Is this Diyarbakir?
By MEHMET KAMIS

04.17.2006 Monday – ISTANBUL 17:04

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… April 15, 2006