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PROTESTANTS, COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUSNESS, FUNDAMENTALIST
Today's Zaman
09 October 2009, Friday
We all are prisoners of our own preconceived perspectives. The stronger
the prejudices we have, the thicker the walls of the prisons that
hold us captive.
When it comes to religions, unfortunately, these prisons are much
more isolating than we can imagine. Protestants are one of the
most stigmatized groups in Turkey. Having had the privilege of
being their lawyer for many years, I believe I have gained a deeper
understanding of the collective unconsciousness of the state elites
in Turkey. They are the scapegoats for Turkish elites who are trying
to escape from the burdens of our history. Without knowing history,
we can never understand how this handful of Protestants turned into
enemy No. 1 for state elites in Turkey. Just 3,000 or 4,000 Turkish
Protestants have turned into one of the "internal enemies" of the
Turkish state. Why? If 25 percent of your population was non-Muslim
just 100 years ago and if they were "vaporized" for reasons you no
longer remember, anything that reminds you of this past would of
course trigger your unconscious fears.
The fear of Protestant missionaries is a kind of phobia that shows
us what is hidden in the unconscious side of our neurotic minds in
Turkey. Can you imagine, this tiny group has been a constant item on
the agenda of the National Security Council (MGK), which is dominated
by soldiers who rule one of the biggest and strongest armies of the
world? An elephant in fear of an ant is a depressive, deeply neurotic
elephant, is it not?
If you really want to understand Turkey, look at the situation of
Protestants in Turkey. Recently, I realized that their situation also
presents a golden opportunity to have a look at the outside world's
prejudices against Turkey.
On April 18, 2007, three Protestant missionaries were killed in
Malatya, in eastern Turkey. This was not an ordinary murder. It was
a horrific, barbaric, heinous crime. The victims were killed . As
you can imagine, the incident attracted serious attention in both
the national and international media. As the lawyer of the victims'
families, I became the contact person for all media interviews. Right
from the beginning, I realized that the persons interviewing me wanted
to hear a certain story confirming some well-known patterns. Were
the murderers fundamentalist Muslims? Did they do this for religious
purposes? Did they belong to a Muslim community, and so on. Most of
the reporters did not like what I told them. I tried to explain my
understanding of the murder. The youngsters who committed the crime
and were caught at the crime scene were members of ultra-nationalist
groups and had some connection with some "deep state elements" in
Turkey. My comments were disappointing for some reporters. They wanted
to tell the world that Muslims were slaughtering Christians in Turkey.
Actually, this was exactly what the deep state elements who
masterminded this slaughter wanted to tell the world. They
wanted to convince the world that as soon as a "pro-Islamic"
government came to power in Turkey, "Muslim fundamentalists"
started to kill Christians. Before the Protestants, Hrant Dink, an
Armenian-Turkish journalist, and a Catholic priest, Father Andrea
Santoro, were also killed by exactly the same type of murderer: young
ultra-nationalists. When we argue this, some people claim that if it
was the "deep state" behind these murders against Christians, then
there must have been more murders. Actually, in my opinion this was
the original plan of the deep state gang Ergenekon. After the Malatya
massacre, the police prevented four other similar attempts against
Protestant missionaries in different cities across Turkey. During
the Ergenekon investigation, murder plots targeting Armenians and
Alevis were also revealed. If the Ergenekon investigation goes
deep enough, the gang's connection with these murders could be
established. This is something I have been trying to explain from the
very beginning. Ergenekon is modern Turkey's Committee of Union and
Progress, which in the past committed atrocities against Christians
in Turkey. Same mentality, same structure.
I wrote all this because, here in New York, while I was trying to
find out how the American media covered the Malatya massacre, I
felt really angry. Some correspondents, including some of those who
interviewed with me, had reported the incident as a textbook example
of terrible prejudice. "Young Muslims killed Christians in Turkey." I
watched some videos on the Internet; their interviews with me have
been taken out completely.
If Slobodan Milosevic massacred Bosnian Muslims for Christianity,
yes than these ultra-nationalist youngsters killed Christians for
Islam. Milosevic was an ultra-nationalist butcher exactly like the
murderers of the Protestants in Malatya. By distorting these kinds of
facts, believe me, you do not do anyone anywhere any good. You do not
understand Turkey, you do not help Christians in Turkey and you are
just sowing the seeds of discord between cultures and religions. You
are just a prisoner of your own prejudices and trying to lock up
everyone else there. Please do not do that!
Today's Zaman
09 October 2009, Friday
We all are prisoners of our own preconceived perspectives. The stronger
the prejudices we have, the thicker the walls of the prisons that
hold us captive.
When it comes to religions, unfortunately, these prisons are much
more isolating than we can imagine. Protestants are one of the
most stigmatized groups in Turkey. Having had the privilege of
being their lawyer for many years, I believe I have gained a deeper
understanding of the collective unconsciousness of the state elites
in Turkey. They are the scapegoats for Turkish elites who are trying
to escape from the burdens of our history. Without knowing history,
we can never understand how this handful of Protestants turned into
enemy No. 1 for state elites in Turkey. Just 3,000 or 4,000 Turkish
Protestants have turned into one of the "internal enemies" of the
Turkish state. Why? If 25 percent of your population was non-Muslim
just 100 years ago and if they were "vaporized" for reasons you no
longer remember, anything that reminds you of this past would of
course trigger your unconscious fears.
The fear of Protestant missionaries is a kind of phobia that shows
us what is hidden in the unconscious side of our neurotic minds in
Turkey. Can you imagine, this tiny group has been a constant item on
the agenda of the National Security Council (MGK), which is dominated
by soldiers who rule one of the biggest and strongest armies of the
world? An elephant in fear of an ant is a depressive, deeply neurotic
elephant, is it not?
If you really want to understand Turkey, look at the situation of
Protestants in Turkey. Recently, I realized that their situation also
presents a golden opportunity to have a look at the outside world's
prejudices against Turkey.
On April 18, 2007, three Protestant missionaries were killed in
Malatya, in eastern Turkey. This was not an ordinary murder. It was
a horrific, barbaric, heinous crime. The victims were killed . As
you can imagine, the incident attracted serious attention in both
the national and international media. As the lawyer of the victims'
families, I became the contact person for all media interviews. Right
from the beginning, I realized that the persons interviewing me wanted
to hear a certain story confirming some well-known patterns. Were
the murderers fundamentalist Muslims? Did they do this for religious
purposes? Did they belong to a Muslim community, and so on. Most of
the reporters did not like what I told them. I tried to explain my
understanding of the murder. The youngsters who committed the crime
and were caught at the crime scene were members of ultra-nationalist
groups and had some connection with some "deep state elements" in
Turkey. My comments were disappointing for some reporters. They wanted
to tell the world that Muslims were slaughtering Christians in Turkey.
Actually, this was exactly what the deep state elements who
masterminded this slaughter wanted to tell the world. They
wanted to convince the world that as soon as a "pro-Islamic"
government came to power in Turkey, "Muslim fundamentalists"
started to kill Christians. Before the Protestants, Hrant Dink, an
Armenian-Turkish journalist, and a Catholic priest, Father Andrea
Santoro, were also killed by exactly the same type of murderer: young
ultra-nationalists. When we argue this, some people claim that if it
was the "deep state" behind these murders against Christians, then
there must have been more murders. Actually, in my opinion this was
the original plan of the deep state gang Ergenekon. After the Malatya
massacre, the police prevented four other similar attempts against
Protestant missionaries in different cities across Turkey. During
the Ergenekon investigation, murder plots targeting Armenians and
Alevis were also revealed. If the Ergenekon investigation goes
deep enough, the gang's connection with these murders could be
established. This is something I have been trying to explain from the
very beginning. Ergenekon is modern Turkey's Committee of Union and
Progress, which in the past committed atrocities against Christians
in Turkey. Same mentality, same structure.
I wrote all this because, here in New York, while I was trying to
find out how the American media covered the Malatya massacre, I
felt really angry. Some correspondents, including some of those who
interviewed with me, had reported the incident as a textbook example
of terrible prejudice. "Young Muslims killed Christians in Turkey." I
watched some videos on the Internet; their interviews with me have
been taken out completely.
If Slobodan Milosevic massacred Bosnian Muslims for Christianity,
yes than these ultra-nationalist youngsters killed Christians for
Islam. Milosevic was an ultra-nationalist butcher exactly like the
murderers of the Protestants in Malatya. By distorting these kinds of
facts, believe me, you do not do anyone anywhere any good. You do not
understand Turkey, you do not help Christians in Turkey and you are
just sowing the seeds of discord between cultures and religions. You
are just a prisoner of your own prejudices and trying to lock up
everyone else there. Please do not do that!