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ONE BASKETBALL FOR ALL NON-MUSLIMS
Today's Zaman
July 18 2012
Turkey
It is an interesting coincidence. I had just watched an old film and
read news coverage shortly thereafter. A scene from this film was
almost identical to the event in the news.
The film I am speaking of is "The Last Castle" by Rod Lurie. It is
about a power struggle taking place in a military prison. This prison
has a warden (James Gandolfini) whose only concern is to preserve
and maintain his power. One day, a quite charismatic prisoner,
a lieutenant general (Robert Redford), begins to serve a 10-year
sentence and after a short while quite an intense power struggle
develops between the warden and this new inmate.
There is one particular scene in the film that struck me. After Robert
Redford arrived at the prison, the warden ordered his subordinates to
give only one basketball to all the prisoners in the yard. Then they
started to watch to see what would unfold. In just a matter of a few
minutes a fight broke out amongst the prisoners about who would play
with this one basketball they had been given.
Observing the scene, the warden is proud of himself and turns to his
assistant and says, "You see how easy it is to manipulate man."
I watched the film at night and read news coverage about the İstanbul
Municipality's offer to the Aramean community. They demanded a plot
on which to erect their first church in İstanbul. The municipality
offered them two alternative spaces, and later on it came out that
one of this plots belongs to an Armenian foundation, and the other
one belongs to a Greek foundation.
Somewhere in the film, the warden explains how he sees the inmates. He
describes the situation as a "war," and in this war all inmates are
"enemies." When we heard these mottos reflecting his "philosophy," we
understand where his cruelty comes from. Not only does he wish to have
control over inmates but also wants to destroy them from within. He
gave only one basketball to stir conflict, to create an inner war.
Well, the municipality follows the same line of strategy. They offer
minorities some land that already belongs to other minority groups. In
the vast territory of İstanbul, which is bigger and wider than many
European countries, the municipality could only afford to offer land
to the Arameans from the land of Armenians and Greeks?
This passive aggressive attack is only a new stage in the denial
of the legal and physical existence of non-Muslims in Turkey. In
2003 the Land Planning Law (İmar Kanunu) was changed, and the term
"mosque" was replaced with "the place of worship" to allegedly allow
non-Muslims to set up their own sanctuaries. However, immediately
after this law passed, restrictive regulations followed. In all this
time only a few churches were recognized across the country.
However, this is the first time I have heard of a minority group
being offered land that belongs to yet another minority group. I
hope this insidious action will attract public attention and that
somehow a strong message will be given to "officials" who cooked up
and served this embarrassing policy behind closed doors.
I always come to the same point. When there is no serious, genuine
confrontation with the past, it is not possible to achieve real
change. Once non-Muslims were seen as "enemies" of this country and
as a result, many tragedies occurred in Turkey. Without seeing and
confronting all of the past, we are doomed to repeat past tragedies,
albeit in different forms, like this last passive-aggressive one.
Today's Zaman
July 18 2012
Turkey
It is an interesting coincidence. I had just watched an old film and
read news coverage shortly thereafter. A scene from this film was
almost identical to the event in the news.
The film I am speaking of is "The Last Castle" by Rod Lurie. It is
about a power struggle taking place in a military prison. This prison
has a warden (James Gandolfini) whose only concern is to preserve
and maintain his power. One day, a quite charismatic prisoner,
a lieutenant general (Robert Redford), begins to serve a 10-year
sentence and after a short while quite an intense power struggle
develops between the warden and this new inmate.
There is one particular scene in the film that struck me. After Robert
Redford arrived at the prison, the warden ordered his subordinates to
give only one basketball to all the prisoners in the yard. Then they
started to watch to see what would unfold. In just a matter of a few
minutes a fight broke out amongst the prisoners about who would play
with this one basketball they had been given.
Observing the scene, the warden is proud of himself and turns to his
assistant and says, "You see how easy it is to manipulate man."
I watched the film at night and read news coverage about the İstanbul
Municipality's offer to the Aramean community. They demanded a plot
on which to erect their first church in İstanbul. The municipality
offered them two alternative spaces, and later on it came out that
one of this plots belongs to an Armenian foundation, and the other
one belongs to a Greek foundation.
Somewhere in the film, the warden explains how he sees the inmates. He
describes the situation as a "war," and in this war all inmates are
"enemies." When we heard these mottos reflecting his "philosophy," we
understand where his cruelty comes from. Not only does he wish to have
control over inmates but also wants to destroy them from within. He
gave only one basketball to stir conflict, to create an inner war.
Well, the municipality follows the same line of strategy. They offer
minorities some land that already belongs to other minority groups. In
the vast territory of İstanbul, which is bigger and wider than many
European countries, the municipality could only afford to offer land
to the Arameans from the land of Armenians and Greeks?
This passive aggressive attack is only a new stage in the denial
of the legal and physical existence of non-Muslims in Turkey. In
2003 the Land Planning Law (İmar Kanunu) was changed, and the term
"mosque" was replaced with "the place of worship" to allegedly allow
non-Muslims to set up their own sanctuaries. However, immediately
after this law passed, restrictive regulations followed. In all this
time only a few churches were recognized across the country.
However, this is the first time I have heard of a minority group
being offered land that belongs to yet another minority group. I
hope this insidious action will attract public attention and that
somehow a strong message will be given to "officials" who cooked up
and served this embarrassing policy behind closed doors.
I always come to the same point. When there is no serious, genuine
confrontation with the past, it is not possible to achieve real
change. Once non-Muslims were seen as "enemies" of this country and
as a result, many tragedies occurred in Turkey. Without seeing and
confronting all of the past, we are doomed to repeat past tragedies,
albeit in different forms, like this last passive-aggressive one.