Analysis of the Film The Good Postman and Border by Kapka Kassabova, and their relevance to the Complexity of the Turkish-Bulgarian Border

After recent increases in the tension between Turkey and the global community, especially its bordering countries, there is a heightened relevance of films and novels that detail borders and the interactions of people between different countries. Accordingly, The Good Postman and Border by Kapka Kassabova (including her talk), while themselves containing informative content that enriches one’s knowledge about relatively delicate topics when it comes to border and inter-country politics, provide consumers of the content to draw parallels to contemporary issues occurring as we speak. However, before attempting to state generalized opinions on the relationship between borders and their representation of nationalistic ideals and limitations on the communication between countries, I will briefly discuss my thoughts and takeaways from the short film The Good Postman and Border: A journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabova.

First, I would like to dive into some of the interesting messages and imagery that were displayed during the course of the film The Good Postman, which I thought masterfully depicted the general feeling of hopelessness and inevitability that heavies the air in border towns.  The movie followed the story of a small town on the Turkish-Bulgarian border, in which the main plot drivers were the local elections and the pressing issue of Syrians passing through the town to cross the border. It first interesting to see the split in the local community in terms of their outlook toward the Syrian refugees, where there was a distinct different between those that believed they were exploiting the hospitality of the town and those that believed the younger Syrian population could be the cure to the disease in the town. However, the disease was nothing within the realm of expertise of a doctor, but instead a societal plague in which the border towns were abandoned by the Turkish government, and the primarily older population could see the imminent death that accompanied the grim prognosis of this disease. One of the major contributors, it seemed, to the dissent of the Syrians by one of the main characters, was that his belief that they were simply leeching of the culture and resources of the town, and provided nothing of substance to a dying border location. I interpreted this to be a direct result of the age of the local townspeople, many of whom did not want to evolve to the changing times at their point in life, and would rather have stuck to “the way things were”. This specifically manifested in many nostalgic and melancholy statements by many characters stating that the town used to be a hotspot for entertainment and events that brought people to the town in masses. These sentiments built a wall between those that wanted nothing to do with the Syrians and those, like the other primary male character that was a friend of the other protagonist, that wanted to try to help both Syrians and the townsfolk by collaborating. Essentially, this idea became the driving force between the differences between the two campaigns run by the gentleman to win the seat of mayor of the town, wherein their friendship could not resolve this difference in ideology. Interestingly, while their competition seemed to be at the forefront of the film, there was always the looming presence of the current lackluster and non-caring mayor’s dominance of the voting population of the town. She was a younger female mayor that seemed to embody the haughty attitude of a city-dweller that was doing a charitable thing by being the mayor for a rundown town by the border. Met with frustration, the mayor, even after her inevitable win of the election that ironically brought the two friends closer than separate, always answered policy questions with “I don’t know” and “I don’t care”. This presented a stark difference between a person that was simply performing a job, and the two friends that actually cared about the fate of the town. As the film proceeded, news of the dangers of Syrian trafficking and smuggling softened the hearts of many townsfolk that could not believe the atrocities that the Syrian people had to face to flee oppression. These snippets culminated in a powerful ending scene in which the Postman, the main character that sympathized with the Syrians from the beginning, deliberately did not report Syrian people crossing the border into Bulgaria to the border police. Taking small actions like these, to support the fight of those who have experienced nothing but fear and pain, became a direct consequence for many people along the border who realized they were powerless to affect larger social issues through local government positions that had already been taken hold by a willfully arrogant youth population.

Moving forward, I would like to discuss some of my takeaways from our Turkish 2241 reading of Kapka Kassabova’s Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, in addition to some topics discussed during the talk with Kassabova. Opposite to the film that we viewed, the book began on the Bulgarian side of the Turkish-Bulgarian border (although locations in Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey were all in the book), which was inspired by the author’s desire to revisit the country where her family originated. Throughout the novel, there was a wide range of topics that are brought up and analyzed, commonly highlighted due to its presence at the location that Kassabova found herself at during her journey. However, there was an interesting pair of comparisons made that always persisted during the book, and it was that of the current state of things and the state of the locations, customs, or ideologies during the Communist control of Bulgaria and other parts of Europe, known as the Iron Curtain. The very first differences in time could be experience in the Red Riviera, wherein the previously cloudy (no matter the if it was sunny or warm) beach and collection of local beach town attractions represented the lavish indulgences of the members and supporters of the communist party. Furthermore, it was a location filled with paranoia, as many German and other political refugees typically passed through the area to get to the border. As a result, there were always spies and undercover agents testing people and trying to persuade locals to out people that they though suspicious. Now, the spot is hot for tourism, as it provided the perfect vacation location for beach excitement and entertaining local restaurants and stores. While a product of globalization of markets, the easing of the Iron Curtain was the NECESSARY development in the progression of economic markets and social freedom of movement and lifestyle choices. Interestingly, as the journey heads towards the border, the reminiscent Communist ideologies and culture seem to re-emerge in towns such as the Village in the Valley that line the mystical forest of Strandja, where older generations can directly recall the impact they witnessed of the harsh treatment of refugees and political enemies by Soviet border guards and soldiers. Specifically, one of the patrons of The Disco, was a younger border guard that Kassabova recognized when she encountered this guard with an older compatriot on border duty, who she learned was specifically involved in the murder of countless people who attempted to cross the border. Interestingly, it was the younger individual, who had not been through much of the Soviet instructed border patrolling and policies, that was stricter and tougher on Kassabova, while the older individual who had experience and participated in horrific acts had become lackadaisical to those that might be trying to cross the border. It was spectacular to read, as well as when it came up in Kassabova’s talk, that with the fire rituals, the conspiracy of the Tomb of Bastet, and the myths concerning drinking from water springs a certain number of times as well as fire dragons flying through the sky (among others), there seems to be a distinct culture along the border that is separate from the two countries that the border separates. One of the most modern representations of the border traveling commonalities could be analyzed during Kassabova’s travels between Svilengrad and Edirne, where her travels with Ventsi and Emel enlightened her to not only the stark difference between the gambling/pleasure haven of Svilengrad and the family-friendly/marketplace extravaganza environment in Edirne, but also the ease with which people that often travel the border can pass through, relative to the EXTREME difficulty during Soviet rule. During her time in some of these more modern cities in Bulgaria and Turkey, she was able to interact with some Syrian and Kurdish refugees that are escaping the prevailing fighting in the Middle East (still occurring today), that really brings things full circle all the way to today. After Turkey’s extremely aggressive decision to attack the Kurdish people after the United States formally pulled out from the region, the migrant crisis, as well as human rights issues, began to come to the forefront of global news.

This recent news, as well as the checkered history of the border between Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, and in this case Syria, brings to light the prioritization of the state, over any overarching human rights or global appeasement perspective for turkey. They are essentially practicing a hybrid form of isolationism, where they are not necessarily denouncing cooperativity with other countries, but by their actions, are alienating themselves from the shared ideologies and agreements of other nations. The heightened tensions between Turkey and neighboring countries has reinvigorated the Turkish-Bulgarian border, where the direction of flow is now towards Bulgaria, instead of during the Iron Curtain where the flow of people was to Turkey. I don’t believe that this focus on state sovereignty will benefit Turkey in the long run, as there has already been global backlash towards their military actions, and while no direct legal or diplomatic consequences have been experienced by the Turkish people, the potential for tariffs, the likelihood of rejection in the EU accession process, as well as potential escalation of fighting to a full-blown war exists as dangers that stem from modern Turkish isolationism (in a way). To conclude, the state of the border, as well as relationships between several countries surrounding Turkey, will be interesting to watch for in the upcoming future, as rich historical precedents in the area, concerning the border, will always exist as undertone to history (as presented by Kassabova and the film) that is yet to be written in the region.