A Turk is a Turk is a Turk is the leader of Germany's Green Party

EUROPE: "The Greens in Germany: Cem difference; Germany's first party leader an ethnic minority," The Economist, 22 November 2008.

First off, ouch on the pun!

Cem Ozdemir steps up to the plate as head of Germany's powerful Green Party, giving hungry Europe its first true Obama-like figure. Bonus points for being young, (43), thin, good-looking, charismatic and a devoted family man.

Being Green means he's unlikely to rise above Foreign Minister in Germany's political system, but who knows?

You know, in America in the years running up to the Civil War, any white foreigner in the U.S. heartland was known as a "German." It was just a blanket term for anyone speaking a foreign tongue, just like "Turk" has long been for many European countries when any Muslim in concerned.

Funny how these things evolve.

Comments

[michal shapiro]

hmmmmm...a biz acquaintance of mine whose name is Cem says it's pronounced "Gem."

[Gerry]

That makes it even more clever: visual pun, aural alliteration.