Mappa Hypocrisy

Europe, a Geographic Definition of Racism

2007-03-23T00:43:00.000-07:00

Where is Europe? Obviously for most people, on their minds first. Let's take a look at this example which is a clear reflection of a crusader mind.

Source:Map of the European languages

The Europe could only extend to the lands where there are Christian population, according to this mapmaker. Others are to be ignored even they happen to be right in the middle of your map. The most convenient way to cover that hypocrisy is by placing the map legend over those territories of people we don't know or don't want to know. In this case a EU candidate state, Turkey is erased, ignored and covered while the states which are much farther away from Europe are counted in as "one of us." What a precious piece of hypocrisy to be archived as a historical evidence for the 21st century.

Minorities Recognized and Ignored

2007-03-23T00:17:00.000-07:00

This one is a bit older but I just wanted to show how the idea of Turks is the latest haunting specter in EUSSR.

Source: Map of Native peoples, ethnic groups in Europe

The question is the same, where are the minorities in Cyprus, how did they disappear and why?
The dilemma is very persistent across many examples, which is based on the larger hypocrisy that exist in the EU policy level, isolation and ignorance of Turkish minority on the island. My e-mail exchanges with Mikael Bodlore-Penlaez, who is the director of this mapping project revealed that he bases his argument on the fact that Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is not recognized by EU. But this is not the issue, it is about the minorities and regardless of their ambitions of independence they should be represented on the map. Perhaps some minorities are so minor that they are negligible for the bureoucrats of EUSSR.

Where is Cyprus?

2007-03-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

Anytime the Cyprus issue comes up the EU maps starts to stutter. Let's take a look at this BBC map as it demonstrates one of the most absurd example:

Source: Muslims in Europe, BBC

So, where is the whole country Cyprus? The dilemma of the mapmaker is obviously how to represent the Muslim population in Cyprus. Are they part of the country, if so are they a part of the EU? If they are a part of the country called Cyprus which is a EU member then they should be represented on the map regardless of its Muslim population. How do the Cyprus people feel about that? Are the Greek citizens of Cyprus happy about being ignored for the sake of hiding the Turkish side of the Island under the carpet? Obviously they are not vocal about it, which is by itself a big question.