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Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

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  • Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

    Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

    Sunday, November 8, 2009

    ŞAFAK TİMUR

    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

    A model-Atatürk coming out of a cake at a Republic celebration and a crowd all wearing Atatürk masks that say, 'We are all Atatürk,' raises questions over how much Atatürk is idolized in society.

    A model of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Republic, wearing a black suit came out of a giant, fake cake and saluted the crowd at the official celebration ceremony of the Republic’s foundation in Istanbul. The event caused debate over the way the leader is idolized in society.

    The Istanbul Gov. Muammer Güler was also at the ceremony and cut a piece from the real cake. In the period after Oct. 29 and around Nov. 10 the nation gets covered in symbols of the nation. Turkish flags hang outside windows, state institutions and schools are decorated with Atatürk pictures, people sing the national anthem while wearing Atatürk masks and of course a model Atatürk jumps out of a fake cake.

    “In societies like Turkey that have a heavy ideological climate, politics centers on symbols rather than important issues,” said Koray Çalışkan, a political scientist from Boğaziçi University, who answered the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review’s questions from abroad. “Turkey has essential problems like unemployment, gender issues, women’s participation in politics and the decline of agriculture. We do not address these [issues]. Instead we complain that ‘The nation is being lost,’” Çalışkan said.

    According to Çalışkan, the scene of the model-Atatürk coming out of a cake is one particular moment that “forces us to face our own nakedness, ridiculousness, and underdevelopment.”

    Others do not believe that Atatürk is excessively idolized, according to Ruhat Mengi, a columnist at the daily Vatan. “Atatürk was a great leader and at the same time is a symbol that gathers the nation together. If you say we should bring him down to Earth, make him ordinary, stop idolizing him and you want to turn him into a regular man on the street, then naturally you will face a reaction from his supporters,” she said.

    Mengi said Atatürk coming out of a cake is unusual in the culture of the Turkish Republic. “It is similar to a scene in Hollywood movies when a belly-dancer jumps out of a cake. When something like that is done for Atatürk, people react,” she said.

    “That was a mistake,” she said, referring to the Republic celebration in Istanbul. “It should be well-thought through because our society is sensitive. Put up a picture or a bust but do not make him jump out of a cake,” Mengi said.

    Veteran columnist Hakkı Devrim wrote a disapproving article about the cake incident. “It was crass or a lack of manners, whatever you call it,” Devrim said. It was not done intentionally, people do it because they do not know what is appropriate, he said. Devrim believes there are exaggerations over the symbols representing Atatürk. “My favorite characteristic of Atatürk was his merciless realism even against himself,” he said.

    Historian Ayşe Hür said although the organizers did not consciously try to dishonor Atatürk, their aesthetic taste was what made them organize such an event.


    Author-linguist files lawsuit

    Sevan Nişanyan, a linguist and columnist for the daily Taraf, claimed he received threatening emails because of his column on Oct. 29, news agencies reported.

    In his column, Nişanyan re-writes Atatürk’s Speech to Youth. He starts out by saying, “86 years is enough I think. Our language has been focused on blood-country-enemy and it has enslaved this country for years. It’s time to think new things. The climax of the blood-country-enemy literature was Ataturk's Speech to Youth. If I re-wrote it today, I would say…”

    Nişanyan said he received 400 emails the day his article was published, which caused him to apply to Aegean city of Selçuk’s prosecutor office. “As you know Hrant Dink received similar threats and was killed. The same thing could happen to me,” he said. Dink, a prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist, was shot to death in central Istanbul in 2007.


    Link

  • #2
    Re: Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

    Is Sevan an Armenian?
    For the first time in more than 600 years, Armenia is free and independent, and we are therefore obligated
    to place our national interests ahead of our personal gains or aspirations.



    http://www.armenianhighland.com/main.html

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

      Originally posted by Armanen View Post
      Is Sevan an Armenian?
      Yes.

      You should meet Sevan Nişanyan. A Turkish citizen of Armenian decent, he studied philosophy at Yale, political science at Columbia, and now teaches Turkish language and history at Istanbul’s Bilgi University. In the past he has written several books about tourism in Turkey that were all well received by everyone who read them, but his recent title made him a public enemy in the eyes of Turkey's staunch Kemalists. Mr. Nişanyan, with all his boldness, argues that Kemalism is, in essence, what we commonly know as fascism.

      Link

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

        Originally posted by Alexandros View Post
        You should meet Sevan Nişanyan. A Turkish citizen of Armenian decent, he studied philosophy at Yale, political science at Columbia, and now teaches Turkish language and history at Istanbul’s Bilgi University. In the past he has written several books about tourism in Turkey that were all well received by everyone who read them, but his recent title made him a public enemy in the eyes of Turkey's staunch Kemalists. Mr. Nişanyan, with all his boldness, argues that Kemalism is, in essence, what we commonly know as fascism.
        Kemalist ideology didn't take root until after Ataturk's death. While Kemalism certainly has authoritarian vestiges due to it becoming the official State ideology, I don't know of any fascist political ideology that voluntarily gives up its power to a democratically elected rival.

        That is exactly what happened in 1950, when the Kemalist CHP after 27 years of unelected single party rule completely transfered their power to the democratically elected DP (Demokrat Parti). The DP has many resemblances to the modern day AKP, especially in Islamist populism. After ruling for nearly 11 years (through winning elections), the party became increasingly authoritarian and desired to replace the Kemalist Deep State with their own Deep State. This was why they were overthrown via military coup in 1960.

        It seems that any majority ruling political party, whether it be Turanist, Kemalist or Islamist, eventually becomes fascist and anti-democratic in Turkish politics. After 5 years of uncontested rule, the AKP is also following this path. There won't be a military coup this time around, hopefully they will just be unelected.

        But mark my words, the AKP will never voluntarily give up their power, even if they lose elections.
        Last edited by egeli; 11-09-2009, 05:28 PM.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

          Originally posted by egeli View Post
          Kemalist ideology didn't take root until after Ataturk's death. While Kemalism certainly has authoritarian vestiges due to it becoming the official State ideology, I don't know of any fascist political ideology that voluntarily gives up its power to a democratically elected rival.
          That is not really correct. The Kemalist ideology developed in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, when he was still alive and in full control of Turkey from its roots to its branches - that is why it is called "Kemalist ideology". Fully-developed Kemalism with its state-enshrined hero-worship of Ataturk did develop later, after his death.
          Plenipotentiary meow!

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

            Originally posted by bell-the-cat View Post
            That is not really correct. The Kemalist ideology developed in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, when he was still alive and in full control of Turkey from its roots to its branches - that is why it is called "Kemalist ideology". Fully-developed Kemalism with its state-enshrined hero-worship of Ataturk did develop later, after his death.
            I'll carefully choose my words next time, what i meant to say was contemporary Kemalism didn't take root until after his death.

            The Turkish State has monopolized Kemalist ideology, and carefully hides some of Mustafa Kemal's personal writings that do not fit with the State's vision for Turkey. In a sense, Ataturk is nothing but a state symbol, and is entirely different from the man of flesh Mustafa Kemal.

            The "Kemalist" Turkish State bombed Mustafa Kemal's childhood home just 15 years after his death for their own political agenda. If Turks within the state could disgrace Mustafa Kemal then, when he was still alive in their memory, the potentials are endless for contemporary basterdizations of his ideology.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

              Why did the turkish regime bomb kemals childhood home?
              For the first time in more than 600 years, Armenia is free and independent, and we are therefore obligated
              to place our national interests ahead of our personal gains or aspirations.



              http://www.armenianhighland.com/main.html

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

                Atatürk will replace Mohammed in the Koran next, no wait that means Turkish Nationalists will have to found their whole new religion. So much for being Muslim.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

                  Taraf writer threatened over adaptation of Atatürk address

                  12 November 2009, Thursday

                  TODAY’S ZAMAN İSTANBUL

                  Taraf daily’s columnist Sevan Nişanyan, who wrote a humanistic adaptation of Atatürk’s “Address to Turkish Youth,” a patriotic speech calling on young people to protect their country at all costs, published e-mails received from irate nationalists and filled with threats and vulgar language in his column yesterday.

                  In his adaptation, Nişanyan replaced the first sentence of the address, “Your first duty is to preserve and to defend Turkish Independence and the Turkish Republic forever,” with “Your first duty is to be a human being.” The sentences: “This is the very foundation of your existence and your future. This foundation is your most precious treasure. In the future, too, there may be malevolent people at home and abroad, who will wish to deprive you of this treasure” in the original were changed to: “The very foundation of being human is love toward other human beings. All through your life, you shall consider it a duty for yourself to teach beauty, reason and justice to people. If you have knowledge, you will share it without expecting anything in return.” The rest of Nişanyan’s adaptation was a treatise on the equality of all human beings.

                  However, the backlash from some among the Turkish youth was spine-chilling. “We will make you write the correct version of the ‘Address to Youth’ with your own blood. … I’ll kill you like that Hrant Dink dog,” said one of the messages, most of whose text was not suitable for replication here.

                  Another one said: “I have been praying for years to be able to kill one of your kind when I’m on my army duty. I would do this in cold blood and killing your ilk would not hurt my conscience at all but would give me honor. … You should know that we are waiting for the tiniest spark.” Another message was the sender’s own adaptation, “Turkish Youth! Your primary duty is to adopt as a principle to wipe from the earth for the sake of Turkishness and humanity the Armenians and Kurds, that champion enmity against Turks and which are the most debased nations on earth.”

                  Yet another version started: “Oh You! The despicable creature who thinks himself a man because you know how to write. You and your ilk will see the power of the Turkish Nation very soon. Armenians and others, those who continue their corrupted intrigues to separate the country despite all the tolerance we have shown will pay the price they deserve to pay in the near future. Now is your day to speak, but don’t you worry; that will change in a year or two. The day we’ll settle accounts with you is near! We’ll see if you can show the same courage then!! Find a hole to hide in, you separatist PKK-supporting traitors.”

                  “Yours is a cowardly nation. You can write all you want about Atatürk; you’ll never have the strength to destroy his republic. But you and your owners who hold your leash should remember that the thing that can cross your immunity and protection is a 9mm bullet.” Other messages accused him of being a lapdog of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

                  Link

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Idolizing Atatürk reheats debate in Turkey

                    Yep Turkey is such an advanced and tolerant culture....I guess they can't hide their barbaric way of life after all.

                    Kill all those who follow traitorous texts such as "The Declaration of Human Rights" or commit the highest treason and love someone who isn't "Turkish". So criminal, so treasonous!

                    When will Turkey change, or is that a question for "Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?"

                    Comment

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