MISCmedia for 1/26/00
Praying for Turkey, Part 2

by guest columnist Charlotte Quinn

(IN YESTERDAY'S INSTALLMENT: Our guest columnist travels to Samsun, Turkey to make a documentary about the Amazon warrior legends, and finds a country enmeshed in its own present-day wars--including the war against Kurdish separatist guerrillas, whose leader, Ocalan, has just been captured by Turkish authorities.)

ON THE KURDISH FRONT, a great deal of death and despair. Perhaps the worst part of the trip. That week, my hosts were informed that their friend, who was doing his mandatory military service, had lost an eye from a Kurdish mine in Batman, a city in southeast Turkey.

In an effort to soothe their grief and the impending doom of their own upcoming military service, I told them I'd read the war is almost over with the Kurds! Hadn't they read that, from his prison cell, Ocalan asked his people to withdraw?

But the Turks shook their heads. The newspapers were lying, they said (yes, they know). Kurds and Turks are killing each other as much as before. All their friends are dying.

I asked, "What is the solution?" They said there is no solution. The war will continue forever, because the government and the Kurds won't talk.

It was pretty fucking sad. I was sitting in a hotel lobby with five young men who had not yet served their 18 months (there's no concienscious objection in Turkey). I sat there thinking they were going to die too, because of this war they don't even believe in.

Strangely enough, the #1 song while I was in Turkey was by a Kurdish singer, Ibraham Tatlises. I think it speaks a lot about this generation. All the young Turks loved him. They even dance to him in the discotheques.

TARKAN ISN'T SO LUCKY. Tarkan is the Turkish equivalent of our Beck (or maybe our Ricky Martin, more truly, I guess, considering the corniness of Turkish pop). He fled the country to evade his military service. He's now incredibly successful in Europe--especially in Paris, where they love really good looking ultra cool skinny young men who look good with eyeliner.

And although he's still (strangely) greatly admired for his music, the Turks will tell you they don't like Tarkan personally. He didn't do his duty. It could be they were censoring themselves again, but here's a story:

One night I was dancing at a discotheque and suddenly everyone cleared the floor. I kept dancing, thinking in my twisted American way that maybe everyone just wanted to watch the cool American. I found out later it was Tarkan's song. Big mistake.

A really scary guy in a Don Johnson-type suit walked up to me and asked what country I was from. (A Turk wouldn't have danced to Tarkan). Once it was established I was an ignorant American tourist, I was out of danger's way. I wish Americans would do the same to Ricky Martin fans.

Did I mention discotheques in Turkey frisk for guns? (Just as easy to buy a gun in Turkey as America, but no high-school shootouts. Hmmm....)

THEY ARE ALL MUSLIMS. Five times a day, and very loudly, someone sings prayers to Allah from the nearest mosque. Sometimes there are many nearby mosques and the songs collide. It's sweet, though, and loud. The electrical speakers really aren't necessary; you can just hear them fine without the amps.

The Matrix was just coming out in the theaters. I was stuck in an ear-shattering prayer to Allah from a couple different speakers, and all I remember is Keanu Reeves's life-size cutout gazing at me. Allah Akbar, they say. God is the greatest.

It was really something else, the prayers. We would be headed to some archaeological site and the people in the car would park at a mosque and go pray and come back and drive. I was embarrassed that they weren't at all embarrassed at their own spirituality. In respect, I would pray in the car.

My prayer is always the same one.

"God, I pray that everyone prays."

TOMORROW: From City Light to City Extra Light.

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