He was appointed by the European Commission as an envoy of intercultural dialogue for 2008. Those who have hearts like those of mothers, full of pride and acceptance, cannot tell anybody to leave. Artists in general are the sensitive heart of society. They are the ones who raise their voices amid silence. But they are at the same time the naughty children of the family. If we don’t treat them tolerantly and compassionately, we as the nation lose. However, artists, on the other hand, should belong to the society, be able to speak and write with their free will and should not be imprisoned by ideologies. There are contradictions in the Fazıl Say case. In response to a question of a left-leaning German paper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, he says: “Our dreams about Turkey have partially fallen through. All the wives of the ministers wear headscarves. The Islamists have won. We are about 30 percent, while they are about 70 percent. Not immediately, but I am thinking about moving elsewhere. We are now a minority and being sidelined” (Dec. 14, 2007). An artist of a society doesn’t use discrimination like “us and them.” They don’t feel sidelined and cannot act as instruments for polarizing society.
Apparently, this “neo-nationalist” environment has affected and scared Say -- who spends only 25 days a year in Turkey -- with their, “Are you aware of the danger?” campaign. Despite this campaign based on unreal fears, people restored their confidence in the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) by giving it 47 percent of the vote. With new hope in their hearts, they gave the AK Party one more chance to carry Turkey forward.
Despite all these negativities, we must try to empathize with Say and those who think like him and try to understand their concerns. We have only one request; they should put aside their preconditioned tendencies and try to understand what they perceive as a threat.
An elite clique in Turkey, also called the “white Turks,” think that the changing and democratizing Turkey has ceased to be under their control. And because they see themselves as the real owners of the country, they are suffering from a “defeated syndrome.”
They have been at a loss to sympathize with and digest the parties that have arrived in power since 1950 with landslide election victories -- the Democrat Party (DP), Justice Party (AP), Motherland Party (ANAP/ANAVATAN) and the AK Party. They have always believed that people have been cheated due to their ignorance and that democracy has been used against the republic. And they did one particularly dangerous thing: They provoked the military. It’s them behind all the interventions made in democracy with the support of the media. What now binds them hand and feet is the virtual impossibility of staging a coup in the current global environment. The EU process in particular prevents them. Although they will be the first group of people in Turkey who will benefit from it, they are against the EU project as it will support and spread liberties.
Say and those like him are not right in their fears, because “Islamists” haven’t won as they claim. Democracy has won. Islam is a religion of confidence and peace. Christians and Jews experienced the sweetest taste of peace in the İstanbul of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror. It’s true, on the other hand, that the misinterpretation of religion is what we should be afraid of. Some allegedly religious people feeding the furnace of fears in the media by distancing from the elegance and delicacy of Islam bind only themselves. Yes, there is a growing tendency in Turkey to be better Muslims; has this country ever been harmed by the Islam of Yunus Emre and Mevlana? This nation’s vast tolerance and the plausible majority itself are the evidence that this country will never yield to unfounded fears.
We are trying to understand and empathize with the “Fazıl Says” in Turkey. Don’t you think they have to endeavor to understand and empathize with the 70 percent? Our artist, now also an envoy for dialogue, should first seek to establish a dialogue with his own people. I celebrate Eid al-Adha with all my readers and wish for many more feasts in which we can trust and love one another more.
