Turks&Greeks: Wisdom and Genetic Pool

21/09/2021

721

Interview with Ari Çokona, Writer

Levent Ağaoğlu – As the gentleman mentioned, the Greeks, the Mediterranean power, have been living in a colony in the Mediterranean for three thousand years. Then, the Turks, as in Nazım Hikmet’s poem, come to the Mediterranean region “at full gallop from Far Asia”. I want to ask the intellectuality herein; I was at the Beijing Book Fair. There, the Chinese launched a book called “100 philosophers”. When I took that book and looked at it, 13 of the 100 world philosophers are Chinese, the others are all Western.

The first philosophers on the list were Thales, Anaximander, Pythagoras. Now I look at geography. All three of them are from the geography of Turkey.

How can we intellectually evaluate this genetic pool?

So, how can we interact with each other instead of being exchanged in population, how can we be together instead of go and come?

In other words, in the book written by the Chinese, the first three people out of a hundred were born in Anatolia, Pythsagor is from island of Samos, I consider the island as an extension of Anatolia.

You have translated philosophy books.How do you approach it from that perspective? For example, in my personal assessment, Cyprus is located in the Miletus-Alexandria-Baghdad triangle, although there are political conflicts there right now, what I mean by political conflicts is not Turkish-Greek, but great world powers. It is actually a Turkish-Greek geography where this intellectual accumulation is represented. I am from Rumelia, my parents are people from Rumelia.

What I mean by political conflicts is not Turkish-Greek, but there are other world powers. It is actually a Turkish-Greek geography where this intellectual accumulation is represented. I am from Rumelia, my parents are people from Rumelia. I do not see Greekness as something to be proud of, by Greek I mean to be the heir of the Roman Empire. What I mean by political conflicts is not Turkish-Greek, but there are other world powers. It is actually a Turkish-Greek geography where this intellectual accumulation is represented. I am from Rumelia, my parents are people from Rumelia. I do not see Greekness as something to be proud of, by Greek I mean to be the heir of the Roman Empire.

How can we exploit such a genetic pool? Thank you so much.

Ari Çokona – The fact that minorities show more interest in production is perhaps because they are a minority, as are Jews, for example. You know Oliver Sacks, I’ve read one of his books, he says; “My father had 17 siblings, my mother had 16 siblings, all of them doctors and professors”. It’s not going to happen, we’re talking about the late 1800’s. I am the first man in my family to graduate from university, my grandfather was illiterate. I mean; Minorities have to do this, if you want to exist in large societies, in big countries, you must have special abilities, if you want to continue yourself, you have to work a little harder.

So are the Armenians, so are the Jews. I mean, if we look at the Turks in China, they are the same. So are Nigerians living in America. I read somewhere else, the rate of university education in the USA is 11%, on the other hand41% among Nigerian immigrants living in the USA. If people do not do it, they will either become basketball players or porters. I mean with that logic, I have no other intention.

You mentioned the genetic pool, a study was done. They collected DNA from Greece, Turkey and all countries. By comparing it with ancient things and comparing it with DNA groups, it turned out that modern people in Turkey are closer to Ancient Greek people. Those living in Greece are further away from this genetic code, I mean it is not a racial thing whether people are Greek, Jewish or Armenian. It is a social event.

– We are hybridized,

Ari Çokona – It is a coincidence as well that I am Greek. If my parents were not Greek, I might be from China. I also want to say that Westerners always say; The superior person would be blonde, have blue eyes, etc., blond hair, blue eyes, come from Neanderthal people, so Europeans are not aware that they are from those wild people with thick eyebrows. So when we think about that, strange things come up, it is not clear who is what.