PDF Dosyası - Ankara Üniversitesi Kitaplar Veritabanı

Consider the editorial of 15 November 1997 in The Times, whichused to be known as the world's greatest newspaper. It contained thisastonishing sentence: 'the same Arab countries that once mobilizedagainst Saddam - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, even Kuvvait - are nowisolated from the American Administration.' I wrote a letter to the editörinforming him that Turks are not a sort of Arab. My letter vvas published,though my favourite sentence vvas omitted: 'Can vve expect to see a referencein your nevvspaper one of these days to "Venezuela, Chile, Svveden,and the other Latin American countries"?'And here is an earlier example. On 31 August 1928, The Times devoteda vvell-informed and sympathetic editorial to the nevv alphabet:The advantages of the change can scarcely be appreciated bythose vvho have not struggled vvith the difficulties presented to thestudent of Turkish by the Arabic letters... No alphabet is less fitted toexpress the melodious Turkish speech... By this step the Turks, vvhofor centuries vvere regarded as a strange and isolated people by Europe,have dravvn closer than ever to the West. It is a great reform,vvorthy of the remarkable chief to vvhom the Turkish people has entrustedits destinies.But memories can be short, even the corporate memory of a greatnevvspaper. Twenty-one years later, on 10 August 1949, there vvas an editorialin The Times on the proposed admission of Greece, Turkey, andIceland to the Council of Europe:To have any chance of success a federal union vvould have to startvvith nations either adjoining each other or separated by no barriermore formidable than the English Channel... They could not share acommon language but at least it vvould be an advantage if the differentlanguages vvere vvritten in the same script... Müslim in tradition,vvith an Asiatic language in an Arabic script, it is not easy to see hovvTurkey could take her place easily in a United States of Western Europe.incidentally, the author of that egregious hovvler could have mentionedthat the Greeks have a different script from other Europeans - but hedidn't.As vve ali knovv, a favourite theme of the Westera press is illtreatmentof people held in Turkish police-stations and prisons. Ivvouldn't like to fınd myself in any prison. In June of this year, for example,Amnesty International issued a report on Japanese prisons, vvhichpainted a horrifying picture. I shall not harry you vvith the details, becauseJapan is not applying for membership of the European Union, for vvhich784