KEBABBLE Turkey makes peace with Pippa
By Fazile Zahir
FETHIYE, Turkey - Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian editor, journalist and
columnist assassinated in 2007, was the last victim of murder to inspire a mass
reaction of sympathy from the Turkish nation.
His death was followed by demonstrators wearing placards claiming "We are
Hrant" to underline their empathy for and sympathy with the man, his grieving
family and the cause of the Armenian citizens he represented. Now the nation's
women have taken to the streets wearing similar placards but these read "We are
Pippa".
Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo - known as Pippa Bacca - was an Italian
performance artist who decided to make a public and
personal plea for peace in areas of conflict. With her friend Sylvia Moro, they
designed wedding dresses and the two women set out as "Brides on Tour" to
hitchhike from Milan to Tel Aviv. Leaving Italy on March 8, they proceeded with
little trouble through eastern Europe and reached Istanbul at the end of March.
Here they decided to take different paths across the country and meet up again
in Beirut. Bacca was in touch daily with family and friends by mobile phone
messages. On March 31, these texts abruptly stopped. Her family raised the
alarm and her sister and fiancee flew to Turkey.
The Turkish police put a trace on Bacca's phone's unique IMEI number and on
Friday, April 11, they caught truck driver Murat Kabatas after he used it. He
confessed to having picked Bacca up just outside the industrial northern town
of Gebze and to dumping her naked body in a shallow grave after having raped
and strangled her. As well as her phone, the Turkish police found parts of her
necklace in the truck cabin and her camera at his house. She had taken photos
of all the people who had offered her lifts and the final photo she had taken
was of Murat.
The reaction to the violation and brutal murder of this vibrant 33-year-old has
been enormous. The country was both embarrassed and mournful. Hurriyet
newspaper ran a headline announcing "We are ashamed" and Milliyet had a
sub-headline that said "Siamo Molto Addolorati" ("Our pain is enormous"). Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a personal statement that he was deeply
saddened by the murder of such a remarkable peace envoy and expressed gratitude
to Bacca's family who have been hugely benevolent in their press statements
towards Turkey and the Turks in general.
Elena Manzoni, Bacca's mother has led her family through the crisis and has,
since the discovery of Bacca's body late last week, been hugely charitable in
all her comments. "We can't blame all the Turkish people for this incident.
Nobody could have predicted my daughter would encounter such a maniac," she
said. Bacca's sister, Antonietta Pasqualino, followed her mother's lead adding
that there were "bad people everywhere" and telling interviewers that her
sister "had been talking about Turkey a lot; she was so impressed".
The family's stoicism and their refusal to blame Turks for their daughter's
death, combined with the romantic image of the raped bride-to-be dying for the
cause of international peace has set the nation's imagination aflame. In a
country of hopeless romantics, idealists and dreamers, Pippa Bacca may well
have, in death, found her true spiritual home.
The tributes have been fast in coming. On April 14, the head of Gebze town
council, Ibrahim Pehlivan, released a statement saying that council
representatives would be going to Ankara to offer an official apology on behalf
of their town to the Italian consulate and Bacca's family. They were also going
to consult with the people of Gebze and either raise a group to finish her walk
or erect a monument to peace in the town.
On April 15, a memorial service was held at the Italian consulate in Ankara,
the women's groups who attended carried signs saying "No to the rapist violence
of men" and "Peace". Again on April 15, Hayrettin Bulan, the head of
Sefkat-Der, a group that runs a women's refuge and works on behalf of abused
women, whose headquarters are in the city of Konya, said, "We have given her
the nickname Angel Pippa and we are going to name one of our refuges after her
... she is an angel in our eyes and we want to draw the whole world's attention
to her message of peace and the fight against violence towards and the rape of
women."
On the same day, 30 women from the Antalya Town Women's parliament donned
wedding gowns and veils and walked silently and in single file through the main
streets of their town carrying banners saying, "We are all ambassadors of
peace." They demanded that all women be safe and free to walk the streets and
were applauded along the way.
A day later, Hurriyet columnist Mehmet Yilmaz wrote a piece calling on Turkish
women to come forward and finish Bacca's walk and has already sought the
support of leading women's magazine Elele. The magazine's editor has promised
to provide wedding dresses and cover the expenses of the journey.
He believes that Bacca should be an inspiration: "And, what if we were to
transform the 'peace walk' of Pippa into the 'freedom walk' of Turkish women in
our country ... Let's get moving. Let's stop just feeling sorry. If we don't
take this opportunity to claim the right for women to travel freely on the
streets and the roads of this country now, we never will."
Bacca's own family have now flown her body home for burial and are focusing
their energy on bringing the now iconic wedding gown back to Milan to be
displayed in a memorial exhibition.
As well as bringing out the best in some people the murder has brought out the
worst in others. Website forums have been lively with criticism of both Bacca
and Turks. An article on www.ynetnews.com, an online Israeli newspaper
outlining Bacca's intentions of finishing her walk in Tel Aviv, has rampantly
hostile comments following it, including "The Muslim barbary strikes again
against foreigners" and "It is clearly stated in their scriptures what Muslims
are forced to do to non-Muslims. Going to a Muslim country means you are
putting yourself in a life threatening situation," as well as, "Laugh out loud,
that's what you get when trying to make peace with Muslims."
Another website (for self confessed skeptics) www.jref.com, announced, "Irony
has a new name: Pippa Bacca." These forum members accuse Bacca of being
suicidal, stupid, naive and gullible. "Her name, 'Bacca', sounds just like the
Japanese word baka [idiot/fool]. One can only hope news of her death
will prevent others from being so foolish," and, "I wonder what her mental age
was. No 33-year-old thinks that all you need is trust, right? But if her mental
age really was 33, what went wrong then?"
Both groups that condemn Bacca and the Turks are those who face the future with
pessimism, Bacca herself was a determined optimist willing to do more than just
write on the "walls" of public webpages. The terrible truth of the story is
that like most martyrs for a cause, Bacca, through her death, may have actually
accomplished more for peace than she would have had her walk been completed
without incident.
Her murder has sent a powerful message about peace, about the continuing
struggle of women for personal safety. She became what she was demonstrating
against: a powerless player caught up in the turmoil and violence of a stronger
party. The reaction in Turkey shows that people have the heart and soul to
understand her message.
Fazile Zahir is of Turkish descent, born and brought up in London. She
moved to live in Turkey in 2005 and has been writing full time since then.
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