Beautiful Vermont - Being back on safe and neutral soil I feel more confident about writing things that I wouldn't safe to write about in Turkey. One reason for this is that Turkey has very strict laws on what can be said about the country, the prime minister, the flag, and the found of Turkey; Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. For example, recently a British cartoonist, Michael Dickinson, who has been living in Istanbul for over 2o years was recently charged with 'insulting the prime minister' by putting the PM's head on a dog in a political 'cartoon' collage. So what is the penalty for such a crime? Glad you asked, three years in prison!! Correct, you cannot insult the prime minister. Not only is he in trouble but Turks and even visiting tourist who access Dickinson's collage on the internet while in Turkey could also face prison time. The government also bans YouTube in case you haven't read about that on my blog already. And this is a country that wants to be a part of the EU and they don't even allow freedom of the press?
Anyways, the real reason for this posting is to show how much Turks adore their founder, Atatürk. On the anniversary of his death, 9:05am November 10, the entire country has a moment of motionless for him. Yes, believe it. The entire country comes to a halt for one minute at the exact time of his death. Cars, people, everything but the planes flying overhead stops and cars honk their horns and police cars fire up their sirens.
This November 10, Brittany and I headed to the bottom of Atatürk's mausoleum (which was only 5 minutes from our place) to witness this and I made a video to share with everyone.
So here is the video. Notice how the people are just standing still where they were when the minute started. It was surreal to actually be there and see this. Such an amazing sign of respect for a very influential and intelligent leader.
Wow. I respect your open views and I especially respect the fact that you didnt let money hungry, greedy fukers like the brass at TBHF ruin some of the positive aspects this country may have to offer. I especially appreciate your views and love for the game. We grew up in a country where Hockey provided a reason to get together, created teamplay and taught us and many other kids respect. Respect towards our country, to our teammates, to the sport itself. Unfortunatly Turks don'T have the right mentality for the game to flourish here, because it is too much for them. Hockey takes alot of skill, game knowledge, team effort and co operation, and again respect. Turks don'T have any of these qualities to begin with. Im not saying all Turks, Im saying enough of them to ruın great things that should happen here but never do. Long live the sport of hockey, and perosnally, Same as the government here, TBHF does not deserve to exist, or have such wonderful opportunities such as Canadian coaches/players, or Americans trying to better the game for them. Everyone here has unfortunately corrupted their minds with dollar signs, and power. People will sell their mothers on the streets here in order to get some fame and money. Its disgusting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words and speaking the truth. I can't agree with you more on the TBHF and the hockey scene in Turkey. There were times that I wish I had the power to take away hockey from them because I was so saddened at how they continue to abuse the sport that myself and so many other people in the world love.
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