TURKS FROM FOREIGN EYES
An informal survey by an American professor −Justin McCarthy− at his university revealed Turks were Number One on the list of most despised ethnic groups in the USA... even though many of the people who cast these votes had no idea about Turks. They just knew Turks were "bad." Why is this?
“Anti-Turkish propaganda and discrimination is not only one of the oldest examples of psychological warfare, its duration surpasses by far even the leyenda negra which swept Spain, reaching a new peak in recent years due to concerted action by Yerevan and Athens. It is: a cocktail of inferiority complex, envy and ignorance; the fame of the Turkish heroism, fantasies of Turkish love life and history of Turkish civilization. All that created an atmosphere which had already culminated half a millennium ago… An answer is long overdue.” [Source: Eric Feigl, A Myth of Error -Not "Terror"!]
"Give a lie twenty-four hours start, and it will take a hundred years to overtake it." [C.F. Dixon-Johnson, British author of the 1916 book, ‘The Armenians’ appalled over the deceitful
practices of his book's subject.]
“There are two major virtues elevating human beings, a man's being brave and a woman's being virtuous. Beside these two virtues, there is a virtue that gives honor to men and women alike. Be faithful to motherland as much as sacrificing his/her life if necessary. Here it is! Turkish people are heroes having these virtues and honor. Hereby Turkish people can be killed however can not be defeated.” [Napoleon Bonaparte - Emperor of France]
“I am talking about the Turks... Resemble a cruel hurricane, a tremendous sea and merciless thunderbolt while attacking its enemy; Turks are like a dawn wind and a clear lake beside friends and against unarmed enemies. Deterrence of this open hearted wind and turning this glaring lake into an enthusiastic sea will be a carelessness that will also offend the nature.” [Tasso - Italian poet]
“Among all the nations Turks are the most virtuous and they are the only nation with no doubt to strike up a friendship. If you visit a village that is not under the foreign influence yet; you can experience and learn the real hospitality there.” [William Martin - British antiquarian and topographer; London]
“According to me Turks are the most noble and foremost ethnic group and nation among the societies living in wide empires. Religious, social and customary virtues are sources of appreciation and admiration.” [Lamartine - French Author, Poet and Statesman]
“I was captive in Poltava. This was a way of death for me, I was saved. Danger occurred more powerfully before Dnyester River; there was water before me, enemy behind me, and the sun sprewing out hells... Water claimed to suffocate me, enemy claimed to cut me into pieces and the sun claimed to melt me; I was again saved. However I am a captive today, I am the captive of the Turks. They did me what the iron, heat and water could not do, and they captivated me. Merely there is no chain on my leg, I am not in a prison; I can do whatever I want... However this time I am the captive of tenderness, nobility and kindness. Turks embrace me with this diamond affection. I want you to know how sweet is to live among a nation that is this much generous, noble and kind as an independent captive.” [Charles - Swedish King; he escaped from Russians and took refuge with Ottomans]
"We have studied the Turkish peasant — i.e. the mass of the Turkish people — and got to know him as unconditionally one of the bravest and most moral representatives of the European peasantry." [Karl Marx; speaking for himself and Engels, "Karl Marx: His Life and Thought," David McLellan, 1973, pp. 438-439]
“Turks know to die, they know too well. I am experienced enough to be aware of this; the nation that knows to die will not be defeated. Here it is possible to establish armies from the ground and it is possible to drag them to death. I take advantage of these opportunities largely. However, there is a barrier staggering these armies that I have established: Living memories of the Turks! Defeating every might and every nation before three-four centuries, Turks stumble every attempt by their indelible memories now. I feel this fear nearly in all hearts. It means that it is necessary not to defeat only Turks but also to defeat their history. In this case I understand the secret of Turks that manage dozens of nations. They defeat nations once but they can engrave their victory in spirits and generations.” [M. Montecuccoli; Austrian commander]
“According to courage and bravery and also being sapient in reaching great goals there is no other society superior to Turks. God creates them in the capacity of lions.” [Ibn-I-Hassul]
“A Turk is the noblest among the nobles, this high nobility without show and artificiality is the present of the nature to him.” [Pierre Loti - French author]
“Turks not only have an eternal bravery but also have a magician intelligence that confused wills. Here! Turks win a victory, create civilizations and achieves the most honorable service in the world of humanity with his intelligence. Anyhow it could not be possible to apprehend half of the Europe under the yoke during centuries.” [Charmayev - Russian Commander]
“Turks are the most living sample of an armed nation. There is a paw energy embracing arms in land villager's holding hook, clerk's holding pen and also women's holding their skirts. Turks sit as mounting on a horse and walks like a soldier sent to investigation.” [Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke]
“Turks according to blood and nation are the most glorious people of the world.” [La Martine]
“Anybody who wants to enjoy the war should fight against Turks.” [Townsend; English Commander]
“Being a Turk is the greatest ornament of Turkish women. They do not wear diamond or emerald in order to dress up, maybe they give value and they decorate the stones on them. Since each of the Turkish woman is a living pearl and a priceless diamond.” [Lady Mary Wortley Montagu; English aristocrat and writer]
“Turks are good hearted. There are no null and void ideas in their minds.” [Semame-Ibn-I-Esres; famous scholar]
“The unique thing Turks like is justice and truth. And they suffered wrong although they did not do any wrong.” [William Pitt; English Statesman]
“Turks are brave and they do not give harm to their friends. High Turkish nation do not leave the hand that it holds, do not go back from its word and do not leave its friends alone in good and bad days. Joining hands with such a nation means that gaining an eternal power and ability to come over any kind of difficulty.” [Comenius; Czech Scholar]
“I do not fight against Turks anymore. They are very brave and good hearted people.” [Andreas Phitiades]
“There is two unknown in the world. One is axles, the other one is Turks.” [Albert Sorel; French historian]
“If the power of ten brave men of ten nations gathers in one human being, it will not be worth a Turk. The most spoken subjects among Turks are war, victory. Their entertainments are horse and gun. It is appropriate to praise as much as possible honesty and chastity of Turks.” [Charles Mcfarlene]
“We could not be successful in Çannakale (Dardanelles & Gallipoli). How could we be? Since Turks were fighting with an anger, courage and bravery of a lion for the reason of its home. I have never seen a nation like this!” [Sir Julien Corbet]
"The centuries rarely produce a genius. Look at this bad luck of ours, that great genius of our era was granted to the Turkish nation." [David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, after his nation's plans to wipe Turkey off the face of the earth ran into a snag.]
“In all the relations between social system and Turks, simple heartedness and good will are dominant. There is no need to issue a bill of exchange in other words a written document as in countries in the case of situations that citizens are indebted to one another. Since one of the worth praising values of them are their loyalty to their word and their hesitation to cheat on anybody and abuse their confidence.” [Monradgea D'Ohsson]
"I consider old Turkish sovereignty in Hungary during 150 years as a real chance. If our country had been conquered not by the Turks but by other people, they would have obliged us to adopt their language and their religion. We would have been purely assimilated. The Turks shone by their tolerance. Hungary was, during 150 years, a strategic territory for the Turks." [In an interview granted to the Spanish daily newspaper ABC; January 2011, Pal Schmitt, president of Hungary declared: I consider that it is a real chance for us to be ruled/governed
by the Turks during 150 years.]
“The Turkish sound captured the imagination of the Viennese masters, who attempted to recreate it in their orchestral and theatrical works. Haydn wrote three military symphonies, Beethoven composed three orchestral works with Turkish percussion (including his monumental Symphony No. 9, which has a Turkish march in the last movement), and Mozart and Haydn, among others, used this military sound in their operas. The Janissary chorus [from Die Entführung] is all that can be desired, that is, short, lively, and written to please the Viennese. The influence was felt even in piano music—notably in Mozart's appealing Rondo alla turca from his Sonata in A major, which we will hear. So popular was this style that some nineteenth-century pianos featured a "Janissary pedal" to add percussive effects. (…
The fascination with Turkish music affected the makeup of the Western orchestra by establishing percussion instruments of Turkish origin (bass drum, cymbals, bells, triangle) as permanent members of the ensemble. It's hard to imagine an orchestra today without them! The Turkish Janissary ensemble also influenced the military band in the West; these same instruments now form the heart of every marching and concert band. Beethoven was fascinated by another Turkish musical tradition—this one a mystical religious ceremony to which he alluded in his incidental music for the stage work.” [Kristine Forney & Joseph Machlis; The Enjoyment of Music, 10e Cultural Perspectives; East Meets West: Turkish Influences on the Viennese Classics]
''Vienna developed into a cultural center in the early 18th century and the fascination with Turkish culture worked its way into plays and operas.'' [Edward J. Hines, American composer]
“Cafes began serving Turkish coffee in Vienna, and Turkish dress became fashionable at social events. The harbinger of war became the music of the people. Haydn wrote his Military Symphony, and Mozart composed the popular piano sonata Rondo Alla Turca under the influence of this music. Mozart also employed Turkish instruments in the opera ‘The Abduction From the Seraglio’, while Beethoven used Mehter-style big drums in his Ninth Symphony. Cymbals, timpani drums and bells left behind by the retreating Ottoman armies were modified and incorporated into symphonic orchestras, while several European armies set up military bands similar to the Mehter. Even today the percussion departments of orchestras are occasionally called the Turkish section.” [Excerpts from an AP article entitled, "Once-frightening Turkish bands now delight visitors." Mar. 10, 2002, The Miami Herald]
“It is necessary to pass over history in order not to understand Turks. Being solemn against unfair attacks and inferior accusations, undoubtedly it is because of Turks thought that blind people could not understand reality and property and Turks feel pity for blind people. This noble behavior is what a clear answer to those inferior accusations.” [Pierre Loti - French Author]
