The tour group that I travelled with on Sunday was directed by a professor of Istanbul Sehir University and a capable graduate student. While we were traveling around Hagia Sophia, my friend Ron, his wife, and I invited the grad student Adil to lunch with us.
Adil is considered the most promising graduate student in the university’s history department. He too has worked as a tour guide. Later when we went through Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace complex (my second time for both), Adil was quite knowledgeable but needed to be prodded with questions before answering. I think that he was a bit intimidated by the group, most of whom had PhDs in Ottoman and Byzantine history.
At lunch, however, he opened up. I asked my typical question, which was “why do you like your university.” Adil had started a PhD program before in Ottoman history, but he found that his field of study was considered politically inappropriate. Until recently all universities were government run, and the government has for the past 80 years been neglecting its Ottoman past. Starting in 1923 Turkey has been a republic. I was constantly reminded of this by huge banners on the roadways celebrating independence day this Saturday. Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, tried to strip Turkey of its ignoble past as an empire in decline. Symbols of the Ottoman Empire were removed. Even the Fez, the famous Turkish red headgear is STILL illegal for Turks to wear in public. Religion too was removed from the government establishment in a drive for secular, western values.
The president of Turkey today has reversed course. He is using the republican language of Ataturk but stressing that Islamic values are not counter to what Turkey should become. Some people have said that if France and other countries don’t want Turkey part of the European Union, that’s OK. Turkey can become the centerpiece of a “new Ottoman empire” with the Balkans and the Middle East in its zone of influence.
Just a few weeks ago a sweeping set of constitutional changes were adopted in Turkey by popular vote with the support of the president. These changes were supposed to increase democracy by expanding the role of the courts at the expense of the military. In reality the president’s party would be in charge of implementing these changes, and by doing so can cement their rule in a tighter hold. The military, which has always supported the secular views of Ataturk in recent years, could finally be contained.
Conservative parts of Turkey in the East voted overwhelmingly for the changes. The western-oriented parts of Istanbul voted against. The European Union protested the vote, and the president hailed it as a huge victory, and the military did NOT stage a coup d’etat to overthrow the government. Otherwise I could have been on a front row seat for a military takeover.
What does this have to do with my conference? Well, ISU is supported by government ministers and is relatively conservative in its values. Ottoman history is in vogue here, and I would imagine that most of the people at the school would support the president.
Yes, history does have power.
No comments:
Post a Comment