Most of us have sore points, topics we’d rather not have touched on and people from whom criticism seems particularly cutting. Nations are no different and some countries have particular sensitivities to slights imposed by near neighbours. The British are especially affected by criticism from the French, Canadians scorn comparisons to the Americans and the Greeks and Turks warily skirt each other, often deliberately misunderstanding the innocent remarks of their counterparts. This week saw a prime example of how the simplest of actions, even by a third party, can unwittingly cause offence and make front page news.

The Greek government recently commissioned the famous waxwork museum Madame Tussauds in London to make moulds of three of their most respected Prime Ministers. The lucky men chosen to be immortalised in frozen perpetuity were Elefterios Venizelos (PM seven times between 1910 and 1933), Konstantinos Karamanlis (PM twice 1980-1985 and 1990-1995) and Andreas Papandreuo (PM three times1981-1989 and 1993-1996). The Greek tourism ministry paid Madame Tussauds 200,000 Euros for the three castings and for a period of 6 months when they would be on public display in the museum. They obviously felt it was money well spent and PM Kostas Karamanlis (grandson of one of the featured waxworks) and Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyani both proudly attended the unveiling of the new statues.

Ä°magine their surprise and disappointment when they found that the employees at Madame Tussauds felt the best place for PM Venizelos, supporter of the British in WW1 in defiance of his king, the chosen representative of the Greeks at the peace conference of Lausanne after the 1919-1923 Turko-Greek war and all round Greek hero, was just behind the waxwork of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern republic of Turkey and victor of  the aforementioned war!

The Greek press were quick to pick up on the slight to their national honour and best selling weekend paper To Thema led with the headline ‘Venizelos in Kemal’s shadow’. They went on to detail how Venizelos was presented with the view of Atatürk’s back and how his placement behind the Turkish leader meant he was being overlooked by the general public. To Thema said that only Greek visitors were taking any notice of him. The newspaper is asking for enquiries to be made to Tussaud’s staff about the placement of the waxworks and suggesting that; ‘ the money the Turks paid has been deemed more worthy than the money we paid.’ However they seem happy with Karamanlis’s place between Gerhard Schröder and Vladimir Putin and with Papandreuo standing shoulder to shoulder with Yasser Arafat.

While the Greeks have reacted angrily the Turkish public seems to find the whole affair highly amusing, web responses on the news story have included the following comments;

Mirza Budarnayev – ‘Love of one’s country is not proved with statues  - get over your bigotry’

Atakan Güngör – ‘Why are the Greeks always so pedantic? Greeks, you need to recognise that Turks are always one step ahead of you. He he J’

M. Erkut Ekinci – ‘Another example of how the Greeks think about us, let this be a lesson and give up ideas of friendship’

Citizen Ömer – ‘Shit! Where else should he be, it’s an honour for him even to be near Atatürk. Everybody should know their place.’

Yet the Turkish nation can be just as touchy when it comes to the inadequate representation of their own leaders. After all it was just over a year ago that the current Atatürk statue made it’s appearance in Madame Tussuads. There had been another statue of the great man in place for many years but it had been a cause of long standing irritation and regularly attracted criticism from Turkish visitors for not closely resembling Atatürk. İn September of 2004 CEO of Koç Holdings, a diversified Turkish industrial group, Mustafa Koç decided to take action to remedy the transgression and commissioned work to begin on a new waxwork. At an estimated cost of £50,000 this was not a decision taken lightly but it had the full support of the Atatürk Memorial Military Commanders who helped by providing visual and written materials of all sorts to the statue makers.

The new statue was unveiled on November 10th 2005 on the 67th anniversary of Atatürk’s death and at the beginning of Atatürk remembrance week. The invitation to the ceremony included a quote by Atatürk; ‘To see me doesn’t necessarily mean seeing my face. İt is enough if you sense and understand my ideas and my feelings.’ Mustafa Koç said the new statue more accurately represented Atatürk’s; ‘visual majesty, his handsomeness, charisma and glamour.’

The most disappointing aspect of the furore over the placement of the waxworks is that in life Atatürk and Venizelos had great respect for each other and made sincere efforts during the 1930’s to improve relations between their countries. These efforts included a visit by Venizelos to Turkey in 1932 followed by a nomination of Atatürk for the Nobel Peace prize by the Greek Prime Minister in 1934. This was an astonishing demonstartion of respect by Venizelos, the Prime Minister of a nation that had only finished warring with the Turks eleven years before. İf these statues could choose their own positions it is likely that Venizelos would happily defer pole position to Mustafa Kemal.