I couldn´t have yet an impression about those people. This is not possible for now. I haven´t understood how these people´s family structures are, what their moral judgments are, according to what their thinking structures are or whether they know love or respect, what they believe, how they think, what they think, what they do, how they live.

In fact I wonder how much you care about honesty, clean morals, real -not fake- friendship, self sacrifice and good will in a person.

 May it be beneficial and fortunate. May Allah not separate the ones who love each other.

 I said sometimes words can be very effective but most of the times not. If you know words are in vain and you still continue to say same thing over and over again either you are showing off or you are scaring of taking action. Gandhi´s words were very effective. But without passive disobedience they would be useless. Passive disobedience is an act too. Acts don´t mean they have to be violent. You can´t change anything with only words. There is a saying in Turkish "The dog which barks, doesn´t bite" For example everybody said Israel to not to hinder human aid to Palestine but they were no use until now. Some activists took action and now it is an international matter. And everyone now condemns Israel. Without this action could it be possible such a thing? I don´t say go and be killed. But at least don´t make noise if you don´t have enough courage to take action like me.

I don´t know when Israel´s cruelty will end. I don´t know how many more people have to die to it finish. But Israel´s name was already written to the black pages of the history. I respect the brave and innocent people who are killed by Israeli soldiers on that ship. They showed us what courage means. They defended themselves with their fists against machine guns. And they became martyrs for us. This is what courage means. I learned one of the ships´ name is Rachel Corrie. It is also so meaningful.

 Yes it sounds better. The first sentence sounded weird. But then I thought about other sentences like "Dün çok tembeldin(You were very lazy yesterday)" And it seemed ok to me. So I am now not sure whether "Yüzmeye gitmedim çünkü tembeldim" is wrong or not. But it sounds weird to me. So I wonder what the opinions of other natives are.

 I agree all what you say. I am not perfect. I am not an activist. I tell others what to do. But the main difference is I know who I am. I say I  am ashamed of my cowardice when I remember Rachel Corrie´s selfless action. But some people here feel like they are freedom fighters when they say empty words. I think a collective action is way better than empty words. It will not change anything if I say "Don´t send children to prison!" or "PKK, don´t use children!" I f you say something will change I am ready to say these all day.

 We use being lazy as a habit. So you can´t say in Turkish I was lazy if you act lazily sometimes. You can use here "kendimi tembel hissettim".

 I agree opening mouth is the first step. But you can´t stop in the first step if you want to change something. Words can be sometimes very effective but most of the times not. Some people won´t want to listen you. Most of the time a collective action is better than words. Everyone condemns Israel and USA for their crimes but they don´t listen anybody. Words are useless. After you understand words are no use and you keep saying same things over and over again knowing they will change nothing you are either showing off or you are afraid of taking action. I am reading now Frantz Fanon´s Wretched of The World. It tells the struggle of colony people and how words are useless without action. There is a famous foreword of J.P.Sartre for this book. You can find it here.http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/1961/preface.htm Read it carefully and you will understand what I mean. I don´t approve unnecessary violence. But taking action doesn´t mean only violence. Rachel Corrie´s action wasn´t violent. But it was very effective. I don´t advice you to be killed. But you should do more than talking. Rachel Corrie is now a martyr. She gives me hope for a good and peaceful future.She gives me courage. She tells me you must be brave and afraid of nothing when you are right. If she just talked and did nothing I wouldn´t even know her. I wouldn´t want her be killed by a bulldozer. But I respect her decision. She was so brave and when I remember this selfless act I am ashamed of my cowardice.

 I think only way to solve Kurdish problem is diplomacy for Turkey. I support the government´s Kurdish opening. But I am sure Kurdish politicians will want more. Their ultimate goal is having their own country. But Turkey still suffers the traumas of first world war. We lost many lands. And nobody want to lose more lands. It has become a taboo to even talk about giving more lands. So without a war Turkey will never allow Kurds to have their own country. My thoughts are these about this matter.

Note: By the way I am not a marxist. I hate marxism. I am a social democrat.

Ahmet Mithat Efendi/ Çingene (The Gipsy)

Ahmet Mithat Efendi who is struggling to  enlighten his people with a humanist approach by bringing a different view point against all prejudgments and superstitions of his period at every turn, is drawing attention to a subject which is unpleasant but important, in this work of his which is named The Gipsy.

This work which is presented to present day reader for the first time after it was written with a great mastery by Ahmet Mithat  exactly 122 years ago, is a work that one should read it by holding it up as an example

(from idefixe)

An anti-racist work and it tells how our people saw gypsies 122 years ago. Our approach to them wasn´t so brilliant like now. You should read it.

 Onlar ne derse desin aynı olabilirdik... Düşünüyorum da hayatımızın geri kalanını  beraber geçirirdik.