More importantly, I recalled an incident that happened early last year and said to myself, "I should not decline an invitation from a school that is characterized by its full adherence to the tradition of democracy." You will remember that incident. For some reason, the university administration had introduced a ban on headscarved students. This had never been seen in the history of Boğaziçi University. Even at the time when all other universities had been applying the ban on headscarves and all the more, some of them had been trying to forcefully "persuade" the girls wearing headscarves to remove their veils, Boğaziçi University had stayed away from such shameful practices. Even during the most fervent time of the Feb. 28, 1997 process, students with or without headscarves had continued to take courses under the same roof, and by not yielding to fascist pressures, they had proven that a true university is a symbol of freedoms, not of bans.
When the headscarf ban was introduced last year, students' democratic reactions to it were considerable. Moreover, these reactions did not come only from the girls with headscarves or conservative boys. Students from all ideological camps, including leftists and rightists, liberals and conservatives, came together and entered the campus together. The ban was rendered ineffective. Then, the administration tried to make distinctions among the girls who had newly started the preparatory class, which also failed to make a difference. Thanks to the democratic resistance by Boğaziçi students, the pro-ban executives had to backpedal.
This is what I call the Boğaziçi model. According to this model, in the defense of fundamental rights and freedoms, everyone should come together and not yield to the discriminatory practices imposed on them. This is the escape route for Turkey. Unless Sunnis defend the rights of Alevis or Alevis raise their voice against the victimization of Sunnis, it not likely that we will sing victory songs of democracy. Women with headscarves should advocate respect for the preferences of women without headscarves so that the lofty orations on freedom can make sense. Women without headscarves should denounce the outdated pressures on women with headscarves so that fascism will withdraw in fear and democratic demands can be freely expressed.
When the injustice of the coefficient practice applied in the university entrance exam was abolished, a man speaking on behalf of a bar association despicably said, "Equality is a question among equals," and scorned the notion of justice; this speaks to a sense of justice that is arbitrarily filtered. If a lieutenant gave a defused hand grenade to a young soldier and caused four soldiers to die and if the media and civil society did not question this, this would mean that there is still progress we must make. If media organizations fail to question the officials who misinformed the media and the general public, saying, "Four soldiers died in an accident," then how can the culture of empathy and democratic boldness develop in this country?
Those who attempt to use the democratic initiative -- which some media organizations insistently call the Kurdish initiative -- in order to trap the government are doing wrong. The problems of Kurds should be settled by Turks so that the talk on unity in this country should make sense. In the same vein, Kurds should appreciate the sensitivities of Turkey. If some "Kurdish intellectuals" still wait for approval from the terrorist organization for every sentence they utter on freedom, they are very unlikely to make any contribution to the settlement.
During iftar, I observed that there were girls with and without headscarves and those from eastern and western provinces among Boğaziçi graduates. This is a perfect scene for Turkey. How I wish those who are busy with intrigues behind closed doors could see this scene. If they could, they would understand that it is impossible to divide this country or to make people the enemies of each other.
