TURKEY ILLUSTRATES DEEP CULTURAL DIVIDE
by Rebeca Chapa
San Antonio Express-News
September 21, 2006 Thursday
State&Metro Edition
Today, in a Turkish courtroom, writer Elif Shafak will go on trial
for "insulting Turkishness" through the use of dialogue in her latest
novel, "The Bastard of Istanbul."
In the book, whose English version will be released next year, a
fictional character refers to the historical killings of more than
a million Armenians as "genocide."
"I am the grandchild of genocide survivors who lost all their relatives
to the hands of Turkish butchers in 1915, but I myself have been
brainwashed to deny the genocide because I was raised by some Turk
named Mustapha!" one of her characters says.
The death of 1.5 million Armenians nearly a century ago has been a
long-standing gash in Turkey’s history. Armenians portray the event
as genocide while Turkish nationalists call the deaths the unintended
casualties of war.
Shafak, a French-born Turkish citizen, is a professor of Turkish
studies at the University of Arizona. The writer, who bore a child
on Saturday, is expected to appear in the Istanbul courtroom today.
If convicted, she could face up to three years in prison for violating
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.
Keep in mind, these are fictional characters saying made-up dialogue.
Shafak’s trial comes less than a year after another highly publicized
Turkish trial, that of writer Orhan Pamuk. In an interview, Pamuk
said that Armenians and Kurds were killed "in these lands and nobody
but me dares talk about it."
For his outspoken statements, Pamuk was subjected to regular harassment
during his trial. Charges against him were dropped early this year,
but the assault on expression continues to be worrisome.
More than 60 cases have been brought against writers and artists
in Turkey, including a case against a newspaper editor for writing
articles about the Armenian diaspora.
Politically, Turkey is walking a fine line as it seeks entry to the
European Union. Cases such as Shafak’s could seriously threaten its
admission. In July, Olli Rehn, the EU’s commissioner for enlargement,
issued a statement urging Turkey to amend Article 301 in order to
guarantee freedom of expression, a criterion for admission.
Ironically, the law cuts both ways.
Supporters believe it limits dissemination of a controversial past,
thereby avoiding a negative perception as Turkey bucks for entry.
Opponents say the law’s very existence indicates oppression in Turkey,
which is equally harmful to admission.
Despite a growing aversion to respectful dialogue and a tendency toward
staunch stances in this country, freedom of expression remains a
cornerstone of our democracy. To that end, the United States should
simultaneously encourage Turkish authorities to reconsider the
restrictive 2005 law and support its conditional entry into the EU.
It may be diplomatically difficult.
The U.S.-Turkey alliance has soured since 2003, when Turkey denied the
use of its territories as a launching pad for attacks on neighboring
Iraq. Chaos is now brewing along that border, as the Kurdistan Workers’
Party, or PKK, has long invaded southeastern Turkey from bases in Iraq.
The group, classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU
and the United States, has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy for more
than 20 years. With tensions in Iraq already high, the United States
has warned the Turkish government not to overstep its boundaries in
fighting the PKK.
With the war in Iraq in its fourth year, we are increasingly reminded
of the dilemma in assuming that a Western vision of democracy —
whatever the motivation — can be stenciled onto a different country
with different people who share a different history.
Both Shafak’s trial and the ongoing Turkish conflict are reminders
of the historical and cultural elements of the broader war in the
Middle East.
