The only country in the world, where even common people in the street love Pakistanis

By Nazar Abbas

November 18, 2011

Just a few weeks after East Pakistan had separated to become Bangladesh and President and Chief Martial Law Administrator Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had taken charge of the 'New Pakistan', a number of vacancies in our diplomatic missions abroad had to be filled. Some two dozens of us section officers in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were selected for posting in the missions as Third and Second Secretaries. Mr Iftikhar Ali, our Ambassador to Turkey, had been called back to the headquarters to assume the charge of Foreign Secretary. The new Foreign Secretary wanted to see and meet the officers who were preparing to depart for the foreign lands for duties in the embassies. The Foreign Secretary invited us all, with spouses, to his residence for high tea. He presumably wanted to see us to have some idea about the sort of people who would be serving abroad under his overall command. But for us it was a very rare and welcome occasion; especially for the new and junior officers it was indeed an honour to be invited to the top bosses' residence.

Mr Iftikhar Ali was kind and courteous. He conversed with each one of us individually, inquiring about our welfare, our families and stations of posting. In recognition of my work, which he happened to note a few days earlier, the Foreign Secretary had ordered my station of posting to be Ankara from where he had returned only a few weeks ago. I felt elated. Speaking with me, Mr Iftikhar Ali said: "You are lucky because you are going to a country, which is the only one in the world, where even common people in the street love Pakistanis."       

I arrived in Ankara in early April 1972. I was still a bachelor. Then I came back to Pakistan after six months, got married and went back to Ankara. My wife joined me in Turkey after another month. Living in Turkey was a very pleasant experience. Turkey is a beautiful country, of splendid natural scenery surrounded by a great variety of seas - the Black sea, the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, the straits of Dardanelles. The country is rich in history. Santa Clause (St Nicholas) was born in today's Turkey. According to legend, Noah's ark landed at Mount Ararat which is in the eastern part of Turkey. The list of historical places, museums and monuments worth seeing is unending. Istanbul itself is a treasure trove of historical relics.

"You are lucky because you are going to a country, which is the only one in the world, where even common people in the street love Pakistanis"

The first place for an accredited diplomat to visit is the mausoleum of the founder of modern Turkey and father of the nation Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Set in the raised portion in the middle of the city, it is an overpowering and imposing structure with vast lawns and open spaces around it. My wife and I paid our respects to the great leader of Turkey by visiting his mausoleum soon after our arrival in Ankara. Later we had several occasions to visit the place with the important Pakistani delegations and with our new Ambassador. It is a tradition that newly appointed Ambassadors place a floral wreath on the mausoleum soon after presenting their credentials to the President of Turkey. Some well known quotes of Ataturk are engraved on the walls of the mausoleum. One which I liked most is an epitome of patriotism. Ataturk said, "Ne mutlu Turkum dedi." ('How happy I am that I can say (that) I am a Turk.')     

Another famous place for pilgrimage is Konya, where the 13th century Persian, Muslim poet, sage, jurist, theologian and mystic Sufi Mevlana (Maulana) Jalal-ud-Din Rumi lived and is buried. Maulana Rumi (or Rum) authored the glorious 'Masnavi' in six volumes, containing 27,000 lines of poetry. It is one of the greatest works of mystical poetry. Maulana’s mausoleum and museum is in the Anatolian city of Konya, some 250 km and three hours by road from the capital Ankara. Mevlana Rumi (30th September 1207-17th December 1273) was born in the Afghan city of Balkh but lived most of his life in Konya.

Every guest, official and private coming to Ankara would invariably like to pay a visit to Konya. There, in the museum, one could also witness and have the uplifting experience of a 'Sama' ceremony being performed by the whirling dervishes.

It is a tradition that newly appointed Ambassadors place a floral wreath on Ataturk's mausoleum         

Turkish flag stands in Nicosia ruins after the 1974 Cyprus war       

Turkey owns another sage of a different kind who is a household name not only in Turkey but in Central Asia, South Asia and many countries beyond. Nasruddin Hoja (or Mulla) is claimed by many countries as their own. Some even consider him a mythical character. But it is generally accepted that a real person called Nasruddin was born in the year 1208 in the Turkish village of Hortu, which is now known as Nasreddin Hoca Koyu. He was about the same age as Mevlana Rum and is believed to have met Mevlana and been his disciple. He migrated to Aksehir, not very far from Konya, where he married, lived and died in 1284, a few years after the demise of the Mevlana. He became a pesh imam (prayer leader) in the local mosque. Later he was appointed a Quazi (judge). His sense of humour, his wisdom, his smart pronouncements and fair judgments made him renowned far and wide. Since no authentic written record was made of his sayings and utterances, many jokes and stories from other sources have been wrongly ascribed to him too. My wife and I visited Mulla Nasruddin's tomb in Aksehir (Ak Shehir-literally meaning 'white city') not very far from Konya. The tomb is in the town's graveyard, in a beautiful setting surrounded by trees and flower bushes, next to a hillock. The simple and neat grave is encased in a see-through iron grill with a green tomb on top. As you approach the tomb you see the Iron Gate, in the grill, shut with a huge padlock on it. One feels that the visitors are not allowed to touch the Hoja's grave. Then you go round the square casing and find that there is no grill at all on one of the four sides. You cannot help laughing. That is what Mulla Nasruddin wanted - to make people laugh even after his death.

That is what Mulla Nasruddin wanted - to make people laugh even after his death

Statue of the Turkish folkloric figure Mulla Nasruddin

We saw a lot of Turkey, made wonderful friends, and still carry very happy and pleasant memories. What the Foreign Secretary had told me about Turkey, we found to be absolutely true. We Pakistanis savoured and enjoyed the preferential treatment meted to us by the Turks, which others too would not fail to notice. We had a fairly large complement of diplomatic officers posted in the Embassy and the CENTO (Central Treaty Organization) Headquarters in Ulus in downtown Ankara. One day, many of us, i.e. the embassy officers and their wives, and some colleagues from other embassies were together attending a dinner. One of the guests, a Second Secretary from the Indonesian Embassy, addressing us all said: "I have a problem." Everybody became attentive. He continued, "I look like Pakistanis, as you can see. I go to the market and the shopkeeper taking me to be a Pakistani, gives a broad smile and welcomes me saying, 'Merhaba, Kardesh [brother] Pakistani?" I say no, I am Indonesian. His face drops. His smile disappears. Then consolingly he says, 'You are also our 'arkadash' [friend].' At that time I feel so angry and jealous of you Pakistanis." We felt sorry for our Indonesian colleague but felt so proud of ourselves. We were treated to these endearing smiles from our Turkish friends in the market or other public places quite often. But we would never forget a happy encounter with a farmer in Bolu half way between Ankara and Istanbul.

Mount Ararat in Turkey

According to legend, Noah's ark landed at Mount Ararat which is in the eastern part of Turkey

It was 1974, a few weeks after the Cyprus war. It would be recalled that in July 1974, a coup d'etat in Cyprus was engineered by the Greek Military junta who announced Cyprus's union with Greece (ENOSIS). This was a blatant violation of the terms of Cyprus' independence agreement (16th August 1960) under which the three signatory countries, United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey were also the guarantors of Cyprus' independence. Turkey was therefore obliged to take military action in support of the Cypriot Turks. Pakistan supported Turkey's action. I cannot recall the exact statement of Pakistan's Prime Minister Zulfikar Ai Bhutto, but this is how one Turkish friend proudly described it to me. "A journalist asked Bhutto about Pakistan's policy on the Cyprus issue. Bhutto said, 'We do not have any policy on Cyprus.' The journalist asked 'What do you mean-you have no policy on Cyprus?' Bhutto said, 'Turkey has a policy and that is our policy.'" Pakistan's unwavering support to Turkey further endeared Pakistanis to the Turks.

Mevlana museum, located in Konya, Turkey - the mausoleum of Maulana Rumi

Maulana Rumi (or Rum) authored the glorious 'Masnavi' in six volumes, containing 27,000 lines of poetry

My wife and I had gone to Istanbul and were now coming back home to Ankara. Midway is the town of Bolu, in a surrounding of breathtaking beautiful natural scenery. Down below on one side of the road is a stream, skirting hills and dales and on the other side are lush green fields laden with all kinds of verdant trees, plants and vegetables. We saw one temporary vegetable stall in one of these fields about a hundred meters off the road. We decided to stop there to enjoy the scenery and to buy fresh vegetables. I parked the car by the roadside and we walked down to the stall manned by a lone serious-looking elderly owner. We selected quite a few of the salads, potatoes, tomatoes, and other vegetables including the 'patlijan' (brinjal). Bolu is famous for growing 'patlijan' and its restaurants boast that they can prepare 35 different types of dishes from it. Among other items, we had to buy onions which were placed on the ground in a mound, fresh and of a good quality. Then we noticed that on one side there was a small quantity - two or three kilos - of beautiful, round, red onions.

We asked him to give us those. The gentleman said these were not for sale and he had kept these for someone. So we took the needed quantity from the mound. Now we carried the paper bags full of the shopping to our car. He helped us bring the bags to the car. As he was putting these on the car roof, he noticed the diplomatic plate number of the car and asked me: "Hangi mumlikat?" ('Which country are you from?') I said I was from Pakistan. He did not say anything. He just put the bags down and ran full speed back to his stall. We were both surprised at his abrupt action, but thought that he ran back so that his stall would not be unattended. So we continued arranging things in the car. Then we saw the gentleman running full speed back towards us. He was carrying those 2-3 kilos of red onions which we had wanted to take. He put these on our car and left hurriedly without letting me ask how much I owed him. He did not wait for me to say "Thank you." He did not utter a word. But without saying a word he had said so much.

This happened 37 years ago. But we have neither forgotten his gracious face, nor what he said without saying a word. ?

Nazar Abbas was Pakistan's ambassador to Turkey in the 1970s. He recalls the curiosity and affection with which Turks tended to greet their Pakistani 'brothers'

Source: The Friday Times

URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-culture/the-only-country-world,-where/d/6449