[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]
You must have heard that the open-minded people of Switzerland took to the polls last weekend to ban minarets – in a country where there are only four of them. These days, the global news is full of stories and commentaries about this apparently democratic, yet shockingly illiberal decision. But if you really want to understand the undercurrents that led the majority of the Swiss society to this unbelievable point, I would suggest watching a 1940 film, “Der Ewige Jude.”
Rethinking The West
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Aryan Supremacy Reigns Supreme in Switzerland
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009Not At War With US, Either
Sunday, April 12th, 2009[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]
The boldest headline that President Obama’s visit to Turkey gave the world media was a simple reaffirmation. “The U.S is not and will never be,” he said, “at war with Islam.”
For many Muslims, it was good to hear this because they had really started to suspect that there was a “war on Islam” launched by the American government. In fact, no significant U.S. official had ever said anything close to that. Some of the policies of the Bush administration, from the Iraq War to Guantanamo to “rendition” created doubts and fears. Moreover, some Republican pundits and ideologues, which people perceived as the real mind of the Bush team, engaged in fear mongering about Islam. All these, at the very least, left a bad taste in the mouths of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims.
Terrorism In The Name of Judaism
Saturday, January 24th, 2009[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]
If you don’t already know him, let me introduce you to former Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel, Mordechai Eliyahu, an 80-year-old man of faith. In May 2007, he wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to give him some religious advice on what to do with the Palestinians. As reported in the Jerusalem Post on May 30, 2007, the retired chief rabbi was furious about the rockets fired from Gaza into Israel and held the whole population in the Strip responsible. “An entire city holds collective responsibility for the immoral behavior of individuals,” he argued.
Barack Obama and The American Gospel
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]
I was among the billion people who watched the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama. And like most of those people, I was moved and filled with hope for a better world.
For me, one of the striking points in the inauguration ceremony was that it started with a prayer by pastor Rev. Rick Warren, and ended with a benediction by pastor Rev. Joseph E. Lowery. During the whole ceremony, repeatedly, God was praised, His blessing was asked, and His Scriptures were evoked.
When Both Sides See The Other As Evil
Saturday, January 17th, 2009[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]
Since Israel started its brutal onslaught in Gaza, I have been receiving dozens of emails everyday about the nature of the conflict and the parties involved. Most of these fall into two distinct narratives that are 180 degrees opposite.
My Muslim friends are telling me that Israel is “the real terrorist,” that its goal is to annihilate or enslave the Palestinian people, and it is responsible for not just the current bloodshed but also the 60-year-old tragedy in the Holy Land. My American or Israeli friends, on the other hand, are telling me the exact opposite. The problem is Arabs, they say, who never accepted Israel’s right to exist. Hamas, for them, is responsible for the carnage in Gaza. Israel, they argue, is only defending itself against this fanatic group.
Time For Hamas to Consider Peace
Thursday, January 15th, 2009[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]
I have great sympathy for the Palestinian people. They are my co-religionists with whom I share a common history and culture. Every now and then I recall with nostalgia that the Ottoman Sultans, living in my home city, Istanbul, used to rule Palestine for centuries in a way that made it possible for its people live in peace and security. And I feel deeply sad about what happened to them after we Turks were forced to leave the Holy Land during World War I.
The Morality of ‘Collateral Damage’
Saturday, January 10th, 2009[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]
As of yesterday, the Israeli military had killed 770 people in the Gaza Strip, about 200 of them children. Millions around the world are appalled at this ruthless bloodshed. But Israeli spokespersons routinely show up on television, and pleasantly tell us that they don’t have the slightest responsibility in all this carnage. They are doing everything they can do avoid this “collateral damage,” they say, including warning civilians to run away from their homes before launching an onslaught of bombing. And, based on that, pro-Israeli commentators, such as Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post, coldly tell us that Israel is absolutely the “moral side” in his conflict.
Really?
Can You Finish Terrorists by Killing Them–and Their Kids?
Thursday, January 8th, 2009[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]
Sometimes an article by one man summarizes the mindset of millions. The piece titled “Bam Stirs Fear in Israel,” written by Ralph Peters and published in the New York Post on January 1, was like that. Fearing that “Bam” (i.e, Obama) could “stab Israel in the back” (i.e., tell her to stop the bloodbath in Gaza), Mr. Peters was trying to persuade his readers why it was crucial that the Israeli military kept on bombing the Gaza Strip – a deadly operation which has killed more than 150 women and children up to this point.
“Fighting terrorists effectively means going in on the ground, and sooner is better than later,” argued Mr. Peters. “You can’t impress fanatics into surrendering. You have to kill them. Nothing else works.”
You Wonder Why They Hate You? Look at Gaza
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]
The Israeli air force has been bombing the Gaza Strip since last Saturday. As of yesterday, the death toll was over 400 hundred. According to the United Nations, a quarter of these people were women and children. The wounded, which again included hundreds of innocent civilians, were calculated to be more than 1,000.
Now let’s stop there and think for a second. I repeat: the Israeli war machine has killed around 100 innocent civilians. Some children died bleeding in their mother’s arms, others were burned alive.
The Obama Nations
Friday, November 7th, 2008[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]
WASHINGTON – In his recent book, “The Obama Nation,” conservative pundit Jerome Robert Corsi was criticizing the growing popularity of the then Democratic presidential candidate. If he wants to keep on, he might now consider writing a sequel: “The Obama Nations.” For now not just millions of Americans, but also billions of foreigners are inspired by the hope that the African-American president-elect spreads.
The Right Man at The Right Time
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]
WASHINGTON – On the very last night of his tireless, 21-month-long campaign for the presidency, Senator Barack Obama, who is now appropriately termed “President-elect,” spoke to a huge crowd in Manassas, Virginia. In a vast open field, he found almost 100,000 people who had been waiting for hours to hear his voice. And I was among them.
The Campaign of Change and Hope
Monday, November 3rd, 2008[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]
VIRGINIA – The young African-American lady at the national headquarters of the Democratic Party in Washington DC is like a commander in chief. As groups of young and dedicated supporters of Barack Obama line up in front of her booth, she gives them orders to follow. “You need to go all the way to Richmond,” she says to a group of five, “Barack needs you there.”
This is one of the hundreds of spots throughout the United States at which Obama supporters are organized for “canvassing,” i.e., door to door lobbying for the presidential elections. Other presidential candidates, including Obama’s rival John McCain, have used canvassing too, but many political commentators agree that the Obama campaign has been the most efficient one in American political history in rallying and organizing so many people on such a big scale.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Obama is Coming!
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
WASHINGTON – It has been a little more than an hour since I turned on the TV in my hotel room, but I have come across Barack Obama almost a dozen times. American channels are full of ads that are in favor of, or against, the Democratic presidential candidate. The ones that his party put out talk about his vision for America and how great it will be. The ads given by his rival, John McCain, counter by saying he is inexperienced and will get confused in the first crisis he faces.
Will Non-Muslims Go To Heaven, Too?
Sunday, October 12th, 2008[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
WARSAW – I was walking heedlessly in the Old Quarter of the Polish capital last Sunday until I saw a group of joyful singers on the street. Then I stopped and stared. They were about a dozen young Poles who were singing and clapping in the middle of a busy street and in the midst of a bitter cold. Soon, I realized that their art was very much related to their faith. As evangelical Catholics — a category which I just learnt that exits — they were praising God and calling on other people to do the same.
Good Morning Capitalist Vietnam
Sunday, October 12th, 2008[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
HO CHI MINH CITY – Some of the most striking images of the ’70s were from the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese forces. After a bloody war that lasted for two decades, the Vietcong had finally captured this capital city of U.S.-supported South Vietnam in April 1975. While the Americans were hastily evacuating their personnel, the gates of the Presidential Palace, which used to host the pro-U.S. leaders of the south, were crushed by tanks of the People’s Army of Vietnam. It was a victorious day for communism — and a tragic one for capitalism.
Let’s Get Over With This Crusade-Phobia
Saturday, September 20th, 2008[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The most tragic-comic news story of this week came from the central Anatolian town of Kayseri. A film crew was shooting a documentary about the medieval past of the town, and they decided to use the city’s ancient castle as a stage. But when they put a Crusader’s banner, a white plate with a red cross, on the walls, all hell broke loose. Dozens of Kayserians gathered under the castle to protest against the irritating banner. This is Turkey, one man yelled angrily, and we want only the Turkish flag.
The Protocols of The Learned Elders of Globalization
Saturday, September 13th, 2008[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
BRUSSELS -Turkey’s Kemalo-nationalists, who think that globalization is a heinous conspiracy against the Turkish nation-state, would be absolutely horrified if they were here these days: The capital of Europe is hosting a global event which not only asserts the inevitable progress of globalization, but also celebrates the rise of ”inter-dependence.” For those Turks who are obsessed with their country’s ”full independence” and “untouched sovereignty,” this, I am sure, will sound like the voice of evil. Yet it is simply the echo of reality.
God Save The Queen, Indeed
Thursday, May 15th, 2008[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The first time I went abroad, I was 16, and my destination was Britain. My parents had sent me to spend a summer in London, so that I could improve my English and “see the world.” Staying at a warm family house in Richmond, and touring the whole city almost everyday, I had cultivated a beginner’s admiration for Her Majesty’s country. Actually, at first sight, there were few oddities. I could never understand, for example, why their washbasins had two separate taps, through which you either freeze or burn. But the plus side was dominant.
The Religious Way To The Open Society
Thursday, March 27th, 2008[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
NEW YORK – Peter Berger, one of the world’s leading authorities on sociology of religion, put in a nutshell what all secularists, and especially Turkey’s fuming ones, should get.
“Modernization does not necessarily secularize societies,” the Boston University professor noted, “it rather pluralizes them.”
Reflections On The Devolution In France
Saturday, December 29th, 2007[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Chou En-Lai, the late prime minister of communist China, was once asked what he thought about the French Revolution. He declined to comment, and explained, “It’s too early to tell.”
That was in the early 1960s. Perhaps today it is a little bit less early to comment on whether the French Revolution really was a good idea. That seminal event – which inspired not just the French but also many other revolutionaries in many countries all around the world, including Turkey – has borne some notable fruits by which we might judge their political roots.
