PNA - After a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the eastern Anatolian city of Van -- with a death toll expected to reach between 500 and 1,000 -- Turkey witnessed a wave of nationalistic and counter-nationalistic discourse, as the affected region is predominately populated by Kurds. "Today Turkey was shaken by sad news. Although the news came from Van, we were deeply shaken," one speaker from a news channel said. This reaction was followed by another programme host saying: "Throw rocks, attack in the mountains. But when something happens we care, call for the police and Turkish soldiers. Afterwards, you are chasing them away as if you are hunting birds in the mountains. One [Kurdish people] should know their place." On Facebook and Twitter, a parallel hate discourse developed blaming residents of Van for supporting terrorism, coming to the conclusion that they deserved this disaster. According to Talha Kose, a political science and international relations scholar at Sehir University, over the last decade various identity groups in society have undergone a rupture in terms of emotions and values. "If such discourse cannot change in the short term, the clash of identities will become the norm, making it almost impossible to bring back," Kose says. "There are times when social links are tested, like during war and natural disasters. These are experimental periods in terms of showing the relationship between communities, their discourse and co-operation," he explains. "This quake showed our true colours," writes blogger Kenan Baris Dereli. "We were saying that Kurdish people are our brothers while our main problem is with the PKK. We were emphasising the need to make a distinction between terrorists and Kurdish people. The sincerity of our words has been tested after this quake." According to Dereli, the earthquake showed the extent of hatred in some segments of society. "When offering help, we started to make racism. We asked which party they voted for in the elections, because for us, the voters for some parties do not deserve any help," he argues. Another blogger, Nejat Erdim, draws a correlation between the earthquake and lost humanity. "We had been a nation known by its ability to be together through thick and thin. Helpfulness was our major human characteristic," he writes. "But, I' m using past tense, because unfortunately we have been losing all our good characteristics due to society-wide degeneration. The last quake showed how far we have come." Users of other social media tools, like Twitter, also showed a similar sensibility with home-grown initiatives. A Turkish reporter with close to 16,000 followers posted a tweet offering his flat to a family in need and advised others to do the same. Within a few hours, thousands of people started to email the "My house is your house" campaign with so much success that the Istanbul governorship opened a 24-hour hotline where people can apply to stay or host. The reaction to the hate discourse came not only from Turkish bloggers, but also from those of Kurdish origin, like Ismail Karakas. "I love my country Turkey. I love you Turkish people," he writes. "Yesterday, our people were throwing stones at you. They were burning your cars. But now, we need you." Karakas also asks a key question: "Why are we constantly fouling each other's nests in good times, while we are banding together in bad times?" By Menekse Tokyay for SES Türkiye - ekurd.net
Yes there are some idiots fa(*)(*)(*)(*)s as you described above... On the other hand i think it is neccesaary to explain here big amounth of Turks from right to left become ''one'' to help Van. 2 days ago 11 TV channel in Turkey made a program of campaigne to help Van and as far as i know they collected around 50 milion Euros. Only my company in Istanbul ''most of our employers are Turkish'' we collected 20 tousand Euros and send to Van. Even the grey wolfs leader Bahceli declareted in this kind of situation ''to think the event as a Turk - Kurd event is illnes and never has to be maden'' From a football match in Istanbul, the funs are throwing their neckerchief to the stadium to be send to Van by truck which is symbolic but important to show the cooperation.
It's much more easy to come together in bad times than good. It's something that sucks about humanity.
