Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey Sept 14 2008

Progressive-looking reactionary

by HASAN KANBOLAT

I had dinner with a classmate of mine from my university years the
other night. We talked about the crisis in Georgia and its
aftermath. My friend said: "I oppose the US. What business do they
have in the Black Sea?" adding: "The US is an imperialist and
occupying state. And human rights and NGOs are made up by the US; they
are their vessels."

My friend may have been right, but he didn’t stop there:

"I am opposed to Gül going to Armenia. It was a lost cause. I
am against the European Union, too. They are interfering with our
internal affairs. We can’t even smoke comfortably. The roads are
infested with radar systems. It’s killing us. I don’t like the
West. And just because I dislike the West doesn’t mean I like the
East. Take a look at Africa — a continent of cannibals. All that
comes Turkey’s way from Africa is filth, ignorance and narcotics. I
don’t understand why we are trying to invest in Africa. And the Middle
East is a whole different can of worms. Were they not the ones that
stabbed us in the back after World War I? And Israel is real pain as
well. The same goes for Iran. Filled with mullahs. We should close off
our borders with the Middle East. The Chinese are our national
enemies. They did a lot of damage to Turkey in the past. These are
documented on the Orkhon memorials. And nowadays cheap Chinese
products have flooded our markets.

India is the land of stench. And the Japanese look down on Turks. The
Russian Federation and Ukraine exported call girls to Turkey in order
to ruin our moral fabric. We earn our money and the calls girl pocket
it. And have the Russians not been threatening our straits in the
Black Sea region for centuries? What we should actually do is limit
Turkey’s relations with outside countries. We should never leave our
country, nor should be let anyone enter ours. Furthermore we should
ban the use of digital satellite dishes. While we’re at it we should
do away with the private sector. They are sucking us dry. We should
exile the Christians — they are working as missionaries, as servants
of an imperialist system. I am against Alevis and Sunni Muslims,
too. Alevis act like they are a separate religion altogether. The
Sunnis are turning the country into state of religion. I am against
different ethnic backgrounds, as well. They are all partisans."

"So do you have any solutions to offer to that," I said.

"Yes," he said. "If we get rid of Christians, Alevis, Sunnis, all
different ethnic groups and the private sector, what remains will be
decent enough for Turkey. This way, happiness and peace would arrive
in Anatolia."

I couldn’t stand it, so I said: "You have done such elimination that
you didn’t leave people in Turkey or any countries in the world. I
think you should stand in front of the mirror first and take a look at
yourself. Although you might not like the West, you went to school in
the US. You got married in Paris. Your daughter is currently going to
school in Germany. Your son is an executive in a US-based finance
company and he is conducting sales transactions in global stock
exchanges. You visit Europe, the Far East or the Russian Federation a
couple of times a year either for business or travel. Despite all
this, you are against Turkey opening up to the world and integrating
with it more deeply? When you can benefit from the luxuries of the
age, you would rather have Anatolia suffice with the minimum resources
that remain in the heartland? Isn’t this a strong contradiction? How
do you describe yourself for God’s sake?"

He looked me in the face and said, "I am progressive."

In the old days, people would modify their Å?ahin model cars, a
cheaper model of the TofaÅ? automobile brand, to look more like
the luxury model, DoÄ?an. Just like that, my "progressive"
friend has evolved into a "regressive with the look of a progressive."
He is just oblivious to that fact.

He put his car in reverse gear instead of into first gear, but he
looks straight ahead although the car moves backwards. He is not aware
of that.

Like an overprotective father afraid to let his growing children play
outside, he doesn’t trust his people. He is not aware.

Although his body remains as before like a mummy, his internal organs
have left his body. He is unaware.

While he makes use of the opportunities of the age such as democracy,
human rights, civil society groups, advancing communication and
transportation tools, he doesn’t see his people as being worthy of
these. He is not aware.

Instead of making concrete efforts to increase the wealth and
happiness of Turkey, he has found an easy short cut. He is not aware.

Battling with Quixote’s windmills and blaming the windmills for
everything that goes wrong comforts him. He is not aware.