TURKISHNESS IS NOT ALWAYS DELIGHTFUL
Worldfocus
2009/07/24/turkishness-is-not-always-delightful/64 46/
July 24 2009
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Amid reports that Turkey may soon unveil reforms intended to quell
tensions with the country’s Kurdish minority, Turkey is moving ahead
with its bid for European Union membership.
Conflict in Turkey’s Kurdish southeast has claimed 40,000 lives.
Selma Å~^evkli is a freelance reporter currently based in Bodrum,
Turkey. She describes how the country has struggled to define its
"Turkum," which translates as Turkishness.
In 2005, Turkish lawmakers made it a crime to insult Turkey or
Turkishness. Until last year, criticizing Turkishness was even
punishable with up to three years in prison. Even as Turkey moves
forward in the process of acceding to the European Union, it has
moved further into its nationalistic bubble.
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code — criminalizing insults against
"Turkish identity" – was used famously to incriminate writer Orhan
Pamuk for accusing the Turkish government of complicity in murdering
30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians. The law has since been used
to indict publishers, journalists and novelists. Our freedom of speech
is hampred by our undying nationalistic political culture.
Turkish flags at a 2006 demonstration in Istanbul.
What is Turkishness? Is it a sort of nationality? A form of
ethnicity? Or the name of one specific citizenship? As almost one-third
of Turkey’s population consists of Kurds who are legally referred to
as Turkish, the question has become increasingly significant.
As I was researching secular Turkish nationalism for my graduate
thesis, my first question to the people I interviewed was "What is
Turkishness?" The answers varied widely, but for many people, it was a
race or ethnicity. My second question asked whether Turkishness should
include other ethnic groups in Turkey — Kurds, Armenians, Greeks
and many other smaller groups. After all, who qualifies as a Turk?
Turkish nationalism has been integral to the official discourse in
Turkey since the beginning of the Turkish Republic in 1923. But for
most of Turkey’s history, we have largely pretended that all our
citizens are ethnically Turkish. The various ethnic and religious
minorities have generally been ignored, forced to emigrate or
assimilate. The issue of Turkish nationalism only became visible when
the Turkish state was compelled to assess its ignorance and change
its policies toward minorities — in soliciting an invitation to join
the EU.
For many years, there was a total ban on Kurdish language and
culture, as well as political pressure and economic restrictions in
the Kurdish-populated region of the country. But things are changing
now. Turkish state TV established a channel that broadcasts in Kurdish,
which is a major departure from the language ban. Significant violence
is ongoing, though less intense than ten years ago. It seems that
policies dealing with cultural rights are making a difference.
Kurds are finally moving one step forward in Turkey, even though it
is largely symbolic. Other minorities are not mentioned as much as
the Kurds in the media, since their numbers are not as significant
and they do not assert their rights as aggressively.
The Turkish state is suffering from its enduring ignorance
towards other ethnic groups and an inability to adapt itself
to the contemporary world. Although political reforms and new
cultural policies seem to indicate a gradual shift, there needs to
be a sea change in order to implement reforms more effectively and
sincerely. For one thing, minorities should be mentioned in history
class as essential parts of Turkey — instead of cited as national
enemies. Patient and devoted, Turkey’s minorities have chosen to be
a part of this country, and so it is time to recognize their rightful
place in our society.
– Selma Å~^evkli
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