Apple of China versus bird of India

Everybody in Turkey must have seen the scenes of the insanely surreal slaughter of oranges recently. The pictures of fierce looking guys almost exploding with raging anger, seriously stabbing oranges; or cutting an orange in half and squeezing it as if wanting to drain every droplet of the bloody juice out of it; or more straightforwardly simply biting into one; which were all gestures that expressed their disgust on the recent controversies that happened between Turkish politicians and the Dutch government. This sentence in a news story alone proves the absurdity of the situation, especially if one is alien to Turkish politics: "Members of the youth wing of the ruling Justice and Development Party [AKP] protested against the Netherlands by squeezing oranges and drinking the juice in the northwestern province of Kocaeli on March 12."

I must say I'm impressed. I never knew that the "AK Youth" had such an insight in culinary history and monarchy in Europe. How orange made its way to the Netherlands and how its color became anonymous in the country, is still a mystery to the counterpart youth in most European countries. These guys proved that they have a high level of knowledge when it comes to the history of oranges. 

Although the colors of the Dutch national flag are red, white and blue, the country is awkwardly associated with the color orange. When there is a national football match, or when it is the Queen's birthday, the Netherlands is thoroughly dyed in the brightest hue of orange, as if like they are making an orange revolution. The blame is to be put on William of Orange, or more correctly Willem van Oranje (the same guy that lent his name to the national anthem Wilhelmus), who is the ancestor of the current royal dynasty that has its roots in...