In light of the information we have today we understand that having the MGK define missionary activities as a “threat” was part of a big plot against the government. I have tried to explain this in my earlier articles. After the classification of missionary activities as a threat in 2002, a campaign was launched against missionaries that resulted in attacks against them. The great plan was this: The deep state would create a connection between the presence of an “Islamic party” in power and attacks against Christians. In this way, the world would see the intolerant nature of “Islamists” and Europe would cut off its support for the government. The attacks on Christians were being used to lay the groundwork for a coup against the government.
In Turkey, all political parties have been influenced by nationalism to varying degrees. Even though the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is a political party that consists mainly of religious Muslims, it also has a nationalist component. Those who planned coups aimed to use missionary work as a scapegoat to seize religious people and push them towards a nationalist course, which they managed to do to a certain degree.
Nationalism in Turkey is a dominant idea in the mentality of Turkish society, which several surprised foreign observers have come to realize. Even though the intensity of nationalism rises and falls from time to time, it remains an unchangeable, main current in the background of the political scene.
Of course there are many reasons for why nationalism is as strong as it is. Turkey’s “founding myth” is based on the struggle for the independence of a state that is encircled by enemies and under the occupation of foreign forces. Turkish nationalism emerged quite late, which is why it is very reactive. Since Turkey became a racially diverse country, the concept of “being a Turk” was defined through religion rather than race. A Turk was a Muslim, or more precisely, a Turk was not a non-Muslim. This is a key part of the issue; modern Turkey was constructed on the expulsion and exclusion of non-Muslims from these territories. The modernizing force that excluded non-Muslims also kept Islam and Muslims under its control. I have tried to explain how all these things happened in the past many times.
On the one hand, religious Muslims in Turkey were able to undersign major reforms in Turkey because they did not come from the political tradition of the Committee of Union and Progress, which can be described as a modern nationalist movement that murdered non-Muslims, but on the other hand were unable to keep a distance from that political tradition when it came to the Armenian genocide taboo due to the nationalist component inside of them. Turkey managed to overcome the mentality of being a country surrounded by enemies on all sides under the administration of the AK Party, but despite these developments this government exhibited the same reflex any nationalist government would show in Turkey when the “Armenian genocide” bill was being debated in the US Congress.
A day before memorial services will be held around the world for the Armenian genocide on April 24, in other words on April 23, the “Monument to Humanity” is going to be demolished. This monument, even though it hasn’t been officially named and even though it was built somewhat hesitantly, is a statue that was erected to serve Turkish-Armenian rapprochement. It emphasizes that we are all a part of humanity. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan initiated the process leading to its destruction by calling it a “monstrosity” of a statue.
There is no doubt that Erdoğan tried to appeal to nationalist voters and to take advantage of popular nationalist sentiment by leading this debate on the statue. If Erdoğan and his team could come to terms with the fact that they were also affected by the wave of hysteria that was produced regarding “missionaries” in 2002 then they would not be occupying themselves with this statue or playing with the public’s nationalist feelings. Any time there is a hike in nationalism in Turkey, it means the groundwork for a provocation is being laid against this government. In fact, the incident on Monday in which artist Bedri Baykam, who is protesting the destruction of this statue, was stabbed shows once again how an increase in nationalism can be manipulated.
The nationalist rhetoric that is being used over this statue has turned into a boomerang that came back and hit the prime minister and the government. Erdoğan calls a statue a “monstrosity,” a decision is made to destroy the statue and an artist who is protesting the demolition is stabbed. Just days before April 24, what do you think the world is going to say about Turkey? I hope this attack will be a serious wake-up call for Erdoğan and his team to see how nationalist rhetoric has backfired. I ask the government to take serious measures, particularly to prevent potential provocative attacks against memorial services to be held in Turkey on April 24.
