the most turkophobic strory of all times: lord of the rings

islamaphobia and ethnic antagonism towards turks is a serious problem in europe due to the high immigration rates. negative stereotypes and scare propaganda of conservatives is deeply entrenched in the western european society, moreover this is neither an effect of a sudden reaction nor a contemporary event. the demonization of turks has been apparent in the western culture since the conquest of constantinople, or konstantiniyye as referred by the turks namely the current istanbul.



ethnical identity awaiting its appearence in industrial age, has been subsumed into the islamic one. the antagonism against the islam, a sympton of the turk and european relationship, is described as best in edward said's orientalism;

the European doctrine "turned Islam into the very epitome of an outsider against which the whole of European civilization from the Middle Ages on was founded."

hence it is not abnormal to expect the negative picture of the turk would be apparent in the art and literature of the times. from victor hugo's "…to destroy the written word you need only a torch and a Turk." from the hunchback of notre dame to shakespeare:

"And say besides, that in Aleppo once, Where a malignant and a turbanned Turk Beat a Venetian, and traded the state I took by throat the circumcised Dogge And smote him thus." (Othello)

"What! Think you we are Turks or infidels? Or that we would, against the form of law, Proceed thus rashly in the villain’s death." (Richard III)

"Wine Loved I deeply, dice dearly, and in woman out-paramoured the Turk." (Edgar in King Lear)

"Why, Tis a boisterous and a cruel style, A style for challengers; why she defies me, Like Turk to Christian." (Rosalind in As You Like It)

with the decline of the ottoman empire, the evidence of this negative picture disappears but the symbol of the turks as the perfect antagonist survives the collective unconsciousness. although the signified is always the same as "inhumane, uncivilized, barbarian, ruthless, brutal," or simply "the other," the template of it always remains the same as "the turk." the subtlety of the appearance of the turk is hidden in the implications of any western work and here i will give you the best example of modern turkish antagonism or simply turkophobia, the lord of the rings.

in the widely acclaimed work of j.r.r. tolkien, a group of so called "heroes" are depicted as the defenders against the evil forces of sauron, who is after the power ring. and the demi god sauron hopes to accomplish his goal through his evil vassals from mordor, and also through the born again evil sorcerer saruman. all these symbols simply boils down to the antagonism against the current immigration wave of the turks and the threat of loss of identity that europe faces due to that. these will be all the more evident as i disassemble the subtle signs one by one.

the most apparent theme of the story is the ring, some may say ring symbolizes simply the eternity like the simple circle but we need to acknowledge social message behind it. as the occams razor would dictate, to the modern world the ring symbolizes the marriage, and in this case the marriage between turkish males and foreign females. the importance of marriage is the realization of the bonds that are created between the cultures in the smallest unit possible, and the reproduction related to the traditional concept of marriage. in the mind of the white european clearly the key to power in europe is definitely assimilation through marriage. the scare of their women and further generations losing their european identity through the persistent search of the turk for marriage, so that he can become a citizen while keeping his culture intact.

the physical denotation of the powers of the ring proves this point even more. not only it symbolized the will to power through marriage, but it depends on the will and capacity of the holder also, which is the main reason why frodo baggins is the main protector of it, since he is "less corruptible." what does less corruptable mean in a world where domination over females guarantees the survival or extermination of a culture? one very distinct hint comes from the self dependent experience of the wearer, e.g. frodo becoming invisible while the others shying away from wearing the ring since stronger effects/corruption are expected. the simple meaning of the invisibility is nothing other than the disinterest of women to the passive married man.

to explain; imagine if you walk in a bar and as a guy you have no interest in ladies, what happens? you suddenly become invisible. even if a female could be interested in you with the realization of your married status you suddenly become invisible. but imagine the reverse: if you are a man who is after sweet booty, you exploit the common knowledge of women's attraction to married man (which is even responsible of marissa tomei's crash on george costanza), and put on a ring before starting your hunt for feminine prey. the basis of the lack of will to power (will to get females) is clearly proved for the case of frodo baggins, who is clearly gay. hence the power of the ring is a direct reference to the greater corruption that frodo's heterosexual comrades are afraid of.

the virility of the easterners are clearly observed throughout the story. the production (as opposed to reproduction) of the uruk hai is a clear example of the scare of the great young population of turkey that the european union is so scared of, which was one of the arguments against eu admission of the turkey, since a greater population would bring about greater seats in the european parliament. we observe this amazement in the quantity more vividly in peter jackson's production as frodo and sam approach mordor and see the vast armies marching north.

as we approach with the protagonist to mordor, another important symbol is emerged, the phallic tower. center to the industrious and productive nature of the invasion, the tower is the epitome of the phallic desire to dominate the civilized west. now we not only have two gay characters aiming to reach our great phallic symbol but they run into the danger of temptation, nevertheless this danger is more apparent by the fact that arwen or any other female compatriots are left behind.


the phallic tower is important also in another aspect as it holds the very vaginal eye of the sauron. this nature of the eye is expressed by the descriptions of our male characters enthrallment by it. no one can look directly to the eye and be in control, they are more or less in day dreaming state. this is simply the realization of male mystification with the vagina, as both the object of desire and the safe cavity where the male comes from and separated eternally from.



now we observe a dichotomy in the story, on one side we have the raw description of the aims of the evil "other" as the desire to dominate feminine west; simply the phallic tower hosting the vaginal eye. and on the other side we have the symbol of the conservative concept of family, the ring, that might be acceptable, understandable and even adoptable by the western white males. but nevertheless its corruption and danger very decipherable. hence the quest of the heroes is to simply dissolve this dichotomy and make the true desire of the east once and for all crystallize.

finally with the destruction of the ring, the danger disappears and the emasculated west is once and for all free from the threat of the virile and masculine turks. the symptom of the destruction of the male symbols in the story is becoming clear as the boderline homosexual, emasculated male friendship of frodo and sam in overcoming all the obstacles is overemphasized.

as a final note, one of the greatest popular literary work of the modern time is not only infested with ethnic phobia but based on cultural despise and hatred, but more importantly without the existence of turks, there couldn't have been this fear and incidentaly no lord of the rings. for me this is all the more argument that culturally turkish people are connected to the west and europe is dependent on their hatred and fear of the turks as "the other," to generate and sustain their own values and art, which simply means europe and eu needs turkey.

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p.s. i stole some stuff from here.