A man, two feet tall, who was nicknamed "Seedbed," lived in our village. He dominated the village myth because of the belief that the Americans used him as a "sperm bank." Hence Seedbed, who did not leave the borders of our village during his entire life, was known to be a little bit American. This poor fellow adopted the role attributed to him by the villagers. He talked about agriculture in the United States, how cows produced 60 kilograms of milk everyday and irrigation techniques, and once in a while, expressed his cultural identity by using the "yes-no" effects.
The attitude of the "bunch of our population" at the gate of Europe, screaming, "We have children! We have young people to look after your elderly!," is just like the attitude of Seedbed. I wish we had other values to offer. If only we could say, "We have solutions for this or that problem of yours."
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Five million Turks currently live in Europe. It is a population more than the total of several EU-member states. If anything could change population-wise within the EU, then this five million Turks could had changed something. Does this population affect any decision in Europe, except for the telephone voting during the Eurovision song contest, so that this 60 million will then be able to exert influence over Europe?
Free movement should certainly be demanded because it befits the honor of humanity; however, why will you have to move freely? Someone who does not know any [foreign] language cannot move freely. Someone who does not have any job qualification is not free either. What happens if you make someone a citizen of the world with no money in his/her pocket? There are Turks born and bred in London but have never left the Turkish district, physically or mentally. They have British passports, however, they cannot move freely. Demanding the prohibition of free movement from a state, in the public domain, at the gates of Europe, where movement is free, appears to be a tedious task indeed.
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It is not true that we do not have anything to offer Europe. We of course may add color to the cultural life of the EU that has become monotonous and has been defeated by McDonaldism, but this should happen through interaction not through ghettoism. We have been marking Ramadan in Europe for 40 years. When European children ask us for candies by knocking at our doors during the Ramadan feast, this intercommunity life will add wealth to the culture. If our European friends begin to fast for a few days in order to understand our feelings when we are fasting, then it means, we will present more values other than population. If this happens, a European Turkey may be an antidote to the clash of civilizations.
We stand at the door of Europe with chaotic ideas, as in this article. Some of us are baffled at this point, "Above all, let's join the EU." Some have no intention of joining, they only try to benefit from the reality of our being at the door. Others also try to move away from the door with the concerns, "We will be caught in the act if the door opens," like naughty street boys who knock at the door and run away.
We are at the gate of Europe occupied with these chaotic feelings. It is normal that similar chaotic voices are rising from the other side of the gate.
October 18, 2004
