From: Jerry Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Fri Dec 29 2006 - 09:05:37 EST
> Chavez was one of the few names refered to by the people. Some of > the people asked said sponteniously: *I wish Hugo Chavez could become > Turkey's president.* Dogan: Thanks for the explanation. I guess it's not surprising under the circumstances you describe that some replied by declaring wistfully their preference for Chavez. After all, he has a large and growing reputation internationally and is looked towards with hope by much of the Left. I would be somewhat surprised, though, if Chavez was currently more popular in Turkey than Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. There is much that many in Turkey should find appealing about Nezrallah: for instance, Hezbollah's military success this past summer against Israel aggression and their effort to build a popular front by reaching out to both religious and non-religious Shiite, Sunni, Christian, and Druze communities in opposition to the US backed government. The reports from recent demonstrations in Lebanon are very encouraging in this regard: indeed, it was commonplace for people to wear the symbols of clothing associated with divergent tendencies and communities as an expression of this desire for unity and genuine self-determination. Hezbollah also has an excellent reputation in poor communities of providing social services to the poor independently of the state. I would think that all of this would be very appealing to many Turkish communities, no? In solidarity, Jerry
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Dec 31 2006 - 00:00:04 EST