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Right Vision News
November 12, 2009 Thursday
Turkey: Zero problems with minorities?
Pakistan
Pakistan, Nov. 12 -- A meeting with the US president in the White
House, a meeting with the vice president and a formal dinner in his
honor at the vice presidential residence, a dinner hosted by the
secretary of state honoring his visit, a lunch in his honor hosted by
the House of Representatives and Senate leaders at US Capitol and
conferences organized at Georgetown University and the Brookings
Institution.All these compliments for a visitor from Turkey to the
American capital. No, it wasn't President Abdullah Gul or Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an who visited Washington.
There is no way they would be welcomed like that. In fact, let alone
the president and prime minister, we haven't seen any Turkish official
or any other person from Turkey receive as much praise in Washington
ever before. So what is the name of the Turkish citizen who was deemed
worthy of this extraordinary protocol and treatment? Bartholomew.
Those who see him as the religious leader of a small Greek Orthodox
minority in Turkey and as a counterpart to the district governor of
Fatih in the line of protocol generally refer to him as the "Greek
Patriarch at Fener." Those -- including many states around the world
and especially the US -- who see him as the leading spiritual leader
of the approximately 300 million Orthodox Christians in the world
refer to him as "His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch."There is a
wonderful phrase in Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's works that goes "A person
who closes his eyes makes it dark for just himself." The respect to
the Patriarchate and its connections transcended Turkey's borders a
long time ago, whereas it is belittled, excluded and deprived of due
attention by some segments of the Turkish state and society. Wouldn't
it be better if we kept the Patriarchate happy and tried to benefit
from it to assist Turkey's national interests and especially its image
promotion, instead of making it upset over frivolous issues and
creating a pother in the international scene? Which other lobby in
Turkey, that we hope to get support, or consulting company, which
costs us millions of dollars, has the power and esteem to get Western
leaders to respectfully wait hand and foot on them?If we don't take
offense in spending money and trying to persuade foreign men to work
in our favor, then why should we take offense in working with the
leaders and members of minority groups that came from the heart of
this country? It is known that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
supports Turkey's EU membership. I don't think it's very difficult to
carry this perspective to America as well. We just need to be able to
overcome antiquated narrow national security considerations and
socio-psychological obstacles.Religious and ethnic minority issues top
the list of issues that "we've closed our eyes to" since the Republic
of Turkey was established. By simply igoring the facts, we thought the
Kurdish issue would be solved, what we did to Armenians would be
forgotten, Alevis would stop complaining about discrimination and the
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate would lose its "ecumenical" status. The
current democratic initiative that the state and civil society are
carrying out in the above-mentioned areas constitutes one of the most
notable steps in terms of reopening Turkey's eyes to the facts and
rejuvenating its historical wisdom.There is benefit in extending the
democratic initiative process to include all problematic areas, and
handling the issues as smaller pieces of the bigger picture. I know
that there are major responsibilities and burdens on the shoulders of
the state, which has awakened from many years of sleep, and especially
President Gul and the Erdo?an government, which are leading this
process by taking great political risks. But if problems are not
evaluated as a whole within a conceptual framework and coordinated
works are not carried out, there could be an erosion of credibility
both inside and outside the country.Indeed, Turkey is carrying out
initiatives for the sake of its own national interests and domestic
peace, not to look cute for others. On the other side, international
human rights agreements signed by Ankara and the expectations of
multinational institutions where Turkey is a member cannot be
overlooked. The initiatives are also a requirement of the
"value-oriented" realist foreign policy line, which the highest
authorities proclaim Turkey has adopted. Making peace with its
minorities will add strength to Turkey's power, reinforce its national
security and increase its respect and influence in the international
scene.I think I have developed a better understanding of the minority
psychology ever since I came to America. For example the killing of 13
people in a fusillade opened by an American Muslim major against his
fellow soldiers in Texas on Thursday was perhaps nothing more than an
unfortunate piece of news for most of those living in Turkey that
won't have any effect on their daily lives.
But despite the generally prudent attitudes of the state, media and
intellectuals, the Muslim minority in America is on pins and needles,
worried that the incident will incite Islamophobia and push extremists
in society to carry out hate crimes.Some capitals in the Muslim world
including Ankara are supporting efforts to fight against Islamophobia
and that gives us a little sense of comfort. On the other hand, if and
when Turkey can overcome its minority phobia and address their fair
complaints its ability to stand for Muslim brothers and
Turkish-Kurdish kin in the US and Europe will improve.In my opinion,
"zero problems with minorities" within the context of the democratic
initiative should be an equally important goal as our "zero problems
with neighbors" policy. Initiatives being carried out inside and
outside are supplementary per se. The fruits of the democratic
initiative will give momentum to Turkish foreign policy's regional and
global initiatives. Imagine a Turkey that has zero problems with all
its minorities and majority members that have a minority psychology
for various reasons. It is that kind of Turkey that would truly be a
"soft power" or a "smart power." Published by HT Syndication with
permission from Right Vision News.
November 12, 2009 Thursday
Turkey: Zero problems with minorities?
Pakistan
Pakistan, Nov. 12 -- A meeting with the US president in the White
House, a meeting with the vice president and a formal dinner in his
honor at the vice presidential residence, a dinner hosted by the
secretary of state honoring his visit, a lunch in his honor hosted by
the House of Representatives and Senate leaders at US Capitol and
conferences organized at Georgetown University and the Brookings
Institution.All these compliments for a visitor from Turkey to the
American capital. No, it wasn't President Abdullah Gul or Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an who visited Washington.
There is no way they would be welcomed like that. In fact, let alone
the president and prime minister, we haven't seen any Turkish official
or any other person from Turkey receive as much praise in Washington
ever before. So what is the name of the Turkish citizen who was deemed
worthy of this extraordinary protocol and treatment? Bartholomew.
Those who see him as the religious leader of a small Greek Orthodox
minority in Turkey and as a counterpart to the district governor of
Fatih in the line of protocol generally refer to him as the "Greek
Patriarch at Fener." Those -- including many states around the world
and especially the US -- who see him as the leading spiritual leader
of the approximately 300 million Orthodox Christians in the world
refer to him as "His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch."There is a
wonderful phrase in Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's works that goes "A person
who closes his eyes makes it dark for just himself." The respect to
the Patriarchate and its connections transcended Turkey's borders a
long time ago, whereas it is belittled, excluded and deprived of due
attention by some segments of the Turkish state and society. Wouldn't
it be better if we kept the Patriarchate happy and tried to benefit
from it to assist Turkey's national interests and especially its image
promotion, instead of making it upset over frivolous issues and
creating a pother in the international scene? Which other lobby in
Turkey, that we hope to get support, or consulting company, which
costs us millions of dollars, has the power and esteem to get Western
leaders to respectfully wait hand and foot on them?If we don't take
offense in spending money and trying to persuade foreign men to work
in our favor, then why should we take offense in working with the
leaders and members of minority groups that came from the heart of
this country? It is known that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
supports Turkey's EU membership. I don't think it's very difficult to
carry this perspective to America as well. We just need to be able to
overcome antiquated narrow national security considerations and
socio-psychological obstacles.Religious and ethnic minority issues top
the list of issues that "we've closed our eyes to" since the Republic
of Turkey was established. By simply igoring the facts, we thought the
Kurdish issue would be solved, what we did to Armenians would be
forgotten, Alevis would stop complaining about discrimination and the
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate would lose its "ecumenical" status. The
current democratic initiative that the state and civil society are
carrying out in the above-mentioned areas constitutes one of the most
notable steps in terms of reopening Turkey's eyes to the facts and
rejuvenating its historical wisdom.There is benefit in extending the
democratic initiative process to include all problematic areas, and
handling the issues as smaller pieces of the bigger picture. I know
that there are major responsibilities and burdens on the shoulders of
the state, which has awakened from many years of sleep, and especially
President Gul and the Erdo?an government, which are leading this
process by taking great political risks. But if problems are not
evaluated as a whole within a conceptual framework and coordinated
works are not carried out, there could be an erosion of credibility
both inside and outside the country.Indeed, Turkey is carrying out
initiatives for the sake of its own national interests and domestic
peace, not to look cute for others. On the other side, international
human rights agreements signed by Ankara and the expectations of
multinational institutions where Turkey is a member cannot be
overlooked. The initiatives are also a requirement of the
"value-oriented" realist foreign policy line, which the highest
authorities proclaim Turkey has adopted. Making peace with its
minorities will add strength to Turkey's power, reinforce its national
security and increase its respect and influence in the international
scene.I think I have developed a better understanding of the minority
psychology ever since I came to America. For example the killing of 13
people in a fusillade opened by an American Muslim major against his
fellow soldiers in Texas on Thursday was perhaps nothing more than an
unfortunate piece of news for most of those living in Turkey that
won't have any effect on their daily lives.
But despite the generally prudent attitudes of the state, media and
intellectuals, the Muslim minority in America is on pins and needles,
worried that the incident will incite Islamophobia and push extremists
in society to carry out hate crimes.Some capitals in the Muslim world
including Ankara are supporting efforts to fight against Islamophobia
and that gives us a little sense of comfort. On the other hand, if and
when Turkey can overcome its minority phobia and address their fair
complaints its ability to stand for Muslim brothers and
Turkish-Kurdish kin in the US and Europe will improve.In my opinion,
"zero problems with minorities" within the context of the democratic
initiative should be an equally important goal as our "zero problems
with neighbors" policy. Initiatives being carried out inside and
outside are supplementary per se. The fruits of the democratic
initiative will give momentum to Turkish foreign policy's regional and
global initiatives. Imagine a Turkey that has zero problems with all
its minorities and majority members that have a minority psychology
for various reasons. It is that kind of Turkey that would truly be a
"soft power" or a "smart power." Published by HT Syndication with
permission from Right Vision News.