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Rewriting History

22.11.2014 17:34

You would think Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has other things on his mind than starting a discussion on who discovered America: Columbus in 1492 or Muslim sailors 300 years before.One of the most obvious explanations for Erdoğan's effort to shed light on the controversial work of Turkish historian Fuat Sezgin is the utilization of another diversionary tactic. On several occasions in the past, when his domestic or foreign policies were under attack, the president showed himself to be a master of the art of distraction by suddenly changing the focus of the debate, often by stirring up the emotions of his most loyal pious followers. I am sure his Columbus act served that purpose. Who still talks about Erdoğan's megalomaniac palace or Turkey's embarrassing lack of direction amidst the regional chaos? But it's not the whole story.A few days after he was mocked and ridiculed at home and abroad for his provocative speech, Erdoğan revealed the true reasons behind his historical inter

You would think Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has other things on his mind than starting a discussion on who discovered America: Columbus in 1492 or Muslim sailors 300 years before.
One of the most obvious explanations for Erdoğan's effort to shed light on the controversial work of Turkish historian Fuat Sezgin is the utilization of another diversionary tactic. On several occasions in the past, when his domestic or foreign policies were under attack, the president showed himself to be a master of the art of distraction by suddenly changing the focus of the debate, often by stirring up the emotions of his most loyal pious followers. I am sure his Columbus act served that purpose. Who still talks about Erdoğan's megalomaniac palace or Turkey's embarrassing lack of direction amidst the regional chaos? But it's not the whole story.
A few days after he was mocked and ridiculed at home and abroad for his provocative speech, Erdoğan revealed the true reasons behind his historical intervention. Speaking to students at the opening of a religious school in Ankara, he called on the Education Ministry and the Higher Education Board (YÖK) to support him in his endeavor to rewrite the history of the Muslim world. Erdoğan: "An objective writing of history will show the contribution of the East, the Middle East and Islam to science and the arts. As the president of my country, I cannot accept that our civilization is inferior to other civilizations.”
Erdoğan's ambition is clear: He wants to be the Muslim leader who restores the pride of millions of Muslims worldwide in their glorious past that is overshadowed by today's violence and chaos in the Muslim world. As Mustafa Akyol wrote in a balanced assessment, that is a sympathetic attempt and, looking back in history, there are definitively many things Muslims can be proud of. But if Erdoğan wants to be more than a dubious propagandist, he and his historians should also try to explain why the Islamic world became so dramatically backward when compared to the West. Akyol is right, but I am afraid his call will fall on deaf ears.
Looking at his repeated use of anti-Western rhetoric in the last couple of years, I am pretty sure that for Erdoğan restoring Muslim greatness is inextricably bound to pushing back Western dominance. He does not only want to show that the Islamic past deserves better. He also wants to underline continuously that, in his view, the West is not as good and worthy of imitation as it claims to be.
In that sense, Erdoğan's attempt to rewrite history shows some remarkable resemblance to similar efforts by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Already years ago, the Kremlin boss decided that Russia could not afford to leave history-teaching to the historians. In 2007 Putin plugged a new history manual that was described by The Economist at the time as a rabidly anti-Western defense of the inevitability and glory of Russian totalitarianism. The magazine summarized Putin's history lesson in words that should ring an alarm bell in today's New Turkey: "Centralization, personification and idealization of power drive Russia's political culture. A strong and wise leader is more important than institutions.”
In 2012 leading American experts on Russia Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy pointed out Putin's "obsession with history" and described him as "a student of Russian history who is moving increasingly into the dangerous territory of writer, manufacturer and manipulator of history.”
Last week, Maria Lipman from the European Council on Foreign Relations wrote that over the years, Putin's rewriting of history has turned into a campaign to reassert Russia as a great power and "that whatever it has ever done is right, and that anyone who dares to challenge this vision is at best wrong, and more likely, an enemy who seeks to … undermine the Russian nation.”
My fear is that in his bid to rewrite the history of Turkey and the wider Muslim world Erdoğan is trying to copy Putin's vengeful revisionism. That is bad news for everybody who does not want history to be manipulated with the sole goal of covering up and justifying the wrongs of today.

JOOST LAGENDIJK (Cihan/Today's Zaman)



 
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