Snow Marx vs snow wolf: Turkish leftists and nationalists engage in new cold war

ISTANBUL

Always at odds ideologically, Turkish leftists and nationalists have dared each other once more to start a new war, but instead of the hot conflicts of the 1970s, the two sides have launched hostilities in a new "cold war," as they make the best of the current wintry weather.

The challenge was first launched by leftist students from the Communications Faculty at Ankara University, who installed a bearded snowman with a round belly at the entrance of their building.

The snowman, however, was not a generic approximation of a human, but none other than “Kar Marx,” a play on words with the German sociologist’s first name – Karl – and the Turkish word for snow, “kar.”



The picture of Marx’s snowman version went viral after it was shared on social media.

But it didn’t take long for a response. A group of nationalist students from Ankara’s traditionally right-wing Gazi University made a snow wolf as a clear reference to the grey wolves, the symbol of Turkey’s nationalist movement. But instead of identifying it with a name tag, as the leftists had, the wolf bore on its neck a Turkish flag.



For their part, students of Eskişehir’s Anadolu University preferred to keep clear of the ideological bickering, focusing on aesthetics rather than content. Their snow dragon was one of the most popular social media shares over the last week, as Twitter users warmed their frigid fingers by retweeting pictures of the fire-breathing monster.