Samim Akgönül / s.akgonul@todayszaman.com
The end of 2015 in Turkey is the picture of an identity
division. Three hermetically sealed groups cohabit in this country without the
will to cohabit anymore. A huge opportunistic, submissive and superficially
Islamist group does not want to see or understand the secular elite who cannot
accept that the formerly oppressed class rules the country. Both, nationalist
in the same way, do not want to accept the Kurdish ethno-class, constantly and
endlessly oppressed. The entire country is now falling into a bottomless pit of
an emphasis on identity, separated by sharp frontiers. There is, without doubt,
an inflation of identity in the Turkish society.
I need to say that during the last week I was very happy
to follow an intriguing debate among my friends and colleagues on the attitudes
of two Armenians of Turkey: Ara Güler and Sevan Nişanyan. Let me explain.
Nişanyan is a versatile intellectual. He is well known
for his work on etymology, religions, architecture, history and…tourism. His
skilfulness is not merely having a surface level appetite for everything. On
the contrary, all his writings are evidence of a person who goes beyond
superficiality. He never acts, speaks or behaves as expected, and he is never
politically correct. If, by chance, he reads these lines that compliment him,
he will certainly find many linguistic errors, factual errors, interpretation
errors and he will say what they are without any concern for being polite or
gentle.
Because of his uncompromising and complex personality,
his well-informed and sincere atheism and because he is an Armenian…he is in
jail. He was condemned for constructing an unauthorized stone hut on his own
land in Şirince, a village that he rehabilitated and transformed into one of
the most attractive authentic villages in Turkey. And he was sentenced to 12
years in prison in a country where Pharaonic constructions were unauthorized,
including the presidential palace. The main reason for the absence of clemency
for him is, of course, his atheism and his Armenian identity. These two
characteristics are by themselves unforgivable crimes.
While awaiting trial Nişanyan celebrated his 60th
birthday with friends and family in a restaurant in İstanbul. The Cezayir
restaurant is a very well-known place that welcomes many intellectual and
political events on human rights, minority rights and so on. This celebration
was unorthodox, as usual, because there was even a belly dancer! In my circle,
I have read two types of criticism of Nişanyan: Feminists accused him of
reinforcing a patriarchal attitude by inviting (and giving money) to a belly
dancer, a symbol of man's domination. Leftists criticized him for having dared
to organize such a festivity while there is a pitiless war going on in Turkish
Kurdistan. And vice versa. I, myself, agree with both. But at the same time, I
am happy to see that, again, Nişanyan is being not politically correct and does
whatever he wants, even if it displeases his own circle. He is an individual,
independent of his ethnic, religious and political identity. That's very rare.
Ara Güler, at 87 years old, is a photojournalist known
worldwide. He has photographed so many celebrities and so many moments of
everyday life that without his archive we wouldn't know İstanbul's history and
the hidden faces of celebrities so well. He has been and still is an “eye” --
an independent one and an unorthodox one. He is an Armenian, too. He is also
well known for his free speech and his “flowery language.” Last week, Güler
went to the private residence of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the strongest
man in Turkey, directing an unprecedented attack on the poor people of his own
country. And he took his picture. He knew very well that he would be criticized
strongly by people who love and cherish him, but he went to do what he knows
best: taking pictures. Of course, he was criticized. And I felt the same
uneasiness when I saw these pictures that are so unlike his previous works full
of humanity.
But still, he acted as an individual, independent of his
identity (Erdoğan has expressed his repugnance for Armenians many times) and
independent of his milieu, completely politically incorrect. That's very rare.
And all in all, what pleased me most is to see that
during all this polemic over Nişanyan's and Güler's attitudes no one mentioned,
at least in my environment, their Armenian identity! These two people, through
their lives and personalities, won the right of being something other than
“Armenian.” In a country where identity is the main reason for social division
and even the most used political tool, these two personalities are oases in the
desert.
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