The roots of anti-Turkish sentiments: Is it possible to reverse it?

Why are Turks not loved? What are the roots of the anti-Turkish sentiments? Of course, we can respond to this question by saying “If they don’t like us, we too don’t like them”, thus raising nationalist sentiments in the streets whilst at the same time running the risk of Turkey becoming even more disconnected from the civilized world.

Why can’t we join the EU? Why is there hostility towards Turks in the Balkans and the Middle East, which were once under Ottoman rule? When the time comes to make peace, old wounds itch again, and hostility revives at unexpected moments. Why do we often have an inferiority complex towards Westerners and a contemptuous feeling towards Easterners?

Of course, there are many historical, religious and psychological factors behind these.

On long and tiring journeys, when you start conversation with the person next to you, even if unintentionally, a “silence” usually begins after he learns you are Turkish. I experienced this saga many times, too. If the journey is long, after a while, especially if the person has his roots in the old Ottoman geography, embedded in ethnic and religious prejudices, coupled with negative family stories, he will first exonerate you and then blame your country, some gently, some rudely.

Fortunately, as a former diplomat, I have the necessary toolkit for substantial counter arguments and responding politely to embarrass the other party. Aa most of us try to do around the world.

At the end of the day, neither they nor we are completely right and innocent.

The roots of the anti-Turkish sentiment

Sometimes there are those who attack the Turks through the Torah and continue bashing the Turks with religious references through the Bible. They begin with “Turks are the Descendants of Magog.” There were problems with “the Turks being described as Gog and Magog in the Torah’s Surah Ezekiel, and this negative situation was also transferred to the Bible.” They say, “Allah will punish the Jews and Christians who do not obey the holy books by sending Gog and Magog.” They give the example of Attila, the Hun Emperor, who was later sent as “the whip of God”. At this point, if our Hungarian friends were with us and entered into the conversation, it would be up to them to defend Atilla, who is seen as their glorified ancestor!

They continue to maintain that Rome and Byzantium were punished by the Turks “because they were sinners” and that Europe would not escape the same fate for 400 years.

More recently, the stories of the Balkans, the Middle East, the Gulf, North Africa and the Caucasus in the period up to 1923 are rich in terms of expressing hatred against the Turks. The collapsed empire was not at all compassionate not only towards other “millets” but also towards the Turks.

The British and French colonialists who came after the Ottoman Empire reinforced anti-Turkish sentiment in a serious attempt to rewrite history and brainwash the younger generations.

Historical deadlock

Where negative changes are caused by different reasons, where deformations and global footprints are often more dominant, with as many positive images as you want and today’s new messages, unfortunately, is not very effective.

If you ask me, the Armenian genocide allegations, the Kurdish problem, the deadlock in Cyprus, the Assyrians, the Hatay problem are the permanent problems that have been brought to our attention at every opportunity.

We should not compromise on our national interests must and bury these troubled questions in the dusty pages of history with creative solutions that will satisfy both parties.

My concern is that if these problems are not solved at a time when we are strong, Turkey may be dragged into “solutions” dictated in the future by those who think they are victims at a time when we are not so strong.

History tells and teaches about this subject.

Arab, Iranian, Balkan prejudices

Of course, the problem has not been only experienced with Westerners. Most of the Arabs, Iranians and Balkan people too do not have much love reserved for the Ottoman Empire and the Turks, whom they see as its successors, for different reasons and to varying degrees from the past. There are also those who see the “Turkish domination and oppression” that had been going on for centuries as the reason for their current backwardness.

Arabs say that Gog and Magog, mentioned in the periods in the Quran, are Turks, as in the Bible. It is stated that there are nice words about Turks in the hadiths. In fact, while Abu Davut said in the Hadith: “Turks are a race of Gog and Magog with flat noses and flat faces that will bring disaster to the Arabs”, Bukhari also wrote “The apocalypse will not come until the Turks are erased from the world.”

In fact, it is obvious that the Arabs, who grew up with such a culture and whom we believe stabbed us in the back with the help of “Lawrence of Arabia” during the First World War, do not have a passionate love for the Turks. Of course, except the passion they have for the offerings of Istanbul and other facilities such as Turkish citizenship scheme for 250 thousand euros, food, mosque, housing and land.

From this perspective, it is “understandable” for our “Arabized Turks” to emphasize why they are not keen on “Turkish identity”, do not like Ataturk, and why they always emphasize that the Ummah is superior to Turkishness.

Of course, during the Ottoman period – just like the British underlined “we brought civilization to our colonies”, we used to assert that “we expanded the foundations and infrastructure wherever we went, we did not change their language or laws, we allowed religious freedom”?

Sometimes the dramatic stories of young Christians recruited from the Balkans, especially being separated from their families and sent to the Janissary Corps as soldiers, are still told.

What about current situation?

Of course, there are those who are affected by the past or religion, but the current situation too does not look very encouraging.
If you cannot adapt to the country you visit or live in, if you try to disrupt the lifestyle and abilities of the host, if you do not show the same cultural and behavioral tact and if you become a burden to that society, it is certain that you will not be loved.

Isn’t it the same with us? There is not much sympathy for Syrian, Afghan, Iraqi and African illegal immigrants, and sometimes there are even those who react harshly bordering on racism.

Of course, the skills of Turks in Europe are also improving, especially as new generations arrive, and some of us are even exceeding our host countries. There are very good engineers, doctors, bankers, football players, artists and entrepreneurial talents in the second and third generation.

However, over the past 20 years, there is still a widespread perception that “Turkey is increasingly turning to the Islamic style rule in politics, is becoming more authoritarian, does not respect human rights, and is creating problems in the Western institutions of which it is a member.” We are seen as a country that constantly swings from one end of the pendulum to the other in foreign policy, that appears unreliable, that does not care about the rule of law, and that is driven by the fast wheels of bribery and corruption.

It is also viewed as a country where education has decreased, the rich-poor gap has widened, and terrorist acts have increased.

We confront the West by arguing that it does not understand us, that it is conspiring, that it is a Christian Club, and that the ropes are stretched to the point of breaking.

This negative image perception appears almost everywhere and eventually hits us in the heel. The increase in our credit risk causes us to be excluded from “Made in Turkey” goods, to be a subcontractor rather than a brand, to be relegated to in a lower league as a tourism destination, and to not be able to take the rightful place it deserves in the international arena.

In fact, in this fertile geography, which is the cradle of ancient world civilizations, we can neither properly preserve the historical heritage and unique ecology as necessary, nor do we have a real success that adds great value to the world’s technological breakthroughs, literature, knowledge and diplomacy.

Those who do not have anti-Turkish sentiment

As far as I have observed, people who do not have prejudices or animosity against Turks are generally people of Asian-Pacific, African and Latin American origin, who do not have much historical ties with us and who have not experienced a negative past. I hope our negative image will not spread towards these emerging economies. These are the last countries we can still visit without a visa.

We see hostility, some racist and some religious based approach, not only against Turks but also against other ethnic and religious groups in Turkey. Similar messages are reflected towards Balkan Muslims, especially Bosnians, Albanians, Pomaks and Torbesh.

It is also seen that people of Turkish origin living in Greece, Germany, England, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Poland, Armenia, USA, Sweden, Denmark, France, Austria, Iran and Russia are subjected to attacks by racists.

Is it possible to reverse this sentiment?

It is not an easy task to transform “unloved Turks” in many parts of the world into “loved Turks” from today to tomorrow. It cannot be said that we have made an arduous effort in this direction.

The only hope is the rapid maturation of new generations in the West, North, East and South, with diminished prejudices, no religious bigotry, thinking in terms of economy and technology, and interest in other cultures. Thus, they may start to avoid asking the classic question “Why aren’t Turks loved?”

In order for this to happen, on our side:
– First of all, we must prevent earthquake-prone ethnic, religious, economic and social fault lines within ourselves and ensure real internal peace.
– Then, we need to initiate a radical reconciliation process with the outside world, starting with our neighbors.
There is no other way or alternative.

Otherwise, I can assure you that we will console ourselves by continuing to sing the folk song “Turks have no friends other than Turks.” In addition, “We will also experience the happiness of branding the world outside our borders as the representative of the “dark and evil forces” that are jealous of our success and want to disintegrate today’s Turkey, as they tried before with the Treaty of Sevres.”

Maybe this attitude may change in the minds of new generations, especially Generation Z, which has a different perspective on almost every issue. Mutual new images, shared borderless values, understandings and positive perceptions can hopefully take us to a more meaningful historical plane.

Who knows, maybe we will even reach the maturity of being cleansed of common historical sins and seeing the positive aspects of each other.

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Some Discriminatory Words Against Turks

Just as there are unpleasant idioms and proverbs in our Turkish language aimed at certain ethnic groups and religions, there are also many foreign and Ottoman/Turkish sayings that are discriminatory against Turks. For example:

In Foreign Languages:

· “Mom, the Turks are coming.” (“Mamma lı Turchi”), double-sided.
· “A dog and a Turk cannot be trusted.”: (“Keru i Turčinu nikad ne veruj”), Serbian
· “A Turk was not a fool, he is not a Turk.”(“Если турок не придурок – значит он не турок”), Russian
· “A Turk was baptized!” (“Tgħammed Tork!”): A discriminatory expression used in Malta for a rare event.
· “The best Turk is a dead Turk.”: (“Τουρκος καλος μονο νεκρος”), a saying used during education in Greece. It was banned with a decision taken in 2008. This word was first said by Philip Sheridan, George Armstrong Custer’s general in the USA, about the Indians he massacred in 1868.
· “Donkey Turk!” (“Tork-e khar”): A racist Persian expression used first to denigrate Ottoman Turks and later Iranian Azeris.
· “The Real Turk” (“C’est un vrai Turc”): French expression for the exhaustion of rude and cruel people.
· “Kummeltürke”: A racist German expression meaning “Cuminum Turk”.
· “Don’t take him home, he is a Turk.” (“لا تدع له في البيت وهو الترك”): Arabic expression used when accusing someone of employing someone.
· “He became a Turk (out of anger).” (“Εγινε Τούρκος”): Common universal expression used to wipe out someone who is extremely angry.
· “You Turk!” (“Măi, turcüle”): Romanian expression for the exhaustion of an ignorant person.
· “Talking Turkey to someone”: This English expression referring to Turks is used to talk sincerely about the other party.
· “”Turk” (“Turk”): In Dutch, the word “Turk” is used to mean dirty, barbaric or bloodthirsty.
· “Turk” (“Turco”): In Spanish, the word “Turk” can be used to insult someone.
· “Turk” (“Tork”): In Malta, the word “Turk” is used to describe a person who is feared and unwanted by nature.
· “Turk” (“турок”): In Russian, the word “Turk” refers to an illiterate person.
· “Türk” (“Turci”): In Serbian, the word “Turk” refers to the traditional type of men who treat women unfairly and unequally.
· “Turk” (“Turoc”): In Ukrainian, the word “Turk” is a synonym for “fool”, as in Rücca.
· “Looking like a Turk” (“eruit zien als een Turk”): Dutch expression meaning dirty or disgusting.
· “Turkish house” (“ւրրրր͡”): Armenian idiom describing a messy and dirty place.
· “Turkish” (“à la turque”): French expression meaning reckless interest in a person or thing.
· “Black like a Turk” (“Crn kao Turčin”): Although not used colloquially as an insult, this racist Serbian term was used during the five centuries of Ottoman occupation to describe dark-skinned people and blonde Slavs. of the Balkans. It is expressed with the idea that his race has been “polluted” by the Turks.
· “Do I look like a Turk?” (“هل أبدو مثل الترك”): Arabic idiom.
· The word “getürkt” (Turkified) which means cheating in German is still used. In addition, the term “Kruziturken”, which means curse, also has a negative meaning.
· “To smell bad like a Turk” (“Puzza Come un Turco”) Italian idiom.
· Persian “Türk-i hâr” (ترک خر: donkey Turk) is a derogatory word used against the 13 million Iranian Azerbaijanis living within the borders of Iran.
· In Italian, the expressions “bestemmia Come un Turco” (“to swear like a Turk”) and “puzza Come un Turco” (“to smell bad like a Turk”) are other examples.
. “Mamma lı Turchi!” is also used in Italian to indicate imminent danger. Let me also note the expressions (“Mom, the Turks are coming!”), “Fumare Come un Turco” (Smoking like a Turk).
· “To get angry like a Turk” (“Sint som en tyrker”): Norwegian.
· “Be friends with the Turk, but do not give up the stick, he can bite at any moment.” (“ֹրրրրրրրּրր”): “Friendship”: “Friendship”: “Friendship” For the Armenians who make friends with the Turks, “Turks are beneficial”, “Until the resources run out, then they will cause harm.
· “Are you Turkish?” (“թָւրք եֽ֞”): “Are you stupid?” Armenian expression meaning:
· “Turkenknecht”: German phrase meaning farmhand for Turks.
. “It’s dark, the Turks are coming, the Turks are coming!” (“Es ist schön dunkel. Türken kommen, Türken kommen!”) is used in Austria.
· “Where are the Turks, there is little Mujo!” (“Kud svi Turci, tu i mali Müjo”): Common discriminatory phrase used by Serbs against Turks and Bosnians.

This list can be extended. Likewise, the list of our unpleasant remarks, amounting to racism, against Arabs, Armenians, Russians, Jews, Greeks, Serbs, Gypsies and Westerners is not very short.