OKTAY EKSI: A REAL SHAME
Hurriyet
March 4 2008
Turkey
It’s a great thing to know your own history. And an equally wonderful
thing to pass the pages of this history on to younger generations.
But is the only condition necessary for knowing or passing on this
history to brutify it, simplify it, and even make it more primitive?
Isn’t there a more civilized way to do it?
Is it right to vaccinate our younger generations with hatred and
enmity, or with civilization and peacefulness?
You will know what I am talking about if you have seen the photographs
printed in today’s Hurriyet of the 90th anniversary of the liberation
of Erzurum’s Askale township from occupation.
According to news provided about the ceremonies, as part of the
program, children were shown a fake mosque being burnt, in an attempt
to depict the disrespect shown by the Armenian gangs of the period
towards Islam and of course its important symbol, the mosque. Quite
pointedly, the message of "Armenians are our enemies. Don’t forget
it!" was placed in the minds of students between the ages of 7-14.
Later in the ceremony, there was a depiction of an imam being hung
by Armenian forces.
Look closely at the photographs. You can see how frightened those
youngsters are by the tableau presented to them. Such a brutal and
primitive tableau, that you can only wonder what kind of guidance
and advice the teachers who have brought their students there are
getting. Isn’t it an embarrassment though for all of us who are
members of this society?
Don’t you see now how we have raised youngsters like the one who
murdered Priest Santoro in Trabzon, or who came to Istanbul to kill
Hrant Dink, who raided the Zirve Publishing House in Malatya and
killed 3 men there for publishing Christian books?
Don’t you understand now what Hrant Dink’s widow, Rakel Dink, was
talking about when she noted at his funeral last year "We cannot
do anything until we question those who are creating killers out
of babies." We always say it, and we’ll repeat it again: the most
important condition placed on all of us is to be civilized. And that
is a value which has nothing to do with how much money you have in your
pockets, but instead with the universality of the values in your mind.
Are we aware though that we move a bit further away from this state
every passing day, with the strengthening of that mentality on display
at the Erzurum ceremonies?