Toilet Brush upsets Turkey - Brushgate

Shaidabdullah Hussain

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A death threats a death threat, doesn't matter the reason behind it, it's disgusting either way. The reason they're going after Icelandic business and Iceland as a whole is because of its an international game of football and this is an international incident in which they'll feel, rightly or wrongly, has deep-rooted racism in it.

Point is, you always have crazy nutjob fans of any team. Theyre quite rightly not looked at as representative of the wider fanbase. Your comment is probably completely innocent in fairness, but in a thread that leaves a sour taste in the mouth, looked off to me.
Whether or not the Belgian meant anything racist about the brush we will probably never know.

The reaction of the Turkish fans for me , however, belies a pretty strong nationalism which is more worrying than the Belgian IMHO

Can’t say for comments on this thread as I haven’t read through it all accept the op.
 

Fener1907

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Who has said/implied that?
The general questions about if Turkish people wash their dishes and toilets. Easier to ignore if I hadn't heard all of that shite in real life i.e. implying that Turkish people are dirty.

So, why are "we" so invested?
Maybe because there are large Turkish communities in those countries and people aren't all that keen on them.

I remember that!

Quite amusing that Carsi is a homophone for toilet in UK slang
It's not 'carsi' :lol:

It's Çarşı (ç, ş, and ı are all Turkish characters), so it ends up sounding more like 'char-shuh'.
 

Gambit

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Carsi :lol:

Besiktas fans. Countless pages of Besiktas fans coming and spamming the newbies.
Great times as we battled for the honour of the caf. Wish I could see some of it again as some of the banter was ace.
 

KirkDuyt

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Maybe because there are large Turkish communities in those countries and people aren't all that keen on them.
I think it's not so much about not being keen on them (not that I'm denying there's plenty of Dutch people that feel that way), but also the fact that when we play Turkey in a friendly in the Netherlands the Turkish people living here jeer, whistle and boo our national anthem into oblivion. This doesn't feel very respectful and while I couldn't care less about het Wilhelmus, it does seem a bit silly to demand respect whilst showing very little yourself.

Also, in this particular case, it's just a dish washing brush, is it really meant as a racist slur?
 

do.ob

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The general questions about if Turkish people wash their dishes and toilets. Easier to ignore if I hadn't heard all of that shite in real life i.e. implying that Turkish people are dirty.
If someone couldn't tell an Apple from an Orange I'd ask what fruit they eat. If people can't tell a dish brush from a toilet brush I feel compelled to ask what they use for cleaning either instead. Nothing racist about it.
 

SalfordRed18

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If someone couldn't tell an Apple from an Orange I'd ask what fruit they eat. If people can't tell a dish brush from a toilet brush I feel compelled to ask what they use for cleaning either instead. Nothing racist about it.
You come across as if you genuinely believe Turkish people can't tell the difference between a toilet brush and a dish brush. Do you?
 

do.ob

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You come across as if you genuinely believe Turkish people can't tell the difference between a toilet brush and a dish brush. Do you?
To me it's clear as day that the Belgian guy is holding a dish brush to Emre's face.
So, naturally, I ask myself how it can be that people in Turkey seem convinced that it's a toilet brush?
 

SalfordRed18

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To me it's clear as day that the Belgian guy is holding a dish brush to Emre's face.
So, naturally, I ask myself how it can be that people in Turkey seem convinced that it's a toilet brush?
Yes it is. I remember hearing the story yesterday from my sister law who read it was a toilet brush, and iI thoughtt was bizarre. It's only today I've actually seen the video for myself. I know she hadn't seen as yet, just read it online.

My sister in law is Turkish and believe it or not, can tell the difference between a dish brush and bog brush. She (and probably most) went off what she read, fake (or better yet, inaccurate) news and all that, but nah Turkish people are stupid and dirty right? :)
 

Fener1907

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I think it's not so much about not being keen on them (not that I'm denying there's plenty of Dutch people that feel that way), but also the fact that when we play Turkey in a friendly in the Netherlands the Turkish people living here jeer, whistle and boo our national anthem into oblivion. This doesn't feel very respectful and while I couldn't care less about het Wilhelmus, it does seem a bit silly to demand respect whilst showing very little yourself.

Also, in this particular case, it's just a dish washing brush, is it really meant as a racist slur?
I haven't got any time for those idiots. Turkey has its sizable share of moronic football fans who go out of their way to show others that they're better in some way, usually meaning they can shout a bit louder. It comes as no surprise to me that they've disrespected your national anthem, and they deserve zero respect in return. Believe me, I even have this criticism of Turkish culture myself e.g. you can meet many who talk about honour but are completely devoid of it. The only real thing I take exception to is when people start talking about Turkey in more general terms, asking silly questions and saying we deserve Erdogan. I'm certainly not going to get carpel tunnel syndrome by raging about a brush.
 

do.ob

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Yes it is. I remember hearing the story yesterday from my sister law who read it was a toilet brush, and iI thoughtt was bizarre. It's only today I've actually seen the video for myself. I know she hadn't seen as yet, just read it online.

My sister in law is Turkish and believe it or not, can tell the difference between a dish brush and bog brush. She (and probably most) went off what she read, fake (or better yet, inaccurate) news and all that, but nah Turkish people are stupid and dirty right? :)
I really don't know why you are so desperate to jump straight to racism. When I asked the question I was expecting an answer like "brushes have a different shape in Turkey" or "dish brushes aren't as commonly used".
 

Red For Ever

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I wouldn't be surprised if the Dish Brush or Toilet Brush was a translation issue.

Either way, the response is crazy, we do business in Iceland, our emails, some funny but the majority are threatening now runs at 43, but the Icelandic company next door, nothing to do with Football, has hundreds on the Facebook page, some harmless, but many not,
and emails are well in excess of 500, the majority are not pleasant.
But it should be Zero, its nothing to do with them.

I have seen worse insults that have not had anything like this level of crazy, inaccurate and sometimes sinister response.

And to be fair, like many in Iceland itself, they have emails apologising for the overreaction.

Every nation has its share of people with extreme views and behavior, but where do these people get the time to respond like this, don't they have more important things to do.

And to top it all, it was not anyone from Iceland that did it in the first place, but I guess that does not suit the agenda of the people with extreme views.

The guy from Belgium has apologised, he has received 1000s of abusive emails, and so has his family members and friends.
 
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Dargonk

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I always have to laugh when people get so worked up over nothing that they feel the need to send death threats and such to people/companies that are totally unrelated to what they are angry at. Just makes them look like tools.
 

United Junkie

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From what I heard this guy with the brush is Belgian. And we all know 50% of the Belgians voted for a extreme right wing party.
 

Red For Ever

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Yeah, I'm Turkish myself so this thread just leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Also, it's not exactly all over the press in Turkey either or some sort of national uproar, which the thread starter made it out to be.

Obviously, I'm not condoning any threats or violence from Turkish people, but I think it's important to understand the cultural differences before getting into a debate about how Turks do this and that. Now people are discussing Turkish politics on the back of this too, which is rather amusing, but at the same time, very inappropriate.

Never suggested that it was all over the press in Turkey, you are reading something into that, which I do not believe I said or implied.
My comments were based on what was being reported in Iceland, along with 100% hard evidence I have seen for myself, no more than that.

However, and you may correct me, I believe this is a Turkish publication referring to the Public uproar in Turkey on Social media.
regarding the Toilet brush, https://www.dailysabah.com/football...brush-apologizes-to-turkey-says-it-was-a-joke

Quote from the article suggests it is, in fact, causing attention in Turkey, despite what you claim.
Images of Siamang holding a brush, which many identified as a toilet brush, up to Belözoğlu's face caused uproar on Turkish social media, as users branded the Belgian's actions as insulting and racist.

I still don't understand why anyone is referring to it as Toilet brush, it looks just like the one I do dishes with, but I don't claim to be an expert on Toilet brush shapes around the world.

What I can confirm is that my Icelandic wife and her Icelandic business has received large numbers of unpleasant emails, her business is in the UK, along with an almost uncountable number of Facebook messages, and to be fair, some are harmless, a few are actually funny, but the majority are not, but it's not appropriate or decent behaviour whichever way you look at it.

My wife and the rest of the Icelandic staff are uncomfortable about this, why should they be put in that position.
There are others in Iceland, Tenerife and USA with exactly the same experience.

Would you, your wife or sister be happy about getting large numbers of threatening and abusive emails, Facebook messages etc for something that is nothing to do with you or your country, or for any reason at all in fact.

So simply, maybe you can answer why are large numbers of threatening emails, Facebook messages etc, being received by many Icelanders, for what is a fairly minor incident, ( in my opinion ) that was done by a passing Belgian tourist, from people claiming that Turkey has been insulted.

Why is the Icelandic side of my family, relatives and friends the target for abuse in this situation, all from people claiming to be from Turkey?

If I claim a Belgian man is rude to me in Istanbul, do you expect me to blame the whole Turkish nation, do you expect me and many others to send large amounts of abusive, threatening messages and emails, to anything related to Turkey and its people.

If anyone should be offended and apologised to, it is, in fact, the people who have received all these inappropriate messages and threats for no reason.
But I won't hold my breath waiting for that.

And yes, I am annoyed, I am the one that sees the effect on my wife, and the other young Icelandic girls in her office, who among other things, have been threatened with Rape, Torture, Death and claims of " I know where you are" and as the business is on high street that is hardly difficult to work out.

Anyone one who condones that, or tries to diffuse it by making claims it is an acceptable response to supposed Racism or supposed Cultural differences, is talking Rubbish.

They are the people who have been wronged. They are the ones that should get an apology.

There are so many disgraceful emails and messages to so many Icelanders of all ages from so many people claiming to represent Turkey, there is no decent explanation or excuse.
 
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TwoSheds

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Yeah, I'm Turkish myself so this thread just leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Also, it's not exactly all over the press in Turkey either or some sort of national uproar, which the thread starter made it out to be.

Obviously, I'm not condoning any threats or violence from Turkish people, but I think it's important to understand the cultural differences before getting into a debate about how Turks do this and that. Now people are discussing Turkish politics on the back of this too, which is rather amusing, but at the same time, very inappropriate.
Out of interest, do you accept that this scandal is likely manufactured by Erdogan/the state? What is your opinion of the Turkish government?