THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA

An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 52, March 22, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
Home Page   Main Menu   Recent Articles   Site Map   Website Index   Issues & Controversies
  Cyberland University   Political Science, Philosophy, & History: Lectures   U.S. Constitution
  American Constitutional Law   American Constitutional System   American Political System
  Conservatism, Liberalism, & Radicalism   How America Goes to War
  World War IV: Islamist Terror War Against the U.S.A. & the West

TURKEY IN BOOKS:  REVIEW ESSAY
By Fikret Erkut Emcioglu

KEMALISM:  SECULARISM & NATIONALISM AS THE FOUNDING PRINCIPLES OF MODERN TURKEY -- THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN HARDLINE KEMALISTS & GROUPS RESISTING SECULARISM & NATIONALISM -- LIBERALS, SOCIALISTS, COMMUNISTS, & ISLAMISTS CHALLENGE STRICT ADHERENCE TO SECULARISM & NATIONALISM AS BEDROCK PRINCIPLES OF THE TURKISH REPUBLIC -- THE GROWING INROADS OF POLITICAL ISLAM -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE ARMENIAN HERITAGE WITHIN TURKEY -- CONTINUING MANIFESTATIONS OF TURKISH NATIONALISM -- TURKEY & EUROPE --THE SEARCH FOR A COMMON DENOMINATOR THAT CAN UNITE TURKISH SOCIETY
FULL STORY:   Since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded modern Turkey in 1923, the Turkish Republic has clung to secularism and nationalism as bedrock principles. After the introduction of the multiparty democratic system in 1946, the struggle between hard-line Kemalists and others — liberals [constitutionalists], Socialists, Communists, and Islamists — has dominated Turkish political history. The November, 2002, victory of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP), an Islamist party with anti-Kemalist roots, is just the latest manifestation of this struggle.
SECULARISTS & ISLAMISTS
    Snow (Kar). By Orhan Pamuk. Istanbul: İletişim Publishing House, 2002. 429 pp. 21,50 YTL.

This constant political clash creates a fertile ground for journalists and novelists. Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for literature, explores the fault lines of Turkish society in Snow. While non-Turks may simply enjoy the story, Pamuk's treatment obliges Turks to consider divisive societal issues. He forces those living the debate between secularists and Islamists to challenge their notions and reexamine their positions. A secularist would be unhappy with the cynical tone in the statement, "[T]he increase in the number of women with headscarves in the streets is an easy tool for secularist intellectuals to illustrate the dangerous rise of political Islam"; a more religious Turk would react negatively to the description of an old Islamist as a "molester." Nationalists would dislike the description of houses in Kars as Armenian-style, while some Kurds might prefer to be called "patriots" or "freedom fighters." The neutral term "Kurdish nationalists" does not have a positive connotation for them.

Pamuk's book was most controversial in Turkey for its treatment of the headscarf, the symbolic battlefield in Turkey's fight against political Islam. The issue is especially sensitive now as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers a run for the Turkish Presidency. Should he win, then the first lady would, for the first time, wear a scarf. The author consciously positions himself on the anti-Kemalist side, depicting a clash in which Turkish authorities are ashamed of having a religious population that, Pamuk suggests, is incapable of mobilizing against the secular state.

CHALLENGING THE ARMENIAN TABOO
    My Grandmother (Anneannem). By Fethiye Çetin. Istanbul: Metis Publishing House, 2004. 120 pp. 6,50 YTL.

While Snow may touch nerves on the secularism debate, Pamuk and other authors have also begun to challenge the Turkish perception of its past. Cultural elites are leading a silent revolution regarding how Turkey treats the Armenian question. First, they have begun to acknowledge Armenian heritage within Turkey. In December, 2004, Prime Minister Erdogan himself inaugurated Istanbul's Armenian Museum. In January, 2005, the Karsi Sanat Gallery in Pera exhibited 750 old postcards to show ordinary Turkish citizens the importance of the Armenian presence in late Ottoman times. These were later published together in a book, My Dear Brother (Sevgili Kardesim). [1]

Perhaps encouraged by such events, other books and newspapers have begun to tackle the taboo issue of what happened to the Armenian community during World War I. Since 1915, the question of whether Armenian deaths during World War I constitute genocide, or were merely the tragic corollary of a war that affected so many peoples, has been a sensitive topic. Whereas, in the past, the Turkish judiciary might punish authors under Section 301 of the Turkish penal code, which criminalizes insults to the nation and state institutions, it is increasingly difficult for the state to win such convictions. In 2005, the Union of Lawyers (Hukukçular Birligi), a nationalist lawyers' association, sued Pamuk under Section 301, after he told the Swiss-German Das Magazin that "a million Armenians had been killed in Turkey" [2] but, on January 24, 2006, the Criminal Court of First Instance closed the case. The same lawyers sued Elif Safak, another novelist, for her bestselling novel, The Bastard of Istanbul (Baba ve Piç), [3] in which an Armenian character accuses "Turkish butchers" of massacring Christian Armenians in 1915.

Because of the Armenian question's sensitivity, many public figures had refrained from taking a position on it. Especially after the French National Assembly voted to recognize the Armenian genocide and the French government's subsequent decision to assign blame to Turkey, [4] some intellectuals, including Pamuk, however, have found courage to state what they believe to be true. While these intellectuals may latch onto the politics of the issue, for others in Turkey, it is closer to home.

For decades, Turks of Armenian descent who converted to Islam to escape World War I-era massacres, tried to hide their origin. Now, some are taking advantage of the increasing openness in Turkish society to explore their roots. Among the first to come forward was Fethiye Çetin, an Istanbul lawyer. Her 2004 book, My Grandmother, tells the story of her grandmother, who was born in an Armenian village in the Elazig province of eastern Turkey. Çetin's novel is based on the old woman's recollections of her life, including the events of 1915, the transfer of population from her village, and her own adoption by a Muslim family and subsequent conversion. The book sold more than 12,000 copies and is now in its seventh printing.

Çetin's background is shared by hundreds, if not thousands. After publishing My Grandmother, others began to reveal that they, too, were partly Armenian. As Turks embrace a fuller version of their history, the modern generation understands that Armenians need not be enemies. In order to look at the past with courage, the nationalist stranglehold over history must be broken. Only this way can the country's painful and troubled past be brought to light without fear of losing face or one's honor.

NATIONALISM EXPLORED & EXPOSED
    Those Crazy Turks (Su Çilgin Türkler). By Turgut Özakman. Ankara: Bilgi Publishing House, 2005. 748 pp. 22 YTL.

    Metal Storm 1 and 2 (Metal Firtina 1 ve 2). By Burak Turna and Orkun Uçar. Istanbul: Timas Publishing House, 2004 and 2005. 304 pp. 8 YTL.

Even as cultural elites, Islamists, and liberals challenge Turkish nationalism, nationalist themes retain resonance. By depicting Turks as heroes in his novel Those Crazy Turks, scriptwriter Turgut Özakman appeals to Turks who feel humiliated by the West. Such a story has particular significance in Turkey at a time when many Turks feel bullied by Europeans as Turkey seeks European Union accession. Many Turks believe Ankara has made too many concessions to Brussels and that European intervention is diluting past Turkish glories.

This is apparent in the public acclaim for Those Crazy Turks, which describes the last three battles of the Turkish liberation war (1921–1922). Özakman plays to nationalist sentiments as he enunciates the Turks' glorious past. He portrays a humiliated nation that reacts against occupation and fights for its liberation. Such nationalism, though, may not always help Turkey as it tries to consolidate its relationship with the Western world.

Although Turkey's liberation is more than eight decades past, the embrace of Those Crazy Turks demonstrates that Turks still feel they need to restore national pride. Since March, 2005, more than 622,000 copies have been sold, a number made all the more significant by the lack of a culture of reading in Turkey. Such appeals to nationalism, be it in Özakman's novel or in the discourse of politicians and columnists, reflects a lack of self-confidence that still afflicts Turkey.

Nowhere has this negative side of Turkish nationalism been more manifest than in the 2004 bestseller Metal Storm. Authors Burak Turna, a former Turkish defense correspondent, and science-fiction enthusiast Orkun Uçar outline a plot in which the Turkish government, standing firm to Turkish principles, defies the U.S. White House. A U.S.-Turkish war erupts, beginning in northern Iraq in 2007, and spreads throughout the world. It reaches its peak point with the simultaneous bombings of Istanbul and Ankara, followed by the invasion of eastern Turkey by U.S. troops, and ends with the detonation of a nuclear bomb in Washington, D.C.

Their thriller, and its sequel Metal Storm 2, in which Turkey achieves a victory over Europe, achieved popularity not only among the general Turkish population, but also among Cabinet members, Foreign Ministry officials, and the Turkish officer corps. So what explains the book's success? While the authors say their work is meant to warn of what might happen should either Washington or Ankara abandon the U.S.-Turkish alliance, they do not hesitate to pander to base nationalism. They also tap into rising anti-Americanism, a trend noted by think-tank studies and press accounts.

Anti-Americanism in Turkey is rooted more in politics and disputes over the Iraq war than in a cultural clash. Turna and Uçar played on Turkish sensitivity — rooted in its liberation struggle over European partition plans and invasions — against any change in neighborhood geography. Bush administration rhetoric about a new Middle East and senior U.S. officials' public embrace of Iraqi Kurdish leaders touched raw nerves. If the authors wished to expose the roots of anti-Americanism, however, they do not fully explain the cause. While Iraq is certainly the flash point and, more specifically, the July 4, 2003, incident in which U.S. troops detained and hooded Turkish special forces, it is unclear whether the AKP is sincere in seeking to maintain strong relations with Washington in particular and the West in general. Turks need to have a more honest discourse regarding their strategic partnership with the United States. If they do, and with the irritant of Iraq overcome in time, books like Metal Storm may not again reach the bestsellers list.

THE EUROPEAN FACTOR
    Letter to Turkosceptics (Lettre aux turco-sceptiques). Edited by Cengiz Aktar, Edgar Morin, Ali Kazancigil, Nilüfer Göle, et al. Arles: Actes Sud Publishing House, 2004. 197 pp. €20.

A particularly striking feature of Metal Storm is that Turkey's saviors in this fictional war are Russia and Europe. This is particularly remarkable because Russia invaded Turkey early in the Twentieth Century, and European powers tried to divide the country after World War I. Might those same Europeans become the saviors of Turkey? The ongoing European Union accession process sends the opposite signal to the Turkish public.

In this context, the 2004 Letter to Turkosceptics, an edited collection of essays by eight liberal Turkish intellectuals and the French philosopher Edgar Morin, is important, as it addresses questions and concerns raised in Europe to possible Turkish integration.

The authors relate profound misunderstandings promoted by even educated Turkish policymakers. They remind Europeans that Turkey declared its wish to be anchored almost forty-five years ago when, in 1963, Ankara signed an association agreement. The process of application has been long but, in 2002, the European Council decided it would open negotiations once Turkey had fulfilled the Copenhagen criteria. It has.

Permeating the authors' argument is the idea that EU enlargement benefits not only the newly admitted countries, but also the whole EU. Both the prospect of membership and its reality act as powerful motors for change. Turkey has reformed enormously since it began the process and, by any objective standard, it would succeed in its EU accession. The authors are aware, though, that such arguments do not win sympathy in many European ears.

Cengiz Aktar, the book's editor, is a well known Turkish expert on EU related issues. He dismisses the concerns voiced by some Rightwing political parties in Europe that reject Turkey's accession on religious and cultural grounds and argue that Muslim Turkey represents a demographic danger for Europe's Christian population. His message is clear: By failing to understand Turkey and by holding irrational prejudice against it, Europeans risk strengthening nationalism and the hand of those who perceive Europe as the enemy.

The other arguments are varied. Edgar Morin suggests that the idea that Muslim and Middle Eastern Turkey represents a demographic danger is a paradox, especially as Christianity entered Europe from the Middle East. Instead, he writes, Europe should be defined as a civilization based upon acceptance of common values, rather than by geography. Ali Kazancigil, a political scientist and international relations analyst, and Nilüfer Göle, a sociologist and a leading authority on the political movement of today's urbanized, religious Turkish women, argue that the clash of civilization fails in the case of Turkey, since Turkey has a long history of interrelations with Europe. The authors show how diversity of culture and religion is compatible with a unity of purpose.

Today, though, it does not appear that such arguments are working. Turkish reaction against what it believes to be excessive concessions demanded and made on the way to the EU membership have contributed to a resurgence of Turkish nationalism. Whenever Brussels requires a move or shift in policies related to Cyprus, the Kurdish question, or the Armenian issue, nationalist winds blow hard.

CONCLUSIONS
Turkish literature reflects this tense contemporary debate. Many of these debates are rooted in history. The transformation from a multiethnic empire to a nation state and from a society governed mostly by Islamic laws to a strictly secular state has made Turkey into a country of extraordinary combinations.

But the founders of Turkey believed that its citizens constituted a nation. A new beginning was only possible by getting rid of the past. Atatürk changed the alphabet, dress codes, and fundamentally altered social life. He and his successors imposed such reforms through secularism and nationalism. Islamists and liberals both continue to resist his impositions, whether to reverse what Atatürk accomplished, or to alter it to improve integration.

While the 2007 presidential and general elections will amplify the debate, the search for a common denominator that can unite Turkish society will continue. Turkish authors will be at the forefront as the debate continues.

NOTES:
[1] Istanbul: Birzamanlar Publishing, 2004.

[2] Das Magazin (Zurich), Feb. 6, 2005.

[3] Istanbul: Metis Publishing House, 2006.

[4] Agence France-Presse, May 29, 1998, Jan. 18, 2001.


LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Turkey, the Middle East, & the U.S.A.

American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East

Middle East:  Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors

Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three    Page Two    Page One

International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World

   Page Two    Page One

Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.

Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization

Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies

U.S. National Security Strategy



Fikret Erkut Emcioglu is International Relations Coordinator of the ARI Movement, a movement seeking to firmly establish constitutionalism, the rule of law, and constitutional democracy in Turkey and bring about closer ties between Turkey and Europe.


The foregoing essay by Fikret Erkut Emcioglu was originally published in the Middle East Quarterly, Spring, 2007, and can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.


Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
March 22, 2007




Return to Top of Page

Go to the WEBSITE INDEX

Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies


Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles


Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume IX, 2007


Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights


Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage

CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION




LINKS TO PARTICULAR ISSUES & SUBJECT MATTER CATEGORIES
TREATED IN THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, U.S.A.:

Africa: Black Africa * Africa: North Africa * American Government 1
American Government 2 * American Government 3 * American Government 4
American Government 5 * American Politics * Anglosphere * Arabs
Arms Control & WMD * Aztlan Separatists * Big Government
Black Africa * Bureaucracy * Canada * China * Civil Liberties * Communism
Congress, U.S. * Conservative Groups * Conservative vs. Liberal
Constitutional Law * Counterterrorism * Criminal Justice * Disloyalty * Economy
Education * Elections, U.S. * Eminent Domain * Energy & Environment
English-Speaking World * Ethnicity & Race * Europe * Europe: Jews
Family Values * Far East * Fiscal Policy, U.S. * Foreign Aid, U.S. * Foreign Policy, U.S.
France * Hispanic Separatism * Hispanic Treason * Human Health * Immigration
Infrastructure, U.S. * Intelligence, U.S. * Iran * Iraq * Islamic North Africa
Islamic Threat * Islamism * Israeli vs. Arabs * Jews & Anti-Semitism
Jihad & Jihadism * Jihad Manifesto I * Jihad Manifesto II * Judges, U.S. Federal
Judicial Appointments * Judiciary, American * Latin America * Latino Separatism
Latino Treason * Lebanon * Leftists/Liberals * Legal Issues
Local Government, U.S. * Marriage & Family * Media Political Bias
Middle East: Arabs * Middle East: Iran * Middle East: Iraq * Middle East: Israel
Middle East: Lebanon * Middle East: Syria * Middle East: Tunisia
Middle East: Turkey * Militant Islam * Military Defense * Military Justice
Military Weaponry * Modern Welfare State * Morality & Decency
National Identity * National Security * Natural Resources * News Media Bias
North Africa * Patriot Act, USA * Patriotism * Political Culture * Political Ideologies
Political Parties * Political Philosophy * Politics, American * Presidency, U.S.
Private Property * Property Rights * Public Assistance * Radical Islam
Religion & America * Rogue States & WMD * Russia * Science & Ethics
Sedition & Treason * Senate, U.S. * Social Welfare Policy * South Africa
State Government, U.S. * Subsaharan Africa * Subversion * Syria * Terrorism 1
Terrorism 2 * Treason & Sedition * Tunisia * Turkey * Ukraine
UnAmerican Activity * UN & Its Agencies * USA Patriot Act * U.S. Foreign Aid
U.S. Infrastructure * U.S. Intelligence * U.S. Senate * War & Peace
Welfare Policy * WMD & Arms Control


This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics, civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.



POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS

POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE

Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.

Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs, International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests, Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy

INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z




THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA

An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis

Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor

Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic, Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues


Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity