As Turkey Wobbles, The Echo Of Westward-Headed Footsteps

Arslan Kaya is an Ankara intellectual interested in the past. He gathers up old black-and-white photographs thrown away by family members, not to mention love letters from days long gone, and even old Ottoman bills and receipts. In addition, he is opposed to the transformation of old doors into coffee tables. He explains: “A door is a home's and a family's honor. A door should never sit horizontally. It should always be stood up straight. When a home's door and its elderly are not respected, that home can have no bounty, no blessings.”
Once, an antique-seller friend of Kaya's found a special brass bedframe. Kaya asked him to set it aside for him. But by the time Kaya found his way to the antique store, the brass bedframe had been sold. He was saddened that he hadn't made it in time to get it himself, but the antique-seller friend was quite thrilled, because he had managed to uncover a secret held in the brass bedframe.
So, what was this secret held by the brass bedframe? Well, while the antique seller was wiping down the brass, there was a metallic sound that came from one of the metal poles on the bedframe. When he carefully removed the knobs from the bedframe to further investigate, a whole bunch of large gold coins fell out! It had previously belonged to a top-level Ankara bureaucrat. And, as it turned out, this gentleman, who had lived alone for many years into his old age, had kept his many gold coins safe by placing them in the empty tubes of the brass bedframe. The old gentleman eventually died, and the news of his death was relayed to his son, who lived in New York. But the son was unable to attend the man's funeral, and the furniture in the house was sold off piece by piece, which is how the brass bedframe wound up in the antique seller's shop.
This life story is not so unusual actually. The faction of Turks some refer to as “White Turks” -- or secular Turks -- has become older, poorer, more isolated and perhaps more selfish. Many of them have familial relations that have fallen apart; there is little solidarity or support between themselves and their relatives. Many of these “White Turks” either don't marry at all or they marry late. And after marrying, they have either no kids or they have just one child. Divorce tends to happen quickly in this group. Pets are very valued. There is little hope, courage, excitement or expectation from the future among these “White Turks.”
And what's more, their depression rates are increasing these days. There are no new painters, poets, writers, thinkers or composers emerging from this group. There are also no strategies or tactics guiding their approaches to life. Instead, there are long nights around tables set with lots of drinks, producing gossip; much of this gossip is based upon opposition and even enmity towards others.
The political polarization in Turkey is not based on class. It is instead based on lifestyle. Which is why Turkish secularists tend to focus their criticism of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on “restrictions towards daily life” that have emerged in recent years; this could be in areas concerning alcohol consumption or cigarette use. The alcohol and tobacco lobbies -- powerful in the Turkey as they are throughout the world -- are trying to boost the perception of these “restrictions against lifestyle.”
All of which is to say that the situation prevalent now amongst secular Turkish citizens means that criticisms against the ruling party and the current national order are not focused on democracy, rights, freedoms or prosperity. To the contrary, in fact, secular Turks are actually made uncomfortable by the various ethnic, sectarian and religious freedom-related initiatives. One pertinent example of this: The rights of laborers and farmers are nowhere to be seen on their radar screens.
The truth of the matter is that Turkish secularists feel under a tremendous amount of pressure these days. And this situation does not bode well for Turkey's future. Turkey has an urgent need for compromise on a societal level. If this does not occur, Turkish secularists may leave, and like toothpaste that has been squeezed out of a tube, never return.
If the 2015 general elections wind up going in a certain direction, it might well trigger a migration of Turkish secularists towards the West, just as has been seen in past decades in countries like Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Syria. And to wit, the echo of westward-headed footsteps can already be heard. What this would mean for Turkey is a renewal of a sort of barrenness that we saw descend on this country a century ago. At the start of the 20th century, Christians -- who had once composed some 30 percent of Anatolia's population -- were forced to migrate westward.
Could we perhaps be on the verge of experiencing another such wave of migrations from Turkey, this time in the 21st century? This is one of the most important topics for debate and consideration these days in Turkey.

HASAN KANBOLAT (Cihan/Today's Zaman)