Ostracism alla turca?

        This Sunday, November 1st, two days hence, Turkey will hold general elections for the Parliament (the Meclis).  Citizens will be given a long sheet of paper, with the names and logos of political parties arranged side by side, horizontally, and a self-inking rubber stamp that says “Evet” (“Yes”). You go into a curtained booth and stamp your “Evet” in a circular space below the name and symbol of your preferred party, put the ballot into an envelope, and drop the envelope into a clear plastic box.  

        This past week I was teaching Classical Greece in my course, History of Civilization, and we came to ostracism, the odd, disturbing practice in Athens during the 5th century BC of holding a special vote to send someone into exile for ten years.  The purpose seems to have been to weed out sympathizers with the enemy: the Persians who had recently invaded the Greek peninsula. Despite Greek victory, it wasn’t at all clear whether or not the Persians would return and try for conquest once again.  But other political motives, and even non-political personal motives, not always of the noblest sort, seem to have taken over. 

 Ancient Athenian "ostraka"

(the ballots: potsherds, with names scratched on them)

        It occurred to me, should the results of Sunday’s elections lead to a continuation of the 5-month-long political stalemate, why not hold a new election – but this time, giving us a rubber stamp that says “Hayır” (“No”), for us to vote for the party we want removed from the Parliament.  The party’s seats could be redistributed, the party itself banned, at least for a while (ten years is an excessively long time).  What do you think?  Who knows, perhaps it might help clear the air!