[Pen-l] Re: A velvet revolution in Iran?

[Sabri Oncu <sabri.oncu@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jim:

> I was using the words "mess up" to refer to sabotage and possible
> assassinations.

Sabotages and assassinations are facts of life back home. I remember
the very first few months of my first year at Bogazici University. A
leftist professor by the name of Cavit Orhan Tutengil, who lived very
close to my university, was assassinated by some fascist nationalists,
and such things used to happen almost daily in those days. I was 17
then. Being one of the youngest among the crowd, I and a few friends
were in the very back of the crowd as we went to his burial. But,
after the burial, we had to turn back, and suddenly, I and my friends
were facing the police. They took our pictures and all that.  Why did
we go there, because we were Soviet servants? A short while later,
September 12 army takeover happened.

By the way, in those days and before, socialists used to be called
anarchists in Turkey, for reasons that beat me: maybe because a
section of them were armed?

>  As I understand it, Mr. Ahmadinejad won a lot of votes in the past by
>  opposing neoliberal policies.

Mr. Tayyip Erdogan, our Ahmedinejad if you like, won a lot of votes by
promising "cleanliness" to the voters in Turkey. His party is called
Justice and Development Party, or JDP, but in Turkish the acronym is
AKP. It can also be written as AK Party. AK in Turkish means WHITE and
this was what they were claiming: they were the WHITE Party, clean as
white. That claim was rubbish as history proves, of course.

> If you want us to fix our own countries first, you have to
> promise to not criticize USAniks for their ignorance of the rest of
> the world.

Sorry, I can't. There is grace in accepting ignorance and I suggest
that you should show that grace. Nevertheless, you should do something
in your own countries!

Best,
Sabri
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