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POINT OF NO RETURN?
Turkish Daily News
Oct 13 2005
TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI
Turkey's chief negotiator in the European Union accession process,
State Minister Ali Babacan, proudly declared on Wednesday that Turkey
has reached a point of no return in its bid for EU membership.
At a time when a leading writer and newspaper editor could face
charges -- even sentenced -- for "insulting the Turkish identity" by
expressing opinions that might not be shared by the majority people
in this country, it is of course difficult to say that Turkey has
reached a point of no return in its well over 200-year effort to
integrate with the West.
I could not finish any of the novels by Orhan Pamuk. I tried hard,
but I just couldn't. Perhaps I do not have the minimal intellect
required to understand what he was trying to say, but still, if many
people in this country and abroad love reading his works, I feel
proud that we have a writer of his calibre.
As someone who possibly believes "there is no good or bad advertising,"
he might even have intentionally mentioned in that controversial
newspaper interview that although many Kurds and Armenians had
been killed in this country nobody was talking about it, except
himself. I might not understand his prose, at least thus far, but I am
confident that he knew what reactions his words would stir up in this
country. If he was testing the limits of freedom of expression here,
I must confess it was a clever ploy and he successfully demonstrated
that we have not yet reached the "point of no return" in that sphere.
Pamuk will appear in court on Dec. 16, and we shall see whether
he will face a similar sentence to that meted out to Hrant Dink --
the Armenian-Turkish editor of the bi-lingual Agos weekly newspaper
published in Istanbul -- on Oct. 7 only four days after the official
start of the accession talks process on the grounds that he insulted
Turks and "Turkishness."
Of course, as we keep stressing at every opportunity, legislating
reform is one thing, but implementing that reform is something
else altogether. If the ruling party has sufficient parliamentary
strength, it can even change the Constitution in a very short period
of time. However, when it comes to the implementation of those reforms
and the human factor enters onto the scene, no country can wave a
magic wand to transform the mindset of its people overnight.
Time is needed, and intense efforts are required to achieve the mindset
revolution required to bring into force the required legislation.
The basis of democracy is an awareness that there may be truths other
than your own. Democracy is not just confined to a number of seats in
Parliament. Unless an awareness that governments elected to office
with a majority are primarily entitled to safeguard the minority
views cannot be nurtured, then that regime cannot be a democracy,
but an elected dictatorship.
But simply by witnessing some bad examples, however, we should not give
up. The EU perspective of this country -- even if it may not take us
to membership of the bloc one day -- is a must in order to sustain
reforms for a better governed, more democratic and more prosperous
Turkey. When all 35 chapters of the accession talk's process are
completed successfully, we fully agree with Babacan that we will have
a much different Turkey than the one we have today.
The Pamuk and Dink cases will all be forgotten as nasty developments
that happened during the transformation period of Turkey while a new
era of understanding, brotherhood, nationhood and citizenship emerged.
On Wednesday, an Ankara prosecutor further boosted our belief in
the "reform absorption capacity" of this country and nation when
he decided to reject an official demand by the governor's office in
Ankara to ban gay and lesbian associations.
Yes, unlike many Muslim countries, homosexuality has never been
illegal or criminalized in Turkey, but there is no legislation to
protect gay men and lesbians from discrimination or hostility.
The decision of the prosecutor that the American Psychiatric
Association did not rate homosexuality as a disorder and the words
"gay" and "lesbian" were widely used in daily life and scientific
research, was therefore a landmark move for individual and civil
liberties here.
Have we reached the "point of no return," as Babacan proudly declared
on Wednesday? I am afraid not. A lot has been done but we still have
a long way to go before we can make such a bold statement.
Turkish Daily News
Oct 13 2005
TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI
Turkey's chief negotiator in the European Union accession process,
State Minister Ali Babacan, proudly declared on Wednesday that Turkey
has reached a point of no return in its bid for EU membership.
At a time when a leading writer and newspaper editor could face
charges -- even sentenced -- for "insulting the Turkish identity" by
expressing opinions that might not be shared by the majority people
in this country, it is of course difficult to say that Turkey has
reached a point of no return in its well over 200-year effort to
integrate with the West.
I could not finish any of the novels by Orhan Pamuk. I tried hard,
but I just couldn't. Perhaps I do not have the minimal intellect
required to understand what he was trying to say, but still, if many
people in this country and abroad love reading his works, I feel
proud that we have a writer of his calibre.
As someone who possibly believes "there is no good or bad advertising,"
he might even have intentionally mentioned in that controversial
newspaper interview that although many Kurds and Armenians had
been killed in this country nobody was talking about it, except
himself. I might not understand his prose, at least thus far, but I am
confident that he knew what reactions his words would stir up in this
country. If he was testing the limits of freedom of expression here,
I must confess it was a clever ploy and he successfully demonstrated
that we have not yet reached the "point of no return" in that sphere.
Pamuk will appear in court on Dec. 16, and we shall see whether
he will face a similar sentence to that meted out to Hrant Dink --
the Armenian-Turkish editor of the bi-lingual Agos weekly newspaper
published in Istanbul -- on Oct. 7 only four days after the official
start of the accession talks process on the grounds that he insulted
Turks and "Turkishness."
Of course, as we keep stressing at every opportunity, legislating
reform is one thing, but implementing that reform is something
else altogether. If the ruling party has sufficient parliamentary
strength, it can even change the Constitution in a very short period
of time. However, when it comes to the implementation of those reforms
and the human factor enters onto the scene, no country can wave a
magic wand to transform the mindset of its people overnight.
Time is needed, and intense efforts are required to achieve the mindset
revolution required to bring into force the required legislation.
The basis of democracy is an awareness that there may be truths other
than your own. Democracy is not just confined to a number of seats in
Parliament. Unless an awareness that governments elected to office
with a majority are primarily entitled to safeguard the minority
views cannot be nurtured, then that regime cannot be a democracy,
but an elected dictatorship.
But simply by witnessing some bad examples, however, we should not give
up. The EU perspective of this country -- even if it may not take us
to membership of the bloc one day -- is a must in order to sustain
reforms for a better governed, more democratic and more prosperous
Turkey. When all 35 chapters of the accession talk's process are
completed successfully, we fully agree with Babacan that we will have
a much different Turkey than the one we have today.
The Pamuk and Dink cases will all be forgotten as nasty developments
that happened during the transformation period of Turkey while a new
era of understanding, brotherhood, nationhood and citizenship emerged.
On Wednesday, an Ankara prosecutor further boosted our belief in
the "reform absorption capacity" of this country and nation when
he decided to reject an official demand by the governor's office in
Ankara to ban gay and lesbian associations.
Yes, unlike many Muslim countries, homosexuality has never been
illegal or criminalized in Turkey, but there is no legislation to
protect gay men and lesbians from discrimination or hostility.
The decision of the prosecutor that the American Psychiatric
Association did not rate homosexuality as a disorder and the words
"gay" and "lesbian" were widely used in daily life and scientific
research, was therefore a landmark move for individual and civil
liberties here.
Have we reached the "point of no return," as Babacan proudly declared
on Wednesday? I am afraid not. A lot has been done but we still have
a long way to go before we can make such a bold statement.