So Germany and Turkey play against each other on Wednesday. Once again it doesn’t matter who will win or loose - in both cases it will be a national tragedy around here - with so many Turk living in Germany.

I personally already anticipate a night without sleep, because people will party all night and I won’t get any sleep.

So far my money was on the Dutch team, by the have been kicked out by the Russian - of all teams. At least the boring Italians are also gone. So my money is now on the Spaniards.

But the best news of all: the madness ends with the finals this very Sunday.

The Turkish invasion into Iraq is a deadly joke. Most Kurdish resistance fighters had left their hideouts anyway, because of the harsh winter in the mountains. And the attack has been expected for months - so nobody was caught in surprise.

Most of all: Turkey is lacking a big professional Army to do the task. So inexperienced conscripts are used to wage a war against experienced guerillas. Many of the first Turkish causalities have been young conscripts. The Turkish generals and politicians should be ashamed to start this war just for mostly propaganda reasons.

The overall situation is such a tragedy as well: the Kurds have been America’s ally from the very beginning in their fight against Saddam. They have suffered decades of suppression from Saddam AND Turkey. America should support these peoples struggle for their own country Kurdistan.

Instead America doesn’t want to embarrass it’s important NATO ally Turkey (who has a VERY strong lobby in the US and is also one of the few Muslim countries that supports Israel). But the US also wants the Kurds to be part of that artificial country Iraq.

The Kurds should have their own country and run their own affairs. If small Kosovo can be it’s own state, so can Kurdistan. Iran and Turkey should part their chunks of Kurdistan - so peace can be made for all.

BBC News:  Armenia welcomes ‘genocide’ vote and BBC News Video plus the response of the Turkish President

Almost all countries have their dark spots in history: America’s decimation of native Indians, Belgium’s brutal rule in the Congo and Turkey’s slaughter of Armenians.

Some countries like Germany went through a long and painful process of understanding it’s own history and apologizing for it. Some countries like Japan or Turkey seem to be in eternal denial.

Especially the Turkish macho attitude to national pride and identity are more a curse than a blessing. Yes, you can go to jail for any crime or insult against ‘Turkishness’ (whatever that means).

How dare the US to speak truth to Turkishness?!

Back when it all happened it was the US who condemned and reprimanded Turkey for it’s bloody deeds. Until this day the US congress and many American and of course Armenian NCO’s kept the memory alive. Turkey hasn’t moved an inch since the first Armenian was killed.

Nationalism is always in the way of truth. Being a modern country means also to accept your own dark spots and simply asking for forgiveness for things that went wrong.

Denial in the age of information looks rather stupid and backward, no matter how much pride a nation can muster.

Some more background: Turkey’s Armenian dilemma and BBC Q&A about the Armenian genocide.