurd than it is for an American to elect a black American as president?"

For some segments of society and even for a majority of us, this question might seem pointless, even dangerous.

Yet this is the question I found myself asking in the early hours of the morning.

* * *

Those who find this question meaningless could be justified in their thinking, reasoning that:

Hasn’t Turkey ever had a Kurdish origin prime minister or president before now?

Yes, it is true, Turkey has.

But, none of them chaired their positions by openly declaring their "Kurdish identity".

Therefore, it might be better to rephrase the question in this way.

"Would a Turk elect to president an individual who openly says ´I am a Kurd´?"

This is the true test of democracy.

What would your sincere answer to this question be?

Can you comfortably answer "yes" to this question?

These days for many of us, I would assume it would be difficult to say "yes".

In other words, I repeat that a revolution like an "American Revolution" as covered in today’s Hurriyet daily headline news, is even less likely to become a reality in Turkey.

* * *

If this estimation is an expression of one of our country´s facts then we also need to seek the answer to the following question.

Why we are like this?

Do we lack sufficient character to reach this level of democratic maturity?

I do not believe this is the case.

The democratic maturity of the Turkish nation is already at a level that could make many of the world´s oldest democracies jealous.

If we cannot comfortably answer "yes" to this question, the reason is not only the mistakes made in name of the "Turks" over the past 25 years, but as importantly, those made in the name of  "Kurds".

The American public, who just 15-20 years ago were involved in displaying the most primitive examples of racism, can now elect a second generation black man as president.

That is because Americans do not have a terrorist organization like the PKK.

They brought to an end groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panthers.

Therefore the president has no cause to refer to his skin color, which is his ethnic identity, during his presidential victory speech, because it is not an issue.

This is why Republicans are being defeated in states known for their racist stance.

He does not make a show of his demand for change by covering them with black veils, headscarves or making being black the issue.

I asked this question to myself at five o´clock in the morning and began to think.

What is the cost to Turkey of basing politics on religion and ethnic identity?

Turkey will hold local elections next year.

What do the terrorist PKK and pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party say?

"Kurds should vote for Kurds."

More than this, they say, a Kurd should vote for Kurds supported by the PKK...

What emerges from this thinking?

"Turks should vote for Turks..."

What about the streets and regions choked full of uncollected garbage.

This is not important...

And change is once again left to the future...

This is why the U.S. is a nation of people who "have dreams" and can realize these dreams.

While our country is a nation of poor that awakes from their nightmares drenched in sweat, each and every night...

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/home/10297302.asp?gid=244

 did you mean to open a can of worms??? Very thought provoking and I will watch this thread with interest.

OMG, i can´t wait to see what people have to say.  This is going to be very interesting.

 Of COURSE she meant to! 

sure, Turgut Ozal, and Ismet Inonu are interesting persons to talk about. I wonder what Ertugrul Ozkok smokes.

I don´t think this guy is a real journalist at all. True, he holds the reins of the largest newspaper in the country but his understanding of journalism is a mixture of those of an agent-provocator bringing out make-believe scandals and of stock-exchange speculator. He would fire his prominent columnists to make room for former celebrities or to satisfy the demands of the political authority. These ex-photomodels fill those columns with their serious opinions  about their g-strings, love affairs etc. He even hired his son-in-law who barely manages to write his name and sign underneath as a columnist too.

Always at the service of  his multi-million dollar media baron, he fights to get him tax reductions, immunities and redemptions in exchange of positive publicity. A shameless pro-government media boss, he sides up with the secular groups bashing Islamists and changes sides overnight when Islamists rise to power.

He is indeed a hitman constanstly targeting Turkish media which together with the government which have already seized a number of them by monopolizing distribution channels hence controlling and barring opposing publications. They never allow anything other than complete bullshit find a way to reach people.

He uses every bit of his questionable intelligence in order to keep riding the gravy train at all costs.

Ismet Inonu, our second President and former PM was a Kurd (We have had 11 presidents so far). He is still remembered as the second man after Ataturk. 

Turgut Ozal was also a Kurd and Turkish people elected him more than once. He was once the the most powerful man in Turkey for nearly a decade.

There are many MP´s who are Kurds. There is a political party (DTP) in the Parliament with a virtually all Kurdish vote base. They openly refer to the PKK leader as Mr. President. They sometimes face legal troubles when they go to the extremes. DTP demonstrators at a meeting place have recently attempted to lynch two civilians who yelled Down with the PKK at their face.

Quotation:

The Aeagean is not a Greek lake, The Aegean is not a Turkish lake either. As a matter of fact, The Aegean is not a lake....

Suleyman Demirel

Former President of Turkish Republic

vineyards  and tamikidakika  are right.

vineyards  and tamikidakika  are right.

What they said are the truth.

 That may be so...... however, what I read was their OPINION...

And with all due respect to Tam, how can you say this comment "is the truth" !!!

it´s so sad that racial prejudice still exist.   And sometimes it is also evident with some of the members here. That´s all i have to say.

That may be so...... however, what I read was their OPINION...

 

And with all due respect to Tam, how can you say this comment "is the truth" !!!

well it`s a truth that Ismet Inonu and Turgut Ozal were presidents and Kurdish.

and it`s another truth that Ertugrul was on drugs when he wrote this piece of crap.

Turkey is a republic and its flag is red..

and more over its population is about 70 million; people drive on the right, its internet code is ´.tr´ ..

And the current president is Abdullah Gul..

(I am expecting something like   ´thehandsom is right´ from Yilgun now)

 Do you need some attention, dear?

Trudy and thehandsome I hope you are done with ridiculing people.

That´s not all you have to say; you imply more. You are just ending a shallow comment with a sigh.

You must properly accuse people if you think they display racial prejudice. To do that, you need to be more responsible and write a few words to describe the reasons why some of those members deserve that accusation granting them a chance to defend themselves.

If you ask me rather than rushing to conclusions, we should take into account so many "deep" sociological factors affecting the reactions of the masses. Otherwise, we would have to label every country, every person and every entity.

That´s all i have to say....even if i imply more than what i had written it´s my choice.

I like Jazz fusion too.

Excuse me? 

lol.... don´t worry about it... some people just need to learn how to chillax and have a sense of humour...

 Hello pot, this is kettle calling - You´re black 

I couldnt understand your implication well. I think you mean in general, because i havent seen any racial prejudice so far in this thread. Could you please enlighten us a little who are those members? I think one of them is me ..

As for the article, i think someone had to remind Kemal Atatürk to Özkök while he was thinking so deeply in the morning. Maybe he was somehow zonked as tamikidakika mentioned ...