The Turkish shadow puppets of Karagoz (left, the one with the beard) and Hacivat (left) represent the two facets of Turkey. Karagoz is the rural Anatolian who is stuck in his ways and has little use for intellectual thought. He is also far and away funnier than his friend/rival Hacivat.
The sophisticated Hacivat, who uses proper language and conduct, is the symbol of civilized Turkey. He is frequently annoyed by Karagoz and his antics, and is frustrated by the fact that he can not easily win him over.
Though these figures emerged during the Ottoman Empire (the legend which can not be historically proven says they were based on a sultan's court jesters who were both executed for inadvertently insulting his majesty), they have been the consistent symbol of the eastern and western aspects of Turkish society.
And, like these characters, the two sides of Turkey are always in conflict and one side can not easily separate from the other.
In recent years, Karagoz and Hacivat who I used to watch on tv as a kid, have become cartoons and the subject of a feature film in Turkey.
My good friend Ugur Celikkol's family runs a Karagoz Museum and Theatre in the city of Bursa, where the shadow puppet figures emerged. A blog entry I posted from Bursa talked about our visit there during this past trip.
I often feel that many Turkish people have become bored with the figures whom they have been surrounded with their whole lives and many foreigners do not fully appreciate the deep social symbolism that Karagoz and Hacivat represent.
As a native foreigner, this is thus one thing I find truly special about Turkey and I find it amazing that the best political commentary ever produced in Turkey hails from a distant century.
Karagoz and Hacivat, though respected by many scholars like Metin And, are sometimes dismissed as a mere children's puppet show, but they are so much more than that.
http://www/karagoz.net
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