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| Europe |
| Turkey: Best-selling futuristic thriller plays to EU phobia |
| 2005-10-29 |
| Lotsa best-sellers in Turkey, "Mein kampf", "Metal Storm" (that book about a war with the USA),... obviously a nation of readers! Istanbul, 28 Oct. (AKI) - A young Turkish author is topping the best-seller charts for the second time in a year; this time with a futuristic novel in which Turkey, spurned by the EU, joins forces with Russia against neo-Nazi forces in Europe and together the two powers take over the continent. The author of The Third World War, 30-year-old Burak Turna, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that his latest novel seeks to alert Turks to the realities of EU and world politics. A blockbuster success among ordinary Turks, the book has been ignored or scorned by Turkey's intellectuals. Turna is no stranger to success; his first fiction work, The Metal Storm, written with another young author Orkum Uckar, became a best-seller when it was published last December during a period of tension between Turkey and the US over the war in Iraq. In that book, American traitors invade Turkey which retaliates by having an agent plant an atomic bomb in Washington. Some people consider that Turna's latest novel is a strong response to the stand-off with the European Union, where while entry talks officially started earlier this month, there is a growing campaign against Turkeyâs membership, especially in Austria, in Germany and in France. While The Metal Storm sold nearly 450,000 copies, the first edition alone of the The Third World War has topped the 100,000 mark. This is an all-time record in a country where less than 10 percent of people regularly read books, and a book that sells more than 10 thousand copies is an exception. In the new novel, the European Union rejects Turkey's membership drive when anti-Turk governments come to power in Germany, France and Austria in 2010. Neo-Nazis forces of these countries then begin fighting Turkey and Russia for control of Europe. Arnold Schwarzenegger, current governor of California, has become president of the US and supports the European offenses against Turkey. As if that were not enough, there's a touch of Dan Brown-like intrigue, a secret pagan society, called the Brotherhood of Death and representing U.S. neo-conservatives, is seeking global domination at all costs. Desiring revenge, Turkey joins forces with Russia and declares war against the EU. The Russian army invades the European Union, with Turkey's support, obliterate the EU and Orthodox Russians and Muslim Turks take control of the whole European continent. âPeople like the book because I wrote in simple language and explain some boring political issues in an easy and exciting way" Turna told AKI. "My readers say they were amused and understand world politics better after reading it." He accepts that the fame of âThe Metal Stormâ contributed to the sales of the second book. âPeople got to know me through The Metal Storm but the two novels have different targets, Metal Storm was for Turks but Third World War targets readers around the world." "The reason for the great interest is that the Turkish public has been misled for a long time about Turkeyâs bid for membership of the EU. People want to know why the EU is as important to us as some groups claim." Turna is a vocal opponent of Turkey becoming a member of the 25-nation bloc, and argues that Europe has a racist core and will never accept Turkey. "In my opinion the European Union is a temporary, illusory, short-run project. I show in my book that there are serious risks for Turkey in membershipâ, he argued. Instead the young author proposes an âEastern Unionâ model as an alternative for EU. While Turkish intellectuals, literature scholars and the Turkish media are doing their best to ignore his latest book, Turna says he has had interest from around the world. In internet forums, some Turkish web-surfers say they learned a lot about the world politics from the book, others believe that the book misrepresents world politics, a charge many critics make. Haluk Hepkon, a reader, says that Turna has captured the right moment to write such books. âHe set up his stories based on Huntingtonâs âClash of Civilizationsâ thesis. According to Turna this battle will occur sooner or later following a tension between two blocks, westerners lead by the US and EU, and easterners lead by China. Of course it's a polarisation process underway, but not as Turna depicts,â Hepkon said. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #1 Both Turkey and Russia love sensationalist and nonsensical fiction just as much as the US does. To put all of this in perspective, I remind myself that both nations produced TV show rip-offs of Star Trek, the original series, within a few years of the original. If they could do that then, then what can they do now? An historical note: Leonid Brezhnev was a big fan of Soviet-Star Trek. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-10-29 18:35 |