First they realized that the official narrative offered to them about their history and the monolithic nature of their society made up of similar (cut-and-paste) individuals is a myth and has no basis in real life. This means they have begun to question the official narrative in order to find out the truth about themselves.Change starts with new questions and speeds up with new answers. Alternative narratives offer differing groups the need and opportunity to know of each other’s existence and difference while they all seek existence and acknowledgement in the public sphere. Once this is realized, the single or all-inclusive narrative will lose its character as “national.” It will also lose its authoritarian character.
Today the authoritarian spirit of the political system is being challenged together with the monopolistic role of the dominant actor on the political stage -- namely, the state. As this process unfolds, groups whose histories or even existence have been denied will come out of oblivion. The “simulation” that was taught to us as Turkey proper is becoming more real, as the diversity of the inhabitants of the country is acknowledged. Now they have to be afforded legal status and equality with others. This means the emergence of a nation comprising citizens who own the state rather than subjects who are its servants. As this happens, real or representative actors are expected to appear and to replace the pseudo ones.
Secondly, the structure of the state, designed as more of a security apparatus than a service machine, is coming under scrutiny. Anyone who travels from the east to the west and from the north to the south can see the richness of this country in many respects. Yet Turkey is relatively poor and still far from being called a developed country. On the scale of the UN Development Index, Turkey ranks 79th, way behind the Greek part of Cyprus (32nd), Libya (55th), Oman (56th), Panama (60th), Bulgaria (61st) and Serbia (67th). However, its economy is ranked 17th in the world. This means the wealth generated in the country hardly trickles down in the society.
On the basic freedoms scale measured by Freedom House, Turkey is still among the “half free” countries. On the corruption scale (measured by Transparency International), it is still among the group of countries where corruption has a corrosive effect on the economy and social welfare. What all this means is that Turkey has not been run well and this is not an issue particular to one or two governments. It is systemic.
This fact has led Turks to examine the nature of the state machinery to see the faults in the assembly process. They came to realize that their state does not belong to them. On the contrary, they belong to the state and the bureaucracy is their master. So every popular demand is met with suspicion and as a threat to the established system. Faced with the stark truth, Turkish citizens are now expected to take on the system and begin to overhaul it in 2010. Their determination and success will make a historic difference which they will be proud of. These are interesting times.
