Fellow Turks (and honorary Turks) who love Turkiye: Words or actions?

Question

Tell me who loves Turkiye more, Person A or Person B. Both persons live in the West.

Person A: This person teaches children (say math, English, etc.) every summer in his father's village, as well as Turkish children in his local community. He also sends money and help whenever he can to the village. He sings and plays any Turku you can think of beautifully. Name any neighborhood in Istanbul, and he can give you a short guided tour. But, he remains neutral in all political discussions involving Turkish conflicts, never participating in those.

Person B: This person participates vehemently in all political discussions involving Turkiye, verbally defending everything "Turkish" to the end. He participates in many social activities of his local Turkish community (parties, watching soccer, etc.) and even helps out on occasion, but makes no regular commitment to do so. When he does visit Turkey it is purely for vacation.

Are most of us like A, B? If neither, then how are you?

Answer 1

I'm not Turkish but choose to live in Turkey because I love it.

I have elements of both types identified above.

Some people tend to be more politically active than others and some may choose to keep their political opinions to themselves. In my opinion the most important thing in a democratic country (or one that at least has free elections) is to cast your vote, otherwise you have no right to criticise.

Charitable acts are also important viz the teacher who spends time in his vacations helping the village children as in person A above. Through those acts and by setting a "good example" he can also influence others for the betterment of society on both a small and large scale.

I do not understand how person B can "defend everything 'Turkish' to the end" as Turkey is full of contrast and contradictions - What is meant by "Turkish"?

I love the enigma that is Turkey!

Answer 2

This is why I don't like philosophy. This is kinda question like;

Do your parents or your husband/wife love you?

Answer is; both with their own way.  However, if the question was "Who loves most? Who will love you forever? or Who will you stick to?". Then I would say. Even if your wife/husband might have been "more on the good side" than your parents, he/she might not be your husband/wife forever, but your parents will be your parents forever. Why does Person A remain neutral in all political discussions? Because he has doubts. Parents have no doubts. They think their baby is the most beautiful baby in the world. They give their life for their baby. What about person A? So Person A might betray/cheat when time comes but Person B wont! He is yours forever, even though he was not as useful as Person A.

Answer 3

Both Person A and Person B love Turkiye because Turkiye the best.

:)

Answer 4

I love your style Gwen you must be a Philosophy Professor in Turkey :)  The question you ask is very philosophical and there can be no right or wrong answers, however having said that I would have to say "Action speaks louder than words" although "A picture is worth a thousand words".

I would have to lean towards person A because although we do not have enough factual information (oh how I hate what if's) it is not enough to be involved in just discussions there needs to be positive action.  We can discuss things until the cows come home and still reach no conclusion or any sort of result.  That is my way of thinking in short.

However, what i find most intriguing about your question is the "living in Turkey" aspect.  You see I would say you don't need to live in a place to love it.  Let me clarify that for you.  Like me many hundreds or thousands of Turks were dragged away from Turkey, their friends, their relatives, their environment and their place of belonging due to reasons beyond their own control.  i.e. as small children in the custody of their parents.  Now we have all grown up and although we could go back to Turkey to live what work would we do not knowing how to read or write in Turkish ?  How would our qualifications be recognised if in fact they could be at all ?  After spending years at University only to be told that you need to go back to a Turkish University to complete further subjects, then undertake further 12 - 24 months trainning and after all that you don't recieve the salary are already getting where you are ?

Now it's not that all these people love Turkey less because they don't live in Turkey but a matter of the vicissitudes of life.

Answer 5

Sorry I am not Turk, or even

an honoree one but I like

your question.

The person you have described

in A clearly represents a person

who loves their country.  Their

love is demonstrated by their

continuous acts of generosity,

not only in monetary contributions

but  gives them self in ways that

will constantly improve the quality

of life in their families village...They make a

difference for the better in areas

where they can...



The person you described in B represents

a person who only clearly loves himself.

Their die hard political devotion to their

country is their way of compensating for

the fact they are a slacker, who only really

cares about what will make them happy.

This person is not even worthy of

being an option.



I myself personally love my country,

Some of the ways I show it

is by recycling, volunteering,

taking the subway, and by not

defending its politics, or littering.

Answer 6

I don't think you can put rules to love. You may live in Turkey and you may think you don't like Turkey that much. You maynot live in Turkey and you may think you love Turkey.

Being an expat and the citizen of the country you are living in makes it more complex. When you become an American citizen, you swear that you will forgo all previous allegiances and be loyal to USA. I'm sure other countries have similar rituals. Does this oath have no meaning?

As long as there is no war between your country of origin and country of citizenship, it really shouldn't matter. I believe we have a responsibility against the country of our citizenship, but other than that, I feel free to like any country I feel like.

Cheers!

Answer 7

to be honest I would say both love Turkiye in their own way. I have always been taught that actions speak louder than words, but in some cases there are exceptions.

I'm a Brit and I hate politics. I will come to the defence of my country but I will also say when I think things are wrong. I tend to try to be neutral.

I simply love Turkiye because of the people. I feel warmth and friendship from nearly everyone I have met there. As I am not Turkish I keep my nose out of the politics and things I don't understand and just appreciate people for who they are. Oh and I like the sunshine too lol.

My husband lives in the UK with me and he will always love Turkey, after all it is his homeland.