WHAT SORT OF TURKEY WOULD IT BE? – ORHAN KEMAL CENGIZ
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?”
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2012/11/16/stambul-kostandnupolis/