With That Map, Turkish Immigrants Could Do Better Than Merkel

When I first saw the video of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, struggling to locate Berlin on a world map during a geography class in a high school, I thought of Turkish immigrants in Germany, the gastarbeiter.

Merkel, a physical chemist who was elected as the prime minister in one of the countries in the world with the highest rates of higher education, didn't only have trouble locating her own capital, but also placed it instead somewhere near Siberia.

Moreover, when a teacher warned her, Merkel initially declined to accept reality, saying, "No, but what is here?"

I bet that if you ask the same question to the first-generation Turkish immigrants, who have been ridiculed and scapegoated by the right-wing politicians in Germany, each of them could do a better job in spotting Berlin on the same map.

Such ignorance is not rare among right-wing populists, though: 

Remember that Nicolas Sarkozy, former President of France, had once told that he was against Turkey's EU membership, because "this country with 100 million people geographically lies in Asia," violating not only statistical and geographical facts, but also recording a political fallacy, as Cyprus was already admitted to the EU, although it lies in Asia.

For sake of Europe, it is not sad to see that Merkel is on her way out, like her French counterpart.

You can watch the Merkel video if you haven't seen it yet:

Hagia Sophia Prayers Embarrassed Some People, But Not Atatürk

Thousands of Muslims prayed outside Istanbul's historic Hagia Sophia museum today to protest a 1934 law that bars religious services there. "Break the chains, let Hagia Sophia Mosque open," and "God is great", they shouted.

I had written in the past that Haghia Sophia, which served as a cathedral for 916 years and as a mosque for 481 years, is a symbol of tolerance and not repression. With today's show-off (yes, an honest prayer is between God and the person, not some men and surprised tourists), Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk proved right to turn Hagia Sophia into a museum.

Atatürk was a late figure of the Age of Enlightenment and his decision was just another proof of it, among others like women's suffrage and public education. However, this decision is still being criticized by two sides: Some Islamists in Turkey and Western European/American right-wing, as well as their Western-oriented Turkish counterparts. They keep presenting Atatürk as a problem in Turkey's past.

"The museumization of places of worship used to happen in communist dictatorships such as the Soviet Union. Turkey should not follow that bad example — at least anymore," Mustafa Akyol had given such an instance in Hürriyet Daily News a couple of years ago. With such a complexed mind, almost fixated on Atatürk, you would of course think that everything that he has ever done should be wrong. But maybe, only maybe, you can see today that Hagia Sophia should be better off as a museum.

After all, with such an uneducated (yes, it seems that Atatürk and/or his predecessors failed at this level), pretentious but not truely devout masses in Turkey, you can only create chaos by turning back the clock,  making Hagia Sophia a mosque or a church again. It may even rake up the hollow concept of the Clash of Civilizations. And I'm telling these as a Muslim who defines himself as "devout enough."

He did a lot of mistakes, like all leaders, but Atatürk was a progressive. So progressive that he keeps embarrassing the so-called progressives of our time, even 83 years after his death. What can be done now? The man was a genius, his anachronical critiques are obviously not, as seen in the square in front of Hagia Sophia.

Will Turkey Illegalize Abortion Soon?

This is Turkey: I was abroad for a few days and when I returned, I found out that there was a totally new debate going on in politics.

"I am a prime minister who is against Caesarean births. I consider abortion as murder," Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. Although it is a controversial topic among  some Muslim clerics, Turkey is one of the few Muslim-majority countries where abortion is legal (until 10 weeks in pregnancy).

Yes, Erdogan is probably the best ever politician in Turkey, if the primary criteria is to direct the public debate. However, he doesn't always use his words to spin, but sometimes to assess the public reaction before putting a controversial policy into force.

The abortion outburst seems like an example of the former possibility. If the reactions were weak, Erdogan would probably introduce legal obstacles on abortions and Caesarean births. It may mean that Prime Minister, who is paving his way to the presidency nowadays, is ready to compass all aspects of the lives of his citizens.

You know, pro-government media in Turkey calls it the "master era" of Erdogan...

Others, like the Financial Times, calls it "a rule more ruthless" and "more authoritarian."

I value neither of these opinions greatly, as it was the same Financial Times which has been praising Erdogan as a democratizing force until a short while ago.

What I really care is the public debate going on in Twitter and the backstreet cafes now. The reaction of the street will shape the further decisions by the government. "Each nation is governed in the way that it deserves," Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had said.

The Uludere Leak to Stop Drone Exports?

After I read the Wall Street Journal article yesterday, I was initially suspicious of the leak, presuming that it gave an advantage to the parliamentary commission which investigated the Uludere airstrike. "Erdogan was angry @ the commission he formed, 'cause either Army or Government failed in #Uludere, but Commission was afraid 2 blame either. Now they can make a happy scapegoat out of the U.S. administration. It seems it is risk-free for both sides. It will clear the Uludere," I had tweeted.

At first glance, time refuted me quickly, as the leak heightened the tension, instead of defusing the situation. Now the Turkish army is in a harder position, as it sticked to its own version of the story which emphasized that Uludere intelligence was gathered by drones owned by Turkey. "The WSJ story is fraudulent," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan has told today. President Abdullah Gül also supported the Turkish version, reiterated that "we should all rely on our own, national sources."

But why does Pentagon leak such information now, whether it is accurate or not, if the aim is not to help the Turkish government as an ally? A CNN analysis has a hint: "The airstrike also raises questions on how U.S. partners use information given to them by U.S. drones."

I learned from Washington sources today that the U.S. officials which WSJ refered may not be representing the whole U.S. administration. The true intention of the leak may be to force the U.S. administration to stop exporting drones to other countries. Hindering the cooperation between Ankara and Washington against PKK terrorism may indeed be another aim.

Did Postmodern Coup Plotters Create a Popstar?

As Turkey's quest to come to terms with its militarized past continues, several pro-government figures race against each other to display their creativity in writing an alternative, sometimes fictional history.

Latest example was Hasan Celal Güzel, a former minister from Refah Party (RP). Güzel says that three RP members were briefed before the 1997 military memorandum, aka the Postmodern Coup, Vatan newspaper reported today. 

According to Güzel, three colonels boasted of being able to create "popstars" overnight, giving the example of a then-newcomer singer, Mirkelam. A general showed his first video and told the MPs that this singer would be known by whole Turkey the next day, as sixteen columnists wpuld write about him on the orders from the army.

This claim is not only awkward, but also factually wrong, according to Mirkelam's agent. "Mirkelam's first video was released on May 1995. It was two years before the military memorandum," he explained.

It is good that I'm writing about a past that I clearly remember, so I can compare Güzel's "alternative" history with the real one that we lived. It is true that several columnists had praised Mirkelam then, but nobody had found it strange. Simply, Mirkelam was one of the pioneers of the Turkish pop music with the quality of his sounds, as well as his videos, and he deserved his rise to fame.

Here is his first video with the famous "suburban runner" theme, which had made a difference among other pop videos of the time with their boring, traditional settings:

Güzel's historical inaccuracy reminded me of the so-called Sledgehammer Coup plan. Several independent inspectors conclude that the main evidence in the case is digitally forged. As an instance, the "coup document", which is supposed to be written in 2002, includes MS Word font called Calibri, which was included in the program in 2007, it was reported.

The allegation about Mirkelam is easier to refute, technically. But "creative" people like Güzel can find avenues of escape. I'll give them a clue. In one of his videos, Mirkelam was spotted alongside Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in a Zelig-style scene. So, here is your evidence to arrest him today, but then you need to fill prisons with millions of Turks, if you arrest everybody who showed their sincere love for Atatürk in the past:

A Guesstimate Analysis: Exchanging Turkish Journalists for Iranian Pilgrims

Turkish journalist Adem Ozkose (L) and cameraman Hamit Coskun (R) pose with Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) President Fehmi Bulent Yildirim in Damascus in this handout picture released by IHH.

Two Turkish journalists, who were jailed by the Syrian regime, were released on Saturday after two months of imprisonment, as part of what appears to be a prisoner swap between Turkey and Iran through intermediaries in Syria.

I had strongly condemned the Syrian regime when they shamelessly tried to treat the journalists as prisoners of war, although I had reservations about the professional standards of both Turks, who sound more like activists, then journalists, when they talked.

Now I'm extremely happy that they are with their families again, safe and sound, but the Turkish public is left in dark by authorities and it is disappointing. Details of the deal are not known and it is not expected to be revealed by authorities anytime soon.

We only have bits and pieces to have an idea about the solution of the puzzle. Here is the most overlooked detail of the exchange deal:

"For its part, Turkey has also helped release a number of Iranian pilgrims held captive by Syrian insurgents, according to Iranian media reports. Two of the Iranian pilgrims 'kidnapped in northern Syria by an armed group' departed Istanbul for Tehran on May 12 evening, Irna news agency reported. Some 18 of them had been released earlier, while there are still seven of them being held captive in Syria."

It was previously reported that the Syrian regime was bargaining for a deal, demanding the deportation of some members of the Free Syrian Army in Turkey. Some reports were writing about two generals who recently fled the Syrian army.

We don't have the exact facts now, but the most likely picture about the exchange deal is there: 

1) Syria wanted those renegade generals, but Turkey didn't sell out the Syrian opposition which it supported. 

2) Ankara seeked the help of Iran, Syria's main ally in the region. And Tehran had some wishes, too. 

3) So, Iran asked Ankara to convince the Syrian opposition to release two Iranians (who are probably not pilgrims at all), who were jailed in one of their northern strongholds in Syria. 

4) Damascus was persuaded by Iran and the exchange deal was ready, but it took two months for the intermediaries to realize it. 

5) In the end, Turkey thanked Iran, because it managed to secure the release of Turkish journalists for a much lower price: Instead of two former Syrian generals, just two Iranian "pilgrims." 

6) Simply, the Syrian regime is the biggest loser here, as it couldn't get anything except more sympathy from its ally Iran. And the winner is IHH, the controversial Turkish NGO, which scored a PR victory as the main hub for the successful deal.


UPDATE ON MAY 17TH: I learned that the editor of the Ozkose's newspaper confirmed that there was a deal to swap two Turks with two Iranians...

And Erdogan Admits A Mistake...

On a rare occasion, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan has just admitted his mistake.

“We have four red lines. One state, one nation, one flag and one religion," he had said in Adana last week.

Just a couple of hours ago, he got back to the issue when giving an interview to NTV. “I said ‘one religion’ instead of saying ‘one homeland.’ This is a slip of tongue,” he explained.

Considering the fact that he is a great communicator who weighs each word before uttering it and a hard-mouthed politician who rarely retreats, this explanation is both remarkable and dubious.

Remarkable because it's rare...

Dubious, because it's barely convincing...

It is not convincing, as it didn't really seem as a slip of tongue.

After all, in Adana, Erdoğan didn't utter the word "religion" only once. He emphasized it by repeating it three times: "I never told one language... I told one religion... one religion... one religion."

Moreover, he hadn't stepped back after the initial reactions. He even repeated the contentious phrase the next day. He made the "correction" only after a full week of public debate.

Ahmet Altan, editor-in-chief of Taraf daily who is a part of the liberal intelligentsia that has been supporting the AKP government since 2002, had written today, raising his voice in an unexpected fashion to defend secularism:

"When you say that a religion is a red line for the state, you commit a crime. It means that you're violating secularism, the Constitution and the laws. (...) When you try to change the secular structure of the state unilaterally and arbitrarily, this society will be divided and this country will be worse than (civil war-torn) Lebanon. (...) And if Erdoğan violates secularism, he may not find the fifty percent of voters backing him anymore."

So, did Erdoğan took the rare step back because of such harsh reactions?

Did he remember Lebanon?

Or did somebody tell him that his latest words contradicted the ones that he uttered in Cairo, where he appeared as a champion of secularism in the way that Obama administration could also be proud of?

I am not sure.

I only know that even with such gaffes, Erdoğan's public image in Turkey doesn't really seem tarnished significantly, as his persona is being fed by such conflicts and even gaffes.

Don't forget the difference:

In France, Nicolas Sarkozy lost the elections to François Hollande, BECAUSE of his polarizing character.

In Turkey, Erdoğan has been winning elections since 2002, THANKS to his polarizing character.

Take a look at Place Overseas website.

Inshallah Socialism? The Rise of Anti-Capitalist Muslim Youth

They are anti-AKP, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, pro-gay, pro-Kurdish, young Muslims... Are they prescribing the Turkish Spring? 

The highlight of today's May Day activities in Istanbul was the one-of-a-kind rally by a group called "Anti-Capitalist Muslim Youth." 

Their presence as a political symptom may also help us understand more about today's crises in Turkey, like the ever-lasting tension between the Islamist-oriented government and the military, as well as the historical inefficiency of the "secular" opposition.

Since 2006, I've been insisting on this blog that the really worrisome aspect of the AKP government regarding Turkey's democracy was not the religious fundamentalism of some of its members, but its consistently neoliberal policies behind it. The first aspect is just a populist toy, while the second one is an overt, but systemic effort.

Today's march of the Anti-Capitalist Muslim Youth is the first reaction by the masses to show that they are aware of what's going on. "AKP serves the interests of the neoliberal bourgeoisie on the national and international level, while bribing the poor" they allege. "Property belongs only to Allah" and "Down with capitalism with Islamic ablution" are two of their slogans. (Ihsan Eliacik, their main ideologue, denied that they carried a banner, reading "Inshallah Socialism Will Prevail.")

Although this tour de force of Anti-Capitalist Muslim Youth is surprising, terms like "Muslim Socialist" or "Revolutionary Islam" is not new. Regional intellectuals like Ali Shariati aside, Turkish thinkers had also pondered upon similar concepts in the past.

As he was referred in a recent article on Homo Insurrectus, a Turkish blog on intercultural studies, Idris Kucukomer is the first name that comes to mind in retrospective. 

Forty years ago, Kucukomer published his in-depth study of Turkish Right and Turkish Left, "The Alienation of the System." To summarize in the most superficial way, he was arguing that the Right was Left and Left was Right in Turkey. 

As the founders of the establishment, secular bureaucrats were trying to westernize the country. According to Kucukomer, they alienated the pious masses of Anatolia by presenting these people as the right-wing conservatives against progress. Capitalist/imperialist forces of the global system had interests in such a polarization in Turkey, which divided its society and took away its energy.

The political movement inspired by Kucukomer was crushed by the military junta in 1980, which consequently installed a "civilian" government to undertake neoliberal reforms. By 2000s, former Islamists  of Anatolia were the new masters after the transfer of political power (through elections) and the wealth (through abuse of power and/or well-hidden corruption).

In today's rally in Taksim where pro-government labor unions were absent, this is why the appearance of Anti-Capitalist Muslim Youth could be meaningful, as it seemed as a reappearance of Kucukomer's "really progressive Left."

No, I don't think that "a socialist revolution next Ramadan" is possible in anyway. Moreover, I don't believe in socialism, like I don't believe in other -isms.

But it is good for Turkey's hybrid democracy to produce a new breed of political opposition that is constructing a coherent discourse uprooted in the society, which may indeed reveal the hypocritical features of the ruling AKP. 

If we understand this dynamic, we can also see why AKP is now dependent on its corroding discourse of criticizing the opposition and its shameful practices to repress it by force, even though it has been in power since 2002.

UPDATE ON MAY 18TH: The daughter of Ihsan Alicik was detained on May Day. It was claimed that she participated in the criminal activities of the "anarchists," who damaged private property on that day. A court rejected the prosecution's demand to arrest her on May 18th.