One of the most important lessons you learn by living abroad is that, as the saying goes, "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". This was made most obvious to me when a Colombian friend of mine walked into my college apartment and was shocked to see a picture of Che Guevera hanging on my wall. He said bluntly that it was insulting to him that I had put up the picture of this man who had caused so much sorrow to his people. Upset, I tried to explain to him that I did not consider Che to be responsible for the pain Colombia had endured during FARC's brutal campaign; instead, it was the region’s social and political problems that had caused the unrest. For me, Che just stood for beautiful ideals of equality and justice.

Yet, when I recently came across a Washington Post article titled, A Kurdish Society of Soldiers, written by Joshua Partlow and accompanied by Andrea Bruce's dramatic photography, I chose to forget that bitter lesson and let my anger out by cursing at the Post for choosing to publish such a story. I was not alone in my reaction; the Turkish press caught on within hours, condemning the Washington Post and prompting readers to send protest letters to its editors.

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