"The World Sees Turks As Lazy, Crazy And Ignorant
Published: 2/23/2006
BY SEMIH IDIZ
MILLIYET- Turkey’s international image is really terrible. A survey done by international marketing company GMI and brand expert Simon Anholt in 35 countries confirms this. According to the survey of 25,000 people, the ‘Turkey brand’ ranked lowest among other countries. Anholt explained the reason for this to CNN Turk with one word: ignorance. In sum, the world sees Turks as ignorant, lazy, poor, radical Islamist, crazy, barbaric and dangerous. Of course, these characterizations are all wrong and none of them suits us. However, we should accept that we do our best to feed these misunderstandings. Looking back three or four years ago, we see our success in the Eurovision song contest, the Formula One race in Turkey and the ‘Turks’ exhibition in London. However, such developments as the police beating women demonstrators, the disgrace during the football match with Switzerland and the trial of author Orhan Pamuk wiped away these gains. Thus, we came last on the list due to a handful of people who know nothing about the world and who profess to be fighting for Turkey’s honor."
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