![]() `I am a Turk! I am honest! I am industrious!' the children shout in proud unison, whatever part their ancestors may have played in Turkey's jumbled mosaic of ethnic groups, religions and migrations. ![]() Republic founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Though not officially religious, the ceremony which ensues is part of a ritual indoctrination in the ideology of the Turkish When silence has been imposed, morning assembly gets under way, usually with the aid of a scratchy amplifier. In the massiveĬoncrete sprawl of Istanbul, in whitewashed Mediterranean villages, in the harsh towns of the Anatolian plateau and in hamlets hidden in the lush rain forests of the Black Sea coast, the voices of teachers rise above the excited chatter. Children line up in school-yards from the gentle Thracian border with Greece to the steep mountains stacked up against the Iraqi frontier. Wrists drenched in blood, teeth clenched, feet bareĮvery school-day morning a nearly identical ceremony takes place the length and breadth of Turkey. Like a mare's head reaching for the Mediterranean
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