Turkish Adventure By Jim Buie

Greeks and Turks Finally Trying to Bridge Political and Religious Divide

After a recent visit to Athens, it seemed strange to me that the Greeks and Turks don't get along better than they do. They share so much history -- both were a part of the Greco-Roman Empire -- so much culture, music and food, but in the 20th century became bitter enemies. The Greeks could not accept that Turkey was awarded the Aegean coast; the countries fought bitterly over Cyprus, and Greece harbored Kurdish independence movement terrorists in hopes of weakening Turkey and maybe even hoping that it would fragment so that Greece could pick up the pieces. I'm told that Greeks and Turks, when they meet outside their countries, become great friends, but inside their countries, where politics is concerned, they stare at each other warily.

We in the West have glorified and romanticized Greece -- see Edith Hamilton's classic, The Greek Way  -- and pretty much ignored Turkey because it was Muslim and therefore "the other."

When I asked, Why are there so few Christians in Turkey?, on this blog, I didn't realize what a complicated question I was asking. One reason there are so few Christians in Turkey, aside from those I mentioned in the earlier post, is that Christianity was associated almost completely with the Greek Orthodox Church, and so if you were Christian, you probably spoke Greek rather than Turkish and were considered loyal to Greece or a disloyal Turk. Religious services were held in the Greek language, not Turkish language. Back in the 20s in the midst of nationalist fervor on the part of both countries, Christian Greek Orthodox Turks were forced to move to Greece and Muslim Greeks were forced to move to Turkey. That population exchange of approximately two million people was terribly unfair and painful for individuals and families, of course, but author Stephen Kinzer says it might have been the best alternative to war, constant insecurity and suspicion of the citizenry on the part of both countries.

Now Greeks and Turks are trying to mend fences politically and become friends again. See Greek Cafe in Heart of Turkey Signals a Thaw in Relations. See also background articles on Pope Benedict's 2006 visit to Turkey.

Related:

• Climbing the Acropolis in Athens, Visiting the Foundation of Western Civilization and Democracy »-- It's interesting that Istanbul was founded by the ancient Greeks. In 657 B.C., after the peak of Athenian influence, and once Greece was already a part of the Roman state (but before it became an empire) a colonist named Byzas from Megaria, sailed up the Bosphorus River and founded what is now Istanbul, or what became known then as Byzantium, the Eastern Roman Empire, which did not fall until 1453 to the Ottoman Turks. So, early Greek and Turkish history had many of the same influences.

Good News for Turkey's Economy in Comparison With Greece But Big Challenges Remain

Greek Crisis Highlights Turkey's Strength: The age-old Eastern Mediterranean rivals face diverging fortunes, with Greece in crisis as Turkey booms. The best long-term solution is for Turkey to join the EU

  

This is true for Turkey, but other things are not so hot.  In terms of equal pay for both genders, Turkey's near the bottom of the list on that one among developed/developing countries.  They have a very low rate of female participation in fulltime employment and a very high one for women as homemakers. Its fertility rate is one of the few among developed/developing countries that remains above the 2.xx. I read this in a report by the OECD, published on National Women's Day in Turkey.  Also, the country has a "very fragile" rating for its environment.  There are a number of unregulated, cancer-producing waste sites in Western Turkey. -- Lucia
 
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2010/gb20100326_199869.htm

Greek Culture Has Long Penetrated American Consciousness, While Turkish Culture, and Links to Native Americans, Are Just Beginning To

Watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I couldn't help but think how similar Greek and Turkish cultures are. Both cultures emphasize large extended families that live close in proximity to each other. There is a passion for singing and dancing and doing things together as a family.  Family members tend to get into other family members' personal business, and there are super-strong bonds of love, caring and humor about each others' foibles.  Some American families still have those tight bonds, but American culture promotes individualism and Americans tend to move for work, so family bonds inevitably loosen somewhat as family members scatter.

I love the proud Greek identity of "Gus," the head of the Greek-American family in the film (As his wife explained, the husband is the head of the Greek family, but the wife is the neck, and she can often turn the husband's head and make him do what she wants -- this seems similar to Turkish families, where wives often carry quite a bit of power if not more power than their husbands.)

"My ancestors were writing philosophy and performing plays when your ancestors were still swinging in trees," the Greek-American patriot Gus tells his future son-in-law.

"There is a Greek root to every English word," he insists. The ancient Greeks, he kept remindig his children, gave the world astronomy, architecture, sculpture, philosophy, and democracy. Indeed, Greeks have a heritage to be proud of.

Turks also have a heritage to be proud of, but their culture hasn't quite penetrated American consciousness the way that Greek culture and history have.

I've heard Turks boast that Native Americans were originally Turkish -- there are numerous similarities between Native American languages such as Aztec and Turkik languages. (Turkish word for tent is tepe, for example. Indeed, one linguist found more than 300 Turkish words in Native American languages. ). Native-American and Turkish carpet patterns are similar as well.  The ancient, nomadic Turks originated in Central Asia. So theoretically, they gradually moved from Central Asia to what is now the very eastern edge of Russia, over the Bering Strait, down into the Western part of what is now the United States.  Some scientists have found DNA links between native Americans and the Tuvan Turks of Siberia.

The major reason for lack of American awareness of Turkish influence  is that Turkish immigration to America has been far less than Greek immigration. Well over half a million Greeks immigrated to the U.S. between 1820 and 1982, according to www.everyculture.com, due to poor labor conditions in Greece. An average of more than 2,000 Greeks have immigrated to the U.S. every year since 1982. More than one million Americans claim they have at least one Greek ancestor.

In contrast, "the history of Turkish American immigration to the United States is not well documented and is generally unknown," according to www.everyculture.com. Turks have not generally immigrated to America due to poor labor conditions in Turkey, but they have immigrated to Europe.

In recent times, however, Turkish-American immigration to the U.S. has been steady. Since the 1970s, the number of Turkish immigrants to the US has risen to more than 2,000 per year, and the total Turkish-American population is estimated to be between 100,000 and 500,000. Turkish-American communities, according to Wikipedia, have developed in New York,  New Jersey, North Carolina,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Florida  and Maryland. List of famous Turkish Americans.

Read more: Turkish Americans - History, Modern era, Significant immigration waves, Settlement patterns, Acculturation and assimilation, Cuisine, Traditional costumes http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Sr-Z/Turkish-Americans.html#ixzz0zPREzpga

With immigrants, there's always tension in determining the degree of integration, assimilation, language acquisition and cultural adaptation that could endanger or subsume one's native identity. My Big Fat Greek Wedding deals with that issue with humor and grace.  I'm now waiting for a popular movie to show the integration of Turks into American society, maybe marriage between a Muslim Turk and an American Christian or Jew. It does happen from time to time.

The Poignant Story of How Modern Turkey and Greece Were Forged

Relocation from Kostas Petsas on Vimeo.

When I first arrived in Turkey, I naively asked why there are so few Christians here, given that there is so much physical evidence of a long Christian history.  The answer is provided in the book,  Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions that Forged Modern Greece and Turkey by Bruce Clark, one of the saddest and most heart-rending books I've ever read.  Average Turkish Muslims and Greek Orthodox Christians were friends and neighbors for centuries, sharing a love of the land and a culture of close families, lively music, exuberant dance, and hearty food. But as the Ottoman Empire teetered on the verge of collapse after World War I,  there was a power vacuum. Greeks, who had lived here for 3000 years, fantasized about establishing "a new Byzantium," reclaiming dominance for their Orthodox brand of Chrisianity. The Greek government attacked the Turkish mainland in 1919. The ensuing three-year Greco-Turkish war, really a civil war, ended with the triumph of Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemel (Ataturk).  Greece gave up most of the territory it sought, and both countries agreed to a population exchange of approximately 1.5 million people:  all Greek Orthodox Christians had to move from Turkey to Greece, and all Muslims had to move from Greece to Turkey.  This scheme, engineered by diplomats and politicians, may have prevented ongoing civil war, but it sure was excruciatingly painful for average citizens.  Some even changed their religion in order to stay put or to maintain friendships. Clark writes:

...About 20 percent of the population of Anatolia died violently during the last ten years of the Ottoman empire's existence: some 2.5 million Muslims, up to 800,000 Armenians and 300,000 Greeks. To put it another way, a third of the Christian population and one eighth of the Muslim population had been killed, making the Ottoman empire a far more rural, and Islamic place: its population was now at least 96 percent Muslim, up from 80 percent before he decade of mutual slaughter began. The population exchange marked a final, cold-blooded conclusion of the process whereby Anatolia became Muslim and the southern Balkans became mostly Christian.

Clark says that parts of Turkey and Greece today are "haunted lands." While the divorce between Greece and Turkey may have been necessary to forge modern nations, the collective pain of separation is still felt so acutely that many Turks and Greeks find it difficult to discuss, he says. They still have a love-hate relationship with each other.

In recent years, efforts have been made to heal the rift, with Greek-Turkish festivals held, for example, in Cappadocia.

•  Displaced Greeks, Turks Gather at Guzelyurt Festival
• Greek Culture Has Long Penetrated American Consciousness, While Turkish Culture, and Links to Native Americans, Are Just Beginning To

You Can't Really Understand Modern Turkey Without Considering Greece

For 3000 years, until the 1920s, Greeks were an integral part of what is now Turkey. "We are brothers," one Turk told me. Another Turk, however, expresses resentment at the Greeks, saying they can't be trusted. These two emotions -- love and loathing -- are common between Greeks and Turks, whose peoples endured a painful divorce. They are now forging two separate identities as competitors, adversaries and wary allies. 

The Greek or Christian history of Turkey isn't taught much in Turkish schools. Turkish history pretty much began with the Ottoman Empire and of course the modern nation of Turkey began just 87 years ago in 1923. I learned this the hard way when I asked my students, "Is the US an old country or a young country?" and some of them insisted the USA is an old country compared to Turkey which is a "young country." Then they acknowledged that there were other cultures here before the Turks, but "they weren't Turkish." 

A Photo Essay on the 10 days my wife, sons and I spent in Greece: Athens, the Foundation of Western Civilization, and Delphi, Ancient Center of the Universe.

Related Posts:

• The Poignant Story of How Modern Turkey and Greece Were Forged
• Greek Culture Has Long Penetrated American Consciousness, While Turkish Culture, and Links to Native Americans, Are Just Beginning To

Funny Film About Greece and Turkey

This 1964 film starring Melina Merkouri about an attempt by Greeks to steal the crown jewels in Istanbul's Topkapi Palace is quite entertaining. I recommend it. It's available on Netflix.

Greece: Photo Essay and History Lesson

Athens, the Foundation of Western Civilization. A Photo Essay on the 10 days our family spent in Greece.  Plus, our slideshow of the Greek Isles. Click.