Over the years, the Turkish language has borrowed many Western words, usually from French. One such English word, however, is miting. But just when the Turkish neophyte thinks that they can be comforted by the fact that at last they can recognize a word --- the Turkish language gods crush their feeble hopes: For while miting is taken from the English meeting, it has no connection to the English conception of the word. Instead, it means protest (there is also the verb 'protesto etmek' in Turkish, which, somewhat disappointingly, actually means 'to protest', rather than 'to meet' --- a meaning that would be so much more deliciously bizarro-world like).
And yes, there is a connection to reality outside of mere linguistic contemplation. For today, Istanbul has ground to a halt because of a 'Miting'. The official reason (in our pages here fairly crudely summarized) is popular protests over the ongoing parliamentary elections for a new president ---- the office of the President isn't actually so important --- more powerful than a figurehead, but not as important as the Turkish Prime Minister. However, no Turkish President's wife has ever worn a headscarf.
That a President's wife would choose to not reveal her hair would perhaps not seem particularly divisive in a country like Canada --- odd perhaps, drawing isolated protests from a nationalist fringe, but not necessarily divisive, but in Turkey, the issue of the next President has the country at a standstill, and men are even taking time out of harassing each other over football results (Turkish football, while low in overall quality, could never be accused of lacking overheated, testosterone-induced passion) to discuss the Presidential issue.
The parliament's current candidate, Abdüllah Gül, is from the Islamic AK Parti. His candidature has been supported by many on the Islamic side of Turkish politics, and vociferously opposed by secularists, including the all-powerful armed forces, who have not so subtly advised any prospective candidate for the Presidentship to have strong secularist credentials (a thinly-veiled threat aimed at anyone with a religious background bent on assuming Presidential office), and who intervened into Turkish politics (either bloodily or unbloodilly) to depose elected governments in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1998.
In an atmosphere where everyone is trying to decide the future of the country --- in kepab shops, in doorways, around the proverbial water-cooler, on the bus, in smoke-filled men-only cafes, in upmarket tanning salons, at work, at home --- the only decisionmakers that matter are those in military HQ. Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of Istanbullus poured onto the streets today in a show of popular force to 'claim the republic' and convince Gül that his next seven years would be better spent accomplishing something else, rather than parading in front of the cameras with a headscarfed wife, anathema to Turkey's secular establishment.
The crowd of hundreds of thousands of Turks represented a decent cross-section of society. Young were mixed with old, women seemed to make up about half the number (as I assume they would when there's a palpable fear (whether real or unfounded) that an Islamist President will advance the cause of mandatory headscarves), most seemed middle class, and all carried Turkish flags (which incidentally, always seem to be sold by Gypsies in this country --- a monopoly they control in addition to the florist industry) while shouting slogans supporting the primacy of secularism in the Turkish republic.
In the end, secularism was the watchword of the day; Those opposed to the rally complained about the antidemocratic nature of the populist wave: The government was legally elected, any street efforts to oust it by encouraging military intervention will do nothing to encourage democracy. Those taking part, however, believed in the almost 'sacred' (to use the term completely incorrectly) duty of protesting: By not protesting, millions of liberal minded Turks might wake up in the morning to a radically Islamic government no one really wants.... Whether that is ever to happen is probably moot, since the courts and a not so-subtle group of soldiers with guns are more likely to decide what happens in the coming days...
And yes, there is a connection to reality outside of mere linguistic contemplation. For today, Istanbul has ground to a halt because of a 'Miting'. The official reason (in our pages here fairly crudely summarized) is popular protests over the ongoing parliamentary elections for a new president ---- the office of the President isn't actually so important --- more powerful than a figurehead, but not as important as the Turkish Prime Minister. However, no Turkish President's wife has ever worn a headscarf.
That a President's wife would choose to not reveal her hair would perhaps not seem particularly divisive in a country like Canada --- odd perhaps, drawing isolated protests from a nationalist fringe, but not necessarily divisive, but in Turkey, the issue of the next President has the country at a standstill, and men are even taking time out of harassing each other over football results (Turkish football, while low in overall quality, could never be accused of lacking overheated, testosterone-induced passion) to discuss the Presidential issue.
The parliament's current candidate, Abdüllah Gül, is from the Islamic AK Parti. His candidature has been supported by many on the Islamic side of Turkish politics, and vociferously opposed by secularists, including the all-powerful armed forces, who have not so subtly advised any prospective candidate for the Presidentship to have strong secularist credentials (a thinly-veiled threat aimed at anyone with a religious background bent on assuming Presidential office), and who intervened into Turkish politics (either bloodily or unbloodilly) to depose elected governments in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1998.
In an atmosphere where everyone is trying to decide the future of the country --- in kepab shops, in doorways, around the proverbial water-cooler, on the bus, in smoke-filled men-only cafes, in upmarket tanning salons, at work, at home --- the only decisionmakers that matter are those in military HQ. Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of Istanbullus poured onto the streets today in a show of popular force to 'claim the republic' and convince Gül that his next seven years would be better spent accomplishing something else, rather than parading in front of the cameras with a headscarfed wife, anathema to Turkey's secular establishment.
The crowd of hundreds of thousands of Turks represented a decent cross-section of society. Young were mixed with old, women seemed to make up about half the number (as I assume they would when there's a palpable fear (whether real or unfounded) that an Islamist President will advance the cause of mandatory headscarves), most seemed middle class, and all carried Turkish flags (which incidentally, always seem to be sold by Gypsies in this country --- a monopoly they control in addition to the florist industry) while shouting slogans supporting the primacy of secularism in the Turkish republic.
In the end, secularism was the watchword of the day; Those opposed to the rally complained about the antidemocratic nature of the populist wave: The government was legally elected, any street efforts to oust it by encouraging military intervention will do nothing to encourage democracy. Those taking part, however, believed in the almost 'sacred' (to use the term completely incorrectly) duty of protesting: By not protesting, millions of liberal minded Turks might wake up in the morning to a radically Islamic government no one really wants.... Whether that is ever to happen is probably moot, since the courts and a not so-subtle group of soldiers with guns are more likely to decide what happens in the coming days...
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