Turkic World Photos/News/Discussions.

[Talwar e Pakistan]

When asked..."Are you a Turk or a muslim ,first"...i believe most of the Turks would say "I'm a Turk first and secondly a muslim"....

Wow, that was a massive and quick shift from being the leader of the Muslim world to an ethnic nationalist country. But this type of thinking creates tension gaps among minorities. Minorities need a way to unite under one flag and country - perhaps this is why the Kurds seem to have unrest; they feel like Turkey is for Turks.

In Pakistan we use 'religion first' to unite all of our hundreds of different ethnicities.

 

[KediKesenFare3]

Yes, Turkey is very integrated but diverse country - there are Mongol, Arab, European, and even Slavic looking people.

Wow, that was a massive and quick shift from being the leader of the Muslim world to an ethnic nationalist country. But this type of thinking creates tension gaps among minorities. Minorities need a way to unite under one flag and country - perhaps this is why the Kurds seem to have unrest; they feel like Turkey is for Turks.

In Pakistan we use 'religion first' to unite all of our hundreds of different ethnicities.

I don't agree with Sinan. Most Turks would respond to your question that religion and ethnicity are two different things, which aren't comparable. Truth is that both are very important for us because religion is a huge part of our identity. There's no denying it. However, one must consider that our definition of "people" and "nation membership" is different than in Europe or Asia.

I'll give you an example.

If...

You speak Turkish
You are a Turkish citizen
You internalize Turkish identy

...regardless of your ethnicity, the overwhelming majority will accept you as a Turk and fellow countryman with equal rights. More importantly, the reason for this societal mindset is Atatürk's famous quote:

How happy is the one who says I am Turkish.

It was Atatürk himself who "opened" the Turkish identity for all minorities in our land.

 

[-SINAN-]

I don't agree with Sinan. Most Turks would respond to your question that religion and ethnicity are two different things, which aren't comparable.

No our people are not that stupid and can understand the main idea of the question, alas i asked this question to 15 of my friends...14 answered "I'm a Turk first", 1 answered "I'm a Muslim first"....

 

[usernameless]

I understand, but do most Turks still think of religion as first?

It's not easy to speak on behalf of all Turks regarding this matter, but from my experience it's 50-50; the older people care more about religion first while the younger generation tends to place religion second, i think this trend will increase in the future. By the way, this doesn't per se mean that the people who place religion second do not care bout religion, it's often just a different priority 'first focus on/improve Turkic world, then ummah'. This is only my observations though.

Wow, that was a massive and quick shift from being the leader of the Muslim world to an ethnic nationalist country. But this type of thinking creates tension gaps among minorities. Minorities need a way to unite under one flag and country - perhaps this is why the Kurds seem to have unrest; they feel like Turkey is for Turks.

In Pakistan we use 'religion first' to unite all of our hundreds of different ethnicities.

Kurds in general (i mean the average Kurd on the street) do not cause serious unrest. The truth is, Kurds in general are even more conservative muslims than Turks, unfortunately they are the silent majority whereas the pkk and its political wing are the loud minority. If Kurds in general would have felt they are not part of Turkey, they would have listened to pkk's call for serious upraisings against the Turkish state, which the Kurdish population never seriously did aside from one city and some towns here and there. If Kurds want to separate from Turkey, all they need to is ask for weapons from the pkk and turn the south east into a no-go zone for the Turkish police, army and anything Turkish. This has never been the case though.

Kurds are already playing an active part in Turkey. Saying that they think that 'Turkey is for Turks' would be denying all those Kurdish politicians, officers, businessmen, artists, Kurds living in west Turkey etc. Pkk's political mouthpiece HDP is even in the Turkish parliament for love's sake. Such a disgrace. Can you imagine a pro-isis party in Europe or US? If such a party existed there, they would shut and arrest them immediately, but trust me, when Turkey will do the same to HDP, the same west and russia will immediately blame Turkey for 'surpressing freedom of speech' or whatever.

Furthermore, using the 'Turkey vs Kurds' logic would be like 'Pakistan vs muslims (taliban)' or 'West vs arabs/muslims (isis)'. Such very broad generalizations cannot and should not be made.

There's more to be said, but don't believe what the western and Russian media is saying about Turkey on many topics. Right now there is a very clear orchestrated propaganda/psychological war going on against Turkey.

 

[Talwar e Pakistan]

I don't agree with Sinan. Most Turks would respond to your question that religion and ethnicity are two different things, which aren't comparable. Truth is that both are very important for us because religion is a huge part of our identity. There's no denying it. However, one must consider that our definition of "people" and "nation membership" is different than in Europe or Asia.

I'll give you an example.

If...

You speak Turkish
You are a Turkish citizen
You internalize Turkish identy

...regardless of your ethnicity, the overwhelming majority will accept you as a Turk and fellow countryman with equal rights. More importantly, the reason for this societal mindset is Atatürk's famous quote:

How happy is the one who says I am Turkish.

It was Atatürk himself who "opened" the Turkish identity for all minorities in our land.

Thankyou for clearing that up.

Kurds in general (i mean the average Kurd on the street) do not cause serious unrest. The truth is, Kurds in general are even more conservative muslims than Turks, unfortunately they are the silent majority whereas the pkk and its political wing are the loud minority. If Kurds in general would have felt they are not part of Turkey, they would have listened to pkk's call for serious upraisings against the Turkish state, which the Kurdish population never seriously did aside from one city and some towns here and there. If Kurds want to separate from Turkey, all they need to is ask for weapons from the pkk and turn the south east into a no-go zone for the Turkish police, army and anything Turkish. This has never been the case though.

Kurds are already playing an active part in Turkey. Saying that they think that 'Turkey is for Turks' would be denying all those Kurdish politicians, officers, businessmen, artists, Kurds living in west Turkey etc. Pkk's political mouthpiece HDP is even in the Turkish parliament for love's sake. Such a disgrace. Can you imagine a pro-isis party in Europe or US? If such a party existed there, they would shut and arrest them immediately, but trust me, when Turkey will do the same to HDP, the same west and russia will immediately blame Turkey for 'surpressing freedom of speech' or whatever.

Yes, I saw this Vice documentary and saw that many Kurds opposed separatism during a riot, but they avoided picking sides.

PKK needs to be squashed and deported to Iraq or Syria.

 

[usernameless]

Thankyou for clearing that up.



Yes, I saw this Vice documentary and saw that many Kurds opposed separatism during a riot, but they avoided picking sides.

PKK needs to be squashed and deported to Iraq or Syria.

Unfortunately, Kurdish people are 'trapped' between the state and the pkk. It is evident that the majority of Kurdish people do not support pkk, but on the other hand they are also not in the position (yet) to stand up directly against pkk and condemn them, because the pkk threatens Kurds who don't agree or support them. Some months ago a Kurdish artist (Mehmet Karakus / Ciyager) criticized the HDP and pkk's activities on the TV, the next day he was beaten up by pkk supporters. Another example, Kurds who voted for AKP (about ~40% of all Kurds in south east) are reportedly discriminated and sometimes they are forced to leave their neighborhood as some HDP municipalities don't provide service to their neighborhood. Unfortunately the pkk, hdp and their supporters are deeply rooted in the society there. Basically, one bad word about the pkk/hdp and the next day you're probably on their target list, hence the Kurdish people there are careful about not criticizing the pkk and hdp. I'm absolutely sure that if the pkk threat was lesser, Kurds there would be relatively more outspoken against the pkk and vote more on akp or other Turkish parties. And then the pkk and the hdp say 'we represent Kurds' while it's crystal clear they only speak for the minority that really supports the pkk. Just as laughable as daesh claiming to speak in the name of muslims/sunnis.

Western and Russian propaganda are eager to portray the pkk, pyd, pjak as secular and democracy loving organizations, but that's far from the truth. Imagine Western and Russian media portraying Taliban as something innocent. If such terror organizations serve their interest, it's all good and no action is taken until it bites them.

 

[[TR]AHMET]

Turkman warriors fighting with Mongols and kill Shaman from Diriliş series.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=843475499129467

 

[[TR]AHMET]

Ottoman raids on Europe Through their eyes from Da Vinci's Demons movie

Battle between Russian and Turkish at Pleven from Turkish gambit movie which made by Russians

 

[bsruzm]

"Pass through the gateways of this book, turn to the way of God, study its tales, read and see that God, in His wisdom and understanding, rendered this Turkish nation great.... The Turks is the rod of His wrath, the staff of His anger, and by means of Him He takes His vengeance of the gentle nations and tongues and states whose time has come." Eliyahu Kapsali, Jewish historian

 

[[TR]AHMET]

Battle of Mohacs (Turko-Hungary War - 29 August 1526) Ottoman apply tactic of wolf trap at this war and capture allmost all army.

 

[[TR]AHMET]

Battle of Belgrad

 

[bsruzm]

Attila (2001) Quotes:

Attila the Hun: Trickery and deceit. That is the way of the Romans, not of the Huns.
Flavius Aetius: Yes, but which way rules the world?

Attila the Hun: You Romans play with kings and nations as a child plays with toys.
Flavius Aetius: I go back to Rome soon. Come with me, and learn how the world is ruled. Find out if Rome really does play with nations as though they were toys. There is no-one like you in Rome, and no-one like me here. You and I can do great things together.
Attila the Hun: If we don't kill each other first.

Flavius Aetius: Civilized men are easy to conquer, but civilization still belongs to the civilized, not the barbarians.
Attila the Hun: It belongs to whoever is strong enough to take it.

Bleda: Rua died without issue. I am the elder son of his brother, and so am rightfully king.
Attila the Hun: To what purpose? To fight in the service of Rome or some other nation?
Bleda: We will live as Huns have always lived. What else should we do?
Attila the Hun: We should rule the world!


I don't think that has much to do with the Turks, I mean Turkic world but still I like the quotes

 

[[TR]AHMET]

Turkmans capture Mongol general called as Noyan
from Ertuğrul series

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=855602717916745

 

[bsruzm]

5th World Turkic Forum opens in Istanbul

 

[Bismarck]

No our people are not that stupid and can understand the main idea of the question, alas i asked this question to 15 of my friends...14 answered "I'm a Turk first", 1 answered "I'm a Muslim first"....

I will say, "cogito ergo sum" - I thing therefore I am. Of course, many people identify themselves about ethnic. Others about religion. We in Europe are a community of value first.