Turkish Forum

Tag: Ataturk

  • ATATURK MONUMENT OPENS IN KAZAKH CAPITAL

    ATATURK MONUMENT OPENS IN KAZAKH CAPITAL

    AstanaAtaturkThe Kazakh president opened Ataturk Monument in
    the Kazakh capital on Thursday. “Ataturk was the biggest leader brought up by the Turkish nation,” Kazakh
    President Nursultan Nazarbayev said during the inaugural ceremony in capital
    Astana.The Ataturk Monument was constructed on the bank of River Ishim (Esil) in
    Astana.Turkey’s State Minister Faruk Celik was to participate in the inauguration,
    however he cancelled his trip to Kazakhstan. Undersecretary Ismet Yilmaz of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism represented Turkey in the ceremony.

    08 -Oct-2009

    AA

  • WHAT PERCENTAGE OF US ARE STUPID? (% kaç aptalız?)

    WHAT PERCENTAGE OF US ARE STUPID? (% kaç aptalız?)

    Turkey is a secular, democratic, social state founded by the Turkish Army under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The ruling party, that is, the AKP, stands convicted by the highest court in Turkey of being the center of anti-secular activities, that is, undermining the secular state. Undermining the secular state established by Atatürk is a serious crime. Some would consider subverting the founding principles, that is, the constitution, treasonous. Surely the Turkish Army, an appropriate defender of the Atatürk legacy, would. But strange things are happening in the secular Republic of Turkey.

    The convicted anti-secular government, the AKP, has launched an enormous campaign to discredit the followers of Atatürk, of which there are millions, as well as the Turkish Army. Hundreds of people opposed to the policies of the anti-secular ruling party—journalists, writers, university professors, rectors, generals and other military officers—have been jailed under an extra-judicial scam called Ergenekon. In effect, anyone who is vocally opposed to this convicted-by-law anti-secular government, the AKP, is subject to imprisonment. Clearly, this anti-secular government intends to eliminate any and all political oppositon and to emasculate the Turkish Army. But their destructive plan is laughably transparent, replete with testimony of secret witnesses, forged documents, illegally wiretapped conversations, and severe human and judicial rights violations. It also stinks of foreign collusion and has all the earmarks of a typical CIA subversion scheme. (Read Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner and The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein for the grim details about the antics of the CIA.)

    It is also tragic. Many lives have been, and continue to be, destroyed by the trumped-up schemes of the convicted anti-secular ruling party. The latest fiasco entails a so-called leaked so-called 4-page plan allegedly prepared by a junior army officer, to both overthrow the anti-secular ruling party and destroy the Fethullar Gülen movement in Turkey. Four whole pages! Imagine an army plan so skimpy? I can’t. Neither can the army who has disavowed its involvement in the hoax. And rightly so. The so-called plan is a photocopy, has no provenance, and is widely considered a forgery. But the country is paralyzed by this nonsense. Running about like headless chickens, the TV pundits endlessly produce verbal gas on the subject. Really want to know where the 4-pager came from? The smart money says try Langley, Virginia or Feto’s CIA safe “estate” at 1857 Mt. Eaton Road in leafy Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Feto’s abode was featured in a gauzy Sunday supplement article this summer by Hurriyet entitled “Fethullah Gülen’in Amerika’daki evi”… roadmap included. May Allah bless the American taxpayers for this subversion.

    But who cares about these details? Much more important is the fact that secular Turks have the right to defend their secular constitution and their secular state from any power, foreign or domestic, that seeks to subvert same. The anti-secular ruling party has been convicted of doing that very thing by conducting anti-secular unconstitutional activities against the state. So why is not the anti-secular AKP to be resisted? To be called to order? To be charged? To be tried? To be banished?

    And why, for all these years, have Turks memorized Atatürk’s Speech to the Turkish Youth? Do they know? One wonders given their behavior. What a great shame, for Atatürk gave his people the right, indeed the duty, to save the Turkish Republic from “those who hold power of government within the country.” In his later Bursa speech on 5 February 1933, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave his own people the right to overthrow himself! Stupendous!

    Could it be any clearer? Why such reluctance to see the problem? And the solution. It’s so terribly simple, isn’t it? Why can’t we again boldly fill the streets with our outrage? Turkey has a legacy like no other country, that is, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Suddenly we ignore that and act like sheep. How many of us are so stupid?

    Aziz Nesin, a wise, funny Turk, once answered that question. He estimated that 60% of us Turks are stupid. Predictably a fire storm resulted. How dare he call us stupid! Fine him! Jail him! Ban him! Burn him!

    Nesin responded with an apology. I’m sorry, he wrote, I made a mistake—90% of the Turks are stupid! By today’s standards it seems a serious underestimate.

    Cem Ryan, Ph.D.

    İstanbul

  • LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Turkey in an Arena of Trials

    LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Turkey in an Arena of Trials

    20 January 2009

    The Honorable Barack H. Obama
    President of the United States
    The White House
    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
    Washington, DC 20500 USA

     Dear Mr. President:

    I write this letter to you, Mr. President, with my highest and warmest regards, best wishes, and my hope for a better, more just world. I have fond memories of this particular day, 20 January, your day of inauguration as president. Forty-eight years ago—six months before you were born— I, along with my fellow West Point cadets, marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to salute the newly sworn president, John F. Kennedy. Next to graduating from West Point, it was the highlight of my life. January 20, 1961—it had snowed heavily the night before and the day dawned windy with arctic temperatures. It was perfect, a memory crystal buried deep. How young we were, so enthusiastic about confronting a dangerous world with our young president. But while euphoria is grand, it is also dangerous, Mr. President. It didn’t take long for reality to take hold. And so time goes. I have now lived in Istanbul, Turkey for nine years. Over these years a “reality” has set in regarding our beloved country, America. And so I write to you today, Mr. President, to warn you about conditions in Turkey. “The world,” wrote Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, “is an arena of trials.” And the Bush policy of making Turkey a “moderate Islamic republic” has been, and continues to be, an arena of disasters. Mr. President, time is of the essence to correct this. And you need to know more about Turkey to do so.

    Accordingly, I have enclosed two books: one a biography, Atatürk, by Andrew Mango, the other, a copy of The Great Speech by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Nutuk in Turkish). The latter epic work flowed from the pen of Atatürk, a 36-hour speech delivered over six days in October 1927. Therein, he recounts the Turkish War of Independence and the founding of the Turkish Republic. It is an astounding document.

    “I have tried to show, in these accounts, how a great people, whose national course was considered as finished, reconquered its independence; how it created a national and modern state founded on the latest results of science. The result we have today is the fruit of teachings which arose from centuries of suffering,and the price of streams of blood which have drenched every foot of the ground of our beloved homeland. This holy treasure I lay in the hands of the youth of Turkey. Turkish youth! Your primary duty is ever to preserve and defend the national independence of the Turkish Republic.” (Atatürk, The Great Speech, 715)

    By reading this book, Mr. President, you will immediately understand the enormous genius of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. You will see how the forces of religious fundamentalism didn’t magically vanish after Atatürk ended the sultanate and abolished the caliphate. Instead, they continued to subvert his revolutionary reforms from the very beginning. This is the nature of religious fundamentalism here in Turkey. It never stops. It is vital that you understand this, Mr. President. Turkey has always been a target for these dark-minded forces. And now these ignorant minds run the country. Reading the words of Mustafa Kemal will also help you marshal your own significant resources and talents, for you seem to be blessed with a capacious mind much like Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s. Decisive, informed leadership is needed today by the president of the United States. These were defining characteristics of Atatürk, along with his great personal integrity. May you learn well from him, Mr. President, a man who fought a war against religious terrorists for his entire life.

    Now the democratic, secular, social state of the Republic of Turkey, governed under the rule of law, is under siege, both from without and within. I know this, Mr. President, I live here, and what I know is not sanitized by political niceties and outright propaganda. The undoing of this nation, created in Atatürk’s mind as a young army officer, has been long underway. But now the day is here. The black-minded ignorance of religious fundamentalism becomes more apparent every minute. Alcohol bans, women shoved under politically symbolic headscarves at the behest of duplicitous politicians, a compliant, subverted media. Here, so-called “liberals” work in compliance with outside forces (your CIA, for example, Mr. President). And the corruption of the religious ruling party is stunning and stinks to the high heavens from theft, rampant bribery, and election fraud. Currently, a scam called Ergenekon purges the left-wing opposition rivals (all adherents of the enlightened principles of Atatürk). To further contaminate his work, a smattering of outright criminals is added to the list of detainees. All this and more has brought democratic Turkey near its knees. And Mustafa Kemal Atatürk never knelt for anyone, ever. As a child he even refused to play leapfrog.

    European Union members, who never read him, wonder why so much fuss is made about Atatürk. Of similar traitorous stripe as the “entente liberals” of Atatürk’s day who conspired with the British occupiers for a mandate over Turkey, today’s “liberal” Turks (liboş) fall over themselves subverting secular Turkey and the principles of Atatürk, in the name of democracy. The ruling party works its religious agenda demeaning the integrity of women at every turn, debasing the liberation of women by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. And the United States of America, our country Mr. President, directly aids and abets these subversive forces. This is shameful.

    Mr. President, most Americans remain ignorant about Turkey and, amazingly, even more so about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Without knowing this man one knows nothing about this country. The enclosed books are my attempt to prevent you learning about Turkey solely by reading sterile briefing books, self-serving CIA studies, State Department policy papers, memoranda from your national security advisors, and, most particularly, reports from the western press. Most of the Turkish press, and, in particular, the current Turkish government are similarly ever-willing purveyors of self-interested propaganda. Beware, Mr. President, for you will receive regurgitations of superficial, stale, and even incorrect information, like the Bushian nonsense that Turkey is a “moderate Islamic nation.” Via the headscarf issue—the “ocular proof” of piety for western consumption—this ill-conceived initiative, without any Koranic justification, has created a gigantic, violent, societal schism in Turkey. Mr. President, is America a moderate Christian nation? I mean, should Americans wear visible crucifixes? Please reconsider this nonsensical policy, Mr. President. (Again, read The Great Speech to see how religious subversions beset Atatürk at every turn.)

     “One will be able to imagine how necessary the carrying through of these measures was, in order to prove that our nation as a whole was no primitive nation, filled with superstitions and prejudices. Could a civilized nation tolerate a mass of people who let themselves be led by the nose by a herd of Şeyhs, Dedes,Seyyits, Çelebis, Babas, and Emirs, who entrusted their destiny and their lives to palm readers, magicians, dice-throwers and amulet sellers? Ought one to preserve in the Turkish State, in the Turkish Republic, elements and institutions such as those which had for centuries given the nation the appearance of being other than it really was?” (Atatürk, The Great Speech, 714)

     Mr. President, even worse than misinformation, you will be regaled with assertions and protestations that the current religious-rooted government is representative and similar to the majority of Turkish people. Mr. President, it is extremely dangerous for you, and for the United States, to be deceived in this manner. Indeed this must sound strange to you, Mr. President, but it is true. There is a great muffling happening in Turkey today. So I caution you, to become truly aware of the situation in Turkey, you must first meet Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in depth. You must come to enlightenment about Turkey on your own recognizance, Mr. President, and not rely on the misinformed, the flatterers, and the deceivers, of whom there are legion.

    While you may think you are different, Mr. President, be forewarned that, despite your access to the bright minds of the CIA, the State Department, and your White House staff, you will not get a true idea of the essence of Turkey, the nation. You may learn about this Turkish government, but that’s not learning about the Turkish nation. And you will certainly not learn anything from members of the present Turkish government about the nation’s soul.

    The essence of the modern Turkish soul reposes in the materials I have sent, in a word, Atatürk. His accomplishments—military, political, social, educational, creative—represent a quest for justice for the collective life of his people, and in no small regard, for the world. “Peace at home, peace in the world,” he famously said. He possessed, as I suspect you do as well, Mr. President, what Reinhold Niebuhr called the “sublime madness in the soul,” saved from excessiveness by unusually astute powers of reason. So armed, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk battled against the powers of darkness and spiritual corruption in high places. So armed, he rescued his people from the debris of the Ottoman Empire. Today, his thoughts and deeds define the existential principles of the Turkish nation. But, Mr. President, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is now under attack from outside Turkey and within.

    Nevertheless, his principles still inspire tens of millions of proudly secular Turks who long for the truly democratic nation he established. Believe me Mr. President, the “secular elite” described by the disgracefully biased and ill-informed writings of Sabrina Tavernise of The New York Times as “an immensely powerful coterie of generals and judges” is nonsense. Millions of us—yes, Mr. President, I too am a citizen of Turkey—took to the streets in the spring of 2007 against the policies of the U.S.-backed Erdoğan government. And matters have become even more dire since. Mr. President, perhaps you don’t know what’s going on with this government.

    In the name of democracy, the ruling party, the AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, Justice and Development Party) has made a shambles of Turkey’s founding principles. In the name of democracy there is vast bribing of the AKP electorate, predominantly poor and uneducated, with coal and appliances. Higher court deliberations on suits against the ruling party are regularly attacked by the ruling party, particularly by the prime minister, and literal targets (complete with crosshairs) are made of individual judges in the religious press.

    In the name of democracy and social justice and legal egalitarianism, an enormous purge of hundreds of alleged opponents of the ruling party is taking place in a “fishing expedition” called Ergenekon. A literal witch hunt, so-called suspect members of a military-coup conspiracy ring are held without benefit of writs of habeas corpus; they have been held in jail—some for over 18 months—without being charged and later prejudicially tried in jail. Writers, journalists, university presidents, labor union leaders, lawyers, retired army officers, leftists all, are caught up in this disgrace of a dragnet. (As mentioned earlier, some ordinary criminals are mixed in for pollution purposes.) Mr. President, I write to you on their behalf, the educated, western-thinking intelligentia, now imprisoned in a Turkish gulag called Silivri, the largest prison in Turkey, and in Europe. And that’s where they are tried! In the prison! So you, Mr. President, as an attorney, undoubtedly instantly understand the extremely prejudicial nature of this trumped-up case.

    Mass arrests typically happen immediately after the ruling party suffers a legal or corruption setback. For example, consider its trial in early 2008 where the AKP was found guilty of being the center of anti-secular activity in Turkey. A second roundup occurred as a result of a German charitable foundation called Deniz Feneri, “lighthouse” in English. Organized by Turks in both Germany and Turkey, Deniz Feneri stole 41 million euros from pious Turks in Germany and transferred 17 million of it to Turkey, some to media companies friendly to the ruling party. The AKP manager, Zahid Akman, of the Turkish government’s televison and radio system (RTÜK), was identified by the court as the bagman. He remains in his position, dutifully protecting the nation’s morals by blurring televised images of smoking and the consumption of alcohol. The German prosecutor stated that links of the Deniz Feneri embezzlement were traced to the office of the prime ministery.

    The movement of Turkey toward sharia continues. Vast areas of the nation have been made alcohol-free. Swimsuit advertisements are banned in Istanbul. The Atatürk Cultural Center, located in prime space in downtown Istanbul, has been closed. No details are given regarding its status. Consequently, the Istanbul symphony, opera, and ballet, all state sponsored, have been sent packing. They are rumored to perform occasionally, somewhere. So much for cultural enlightenment. Oddly enough, Istanbul has been selected to be the European Capital of Culture in 2010; this is known as political lip service.

    Mr. President, for too long a time America has attempted to efface the Turkish soul, to reshape this country, to include it in the American hegemony. All this subversion has been to, in effect, lobotomize the Turkish brain, ridding it of the noble thoughts of Atatürk, making it a congenial dolt, bowing and scraping to America’s wishes. Internally, this has been the primary responsibility of the ruling party. And it has done its job very well, almost bringing the once proud nation of Atatürk to its knees. Once, after a waiter dropped a heavily laden tray at a state dinner, Mustafa Kemal turned to his foreign guests and said, “As you can see I have taught my people to do everything but serve.” How ironic, how angering to the followers of Atatürk is the current servile, US-installed government. Consider this, Mr. President. Banned from running from office, without any legal credentials whatsoever, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was welcomed to the White House by George W. Bush as de facto head of the Turkish government. How outrageous! No wonder Erdoğan, habitually a dour, scowling man, beamed broadly whenever he visited Bush. Do not be deceived Mr. President, this government neither serves you, nor the Turkish people. In the name of so-called democracy, it serves itself.

    It has long been at its destructive work, this imperialism. You know this personally, Mr. President. Why your very roots—one foot in Hawaii, the other in Kenya, your days of youth in Indonesia—all these highly personal experiences have surely informed your persona. Surely they speak to you of the same issue that so afflicts Turkey. Imperialism. Internal subversion. Corruption.

    When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk rescued Turkey from the ruins of the Ottoman six hundred year reign, he established a new way for the Turkish people to live their lives. It was the way of enlightenment, the western way. I hope that you can now begin to see how the west, for its own ill-reasoned self-interest, has encouraged the sabotaging of the enlightened principles of Atatürk. Most importantly, I hope that this whets your reading appetite to learn more about this incomparable man.

    Mr. President, I am confident that you will adopt your policies, both within America, and without, in the spirit of those stirring words you wrote in Dreams from My Father about a different kind of politics: “That politics will need to reflect our lives as they are actually lived.”

    The majority of Turkish people want the very same thing. And if the United States can get out of their way, they can have it.

    Sincerely yours,

    James (Cem) Ryan, Ph.D.

    Enclosures:
    Atatürk    . Andrew Mango. John Murray Publishers, London, 2004.
    The Great Speech     (Nutuk). Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Atatürk Research Center, Ankara, 2005

    Comments

    Sunday, February 1, 2009
    Erdogan Does Davos
    (1 comments) By his courageous stand ErdoGan has unified a badly divided nation. We shall soon see the degree to which he is an equally passionate advocate for human rights in his own country.

    Sunday, January 25, 2009
    Letter to President Obama: Turkey in an Arena of Trials
    I have now lived in Istanbul, Turkey for nine years. Over these years a “reality” has set in regarding our beloved country, America. I write to you today, Mr. President, to warn you about conditions in Turkey. “The world,” wrote Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, “is an arena of trials.” And the Bush policy of making Turkey a “moderate Islamic republic” has been an arena of disasters. Mr. President.

    Monday, January 12, 2009
    THE ISRAELI-AMERICAN KILLING MACHINE
    (3 comments) The tentacles of God’s bloody instruction have been embraced as a political policy by the ancient Israelites, the papacy in Rome, the new world colonizing countries, the early government of the United States, and the current governments of the United States and its favorite strategic partner-in-crime, Israel. It reaches back four thousand years. It has been a disgraceful, bloor-ridden legacy.

    Wednesday, December 24, 2008
    Forget Armenia, Turks Should Condemn American Indian Genocide
    (2 comments) It is high time that Turkey takes the offensive on the matter of genocide. In this day of widespread destruction, it is high time to remind America, Americans, and their government, that they are up to their ancestral elbows in the blood of the American Indians. The Turkish government must condemn the American Indian Genocide, or itself be condemned.

    Sunday, April 13, 2008
    Turkey!s “Undemocratic” Constitution
    The furor regarding the case accepted by Turkey’s highest court that could result in the banishment of the AKP ruling party makes me laugh out loud. Never forget that in the name of democracy, the institution that brought the Bush regime to power was none other than the Supreme Court of the United States. A judicial coup? Don’t make me laugh harder. No one said a word about that.

  • Will Iran Look More Like Turkey, or Turkey Like Iran?

    Will Iran Look More Like Turkey, or Turkey Like Iran?

    Nathan Gardels

    Editor, NPQ, Global Services of Los Angeles Times Syndicate/Tribune Media

    "Crooke’s mission in this erudite and most readable book is to reassure America and the rest of the world that Hamas, Hezbollah and the seemingly menacing Islamic governments in Iran and elsewhere are not the enemies of the West… a scholarly and closely argued critique of what passes for Western diplomacy today." --Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker magazine
    "Crooke’s mission in this erudite and most readable book is to reassure America and the rest of the world that Hamas, Hezbollah and the seemingly menacing Islamic governments in Iran and elsewhere are not the enemies of the West… a scholarly and closely argued critique of what passes for Western diplomacy today." –Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker magazine

    ISTANBUL — The effort to forge new forms of non-Western modernity in the Muslim world has pushed Iran into bloody civil strife while Turkey swirls with persistent rumors of military plots against the Islamist-rooted government. The great historical question is whether, at the end of the day, Iran will look more like Turkey, or Turkey like Iran?

    As the legendary M16 agent Alastair Crooke argues in his new book, Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution, the Iranian revolution was a direct consequence a half century later of the forced secularization of the Ottoman Caliphate by Kemal Ataturk. With the superstructure of the Muslim ummah dismantled and replaced with the Turkish nation-state, insurgent religious movements, from the (Sunni) Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to the Shiite imams of Qum and Najaf, moved into the vacuum to reclaim Islam from the shadow of Western modernization.

    Paradoxically, Ataturk’s whole modernization project is today being recalibrated by the ruling Islamist-rooted (Justice and Development) AK party, which is seeking to reintroduce piety into public life while projecting Turkey as a neo-Ottoman regional power in the Muslim Middle East instead of a mere NATO appendage or European supplicant. At the same time, Iran, the other regional power, is moving in the opposite direction: the Twittering partisans of popular sovereignty are locked in a battle with their theocratic guardians over the legitimacy of power in the Islamic Republic.

    What goes around comes around, it seems. The reaction to the Great Transformation of early 20th century modernization may have given rise to what Crooke calls the “Great Refusal” of the Islamist resistance. But now the legacy of the Great Transformation in Turkey as well as the Great Refusal in Iran are facing the reverse challenges of bringing faith back into the public realm on the one hand, and democratizing a religious state on the other.

    The historical cross currents are complex. In Turkey, one AK Party leader told me, by way of allaying suspicions about an Islamist takeover, that “without its Western orientation, Turkey would be just another Muslim country.” Yet, a publisher friend worries that “without the military guarding Turkey’s secular institutions, the Islamists would take over tomorrow.” And yet again his 20-something daughter, despite the ever more prevalent sight of headscarves on the street, shrugs her bare shoulders doubtfully at the idea of Turkey ever becoming a repressive religious society like Iran.

    In Iran, the very idea of an Islamic Republic, borne out of the 1979 revolution, is coming apart. What we are witnessing is a contest between the Shiite idea of an imamate, where, essentially, God is the head of state, versus the Republic, in which the people rule. What happens to the legitimacy of the state when the people, through their democratic institutions, disagree with God? How can this contradiction at the very heart of the constitutional arrangement of the Islamic Republic ever be resolved?

    For all its grumblings and even rumblings, the military that stands behind secularism in Turkey has not so far frustrated the democratic aspirations of the religious resurgence there. In Iran, the Revolutionary Guards that are protecting theocracy have done just that: they have sought to crush the assertion of popular sovereignty.

    The clerical establishment aligned with the Revolutionary Guard in Iran won’t be easily dislodged from power. Yet, once they’ve felt their power in the streets, as in 1979, neither will the people accept the suppression of their rights. By reasserting his authority after the election through brutal repression, Ayatollah Khameini has undermined the legitimacy of his rule. It may be a long, slow erosion, but the repression of legitimate aspirations is always the beginning of the end for any system of governance.

    For now, the Turkish experiment in creating a non-Western, post-secular order seems more sustainable because it respects the will of the people. That is now the challenge for Iran.

    Source:  www.huffingtonpost.com, June 20, 2009

    ‘This book is required reading at a time when alternative perspectives on the causes of global terrorism and new Western diplomatic initiatives urgently need to replace the failed policies of the Bush administration-led “War on Global Terrorism”.’–John L. Esposito, professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University and co-author of Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think

  • Critical thinking – 1919>1923

    Critical thinking – 1919>1923

    ”Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.”

    Ruhat Mengi
    Yazara ulaşmak için : rmengi@gazetevatan.com

    ***
    Ermeni tasarısına “1923” nasıl girdi?

    Türkiye’nin “Ermeni soykırım iddiası ve Ermeni sınır kapısı” ile ilgili olarak bir kumpasa getirilmesi hep beklendiği için millet de gergin ve şüpheli gözlerle izliyor olayları…

    Almanya’dan yazan Nermin Irmak isimli okurumuz ABD’de Türk lobisinin önemli bir parçası olan Turkish Forum’dan Hande Özdinler’in bir yazısına dikkat çekmiş.

    “Yazılmak istenen yeni tarih budur” başlıklı yazıda Özdinler “Amerikan Meclisi’ne sunulan sözde Ermeni soykırımı yasa tasarısının ilk maddesindeki ‘1915-1919 yılları arasında’denilen kısmın çıkarılıp yerine ‘1915-1923 yılları arasında’ibaresinin getirildiğini, bunun kağıt üzerinde küçük ama tarihsel olarak çok büyük bir değişikliktir olduğunu” anlatıyor. Ve bunu şöyle açıklıyor:

    “Ermenistan Cumhurbaşkanı Sarkisyan 24 Nisan’da ne demişti:

    ‘Türk halkını sorumlu tutmuyoruz. O dönem baştakiler sorumludur’, tarih 1919’dan 1923’e taşınınca baştakinin kim olduğunu söylemeye gerek var mı? Bu ‘olaylar Kurtuluş Savaşı zamanında oldu’ demektir, bu savaşın başkumandanı ise Atatürk’tür. Bu iki rakam değişikliğinden Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Başbakanı ile Cumhurbaşkanı’nın haberi yok mudur? Onların ister olsun, ister olmasın bizim hepimizin haberi olmak zorundadır, lütfen yeni dökümanı okuyun, inceleyin.”

    (Yeni düzenlenmiş dosyanın internet adresini de veriyor.

    Hande Özdinler “Türklerin tarihleriyle yüzleşmesi” istekleri Atatürk’te bitecek, hatta arkadan “Zamanında size yapılanı şimdi Kürtlere yapıyorlar suçlaması gelirse şaşırmayalım” diyor ve ekliyor: “Sarkisyan konuşmasında ‘Türkiye Ermeni soykırımını kabul ederse Türkiye’de laik sistem yıkılır’ dedi, bu cümle son derece güzel bir analizin damıtılmış öz sözüdür, suç Atatürk’ün üstüne yıkılırsa Atatürk 20. yüzyılın ilk azılı katili ilan edilecek ve Kurtuluş Savaşımızın, Cumhuriyet’in meşruluğu bile tartışmaya açılabilecektir.”

    Olaylar adım adım öyle güzel geliştiriliyor ki Türkiye’nin tartışılmaz önderi, kahramanı Atatürk’ün adını 1’inci ve 2’inci Ergenekon iddianamesi’ne bile koyma cüreti gösterilebildi. Zamanla “soykırım” iddiasının Atatürk’e yıkılarak, “Ermenilerin katili” gösterilerek kabul ettirilmesi de hiç imkansız görünmüyor. Türkiye’nin Başbakanı ve Dışişleri Bakanı Amerikan Meclisi’ne sunulan yasa tasarısında 1919 tarihinin nasıl 1923’e dönüştürüldüğünü hemen araştırmak ve itiraz etmek zorundadır. Onların ihmalinin faturasını kuşaklar boyu bu toplum ve ülke ödeyecek yoksa!

  • Science gives way to religious dogma in Turkey

    Science gives way to religious dogma in Turkey

    By Ferruh Demirmen

    The recent censorship of the Darwin story in the “Science and Technology Journal,” published by The Scientific and Technological Research Council (Tübitak) of Turkey, caused consternation in the scientific community in Turkey and beyond. Tübitak is the leading government agency established to advance science and technology in Turkey.

    The censorship, first time of its kind in Tübitak’s 46-year history, was an event that would shame any respectful scientific organization.

    The making of a scandal

    The event started innocuously enough when the chief editor of the journal, Dr.  Çiğdem Atakuman, decided to commemorate Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday by running a 16-page cover story on the scientist’s life and his theory of evolution in its March edition. Unesco, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, had declared 2009 as the Year of Darwin.

    By established protocol in Tübitak, Atakuman had the authority to decide on the contents of the journal. But when Prof. Dr. Ömer Cebeci, a vice-president and member of the governing Science Board, found out about the Darwin article while it was at the press, the article and the photograph of Darwin on the cover page were peremptorily removed.

    A revised March edition, missing 16 pages and one week late, was issued, and Atakuman was verbally fired from her editorial position (“re-assigned”). The cover page was replaced with one dealing with global climate change.

    What Tübitak did not realize was that its actions were a recipe for a scandal.

    Condemnation

    The reaction from various quarters in Turkey and abroad was swift. Academics and students from various universities in Turkey gathered in front of the Tübitak building in Ankara to protest the censorship. Amid calls for the resignation of the Science Board, other academics, journalists, nongovernmental organizations and opposition politicians condemned Tübitak’s action. Turkish media gave wide coverage to the incident, and newspapers abroad weighed in.

    Tübitak was caught in a storm it had not expected.

    Voices of concern came from the Royal Society in London, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), EU politicians, and other foreign sources. Bloggers wasted no time on the Internet to chime in.

    Science versus dogma

    What lay at the core of these criticisms, and rightly so, was that science was being subjugated to the dictates of religious dogma. Darwin’s theory of evolution, while it forms one of the building stones of modern science, is incompatible with Islamic faith that man was created by God.

    Data suggest that only 25 percent of Turks believe in evolution, some, including the education minister Hüseyin Çelik, associating it with atheism. Turkish theologians generally reject the idea that man evolved from lower beings.

    There is, of course, a similar quandary with the Christian and Jewish faiths, but in the Turkish case Islamic teachings never stood in the way of evolutionary science. The academics and scientists managed to separate or reconcile evolution and Islamic faith, and the government did not interfere. They were free to practice and teach science including the theory of evolution.

    That was in keeping with the secular fabric of the republic as established by Kemal Atatürk.

    Tübitak itself featured Darwin many times in its journal in the past, and the event passed without any incident.

    Islamic wind

    The changeover in Tübitak’s stance on science, in particular the theory of evolution, is no accident. After the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in November 2002, the government has undertaken a relentless campaign to undermine secular education in Turkey. Elements of Islam have been injected into the educational system in various degrees, and religious schools have been promoted. Evolution has been relegated to second status in favor of creationism.

    The government has implemented its Islamic policy through laws, regulations and partisan appointments (in some cases in “acting capacity’). The result is a highly politicized educational system from bottom up, including the Council of Higher Education (YÖK).

    The shift in Tübitak is part of this politicization process. Beginning in January 2004, when the current president of the Science Board, Prof. Dr. Nüket Yetiş, was appointed in acting capacity, most members in senior administration resigned or were forced out. Amendments made to Tübitak’s charter in August 2008 gave the government substantial control over the institution.

    Also in August 2008 Yetiş, whose appointment had previously been vetoed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, was appointed as the president of Tübitak by President Abdullah Gül. Yetiş reportedly has ties to Islamists.

    Of the 12 members of the Science Board, 10 received their appointments during the AKP government.

    So, at the core of the Darwin scandal was political pressure coming from the AKP.

    Damage control

    To remedy the embarrassment, Tübitak issued a statement denying censorship of the Darwin article and attributing the incident to “miscommunication.” It said there would be a special issue of the magazine later in 2009 covering Darwin.

    A press release issued by Atakuman in reply, giving a detailed account of the events, however, left no doubt that censorship had taken place. Atakuman noted that after the incident she was reprimanded by Cebeci, her boss, in his office for pursuing a “provocative” subject in a “sensitive environment” – meaning the AKP rule.

    Tübitak would be hard put to explain why the Darwin article was provocative.

    Stung by criticism, the government, despite its well-known opposition to evolution, claimed it had played no role in the incident. Surprisingly – and perhaps not surprisingly – YÖK, the council overseeing higher education, declined to comment.

    More fallout

    What is most disconcerting about the Darwin incident is that it may stunt independent thinking and hinder science in Turkey. Science can only advance if it is free of ideology and religious dogma. Darwin’s theory of evolution is an integral part of science, and it must be disseminated, argued and researched without outside interference. Tübitak should promote, not hinder, such efforts.

    It is no surprise that Prof. Dr. Tahsin Yeşildere, Head of the Association for University Lecturers, commented that “Turkish science is in the hands of anachronistic brains who hold it in contempt,” while Lord Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society, called the Darwin incident an example of “cultural corruption and . . . intellectual dishonesty.”

    Nor is it a surprise that some EU politicians expressed disquiet, pointing out that the incident was a blatant violation of freedom of thought and scientific independence. Le Monde commented that Islamic groups in Turkey were waging war against Darwin.

    Turkey’s prospect to join the EU, already shaky, will no doubt be affected.

    What is also ironic, and disturbing, is that the Darwin censorship has taken place in a country that had benefited from Atatürk’s vision. Atatürk observed, eloquently, that “Science is the true guide in life.”

    A disquieting thought

    It has been 84 years since America had its bizarre “Scopes Trial” (“Monkey Trial”) in a Tennessee court. The trial was portrayed by some as a titanic struggle between good and evil, when in fact it was about truth and ignorance, or about light and dark.

    Is it possible that Turkey may soon have its own “Scopes Trial”? That would be most unfortunate. But if the AKP, with its Islamic agenda, continues to meddle with science, it may come to that.

    ferruh@demirmen.com