In the Crescent and Star we trust.

Flag-wavers? We are flag-wavers?

Come to Turkey before you make that statement.


Mustafa Kemal Ataturk died in 1936 -- 70 years ago. But walk around this town for ten minutes; I guarantee you see at least 70 pictures and statues of "Father Turk."


It's unlike anything we have in America. This cult of personality (it is illegal to criticize Ataturk, even illegal to "insult Turkishness," to this day) truly blows me away. Even open-minded Turks are hesitant to say anything negative about the man who first made his name in leading Turkish forces to victory over the Allies in 1915 at Gallipoli.

There was one comment, though....

"They say 'Father of the Turks' like he f***ed my mother or something," a friend who will remain nameless said, before cracking up. (I don't want to get anyone in trouble..)



Every Turkish male is bound by the dreaded, compulsory military service. Depending on whether or not you are a college graduate, it's possible you may have to serve 15 months.

Sounds like fun, guys.

But because of Ataturk's legacy, the military is seen as a bulwark of revolutionary fervor -- a guardian of the national ideal of secularism, which the military defends at all costs against encroaching Islamic fundamentalist tendencies, wherever they may sprout up.


It doesn't make this doll any less creepy. GI Joe's are one thing -- but Cabbage Patch Privates? A little disturbing.