Those following the party leaders are no different. They may come in the form of Cabinet ministers, deputies or senior diplomats, but they share the same accusatory and domineering rhetoric. Is this a matter of style or is there a political understanding that is disrespectful of the “other” and exalts the state over the nation? While both of these traits are bad enough, racism against the minorities of this country expressed in the guise of nationalism is apparent.
Until recently, a retired senior diplomat who was the vice chairman of the main opposition party justified the slaughter of the Dersim/Tunceli Kurds by poison gas and aerial bombardment by saying it was done for the security of the state. While his main concern was the unity of the country and the integrity of the nation, he was exposing the statist bias in Turkish politics that always came before the welfare and security of the nation. He is not alone; a minister in the current government could not help but praise the cleansing of all non-Turkish and non-Muslim minorities at the onset of the republic, stating with joy how rewarding it is to have a homogeneous society today. However, any sane observer could see that this standardized society cut to a manageable size by its rulers has become unmanageable today despite the ethnic and religious “corrections” carried out. Yet the poor minister was still rejoicing.
The latest gem came from a very experienced Cabinet minister who complained about the fact that some of the captured or killed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants were not circumcised. He blamed it on the Armenians. His words were exactly as follows: “There is a close relationship between Armenian and PKK [Kurdish] terrorism. They are blood brothers. The former has left the stage to be replaced by the latter. In fact, I beg your pardon, the fact that some of them are not circumcised must mean a lot to you. This is not hearsay; we know all too well who is who.”
There’s a Turkish saying in response to statements such as this: “From which end shall we hold this?” I wonder whether the PKK looks under the belly of the militants as it recruits them with the same interest as the minister? Apparently it does not. Could it be that this notorious organization is more tolerant of religious and ethnic differences that the Cabinet member? Secondly, how come he knows that every uncircumcised militant is an Armenian?
The last example of intolerance toward “others” came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The zestful patriot and exemplary citizen, as well as a thought-provoking Armenian journalist of this country, the late Hrant Dink was assassinated by a nationalist (underage) thug on Jan. 19, 2007, in İstanbul. He tried very hard to raise the Turkish consciousness about the plight of the Armenians and their past suffering, just as he fought against the excesses of the Armenian Diaspora for its exaggerated accusations against Turkey. In fact, Hrant wanted to cleanse our souls of the hatred of the “other” that poisoned the two peoples and prevents them from painting a healthy picture of the past and building a common future. He struggled so gallantly to rectify the malady in the souls of both Turks and Armenians by a humanistic exorcism of the hatred that sickened both peoples. By doing so he drew the wrath of nationalists on both sides that thrive on hatred of the other. All military and civilian authorities in the security and intelligence agencies knew of the preparations to kill him. They turned their eyes away and deadened their consciousness until it happened and the trial of his assassin and his accomplices turned into a shameful theater with no results.
When his family appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to rectify an unusual lawsuit that had nothing to do with proper international due procedures of law, the ministry wrote a defense in the name of the Turkish Republic, likening the late Armenian journalist to Hitler and accusing him of inciting hatred against Turks. This was an open example of racism, shaming all of us. How shall we get rid of this suspicion, anxiety and hatred of the other in us that makes it impossible to live with other peoples of the same motherland and build a democratic system based on equality and the rule of law?
