There are people who want to extract a regime problem from these debates, so much so that there is also a group risking the interruption of democracy by jumping into action with hatred and anger to find a "rooted" solution. Let's seek answers by asking questions: Are there people wanting to divide us? Yes. The remedy is to love one another more and act like siblings. Are there people wanting to divide us into camps? Yes. The remedy is dialogue and tolerance, and learning to trust each other against the doubts they are trying to plant among us. Are there people wanting to turn Turkey into a totally Middle-Eastern country that will cut all its ties to the world and recede into itself? Yes. The remedy is opening up to the world by trusting ourselves and raising the bar of democracy and freedoms on the way to the European Union. Are there people wanting to sabotage our economic improvement and our leap forward? Yes. The remedy is political stability.
So, do we have ground where our common values stand for all of this? Yes. It is our religion, essential values, Atatürk, the republic, secularism, democracy and the rule of law. If we agree on this and if we lend an ear to the rational majority and not a minority living with its delusions, we will find the solution pointed out by common sense.
Those trying to bring up the Atatürk issue before the majority of the people and divide them along different lines between secular and religious are the ones who cause the most damage to this country. Atatürk is a common value of this society. Atatürk gave back a repressed nation its independence as a military and administrative genius, made it taste freedom again and placed it back on the path forward amongst competing nations. He reminded our nation of the undisputed importance of the mind, science and technology in the name of progress. He also claimed all the values we hold sacred in this nation, and respected them. I would like to give an example from a historical document:
Major Mehmet Nuri Bey (Nuri Conker) from the General Staff turned a conference with his friends from the First Division in the winter of 1913 into a book entitled "Officer and Commander," (Zabit ve Kumandan in Turkish). A Turkish military attaché in Bulgaria, who read the book, one Staff Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Kemal, wrote a book about the work. This book was entitled "A Friendly Chat with Officer and Commander," (Zabir ve Kumanda ile Hasbihal in Turkish). It was published in 1962 by Türkiye İş Bankası Culture Publications for the second time.
Atatürk writes: "As it is a task for us to win the spirit of our soldiers, the task of creating an aspiration and a high moral character in them also falls on us, after Allah the Most High and Our Prophet." Atatürk notes that lofty aspirations suit the character of our nation, but he maintains only by remaining committed and devoted to our own values is it possible to rise. And if people of other character try to shape us our efforts will fall short of having a lasting effect.
Isn't a Turkey that walks toward the West by the rule of law, with a republic crowned with the diadem of democracy by generations who are altruistic, hardworking, and can settle accounts with their era by preserving their own values, the Turkey Atatürk had wanted -- a Turkey on the rise without severing its relations with the family of humanity?
Yes, Turkey is indeed on a forward path, but it must engage reason, common sense and preserve economic and political stabilization. The escalating tensions between the government and opposition, and the hardening rhetoric, are being carried to heights where they could pose a danger to the country. Will Turkey, working for the alliance of civilizations, be able to achieve tolerance and conciliation within itself?
