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ANKARA: Apologizing is all around

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  • ANKARA: Apologizing is all around

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    Dec 28 2008

    Apologizing is all around


    I don't know about your New Year's celebration plans, but mine are
    simple and the same as they were last year and the year before: After
    visiting my parents and exchanging good wishes with my friends, I will
    watch the movie "Love Actually," which I've already memorized in its
    entirety, even the special features. This movie warms my soul, though
    it has the many shortcomings possessed by romantic comedies. The
    screenplay is based on the stories of several characters, all linked
    to each other in some way, and each story tells about different
    aspects of love. The film begins five weeks before Christmas and is
    played out during a week-by-week countdown until the holiday, with an
    epilogue that takes place one month later.

    The soundtrack is very nice, too, and it opens with the Christmas
    variation of classic hit "Love Is All Around." This song makes me
    happy, but this year I will try to sing my own variation, which will
    be "Apologizing Is All Around" -- and for this version, it does not
    matter how awful my voice is, it will make me even happier.

    Whatever others may say, I think 2008 was a remarkable year because
    one of the very important deficits in our dominant political culture
    began to be defeated, and this is why 2008 deserves a special
    blessing.

    In our dominant political culture, even in the dominant daily culture,
    to "apologize" has a very limited place. For us, it is always very
    difficult to accept our faults; it is more difficult to articulate it
    even if we are sad because of them. For example, I don't know if
    you've noticed, but even in a small traffic accident, the obviously
    wrong party does not apologize but tries instead to pretend that s/he
    is innocent. This habit is also reflected in our political culture. I
    can't even recall a single political leader who was able to say "I am
    sorry."

    The wave of apologies began with Justice Minister Mehmet Ali
    Å?ahin when he conveyed the apology for the murder of Engin
    Ã?eber, who reportedly died after being beaten by security
    forces. Maybe it was not good enough, but nonetheless it was a very
    important step because it showed us that the state can apologize.

    Then came the "apologizing campaign" of the intellectuals for the
    "Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in
    1915." Well, perhaps some reactions to it were at the level of racism,
    but the important thing is that apologizing is starting to be a part
    of our sovereign political culture.

    Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Canan Arıtman, while
    criticizing the president's silence regarding the apology campaign,
    called for an investigation into the ancestry of Gül's mother
    in a statement, implying that she was of Armenian origin. She has not
    apologized for it yet; on the other hand, she is not worth taking
    seriously. Another CHP deputy, Å?ükrü
    ElekdaÄ?, who strongly opposes the apology campaign, did
    apologize to Gül's mother, and it was definitely something.

    (But perhaps I should apologize here because I am a woman who tries to
    advocate for the involvement of women in politics as much as I can. I
    definitely do not mean the male chauvinist, racist, fascist women like
    Arıtman.)

    The apology campaign may have created many reactions, but on the other
    hand, as German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said: "All truth
    passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is
    violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

    Then, all of a sudden, another apology came, this time from Culture
    and Tourism Minister ErtuÄ?rul Günay. He told Alevis that
    in the past there had been provocations against Alevis and that he was
    apologizing for this because he is a representative of the
    state. Alevis did not accept the apology -- of course, those who have
    been given an apology have the right to refuse it -- but still, it is
    something.

    Then, suddenly, just like in "Love Actually," just a couple of weeks
    before New Year's, we started hearing apologies coming from
    everywhere. At the beginning of the movie, David, the British prime
    minister (played by Hugh Grant), says the words one by one before the
    story telling starts: "Actually-love-is-all around."

    So with great pleasure and hope, I want to say,
    "Actually-apologizing-is-all around."

    Happy New Year's.
    28.12.2008
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