Why some “Turks” are less equal

burak.bekdil@hurriyet.com.tr

Back in 2009, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I quietly complained that “we are being crucified daily.” The government’s response was a quick, not-so-veiled threat, issuing a statement that said, “[We] hope that was a slip of the tongue.”

Never mind the threatening wording of the response. Luckily the patriarch has not been literally crucified since then. But it was most bizarre that the official reply to the remarks of a Turkish citizen had come from the foreign minister. Where was the foreign element in the words of a full Turkish citizen?

The bitter truth remains unchanged: Some Turks are “foreign.” Last week, press reports revealed that the prosecutor’s office in Istanbul that had tried the Israeli soldiers involved in the Mavi Marmara incident had asked the intelligence services for a listing of Turkish Jews who travelled to Israel two weeks before and after the incident. The suspects were allegedly put under surveillance and a list was sent to the court.

Once again, the Foreign Ministry replied to allegations of a Turkish Jewish witch-hunt. The ministry’s spokesman said “we strongly rebuff efforts to give the image as if there is any sentiment against our Jewish citizens.” Another little foot note of no importance had been engraved in Turkish history: The foreign – not the justice or interior – ministry officially commented on a prosecution against Turkish citizens.

A “real” Turk can never be anything other than Muslim

ÖMER TAŞPINAR o.taspinar@todayszaman.com

Can Turkey be multicultural?

Since the end of the Cold War the most daunting challenge facing our country remains the same one: the Kurdish question.

Is there still hope for Kurds and Turks to live together without resorting to destructive nationalism? The answer to that question to a great extent still depends on whether Turkey can become multicultural. Multiculturalism will not solve the demands for political decentralization or federalism coming from an increasing majority of Kurds in Turkey. Yet, without multiculturalism, Kurdish demands for political and administrative decentralization will continue to fuel violence. In other words, if Ankara wants to stop the bloodshed and if it really wants to win the hearts and minds of Kurds, the journey towards genuine democratization has to start with multiculturalism. Can Turkey become multicultural? What would a multicultural Turkey look like? This may sound overly simplistic but you will know Turkey has made progress towards multiculturalism when you call the Ministry of Interior in Ankara and you hear a voice message saying: “Press # 1 for Turkish, or press #2 for Kurdish.” I can already hear Turkish nationalists sarcastically asking why stop at just Kurdish, what about “press #3 for Arabic, #4 for Georgian, #5 for Albanian and #6 for Laz”? Let's be serious. Multiculturalism needs to acknowledge that Kurds are the largest minority in this country and the last time I checked there were no demands from other minorities that had led to anything like the massive violence that caused the death of 40,000 people in the last 20 years. Turkey has a Kurdish problem and Ankara has to recognize that “assimilation-oriented Turkish nation-building,” which denied and repressed Kurdish language, culture and ethnicity, is at the heart of this problem.