TURKISH PRIME MINISTER ADMITS: A "FASCIST APPROACH" RESULTED IN ETHNIC CLEANSING
Paul Kujawsky

Examiner.com
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June 21 2009

In Turkey, a parliamentary argument about government contracts
has become a discussion about the historic treatment of non-Muslim
minorities.

The background: The Turkish-Syrian frontier is seeded with land mines,
placed since the 1950s to deter smugglers and Kurdish terrorists. The
Turkish parliament recently enacted a law to clear the mine fields,
and, significantly, permitting foreign companies to bid on the
work. The winning bidder would have the right to lease the land for
farming for 44 years. That provision offended some legislators, whose
national pride was wounded. For example, the Nationalist Movement
Party’s chair expostulated: "Borders are a matter of honor for
nations. … What sort of honor and pride does this government have if
it wants to surrender and trust the border to foreigners for 44 years?"

That fact that Israeli companies are reportedly in the running raised
the temperature in Turkey considerably. (Presumably, Syria isn’t too
happy about it, either.)

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an is having none of it. He mordantly
declared: "We should first clear the mines in our heads." At a May
conference of his Justice and Development Party, Erdo?an firmly
rejected such complaints in favor a more pragmatic, capitalist
approach: "You see, some come out and say: ‘This Jewish investment
is wrong.’ No, this friend is coming to invest in my country. He is
investing a billion dollars. There is no ‘we don’t want that.’"

He continued warmly: "Syria cleared its part of the border, and we
wanted to do the same and reclaim 210 million square meters of land
suitable for organic farming. Immediately, accusations began. They
said, ‘You are going to make a gift of this land to Israel!’ For
decades the same approach has persisted. How can you say Turkey is
selling out just because the global capital that is investing in our
country comes from this or that religion?. . . Money has no religion
or race. They will invest here, and Ahmet, Mehmet and Ay?e will find
work, not Yitzhak."

Then came the bombshell. Erdo?an stated: "For years those of different
identities have been kicked out of our country … This was not done
with common sense. This was done with a fascist approach."

This was a welcome, unexpected bit of truthfulness. The Turkish
government historically has been unwilling to look self-critically
at its treatment of minorities. With a single blow Erdo?an knocked
a chunk off of a hulking Turkish taboo.

Greek commentators were very excited. What are now western Turkey
and the Turkish Black Sea coast for many centuries were part of
Greek civilization, and some Greeks still nurse a grudge about the
Greek-Turkish population exchanges of the early 20th century.

An Armenian website regarded the statement as "an indirect reference to
the tragic fate of other ethnic groups, such as Armenians, in Turkey."

And the story has legs. The Turkish newspaper Zaman took up the
theme in a June 21 article about the Tuzla Armenian orphanage,
confiscated and destroyed by the Turkish government. With luck,
Turkey will continue to benefit from open discussion of its policies
towards minorities.

What was the purpose of the predictably controversial statement
? Was the Islamist Erdo?an striking at the secularist legacy of
Kemalism? This would make it a scheme to strengthen the Islamic
strain in Turkish politics. Or was it a boost for historical memory
and for human rights, aimed at the European Union, which Turkey
wants to join? Then it would be a scheme to strengthen integration
with Europe. Or was it an unpremeditated outburst, without political
calculation? These are at present unanswerable inquiries.

Erdo?an’s remarks led Turkish columnist ?ahin Alpay to observe:
"In short, Prime Minister Erdo?an, who is claimed by some to be an
unrepentant Islamist with a hidden agenda or even an Islamofascist,
is in reality not ideally liberal but relatively the most liberally
inclined politician in Turkey today."

Well, that may be going too far. But he’s showing himself an
interesting, unpredictable politician.