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DUTCH STILL PERCEIVE TURKEY AS COUNTRY OF 'GUEST WORKERS'
Today's Zaman, Turkey
April 9, 2013 Tuesday 11:46 AM EST
The former chairman of the European Parliament delegation to the
EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, Joost Lagendijk, says most
of the Dutch perceive Turks as 'gastarbeiter' (guest workers).
Lagendijk, who is also a Today's Zaman columnist, wrote a book in
Dutch titled 'The Turks Are Coming!' with his Turkish wife, Nevin
Sungur, in an effort to explain today's Turkey to the Dutch audience.
Sunday's Zaman talked to Lagendijk, whose book was published in
late March.
Lagendijk says the lack of books in the Netherlands discussing modern
Turkey, aside from Erik-Jan Zurcher's, led him to write 'The Turks
Are Coming!' after living in Turkey for four years. 'There are many
groups who want to know Turkey better, and I always get the same
questions about the Ottomans, Islam, [the] AK Party [Justice and
Development Party], military coups and Kurds,' the former Dutch Green
politician said.
The chapters in the book cover almost all the contentious issues of
Turkey: the Ottoman Empire; Ataturk, father of all Turks; the power
of the generals; Islam; Turkey and the EU; secularism and the AK
Party the Kurdish issue; and the Armenian issue.
'My wife and I tried to explain to people interested in Turkey who
do not know much why the experience of Sèvres is important,' said
Lagendijk, referring to the Treaty of Sèvres at the end of World War
I, which stipulated the partition of Anatolia and which never went
into effect. 'I came to the conclusion that it still has an impact on
almost everyone. When it comes to the EU, for example, it still plays
a role in the collective memory of the Turks,' Lagendijk argued. He
further stated that due to fear in the Turkish mind that the Europeans
want to divide Turkey, 'when things do not go well with the EU, the
nationalists deliberately manipulate the old syndrome.' According
to Lagendijk, such fears are 'easily manipulated.' However, he also
points out that the Turks have a history in the collective memory of
the Dutch dating back to Ottoman efforts to 'conquer Europe.'
When asked about the perception of Turkey in today's Netherlands,
Lagendijk says that 'the Dutch wonder why there are statues of Ataturk
everywhere.' As a result, he and his wife tried to assess Ataturk's
importance in the book. Lagendijk claims that 'Kemalism has become
an obstacle in front of further democracy in Turkey, but Turks won't
easily say goodbye to it.'
Adding that the book analyzes the 'huge impact of military coups on
Turkey,' Lagendijk stated that the Feb. 28, 1997 coup is not well
known in the Netherlands. According to him, the Feb. 28 process
'is very important in understanding the AK Party' since it led to
the birth of a reformist party from among the Islamists of Turkey.
In the book the longest chapter is allocated to Islam because, as
Lagendijk says, 'it is a huge source of misunderstanding.' Emphasizing
the existence of a 'Turkish Islam,' Lagendijk said they explained the
'tarikats' (sects) and the Gulen movement in the book since there
are misperceptions there.
Speaking of the Kurdish and Armenians issues, there is a similar
lack of information in the Netherlands, Lagendijk said. However,
for him , 'Many Turks simply do not know about the Armenian issue,'
which dismisses the Dutch idea that there is a 'big conspiracy of
silence' on this issue. 'My Turkish wife did not know anything about
the Armenian issue until she was 30,' Lagendijk said in support of
his point. Lagendijk noted that he supports neither the Armenian nor
Turkish views on the issue completely.
As far as the perception of Turks in the Netherlands is concerned,
Lagendijk is clear: 'I am deeply convinced that the Dutch have the
perception of the 'gastarbeiter' in their mind about Turks.' The Dutch
'know Turkey from the grocery store at the corner, not from what is
happening in Turkey,' he says, adding that one of his goals with the
book is to 'correct such a perception.'
Lagendijk said that the provocative title of the book 'The Turks Are
Coming!' refers to old fears in Europe. He believes that 25 percent
of the Dutch who oppose Turkey's membership in the EU are the ones
who have similar fears. In other words, they are afraid of Islam as
well as an influx of migrants.
When it comes to Turkey's problems, Lagendijk said that 'the problem
in Turkey is not Islam, but deeply rooted Turkish nationalism,
authoritarianism [and] a lack of experience to compromise.'
In response to assumptions in Europe that the admission of Turkey
into the EU would lead to migration from the former to the latter,
Lagendijk said that in a growing economy with less of a gap with the
EU, 'most Turks will be happy to stay in Turkey than be discriminated
[against] in Germany or Holland.' However, he has 'given up' on the
25 percent of Europeans - some of who are racists, according to him -
who will be against Turkey no matter what.
Although Lagendijk does not believe in a monolithic view on Turkey
in Europe, in the Netherlands he believes that aside from the second
25 percent of Dutch people who are in favor of Turkey becoming an
EU member, the majority is open to change and could be convinced to
approve Turkey's membership to the EU.
'Yunus case' serves as example of mutual lack of understanding
Having known both the Turks and the Dutch, former Dutch member of
the European Parliament and Today's Zaman columnist Joost Lagendijk
believes that the 'Yunus case' is a perfect example of the lack of
information and understanding between both sides.
A 9-year-old boy named Yunus was taken away from his Turkish parents
when he was 4 months old because of abuse, and he was given to a
lesbian Dutch couple - leading to a crisis between the two countries
at the prime ministerial level.
'Turks as well as people of some Eastern European countries are
not used to a system where the state has the power, and even the
obligation, to take a child away from parents if there are signs of
repetitive bruises or mistreatment,' Lagendijk said, adding that such
an act of removing a child from his family is 'unimaginable' in Turkey.
According to Lagendijk, the Dutch believe the 'Turks don't understand
their system,' but fail to understand that people in other parts of
Europe might have a different system. 'A Romanian journalist told me
that they would have the same reaction [as the Turks],' says Lagendijk.
However, he believes that there is hypocrisy on the Dutch side as far
as the gay foster family is concerned. 'The majority of Dutch would
not approve of a gay couple, either,' said Lagendijk. However, they
became defensive when Turks reacted to a gay foster family, he added.
While denouncing 'the conspiracy theory on the Turkish side that [the
Yunus case] is a sign of the effort to assimilate Turks,' Lagendijk
admitted to the existence of some politicians in the Netherlands and
Europe who defend assimilation.
Lagendijk believes that 'it would have been better to give Yunus to
a straight couple,' given the Turkish concerns. However, for him,
the Yunus case served as a pretext for 'opponents [of Turkey] to
argue that European and Turkish values are not compatible.'
Today's Zaman, Turkey
April 9, 2013 Tuesday 11:46 AM EST
The former chairman of the European Parliament delegation to the
EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, Joost Lagendijk, says most
of the Dutch perceive Turks as 'gastarbeiter' (guest workers).
Lagendijk, who is also a Today's Zaman columnist, wrote a book in
Dutch titled 'The Turks Are Coming!' with his Turkish wife, Nevin
Sungur, in an effort to explain today's Turkey to the Dutch audience.
Sunday's Zaman talked to Lagendijk, whose book was published in
late March.
Lagendijk says the lack of books in the Netherlands discussing modern
Turkey, aside from Erik-Jan Zurcher's, led him to write 'The Turks
Are Coming!' after living in Turkey for four years. 'There are many
groups who want to know Turkey better, and I always get the same
questions about the Ottomans, Islam, [the] AK Party [Justice and
Development Party], military coups and Kurds,' the former Dutch Green
politician said.
The chapters in the book cover almost all the contentious issues of
Turkey: the Ottoman Empire; Ataturk, father of all Turks; the power
of the generals; Islam; Turkey and the EU; secularism and the AK
Party the Kurdish issue; and the Armenian issue.
'My wife and I tried to explain to people interested in Turkey who
do not know much why the experience of Sèvres is important,' said
Lagendijk, referring to the Treaty of Sèvres at the end of World War
I, which stipulated the partition of Anatolia and which never went
into effect. 'I came to the conclusion that it still has an impact on
almost everyone. When it comes to the EU, for example, it still plays
a role in the collective memory of the Turks,' Lagendijk argued. He
further stated that due to fear in the Turkish mind that the Europeans
want to divide Turkey, 'when things do not go well with the EU, the
nationalists deliberately manipulate the old syndrome.' According
to Lagendijk, such fears are 'easily manipulated.' However, he also
points out that the Turks have a history in the collective memory of
the Dutch dating back to Ottoman efforts to 'conquer Europe.'
When asked about the perception of Turkey in today's Netherlands,
Lagendijk says that 'the Dutch wonder why there are statues of Ataturk
everywhere.' As a result, he and his wife tried to assess Ataturk's
importance in the book. Lagendijk claims that 'Kemalism has become
an obstacle in front of further democracy in Turkey, but Turks won't
easily say goodbye to it.'
Adding that the book analyzes the 'huge impact of military coups on
Turkey,' Lagendijk stated that the Feb. 28, 1997 coup is not well
known in the Netherlands. According to him, the Feb. 28 process
'is very important in understanding the AK Party' since it led to
the birth of a reformist party from among the Islamists of Turkey.
In the book the longest chapter is allocated to Islam because, as
Lagendijk says, 'it is a huge source of misunderstanding.' Emphasizing
the existence of a 'Turkish Islam,' Lagendijk said they explained the
'tarikats' (sects) and the Gulen movement in the book since there
are misperceptions there.
Speaking of the Kurdish and Armenians issues, there is a similar
lack of information in the Netherlands, Lagendijk said. However,
for him , 'Many Turks simply do not know about the Armenian issue,'
which dismisses the Dutch idea that there is a 'big conspiracy of
silence' on this issue. 'My Turkish wife did not know anything about
the Armenian issue until she was 30,' Lagendijk said in support of
his point. Lagendijk noted that he supports neither the Armenian nor
Turkish views on the issue completely.
As far as the perception of Turks in the Netherlands is concerned,
Lagendijk is clear: 'I am deeply convinced that the Dutch have the
perception of the 'gastarbeiter' in their mind about Turks.' The Dutch
'know Turkey from the grocery store at the corner, not from what is
happening in Turkey,' he says, adding that one of his goals with the
book is to 'correct such a perception.'
Lagendijk said that the provocative title of the book 'The Turks Are
Coming!' refers to old fears in Europe. He believes that 25 percent
of the Dutch who oppose Turkey's membership in the EU are the ones
who have similar fears. In other words, they are afraid of Islam as
well as an influx of migrants.
When it comes to Turkey's problems, Lagendijk said that 'the problem
in Turkey is not Islam, but deeply rooted Turkish nationalism,
authoritarianism [and] a lack of experience to compromise.'
In response to assumptions in Europe that the admission of Turkey
into the EU would lead to migration from the former to the latter,
Lagendijk said that in a growing economy with less of a gap with the
EU, 'most Turks will be happy to stay in Turkey than be discriminated
[against] in Germany or Holland.' However, he has 'given up' on the
25 percent of Europeans - some of who are racists, according to him -
who will be against Turkey no matter what.
Although Lagendijk does not believe in a monolithic view on Turkey
in Europe, in the Netherlands he believes that aside from the second
25 percent of Dutch people who are in favor of Turkey becoming an
EU member, the majority is open to change and could be convinced to
approve Turkey's membership to the EU.
'Yunus case' serves as example of mutual lack of understanding
Having known both the Turks and the Dutch, former Dutch member of
the European Parliament and Today's Zaman columnist Joost Lagendijk
believes that the 'Yunus case' is a perfect example of the lack of
information and understanding between both sides.
A 9-year-old boy named Yunus was taken away from his Turkish parents
when he was 4 months old because of abuse, and he was given to a
lesbian Dutch couple - leading to a crisis between the two countries
at the prime ministerial level.
'Turks as well as people of some Eastern European countries are
not used to a system where the state has the power, and even the
obligation, to take a child away from parents if there are signs of
repetitive bruises or mistreatment,' Lagendijk said, adding that such
an act of removing a child from his family is 'unimaginable' in Turkey.
According to Lagendijk, the Dutch believe the 'Turks don't understand
their system,' but fail to understand that people in other parts of
Europe might have a different system. 'A Romanian journalist told me
that they would have the same reaction [as the Turks],' says Lagendijk.
However, he believes that there is hypocrisy on the Dutch side as far
as the gay foster family is concerned. 'The majority of Dutch would
not approve of a gay couple, either,' said Lagendijk. However, they
became defensive when Turks reacted to a gay foster family, he added.
While denouncing 'the conspiracy theory on the Turkish side that [the
Yunus case] is a sign of the effort to assimilate Turks,' Lagendijk
admitted to the existence of some politicians in the Netherlands and
Europe who defend assimilation.
Lagendijk believes that 'it would have been better to give Yunus to
a straight couple,' given the Turkish concerns. However, for him,
the Yunus case served as a pretext for 'opponents [of Turkey] to
argue that European and Turkish values are not compatible.'