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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
May 12 2012
God forbid: What if it wasn't a slip of the tongue?
ORAL Ã?ALIÅ?LAR
When the prime minister said `one religion,' I thought, `I hope that
was a slip of the tongue.' The fact that a person who represents 50
percent of Turkish society, and a man who is expected to become
president soon utters words that could be interpreted to mean, `From
now on, you will all belong to identities that I have specified,' was
a situation beyond the traditional monism that is incorporated into
the heart of this land.
We're only learning now, by exceeding the boundaries of the official
history, what has happened in the past to those who did not identify
themselves as Muslim and Sunni; in other words, those who did not
belong to the most widespread identity in Turkish society.
We can remind ourselves of happened to the Armenian community in
Malatya, who now number less than 20 people, when they wanted to
repair their old cemetery and build a place for prayer there. Just a
few months ago, teams from Malatya Municipality knocked down the
properly designed building in the Armenian Cemetery overnight. In the
same cemetery also lies Tilman Geske, a man of German origin whose
throat was slit five years ago because he was a Christian.
Alevism is not treated any differently. Alevis from every walk of life
have been stating, from the start of the Alevi initiative, that their
cemevis (Alevi houses of worship) are places of worship just like
mosques, and should be accepted as such. Despite many meetings and
initiatives, the status of cemevis has not yet been clarified. We all
know that both the coup supporters and the religious masses of this
country love to detect dangerous `missionaries.' Christianity and
Judaism are perceived as concepts upon which conspiracy theories can
be built. There are even Alevi-themed conspiracy theories. Diverse
identities are not valued as a source of richness, but are seen as a
source of danger.
One-party dictatorship was also monist
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an is a politician who continues to
criticize the authoritarian nature of the Republic, the one-party
dictatorship. However, if viewed from a different angle, we see that
he has not given up carrying on the `monist' discourse created by the
Republic (which, however, never officially included `one religion'
until today). What's more, from time to time he adopts stances that
emphasize this even more that the Kemalists did. The monism in Turkey
is so deep-rooted, even those who set about aiming to criticize it,
after a while, whether consciously or not, fall under its sphere of
influence.
There was no official discourse of `one religion' in the Republic, but
practices in several fields completely supported a single religion:
The campaign to `nationalize the economy' that started in the 1920s
was in a way an `Islamization of the economy,' because while the
Christians and Jews who were influential economically were citizens of
the Turkish Republic, and were even officially considered Turkish,
they were not Muslims, and that was the real distinguishing feature.
While the economy was being `nationalized' under this program,
paradoxically, pious Muslims were also excluded from the center. It is
would be worthwhile to separately review the discontentment and
pressure they feel. To what extent do this wide majority regard as
genuine the constant highlighting of their identity by the system?
When we look at the bigger picture, it would only be verifying a fact
to add `one religion' to the discourse of `one flag', `one homeland'
and `one nation.' The most clear example of this is that the Law of
Foundations still continues to define the Christian and Jewish
citizens of this country as `foreigners.'
For better or worse, it was good that the prime minister's tongue
slipped. Actually, we can even try to be a little bit optimistic:
Maybe the bureaucrats and the administrators of this land, who have
been trained under the `monist' educational system, will begin to
doubt and think, `Has there been a change in the state's monist
philosophy?'
The minorities living in this country know that the dominant stance in
this country, despite its secularism and orientation toward the West,
is still shaped around `one religion' and `one sect.' The world also
knows. We are only fooling ourselves. The issue drags on.
[email protected]
Oral Ã?alıÅ?lar is a columnist for daily Radikal, in which this piece
was published on May 11. It was translated into English by the Daily
News staff.
May/12/2012
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/god-forbid-what-if-it-wasnt-a-slip-of-the-tongue--.aspx?pageID=238&nID547&NewsCatID=396
May 12 2012
God forbid: What if it wasn't a slip of the tongue?
ORAL Ã?ALIÅ?LAR
When the prime minister said `one religion,' I thought, `I hope that
was a slip of the tongue.' The fact that a person who represents 50
percent of Turkish society, and a man who is expected to become
president soon utters words that could be interpreted to mean, `From
now on, you will all belong to identities that I have specified,' was
a situation beyond the traditional monism that is incorporated into
the heart of this land.
We're only learning now, by exceeding the boundaries of the official
history, what has happened in the past to those who did not identify
themselves as Muslim and Sunni; in other words, those who did not
belong to the most widespread identity in Turkish society.
We can remind ourselves of happened to the Armenian community in
Malatya, who now number less than 20 people, when they wanted to
repair their old cemetery and build a place for prayer there. Just a
few months ago, teams from Malatya Municipality knocked down the
properly designed building in the Armenian Cemetery overnight. In the
same cemetery also lies Tilman Geske, a man of German origin whose
throat was slit five years ago because he was a Christian.
Alevism is not treated any differently. Alevis from every walk of life
have been stating, from the start of the Alevi initiative, that their
cemevis (Alevi houses of worship) are places of worship just like
mosques, and should be accepted as such. Despite many meetings and
initiatives, the status of cemevis has not yet been clarified. We all
know that both the coup supporters and the religious masses of this
country love to detect dangerous `missionaries.' Christianity and
Judaism are perceived as concepts upon which conspiracy theories can
be built. There are even Alevi-themed conspiracy theories. Diverse
identities are not valued as a source of richness, but are seen as a
source of danger.
One-party dictatorship was also monist
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an is a politician who continues to
criticize the authoritarian nature of the Republic, the one-party
dictatorship. However, if viewed from a different angle, we see that
he has not given up carrying on the `monist' discourse created by the
Republic (which, however, never officially included `one religion'
until today). What's more, from time to time he adopts stances that
emphasize this even more that the Kemalists did. The monism in Turkey
is so deep-rooted, even those who set about aiming to criticize it,
after a while, whether consciously or not, fall under its sphere of
influence.
There was no official discourse of `one religion' in the Republic, but
practices in several fields completely supported a single religion:
The campaign to `nationalize the economy' that started in the 1920s
was in a way an `Islamization of the economy,' because while the
Christians and Jews who were influential economically were citizens of
the Turkish Republic, and were even officially considered Turkish,
they were not Muslims, and that was the real distinguishing feature.
While the economy was being `nationalized' under this program,
paradoxically, pious Muslims were also excluded from the center. It is
would be worthwhile to separately review the discontentment and
pressure they feel. To what extent do this wide majority regard as
genuine the constant highlighting of their identity by the system?
When we look at the bigger picture, it would only be verifying a fact
to add `one religion' to the discourse of `one flag', `one homeland'
and `one nation.' The most clear example of this is that the Law of
Foundations still continues to define the Christian and Jewish
citizens of this country as `foreigners.'
For better or worse, it was good that the prime minister's tongue
slipped. Actually, we can even try to be a little bit optimistic:
Maybe the bureaucrats and the administrators of this land, who have
been trained under the `monist' educational system, will begin to
doubt and think, `Has there been a change in the state's monist
philosophy?'
The minorities living in this country know that the dominant stance in
this country, despite its secularism and orientation toward the West,
is still shaped around `one religion' and `one sect.' The world also
knows. We are only fooling ourselves. The issue drags on.
[email protected]
Oral Ã?alıÅ?lar is a columnist for daily Radikal, in which this piece
was published on May 11. It was translated into English by the Daily
News staff.
May/12/2012
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/god-forbid-what-if-it-wasnt-a-slip-of-the-tongue--.aspx?pageID=238&nID547&NewsCatID=396