土耳其人不应对圣诞节投否决票
I remember vividly a scene from my childhood at my grandmother’s house in a middle-class Muslim neighbourhood in Ankara in the 1980s. It is New Year’s Eve. Grandma has prepared yoghurt soup, roasted turkey, Uzbek rice — and, for dessert, there are baklava and tangerines, which we will consume while watching a belly dancer on state TV. We wear paper hats and blow party horns. Then at midnight, Grandma goes to her room to read the Koran and pray to Allah for a good, prosperous year.
我还清楚地记得上世纪80年代我小时候在外祖母家中的一个场景。她住在安卡拉一个中产阶级穆斯林街区。那是一个新年前夜。外祖母准备好了酸奶汤、烤火鸡、乌兹别克米饭，还有果仁蜜饼和柑橘作甜点。我们一边吃着，一边看国家电视台播放的肚皮舞。我们戴着纸帽，吹着派对喇叭。到了午夜，外祖母回到她的房间诵读《古兰经》，向真主祈祷来年幸福富足。
It was a hybrid world back then. In Turkey, more than any other place in the Middle East, a collage of different traditions and customs coexisted; secularism and faith were constantly mixed, dancing a waltz. In some houses alcohol — Iraqi, mostly — would be served on New Year’s Eve. In others, there would be Coca-Cola and tea. Even conservative Turks would find a cause for celebration in the beginning of a new year. While Christmas trees in homes were rare, we loved the baubles and decorations in the shops and the streets. Religion was relatively liquid, flowing, ever changing.
回想从前，那是一个兼容并包的世界。在中东，土耳其的兼容并包氛围算得上是最浓厚的：不同的传统和风俗共存；世俗主义与信仰始终混在一起，共舞一支华尔兹。在一些家庭，新年前夜会喝酒，主要是伊拉克的酒。另一些家庭会喝可口可乐(Coca-Cola)和茶。就连比较保守的土耳其人也会在新年到来之际找到理由庆祝一番。尽管很少有人在家里布置圣诞树，但我们喜欢商店里和街道上的那些装饰和点缀。那时的宗教是相对软性的、流动的，始终在变化。
Today religion is solid and that hybridity is lost. We are divided into mutually exclusive cultural zones. In Istanbul, as we near the new year, different neighbourhoods have adopted visibly different attitudes towards Christmas. As one drives from one area to another it is easy to tell which municipalities are run by the CHP, the main opposition party, and which by the AK party, the government. The glittery decorations and lights are almost always in the CHP areas. The only exception are the shopping malls, of which Istanbul has too many. Inside these are gigantic Christmas trees; and, in front of those trees, nowadays, angry protesters.
如今，宗教是坚实厚重的，那种兼容并包已经没有了。我们被分割为互相排斥的文化区。在伊斯坦布尔，新年临近时，不同街区对圣诞节的态度明显不同。当我们驱车从一个地区到另一个地区时，我们很容易分辨哪些地区由主要反对党共和人民党(CHP)管理，哪些地区是由执政的正义与发展党(AK party)管理。闪闪发光的装饰和彩灯几乎总是出现在共和人民党管理的地区。唯一的例外是购物中心，因为伊斯坦布尔的购物中心太多了。这些购物中心里矗立着巨型圣诞树；如今，出现在这些圣诞树前的是愤怒的抗议者。
“We are not obeying a toy-distributing Santa, we are the followers of Prophet Mohammad,” reads one of the signs held by protesters. Another displays a verse from the Koran, plucked out of context and deployed for particular political ends. The protesters claim they are delivering God’s words to the ignorant.
抗议者举着的一个标语上写着：“我们不会听从分发玩具的圣诞老人的话，我们是先知穆罕默德(Prophet Mohammad)的追随者。”另一个标语引用了《古兰经》里的一句话，它被断章取义、服务于特殊的政治目的。抗议者声称，他们是在向无知者传达真主的话。
Early in the year the Saadet (Felicity) party — a religious-based political party — called Santa Claus “a sinister and dirty project”, adding that “western colonialism tries to invade culturally what it cannot invade militarily.”
今年初，以宗教为基础的政治党派“幸福党”(Saadet Partisi)称，圣诞老人是“一个阴险且肮脏的计划”，还称“西方殖民主义企图对无法通过武力侵略的东西实行文化侵略”。
Through articles and distorted images, Santa Claus is vilified in Islamist newspapers. The situation is highly ironic given that the original St Nicholas was born in the town of Patara in Turkey in 260AD and to this day is regarded as part of Turkish history and culture.
伊斯兰报纸通过文章和经过歪曲的图片来诋毁圣诞老人。这种局面非常具有讽刺性，因为圣诞老人的原型其实是公元260年生于帕塔拉（Patara，现为土耳其的一个城镇）的圣尼古拉(St Nicholas)，而且如今被视为土耳其历史和文化的一部分。
Not by everyone, or course. A youth association — Fatih Generation Youth Education Association — organised a protest in the suburban Maltepe district. Claiming descent from Sultan Fatih, who conquered Constantinople in 1453 and ended Byzantine rule, it said: “The charlatan that is Santa Claus is the father of Christians. Whereas we are the ummah of Prophet Mohammad. Forsake your erroneous ways. We are here to deliver you the word of God.”
当然，并非所有人都这样认为。一个名为“Fatih Generation Youth Education Association”的青年协会在位于伊斯坦布尔市郊的马尔泰佩区组织了一场抗议活动。该协会成员宣称他们是1453年征服君士坦丁堡、终结拜占庭统治的穆罕默德二世(Sultan Fatih)的后裔。该协会表示：“圣诞老人这个骗子是基督徒的父亲。而我们是先知穆罕默德的子民。放弃你们错误的做法吧。我们来这里是为了向你们传达真主之言。”
Some of the protesters held up placards that said: “Muslims do not celebrate Christmas”. The same hashtag quickly trended on Twitter. Turkish social media today is replete with such messages. “Father Christmas is the symbol of a culture that rains toys upon their own children but rains bombs upon the children of Syria,” says one tweet. These political messages are accompanied by disturbing images of suffering Syrian and Palestinian children.
一些抗议者举着标语，上面写着：“穆斯林不过圣诞节”。这个话题标签迅速在Twitter上流行开来。今天的土耳其社交媒体上充斥着此类信息。一条帖子写道：“有种文化为他们自己的孩子送去大量的玩具，却向叙利亚的孩子们投下大量炸弹，圣诞老人就是这种文化的象征。”与这些政治性话语相配的，是痛苦的叙利亚和巴勒斯坦儿童等触目惊心的图片。
The chairman of an association of religious officials made a statement inviting all Turks to celebrate the conquest of Mecca instead of New Year’s Eve. His call must have resonated with some as in the same week a citizen dressed up as Santa Claus was chased by another man dressed up as a Janissary — a member of the sultan’s elite infantry.
一个宗教官员协会的会长发表声明，邀请所有土耳其人庆祝对麦加的征服，而非庆祝新年前夜。他的呼吁肯定引起了一些人的共鸣，因为就在同一周，一名装扮为圣诞老人的市民被另一名装扮为苏丹亲兵(janissary)的市民追打。
Turkish nationalism is a hall of mirrors. It distorts reality. Even though Turkish nationalism is powerful and pervasive it behaves as if it is constantly under threat. So many minorities have left Turkey along the course of history. But the fear that the Greeks or Armenians or Jews pose a serious threat runs too deep. The state, even though it is huge and robust, perceives itself to be in need of protection from individual citizens. Meanwhile, in southeastern Turkey there are violent clashes between Kurdish militants and the army. Turkish democracy has urgent problems but we are busy these days discussing Santa Claus.
土耳其的民族主义是一个装满了镜子的大厅。它扭曲了现实。尽管民族主义在土耳其非常强大且无处不在，但它却表现得仿佛自己始终受到威胁。历史上有那么多的少数民族离开了土耳其。但有些土耳其人却有一种深深的担心，怕希腊人、亚美尼亚人或犹太人会对土耳其构成严重威胁。尽管土耳其的国家机器庞大而强健，但它仍认为自己需要受到保护，以免遭公民个人伤害。与此同时，在土耳其东南部，库尔德武装分子与土耳其政府军存在激烈的冲突。土耳其民主有着迫切需要解决的问题，而我们这些天却忙着讨论圣诞老人。
This being a highly polarised country, the secularist camp has launched a counter campaign. Many young people post images of Palestinian fathers dressed up as Santa Claus just to give their children a bit of joy. A columnist in the daily Hurriyet titled his article: “Don’t celebrate New year’s but you can marry child girls” to show the hypocrisy and criticise underage marriages, which account for 14 per cent of all marriages in Turkey.
土耳其的民意远称不上是“一边倒”，世俗阵营已经发起了反击。许多年轻人贴出了巴勒斯坦父亲装扮成圣诞老人的图片（这些父亲只是为了让他们的孩子高兴一下）。土耳其《自由日报》(Hurriyet)的一名专栏作家在该报发表了一篇题为《别庆祝新年，但你可以娶少女》的文章，以突显个中的虚伪并批评未成年人婚姻。在土耳其，未成年人婚姻占到所有婚姻的14%。
As a Turkish writer, I respect Christmas, I respect Hanukkah, I respect Diwali and I respect Ramadan. I see them as one. Against the rising tides of an aggressive rhetoric that reduce us to a single identity and divide humanity into artificiality camps, I celebrate pluralism. Happy new year everyone.
作为一名土耳其作家，我尊重圣诞节，我尊重光明节，我尊重排灯节，我尊重斋月。我对它们一视同仁。某种激进的言论使我们陷入单一认同，并把人类划分为不同的人为阵营。在这种言论愈演愈烈之际，我要赞美多元化。祝所有人都新年快乐！
