Mein Kampff reaches Turkey's bestseller list

[Kharpert]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4361733.stm

A BBC news report shows that Mein Kampff, the autobiography of Adolf Hitler written while he was in jail, has reached the bestseller list in Turkey. The book has been translated to Turkish and other languages such as Arabic.

So in other words, Turkey has eschewed all hope of ever getting respect from the EU. It looks like they're going to depend either on their extreme nationalism or to the extremist areas of Islam (which, quite frankly, I don't think agree with Turkey in the first place).

[matteo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4361733.stm

A BBC news report shows that Mein Kampff, the autobiography of Adolf Hitler written while he was in jail, has reached the bestseller list in Turkey. The book has been translated to Turkish and other languages such as Arabic.

So in other words, Turkey has eschewed all hope of ever getting respect from the EU. It looks like they're going to depend either on their extreme nationalism or to the extremist areas of Islam (which, quite frankly, I don't think agree with Turkey in the first place).

Hi Kharpert,

You are of course free to make any deduction from the fact that Mein Kampf sold considerably in Turkey, but I want to let you know about two factors which you should consider

1) For a country where the minimum wage stands at about $300, book prices are very high in Turkey. A normal paperback sells for the equivalent of 10-15 dollars. However, pioneering publishing companies recently started campaigns and published books for about 3-4 dollars, and most of these books (including Mein Kampf) became bestsellers.

2) As you probably know, each and every book of Orhan Pamuk also became a bestseller in Turkey, even though his books cost about equivalent of $12-15. Since Pamuk inclines at recognizing Armenian genocide claims, I wonder whether you interpret this as a democratic or as a 'nationalistic' character of Turkish society.

[Kharpert]

Turkey has eschewed all hope of ever getting respect from the EU

I apologize, I made an overstatement. However, I see a few factors involved with Mein Kampff reaching the bestseller's list:

Mein Kampff is an extremely touchy book, so much so that it is banned in Germany except for research purposes. Considering that Turkey wants to join the EU, the sale of an autobiography and ideals of the man that brought the most destruction and extremism to Europe in modern times is not something that will look good to the Europeans. Considering that Turkey is already on very shaky grounds with its acceptance, and the demands placed on Turkey for acceptance into the EU, this book leaves a very bad image. It makes it seem that the Turkish population is unwilling to comply with EU standards. Also, considering that there is a Holocaust Denial movement and an Armenian genocide denial movement, one would think Turkey should shy away from anyone or anything else related to ethic cleansing.

I am not saying that this book will cause hypernationalism or necessarily cause extremism. It's purely possible that people just want to read the book to educate themselves about certain trains of thought, European history, what not to do, or something to help them advance their culture. If it's for educational purposes, I have absolutely no objection to it. But given the geopolitical circumstances of Turkey, Europe, and the world, it doesn't display itself in a good light. It seems to be for an entirely different purpose, whether that is the truth or not.