Orhan Pamuk Quotes
Turkey was never colonized by the Western powers and consequently Turks do not have the resentment of the West that other Moslem nations have.
Orhan Pamuk, Turkish Novelist, Interview, PBS, Diane Rehm Show, October 7, 2004
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Arabs have a long history of arrogant and disdainful treatment by others given the British Colonial history in the Middle East, the French (who invaded Egypt under Napoleon), the Islamic Ottoman Empire which controlled the Middle East before that, and others. Along with the arrogance that usually comes with empire, Western support of the only democracy and modern state in the Middle East—Israel—was even more resented by the Arabs. Historically, there was a general feeling by much of the world that if the Arabs had no oil, no one would pay much attention to them. The Arabs naturally resented these attitudes. It was not until Nasser’s successor, Anwar Sedat, came to government in Egypt and King Hussein reformed Jordan, that Western attitudes began to change towards the Arab nations. The Western change was not because of any Arab “lesson” but the result of new, exceptionally capable leaders who have been reforming the Arab nations.
Singh turned him down. Note that even before Pakistan was a country, Jinnah and other Muslim leaders had hopes of grabbing much of India as the British partitioned it, and have been trying to do so ever since the inception of Pakistan
At the time, headwear identified the wearer’s caste and class. Fezes, Turbans, etc. were eliminated in favor of hats. This was Ataurk’s solution to two problems: He wanted to have Turkey modernize and develop along the lines of Western democracy and the traditional Islamic headgear being replaced by Western hats were daily symbols of the national modernization. The second advantage was that Turks could no longer identify caste and class by the traditional headgear and the society became much more egalitarian which it has been ever since.
The palace, which had belonged to the Ottoman Caliphs, who were called “Shadows of Allah on Earth”.
Islam prohibits drinking alcohol. Ataturk was the first Muslim politician not only to drink alcohol, but to do so publicly and make a public toast. Unfortunately he became addicted and died early as a result of his alcoholism. Ironically, to this day, he is used by Turks and other Muslims both as an example of the right to drink alcohol and also by those who appreciate the wisdom of Muhammad in banning alcohol.
Ataturk wrote this manual personally as he not only wanted to Westernize Turkey but also generate a climate for acceptance of his vision for a reformed Turkey amongst the Western nations.
Ataturk wrote this manual personally. Religious Turks took violent offense to Ataturk’s proclamation that Turks were great without Islam.
In the rest of the Islamic world, the call to prayer was said in Arabic regardless of the national language. This reform was castigated by throughout the Islamic world who wanted Arabic to be the only language for Muslim religious communications. This was not unlike the insistence that they Catholic Church had maintained that all scripture was read in Latin and would not allow Bibles or mass to be said in any other language.
The Germans allied themselves with the Islamic insurgency of the day as a strategic maneuver. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem broadcast propaganda from Nazi radio in Berlin and was dispatched to organize Muslim fighters in Iraq. Fascism was introduced into the Middle East and the Arabs and Persians saw it as a natural extension of their authoritarian and highly prescriptive forms of religious and civil government. 60 years later, there would be Islamic Fascists throughout the Middle East in control or vying for control of many of the countries.
The Jews and Arabs for years shared Palestine. But the Jews spread out over the world, becoming modern and Westernized in the process. When the Jews returned to Palestine as a part of the Zionist movement, they were more modern, Westernized, and culturally at odds with their old Arab cousins, whose cultures had atrophied. The Arabs resented the Westernized culture that was being introduced into the Middle East. One point of view is that had Israel not tried to introduce moderism and Western ideas into the Middle East, the Jewish State might have been more accepted. However, not only did they bring a foreign perspective (democracy), education and techmology and capitalism to the area, but they far outpassed the Arab nations in agriculture, industry, science, medicine and general standard of living. The Arab dictators and monarchs had always had the excuse for poverty that the land was so poor that it simply could not be developed, but Israel developed the worst of the land in the area with no oil or natural resources. Every day of Israeli prosperity and scientific achievement was an embarassment for the rest of the Middle East where even the rich oil countries were not improving the lot of the average citizen.
Ferit Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, his work has sold over thirteen million books in sixty-three languages, making him the country's best-selling writer.
