Nasty, Brutish, and Short by Millick Todd;

Author:Millick, Todd;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Hamilton Books
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

The Other White Meat

Turkey

If you scratch a cynic, you’ll find a disappointed idealist.

— George Carlin

And we did leave soon. Briefly, anyway.

A few months after arriving in Egypt, we evacuated Egypt. The so-called “Arab Spring” had started, and the Egyptians wanted in on the action. It was probably time for a vacation, anyway.

So Egypt had a revolution. When protesters started burning buildings and setting up civilian checkpoints, it quickly became unclear who, if anyone, was really in charge. We were told to “Get out of Dodge” and my wife and I made a break for the airport in order to evacuate.

Playing on the double meaning of the verb, a friend used to say the following about fleeing civil unrest: “First you evacuate, then you leave the country.”

At Cairo Airport, we were initially told that the US government-chartered plane would go to Greece. Everyone was excited by the announcement. No country sounded better. By sunset, we would be sitting in a bar on the Mediterranean. We would turn the evacuation into an “evacu-cation.”

But it wasn’t meant to be.

While waiting to take off, the pilot said that plans had changed, and we were now going to Turkey. This seemed like just another word for “Egypt.” A collective sigh of relief turned into a moan of despair. After weeks of revolutionary chaos, Turkey was the last place anyone wanted to go.

On the surface, Turkey looks familiar. Istanbul has cobblestone streets and charming cafes. You spot well-known restaurants. The hotels and shops seem friendly, even Western, with a touch of Eastern flair. There is even historic precedent to this feeling. The city’s most famous mosque, now a museum, was once an Orthodox cathedral.

You look at the Turks and think they are just like you. Most wear Western clothes. Some speak English. They even smile now and then.

But then you walk a bit farther and go around the corner.

You see a minaret. You hear the call to prayer. Its feels like you took a wrong turn. Like outsiders have taken over a European country. Or a German and an Arab had a metaphoric love-child, though it was shunned by both sides of the family.

Turkey’s on the border between Asia and Europe. It’s not quite Arab or Persian, but also not European.

Most of the country’s in Asia, with a tiny little chunk jutting out into the “country club” of Europe. And it’s trying to get the whole family in on this little “ticket.”

The EU’s not sure the ticket’s “valid,” however, and continues to stall Turkey’s application, hoping it’ll eventually get tired and stop trying to join the club.

What the EU forgets is that in Turkey’s part of the world, people don’t take rejection well. Somehow, someway, you will pay if you piss them off.

So in revenge, the Turks seem to say, “If the EU doesn’t want us on its turf, how would it like millions of people even worse off than we are?” Welcome to the masses. Turkey allows much of the Middle East to enter visa-free.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.