Bulent Ersoy of Istanbul
Sometimes you hear the strangest things…. coming out of Istanbul
Turkey’s well-loved chanteuse, Bulent Ersoy of Istanbul is stirring up waves….
Sometimes you hear the strangest things in the news on Turkey. Sometimes I hear tragic stories and I want to cry or scream. Sometimes I hear really weird stories from Turkey and I want to comment about them, point out the absurdity and speak freely. And then most of the time, I censor myself. Why do I censor myself? You would have to know me personally to obtain an explanation on this subject. Think, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, think, Three Monkeys. Some people may even marvel at my self-censorship. Let them marvel.
But this week, I heard the strangest news story out of Istanbul and I wanted to share this with my readers. In internet chat speak (a new language somewhat based loosely on the English language, I “LMAO” which means to those living in a cave, I laughed my ass off. I couldn’t even censor myself because of the absurdity. I apologize to all those I might have offended.
What am I talking about? Well, if you hold a strong interest in the affairs of Turkey then you would have read about this story. I read about it on the BBC News site. Then I read it again on the New York Times site. Blame them for their freedom of access to information. It is not my fault. If they had censored themselves, I would have never known about it. It’s all their fault and their goddamn freedom of the press.
Okay, the story in the news which made me laugh so loudly was the story “Transsexual Turk upsets military”.
Oh my god, I suddenly had visions of a drag queen flamboyantly flipping her sequined veil across the glamorous face of exquisitely arched eyebrows, luscious lips outlined and glossed to pearly perfection, striking the pose before diving into some fabulous song that summons up the sublime in mankind, making the Turkish army – all the millions of them – weak in the knees, succumbing to the seduction of the throaty silky voice of the Queen, piercing their heart, failing dastardly in whatever previous mission they had been inducted into. They could no longer shoot straight. Her name is Bulent Ersoy. The Power of the Queen of Ottoman Song.
Shit! Without freedom of the press I would have never discovered her. This article on the BBC news site “forced me” to Google her name. She has a website, she’s on YouTube, she’s got a Facebook page. I want to be her friend!!!!!!!!!
Although Bulent is not a drag queen but a trans gender female, the title of the article gave me these visions. Over the years, she has had a difficult time trying to live as a woman in her country. She is a singer and a movie star in the grand sense of the word in her country. She is well-loved by her fellow citizens for her singing talents. That she finds herself in the same situation as many writers and journalists in Turkey who might have also attempted to have a go at the idea of free speech is disappointing. Democracy in Turkey has existed since 1923. It is, therefore, not a new concept. It is not a democracy that has been forced upon its people. Democracy allows free speech – at least that’s the way we learned it in school. A country must be strong enough to withstand criticism. I have always believed in this. I’m not sure where this insecurity in Turkey comes from. Why does Turkey censure its citizens? What do you have to fear? I could guess but then, again, I might be wrong.
Anyway, the tragedy is that she is facing up to four and a half years in jail accused of undermining support for Turkey’s still-powerful military. Oh my God! Turkey, please get stronger, surely you can withstand the attack of the Queen of Ottoman song!
Bulent Ersoy had appeared as a juror on the TV talent show Pop Idol, and had suggested that Turkey’s two-decade long fight with the Kurdish separatist PKK was not worth sacrificing a son for. She said, “Our children keep going there, there’s tears, blood and funerals and still we utter the same cliches… Why can’t we find a solution?” she asked. An innocent, intelligent question in the 21st century, I would have thought.
Bulent, I shall give you my private answer to your question. I don’t think that your country can find a solution because the country is ruled by men and men have proven over the centuries and in many nations that they cannot solve problems quickly. It is time that women took over the decision making process. Men have proven that they can only fail and it takes them a long time to finally decide they have failed. Check out any history book – read anything about the crisis in the Middle East, The 100 Years War, The 30 Years war, the American policy regarding Cuba, racism, corruption in any given country, poverty, famine, economic solutions, the increase in the price of oil, etc., etc., etc., Think also of Time as a concept in the male mind. Fifteen minutes left for the football game is not really legitimately fifteen minutes in the eyes of men. It lasts for hours. I’m generalizing, of course, about men. To clarify this statement, just conduct a poll amongst your women friends. Ask the question of how they believe men experience the concept of Time as opposed to the way they themselves experience it.
Ms Ersoy was quickly charged by a prosecutor with attempting to “turn the public against military service” – Article 318 of the penal code. Okay, what’s this prosecutor’s name? Phone him and tell him to retire. He’s suffering a middle age crisis, his hormones are depleted, his ideas are Old World, he’s got too many fantasies. He needs to rent a DVD. Or start doing his job. Maybe he was bored that day. It appears so because he must have been watching the Turkish Pop Idol show.
The article states that this prosecutor describes military service as the sacred duty of every Turkish male, citing the proverb, “Every Turk is born a soldier”. Oh My! Maybe some Turkish people are born artists, salesmen, shopkeepers, writers, filmmakers, dentists, doctors, lawyers, engineers. The proverb sounds almost “homoerotic”- beautiful young clean-shaven men in neatly pressed uniforms with epaulets and gold and silver trim, shiney black leather boots and that ever-phallic symbol, the polished rifle. Stop it! Get over the soldier boy fantasies. A man in a uniform does the same thing for me.
Okay, so back to the news story which I think could actually be the starting point of a great novel in the grotesque style, a film which would actually find its first audience at the Cannes Film Festival. I have visions. Perhaps Turkey, like many other cultures which define male-ness by macho-ness is not ready for the idea of Bulent – your actions, your words which attack our senses of who we really are.
It reminds me of the German novel, “The Tin Drum” by Günter Grass about the little child hero, Oskar Mazarath, the protagonist who refuses to grow up at the age of 3 because the world of adults in wartime Germany disgusts him. We find Oskar joining a travelling circus, and later, at a Nazi rally, by drumming on his little tin drum, drowns out the power of the orator, seduces the masses into jive dancing instead of Nazi saluting and yelling “Sieg Heil!” The power of music and dance wins.
I’m having visions of Bulent Ersoy doing the same thing with her veils, her sequins, her breasts, her seductive voice. What I’m saying is, Turkey, enough already, be done with it, move on… Let people speak freely… Get stronger, be able to accept a thought, a criticism; for with criticism also comes astounding praise of your land. Surely your army is strong enough. Can you not withstand the voice of a drag queen? Gawd, am I sounding like Paris Hilton, already?
I can just see the headlines now…. Drag Queen Takes Down the Turkish Military,…. the thronging crowd. With the seductive sashaying of her luscious hips, and one foul swoop of the sequined veil across that lovely face, with a voice like silk and sand, luring her victims like the Sirens on the rocks, the Drag Queen did what no other army could do… she had squished the mighty military with the heel of her stiletto!
I see a problem in the bureaucracy rise like smoke in the cloudy vision of some men’s minds…And now the problem arose. Do we put her in a prison for men or a prison for women they ask themselves? Either one would please her and cause massive debate in the bureau…In a prison for men, she would be in heaven. In a prison for women, she would assume the role of fashion consultant, adviser on the issue of romance and other such fluff. But in either prison, she would put on shows, galas, spectacles. And the prison guards and fellow prisoners would all be clamouring to see her perform. A black market for tickets to her show would arise in the prison. People would commit crimes on purpose in the region just to get into the prison she was in, to get a fashion consultation, a chance to talk with a star – the well-loved chanteuse of Ottoman song, or perhaps, obtain therapeutic advice on love and romance with women or men.
In the modern world, what a tempest cup is stirred when you try to stop freedom of thought and speech. And when does this become an absurdity in itself?
Would you like to hear the voice and music of Bulent Ersoy? Why not add a DVD to your collection of DVDs?
Related Posts
The Egyptian Market Istanbul »
Write a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
