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Recent election results in Turkey - Headscarves - Soul Search - The Horseman 9/16/2007 7:40:05 AM
Hello, Friends.
It's been months since I've been struggling with my urge to "… write or not to write ..." about the Headscarf Issue in Turkey, recent election results, and the connection to
THE HORSEMAN' the lead novel of my series, Lands of the Morning.
I am particularly sensitive to the Headscarf Issue in Turkey, and I reject to justify it with the argument that covering women, often head to toe, has been a practice of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish women the world over for thousands of years. The truth is women were placed under a veil as early as the demise of the Mother-Goddess and rise of the first male-dominated religion ... when women were made property of men, first of their fathers, or in his absence, brothers, and then husband, and then their son or sons.... OK, yes, yesss, I confess, I feel paranoiac, I dread a new Man vs. Woman (woman's rights -- rights to their own bodies, minds, intellects, belief system) battle here.
My struggle as I write these words is a soul search. Should I or should I not voice my thoughts/concerns about what I see metamorphosing in Turkey (Democracy, Free Speech, and Islam - do they conflict or complement each other?), or forever hold my peace. Will my writings have a negative tone, will they seem like criticizing, add fuel to the fire, and most importantly, do I really understand what's been happening in Turkey, and as an American, do I, in fact, have a right to opine about Turkey and the direction the majority of her people want to march on? On the other hand, we live in a global village. “From Celtia to Anatolia” our actions influence each other’s existence in real time. Besides, Turks opine about my country, the United States of America, all the time, and criticize us aplenty.
Our Founding Fathers have said:
".....We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed (Italics and bold-face, mine); that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed....."
So, if the majority of the citizens of Turkey choose the rule of AKP, rewrite their Constitution while also deleting some references to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Founder of the modern Turkish Republic, build more mosques than schools, choose a President whose wife wears a headscarf (I understand a famous Western fashion designer will design her scarf), if citizens identify themselves as first a Muslim and than a Turk, and perhaps embark a path different than what Ataturk had carved for them, truly this is their business. The modern Republic of Turkey was a phoenix that proudly rose from the ashes of the 1st World War, in 1923, and ever since, her citizens had plenty of time to debate, digest, accept or reject Ataturk’s vision on their behalf.
By the way, I share my fictional arch-hero Burhan Kayhanolu's (The Horseman) admiration and love for Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. A very brief look at Ataturk's vision:
Premises and Purposes of the Turkish Revolution — Kemalism
Ataturk saw his quest as the "Creation of a new Turk.”The foundation of the Republic will be culture," he declared. Adding, "Not the obsolete, anachronical and foreign cultures left over from/imposed by the imperial era, but a national culture suitable to our character and history, which will earn a rightful place for the secular Republic among the family of modern (i.e., developed) nations of the World. The purpose of our revolution is to render the people of Turkish Republic a modern and civilized society, in every and true sense of the words, in substance and in appearance."
According to Ataturk, to achieve and keep national independence and safeguard "peace at home and abroad --- Yurtta Sulh, Cihanda Sulh" is to follow the path of culture or civilization. He described his vision thusly: “Separating culture from civilization is difficult and unnecessary. So, let me tell you what I mean by ‘culture’. Culture is the sum total of all things that a nation can achieve (a) in public administration, (b) in arts and sciences, and (c) in the field of economy; namely, agriculture, commerce and industry — including land, sea and air transportation and communication. Civilization of a nation then is none other than the end product of the three components mentioned above.”
Ataturk endeavored to create the new Turk and Turkey: Positively rationalistic and scientific; Conceptually holistic — rather than reductionist; basically Western oriented and largely secular and/or laic(ist).
Why am I agonizing about what’s happening in Turkey? What business is it of mine? Well, though born in Rome, Italy, I grew up in Istanbul, Turkey, and am fond of and loyal to "Turkiye" and her gallant people. Lands of the Morning Series is the fruit of my childhood and early youth, and is a true reflection (seen from MY vantage point, that is) of the historical/religious backgrounds and socio/political realities surrounding each of my "tall tales" (what is a novelist but a teller of tall tales?), from CLARION OF MIDNIGHT, THE SCORPION CHILD, TROJAN ENCHANTMENT, ANDROMAKHE, KORINNA and others yet to be completed.
Yes, I still got several novels to complete in this series, POSEIDON UNBOUND, the prequel to TROJAN ENCHANTMENT, also am halfway through CONSTANTINOPLE, MY LOVE, a historical novel about the 1453 Fall of Constantinople, and have written the prologue to BATTLE OF THE FALCON AND THE WOLF, an Armageddon-type finale to the series.
I believe BATTLE OF THE WOLF AND THE FALCON will be the hardest to write to its finishing point. It will reflect what my eyes and heart observe brewing in my Lands of the Morning, in the near future.
Ah! I believe this blog will take several installments.... I also want to mention some of the brilliant and vibrant Turkish women I've known, women I call Daughters of Ataturk, women such as Dr. Muazzez Ilmiye Cig (this lady firebrand Sumerologist, Cuneiform-specialist is a true phenomenon! Born on June 20, 1914, she specializes in the study of the Sumerian people. In 2005, she published a book arguing that the headscarf did not originate in the Muslim world, but was worn by five thousand years ago by Sumerian priestesses who initiated young men into sex. As a result, she and her publisher were charged with "inciting hatred based on religious differences". Ç's case went to trial on November 1, 2006. She denied the charges, saying: "I am a woman of science ... I never insulted anyone.” The trial lasted less than an hour and she was acquitted. In addition to her archaeological work, Dr. Ç is a prominent advocate for secularism in Turkey.
Also, I want to write about Journalist Tulin Daloglu (former Washington correspondent for Turkey's Star TV; in the Turkish general elections of November 2002, she ran as a candidate for the Turkish Parliament from the city of Kayseri, as a front runner for the now defunct YTP (New Turkey Party)—perhaps defunct is not an accurate description, for in October 2004, the YTP merged into the CHP (the Republican People’s Party)—presently Tulin Daloglu is a freelance writer), and my good friend, the late Ayten Sandikcioglu.... not to forget the leader of the emancipation of Turkish women, Halide Edip Adivar (1884-1964), who was not only one of my favorite novelists, but a university lecturer and politician ...
