Tag Archives: stereotyping

Mavi Kösk Blue House – Northern Cyprus heritage (6)

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mavi kösk blue house    Mavi Kösk Blue House

There are several sites describing the beauty of the Mavi Kösk Blue House between Camlibell and Sadrazam Köy. Although it is recent heritage (built in 1956) and most probably some army propaganda (see: http://www.cyprus44.com/forums/48200.asp), worth a visit everybody said. Info sites mention large opening hours so what could go wrong? But when I arrived, I was not rewarded by an entrance ticket but by learning more about car diversity.

The Mavi Kösk Blue House lies in a military camp so you pass along a soldiers barrier before approaching it. It is close to the monastery Agios Pandeleimon that I also visited. But I couldn’t pass, the guy said, because my car was a rental car from the South of Cyprus. First I thought he made a joke, but he was serious. Here I am, a Dutch person speaking quite some Turkish and visiting Northern Cyprus since many years and I was left out while others entered because I had the wrong car. Being discriminated because of your car only, I really never heard about that kind of ‘ayrimcilik’ before. Neither is it mentioned on any site about the Blue House, but the guy seriously told me ‘go change your car’, these were the rules. My offer to park the car and walk to the Mavi Kösk Blue House (only 500-1000 meters) was fiercely rejected because civilians can’t walk on a military site. Could have known that, Turks never walk anyway.

They didn’t offer me a hike to make the bridge between these few meters, they really sent me off. I think it was my first time in thirty years meeting with Turks that hospitality was denied. My experience so far was: they always find a solution, especially when you speak the language and know the culture. So they left me in shock.

It made me think of Germany some time ago. In the Netherlands, we used to drive the car we want. One could see a millionaire in a Fiat (a former Prime Minister was known for that) and a poor man in a BMW. In Germany this was not possible at that time. Every class had its car and everybody sticked with the rules and that made the world orderly and predictable. Germany changed, and so will hopefully one day the Turkish army. It is not the car that is the enemy, but the person inside it. The next spy might show up in a Turkish car….or in a car rented in the North of Cyprus. Hope Turkish soldiers will learn to see the difference 🙂

Other blogs you may like:
Elections in Turkey
A kastel is not a castle in Gaziantep
Museum of the history of Cypriot coinage
Alaniçi: moving memories of 1955 – 1974 (5)

Gay caveman in Czech republic

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gay caveman Gay caveman in Czech Republic

Archaeologists in the Czech Republic say that they found the first ever known gay caveman from Prehistory. Why interprete that our caveman was gay? Good question because, as you might suspect, only a skeleton was found so it could not be determined from his appearance or so. Well there are two main reasons for that:
1. he was buried head to the east like women always were, men were buried head to the west
2. he was buried with pots and jugs, not with weapons and tools like a real man would be
Read all about it at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/04/07/2011-04-07_archaeologists_discover_firstever_gay_caveman_in_czech_republic_man_buried_with_.html

News articles like these are really funny, they show us not a lot about Prehistory but all about perceptions in the 21st century. Why would a man that was buried in a traditionally women’s way be gay? What has gay got to do with femininity? Some people in the 21st century think that being gay is close to being a woman, but we haven’t got a clue whether Prehistory had the same kind of stereotyping ideas about masculinity and femininity.

I have another suggestion, I think our caveman might have been some kind of prehistoric karate teacher. When I remember my karate teacher, I still see the eyeliner and other make-up he used in a time when not one single man was using make up in the Netherlands and not one tough guy would support being in the neighbourhood of such a man. All the tough guys were talking about it but non of them would dare to say a word about it when the karate teacher was there. They’d just shut up and follow his instructions….

So I think the caveman was a some kind of prehistoric karate teacher who loved to cook and who didn’t care to be different. His power was so strong that even after his death they followed his instructions for burial though it was contrary to all traditions. Let’s face it: don’t we all just love this type of karate teachers?!

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Social safety at work for gays and lesbians

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