George Mitchell came and listened to all sides in the Middle East, without a single "that is my position" word and went back to report. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is known to be a talkative woman -- talkative to the point of embarrassing her husband in front of the nation. But she came, listened to Turkish diplomats and politicians, took notes and returned home. She even asked already-answered questions and listened to the answers and took notes. In the initial stages, the fact that the Americans are not coming with pre-prepared dossiers to impose plans and strategies on us sounds good. But after being listened to so much, even a patient on the doctor's table wants to listen, too: "What do you say, doc? Am I gonna die?" No, the Americans are silent. To the best of my knowledge, they haven't created a solution for Afghanistan, nor for Iraq or Palestine. Pakistan is in a dangerous state. Iran is still waiting to be addressed properly. What we can speculate with some degree of sarcasm is this: The Americans are listening, gathering the information and preparing that "address of the age" that President Barack Obama will present to the Muslim world, God knows when and from which Muslim capital.
What I am afraid of is that the address of the age shall start with, "Now, you listen!"
With that fear in my mind, let me say a few words to the listening-for-the-time-being American diplomats:
There is a fundamental difference between the life perceptions of the people who live to the east of the Bosporus and to the west of it. To the west of it -- the First World, they say -- predictability is what makes life meaningful. To the east of it, surprise is the driving force of life. To us, you do not live. To us, you are just parts of a mechanical system. To us, your future is planned, programmed and you are just thrown into it. We, on the other hand, live a vivid life. We never know what will happen tomorrow. You see, a new oil well in Texas never excites your people. But the day before yesterday a new well was opened in Adıyaman and we were all surprised and happy. God knows what news will make us happy tomorrow. We are so full of life, because our tomorrows are so full of surprises.
Here man can change things. We don't let the system run the daily routine. We let man intervene; we let man run things outside of the regular lines. To a certain extent we are open to "moral irregularities" just to let human intervention have its say. Because of that, each and every man in the streets of Turkey regards himself as a potential savior of the world. We solve the problems you have been dealing with in the Pentagon and the White House for over a century within hours. In God we trust, as do you, but in Man we trust, too.
Now this nation of saviors is the only country that creates security for its neighbors in its region. To be precise, to the east of Germany Turkey is the only country people want to come and settle down in, and people believe that they can have a happy future here. This nation does not want to be a small America. This nation does not want to be the ruler of the Muslim world in the name of the West. This nation wants to be an island of peace. This nation wants to be arbiter mundi. We want to distribute the smiles we have been carrying on our faces for so long to all the nations of the world. We don't want to be the capital of money or of politics; we want to be the capital of love, mercy and justice.
American presidents made us believe in self-determination, democracy, human rights and international cooperation. In Gaza, with his silence, an American president taught us that all these were empty lies. Is Obama ready to learn and teach the world that what we need is to create a civilization of love, mercy and justice?
I don't know what our diplomats and politicians told your listening representatives. But if you really want to listen, come and listen to the people of Turkey, too.
