IS THIS DIYARBAKIR?
By Mehmet Kamis

Zaman, Turkey
April 17 2006

Bedri Mermutlu has made interesting findings about cities in the
preface to the book titled, “Seyahatnamelerde Diyarbekir” (Diyarbakir
in Travel Books).

These findings are about Diyarbakir in particular. Contemporary
Diyarbakir is a lost city as if it has been shaken and destroyed by
the trauma of modernity. It is impossible to understand this city
just by looking at it from its present state. He drew a perfect
picture of Diyarbakir in the past describing the vineyards that,
40 years ago, used to exist around the city. The people who lived in
that period could never have imagined the vandalism that has turned
these wonderful vineyards into a modern ugly Baglar district of the
city. The modern people living in Baglar district today can never
imagine that there were wonderful vineyards in Baglar district 40 years
ago, if someone does not tell them about that. Diyarbakir is a unique
city which existed in its own authentic world, but unfortunately, its
silhouette becomes indistinct day by day. There was a neatly dressed,
conversational Diyarbakir gentleman, whose attitude we used to watch
in admiration and his dignity in trying to know what time it was by
looking at the chain watch he carried in the pocket of his waistcoat.

If the things we are saying about Diyarbakir today are not about
its culture, accumulation or the things it wants to tell modernity,
then what are they about? Burned tires, stone throwing children,
red-yellow-green flags and highly politicized people… A cosmopolitan
city of civilization, where Turks, Armenians, Kurds, Syrians, Keldanis,
Jews and even Greeks could live altogether in the beginning of the
20th century, Diyarbakir has now turned into a weird city which cannot
tolerate the existence of anything different from itself.

Southeastern Anatolia is between the paws of terrorism and conflict
again. Ethnic terror in the region, which was almost ceased after
[terrorist leader] Abdullah Ocalan was captured in 1999, has been on
the rise since 2004. It seems reforms implemented in the European Union
(EU) process and politicians taking initiatives for the betterment of
the region did not please the PKK. The recent positive developments
in the region falsify the views of the PKK that the people there are
poor and are cruelly treated. This situation, of course, undermines
the views of the PKK. In order for the PKK to maintain its power,
the conditions that keep it alive should remain in the region. For
this reason, the rights of the people in the region must be taken
away from them. The PKK wants the villages to be evacuated, people’s
native languages to be banned, the state of emergency to continue and
all the people in the region to be treated as “terrorists.” Kurdish
intellectual Umit Firat said in his remarks published in Radikal daily:
“The PKK cannot exist in an EU member country. Trying to solve the
Kurdish problem like the problems solved in the EU is something that
the “hawks” on both sides do not want.”

The old Diyarbakir ought to rid itself of politicization in a bid to
help the old orient emerge. That profound mysticism can only surface
in this way. Thousands of years of accumulation of knowledge can
direct the modern world in many directions. What great stories
are there about Ahlat, Ercis, Mardin, Hasankeyf, Mem u Zin and
Ishakpasha. The re-emergence of those stories necessitates an end to
over-politicization and chauvinistic nationalism. This end must come
regardless of the warlords.

Then it will be understood that we have many things to offer to the
whole world. These wise lands will have a better chance to express
the accumulation of experience over the human spirit and the lifelong
spiritual journey. The excellent and awe-inspiring sunrise over the
Suphan Mountain and centuries of friendship in Adilcevaz will all be
open to observation.

The whole region is covered in the dust of the ashes left over from
the fire caused by terrorism here. Once cleared, we will, perhaps,
discover that Diyarbakir gentleman, who is serious, conversational
and wearing a chain watch…