In particular, that fantastic “journey back in time” sensation you feel on some days, thanks to strange statements uttered by leading figures of society and Turkish politics, cannot be felt as strongly as elsewhere in the world. But, I must confess that we still have a problem that we haven't settled. We still cannot make up our minds whether we should be really happy or sad for living in such an exciting country. Would it be better to live routine and tedious lives as reasonable people in a normal country and, as a price, feel bored? Or should we prefer living in a country like ours and encounter new surprises at every corner? Really, is there any other country that undertakes brilliant and bold initiatives to give a real boost to a country that has been suffering from years of neglect and which, at the same time, takes you back to the Middle Ages or the 1940s?While I was reading papers this weekend, I found myself engulfed by these prickly thoughts and feelings. Will you agree with me about these feelings after what I will write below?
Take, for example, what the Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said. Acting obstinately by not meeting with the government concerning the democratic initiative that paves the way for the eventual settlement of the Kurdish issue, Baykal responded to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's words about establishing dialogue with the CHP. “We will go to them if they don't come to us.” He said: “They feel the need to establish dialogue with us. But we will not be their companion on the road ... This government is trying to persuade society that terrorism can be prevented via democratization. This is not realistic. The essence of the issue is how to eliminate terrorism ... Terrorism will not decrease but increase with this initiative. Blackmailing will increase. If you satisfy them today, they will ask for more tomorrow.”
This is what I mean by journey back in time. Perhaps, a political leader who says, “If you satisfy them today, they will ask more tomorrow” cannot be found in any of the contemporary democracies except Turkey. This sentence is perhaps more suited to the overlord of the Middle Ages who would regard himself as entitled to put all sorts of pressure on his subjects and who would view anything given to the people as his favor. However, we have no chance of seeing these overlords today. But if you still insist on seeing one? Then, come and visit our country. I can assure you that you will be fully amazed by the fantastic Middle Age atmosphere that Baykal, the leader of a so-called leftist and social democratic party, the CHP, will make you experience.
If you ask “Is that all?” then you underestimate our country. You don't know what potential we have. There are some “social democrats” who act like normal human beings among us, and you will be shocked to see their real faces. For instance, what about a “social democratic” politician, a professor of constitutional law and the first to be awarded United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) International Human Rights Education Award, who will immediately take you back to the blood-stained years of the 1930s or 1940s, rife with fascism, racism and massacres. Do you think we are being too surrealist with this proposal? But we already experience that surrealism to the highest extent every day in this country thanks to guys like Mümtaz Soysal, a columnist at the Cumhuriyet newspaper, a professor of constitutional law, a social democrat. Of course, I cannot advise you to experience this, but at least you can know more about what we, as ordinary citizens who seek to lead a free and normal life in this country, go through every day.
You will remember Soysal's article titled “Final solution,” published some time ago in the Cumhuriyet newspaper, a paper that has no connection to reality and that still calls itself “leftist” through it is the most fascist paper in Turkey. Soysal, who in this article proposes in sum to force the Kurds in Turkey to migrate to northern Iraq and in return, bring Turkmen people there to Turkey, has not, so it seems, paid any attention to the protests voiced against him. In an interview he gave to the Akşam daily yesterday, Soysal repeats the same views and stressed that he backs to the full the “final solution” proposal, which sounds much too Hitlerish.
Listen to what this weird social democrat, a human rights award laureate and a professor of constitutional law, proposes: “Turkey has changed considerably during the last 10 years. The ban on speaking Kurdish has been abolished; the ban on broadcasting in Kurdish has been lifted; even the state itself airs programs in Kurdish; and Kurdish language courses are being opened. If they still do not want to stay in such a Turkey and if they feel squeezed here, then we will tell them, ‘Those who want to stay there may stay, and those who want to go may go.' That way, I had said in my article, that ‘population exchange will be needed' ... They want ‘education in their mother tongue' ... We are not forcing anyone who does not like the conditions of the Turkish Republic to stay here. Possibly, they will go on their own.”
Soysal also criticizes the people who, like me, censure these views as “fascism” and defends himself: “They don't known what fascism is. Fascism does not talk about these [topics] but sends tanks forward and finishes [it] off. The same issue occurred between Poland and Germany and World War II erupted because of this. I, woo, would propose such a thing and say, ‘Why do you stop? Go ahead!' Do you think that those tanks attended the parade for nothing on Aug. 30 ...”
Really, where is fascism in these views of Soysal, who had campaigned for the closure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in 2008? It seems we treat him unfairly. We are so grateful to social democrat Soysal for teaching us why tanks attended the parade on Aug. 30 and for him not to propose to drive those tanks on our Kurdish citizens ... Dear Mr. Soysal, acting on behalf of “those who don't know anything about fascism,” I would like to thank you for not send those tanks against our Kurdish citizens. Will you accept these words of thanks from a person who never gets your words right?
