We're All Asians Really

Geographically, Anatolian Turkey is in Asia and Thracian Turkey is in Europe. A simple glance at a map confirms it. Istanbul is not called the city that straddles two continents for nothing. For commercial convenience the whole of Turkey is often classified as Europe for such things as travel insurance and flights. Lonely Planet lists Turkey under Eastern Europe and the Caucasus when it is part of neither (apart from Thrace). Is Turkey also part of the Middle East? This is less clear since this is an ill-defined term that always includes Arabic countries but may or may not include the nations of North Africa who speak Arabic and may or may not include non-Arabic Iran. Where does Cyprus fit in? It’s closer to Asia than to Europe and the Greek side is part of the European Union (nominally on behalf of the whole Island but that’s another story).

Does any of it matter? Certainly not to long gone conquerors who marched across Asia Minor from all points of the compass at the drop of a helmet. Take a look at this to see what I mean.

It only matters to me when trying to catch the weather forecast on BBC World. The Beeb doesn't seem to know where Turkey is either and generally ignores us altogether. Consider this. Geologically, Europe isn’t a continent at all. It’s an appendage to Asia with an arbitrary border drawn along the Ural and Caucasus Mountains. Those in the know describe the entire landmass as Eurasia. We’re all Asians really.

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Letter to America

I’m forever amazed at the growing popularity of Perking the Pansies across the pond. My inconsequential witterings tell the tale of two middle-aged gay men in a faraway Moslem land written in a peculiarly British carry on style laced with low wit and attempted irony. Let’s face it it’s a minority sport. I’ve published the odd piece about my visits of yesteryear to the Land of the Free but beyond that I can’t see the appeal. So who are you my Yankee pansy fans? Are you mainly expat Brits living in America or genuine Yankee doodle dandies attracted to the semi-gay theme in a fag frat pack sort of way? Does the expat perspective resonate for global nomads wherever they are? Perhaps you just like it because it’s funny or well-observed (or both or neither). Or maybe you’re just waiting for us to be clapped in irons for outraging public morals, or worse (as would happen in some other Moslem countries).

You may have read that I’m writing a book that’s due out at Christmas. God knows I'm been banging on about it enough. It’s the best of the blog and mixed with the same ingredients but tells our emigrey tale with extra spice and more depth. I doubt it’ll make my fortune but I’d like it to do well. Of course, I’d love it to fly off the shelves. The trouble is I don’t know what American shelves it might fly off from. I’d really like to know why you read my inane and irreverent ramblings. If you have the time and the inclination please leave a comment on this post, add a few words to my Faceache page or drop me a line at jackscott.bodrum@gmail.com. I’m not fishing for complements (though all will be gratefully received). If you have any marketing tips I’d like to hear about these too.

If you like this then you’ll love these:

• Happy Birthday America
• American Idol
• Yankee Pranks
• Gay Marriage in New York
• Perking the Pansies - the Book

London Cleans Up After Riots

The nasty riots that raged across London and other cities seem to have thankfully abated. There’s been a lot of easy talk about Broken Britain and knee-jerk reactions from here today, gone tomorrow politicians with their silly sound-bites who play to the gallery. What’s broken can be fixed but it takes everyone to do their bit. The indomitable spirit of the overwhelming number of Brits of all hues will overcome those who trash their own.

This is an incredible amateur video of a brave woman who challenged the rioters. If you don't like swearing then I suggest you don't watch this clip.

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Riots in London

Huddled Masses

Turkey Then and Now

Majestic Turkey is simply sublime. For countless millennia, the noble landscape has been wrought by Mother Nature at her most pissed off. A couple of weeks ago we felt a couple of minor tremors that for just a split second rocked our little stone cottage in the heart of old Bodrum Town. It was a gentle reminder about who’s boss. My first impression of Turkey way back in 1995 was how green it was. I was expecting tectonic drama but not iridescent lushness. That was my ignorance. I should’ve done my homework. We’d booked our introduction to Asia Minor through Simply Turkey, then a top-notch independent travel company, now just another part of a multi-national faceless cattle-conglomerate. We lodged in a modest whitewashed villa adjacent to the tiny hamlet of Taşbükü on the Datça Peninsula about a 30 minute drive from Marmaris. Our rep was a gorgeous young woman called Ruth who’d married a local lad and knew her stuff. Her enthusiasm was infectious and her knowledge encyclopaedic. We wallowed in rapture for two weeks, bathed in the gulf of shimmering turquoise, breakfasted in the tumble-down amphitheatre on Cleopatra’s Island (Sedir Island) and star gazed on cheap plonk. Well it was cheap back then. Ruth helped us plan a two day excursion to Ephesus stopping overnight in sleepy Selçuk and buzzing Bodrum. Turkey gently seduced me with a warm welcome and an incomparable backdrop. There started an unlikely chain of events leading me to the here and now. Ruth, I wonder where you are now?

Turkey today is a different place, still welcoming with an incomparable backdrop, but different. I now live in a politically resurgent and economically vibrant nation. I’m delighted my foster home is no longer a financial basket case with rampant inflation and a dodgy currency with more zeros than the Greek bailout. I’m pleased there are growing economic opportunities for the young and better security for the old. However, progress inevitably comes at a price. I’m irritated by the runaway and poorly focused over-development, half-built ugly erections and piles of builder’s rubble that are fly-tipped along pretty country lanes. It seems paradoxical to me that Turks who are so rightly proud of their country sometimes show scant regard for their countryside. Every now and then I feel that I’ve left a place where people casually chuck their rubbish out of car windows only to move to a place where people casually chuck their rubbish out of car windows. Okay, it ain’t murder but it ain’t pretty either.

More on Perking the Pansies

Riots in London

London's burning and the rising anger felt by most about the three nights of viral riots that escalated across the Capital and other major British cities is understandable. It’s easy to take a lock ‘em up and throw away the key attitude to those stupid people binging on recreational looting and casual arson. Even a bleeding heart pinko liberal like me feels a sense of revulsion when witnessing inner city hoodies in designer trainers, wielding iron bars and Blackberries and rampaging through the streets. I’ve read calls for social networks like Twitter and Facebook to be closed down as if this was the problem. It isn’t. I’ve heard people ask ‘Where are the water cannons?’ There aren’t any. I’ve read calls for the army to clear the streets. I’ve even heard calls for the imposition of martial law. Britain isn’t Syria. However, Britain is France and these riots bear an uncanny resemblance to those that engulfed Paris and other French cities in 2005. Let’s try and keep a sense of proportion. Of course, law and order must be firmly restored but then we need to examine the why. Is this a case of sub-class, out of control feral kids with little care for their families or communities? Or is it a case of a lost-generation, disenfranchised youth with few prospects and a bleak future? Like most things the truth lies somewhere in between.

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Bodrum Belles
Britain's Got Talent

Welcome to Pansyland

I completed the Ultimate Blog Challenge which was to post every day during July. I blog daily on my main Perking the Pansies site anyway so it wasn't much of a challenge to be honest. Well done to everyone who participated. A pat on the back from Jack to one and all. I came across a couple of interesting sites and may have picked up a few extra pansy fans along the way. It's difficult to be certain about numbers as my posts on Amy Winehouse and Gay Marriage sent my hits through the roof - 4,500 for these two posts alone. The Amy Winehouse piece was so successful that I'm thinking of concentrating on obituaries from now on and will be scouring the pages of the London Times for the recently deceased. The posts also attracted some great comments. However, there was one that I didn't publish. Some sicko wrote something truly vile about Ms Winehouse. I trashed it. I can do that. It's my site. Hopefully one or two of these  pansy novices liked what they read and will come back for more. Not the sicko, though. He's not welcome in Pansyland.

Brassed Off

The Turkish top brass have resigned en-masse. Is this a sign that the days of military coups are over or an indication of trouble to come? In a mature democracy elected leaders appoint the military leaders not the other way round. The New York Times has published a piece on this unprecedented event. The article itself is well balanced as would be expected from a well respected newspaper. However, the comments from some of the readers show a staggering level of ignorance.Also from across the pond, An American think tank, the University of New York Centre for Global Affairs, has just published a report of its predictions for Turkey’s political situation by 2020. They see three possible scenarios emerging:

Scenario One - Illiberal Islamism
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) consolidates its power by capitalizing on the weakness of the secularist opposition, responding to the demands of the conservative urban lower-middle class, and building an alliance with the Islamist Felicity Party (SP). By 2020, Sunni Islam is the most powerful force in domestic and foreign policy, to the exclusion of minority views.

Scenario Two - Illiberal Secularism
The AKP faces socio-economic challenges, increasing resistance to its Islamist tendencies, and a deteriorating security situation. This creates an opportunity for the Republican People’s Party (CHP) to come to power, with the support of the military and the National Movement Party (MHP). The new coalition espouses a strong, secure, and secular Turkey. In pursuing these goals, however, it tends toward authoritarianism.

Scenario Three - Political Pluralism
The AKP loses support when it fails to mitigate Turkey’s socio-economic problems. Dissatisfaction prompts civil society and political parties to begin coalescing around new approaches to the economy, corruption, regional development, and governance. Politics becomes more competitive, forcing parties to compromise in order to build governing coalitions, and the polarization between secularist and Islamist forces gives way to pragmatism.

Their analysis, it seems, is that Turkey may slide towards religious authoritarianism or secular repression or become more democratically progressive. Talk about covering all the bases. I’m no political pundit but really, I could have come up with this myself on the back of a fag packet. To think people pay good money for this. I'm in the wrong game. Should we be worried? Don’t ask me.