Orhan Kemal Cengiz

Articles de cet auteur (21)

Is Orhan Pamuk a paranoid liar?
7 August 2010

Fatih Altaylı, the editor-in-chief of Habertürk, a major Turkish daily, titled his column yesterday “Students and Pamuk.” I think his article was extremely illuminating to get a picture of the mentality and psychology of secular Turkish elites.
He said a group of American college students had visited him to get an idea about the media in Turkey. While they chatted, the students started to talk about how they were very surprised to see dramatic differences between the Turkey they saw with their (...)
What is the significance of the Ergenekon case for Turkey?
7 May 2010

Twenty-seven hand grenades seized in a shanty house in İstanbul’s Ümraniye district in June 2007 pried open an unprecedented process for Turkey.
Having tracked down the grenades, which belonged to a retired military officer, prosecutors found other arms depots, assassination plans, coup “diaries,” action plans and, most important of all, a gigantic organization. This organization, which brought together “nationalists” from rightist and leftist circles and members of the military and civilians, (...)
Replacing old Big Brother with a new one is not democratization!
17 March 2008

Turgut Özal was one of the most pragmatic leaders Turkey has ever seen. He had a rich imagination and wide horizons and was very flexible. The image of him inspecting an army regiment wearing shorts, while soldiers stood at attention, fully armed, is one of the unforgettable pictures that he has left us. Özal was trying to break down some stereotypes in Turkey, and one of his efforts was to put the army under civilian authority. He was trying to develop new tactics to tackle the power of (...)
Identité sexuelle opprimée : la revanche
14 mars 2008

La société turque est assez « macho » et très masculine. Les comportements efféminés chez les hommes ne sont pas du tout bien vus. L’homosexualité et tous les signes visibles appartenant aux minorités sexuelles sont tabous et interdits. Les transsexuels et les travestis sont condamnés à se prostituer étant donné qu’il n’y a pas d’autre solution possible de survie pour eux. Il est clair que quelque chose est fortement réprimé, n’est-ce pas ?
J’ai toujours trouvé la société turque assez hypocrite concernant (...)
Revenge of the oppressed sexual identity!
5 March 2008

Turkish society is quite “macho;” it is very masculine. Feminine behaviors in men are not welcomed at all. Homosexuality and all visible signs belonging to sexual minorities are taboos and forbidden. Transsexuals and transvestites are condemned to work as prostitutes since there is no other option available for them to survive. It is obvious, something is repressed quite strongly, is not it?
I always find Turkish society quite hypocritical in this respect. I was at university when I first (...)
Mehmet Agar and Moshe Dayan: ’Illumination’ and the aftermath
24 January 2008

Conflicts, especially the ones that have existed for a long time, create an interesting kind of blindness for the parties to them. Obvious facts for an outsider can become invisible for the parties to the conflict. Look at Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Turkey’s Kurdish problems for examples.
From looking Turkey to Israeli-Palestinian conflict it is crystal clear that there will be no solution to the conflict there in the near future. I guess our Kurdish problem is seen similar to the (...)
God punished caricaturist that depicted Prophet Mohammed !
23 January 2008

A few days ago an email about the death of the caricaturists that depicted Prophet Mohammed reached my mail box. It made me think a lot and I would like to share my reflections on the subject with you.
First let me inform you about the content of this mail message. It reads as follows: “The Danish caricaturist creature which draws caricatures of our master Prophet Mohammed has reportedly lost its life by burning as a result of the outbreak of a fire in his home. The Danes wish nobody (...)
Greeks, Serbians, Turks: whose nationalism is better ?
9 November 2007

I do not want to offend anyone but I would like to be very straightforward: I see nationalism as a kind of disease that clouds the perceptions of the people who have it, which separates people from each other and which prompts every kind of double standard.
Nationalism has never brought any peace to any territory; it is the root cause of wars, massacres, and crimes against humanity. I strongly believe that when humanity overcomes this disease a brand new era will start for Homo sapiens. (...)
Can we discuss the Armenian question ?
2 novembre 2007

There is a book on my bookcase which has been waiting for some time to be read. There is a picture on the cover of the book : Turkish and Armenian flags tied to each other. The name of the book is “The Truth Will Set Us Free” and it is written by George Jerijan, a British citizen of Armenian descent.
While I was again considering reading the book I came across a newspaper article and I learned that the book had already been translated into Turkish and Mr. Ragıp Zarakoğlu, the owner of the (...)
The existential crisis of the Turkish Military
25 June 2007

The Turkish Republic was founded by soldiers. Mustafa Kemal was a first class soldier before anything else. The Turkish military has always seen itself as the revolutionary, modernizing and progressive power of this country.
To some extent this has been true. Today, however, the Turkish military is going through an existential crisis. Atatürk had always pointed to the West and western values as the main direction to which Turkey should head. However, today’s West, namely the European Union, (...)