In the political history of this country, people holding different opinions were never subjected to ethnic or religious cleansing. The Ottoman nation’s system was inclusive of all parts, just as in the mosque models of Architect Sinan, where the half and quarter domes are part of the mosque. In this huge system -- the biggest dome symbolizes the system -- each and every ethnic and religious group fits into the system in a way pleasing to them. The “otherizing” of people from different political views and their subjection to a “purification process” are concepts that belong to the near past. The concept of “minority” was introduced to the Ottoman state for the first time in the 19th century. In the Ottoman lands, there was a significant amount of non-Muslims, however they did not have a minority status; they were subject to dhimmi law. (This word etymologically and socially meant that the protection of the lives, properties and honor of non-Muslims was incumbent on Muslims.) Modern political culture, which bases the identity of the nation state on a single factor, has precipitated conflicts among different religious and ethnic groups. Where differences should have been perceived as richness, they were declared to be reasons for conflict. This was manifest in a few different ways. This misconception underlies the problems we are suffering today. We are having great difficulty sharing our lives on a small piece of soil with people with whom we peacefully shared it for centuries.
Starting in the 1970s, during anti-communism rallies people would shout slogans such as, “Communists to Moscow!” This discriminatory attitude was undoubtedly not reserved for communists alone. This time, in the 1990s, they wanted to exile people who cared about their religious duties, shouting slogans like, “Mullahs and extremists to Iran!” When headscarf-wearing girls knocked on the door of the 9th President Süleyman Demirel, in hopes of finding a remedy from him, he showed them the road to Saudi Arabia. These known circles did not remember the mandatory provision of the Constitution and thus did not ask Demirel, “Mr. Demirel, where are you sending millions of women and girls who are Turkish citizens?” Those who want to send people who take their religion seriously to Iran or Saudi Arabia were insulting and humiliating not only their people, but also these two countries, which are our friends and brothers.
Bekir Coşkun -- who considered Abdullah Gül, whose party received 46.5 percent of the votes in the elections, not fitting for the post of the presidency -- is from Şanlıurfa in southeastern Turkey. He has the temerity to write these lines, wrongfully assuming himself to be a white elite who belongs to the “government of the state”: “Frankly speaking, this is the victory of ‘the man who scratches his belly.’ He made his decision before the general elections. While those wishing for a bright future for their children took to the city squares, he laughed up his sleeves from afar, scratched his belly and paved the way for a religious state. Abdullah Gül is a tailor-made president for him. In fact, Gül will be his president, not mine!” (Hürriyet, Aug. 15, 2007.)
Bekir Coşkun is so dauntless as to write these lines -- that is to say, he thinks he has the right and power to thusly humiliate the 16 million people from all regions and all ethnic groups of Turkey who voted for the AK Party. These insults are among the rights of “elite citizen Bekir Coşkun.” And what is demanded of millions of people is to keep silent in the face of these insults. Former Istanbul Governor and Mayor Fahrettin Kerim Gökay had summed up this mindset with a very short and to-the-point statement: “People flocked on the beaches; citizens cannot swim!” Gökay was implying that the beaches belonged only to the privileged. And the people, in their sight, are responsible for fulfilling the duties assigned to them by the elites in the “state’s government”; not for seeking to exercise their fundamental rights and liberties.
But the times have changed; those whose mouths once smelled of garlic and onion moved to the urban areas and are now urbanized and educated. They participated in the trade life and are now exposing their intention to weigh heavily in the administration. A certain part of the conflict is going on between the elitist representatives of state power and ordinary people.
