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What Sort Of Turkey Would It Be? - Orhan Kemal Cengiz

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  • What Sort Of Turkey Would It Be? - Orhan Kemal Cengiz

    WHAT SORT OF TURKEY WOULD IT BE? - ORHAN KEMAL CENGIZ

    http://www.tert.am/en/news/2012/11/16/stambul-kostandnupolis/
    16.11.12

    In an article posted on Today's Zaman website, the well-known Turkish
    journalist Orhan Kemal Cengiz, draws a comparison between Istanbul
    and Constantinople and asks the following question: what would be
    now but for the 1915 events?

    The article reads:

    "When I was young, we lived in a 'Greek house.' With its iron shutters,
    iron gate and high-rise ceiling, our house was different from those
    in its vicinity.

    "I also remember seeing some female Greek tourists clinging to
    the walls of some houses in CeÅ~_me, where we would go in the
    summer. Seeing those Greek women crying, my mother would also burst
    into cries. For many years, I have been unable to give any meaning
    to those tears. Our non-Muslims had melted into thin air, leaving
    behind their houses, streets, churches, fountains and other "remnants,"
    they have always continued to be part of our lives like some sinister
    ghost that we cannot ward off. Despite our history textbooks that
    carefully avoid any mention of them and despite their names erased
    meticulously from every place, it seemed, they have left some sort
    of tiny "reminders" across the country.

    "After many years, I started to ponder the country's matters
    and issues, and I came to realize that the problem was a "social
    earthquake" that was far bigger than I as a kid could perceive. If
    the pre-1915 demographic percentages still applied to today's Turkey,
    there would be 18 million non-Muslims living in the country. Just
    try to visualize 18 million non-Muslims, consisting mainly of Greeks,
    Armenians and Jews, living in Turkey. What sort of Turkey would it be?

    "We would presumably be more self-confident. We would have non-Muslim
    deputies in Parliament, just as was the case with the Ottoman Assembly
    of Deputies (Meclis-i Mebusan). And we would not have the Kurdish
    issue whatsoever. We wouldn't be a society that has lost its memory.

    "For instance, we would not hang a placard reading "Ä°stanbul since
    1453" during a soccer match between Turkish and Greek national teams.

    My friend, Bekir Berat Ozipek, who related this incident to me, said:
    "In essence, this placard gives the following message to Greek fans:
    'We don't feel like we belong to this city. This city is yours,
    but we have just captured it'." I don't think there will be a better
    sentence that can explain gracefully the "mood" for carefully hiding
    Byzantine remnants and refraining from exhibiting them on the streets.

    "If we had not banished non-Muslims and if we had had the courage and
    honesty to face the misty passages of our history, we would surely
    not have taken offense from writing "Constantinople" beneath the
    signboard for "Ä°stanbul." We would have found the creative courage
    to re-open the Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) as a church/mosque where
    Christians and Muslims can worship together and in peace. We would
    commemorate Ä°stanbul's Armenian architects with gratitude. We would
    refer to Sinan the architect, who gave so many magnificent works to the
    Ottoman Empire, with his original name that proves his Armenian roots,
    namely Armen Sinanyan. And we would bow in front of this great master
    respecting his real identity, and we would contemplate with ecstasy
    under this dome of nations where a myriad of races and religions
    have intermingled.

    "If we did not have such complexes, we would not have discussed whether
    the current successor of the Greek patriarch, whose autonomy Sultan
    Mehmed the Conqueror revived, is ecumenical or not, and we would be
    boasting with the fact that our country is hosting the leader and
    institution of the second largest sect of Christianity. If we really
    had had self-confidence, we would not have denied anything about our
    past, and we would have taken pride in both the Muslim and Christian
    identities of our country. We would not attempt to love only the
    physical beauty of Ä°stanbul after denying its past. Our love wouldn't
    be like the adoration a crude man feels toward the physical body of
    a woman.

    "If we had been honest, we would have more authentic knowledge about
    ourselves and our past, and our intelligence sharpened with honesty
    and self-awareness would make us give everyone their due place. We
    would not see murderers as heroes and true heroes as traitors.

    "If all this had happened, the heterogeneous texture coming from a
    diversity of religions, languages and races would be a great asset
    for us. Turkey would become an island of peace in its region. Do you
    think we can do it from now on?

    "Can we overcome the pestilence of nationalism that haunted us coming
    from the Balkans? Can we feel in our hearts the sorrows the Muslims of
    the Balkans and the Christians of Turkey suffer from this pathological
    nationalism? Can we get over the damage done to us by pathological
    nationalism and love Ä°stanbul as Constantinople?

    "If the pre-1915 demographic percentages still applied to today's
    Turkey, there would be 18 million non-Muslims living in the country.

    Just try to visualize 18 million non-Muslims, consisting mainly of
    Greeks, Armenians and Jews, living in Turkey. What sort of Turkey
    would it be? What do you think?"

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