Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 4 2015
‘Gov’t aims to impose Islamist ideology on youth as its predecessors
imposed Kemalism’
GÃ`LTEN Ã`STÃ`NTAÄ? / ISTANBUL
This week’s guest for Armchair Conversations is DoÄ?u Ergil, a
distinguished political scientist who regularly writes for Today’s
Zaman.
Besides being a respected academic whose studies have proposed
solutions to the country’s crucial problems, including the Kurdish and
Armenian issues, Ergil was part of a commission, dubbed `wise men,’
that was created to meet with the public while the government was
holding talks with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in
order to find a peaceful solution to the problem.
Ergil, in his own words, came from an upper-middle class Turkish
family, a type which is called “White Turk,’ with a father who is a
staff officer in the military and a mother from Ä°stanbul’s upper
middle class, and this upbringing, as well as the social atmosphere in
which he was raised, has played a determining role in shaping his
personality.
“I spent my childhood in BeÃ…?iktaÃ…?’s Pera neighborhood, a place with a
mix of Armenian, Greek and Jewish minorities. That is why there was no
place for the term ‘foreigner’ in my life, but the term ‘different’
existed based on such colorful and wonderful cultural diversity. We
were all equally important members of the neighborhood, and my family
brought a Turkish Muslim presence to the mix. All of this diversity
coexisted in peace, rather than constituting a contrast. We were all
different colors of the same neighborhood,” Ergil said, defining the
social sphere that formed the core of his perception.
Giving more detail regarding the content of these relationships, Ergil
continued: “Some neighbors would bring over cakes at Easter and others
would share their Passover supper with us. In return, we would invite
them to our house during Muslim holidays. These differences weren’t
contrasts but represented different faces on the prism of life. The
prism would refract the light and send it to us. And we were happy
with this diversity. Years later, some of my friends from that
neighborhood were forced to leave the country and led lives in exile,
which has always upset me.’
In response to a question about whether he is still friends with
anyone he grew up with in this community, he responded: “Shalom Jack
went to France. He lectured at the Sorbonne, then established a
company dealing with theater organizations. When I met him years
later, he said to me, ‘I have no stake in [France],’ and this touched
me. Apparently, he still felt that he belonged in Turkey. I had a
small plot of land on the Mediterranean coast and I gave half of it to
him and we built small village houses side by side. I did this because
I believe that no one should be kept away from his homeland, and no
one’s past should be stolen. For this reason, Jack would frequently
ask whether I had a hidden minority past. But there is none. Really,
there isn’t any. I am against the idea of minorities.’
‘There was no polarization at that time’
When asked about whether there was any polarization during his
childhood, Ergil replied: “No, there wasn’t. I didn’t see Greeks or
Armenians as enemies or threats. My father was a staff officer. During
his assignments in various Anatolian cities, I had a chance to know
Anatolia closely. I learned about another Turkey. Following my father
around his various posts, I attended primary school at two-year
intervals in Çanakkale, Merzifon, Trabzon and Kayseri. This proved to
be a good opportunity for me to learn about Anatolia. I realized that
Anatolia lacked the monolithic structure and uniformity that we had
been taught to believe, and that it had been home to a mixed bag of
people.’
‘I became a sociologist to understand injustice against excluded elements’
According to him, Anatolia once had similarities with Pera in terms of
its multicultural structure, adding: “… but these diverse
ethnicities no longer lived there. It appeared to me as a great
injustice. I have become a sociologist to understand this injustice.
My professional concern has always been to find ways of helping people
know each other more closely, and ensuring that they don’t fight each
other.’
When Ergil graduated from the sociology department at Ankara
University and was walking down the stairs in the faculty building, he
suddenly realized that it was the end of his undergraduate education.
“What will I do?” he asked himself. So far he had simply focused on
passing the courses and completing school, but there, on the steps, he
made up his mind. He was more curious about what he didn’t yet know
than about what he had already learned. So, he earned his master’s
degree in the US, a country which held sociology in high esteem, to
gain new insight and earn a diploma that would be valid all over the
world.
His memories regarding the political sphere of the early 1970s in
Turkey were not so bright. The country was going through tragic
moments which were hardly suitable for studying. It was 1968 and he
went to do his military service. Since he was a basketball player, he
joined a military unit on whose team he would able to play basketball.
He graduated university in June and was fulfilling his military duty
at the Infantry School in the Tuzla district of Ä°stanbul in September.
During this time, he prepared for foreign scholarship exams, taking
two exams and winning two scholarships. One was a scholarship from a
British university to study urban sociology, and one was a scholarship
from the Ministry of Education. He chose to study in the United
States, where he wrote his master’s and doctoral theses, and was later
offered employment.
He wrote a thesis titled “From Empire to Dependence: The Evolution of
Turkish Underdevelopment,” which would be placed in the top 20 percent
of all successful theses at his school. He was taught by the
world-renowned sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein.
Returning to his homeland to share his knowledge
Despite the fact that he was offered work in the US by New York
University, Ergil chose to serve his country and share his extensive
knowledge with Turkish students by teaching at universities there.
“My sense of patriotism has never changed. I grew up in a nationalist
family reading stories that praised being a Turk. I was able to get
rid of this nationalist burden in the US, but I preserved my
patriotism. After I returned to Turkey, there were times that I felt
regret since my experience did not benefit Turkish people as it should
have. Turkey is not a country that develops technology. A country that
buys technology from abroad does not invest in science. This gives
rise to scientists’ value not being known. Our universities have never
been allowed to produce knowledge freely without any political
intervention.’
Ergil is also critical of the imposition of a certain ideology by
governments on the young generations, which he considers a major
reason behind the underdevelopment of society.
“Once, Kemalism aimed to mold generations [to embrace] nationalism,
while the current government, as its senior officials have repeatedly
said, wishes to create a religious youth. We, as society, are still
indecisive regarding what type of society we want to be,” he said.
Kurdish and Armenian issues have become Ergil’s spheres of interest
While he was in the US for university, Ergil met an Armenian student
in class, and his mistreatment of Ergil led him to start examining the
Armenian issue, adding: “This Armenian man, wise and intellectual, was
treating me badly. One day I questioned the reason for his treatment
[of me]. He responded, saying, ‘Your grandfather killed mine.’ I was
astonished with the response. When he realized that I failed to
comprehend the issue, he asked whether I knew about the Armenian
issue. Up until then, I was not aware of any issue called the
`Armenian problem,’ despite having graduated from university and
completing my military service. Then, I decided to examine the matter
in detail by spending my days and hours in the university library. As
I examined the issue more I realized that Turkish history was made up,
fabricated. That is why I wrote a book titled “Social history of the
national struggle, 1919-1922” when I returned to the country. I am not
a historian, but I tried to understand the origin of today’s social
structure and relations. Later on, I became friends with that Armenian
guy.’
In a similar vein, Ergil decided to study the Kurdish issue, a
significant source of conflict in Turkey in the 1980s and another
issue that Ergil had not enough knowledge of; he had not even visited
a single Kurdish city in the southeastern part of the country.
Ergil went on to state: “I got involved in the examination of the
Armenian issue after an Armenian man pointed out my ignorance to my
face, while the unending blood surrounding the Kurdish problem was my
reason to begin studying the matter. I was seeking answers about our
collective ignorance on the subject. All of a sudden I went back to my
childhood. We were living together with all the minorities. You could
remain an Armenian or a Kurd. This was not an obstacle to the
perception of a collective identity.’
In order to shed more light on the state’s paranoia regarding the
Kurdish problem, Ergil talked about the National Intelligence
Organization (MÄ°T) investigation into him, saying: “They sought [to
find out] whether I have a Kurdish family background. But they failed
because I am not a Kurd. When they learned it [that I had no Kurdish
background], they were astonished, because they had a belief that only
those members of the society who faced pressure from the state would
claim their rights. This time, I was accused of being pro-Kurdish. It
has been always difficult for me to overcome the political labels that
have been put on me and find a way to explain my findings linked to
the problems.’
He proposed preparing report on Kurdish issue to the military
As an academic, Ergil thought it was his responsibility to focus on
the Kurdish issue while the whole country was struggling with turmoil.
He went to a department at the National Security Council (MGK) on
societal relations headed by a retired general. Ergil told him some
research had to be done on this matter and asked the general to
authorize him on this subject. He could have done this without
permission but given the unsolved murders, he thought he could have
faced some troubles there, explaining: “Even if you returned home,
your mother would not be able to recognize you. So I thought it would
be better to tell the MGK beforehand.’
Ergil went on to explain: “They were suspicious at first. They told me
to draft a report and submit it to them. But to draft a report, you
need to do field research. So I sat down and drafted a brief,
six-page-long report to make sure that an average man would be able to
understand the whole matter. A long time passed after I submitted the
report. The turmoil continued. It was 2000; I went down there again.
The general gave an order so they brought my report. They had marked
every line of the report with blue, green and red markers. They asked
if I wanted police escort, which I declined. I told them I wanted to
talk to the people directly. I was not there as a state official. I
traveled with journalist Koray Düzgören. We traveled to all Kurdish
areas and got our own impressions. Then I drafted my report. I also
submitted a visual report as well. The report was considered
classified, and I was never able to gain access to that report again.’
Ergil interviewed a number of people from different backgrounds
including tribal chiefs, PKK militants and supporters, local
administrations and opinion leaders in the region. Back then, flyers
were thrown from airplanes that said, `We are all brothers because we
are all Muslims, so there is no need to make a distinction between
Kurds and Turks.’ According to Ergil, the state was confused back
then. This is also the case now because this is still being considered
a security issue and terrorist problem.
“Terrorism is the outcome, not the root cause, in this case. Because
we are focusing on the outcome, we have realized that what is called
peace is a big deal and as a result, are negotiating Turkey’s
democratization with an armed organization. Do you see our impasse
now? We were unable to properly define the problem. And due to the
lack of a proper identification, the government and the president now
have disagreements on how to approach this issue. There are certain
ambiguities in the relations between the government and the Peoples’
Democratic Party [HDP]. We are not aware of this. We do not understand
our opponent. We want to reflect what we have in our minds and want
them to accept it as it is,” Ergil said.
He shares a sad memory from the time he spent in the east of the
country. “They said, `Welcome Turkish intellectual.’ This was 2000.
There is a region in my country where I was welcomed as a Turkish
intellectual. We never thought about how we had come to this point.
There is no such thing as a problem in nature or society. There is a
phenomenon that has not been properly identified or administered. Why
should Kurds be the problem? If Turks have a Kurdish problem then
Kurds also have a Turkish problem. For this reason, I was bothered by
being welcomed as a Turkish intellectual. The most important part is
how this distinction emerged.’
MGK Secretary-General DoÄ?an Beyazıt later told Ergil they wanted to
work with him. They had outlined a job description on assimilating the
Kurdish identity within Turkish nationalism. Ergil, however, told
Beyazıt that in a multi-ethnic society, absorbing one of the
identities or nationalities into the fundamental and major identity
may provoke the other identities, and that this would exacerbate the
issue.
“If I had accepted that job, they would have created an institute.
They had a lot of money, and I would have been able to take advantage
of this for many years. I told them it was not practically possible
nor was it scientific or ethical. They, in response, told me that I
should be patient because they would eliminate the PKK in six months
and that they would then work with me under different conditions,’ he
added.
`Life would have been different if I had stayed in the US’
When asked what would have been different if he had stayed in the US,
Ergil said: “I would have been rewarded. I have received a number of
awards, but they are all from foreign institutions. My country did not
reward me. What I wrote there was in the curricula here. But what I
wrote here is not considered proper. Society wants us to attend
courses and take exams. They do not want us to do research, develop
theories or innovate. Just attend courses, take the test and get your
diploma. Nothing will come out of this academic style. And such a
course only offers a transmission of basic knowledge.’
Ergil spends his summer in the coastal village of SöÄ?üt.
`I have bourgeois hobbies like basketball and diving’
Ergil proudly emphasized that he played basketball until the age of
60, even playing on the national team, and dived regularly off the
coast of the village of SöÄ?üt between the districts of Marmaris and
Datça.
“I have not bought fish at all since I [last] fished. I also have a
nine-meter-long boat. I spend the majority of my summers in this
coastal village, swimming and diving,” Ergil noted.
“I had a very happy childhood. For instance, there were 50 young
people while I was a teenager in Ankara. Everyone knew each other.
They were all middle class children in the same neighborhood. They
used to play basketball on the same playground; they used to hang out
in the same cafes. I attended Ankara College. Parents knew each other.
We had a lot of fun. We learned a lot from each other. School was fun;
for this reason, nobody skipped school or classes. Sports changed my
life. It gives you a sense of competition. And competition under the
same conditions contributes to your moral values. You develop concerns
about equality, and it becomes institutionalized.’
Ergil is seen with his wife.
`My mother was an amazing woman. My parents met while my father was in
military college. He did not believe in anyone else but himself. He
had great confidence in himself. My reference is my mother; for this
reason, I had a hard time liking someone. She never forced me to do
anything in order to raise me as an independent individual. She sent
me to a typing course. When I went to the US, computers were just
coming out. But I was able to type very quickly. I am attached to some
elegant pleasures and hobbies. For this reason, my left-wing views do
not go beyond social democracy. I am for equality in social welfare
rather than social misery,” Ergil said.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_govt-aims-to-impose-islamist-ideology-on-youth-as-its-predecessors-imposed-kemalism_377049.html