Things We Learned from NPR Last Week_ Problems with the Other Neighbor

It is well-known that the rivalry between Turkey and Greece is, perhaps after the rift between India and Pakistan, one of the most intense ones anywhere in the world. The two did almost go to war over an uninhabited goat island, relatively close to Bodrum, Turkey, and the Greek island of Kos, in 1996.

But, today, both countries seem to be both plagued with domestic problems as Greece has made international headlines because of the country's financial crisis, and Turkey is in the process of dealing with political gridlock as the conservative Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the opposition People's Republic Party do not get along. This fact was even mentioned by Suzy Hansen in a recent article in "The New Republic" about Erdogan's overbearing cult of personality.

And, perhaps most surprisingly, they are both dealing with 'other neighbors.'

On this blog, we will discuss Turkey's problems with Syria, and on our sister blog, we will examine the lesser-publicized rift between Greece and Macedonia.

Turkey and Greece have many overlapping culture entities, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the world of shadow puppet theatre. The Figures of Karagoz (the guy with the beard) and Hacivat (the one with the slight mustache) have represented Turkey's inner conflict between the village simpletons, represented by Karagoz, and the urban elites, illustrated through Hacivat.

The plays were reportedly first performed for Sultan Selim the Grim circa 1517. Karagoz remains a major cultural attraction in Bursa, Turkey, the fourth largest city in Turkey where many Karagoz performers and puppet-makers reside, including members of Celikkol family (Ugur Celikkol, who is a tour guide in Bursa, is a personal friend).

In Greece, there is a version of Karagoz called Karagiozis, and the fact that he is a rural dweller as well is made obvious by the fact that like Fred and Braney from "The Flintstones," he goes around barefooted.

As for the Turkish-Syrian problems, the excellent NPR series "The World" said last week that Syria is straining Turkey and Syria's joint 'no problems' foreign policy as refugees are fleeing Syria in droves since Damascus ordered crackdowns on anti-government activists. The domestic conflict in Syria has (as of last week) claimed an astonishing 13,000 lives, making it the second worse mess in the Arab World at the moment behind Libya (with Yemen being a close third).

The Arab Spring fall-out is also drawing Turkey into a Sunni-Shiaa entanglement according to Turkish political commentator Nihat Ali Ozcan of "Hurriyet," the country's most-read newspaper. In a column last week, Ozcan also said that a 'Turkey-Syria-Iran' triangle is forming. This week, Ozcan added that the incresing, though still perhaps a bit remote possibility of a Turkish invasion of northern Syria, could cause the same problems for Turkey that George W. Bush's war in Iraq caused America.

In his comments, Ozcan declared that military intervention in the Middle East may replace dubious politicians, but there is no guarantee that the repalcements will be Westernized democrats.

SIDEBAR: In the world of sport, as the BBC calls it, host country Germany beat Nigeria 1-0 today in the Women's World Cup. France also destroyed Canada 4-0. The ESPN networks will broadcast America's next match with Colombia on Saturday at noon.