KurdistanObserver.com

Turn Your Back On The Bitter Realities And Start Living In A Virtual World
By: Ilnur Cevik

Feb 7, 2006 The New Anatolian

So when you can’t solve any problems or you do not want to face the bitter realities of the world simply switch to the virtual world and satisfy yourself with dreams. This is what is happening to Turks these days.

A few years ago, just after the fall of Saddam Hussein, American soldiers raided the liaison offices of the Turkish military in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah and arrested eleven Turkish soldiers claiming that they were involved in a plot to kill the governor of Kirkuk. The soldiers were humiliated by the Americans who tried their hands and put hoods over their heads … The Turkish public was up in arms despite the fact that soon after the soldiers were released.

At the time it was claimed that some Turkish soldiers were trying to manipulate the Turkmens of northern Iraq and thus were rebuffed by the Americans…

The incident created deep resentment among Turks. The soldiers and their commanders, who were the untouchables of the “Special Forces,” were either reprimanded or fired. Since then the conservatives in Turkey have never forgotten this incident. Some have demanded revenge but no one has had the courage to take the Americans on.

It is no secret that the Turkish masses opposed America's intervention in Iraq. It is also no secret that anti-American feelings have always been ripe in Turkey and things have not improved as years go by. There is deep resentment about the policies of the Bush administration.

In the past year we have seen some signs that some people are trying to capitalize on the anti-American sentiments in Turkey through books and movies. The work of fiction “Metal Storm” that turned out to be a bestseller last year suggested an all-out war between the Turks and the Americans where the Turks eventually won … Now we have the movie “Valley of the Wolves, Iraq” where anti-Americanism reaches new peaks … The film shows how some Turkish agents eventually kill “cruel American soldiers” in northern Iraq and at last take revenge for the Sulaimaniyah incident. We have been told that when the film ends Turks start applauding. Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc and Emine Erdogan who watched the movie later on both told journalists “we are proud of our boys.”
It seems many people, including Arinc and Mr. Erdogan, have started thinking that what they were watching was real and not the work of movie makers …

So Turks have started shutting their eyes to reality and are living in a virtual world. This is good because it could well be a form of therapy for some people … But we also have to warn them that the real world and real politics are different to what the movie makers suggest.

It is good that these Americans are pragmatic people and are not offended by our tantrums. If one of their film makers had made such an anti-Turkish movie we would be deeply offended and would raise such hell that the issue would be turned into a political crisis between Ankara and Washington.

But the fact that some of us live with our fantasies and that we have created a virtual world for ourselves does not change the fact that anti-Americanism is making money in Turkey.

While the mature Americans would not be offended by a box-office hit or a bestseller the fact remains that the sentiments that are involved would catch the attention of some American legislators who may well not be as cool headed as the U.S. diplomats in Turkey or in Washington.