Why Shouldn't I dislike the Turkish government?

Question

Hey ppl... I'll just spit it out... I'm a greek and my family is from istanbul/constatinople (not anymore we live in the states now) and I was wondering from a turkish persons point of view why I shouldn't hate your government... and your countries past, and what is your view of the pontic and armenian genocide. O yeah and before I forget what was the Turkish amount of causulties in the balkan wars/ geocides. O yeah and the reason I'm asking this is because I'm going to see the land of my forefathers next year and want to ween myself off of my anti-turkish rants.

Answer 1

You sound more like a Turk who wants to sound like a Greek fanatic but you are loosing it in some point.

Answer 2

before people are answering against you,i ll tell you what i believe.and I am Greek as well

what ever happened ,of course can't be forgeted,but those people who u are going to meet,are other generation's people

and different goverments as well.

you can't hate the child because of  the fault of the father...

i mean both the people and ther nowdays goverment,

Answer 3

no matter what they say you shouldn't hate anybody forget about government sometimes i dont like it either

before balkan wars the Ottoman province of Roumelia had 2 315 000 muslims (mostly turks) after the II. balkan war there were only 870 000 muslims in all the balkans if this 870.000 people weren’t alive i probably wouldn’t exist now so i dont want to say what i’ve thought you’re always welcome

Answer 4

My view of the Pontic and Armenian genocides is this: They were European-backed attempts for independence that failed miserably. Had these attempts succeeded, we would be talking about Armenian and Pontic "wars of independence" today (as with Bulgarians, Serbs, non-Anatolian Greeks, Arabs, etc), and not "genocides". Bulgarians and Serbs lost hundreds of thousands of lives during their wars for independence, but I don't hear them complain about any "genocides". Call me crazy, but I think that's because they got what they wanted. Armenians and Pontic Greeks did not, and that's why they complain.

Am I happy about the way things turned out? No, I am genuinely sad that the Christian population of Anatolia is not there anymore and that they had to suffer such a brutal expulsion from their ancestral homelands. But I think it is ridiculously simplistic to blame it all on the "evil Turks" and drawing parallels to the Holocaust, which was motivated by pure racism.

Why shouldn't you dislike the Turkish government? Well, why should you? It has no problems with you, as long as you respect its agreements with your own government and its territorial integrity.

My own (paternal) ancestors lived in Abkhazia for centuries before they were kicked out by the Russians during what's been called "the Circassian Genocide". (Google it, there really is such a thing. The g-word word gets thrown around a lot these days, don't you think?) Am I angry at the current Russian government for that? No, because that would be childish. Is it fair that my ancestors were kicked out of Abkhazia and your ancestors were kicked out of Anatolia? Probably not, but that's life! You either accept it and get on with your life in your new home country, or you take up arms and fight for your ancestral lands and ruin the lives of the innocent people who are living there now (not very sensible). Fussing, ranting, raving and whining about the past is useless and childish.

Enjoy your trip to Turkey. I sincerely hope that one day my descendants and yours can put all this "dislike" talk behind and truly reconcile with each other.

Answer 5

Similar things can be asked of many current and past governments in the world, such as  USA (native indians, iraq), France (Rwanda, Algeria), etc.  I hope you are aware that there is propaganda from both Turks and Greeks, Armenians, and whoever else sides with them, in these issues.  The propaganda, when directed against Turks, is aimed at making Turks look like merciless evil monsters and to make Armenians/Greeks, etc. look like poor, helpless, angelic victims.  If you buy into this kind of thinking, it would be useful to examine some research on "psychological essentialism," to realize its flaws and be more open to alternative perspectives.

But since you are Greek, I understand your motivation to take on the Turkish government, and I encourage your criticism of the Turkish government (and any other government, including your own) AS LONG AS it is not motivated by mere hatred.  We should all strive to make the world a better place for everyone.

Since I am not a historian, I will not comment extensively on the genocides (unlike the hordes of people on the internet who pretend like they have actually evaluated all the available evidence on these issues).  I think the most balanced view is that somethings went horribly wrong, and I want my government to do its share in acknowledging it.  Whatever this is should be determined by a neutral international committee and Turkey has taken steps toward this by making all its archives accessible.  In turn, I would like the Armenian government to open up its archives, which they are refusing to do, and to acknowledge the wrongs of their ancestors (such as the Armenian bands, who appear to be responsible for mass killings, just like the Turks).  

But these are not very important for me. My country's government doesn't represent me and I don't represent my country's government.  I represent myself.  I choose to treat everyone with dignity and respect their point of view, regardless of their ethnic/national identity.  This has earned me many friendships among Greeks (I live with two of them in the same apartment) and Armenians.  I suggest you try the same, and you will eventually realize that we are all humans, we are all alike, and we are more than our nation's past.

If you can't see the wrong in hating a person just because he/she is a Turk, then probably it wasn't worth answering your question.  I hope this is not the case.  Finally, I suggest you read the book "Turkish-Greek Empire" by the Greek historian Dimitri Kitsikis for an alternative take on the 400 years Greece spent as a part of the Ottoman Empire.  Peace at home, peace in the world!!!

Answer 6

You have every right to hate

this government, they have

done more harm to their

own people than anyone else.

Hate them for that if you are

gonna hate them. If it wasn't

for their lies and manipulations

of the truth...People of Turkey

would be on the same page with

the rest of the world. Their own

government is responsible

for its own people who today

have been reduced to the being

ridiculed for their ignorance, and

hated for their egotistical mentalities.

Answer 7

You are free to hate or love whatever or whoever you please.  A person passes through many loves and many hates in her or his lifetime.  Even for towards the same entity, one day you may love it, another day hate it, yet another day love it again.  Whatever you are feeling right now, no amount of rationalizations from us folks is going to make you feel otherwise.  So, go ahead, experience your ancestral lands, feel the people who are still there, the place as it is now, and if your hate still survives -- whether it be against the government or against the people themselves -- then so be it.  I would say that your visit will be a good enough test for the answer to your question.  Don't worry about "cleansing" your feelings beforehand.  I think it will feel better to be cleansed of hate through your trip, if such was meant to be.

Answer 8

I'm a Turk . Do you know my grand mum is still keeping the title deeds of *Selanik that we have 100 years ago... Did any one pay anything for this land to my family ? No.

Must I hate to Greek government or people for that? Ofcourse no.

Turks never made genocide to any nation . Please ask this to your family.

Answer 9

you need professional help

really

Answer 10

O yeah, O yeah, O yeah  :)))

You sound "cool" eh??

Ask the protestants why they should dislike catholics.

Same reason applies.

O yeah, O yeah, O yeah  :)))

By the way use the spell checker... It is not "geocide" it is "genocide"...

Answer 11

because in a soceity like ours, things are changing real fast, and the last thing we need is hate. accept and expect that all good is possible, and don't hate or dislike anything or anyone.

live and let live.

Answer 12

As the others already said, if you justify your way of thinking, every single person on earth can find one or many governments to hate. Is it right for a person whose ancestors were butchered by Greeks during the Asia Minor campaign to hate the present Greek government? Or let's put aside the word "right", is it "reasonable"? What good can come out of that? You say you hate the "government" not the" not the "people" but that isn't how it works. If you do have an aversion against a government, the only possible and easy way to demonstrate it would be to snap at its people. It is difficult to hate the government but stay flat with regard to its people.  

As for my view, there was no Pontic or Armenian genocide. The problem with you people is that your mentality does not permeate the shades of gray, thus you use the word "genocide" loosely, which is a very dangerous thing to do. The Turkish victims were certainly much more than the inflated numbers of so called Armenian or Greek victims. Or we can use Putin's answer to Jewish Russians, and say that you should question all the people under Ottoman rule, not the present day Turkish state today. I'll give you a hint, start with the Greek government.

Answer 13

first of all the city is Istanbul period,,it has not been Constantinople for 500 year,

You would have done better if you said why you hate our Government,

since you ask why shouldn't you hate   ,, my answer is why should you hate my government???

if you are looking to hate a guverment , hate your president

for what they done to Iraq...

Or hate the Greek goverment,, for housing and supporting

Kurdish terrorist activeties against Turkey untill they got court red handed,, this is only one insident, there is to many to list,,

Armenian hate campain towards Turkey , is a problem

for the Armenians,, with respect  not with you Not with Greeks

from memory during Balkan wars  I think 5million causulties and around 3 million loss of  lives from  the Turkish side,,

Answer 14

Hey what happened in 1964 in Cyprus with the Greeks!!! As usual the Greeks forget about that one!

Answer 15

The population exchange was reciprocal, so if you want to hate somebody, that should include your own government, however ridiculous that sounds.

My personal opinion is that, all the people sent away and got killed in the wars (and by that I also mean the Muslims killed in Anatolia, Balkans and Greece), were children of these/those lands.

We sent our own people away and I'm sorry for the suffering, but it was the result of the colonialist ambitions and nationalism, not Turkish people.

Are you sorry for the Muslims cleansed out of your own country? Just like I'm sorry for the Orthodox and Gregorien peoples of my own country? Let's talk again when you feel the same sorrow.

Answer 16

Dear Mathios,

In Turkiye, we are called so-called Armenian Genocide ...

It is never happened, we believe ...

And we are also saying Just Only did not Armenian Died, Turks also Died ...

So, How about our Died Turks ? Why do not you think us ?



If you have time please read this site and then ask again ...

http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/...

This is not Rubbish, This is the Truth ...

Of Course, You can answer me , if you want ,

I wonder ...

And then please check this website ;

http://bp3.blogger.com/_9rjK1yXqTJc/Rixu...

What did you feel ?

Something or Nothing ...

Answer 17

The only thing we all need to understand is that governments come and go, people come and go, and you cannot classify today's people with respect to the previous centuries' events.

Answer 18

I recommend you to read the book "Twice a Stranger" by Bruce Clark. It looks at the population exchanges etc from an objective point of view, the author is from Northern Ireland and quotes observers and survivors from all sides.