Turks: The Bad Part

When I left Pakistan for studies in Turkey, I started reading more about religion, politics and economics. My views on these issues never seemed to be in conflict with the views of the majority of my Turkish friends. But what stood out was that most educated, westernized Turks seemed to have an inferiority complex. Let me explain this first: these are Turks who have no Kurdish lineage. They speak Turkish, besides halting English. They study in some of the best Turkish universities.

Turkish Perception of Arabs

Turks have a freewheeling animosity towards Arabs. Arabs are seen as a dirty, uneducated, chauvinistic, intolerant, extremely religious, totalitarian, hypocritical and bigoted. A large part of this hostility is due to the events of the First World War. The average Turk will claim that the Arabs “stabbed Turkey in the back” by supporting the invading forces. No one seems to even think about the fact that the Turks (or the Ottomans) colonized the Arab world. Why is it surprising then that the Arabs grabbed the opportunity to be free? It is pointless to argue whether or not they would have been better off with the Turks. The important question is, why cannot the Turkish public understand the simple desire of people to be free? Turks think that the Arabs were treated with complete fairness and justice under the Ottomans.

Pakistanis

Turkish perception of Pakistanis is very complex. Pakistan has been Turkey’s friend and ally when she had none other. Still, Pakistanis are seen as too religious, backward, and too eastern. Confusingly, many Turks think that Pakistanis are Arabs, but have a positive opinion of them nevertheless. This is the only exception that Turks are willing to make as far as their hostility toward Arabs is concerned. Often, I was called an Arab when I was a student there. It was a joke among my friends and used as an insult by those who didn’t like me. When I would point out that I was too dark to be be an Arab, they would all be surprised. “Arap dedigin esmerdir” (an Arab is dark skinned).

Black or White

All nations are racist to some degree. This does not mean that every single individual in every society is racist but that generally all humans have a certain preconception of what other societies are like and, consequently, they cannot be completely objective. Even in Germany, a country that has suffered greatly due to such racist ideas, still harbors certain racist ideas. North Germans don’t like the Bavarians, South Germans have certain derogatory terms for those in the North, etc. Israel is made of people who suffered greatly at the hands of a racist regime but they are unable to learn from that and treat Palestinians in a highly pathetic manner. In Pakistan, Punjabis are extremely chauvinistic towards other ethnic groups and Pathans classify themselves as Pathans first, Muslim second and Pakistanis third. In both Pakistan and India, families always want their sons and daughters to marry someone who is “fair”, i.e. has a light skin complexion. The fact that “beauty” creams that make your skin lighter are advertised everywhere makes me sick. I won’t even start on the Hindu caste system, which has “officially” been abolished.

Not surprisingly, Turks have a similar ranking system. The idea of a beautiful woman is a tall blond with blue eyes. One can hear many racial jokes that represent Africans as “over-cooked” or “burnt”. There is a term for a good-looking woman who happens to be dark: Esmer guzeli. It literally means “dark beauty”, somehow implying that most dark people are not good looking.

Where do the Turks lie? Centuries of interracial marriages have left many Turkish nationals blond (with blue eyes) and some very dark-skinned. Ethnically, most Turks are not European but many resemble the Armenians, Bulgarians, Bosnians, Greeks, etc. while others look similar to Arabs, Iraqis, Kurds, etc. Just like in Pakistan or India, white skin is an advantage and coloured eyes are a plus.

Race

The founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, tried to modernize Turkey. The end result was not so much modernization but westernization. Turkish language was altered drastically by changing the written script from Arabic/Persian to Latin. Eastern clothes and the headscarf were banned. Men with beards were not allowed into public service. On the other hand, democracy flourished after the death of Kemal Pasha, even though he himself was a dictator. But democracy is a two-edged sword. The majority can impose unimaginable conditions on minorities (one must remember that Hitler was elected by a huge majority). In Turkey, the situation of Kurds is a good example.

There are numerous sayings by Kemal Pasha that shed some light on their perceived racial superiority. For example, “One Turk is equal to the whole world”. “The Turkish nation is intelligent; the Turkish nation is hard-working…” Of course, reasonable Turks do not take these sayings literally but it always lingers at the back of their minds. They often show off their military prowess, repeating again and again certain parts of history that are rather complimentary to them, for example, “We (the Ottomans) reached the gates of Vienna” but conveniently don’t explain what happened to them there. The successful war against the foreign invaders (i.e., the French, Greeks, English, etc.) is described in full detail but the end result of the First World War is blamed on the Ottomans. “They were unable to take the Dardanelle”, they proclaim with pride, conveniently forgetting that the Ottoman Empire was reduced to a small fraction of its original size.

European Union

So, what about the inferiority complex? Until very recently, most Turks were extremely pro-European. Everything western was considered good. And here lies the paradox: The Turks consider themselves to be special (like almost every nation on earth considers itself special in some way) but at the same time they strive to be as European as possible, rejecting old Turkish customs. Their desire to be more European is also reflected in many small things. For example, I know of almost no Turks who have traveled to anywhere except Europe and North America. European (and American) products are considered to be superior to all other products. Recently, I bought a Toyota Corolla and a large number of Turks told me that I should have bought either a Renault, Citroen, Opel or some other European car for the same price. After a while I gave up explaining that Toyota had better reliability, comfort and safety ratings than the brands they recommended.

The drive to become a member of the EU is as much about ego as it is about economics. The recent decline in pro-EU ratings in Turkey is simply a reaction to the humiliating conditions put forward by the EU before it would start membership negotiations.

One way to gauge what a nation thinks of itself is by studying their reactions to compliments paid to other nations. Last year I returned from a trip to Rome and explained to a few of my friends how Rome was beautiful and wonderful. More than one friend gave a weird reaction “We have Istanbul, which is much better than Rome.” Similar things have happened when I visited the Far East and Russia. I have yet to get receive such a reaction from anyone who is not Turkish. Another thing that caught my attention was the fact that most Turks don’t say such nonsense in front of Europeans or Americans. But that just makes sense.