Photograph by: Juan Gnecco
For centuries, Iranians have made fun of the Turks the same way Americans have made fun of the Poles and of course I would never laugh at these jokes because not only are they not true but also they encourage racism and bigotry. However, after reading that the Turkish judicial system spent a two-year-long trial on two men for negligible crimes, I can’t help but to think many of the jokes were actually true but should have been aimed at the Turkish judicial system rather than at the average citizen who is far more superior to some of these judges.
The average person with an average intelligence and no law degree might ask a simple question, namely, what were their crimes? Did they murder someone? Were they involved in armed rubbery? Did they rape a child? And the answer would be no to all of the above questions. Their crime my dear friends was that they stole four pairs of shoes. What was that you ask? Two years of trial for stealing 4 pairs of shoes? Doesn’t the Turkish government have better things to do with their time? Obviously not.
Well, here is the irony that’s worse than the 2 year trial – they were sentenced to 21 years. And in a normal circumstance thinking that it was all a stupid joke, I would guffaw, giving my stomach a good exercise, but unfortunately I cannot laugh at this. It is all true. Twenty-one years for four pairs of shoes and thus this post explains why I picked out a Jackass to represent
