In order to Do a Favor A newly established holiday created polemic in Russia. November 4th, which was suggested by religious men and accepted by the public as an official holiday, is called “National Unity Day”. The November 7 Revolution Day celebrated for 80 years has been removed in return.

The characteristic of the November 4 holiday is that you must do a favor on that day. A poll conducted reportedly showed that 75 percent of the people do not know the meaning of any holiday, but become happy simply because it is a holiday. Another negative result that was obtained from the poll is that nobody wants to make any favors for anyone else and that nobody really cares about each other. However, while they debate over doing a favor or not for just one day of the year, we endeavor to do favors and charity during the whole month of Ramadan in our country. We display consolidation. It is obvious that we must preserve this spiritual atmosphere and its values and carry them to the rest of the world. Russia’s mufti, Ravil Gainutdin, is in Turkey now. He said that religious freedom, which was not given during the era of Czarism and communism, is given to Muslims today. He stated that for the first time Islam has the same rights as Judaism and Christianity. However, although Gainutdin says, “Mosques are full of Muslims performing teravih prayers, [special for Ramadan prayer following the Isha prayer, sunnah of the Prophet Mohammed]. Everybody competes to invite their Muslim brothers to iftar dinner. Friday prayers are not omitted. Big iftar dinners are organized outside for the first time this year,” he also indicates that Islam phobia continues among the people. Carrying an Arabic printed book in your hand causes suspicion. Last Friday after the teravih prayer, a few Russian young men raided the mosque of a young imam with a PhD degree. They reportedly beat the congregation and the imam, who was taken to the hospital. It was reported that currently the imam does not have any sight ability. The attackers shouted “You won’t be able to seize Russia with Islam.” Why are these people against Islam? I think that the Russian church, state channels and media do not convey positive information about Muslims; on the contrary they form unreal images. For instance, the Iraq War is broadcasted as the war of violent Muslims killing each other. There is no political dimension. The media makes provoking publications. The state still controls 85 percent of the media. The Orthodox Church does not use its will power, either. There is the mentality that has a historical approach based on just defeating a religion; therefore, the nation invests in the image of an intolerant Muslim. The result: people who do not want to do a favor. The iftar dinner organized by the Turkish Foundation of Writers and Journalists on Sunday had the theme “Towards global peace”. Peace and other values will evidently emerge from Anatolian territory. Especially since students coming from Cambodia, Senegal, Kenya, Bosnia, Russian Federation drew a wonderful picture side by side, hand in hand. The Nigerian student said “These schools will change Africa’s misfortune.” When a Kyrgyz student said they spoke in Turkish with other students from all over the world and became close friends, I forgot all insults, cruel judgments and rejections I had been subject to for having defended the schools. Looking at the hopeful faces of the youth from different races, I also thought of the things done to Fethullah Gulen who set up Turkey’s biggest peace movement and platform. We, Anatolia-the owner of the culture of love, will overcome our misfortune and add more values to the world’s values. The children of exploited countries and consumed with wars were speaking Turkish, the language of “peace and love”. They were commemorating Yunus Emre: “Let’s love and be loved”. I watched my phrase “Muslim missionaries,” which drew great reaction when I first wrote it, to be used as a familiar taste by other mouths. The fact that Osman Baydemir appeared on stage with these children and gave messages of unity and peace means the following: The agreement of the differences that could not be achieved by any institution and political party in Turkey has been achieved by Gulen. Many people in this country, including me as well, were blackened and slandered by the publications similar to those of the Russian media, and no comment was made. The world continues to turn today. I listened to Mevlana Jalaladdin-i Rumi, who said, “Listen to the voice of your heart/ then you can see roses unfolding and greens growing inside you, and that remedied my loneliness. October 19, 2005

Kültürü dışa açmalıyız

Frankfurt Kitap Fuarı’ndaydım. 57. yılını kutlayan fuar devasa bir alanda kültür şenliği halinde. 7.000 yayıncı ve 80 ülke, 400.000 çeşit kitapla pazara çıkan kitap fuarını 10.000 medya ajansı takip ediyor.

Bugünün ahileri kim?

Expo Channel’da “AB Yolunda Ahilik” diye bir programa başladım. Cuma günü üçüncüsü yayınlanacak programın adına takılan çok oluyor. Avrupa ile Ahilik, ne ilişkisi olabilir ki?

İyilik yapmak için

Rusya’da yeni konulan bir bayram günü kavga çıkardı. Din adamlarının önerisi olan ve resmi tatil günü olarak kabul edilen 4 Kasım “Halkın Birleşme Günü” adını taşıyor.
80 yıldır kutlanan 7 Kasım komünist devrimi kutlama günü de kaldırıldı.
 

Kötü rol modelleri sahneye

“Benim gibi dünya güzeli kadın aldatılırsa siz kim oluyorsunuz, diğer zavallı ve de sünepe kadınlar zaten aldatılmanız normaldir.
Bakın, ben bile normal karşılıyorum, siz de oturun yerinize” mealini taşıyan röportajında; “Aile hem önemlidir, hem en önemsiz ve değersiz şeydir.” diyen, hem evlilik değersizdir deyip, hem evliliği kendince kutsayan Hülya Avşar topluma kötü örnek olmuştur.
 

Beginning the Bridge In the 1970′s, while evaluating the relationship with the EU, Turan Gunes had said figuratively speaking, “One cannot play pishti (a Turkish card game) at a bridge club.” Playing bridge is based on certain rules and one should make the effort to learn them.

It cannot be played with disorder, nepotism and arbitrariness. The anger always thrashes the minds of our country and we miss the light. In 1998, we ran the campaign “Come on, Turkey Forward to Europe” on the front page of Yeniyuzyil newspaper for days. While the youth and all segments of society sent very optimistic messages, Necmettin Erbakan and his friends became very angry. Moreover, many journalists wrote “We deceive people, we cannot enter Europe!” Those whose thoughts could not move beyond of this ideological polarization were angered. I had written the following: “Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who said independence is my character, was never skeptical about this country. Turkey won its independence at the beginning of the century in an environment where people were being preyed upon by the wolves at our door, today should not fear making some self-criticisms. If we cannot rid ourselves of the fears of the past, we cannot produce new policies. Polarization and the feeling of hatred is the greatest obstacle facing our entry in the new century. Unless we have a shared ideology, we will have no future. Mahatma Gandhi questions the laws and says: Rejecting cooperation with what is bad is a man’s duty just as cooperating with the good is.” Money, law or institutions are not the source of freedom, the source of freedom is humans. Their solid character and principles cannot be bought, they cannot be outlawed, and they cannot be exhausted by being made to suffer difficult conditions. We are at a historic turning point that will take a privileged place in Turkey’s history. Let us ask the question, “Are we brave and principled enough to undertake the task that awaits us?” while looking in the mirror of future. Because the future stems from today, the ideology developed from stereotypical ideas and opinions are like a thorn in the foot of the transforming world. We cannot destroy the thorn but we can remove it from our foot. Liberalists or social democrats in our country could not realize the mental change y, however it has been realized by members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) who came from Erbakan’s party, labeled a religious party. Thus, they came to power as well as they energized the country. The AKP adherents went through mental change, overcome the negative discourse of Erbakan, “the Western club,” and they joined the club. Why is it that the AKP members and not others succeeded at this? It is because AKP members had a social background. Anatolian tradesmen, KOBI’s (small and medium size enterprises) and its restricted capital realized the importance of opening to the world. They pushed for the mental change. The Istanbul bourgeoisie and circles that were in cooperation with the West could not do this. Parties representing them could not do it either because they have empty foundations, only their inner world and intellect would force them to make change and it was not there. They could not do it. They did not even support those who fight alone as Western type intellectuals. The AKP should continue to proceed with the mentality change and it should dispose of its conservative sides. As Olli Rehn said, “The total freedom of thought missed in all fields” should be realized. All kinds of social sexual discrimination towards women should be removed from laws and practices. In the TV programs I have been preparing since 1995, all politicians to whom I asked about ensuring the total freedom of thought in the law gave affirmative responses. Nobody said, “I do not want it.” However, they did not take any action to make amendments to laws to ensure total freedom of thought or for amendments in the election law about the parties. When I looked at what I have been writing for years, I see that I have always emphasized the following: “In a country that cannot express its thought freely, there can be no intellectuals, universities, or opinion-makers. There can only be men following the ideas of gangs and teams. The obedience exists there as the only norm. Turkey has the ability to make its own synthesis, clear its way, that’s enough.” As we are changing, we will change Europe as well. We will convey the human essence and our civilization to them. They will free themselves of their own bigotry. Bigots have existed in every century. The bigots of the past had a single name: “The Mullah Kasims! Bigots of today will be named with the same common name tomorrow as well. As for those who realized change, they will exist and will be remembered by their own names. October 11, 2005 Letter:Dear Nevval, first, thank you. Three points I think might be helpful in one or the other way. I. In your comments, you mentioned quite frequently mentality problems. As to ideology I understand that an authoritarian nationalism is the main problem (as generally in Europe and beyond), causing the emergence of bands and cliques, corruption a.s.o.. In the end Turkey is derived from the Ottoman state bureaucracy, so it’s understandable with its advantages and disadvantages. It was certainly thought FOR the people in some sense, but not BY the people. To claim nationalism and to be a nation are different things indeed, as you wrote on some occasions. And the AKP might be seen as a kind of “revolutionary peoples party” or similar, that is, they are currently building the nation of Turkey for the first time (of course, I simplify the process here). They cannot do it alone however, as a nation is never represented by one party alone. On the other hand, the AKP seems to know that. A certain parallel in history, and quite a heartening and sentimental one for me, is the emergence of authentic national-democratic movements in the 19th century’s Central Europe, as they -wether Germans or Poles ot others- wanted to become free nations in a unified Europe. In Hambach, both avowed brotherhood with one another and the French. Jews like Heinrich Heine were leading figures among the Germans. However, as the nations were defeated and usurped by bureaucracies and ideologists, we went through a century of destruction, and after WW2 began to unify the ruins and the graveyards. All in all, we have learned and still learn methods that ensure a democratic development. We had to learn a lot about problems and risks on the way, about fatal errors that may occur and human failures which are always present. It is, or should be, a cause of joy that Turkey wants to join the same union. Perhaps, it will be, if the development is understood and communicated this way? II. Personally I’m especially struck by the issue of “struggle against hostile investment”. Many ideological constructions are really surprising unless one learns lots of historical specials. Let me add some remarks to the “European” side. The mention of “absorption capacity” first is a sedative regarding fears about mass immigration and financial request, and second an admonition to prepare the EU for the foreseeable developments and to reduce and/or share the costs. Further, it is a reminder that the EU urgently needs a smoother mode of decision-making. The financial aspect predominantly relates to the agrarian sector and rural development, Turkey being the most challenging candidate ever seen in the EU’s history. The aspect of decision-making relates not only to the current 25 states and to the accession of Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey, but of the whole Balkan region too. (And in the long term we may foresee a further and probably last enlargment zone stretching from Moldavia to Azerbeijan, not to mention the remaining possible but easy candidates in Western Europe.) It may be worth to remember that all these aspects were repeatedly emphasized by Austrian politicians, not least the former EU commissioner for rural affairs, Franz Fischler of the Austrian Peoples Party (ÖVP), a party-colleague thus of Schüssel, Plassnik and Ferrero-Waldner. As well as they need a sedative for the Austrian public (and others), they are aware of some difficulties on the ground (which include mentalities of course). So, another formula discussed by the Austrians last year was a transitional period with Turkey becoming a member of the European Economic Community and some selectable EU-treaties, like Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. Both these complexes mentioned above should be seen as grave, that means, they do not relate to some luxuries, but may challenge the existence of the union. However, there is only a slight probability that the EU will reject Turkey, as she is needed in some crucial respects. Definitely, we will not have a century to waste. Whereas the “privileged partnership” concept is not appropriate, it may be seen as an attempt to construct an intermediate or even an emergency solution in case we do not find a better one. If such a solution will be needed depends on both sides. III. At last, I want to point to some trump cards Turkey holds in the field of European history. There is the archaeological record, which is rather gigantic and contains the essentials of early European history as well as a cultural history of 12.000 years. And there are the Ottoman archives, which also are rather gigantic and will help to re-write SE-European history of the last 500 years. Last not least, the ethnographical record, of which I do not know much, but have no doubt that it refers to matters which generally are poorly known outside Turkey, while they might shade some light on questions of more general concern. If these assets could be made more commonly known, perhaps by congresses or TV features, it might show to a larger public that we have not just to do with a “developing country”, as it is in economic terms. best wishes Hans-Peter Geissen Germany

1970’lerde Turan Güneş, AB ilişkisini değerlendirirken “Briç kulübünde pişpirik oynanmaz” demişti. Briç oynamak kurallara bağlı, öğrenmek için emek harcamak gerekir.

İçime doğru bir yolculuk

Stefan Zweig, “Yirminci yüzyılın bakışları esrarsız bir dünya üzerinde dolaşır.” der ve devam eder: “Bütün ülkeler araştırılmış, en uzak denizlerin altı üstüne getirilmiştir.

Sahur programında sizinleyim

10 Ekim’de başlayan Ahilik haftasının ilk konuşmasını Nevval Sevindi yapıyor. yer:Ahi Kültürünü Araştırma ve Eğitim Vakfı Topkapı Cad.No.38 Suriçi Topkapı

AB yolunda Ahilik ne anlama gelir?