From: sadi@physics1 (Sadi Turgut)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.greek
Subject: Understanding Homo-Grekus  Re: A German in Greece
Date: 30 Sep 1992 08:11:49 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: physics1.berkeley.edu

In article <9209271820.AA17479@sungate.icsmac.com> gunther.neuberger@icsmac4.icsmac.COM (GUNTHER NEUBERGER) writes:
>
>I was in Greece two months ago.Me and my girlfriend visited some Greek
>islands which were wonderful but one thing really bothered me.
>The sentence,"Macedonia is Greek" was written on almost everything I saw.
>They had even written this sentence on the walls of public restrooms,
>on the closets and doors of these restrooms.

 Are they in foreign languages, or are there ones written in Greek?
If it is the first case, then apparently, they were trying to affect
the opinion of the tourists. (But, then this has nothing to do with the American
yellow ribbons.) But, if there are some in Greek, then I wish good luck
for the Greek people.

>It seemed as if whomever I met in Greece was more than eager to say
>something bad about Macedonia and Turkey.
>I have also visited Turkey.Before we flew to Istanbul,many Greeks warned
>me to be careful about my girlfriend!.After being in Istanbul we realized
>how silly and wrong this warning was.I really don't know why Greeks 
>behave like this?

 This is a general practice in Greece as I am informed. The main purpose
is to prevent tourists from going to Turkey. By doing this they are
either trying to prevent Turkey from having foreign currency (which has
a great importance for international trade,) or to prevent foreigners
from recognizing Turks and thereby securing the continuiation of the
centuries old prejudices.

 Greeks are really famous for negative propaganda against Turks. The
picture of Greeks that was formed in my mind is this. Especially outside
Greece, if you meet a Greek, they will certainly say something bad
about us. As if something is urging them to do so. I don't know what
is really urging them. Government propoganda maybe. Maybe some other
Greekish thing. I don't really know.

 Of course, I cannot generalize this to all Greeks. Actually, I have
a very high opinion of Greeks. The Greeks that I have met are quite
friendly and very sympathetic people. And, I will never believe that,
they can be propagandists. This is the main thing that is
very confusing for me.

 You see, when I first came to US, before meeting any Greeks, I met
with their propaganda. The first one was about a Greek who was telling
his friends that Turks want to invade the Aegean islands. The last one
was a friend of mine saying me : "It is amazing to listen to what
Greeks say about Turks." I won't say what particular thing we were
talking about, but I will say that it was about sexual practises
with animals.

 I still couldn't escape the effect of the last one. Let me clear
one thing. It is okay for me if some people boasts about their
country, their heritage, culture etc. etc. Nobody will critisize
such behavior although it is still propaganda. But, what is the
logic of negative propaganda? What do they expect when they comment
about sexual practices of their neighbors? It is not easy to answer
unless if the propagandists themselves have an unreasonable, burning hatred
towards their neighbors. This is the dilemma that I want to solve.

 The case with the Turks that I know is the opposite. I myself
do not talk about political problems around the region, unless
it is something like a serious political discussion. And when I
do that, I will try to do justice to them and their point of view
as best as I can. This is the thing that I used to do in Turkey,
and I hoped to continue here when I discuss with my friends.
The ultimate example that I remember about Turks being un-propagandistic
was a Turk, in a radio show, critisizing the policy of some
Turkish institution. Later, he realised what he was doing,
and said he better stop negative statements. We are really
doing harm to our country by doing so. We are the ones that
are able to change the prejudices, and yet we are the ones that
still add more prejudices. The students that go to foreign
countries are not aware of this. And when they go, it takes a
time for them to understand what is going on. Then it becomes
a little bit late.

 Anyway, positive-propaganda is something that we should learn
somehow. But our topic was Greeks and their negative propaganda.
As I said I don't know what makes them like this. Is this
something of a culture? Or is the government giving propaganda
lessons in schools? I am excluding the possibility of a burning
hatred of all the Greeks against the Turks. Although, this is
certainly true for some individuals, some of whom you have already
met in this net, this is in no way correct for the majority of
the Greek people as I was told. Even if this was correct, there
is no way to justify the negative propagandas.

 Actually, I like to know the psychology of the people that
I meet. This is the main thing that I base my relations with
those people. That is, why does this person do this, what does
s/he expect, how does s/he feel? This is my topic of special
interest from now on : Understanding Homo-Grekus.

 Anyway. I  congratulate you for not listening to ugly propaganda,
and I am glad that you have visited Turkey. I hope that more and more
people do the same (or take a direct route to Turkey) and more
Europeans have the oppurtunity to see us with their own eyes,
and decide by *themselves* whether we are barbarian or not.

 Saygilarimla,
 Sadi Turgut (barbarian as usual :-)

-- 
  The Greeks have survived in spite of all the world could
do against them, and all they could do against themselves.
              --Sir Winston Churchill