TURKEY’S ‘MIDNIGHT EXPRESS’ ABOUT ISRAEL
Orhan Kemal Cengiz
Al Arabiya TV
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Oct 28 2009
UAE
Have you seen the film "Midnight Express"? It’s about an American
who was caught in possession of drugs and sent to prison in Turkey.
When I watched it, I was a little disappointed. I like Alan Parker’s
work, but I found "Midnight Express" below his usual artistic
standard. Parker portrayed Turkish prisons as a man-made hell. This
is not the part I found problematic. In the ’70s, Turkish prisons
were indeed terrible. The problem was that in the film every single
Turkish character was portrayed as evil. This obvious bias turned
this film into anti-Turkish propaganda.
A recent debate over the TV series "Ayrılık," which caused a
diplomatic row between Turkey and Israel, reminded me of "Midnight
Express." Before this diplomatic crisis, I did not know Turkey’s
state-sponsored television channel TRT had been broadcasting this
series for a while. I recently watched a video clip of the series on
the Internet. It is a very cheap drama that portrays Israeli soldiers
attacking Palestinians; the soldiers are brutal, sadistic people who
kill children and so on. I did not watch the series, but I do not
think this portrayal will show any good Israeli. It is the Turks’
"Midnight Express" about Israel.
A recent debate over the TV series "Ayrılık," which caused a
diplomatic row between Turkey and Israel, reminded me of "Midnight
Express." Before this diplomatic crisis, I did not know Turkey’s
state-sponsored television channel TRT had been broadcasting this
series for a while. I recently watched a video clip of the series on
the Internet. It is a very cheap drama that portrays Israeli soldiers
attacking Palestinians; the soldiers are brutal, sadistic people who
kill children and so on. I did not watch the series, but I do not
think this portrayal will show any good Israeli. It is the Turks’
"Midnight Express" about Israel.
Let me clarify one thing: There is no doubt Israel has been
systematically and on a widespread basis violating the Palestinians’
basic human rights. These are facts established by international
human rights NGOs and, very recently, by a UN report.
However, I found Turkey’s approach to this film quite problematic.
First of all, it is still not possible for Turkish filmmakers to
shoot this kind of film in the context of human rights violations
perpetrated by Turkish security forces. If you make a film in Turkey
showing "sadistic" Turkish soldiers burning a Kurdish village,
it is very likely that you can get into legal trouble for insulting
"Turkishness" or the military. Second, Turkey is not a country that can
tolerate a similar film about its problems made by another country. For
example, had Israel broadcast a film on Israeli state-sponsored TV
about massacres of Armenians, our officers would consider cutting
all diplomatic ties with Israel. Third, these kinds of films do not
help in promoting human rights awareness or any other sensible social
awareness. They only use graphic images of violence and resort to
cheap emotional exploitation.
The problems, human rights violations and handicaps of others are
always much easier to handle but not useful at all. What is progressive
is to have insight into your own problems first. If Turkish state
television would really like to contribute to the promotion of human
rights, it can prepare a documentary on the destruction of Kurdish
villages, for example. Or, if they really want to kill two birds with
one stone, they can shoot a documentary about Israeli peace and human
rights movements. Israel has a very strong and viable civil society
sector in the human rights field. If Turkish television stations
introduce these movements to the Turkish public, they will not only
show the humane side of Israel but can also demonstrate to Turkish
civil society how unbiased NGOs act and work even in the most intense
and conflict-ridden situations.
"Midnight Express"-type films do not contribute to promoting any kind
of sensitivity for human rights or a real empathy for human suffering.
They just make us angry; they cause absolute labeling. They make us
anti-Turkish, anti-Jewish, anti-American and so on.
I want to finish this article on a positive note. While planning to
write this article, I came across an interview Parker gave to the
Hartford Courant on Oct. 25. I like the way he described Turkey:
"But visiting Turkey was an experience. It’s a modern world mixed
together with ancient history. If you’re interested in history, how
could you not want to visit Troy, Ephesus and Gallipoli? … I was
just fascinated by the place. Ä°stanbul has been the meeting point
where East touches West for centuries, and you can feel the energy
of this cultural collision just walking through the city."
I hope Parker will shoot another film about Turkey, showing its
positive and negative sides at the same time. Seeing Ä°stanbul through
his camera lens is very interesting indeed!
*Published in Turkey’s TODAY’S ZAMAN on Oct. 28.