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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
March 28 2015
When `neo-Ottomanism' helps
MUSTAFA AKYOL
Saturday,March 28 2015
Last Thursday, the northwestern Turkish city of Edirne, just miles
from the Greek and Bulgarian borders, was the stage for a historic
event: The reopening ceremony of the newly renovated Great Synagogue,
which had been dormant and rusting for almost half a century. Some 250
Jews, mostly from Istanbul, attended the morning service conducted by
Davud Azuz, who had also led the last service at the synagogue in
1969. Mr. Azuz, one of few remaining members of the Edirne-based
Jewish community, thanked the Turkish government for restoring the
Jewish temple.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, who was at the event,
praised the Jews' loyalty to the Ottoman State during the latter's
toughest times. `I remember the Jewish citizens who died defending
their city for their Muslim Turkish neighbors,' he said, `with the
same gratitude as our martyrs.'
Now, this is an example of the `Ottomanism' of the Justice and
Development Party (AKP) government that people like me have supported
and promoted over the past 13 years. The idea is that, unlike
Republican Turkey, which is exclusively Turkish, the Ottoman Empire
was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious mosaic. Thus it embraced
non-Turkish groups, such as Kurds, Armenians or Jews, before the
advent of the nationalism that would mark the Republican era. Thus, a
post-nationalist Turkey would be somewhat `neo-Ottoman,' rediscovering
the diversity that it tried to erase for almost a century.
The Great Synagogue of Edirne is a perfect symbol of this vision. It
was built in 1905 by the order of none other than Sultan-Caliph
Abdülhamid II to replace 13 separate synagogues destroyed by a fire
that devastated the city. Designed by French architect France Depre,
it was a breathtakingly beautiful building, as it today again is. It
reminds us that the widespread anti-Semitism in the current Muslim
world was simply non-existent in the Ottoman Empire, or the superpower
of Islamdom for some five centuries. In fact, at that time
anti-Semitism was a shame of Christian Europe, whereas Ottoman lands
offered the Jews the safest havens on Earth.
This heritage is what Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç probably
referred to when he said, during the opening the opening ceremony,
`Thank God, there is no anti-Semitism in Turkey.' Yet, with all due
respect to Arınç, I would replace the word `is' in that sentence with
`was.' In other words, there was indeed no anti-Semitism in the
Ottoman Empire. But things began to change in Republican Turkey, as
both Turkish nationalists and Islamists began to import the
anti-Semitic literature from alien sources, such as Europe, Russia and
the Middle East.
Admittedly, this influx of anti-Semitism happened mostly in reaction
to Israel's constant occupation of Palestinian lands and its
subjugation of the Palestinian people. (Despite the common Israeli
propaganda, Israel's own actions often fuel anti-Semitism, rather than
anti-Semitism fuelling reaction to Israel.) Yet still it was wrong,
unacceptable and shameful.
What is most tragic is that the very actor which we put our hopes for
building a truly `neo-Ottoman' (i.e., pluralist) Turkey, the AKP, has
devolved into anti-Semitism in the past few years. AKP propaganda,
carried out by its apparatchiks in the media and social media, has
taken a clearly anti-Semitic tone, with conspiracy theories about
`Zionist spies,' who are none other than President Recep Tayyip
ErdoÄ?an's political opponents. If the AKP wants to go down in history
as a truly `neo-Ottoman' movement, it should backtrack from this
hate-mongering, and stick with the spirit that re-allowed the
restoration of Edirne's Great Synagogue.
March/28/2015
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/when-neo-ottomanism-helps.aspx?PageID=238&NID=80278&NewsCatID=411
March 28 2015
When `neo-Ottomanism' helps
MUSTAFA AKYOL
Saturday,March 28 2015
Last Thursday, the northwestern Turkish city of Edirne, just miles
from the Greek and Bulgarian borders, was the stage for a historic
event: The reopening ceremony of the newly renovated Great Synagogue,
which had been dormant and rusting for almost half a century. Some 250
Jews, mostly from Istanbul, attended the morning service conducted by
Davud Azuz, who had also led the last service at the synagogue in
1969. Mr. Azuz, one of few remaining members of the Edirne-based
Jewish community, thanked the Turkish government for restoring the
Jewish temple.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, who was at the event,
praised the Jews' loyalty to the Ottoman State during the latter's
toughest times. `I remember the Jewish citizens who died defending
their city for their Muslim Turkish neighbors,' he said, `with the
same gratitude as our martyrs.'
Now, this is an example of the `Ottomanism' of the Justice and
Development Party (AKP) government that people like me have supported
and promoted over the past 13 years. The idea is that, unlike
Republican Turkey, which is exclusively Turkish, the Ottoman Empire
was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious mosaic. Thus it embraced
non-Turkish groups, such as Kurds, Armenians or Jews, before the
advent of the nationalism that would mark the Republican era. Thus, a
post-nationalist Turkey would be somewhat `neo-Ottoman,' rediscovering
the diversity that it tried to erase for almost a century.
The Great Synagogue of Edirne is a perfect symbol of this vision. It
was built in 1905 by the order of none other than Sultan-Caliph
Abdülhamid II to replace 13 separate synagogues destroyed by a fire
that devastated the city. Designed by French architect France Depre,
it was a breathtakingly beautiful building, as it today again is. It
reminds us that the widespread anti-Semitism in the current Muslim
world was simply non-existent in the Ottoman Empire, or the superpower
of Islamdom for some five centuries. In fact, at that time
anti-Semitism was a shame of Christian Europe, whereas Ottoman lands
offered the Jews the safest havens on Earth.
This heritage is what Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç probably
referred to when he said, during the opening the opening ceremony,
`Thank God, there is no anti-Semitism in Turkey.' Yet, with all due
respect to Arınç, I would replace the word `is' in that sentence with
`was.' In other words, there was indeed no anti-Semitism in the
Ottoman Empire. But things began to change in Republican Turkey, as
both Turkish nationalists and Islamists began to import the
anti-Semitic literature from alien sources, such as Europe, Russia and
the Middle East.
Admittedly, this influx of anti-Semitism happened mostly in reaction
to Israel's constant occupation of Palestinian lands and its
subjugation of the Palestinian people. (Despite the common Israeli
propaganda, Israel's own actions often fuel anti-Semitism, rather than
anti-Semitism fuelling reaction to Israel.) Yet still it was wrong,
unacceptable and shameful.
What is most tragic is that the very actor which we put our hopes for
building a truly `neo-Ottoman' (i.e., pluralist) Turkey, the AKP, has
devolved into anti-Semitism in the past few years. AKP propaganda,
carried out by its apparatchiks in the media and social media, has
taken a clearly anti-Semitic tone, with conspiracy theories about
`Zionist spies,' who are none other than President Recep Tayyip
ErdoÄ?an's political opponents. If the AKP wants to go down in history
as a truly `neo-Ottoman' movement, it should backtrack from this
hate-mongering, and stick with the spirit that re-allowed the
restoration of Edirne's Great Synagogue.
March/28/2015
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/when-neo-ottomanism-helps.aspx?PageID=238&NID=80278&NewsCatID=411