Turkey
Amazon Warriors May Be More Than Myth
Memorials in Turkey like the Amazon statue at Samsun or the Hamza Stone in Giresun commemorate history’s women warriors, bringing a mythical past to life. Increasingly, however, those memorials are also shown to have a basis in historical fact.
The Agony of Uyghurs in Turkey
Throughout Xinjiang, thousands of Uyghurs have been detained by the Chinese government for reasons as spurious as communicating to relatives abroad, possessing Uyghur language books or growing a long beard. Now Uyghurs in Turkey are speaking out, unwilling to remain silent.
Turkish Sitcom Taps Into the ‘Seinfeld’ Vibe
Upon risk of social death, there are three subjects that comedians shy away from in Turkey: Atatürk, religion and homosexuality. Everything else is fair game. The creators of “Gibi,” 33-year-old Feyyaz Yiğit and 41-year-old Aziz Kedi, seem to feel this in their bones.
Reading Stories of Courage From a Century Ago
It is gratifying to read about such courage and heroism under duress. Whatever the impetus, odes should be sung for it in celebration. The Turkish officer who protected Armenians from the Ottoman-era genocide is like Schindler, the personification of the better angels of our nature.
In Kurdish Turkey, the Birds Have a Hotel
Aviculture is so popular in Diyarbakir that Bird Lovers' Street even has its own multistory hotel. Most of its guests are pigeons.
A Schindler for the Armenians
Cemil Kunneh chose to not participate in this collective crime and not share complicity. He resisted group pressure, fear of ostracization and the imperative to obey authority and the orders of his superiors. His stand shows the complex social and political dynamics of the late Ottoman Empire.
The Lost Armenians of Gaziantep
In Turkish, there is a saying: “Mal sahibi, mülk sahibi, hani bunun ilk sahibi?” Roughly translated, it reads, “Landlord, property owner, where is the original owner?” Armenians of Aintab were torn away from their homes, neighborhoods and the city where they were born and raised. Their material and spatial wealth changed hands and was transformed. The entire Armenian dispossession produced the homogeneous Turkish city where I grew up.