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=> on being a Turk

Posted by parhad (Guest) - Sunday, July 18 2004, 13:32:41 (CEST)
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...this unwillingness to be any kind of Muslim national comes from thinking of the Assyrian Heritage as a "nation"...like it was a country that exists NOW. Assyrians have no problem becomming nationals of America or France..in fact they feel special and privileged when they do...and three generations later their children would disdain being any other nationals...but they don`t want to Turkish nationals...because that means being Muslim...nationals of a Muslim nation.

The Assyrian in America for three generations is hardly an "Assyrian" any longer, especially if he forgets the language of "Christ" and quits going to church, or switches to Buddhism. For most of us it`s dim memeory, a quaint notion , a reminder of a distant tie to a land that means less and less...like the Irish in America celebrate St Patrick`s Day and wear green and the rest of it but they`re Americans with a sense of beloning to America, with an Irish Heritage way back when, they sort of pay homage to.

It comes down to religion again...always religion. Assyrians could live in Turkey, speak Turkish, have Turkish stamped on their passports and birth certificates...as they did for centuries and still be Assyrian in heritage...still celebrate whatever they want to and call that Assyrian. And if Turkey becomes Christian in 400 years and America turns Muslim...Assyrians will prefer to be Turkish rather than American.

Assyrians don`t mind losing themseleves and their children, they just want to lose themselves in a Christian country. If someone held a gun to an Assyrians head and said, "you turn American or else I shoot you and your kid"..the Assyrian would think he landed in heaven...as in are you kidding ME...what doi you think I CAME to America for? But tell an Assyrian that by becoming a Turk...meaning all it means when you become American or British, would save your life and that of your family, he`ll SAY he`d rather MARTYR them all...and if they agree, will write and wail forever that they were MADE into TURKS...whereas they`ll display their American citizenship proudly...never mind that we have a lot more in common with Turks and their lifestyle than we do with White Bread people...

It`s the Christian thing..this is what is screwing us everywhere we go. We don`t mind losing our Assyrianism in America because we get to keep what is CENTRAL to our quaint definition of what an Assyrian is...that we can build ANY church we want..on EVERY street corner, if we want...and if the choice is staying in Turkey and being surrounded by Muslims but at least keeping our Millet System...or coming to America where our children can get lost in a sea of Christians...we`ll take Americanization any day...over Turkification...in other words being Christian is THE most important part of our identity and being Christians WAS NEVER an Assyrian thing...and still isn`t.

Who in their right mind would rather their children get killed than changed into Americans? But how sweet we feel about ourselves when we refuse to become Turks...or Kurds, even though it means the loss of our children and the lands our ancestry hails from.

We aren`t interested in living...we aren`t interested in thriving..we aren`t interested in saving our children`s lives...we`re inteersted in dying right. The church NEVER saved us...we saved IT..and we`ve been used and are still...we`re being made to hate our people of a different religion by a Church that hates its minority status and has been in a pissing match with Islam for 1300 years...they don`t care for us...they care to win one for Christ and they`ve had us using our children and telling horror stories about how we sacrificed them for Jesus and saved the religion for the Church heirarchy...how we pay them and maintain them and support them and kiss their hand and their arse in GRATITUDE for being allowed to serve them...when we were raped into the church to begin with...NO culture ever, as advanced as the Assyrians were...has EVER willingly thrown away centuries of their OWN culture that was born and grew with them for any other religion and culture...we never "lost" faith in it..in Ashur..as the Irish never lost faith in their Celtic religion and culture....the conquering Romans imposed their state religion and organization and language and laws and economy on all the people they pulled into their empire.

Our steadfast refusal to accept this and consider the implications, especially as we continue blindly following a religion that doesn`t suit us at all...making what was forced on us what we CHOSE and what was dearest to us and called forth the best from us, an "empty" god who belongs in hell...continuing to violate our very souls "willingly" when our ancestors fought like hell to keep their ways...has us so far from our own selves...that we don`t know who or what we are...yet insist that more of what destroyed is JUST what we need.

If Kurds were Christians..we wouldn`t mind being Kurds any more than we mind being Americans...and we`d at least stay in our homelands. It`s Christianity that has made us enemies to our very deepest selves...and now, finally, to our own people and homelands...in defense of a Jew and Jerusalem.

This stopped being Assyrian long long ago. Those who say differently are merely using the name of the Heritage to get back at Islam...that`s all.

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