IN TURKEY, ULTRA-NATIONALIST LAWYER WINS SUPPORTERS AS ENTHUSIASM FOR THE EU FALLS
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
Aug 6 2006
ISTANBUL, Turkey Kemal Kerincsiz believes Turkey is one of the
greatest, freest countries in the world. Insult it, and you could
find yourself facing him in court.
To some in this country of 70 million, the ultra-nationalist lawyer
is the voice of a proud people against a patronizing West. To others,
he is the voice of intolerance and excessive patriotism – a major
embarrassment that could derail Turkey’s more than 40-year-old bid
to join the European Union.
As the ubiquitous, mustachioed leader of the Turkish Lawyers’ Union,
Kerincsiz is the reason writers and intellectuals are regularly put
on trial in Turkey. When the European Union talks about slow progress
on democratic reforms, they’re largely talking about him.
Kerincsiz gained international notoriety this year for dragging
celebrated novelist Orhan Pamuk to court for allegedly insulting
Turkishness. Pamuk, often cited as a candidate for the Nobel prize
in literature, was acquitted.
But the lawyer has met with success in less high-profile cases,
winning a conviction against an Armenian-Turkish journalist for the
same offense.
He has also opened dozens of other cases against journalists, writers
and intellectuals, including one set to go to court this month against
Arizona-based Turkish novelist Elif Shafak. And he recently leveled
charges of insulting the Turkish military against Dutch European
Parliament member Joost Lagendijk, a frequent official observer of
Turkish affairs whom Kerincsiz calls a "foreign invader."
"The Lawyers’ Union is behind nearly all of them," the disarmingly
polite lawyer said of the cases in an interview with The Associated
Press at his cluttered, lightless Istanbul office. "We have several
cases open against writers. Most of them are for insulting Turkishness,
insulting Ataturk (the founder of modern Turkey), cooling the people’s
willingness to serve in the army, you know.
There are dozens of cases we have running."
Kerincsiz and his organization of some 700 nationalist lawyers have
exasperated not only EU officials – who have said the cases must
be stopped or Turkey will jeopardize its hopes of joining the EU –
but also Turkey’s Western-looking intellectuals and its leadership.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul complained once that the freedom of
expression cases hurt Turkey’s image as much as the 1978 film "Midnight
Express," in which an American drug smuggler is sent to a hellish
Turkish prison and brutalized, tortured and raped by Turkish guards.
But nevermind, Kerincsiz says, there’s not much use in trying to
improve Turkey’s image in the West anyway.
"The Turk is not a race to live with the European. He is always the
other, the rival," the thin, smooth-talking Kerincsiz explained from
behind stacks of files on his desk.
His office was decorated with Turkish flags and featured a tree chart
in the waiting room showing various branches of the Turkic races.
Kerincsiz believes Turkey’s future is in the East and represents a
growingly powerful faction of Turkish society tired of being told
it must aspire to be more like the West. Recently, his view appears
to be gaining traction in the government, with Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Egdogan increasingly making foreign policy overtures to the
Middle East – and away from Europe.
"The Easterner has to insult himself and degrade his own culture to
ingratiate himself with the West," Kerincsiz said. "Our place is in
Eastern culture, our real aim is finding allies among our own people."
By that he meant primarily the Turkic peoples of Central Asia,
which he hopes to see included one day in the "Turkish Union" led by
Turkey. He admits this is a far-off dream, but it’s possible, he says,
especially when one looks at the mishmash of different cultures joined
together in the EU.
He denied the court cases were attempts to derail Turkey’s EU bid.
But Kerincsiz makes no effort to hide his view that the European
Union is an enemy of Turkey, one intent on breaking it apart and
keeping it from becoming a major world power.
In the year that has followed Turkey’s opening of EU negotiations
last Oct. 3, it has become clear that even if they don’t entirely
share Kerincsiz’s view, Turks are cooling in their enthusiasm for
accession, and he is tapping into the sources of their discontent.
The latest Eurobarometer survey found only 44 percent of Turks surveyed
thought EU membership would be a good thing for Turkey, compared to
55 percent last autumn. Last spring, 66 percent said they supported
EU membership.
Analysts suggest the drop is a backlash against Europe’s disapproval
of Turkey – a backlash from which nationalists like Kerincsiz who play
up Turkey’s strengths and disparage the EU’s "insults" are likely to
benefit most.
There are indications that it’s already happening. "More Turks think
their membership would be primarily in the interest of the Union than
of mutual interest to both," reads the text of the July Eurobarometer
survey.
This growing mutual resentment is not likely to be improved by the
latest draft of Monday’s EU progress report on Turkey, which said
reforms had slowed and accused Turkey of "regression."
The author of the report also urged Turkey to recognize the killings
of Armenians by Turks around the time of World War I as "genocide"
and to reform its penal code.
But Kerincsiz isn’t worried.
"The EU won’t last long," he says, and dares any Turkish government to
try to change the laws against insulting Turkishness or the Turkish
republic. Kerincsiz and his Lawyers’ Union believe such laws have
great support among a population increasingly frustrated with Europe
and looking to its own potential greatness.
"Don’t worry, we won’t be unemployed," he says with a smile. "The
only salvation will be a nationalist government."
ISTANBUL, Turkey Kemal Kerincsiz believes Turkey is one of the
greatest, freest countries in the world. Insult it, and you could
find yourself facing him in court.
To some in this country of 70 million, the ultra-nationalist lawyer
is the voice of a proud people against a patronizing West. To others,
he is the voice of intolerance and excessive patriotism – a major
embarrassment that could derail Turkey’s more than 40-year-old bid
to join the European Union.
As the ubiquitous, mustachioed leader of the Turkish Lawyers’ Union,
Kerincsiz is the reason writers and intellectuals are regularly put
on trial in Turkey. When the European Union talks about slow progress
on democratic reforms, they’re largely talking about him.
Kerincsiz gained international notoriety this year for dragging
celebrated novelist Orhan Pamuk to court for allegedly insulting
Turkishness. Pamuk, often cited as a candidate for the Nobel prize
in literature, was acquitted.
But the lawyer has met with success in less high-profile cases,
winning a conviction against an Armenian-Turkish journalist for the
same offense.
He has also opened dozens of other cases against journalists, writers
and intellectuals, including one set to go to court this month against
Arizona-based Turkish novelist Elif Shafak. And he recently leveled
charges of insulting the Turkish military against Dutch European
Parliament member Joost Lagendijk, a frequent official observer of
Turkish affairs whom Kerincsiz calls a "foreign invader."
"The Lawyers’ Union is behind nearly all of them," the disarmingly
polite lawyer said of the cases in an interview with The Associated
Press at his cluttered, lightless Istanbul office. "We have several
cases open against writers. Most of them are for insulting Turkishness,
insulting Ataturk (the founder of modern Turkey), cooling the people’s
willingness to serve in the army, you know.
There are dozens of cases we have running."
Kerincsiz and his organization of some 700 nationalist lawyers have
exasperated not only EU officials – who have said the cases must
be stopped or Turkey will jeopardize its hopes of joining the EU –
but also Turkey’s Western-looking intellectuals and its leadership.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul complained once that the freedom of
expression cases hurt Turkey’s image as much as the 1978 film "Midnight
Express," in which an American drug smuggler is sent to a hellish
Turkish prison and brutalized, tortured and raped by Turkish guards.
But nevermind, Kerincsiz says, there’s not much use in trying to
improve Turkey’s image in the West anyway.
"The Turk is not a race to live with the European. He is always the
other, the rival," the thin, smooth-talking Kerincsiz explained from
behind stacks of files on his desk.
His office was decorated with Turkish flags and featured a tree chart
in the waiting room showing various branches of the Turkic races.
Kerincsiz believes Turkey’s future is in the East and represents a
growingly powerful faction of Turkish society tired of being told
it must aspire to be more like the West. Recently, his view appears
to be gaining traction in the government, with Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Egdogan increasingly making foreign policy overtures to the
Middle East – and away from Europe.
"The Easterner has to insult himself and degrade his own culture to
ingratiate himself with the West," Kerincsiz said. "Our place is in
Eastern culture, our real aim is finding allies among our own people."
By that he meant primarily the Turkic peoples of Central Asia,
which he hopes to see included one day in the "Turkish Union" led by
Turkey. He admits this is a far-off dream, but it’s possible, he says,
especially when one looks at the mishmash of different cultures joined
together in the EU.
He denied the court cases were attempts to derail Turkey’s EU bid.
But Kerincsiz makes no effort to hide his view that the European
Union is an enemy of Turkey, one intent on breaking it apart and
keeping it from becoming a major world power.
In the year that has followed Turkey’s opening of EU negotiations
last Oct. 3, it has become clear that even if they don’t entirely
share Kerincsiz’s view, Turks are cooling in their enthusiasm for
accession, and he is tapping into the sources of their discontent.
The latest Eurobarometer survey found only 44 percent of Turks surveyed
thought EU membership would be a good thing for Turkey, compared to
55 percent last autumn. Last spring, 66 percent said they supported
EU membership.
Analysts suggest the drop is a backlash against Europe’s disapproval
of Turkey – a backlash from which nationalists like Kerincsiz who play
up Turkey’s strengths and disparage the EU’s "insults" are likely to
benefit most.
There are indications that it’s already happening. "More Turks think
their membership would be primarily in the interest of the Union than
of mutual interest to both," reads the text of the July Eurobarometer
survey.
This growing mutual resentment is not likely to be improved by the
latest draft of Monday’s EU progress report on Turkey, which said
reforms had slowed and accused Turkey of "regression."
The author of the report also urged Turkey to recognize the killings
of Armenians by Turks around the time of World War I as "genocide"
and to reform its penal code.
But Kerincsiz isn’t worried.
"The EU won’t last long," he says, and dares any Turkish government to
try to change the laws against insulting Turkishness or the Turkish
republic. Kerincsiz and his Lawyers’ Union believe such laws have
great support among a population increasingly frustrated with Europe
and looking to its own potential greatness.
"Don’t worry, we won’t be unemployed," he says with a smile. "The
only salvation will be a nationalist government."