The linguistic history of Finland must be one of the most interesting. The Finnish language is like the test tube of how communities adopt a language, how they turn their back to it due to the changes in the cultural environment and how it revived due to the rise of patriotic feelings.

The way I perceive it, no matter how great the influence of other cultures can be, a language tends to hold on to its own grammar. For example, despite massive changes it has had due to Persian and Arabic influence, Turkish has retained its grammar to a great extent. The abundance of Persian, Arabic, Italian and Greek loan words can be explained in the context of a great empire extending several continents. Iran and Arabia had special places because, Iran had been ruled by Turks for centuries and it supports a very huge Azeri population. With the Arabs we have the religion link. Sultans coming after Yavuz did their best to convert the native communities in Anatolia into Sunnites.

I don´t know about the "striving" part but I am sure Turkish is one of the most difficult languages to learn. It takes a lot of dedication to master it. The speakers of the other agglutinative languages feel the same about their own languages. Finnish for example is a lot more difficult compared to say Dutch.

It takes a lot to learn Turkish; the learners have my respect...

Well, Greece has always been Europe´s spoiled child. Europe has always backed them against Turkey. The US aid back in the 70´s and 80´s had a ratio of 10/7. Turkey had more than 50 million population and Greece had something like seven. They are used to being taken care of.

Nevertheless, it is the bureaucrats responsibility to think about the consequences when they attempt to build such a large scale commitment like the EU.

I don´t remember anyone protesting the accession of Greece, Spain or Portugal. The process was so swift, painless and instantly welcomed. Remember the initial ideal: a European union that would rival the US. What we are getting instead looks more like communism: not the poor workers but the poorer countries demanding a share from the common wealth. In the end of this, there will be a more homogenous, inflation and poverty stricken Europe...

Why aren´t we joining the EU? That is some question really. Are you asking this seriously?

Abla with all due respect, you can´t sell democracy and freedom like selling a Mercedes. It is like asking a poor guy: "Why don´t you buy a Merc pal, it has everything you need."

Well, I can´t because your guys attacked me from all corners. They did this by offering freedom to the Balkans and Arabs at a time when they were busy doing dirty work of slave trade and colonism in their own back yards. After having lost an entire young generation (remember Dardanelles, Tripoli, Yemen, the Balkan Wars, Russian front), we have no money to afford a Mercedes.

The net result was the creation of medieval style, oil rich nations that perpetually fight with one another. They are still coming up with new forms of freedom words like the Arab Spring while they keep on bombing their lands.

We must not import freedom from anyone, we must not transfer your understanding of freedom. We must develop our own version and you must stop trying to export your beloved regime everywhere.

If the West could stop pokin its nose everyone else´s business, this world would be a better place. To prove this point just check out how much money the West has so far poured into wars and conflicts and how much for the charity work? Stop trying to help the world. Just leave the world alone.

As a collective reply those with a Kemalist background. I know we are all Kemalists essentially. Our president, our prime minister have all become Kemalists. This love has turned into a Comic Opera.

Long live the Kemalists, why should they be against you. If it opens a door or two into where they are already trying to enter, they are all Kemalists or to set the record straight they are his keen admirers. They simply like him, it is the name of the game these days. Why should they let the opposition have such a mighty toy? Kemal changed Turkey into a modern democracy, now if they start to change the definition Kemalism a bit, in time, they could do some reverse engineering and put it back where they like it to be.

There is a chess player facing you and he is about to capture your Kemal. Keep on reading their charms that will eventually awaken the monster of bigotry. You will regret one day.

I think there is an anomaly in the message system. When I posted an answer to Barba Mama´s message it appeared as if she posted it. When I deleted that one both messages disappeared.

Barba_Mama, this world is a very complicated place when it comes to international relations.

There are certain things which you think I am taking for granted; it took me quite a while to come to grasp of them. You are trying a balanced approach, mostly sitting on the fence, idealizing the sides as a mixture of right and wrong and you are right up to a certain extent.

Nevertheless, conflicts between nations or communities are far from being simple matters that can be settled with this approach. They are like an iceberg; instead of ice, they are made up of hatred. You can´t judge it by what it looks like because much of it is concealed from eyes.

Take up another angle and consider, why there should be so much hatred and violence in the world? There are borders that isolate people from one another or in the case of civil wars, people involved usually have long spells of peace and jointly formed civilizations. Human nature is neither good nor bad. Unless provoked collectively, they don´t usually harm other people.

If there is war in this world, it is seldom caused by those who seem to be doing the fight. There are known fire starters, they produce the weapons, they have the intelligence, and they have a global coverage of those things. Wars are actually often started by the powers that be. Every now and them, you hear them warmongering, inviting troops from their allies. They are the ones with bases all around the world. Their intelligence services far exceed the reach of the BBC. In short, you need to be a superpower to decide who will kill whom.

Kurds in Turkey is a long story but rest assured, in every episode of this conflict, there is the hand of powers that be. It is a multi-billion dollar project. Without the support of the secret services, they couldn´t survive a day let alone owning expensive weapons, logistic and intelligence channels.

Tunci, you muslims have everything at your disposal now. It is weird you are still concerned about where to pray. You have the government, presidency, justice, economy and private sector at your disposal. The acquisiton of the media dogs (as refered to by Mr. Erdogan) is also complete. Now are you seriously feel burdened because the Eiffel tower may not be available for praying?

As a matter of fact, you have the power to turn Hagia Sophia into anything you like. You don´t have to heed the opposition in Turkey anyway. Go ahead and do whatever you want but don´t accuse the opposition for anything. Your guys are bound by themselves. I am sure they are waiting for the day when they feel a bit more courageous.

Elizabeth, I have just read a newspaper article (in Hurriyet) that tells about the current frenzy in the (government sponsored/controlled) media to ask imams´ opinion about every single matter.

He tells how a medical doctor attending a TV forum that focused on abortion and caesserian birth was given just five minutes and got abruptly interrupted several times while the clergymen talking on the same subjects were assigned 25 or so minutes. He continues to give more and more examples about this.

In Turkey it is the clergymen doing the talk about anything and experts are getting muffled.

AlphaF must be witnessing this too. That is why he calls these people "idiots". This is quite a hot issue in Turkey. I wish we had more people like AlphaF reacting to this stupidity.

Catwoman and thehandsom hope you are not reading Zaman anymore. Now you realize why...