From: deniz@atlas.ctr.columbia.edu (Deniz Akkus)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bulgaria
Subject: Re: Why Macedonia - Part I - 1), 2) and 3) - again
Date: 13 Dec 92 19:35:18 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.turkish,soc.culture.greek
Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research
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In article <1992Dec12.030937.15152@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> gd8f@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Gregory  Dandulakis) writes:
>In article <1992Dec11.200433.13345@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> deniz@atlas.ctr.columbia.edu (Deniz Akkus) writes:
>>
>>Sometimes I believe, when I am in Cesme and I look at the lights of cars
>>as they pass in the island of Chios, that Greeks will one day remember,
>>that we too, are human.  
>>
>>regards,
>>Deniz Akkus deniz@ctr.columbia.edu
>
>
>I would like to agree with you. But the truth of the matter is that
>you avoided to answer to my comparison of 120,000 Turkish Cypriots
>and 12,000,000 Kurds in Turkey. Somehow the game doesn't seem fair.

If you asked me whether there is discrimination against non-Muslims in
Turkey,, I would say yes, it is subtle, but it is there, in a sort of
'you are foreign' mentality that can be very hard on people who regard
Turkey as their homeland, as in the case with your Rum roommate.  

If you asked me whether there was 'Varlik Vergisi' and various other 
government schemes to drive out the minorities in the 50's early 60's I
would have to agree.  The case with Muslim minorities is however,
completely different.  They do not suffer the 'you are foreign'
attitude.  To explain somewhat better I would have to write far more
than I want to.  What the Kurds have been suffering from is the economic
discrepancy between eastern Turkey and western Turkey and remnants of
the 'Muslims are not minorities' attitude.  There are Kurds in all
social levels in Turkey, it happens that most of them are quite poor, on
the other hand, please don't forget that they also hold seats in the
parliament and the cabinet. 

>
>What about the 200,000 Greeks in Istambul in 1960s. They are all
>3,000 today. My roommate, Greek from Istambul keeps telling me
>how the Turks grabbed their properties in 1979 and they had to
>move in Athens. He speaks of course better turkish than greek
>and his name is Turkish: Ioakim Tsiligkiroglou, works as a
>computer engineer in Washington DC. And on top of that, we have
>Sadic in greek Thrace to complain why the 100,000 turks of 1922
>have become only 120,000 today.
>
>Gr



I see it as a loss of our peoples that we lose instead of cherish the
local color and differences that made Kordon in my hometown of Izmir
such a delight in my grandparents' time.   I also hear of basically all
the natives of Istanbul complain about the vibrancy of Beyoglu that was
lost  when the Greeks moved out.  I went to high school with a few Rum,
they went to University of Athens afterwards, I think one of them still
shuttles back and forth.  As for your roommate, 1979 is the latest I
have heard of such happenings, but 1979 was a year frought with
terrorism in Turkey.  

Your reply is somewhat tangential to what I am suggesting however.  I do
not deny that bad things have happened -- to both sides, inflicted from
both sides.  What I would like to see is some attempt to put the past
where it belongs, in the past.  There was a singer who died a few years
ago, regarded by most as symbol of my hometown.  I think he was the
personal embodiment of the synthesis we are losing and we should attempt
to hold on to, and cherish:  Daryo Moreno, a Levanten (Catholic) who sang
Greek music, with Turkish lyrics.  

regards,
Deniz Akkus deniz@ctr.columbia.edu

PS. Followups to soc.culture.greek and turkish
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bulgaria