We talked about precariousness in class. The main idea was that differences cause us not to become sad about other people’s deaths. But what makes us become indifferent to the death of people who are similar to us? Such as people from our same nationality and religion. I have an example about this.
Turkey went into war with the YPG (Kurdish People’s Protection Units) in Syria. The YPG was fighting against ISIS in Syria, so the government’s decision to go to war with them was criticized by a lot of people as a political move. Like every war, there are casualties from both sides. But my main argument for this blog isn’t about YGP, It is about Turkish casualties. I wonder if governments think about who will die when making the decision to go to war. Government officials say that they would be happy to go to Afrin to help the soldiers in every place possible when they get a microphone in their hands. But a picture is worth a thousand words.
A martyr’s dad in the funeral of his son.
Turkish president Erdogan placing his elbow on the coffin of a soldier which is considered a really disrespectful act in Turkish culture. Photograph by Kayhan Özer/ AA
This photo of Erdogan was widely criticized by the opposition. Which made me remember the photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s photo in the funeral of the Russian Turkish ambassador in 22 December 2016, to show why Erdogan’s elbow photo is problematic.
photograph taken from euronews.com
It is really interesting to see how different leaders act in the event of death. It is impossible to know their intentions but when a governments decides to go to war, they also decide on giving casualties. It is important to think about precariousness in this concept. Are the Turkish Muslim soldiers’ lives expendable in the eyes of the Turkish president. They are similar in identity but I think that precariousness isn’t always about identity politics. It can be much more simple; even if the other person is similar to your identity, you will always sacrifice someone else’s life instead of yours. So even if people all become same in a melting pot, there will always be a problem of precariousness.