Host of @SiyasetPod. Posting opinions on Middle East politics mostly. I make constant spelling errors. RT≠Endorsement. Obviously personal account.
May 12, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
A little discussed aspect of a potential change in Turkish governments this Sunday is the wider Sunni Muslim reaction beyond MENA. While in MENA, Turkey is viewed paradoxically as a challenger as well as an inspiration, in the wider Sunni world - it is mostly the latter.
Erdogan specifically, and his polemics about issues that create strong reactions in Muslim communities (Palestine, Islamophobia, anti-Imperialism, Syria) as well as his antagonising attitude towards Western states has created a personality cult beyond Turkey's borders.
May 11, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I just read some Quora comments (regarding a question about Black Sea Turks), and one comment was amazing as it was a guy - in real time - discovering that he was genetically 100% Greek and finding out from his family where they were from in Greece/Southern Albania.
The guy seemed very reflected and historically literate and genuinely wanted to promote good relations between Greeks and Turks, yet wrote more than once that the DNA results change nothing and he was super Turkish and proud of it.
May 11, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Would be good to know if there are any surveys in the Nordics around attitudes to family life. Since structural reasons for fertility reduction aren't apparently able to explain this fall, it makes sense to look at cultural shift as an explanation instead.
For example, when I told people in Sweden about how many kids me and my wife would have under an optimal scenario, I was often met with gasps. We aren't talking about dozens here, but a formerly average family size.
May 10, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I don't know how politically correct it is to say this, but it is hard to explain the deep and primal attachment I feel to Indo-European studies and learning about our ancient linguistic ancestors. So much has diverged, but it is amazing how much stayed to similar.
Every Indo-European speaker today can look at reconstructed PIE words and find cognates in their own languages. Some more than others, but it is still there. Not only that, but our pantheons, myths, and general religious perceptions follow a recognisable pattern.
Jun 30, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Was there a tweet by an American person who was stopped by police in Switzerland for something and then got really upset that her Swiss friends didn't think it was racist to stop her or did I dream this?
It was an article apparently. It is filled with sane and generally uncontroversial observations about life in Switzerland. Then you get an insight into how universalist U.S. conceptions of ethnicity/race are - to Americans. google.com/amp/s/www.insi…
Jun 28, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Just a brief note, no. We will not amend laws to suit a foreign leader's wishes. Sweden is a democracy. What has happened is the Swedish government is happily portraying the long-awaited law on general terrorism as being what Turkey is asking for.
Sweden never has and never will support the PKK or the PYD. It did send support to NGOs and other government affiliated organs in North East Syria (as part of the Kakabaveh deal), and this will likely end. It was not substantial, but enough to make people's lives a bit better.
Oct 6, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Just remembered the weirdest memory from my childhood where the after school club in my neighbourhood had organised a movie night and when kissing scenes or whatever showed up, all the boys covered their eyes or looked away. One organiser asked why, & a boy answered "the devil".
They had been convinced, it turned out, that when you see people kissing on TV, the devil will corrupt you. They had nearly all been born in Sweden. Contrasted pretty hard to my experience in the Middle East where this never really happened.
Oct 6, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Images of Indian factories are apparently as nightmarish as one imagines them. If you live in Northern Europe, please buy locally produced untreated Wool or Linen. It lasts longer, looks better, & guarantees better worker conditions (as well as being environmentally friendlier).
For the "we are helping them by buying their cheaper manufactured goods!" arguers out there. India was one of the richest places on earth before the advent of the modern economic system. They are a subcontinent with immense resources. Buying cheap goods isn't what you think it is
Jul 27, 2021 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
I don't know who needs to hear this, but as an immigrant to Sweden who lived both in the city as well as the country, I have some observations on the differences in treatment and possibilities for integration and general living in both.
I lived in Stockholm for about 14 years and I can't think of a more segregated experience. My generation (1st) spoke better Swedish than the next generation which were born in Sweden. This is natural considering the sheer concentration of immigrants in certain cities.
Jul 26, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
A tiny comment to some who push for the AANES to be granted granted status at the negotiation table for Syria, I understand your position - but remember that even Somaliland, a country in all but name, will never get recognised for the same reasons despite international ties.
From the outset, whatever position international and regional backers took on who should run Syria or how to solve the conflict, all agreed on the somewhat ambiguous term "territorial integrity" being a basic condition for any solution going forward.
Mar 18, 2021 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
About the HDP closure, we all saw the writing on the wall and I personally have been telling friends I believed they would be shut down as soon as Bahceli started fussing about it. Parties that promote Kurdish rights have always been shut down. But there is another issue...
While the HDP may be shut down (the ninth time I think a similar party gets shut down), usually Kurds rally around a new party and get around the state that way. Now, Bahceli and others are demanding that basically every pro-Kurdish politician around be banned from politics.
Mar 17, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Whatever happens, it is safe to say the ruling has been decided beforehand. Just as with the Hagia Sophia and other landmark cases, strategic choices like this for the AKP aren't left to chance.
A small personal note: I think it's safe to say that parties represent their own interests, but when they come to power - those interests and state interests become hard to distinguish. Whomever comes to power is incentivised to oppress Kurds. That's just how the state was built.
Mar 16, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
I'm on to ask for some help finding data for my thesis. Specifically, I am looking for all and every type of data connected to martyrdom in the Syrian Civil War.
Preferably, I need posters from every imaginable rebel group from every type and faction during the war.
Anything you can find, a link to a chached facebook group, posters you saved on your computer, lists of martyrs by faction etc. It is all useful and vital for me to get this completed.
Dec 16, 2020 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Although some people might well get upset at this, I thought I would clarify my own personal opinion of the PKK although I usually brush it off.
My opinion is simple, they are at the point in their history where they are doing more harm than good by staying as they are.
I am not an ideologue. I subscribe to no real direction politically except promoting equal rights for citizens as well as good, representative governance.
In light of this, I think every political movement needs to ask what it is they want to achieve as well as how to do that.
Dec 15, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I don't want to sound alarmist, but things aren't looking good in the KRI. Not only is there an economic crisis the government has chosen to reply to with violence, but there is a real threat of civil war with the KDP continuously ratcheting up tensions with the PKK #TwitterKurds
We have compounding tragedies of internal rivalries, an elite that has transferred its wealth abroad, neighbours who can strangle the landlocked region, and a reliance on an inflated public sector that simply cannot sustain the population.
Dec 15, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Mazlum Abdi, commander of the SDF, condemns "KDP's assault on the PKK" and calls for disputes to be solved through dialogue.
He also condemns attacks on ENKS offices in Syria and says no one has the right to attack them.
Nov 7, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I've been spending a lot of time in hospital here in Bashur and am struck by two things that I had noticed among my own friends and family that are apparently turning into the norm here:
Women choosing to not breastfeed and women choosing to schedule C-sections before their ED's
Normally, I would shut up and remind myself to shut up about women's health issues since, of course, I am not a woman.
However, I believe in this case, the pressure to do both of these things comes from the expectations of men.
Nov 7, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
I found the account @ErasingWomen recently and I was stunned both that it existed and the extent of the issue it is covering.
The account is dedicated to highlighting the corporate erasure of the term "women", instead replaced by anatomical or fad terms.
As a man, I don't really find my male identity being targeted a lot. No one has ever referred to me as a "testicle haver" or "penis owner" or other mildly amusing terms and expecting me to accept these new terms out of a sense of solidarity with someone who is offended by "man".
Oct 27, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
What is fascinating is both sides actually say this often. "After peace, we have to live together" or some variation thereof, yet both also deny the right of the other to exist calling Azeri mosques "Persian" or Armenian churches "Caucasian Albanian" etc.
The dynamic created in modern ethnic conflicts, and very evident in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, is that of revisionist history turned into unwavering national narrative to which modern identities are formed.
Jun 14, 2019 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Ett någorlunda akademiskt perspektiv på den här tråden:
Enligt flera forskare som studerar socialpsykologi så finns det både rimliga och rationella anledningar till varför etniska svenskar kan känna sig obekväma eller rent sagt hotade av saker som hijab eller böneutrop.
Enligt Social Identity Theory (tillämpat till etniska grupper av Mummendey et al) så kan olika grupper anse varandra som 'normativa' så länge de anser att den andra gruppen beter sig på ett sätt som överensstämmer med en tänkt överordnad identitet.
Feb 26, 2018 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I just wanted to add to the growing chorus and remind people that none of these refugees are from Afrin.
You cannot just be given sombody's house by another country's occupation army. This is an openly stated goal which amounts to a war crime.
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Turkey, for its part, has not been silent on the goal of changing the demographics of the region.
Erdogan himself stated he would "return Afrin to its rightful owners" and expell a percentage of the Kurds he deemed came later.
