This is Orhan Kemal Cengiz. A columnist for Turkish Daily News. And who writes every week on Friday a column. I must say, his columns are really newsworthy and excellently written, and for sure, lots of Turks don't like what he writes. I think, when written in Turkish and in an ordinary daily such as Sabah or Hurriyet, the nationalists will lynch him. The hunt is already started in Turkey by some people. Since the (ultra) nationalists most of the time don't understand another language than Turkish, it's safer for him to publish his comments in Turkish Daily.
Here is the start of the article, further reading link below the article.
Friday, June 22, 2007
By Orhan Kemal Cengiz
ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News
If you asked a man in the street in Turkey what racism means, you would probably receive a vague answer and some random examples rather than a conceptual definition. These examples most probably would refer to other countries, like the United States and European countries, but not Turkey at all!
For us, racism is what the white man did to the black man. Racism is just an image for us haunting our memories from the film “Roots”. It is the picture of the white man who was whipping a black guy: “Say your name nigger”, “My name is Kunta Kinte”, “Your name is Toby boy”, until at last, after hours of lashing, Kunta Kinte gives in and says “my name is Toby sir!” This is the only form of racism we know.
I have never come across any Turkish person who considers himself a racist. However, racist remarks are just flying in the air in the daily conversations in this country. Our language is full of racist remarks. For example, Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, is called an “Armenian seed” (Ermeni Dölü). If you consider how much Öcalan is hated in this country then you can imagine how “flattering” being an “Armenian seed” may be. “Jews are cowards!” “Arabs are back stabbing people”! Not to mention very offensive vocabulary about the Roma people! Continue reading here.
