Gouya Roshan From Darkness to Light

Please, Don’t Save Us Sometimes I genuinely don’t know whether I should laugh at the world’s politicians or curse them! Every day, someone in a perfectly pressed suit stands behind a podium and, with an expression as if they have just become the ultimate authority on the entire world, says: “We went to war for the security of our people.” Excellent! Just out of curiosity:  where exactly are the people? Because it is strange; every time a war begins, missiles head toward people’s homes, while the very people who started the war are usually safely tucked away somewhere very secure! They see war on a map; people watch war from the windows of their homes. They talk about “victory”; people are looking for a safe place to stay. They say: “Casualties are inevitable.” Yes, of course! Just one little point: The inevitable casualties are usually not your family! And how interesting that in today’s political culture, our bomb is always called “defense,” while the enemy’s bomb is always called...

  Women of Turkey; Victims of a Television Stereotype I lived in Turkey for many years. I interacted with different families, sat in their homes, met many women, and formed deep friendships with some of them. Perhaps that is why watching certain Turkish TV series is not merely entertainment for me; sometimes, it is genuinely disturbing. My problem is not with why a woman cheats in a series. Infidelity, like many other human behaviors, can be the subject of a story. Art is not supposed to portray only good people and desirable behavior. The problem begins when  female infidelity, jealousy, competition among women, and unhealthy emotional relationships are repeatedly used as major elements of the story. When this image appears in one or two series, it can simply be considered part of a story. But when the same pattern is repeated, and those series are broadcast in different countries and languages, the issue is no longer merely about a story. For a viewer who has never lived in ...

A Spark Can Set the World on Fire History has repeatedly shown that a small event can be the beginning of a major crisis. The assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne in 1914 was only a single gunshot, but that shot led to the First World War, a war that claimed the lives of millions of people. Today, the world is in a situation where political, economic, and military conflicts are like a barrel of gunpowder, requiring only a single spark to explode. At present, the conflict between Russia and the West in the war in Ukraine, the disputes between China and the United States over Taiwan and the South China Sea, the war between Iran and Israel, the genocide of the Palestinian people, the systematic killing of the people of Yemen, the killing and persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar, the civil war in Sudan, the war and tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Israel’s attack on Syria, and the poverty and injustice caused by regional power struggles and arms races have all creat...