Sedition, Sedition! (John 10)

A new order begins to emerge, even as the older order holds on to shreds of its power and prestige with increasing desperation. In 1918, The Ottoman Empire faced the price of loyal service to the losing side in someone else's war. The victorious allies began carving up "the sick man of Europe" in accordance with secret agreements made ahead of time -- the Picot-Sykes understanding, and the Treaty of Severs. British, French, Italian, and Greek authorities got out their maps, and mapped out their capitulations,[1] the zones of territorial and economic power they intended to exploit. Egged on by the British, the Greeks landed an army of nearly half a million kilted soldiers[2] near Smyrna, and began an invasion of the Anatolian heartland.

Meanwhile, back at the Sublime Porte, the degenerate occupant of the office of Sultan / Caliph meekly assented to all of the Allied demands. He surrendered most of his nation to foreign rule, in exchange for maintaining his own comfort, his own hereditary titles.

The next few years, however, revealed who the true leaders of the Turkish people were, who could be trusted, who was willing to hazard their "lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor" on behalf of the people.

Joh 10:7 Bunun için İsa yine, "Size doğrusunu söyleyeyim" dedi, "Ben koyunların kapısıyım.
Joh 10:8 Benden önce gelenlerin hepsi hırsız ve hayduttu, ama koyunlar onları dinlemedi.
Joh 10:9 Kapı Ben'im. Bir kimse benim aracılığımla içeri girerse kurtulur. Girer, çıkar ve otlak bulur.
Joh 10:10 Hırsız ancak çalıp öldürmek ve yok etmek için gelir. Bense insanlar yaşama, bol yaşama sahip olsunlar diye geldim.
Joh 10:11 Ben iyi çobanım. İyi çoban koyunları uğruna canını verir.
Joh 10:12 Koyunların çobanı ve sahibi olmayan ücretli adam, kurdun geldiğini görünce koyunları bırakıp kaçar. Kurt da onları kapar ve dağıtır.
Joh 10:13 Adam kaçar. Çünkü ücretlidir ve koyunlar için kaygı duymaz.

And, let's look at a few words:

• Hırsız -- robber
  
• çalmak -- to knock, ring, or steal
  
• öldürmek -- to steal
  
• yok etmek -- to destroy (nothing / to make)
  
• yaşama -- life
  
• bol -- rich, overflowing, lavish, abundant
  
• çoban -- shepherd
  
• koyun -- sheep [3]
  
• ücretli -- hireling, one who works for ücret -- wages.
  
• Kurt -- wolf
  

Of course, those who led the Turkish War of Independence were accused of sedition by the Sultan and his coterie. Nearly a century later, however, the people remember who was willing to speak up for, and stand up for them. You can still silence political innovators in public debate by demanding to know -- "Do you love Ataturk?"

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[1] When Hong Kong returned to Chinese control, banners showed up all over the mainland proclaiming, "A century of shame has ended."

[2] An American writer drove an ambulance for the event, and described its consequences in his short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro:

That was the day he'd first seen dead men wearing white ballet skirts and upturned shoes with pompoms on them. The Turks had come steadily and lumpily and he had seen the skirted men running and the officers shooting into them and running then themselves...

[3] The plural of sheep is sheep. The plural of deer is deer. Go figure!