Hello Readers,
Two weeks ago, while I was on the phone with my boyfriend, we started to talk about the war in Syria and how Turkish soldiers are getting killed by the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party in Syria (PYD ).The operation is called ‘Operation Olive Branch’ in Afrin. He was telling me what happened and he was talking about PYD like they were not human beings. He was saying ” I’m glad that they die because they killed so many innocent people. I was feeling extremely bad as well however I wasn’t seeing the Kurdish people who try to create a country as demons. This issue is a taboo in Turkey and there are lots of people who hate Kurdish people just because of this war between Turks and Kurds. I don’t want to be misunderstood. I’m not for terrorism nor I support any kind of terror act, however, this is not a reason to hate a group of people who are just victims of this situation.
Sometimes I feel like we are supporting soldiers like we are supporting a football team. The more we see this as a game, the more we are dehumanized and detach from the reality. People die and we are smiling for their death. I tried to explain myself to him and I was accused of being too naive. I’m an antimilitarist and I was like this since the beginning of high school because I know that the ‘fight’ that we are in, feeds bigger powers and I feel like we are being manipulated. There are people watching this war from distance and enjoy the chaos and I don’t want to be the one who butters their bread. After the talk that I had, I automatically think of Butler’s book chapter that we read in our Astu class. She was talking about how we are not allowed to mourn for some deaths because we feel distant. Also, she talks about a poem which is about how we fight for peace. The operation that Turkey do is called ” Operation Olive Branch”. I can’t be the only one who sees the irony.
I question a lot about nationalism these days. Also borders, language, race, ethnicity. The more I question, the more I feel stateless. Is it really necessary to belong a single nation and ” die for your flag”? Of course, the feeling of belonging is beautiful however If you have to kill, I don’t want to belong. I don’t want to support my army like I support a football team.