Political Instability

It has been difficult to be an American in Turkey lately. Between the Armenian mess in the Congress in the US and the PKK issues at the border, political tensions are high. This picture is from a demonstration (that we thought was a parade for Republic Day) in Amasra. I sent Daniel out to take a picture because he looks Turkish, unlike me. His father thought it was a parade; we soon realized it was a peaceful demonstration. They marched through the town waving flags and carrying signs like the one you see here that says “Terrorism No!” [I got a little concerned for Daniel when he took a few minutes coming back, I began to feel horrible. But he laughed when he came back; he had taken several pictures, that was what took so long.]

I wrote last year about the bill that was up before the House of Representatives dealing the topic of Turkey recognizing the Armenian genocide. This is a very touchy subject for Turks, though agree that many Armenians were killed, they say it was not genocide. This bill was passed out of committee despite opposition from the President and key diplomats. Turkey responded that evening here. The President of Turkey, Gül and the Prime Minister, Erodoğan both made comments. It is unusual for them to respond in the evening following events in the morning in America. That means it is a big deal. Several days later they told the Turkish ambassador to the USA to come home for a “vacation.” This was a major diplomatic move.

While this was happening there have been ongoing attacks by the PKK, Kurdish rebels. They want to be independent of Turkey and are viewed by the Turks and many others as terrorists. Their base is just across the border in Iraq. Over 30 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the last two weeks during these conflicts. Turkey wanted to move in to Iraq to deal with the terrorists. America and other countries told them not to. Can you imagine how America would respond if other countries told them not to fight terrorists that were killing their people? Imagine terrorists coming from Mexico attacking civilians on American soil. What would be our response? How would we feel if other countries told us we were overreacting? You’ve caught a glimpse of how Turkey feels right now.

I’ve felt the added tension, though Turks are great about separating the people from the government. When I took Malka to the post office this week we had an interesting conversation with the postmaster. He wanted to know what I thought of Bush when he found out I was American. I told him I didn’t know, what did he think? (It’s best not to give your opinion here.) He then proceeded to tell me how bad President Bush was (alternating between English and Turkish “kutu, bad, kutu, bad”) but that the American people were angels. That has always been my experience with Turks, not liking the government, but loving Americans. It is quite a country and they are quite a people.

*BTW – just wanted to assure you that my safety has not been a concern. All the fighting with the PKK is going on the southeastern Turkey, hours from where I live. We have stepped up our level of security at the school, just an increased awareness of what is going on around us. We have levels of security, kind of like the terror levels warnings in America.

Also, an interesting article on cnn about this stuff: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/10/28/iran.turkey/index.html. I'll get off my soapbox now. :)