Kenize Mourad: Writing on Middle East easier in Haaretz than French press

How often do you visit Turkey?

I come to Turkey once a year. I was renting a flat in Cihangir. It was beautiful with a view of the Bosporus, Topkapı, the Ayasofya and the Blue Mosque. It was a rental place because I don't have the means to buy an apartment. Nowadays I stay with family.

In an interview you talk about your first time in Turkey at the age of 21 when you came working as a hostess for Air France. You visited Topkapı Palace and touched some of the furniture there. The attendants warned you to keep your hands off and you became very emotional. Since then, have you ever thought about living here?

You know, at the time not really, because my work was in France. And I spoke only English and French. I didn't speak Turkish, and without Turkish I couldn't work here. So my work was in France, and after that job my work was in the field of journalism. I love journalism. I would never be able to write in Turkish, anyway. But I was able to write about Turkey in my work. And then [following my career as a journalist] I began to write books. I came to Turkey in 2004-2005, and the big problem for me was the language.

People really have an expectation from you to speak Turkish. Just recently on a TV program your received a few questions on why you don't speak Turkish as an Ottoman descendant. How does that make you feel?

It's normal for people to ask me, but insisting that I must speak Turkish is a little unfair, especially given my circumstances. We were exiled, and my mother died when I was only one. I was brought up by a French family. I exerted a great deal of effort to find my roots, to come back to Turkey and India [where my paternal heritage is] as well. It was a long journey to embrace my past and not always easy. I think, however, that I did a great service to Turkey through my book (“Regards from the Dead Princess: Novel of a Life”), because, well, Turkey is not well liked in Europe. What I was able to do through this book far exceeded anything I could have done through merely speaking Turkish. When it was first published, nobody knew anything about the Ottoman Empire. [It was the] same with the people in Turkey. I feel like it was a very well-balanced book. I showed that not everything was black and white. It was grey, and you know, there were good aspects of the Ottoman era and good aspects of the republican era. Twenty to 30 years ago Turkish people were divided in loyalty. It was as if you were for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, then you were against the Ottomans. And if you were for the Ottomans, then you had to be against Atatürk. It's a pity. When my book was published, and I must say that the Turkish government received it very well because they saw a good portrayal of the legacy of Turkey, and when I came here there was a lot of talk about my book. People on the streets were coming up to me kissing my hand and thanking me. They were thanking me for [helping them with] reconciliation with the past. People said, “You have given us back our past,” because they had lost a great deal of their identity and their glorious past. Of course, history books would always talk about the greatness of sultans like Kanuni Sultan Süleyman and Fatih Sultan Mehmed, but after that, they wrote that things fell off the deep end, and this is not always true.

In an effort to turn those who made a republic out of Turkey into heroes and elevate them, they perhaps vilified the Ottomans?

Yes, and this is the same as what happened after the French Revolution. They also had to say that the king and all of the aristocrats were evil in order to be able to establish power. It's normal, and I understand it very well. I always say that all of my family is very grateful for Mustafa Kemal to have saved the country. Because without Mustafa Kemal there would have been no Turkey, it would have been finished. It's true that our family, the exiled family, says that Mustafa Kemal was not very nice to us, but we also say that he saved the country.

You are well read on Ottoman culture. Is there anyone that stands out for you, a favorite, other than your great grandfather?

Of course, I prefer Fatih Sultan Mehmed. He was fantastic. He was very intelligent very open and magnificent young man. Kanuni Sultan Süleyman is also great, but Fatih Sultan Mehmed was more fascinating. He was very young and powerful.

There are around 265 remaining members of the Ottoman Dynasty. How do you feel about the old generation disappearing?

It saddens me on two levels. They are my family and also it's not just people, but a piece of history that is dying.

You've said that you will no longer be able to work as a journalist, because there is too much censorship of your work in Europe, and France in particular. Have you closed this chapter completely?

I would love to go back to it, but you can not write freely about the Middle East. I can tell you that a paper like Haaretz in Israel is freer to write pieces that criticize the Israeli government over their treatment of Palestinians than we are in France in our French papers. The [Jewish] Diaspora in France is very strong and influential. So that's why I don't write anymore, but I'm freer to write now through books. In my book about Palestinians (“Our Sacred Land: Voices of the Palestine-Israeli conflict”) I interviewed different families, and it was boycotted, actually. There was little coverage of it [in France]. Again, it's not the West per say that is the problem, it's the influence of the lobby. In France they are as influential as they are in the US.

You spoke about Israeli intellectual terrorism.

Yes, I did that a while ago and it led to a lot of problems.

Has anything changed? For example, has the Mavi Marmara done to anything to hinder this intellectual terrorism? Has it given a message of any kind?

Mavi Marmara was not well received in Zionist circles, and here I want to make a distinction between the Jewish people and the Israeli government. I have a lot of Jewish friends who are pro-Palestinian. So in Turkey I find that the two become mixed. It was well received by the general people because they are human beings who are able to see the suffering of the Palestinians. They see the suffering of Gaza, and even a person such as the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, who is very discreet and shies away from making firm statements, said that they [conditions in Gaza] are inhumane and unacceptable.

What would you say to those who then say that the government is cherry picking its causes and it lends a hand to Palestine because of Islamic sentiments? “If they truly cared about human rights, then they would take measures against Sudanese President al-Bashir,” for example…

The Sudanese case is not as clear as the case of Palestine. The Palestine case is as clear as crystal. And in the Sudanese case there is tribal war in the south, there are Chinese and American interest in the south because there is a lot of oil. Why is America so interested in Afghanistan? Not for human rights. Let's not kid ourselves. [Similar to Turkey] in France, anything the opposition does is bad. In France the Socialists disagree with Sarkozy's every move, even when he is suggesting something beneficial. This is what is happening in Turkey, and its silly. There should be a uniting taking place on something like the Kurdish issue. The government in Turkey has tried this, but has not received enough support.

What do you feel about Turkey being said to be experiencing a shift of axis, from the West to the East?

I think it's ridiculous. They want Turkey to be completely aligned with the West. They want Turkey to follow everything they want, which Turkey has been doing for a long time. And now Turkey is becoming a stronger power and more assertive in its foreign policy due to economic reasons. It's much better than Europe. Turkey must thus take advantage of all of its opportunities. Turkey is located in a strategic place. And how can the US decide on Turkey's foreign policy and how can Israel decide on what Turkey must do? It's a shame that the US and Europe still see Turkey as that poor weak country.

How do you feel about the Islamophobia on the rise in Europe?

It's a huge problem yes. There was a recent poll in which they asked French people "What do you equate Islam with?" and the most popular answer was fanaticism. It's a difficult and big problem, and now there is the issue of the burqa, which has fuelled the debate.

So do you say that Muslims are partially responsible for causing this Islamophobia?

Partly. In Europe we have, mostly in France, North African immigrants. These are people from the poorest strata: Algerians, Moroccans and Tunisians. They came to France as factory workers. France needed the workers and they were bringing them in from North African villages. They did not know anything about city life. So, of course, the French people didn't think highly of them. They were nice people, but they didn't have a city, urban education.

On the other hand, Islam has been an enemy of Christianity since day one, and it's a long story. And it is also a sort of racism on behalf of Europeans; however, some young Muslims, such as the new generation of Algerians born in France, who have French nationality, don't stay in school, the boys in particular. They don't have support at home because their families don't speak French, and the environment at home is not conducive to studying. The proportion of young Muslims involved in small criminal activities is very high. I conducted a study through interviews and there was a judge who told me that at the same economic level and the same level of education for French youth, there is the same level of social problems and criminal activity.

We read that when you were young you became interested in Sufism, studied it and found yourself close to Islam. You perceive yourself as a Muslim. Did you actually take the shahada?

Yes, absolutely. As I said, I feel its more in the heart and what you do. Of course, I don't wear a scarf. I was read the translation of the Quran by scholars, and it said in the Quran that women should be modest. I believe that modesty is defined by the era. Back in history modesty would have required that a woman's ankle not be seen and now it's something else. I think what is important is ijtihad (the derivation of religious opinion about a matter that is not mentioned in the sources of Islam). I hope that this is practiced more frequently in the Muslim world.

You have said before that Turkey is a good example of modern Muslim country.

Yes, it could be; you have extremists in Turkey as well. There should be room for women like yourself and women like me, too. I think tolerance is really the key. Islam was very tolerant when it was revealed; it became intolerant as time passed by.

Tell us about your latest book, which is slated to be published in the fall.

It is a story which has never been written before. It is the story of a woman, a Muslim woman in India, who was one of the first leaders of the first revolt against the British government, and it's a non-fiction story, though slightly novelized, that took place in 1857. This was the first great revolt of the Sepoy, and the first revolt against the British. This woman was one of the many wives of the king. The British exiled the king, and beseeching rebels and soldiers came and told her that they wanted her 10-year-old son to be the king. And for two years she stood against the British. It's an interesting story because in Europe they believe that Muslim women are being oppressed; this was an example of a Muslim woman who was a chief of war and the head of an army, and who fought very bravely.

Do you have any item you cherish that was given to you by your family?

I have nothing from my father or mother, not even a handkerchief, because my mother died in misery in Paris and everything was dispersed. I am very proud to have achieved everything by myself.