Turkishness                                                                                                                                      

DIVERSIONS
 

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Sunday, March 25, 2007
                                                    The thin red line
James in Turkey

Turkey's national football team came back yesterday from a goal down in Athens to defeat Greece 1-4. It was a convincing victory, taking Turkey three points clear at the top of its Euro 2008 qualifying group, and leaving the last European Champions with plenty to think about. Thousands of Turkey fans, as is traditional, took to the streets with their flags and loud voices to celebrate the victory.

Greece and Turkey argue over their fences (the Aegean), mutter over their petty differences (Greek delight, anyone?) and clash over the fortunes of their backyards (Cyprus). A football match between the two was sure to be charged - neither side had beaten the other in a competitive match since 1949 - but yesterday's Turkish sports newspapers told a different story.

Fanatik yesterday splashed a huge Turkish flag on its front cover with one of Atatürk's less endearing quotations: "the power you need exists in the noble blood of your veins". Fotomaç too used the some quotation. Onikinci Adam went with another Atatürk quotation rallying the Turkish youth, while Fotospor opted for the stereotype: "We'll puncture Athens, we'll kiss Yorgo". The tone was one of going to war.

Fotospor's eloquence continued in this morning's edition with "Be quiet and kneel" next to a picture of the Greek goalkeeper on his knees after conceding a goal. Fotomaç, awash in red, had another Kemalism - "Happy is the one who calls himself a Turk" - while Fanatik's headline was "Here are Mustafa Kemal's children".

Turkey's sports newspapers aren't exactly aimed at an intellectual audience. They aren't all that balanced either - all are heavily football-orientated, and the bulk of their pages cover the country's biggest teams: Beşiltaş, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe. Most also contain advertisements for pornographic hotlines on their inner pages. But they do sell well - Fanatik, for instance, shifts nearly 200,000 copies daily - and a rallying cry before a national football match has certainly been published before.

James in Turkey