PRO-DEMOCRACY TURKS TAKE ON OLD HIERARCHY: THE YOUNG CIVILIANS’ MAIN WEAPON? WIT
by Sabrina Tavernise – The New York Times Media Group
The International Herald Tribune, France
July 23, 2007 Monday
In the growing pains of Turkish democracy, the Young Civilians are
part nurse and part comedian.
The group is one of several starting to openly question the hierarchy
in Turkey, which, as the Young Civilians see it, goes something like
this: The secular state elite and the military, which have steered
the state since its beginning, are on the top. Elected officials
deposed every decade or so by military coups are on the bottom.
The Young Civilians want that to change. Wit is their principal weapon.
When Turkey’s political class was in a battle this spring over who
should become president, the Young Civilians came up with their own
"candidate" – a pastiche of every quality the secular old guard
detests most.
Named Aliye Ozturk, she was supposed to be a Kurdish, Armenian,
Alawite woman who wears a head scarf and takes a keen interest in
classical Turkish stringed instruments. (Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,
the founder of the modern Turkish republic, preferred Western music.)
"I will be a modern, civilized president who communicates with all
segments of the society," Aliye Ozturk says in the nomination statement
the Young Civilians posted on the Internet at "I
will not think that I am a feudal lord just because I live at the
palace-like residence."
The Young Civilians began as a group of students and held one of
its earliest protests in 2003, when it took aim at the annual May
19 Youth and Sports Day, which features schoolchildren marching in
sports stadiums around the country. The ceremonies are far too stiff,
too Soviet and, frankly, too dull, they say, and they held a small
press conference proposing to "rescue the festival from the stadiums."
"It’s a kind of Stalin festival, a dogmatic thing," said Ilhan Dogus,
a rail-thin finance major at Bilgi University whose sense of humor
is behind some recent protests.
It was the small protest in 2003 that brought the Young Civilians their
name and their notoriety. An article in Cumhuriyet, a pro-establishment
daily, cited the students’ protest in an article titled "Young Officers
Are Concerned," said Nezir Akyesilman, a member. The group responded
sarcastically, in a statement posted on the Internet, saying that
"young civilians" were also concerned.
The Young Civilians are a diverse group, both religious and secular
with a variety of political affiliations, who are drawn together by
their passionate belief in democracy. In a written statement this
month they exhorted leaders of all the political parties to abide by
the results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections .
But aside from serious work, they also indulge in comic asides.
They won admirers by rewriting Turkey’s much-despised college entrance
exam as a democracy quiz.
"Which of the below would elevate Turkey’s status to a contemporary
civilization?" one of the questions asks.
"(A) Listening to classical music. (B) Waving flags at republic
rallies. (C) Dancing ballet. (D) Standing against military coups and
warnings. (E) Holding a slogan that reads, ‘Turkey is secular and
will remain so.’ "
Turkish society has undergone sweeping changes in recent decades.
Large-scale migrations from rural areas to the cities, which started
in the 1980s, have led to a rising religious middle class, whose
representatives are now fighting with the state elite for power.
In addition, Turkey has made major changes to some of its crucial
institutions to qualify for European Union membership, removing much
of the military’s influence from government and rewriting criminal
and civil codes, encouraging more openness in society.
"People are trying to rethink their identity," Dogus said. "The one
the state gave us is being deconstructed."
It is a little like opening the cover of a long-closed book.
For most of Turkish history, there was little room for society to
question the official model of a Turkish citizen – a Muslim with no
ethnic identity or strong political opinion. The education system
reinforced that prototype.
Now history is being rethought in new books. Documentaries are
exploring Turkey’s past military coups. There has even been a
conference that touched on the genocide of Armenians during World
War I, a topic that has been a fiercely held taboo in Turkish society.
But coming to terms with the past is painful, and some Turks,
bewildered by the changes sweeping the country, are retreating
along the well-worn path of nationalism. While the European Union
reforms have pulled Turkey toward the West, the rejection of Turkey by
Europeans and campaigns by nationalist politicians in Turkey threaten
to close the country back up.
"Breaking this link with the West, this would be very dangerous for
us," said Nil Mutlver, a Young Civilian.