Astarjian: Esheg Oghlu Esheg
By Henry Astarjian
6/astarjian-esheg-oghlu-esheg/
December 6, 2009
It might be offensive to some, but for others it a source of
psychological satisfaction. Esheg oghlu esheg (donkey son of a
donkey): These words are meant to be used as such to insult, belittle,
degrade an opponent or the opposition.
Esheg oghlu esheg has an equivalent in Armenian: Shoun shan vorti.
(Its English translation, unlike the Armenian version, specifies the
gender as male, and translates it into `son of a bitch.’)
Esheg oghlu esheg! When uttered with anger and emphasis, it is
cathartic, a release that produces some comfort and tranquility. Esheg
oghlu esheg! It resonates!
The Turkish curse has no rival. It is in a class by itself. It
deservedly has won the gold medal in this field. It has currency in
the Turkish society, is full of profanity and sexual connotations, and
is used with great ease. Esheg oghlu esheg!
The curse, when used properly, has to fit the occasion, and this is
what the `debutants’ of the Buyuk Millet Meclisi (the Great National
Assembly or GNA) employed last week to insult each other at an
official session of the Turkish Parliament designated to discussing
the Armenian and Kurdish issues.
Esheg Oghlu Esheg!
They shouted down the interior minister who was presenting a project
that addressed the Armenian and Kurdish `problems.’ They held
anti-Armenian signs and slogans, and used their esheg oghlu’s while
hurling chairs and objects at each other and engaging in a brawl.
However, they exercised restraint by not using their guns, which they
are allowed to carry to the parliament’s sessions.
Such democratic fights are not alien to the Buyuk Millet Meclisi. It
has happened before and I am sure it will happen again. Old habits die
hard, and a leopard never changes spots.
The Buyuk Millet Meclisi was established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on
April 23, 1920. Since then they have passed important legislations,
most of which were traversed by military coups, except for Shapqa
Qanounu (The Law of the Hat), which forbad wearing turbans, the
Islamic head dress, and the traditional Ottoman shalvars. Turks had to
look modern, the law said, wearing European-style trousers and jackets
with a tie that reached their belly button, dividing the body into two
sections, left and right. This was designed to Europeanize Turkish
society. People, though illiterate, had to have tutorials to comply
with this dress code. The law was still in full force until the
present Islamic-oriented government took power. People reverted to
their old habits with some modifications. Those who pretended to be
modern had longer ties and jackets with single or double vents in the
back, ala Saville Row. Women wore the fouta [Islamic-style headdress].
Recently, a Turkish woman who had won a seat in the Turkish Parliament
on Nejmettin Erbakan (Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic Party, now AK)
was refused to be seated because she was garbed in fouta. After almost
a century, Shapqa Qanouni is still in force.
This same GNA that is adamant about joining the European Union,
stripped six Kurdish elected deputies of the Kurdish DEP Party of
their parliamentary immunity for their Kurdish-nationalistic
inclinations and their demands for much-needed reform in their Kurdish
area. They were accused of collaborating with the PKK, the militant
Kurdish Labor Party.
Leyla Zana, Ahmet Turk, Hatib Dicle, Mahmut Alinak, Orhan Doghan, and
Sirri Sakik were all tried and sentenced to long-term
imprisonments – Leyla Zana for 12 years. While in prison, she was
recognized internationally as a symbol of struggle for freedom and
justice.
One of the most interesting events of the Turkish Parliament occurred
when the deputies from Urfa organized a dinner party – a `chigkufta
evening.’
They claimed that chigkufta (kheyma, kibbe nayi, or steak tartar) was
created in Urfa by the prophet Abraham, and that the original was made
with deer meet and bulgur, not lamb or beef. They painstakingly
described the intricacies of kneading the meet with bulgur, onions,
and parsley.
The party, which was supposed to be held somewhere in Ankara’s
suburbs, was moved into the halls of the parliament building because
the session was to be extended into the wee hours of the morning, and
the parliamentarians could not leave an ongoing session.
The proud skilled ustas (masters) began kneading the kufta. According
to Leyla Tavshanoghlu, an eminent reporter from the Cumhuriyet daily,
the ustas threw lumps of the kufta to the ceiling for testing; if it
stuck then the kufta was considered kneaded just right. The reporter,
as well as the public, considered this indiscretion an insult to the
honor and sanctity of the parliament. The organizing deputies were
heavily criticized.
To put an end to this Turkish national debate, Tavshanoghlu
interviewed an apparently famous Turkish gourmet on the subject. The
consultant (whose name escapes me at the moment) was from Istanbul and
he said, `Chigkufta esheglerin yemegidir’ (Chigkufta is the food of
the donkeys).
`How about if it is had with red wine?’ she asked.
`Then it will be inexcusable, a crime deserving public hanging. It
will ruin the Bordeaux!’
This gourmet was true to the Ottoman tradition of state-ordered
hanging of innocent Armenians, or lynching them by Turks and Kurds for
trivial reasons.
Hanging for drinking Bordeaux with chigkufta?
This is the Buyuk Millet Meclisi – a conglomeration of Armenian- and
Kurd-hating, Europeanized, pseudo-intellectuals and a bunch of
chauvinists representing the rest of the country, who still think like
their predecessors, the Ottomans.
These are the people who are charged with ratifying the
Armenian-Turkish protocols, which will not happen until and unless
Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, certifies that there has been
progress on the Karabagh issue. May God extend their patience 1,000
folds, because they need it!
Meanwhile, my fellow Armenians, if you haven’t eaten chigkufta with
wine, you don’t know what you are missing. Bon Appetit!