When the Soviet Union disintegrated, it was said that the doors of the building in which different religions and ethnicities were imprisoned were opened to let them go free. Yes, the Soviet Union was a big prison that kept diverse identities under tight control; however, before long, it was understood that the Western world and other geographies were in a similar situation.Localization on one hand and regionalization and globalization on the other are dealing big blows to the nation-state. The nation-state would propose that individuals should have a singular identity defined from high above. Actually, it would not only propose it, but also impose this endorsed identity and repress other identities. People might not be raising their voices, but this would not mean that they were perfectly satisfied with this repressive identity. Indeed, at the first opportunity, they acted to make what they thought to be their primary identity more visible.
While the nation state was being battered by the above-mentioned factors, modern society entered a process of disintegration in the postmodern era. The question is how to make sure diverse religious, ethnic and cultural communities can live together peacefully. This is one of several questions which are the most taxing in the postmodern period.
In parallel to the weakening of multiculturalism in the West, right-wing parties, racist and xenophobic movements grew stronger, which implies that there are grave problems with respect to the coexistence of diverse identities in Western countries. If things go on in this manner, we can say that differentiation among different groups will become more salient in near future.
There is no doubt that the people who have respect for diverse religions, cultures and ethnicities are trying to find solutions to this issue of coexistence. As the positivism of the 19th century and the idea of a Western-oriented civilizing/modernizing mission are left behind, people are turning their eyes to different resources. At this point, authentic referential sources of religions and historic experiences of different human geographies gain importance.
We have a concrete example at hand: Mardin. Located in southeastern Anatolia near the northern border with Syria, this city is considered "unlucky" as it is economically "underdeveloped" and it has not been "modernized." However, this very quality can also be regarded as its luck. Indeed, the city has a past dating back several thousands of years, and one can see the concrete architectural traces of this ancient history that date back 850 to 5,000 years ago. Moreover, these building are not derelict but are currently being used as mosques, inns and churches. In addition, there are several religious groups living side by side: Muslims, Syriacs -- with its three different sects -- and Yazidis, whose numbers are considerably small now. From an ethnic point of view, we can discern Arabs, Kurds and Turks. There are even Arabized Circassian and Chechen people. The houses of the people who migrated from Hungary to this city are still there.
After the 1960s, there was a sizable decrease in the number of Syriacs, from 70,000 to 3,500 today. The patriarchate moved from Mardin to Damascus in 1932. Nowadays, Syriac families are returning to Mardin from metropolitan areas and from Europe. Except for places of worship and cemeteries, we see that Syriacs and Muslims use the same markets, neighborhoods and streets. In other words, diverse religious and ethnic groups do not live in isolated ghettos but can intermingle with each other at any time of day.
Last week, several Turkish journalists and writers were invited to Mardin. For two days they discussed the "rehabilitation of the social texture and the perspective for a democratic future." They all agreed on this conclusion: everyone must come to Mardin in order to see in actuality how differences can coexist peacefully in this great center of civilization. Another point that everyone emphasized was that Mardin Governor Hasan Duruer, Mardin Mayor Mehmet Beşir Ayanoğlu and Artuklu University Rector Serdar Bedii Omay are working in harmony to make this city a model city of modern times.
