My interview to Nedim Gürsel on YouTube

Available also in 7 other languages (the original one is in French). If you are interested, just ask.

My interview to Nedim Gürsel

I wish to announce the interview to Nedim Gürsel, the Turkish writer, which will be on air on euronews starting from tonight at 21.45 (CET). I met him in Paris to talk to him about his trial in Turkey and the implications in Turkey's accession to the EU.
It should be on air all over the weekend, although I don't know the exact timetable. Should you miss it, don't worry: it will soon be on air on euronews' website.

Turkish regulator to extend broadcasting time of private stations in Kurdish

From EJC Media News:

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) of Turkey is planning to extend the period of time private television and radio stations are allowed to broadcast in Kurdish. Private TV stations currently have the right to broadcast programmes in Kurdish for a maximum of four hours a week, and radio stations for a maximum of five hours a week. Private TV and radio stations which broadcast in Kurdish include Gün TV, Söz TV and Medya FM. The RTÜK's decision to extend the broadcasting time allowed to private TV and radio stations for Kurdish programming came only days after the launch of the country's first 24-hour television channel broadcasting in Kurdish. The public use of Kurdish was prohibited following the 1980 military coup until 1991. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised the new Kurdish channel, terming it 'a very important initiative to strengthen ties between the public and the state.' (Today's Zaman via Media Network Weblog)

Why is Obama silent?

Today's Zaman interviewed an expert in international relations, Mr Gökhan Bacık, about Turkey's role in the Israel-Hamas issue. The article, Academic Bacık says Turkey fills vacuum in Middle East, is interesting although not everything the professor says is really original. But what I think he gives the most lucid answer about, is the question about Obama's silence on the Gaza war. Here it goes:

Why is US President-elect Barack Obama keeping quiet?

It is much better for Obama to be silent rather than to speak out regarding what is happening in Gaza. An American president would not talk against Israel. But his silence is as symbolic as his speech. Obama’s silence at least shows a hesitancy to speak.

But the world expects something from him.

People around the world expect something different from him. Right or wrong, people look at Obama’s personality, name, background, color and rhetoric and expect a different approach. He must have realized that expectation as well. If he says, “Israel has a right to defend itself,” then his campaign balloon with all of its promises would burst. He may become another Bush. On the other hand, Obama’s Cabinet choices include quite pro-Israeli names. And it’s a dream to expect anything anti-Israeli from the Obama administration. However, expectations from his leadership in such countries as Indonesia, Iraq and Egypt have produced some global public pressure on Obama and that’s why he is silent. Moreover, an American president cannot convince the Israeli leadership by speaking on television. But by using his operational tools, he can give messages to the Israeli elite; he can emphasize the role of international organizations.

Another part of the interview that I appreciated, concerns what he calls "the Golden Age of Judaism":

You are talking about “convincing Israel.” When we think about this we see that Israel started the raids of its own initiative and continues them on its own terms and that nobody is able to stop it. Where does this power come from?

There was a historical period known as the “Golden Age of Islam.” Now we are in the Golden Age of Judaism. Israel has obtained this power by hard work. Einstein did not receive the Nobel Prize by favoritism. In many scientific disciplines, in media, politics and finance, Jewish people have considerable power. And the ones who have this power can formulate the truth. If a country has the power to stop the United States, to limit the United Nations and to influence the European Union, we need to understand how this happens. Israel’s intellectual and ideological influence is comprised of material and intellectual qualities. If you are going to face up to it, you need to have compatible intellectual and material powers to do it.

The rest of the interview concerns mainly Turkey's role in the Middle East, and how it is the only country with enough credibility to mediate between the parts. If you are interested in the issue, just click here.

Israel and Turkey: so different, yet so similar, yet so different...

Turkey has recently condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza. Ankara has even decided to suspend its mediating efforts between Israel and Syria.

It would be easy to dismiss such a position as just solidarity with the Muslim brothers and sisters in Gaza. Not that it would be wrong. But I would like to change the perspective in the issue, noticing that Israel and Turkey, two long-standing allies, have more in common than one could imagine. And that is what I am going to highlight right now.

1. Both Turkey and Israel are countries which are strongly defined by their main religions, and yet both are convinced secular countries. In both cases religion identifies largely with ethnicity (with the important exceptions of Kurds, of course, where ethnicity is predominant, and Alevis, who are not considered as a religion minority). Which has brought discrimination and / or war against religious and / or ethnic minorities. The modalities are different, but the similarities are striking.

2. Both Turkey and Israel are countries which have been artificially created by the international community. Israel, through the partition of Palestine into two states decided by the United Nations in 1947; Turkey, through the Treaty of Lausanne, which in 1923 replaced the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, actually reintegrating a series of territories which had been previously stripped off it, and frustrating the Kurds' hopes for an independent State (hopes that had been fed by the Treaty of Sèvres). I should add that the international community has not little responsibility in the Armenian genocide.

3. This may be little more than a curiosity, but I think it's significant. Both countries have compulsory military service. In Israel, it applies both to men (3 years) and women (2 years); in Turkey, it's mandatory only for men (15 months). I admit I don't know what the consequences of this are in Israel (where a limited amount of conscientious objection exists anyway), but I know in Turkey for a long time this situation helped PKK recruit militants, since many Kurds did not wish to be sent to fight against their own fathers or brothers, preferring rather fight at their side.

4. Both countries are just a few weeks away from the next electoral rendez-vous. On February 10, Israelis will vote for the next government (and, for those of you who can read French, I suggest that you go through this interesting article by Le Monde); on March 29, municipal elections will take place in Turkey.
   

Let me focus on this last point. The key issue in Turkey's local elections will be the Kurdish majority regions (what PKK and in general militant Kurds refer to as “Kurdistan”, a word that in Turkey can bring you straight to prison). On the subject, I can recommend you this article on the Christian Science Monitor.

Now, what has been the big news in Turkey in the last few days (apart from Nazim Hikmet's rehabilitation)? I quote from Reuters:

Turkey has launched its first 24-hour Kurdish-language TV station

Which brings me to the conclusion:

1. Israel is moving towards elections → Israel bombs Palestinians

2. Turkey is moving towards elections → Turkey gives more rights to Kurds
   

Of course Kurds are not satisfied, and they are not completely paranoid in considering this decision as a way by the government to get as many votes as they can, in short a propaganda move. It is also true that Ankara has quite a double-face attitude: while PKK is considered a terrorist group, soon after Hamas won the elections the AKP government welcomed to Turkey Khaled Meshal, the exiled Hamas leader. And they never uttered a word about the rockets fired against Israel.

Nonetheless, one cannot help noticing that making propaganda through opening up to minorities is a more democratic way than bombing civilians. So, what are the main differences in this situation? Why do two similar countries in two similar situations act in such different ways?

First of all, Turkey is a EU candidate. It is true that in the last few years the great reform impulse that marked the first period of the AKP government has slowed down, if not thoroughly stopped. And the new nationalistic vague has not helped in that sense. It is also true that this government is struggling hard at least to show a nice image of itself, which is surely not enough, but it's helping improvement. And improvement is never easy, especially for a proud people like Turks. The journey is still long, but the path is the right one.

Now, this doesn't mean of course that Israel should be a candidate to the EU, but at least it shows that the EU can actually have a role in international politics. More than that: personally, I think we have a responsibility in that sense.

But in all this story we must not forget one decisive point: in Turkey Kurds vote. In Israel Palestinians don't.

Turkey rehabilitates poet Hikmet

From Bbc.co.uk:

Turkey says it is to restore the citizenship of one of its most illustrious poets and playwrights.

Nazim Hikmet was stripped of his citizenship for his Marxist beliefs in the 1950s after he fled the country, having spent years in Turkish prisons.

Hikmet, who died in exile in Moscow in 1963, revolutionised Turkish poetry during the 1930s and has had his work translated into some 50 languages.

Deputy PM Cemil Cicek said it was time for the government to change its mind.

"The crimes which forced the government to strip him of his citizenship at that time are no longer considered a crime," he said.

Read the full story

PM Erdogan returns to Turkey as he ends Mideast tour regarding Gaza

Turkish prime minister early on Sunday returned to Turkey as he ends his Middle East tour aimed at helping to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday met Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh, his last stop in consultations over the past week. The Turkish prime minister met the Middle Eastern leaders in Egypt, Syria and Jordan earlier in the week.

In Egypt, he revealed a two-phase plan to end the tensions in the Gaza Strip: urging the foreign ministers of the Arab League to take the initiative for an immediate cease-fire and securing reconciliation between the Palestinian fractions of al-Fatah and Hamas.

Read the full story on Hürriyet

See also:

• Gaza operation strains ties with Turkey (The Jerusalem Post)
• Turkey seeks end to Gaza violence (AP)
  

A beginner’s guide to Ergenekon, trial of the century

Following Turkish politics can be confusing, especially in current times when the country is witnessing what analysts term the “trial of the century,” involving alleged members of a group that, as briefly described by newspapers, is suspected of a number of crimes that appear to have been committed for the ultimate political purpose of bending the country toward a certain political agenda.

For the uninitiated, the details of the case, frequent and often confusing references to past events that go back as far as 30 years ago. Read it on Sunday's Zaman

Turkey's Kurdish TV channel opens to mixed reviews

(From Reuters.com)

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Turkey has launched its first 24-hour Kurdish-language TV station in what the government called a democratic new era for minority Kurds.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan extended best wishes in once-banned Kurdish, but some Kurdish politicians criticised the New Year launch of state-run TRT 6 as a ploy to woo voters ahead of March local elections.

Some viewers were concerned that programming would become state propaganda, underscoring scepticism in a region scarred by decades of violence and poverty.

Turkey, which aspires to join the European Union, has been under pressure to expand cultural and political rights of its estimated 12 million Kurds, a sixth of the population.

Read the full story