428) Feeding Prejudices - Turkey’s image problem did not start with Armenian issue in 1915 or Kurdish . .

BBC’s former Turkey correspondent Chris Morris, in his recently published book “The New Turkey,� rightly indicates that Turkey’s image problem did not start with the Armenian issue in 1915 or the Kurdish issue in the 1980s and the 1990s, but that its roots lay much deeper and older. . . .

His example dates back 500 years. Ogier de Busbecq, ambassador of the Habsbourg Dynasty during the reign of Suleiman The Magnificent, in his letters to Vienna, could not refrain from highly praising the Ottoman system and very often stressed the futility of daring to challenge the Ottomans. As Morris aptly remarks, same Busbecq did not also refrain from occasionally reinforcing the prejudices in Europe, despite his thorough acquaintance with the Ottomans. In one of his letters he wrote, “You can hardly expect elegance of style from such an utterly barbarous country as Turkey.�

In spring, a British parliamentarian known as a “friend of Turkey,� blurted out in a conference on women in Turkey at the European Parliament that Turks were the first nation to systematize torture and also the inventors of the tools of torture. As soon as the conference concluded, I asked this MP with a baroness title where she received that piece of information. She in return asked for my contact information and promised she would send me a message immediately. In fact, the message came very soon, but it just contained her speech texts that showed the support she had lent for Turkey’s future EU membership.

Breaking the accumulated prejudices of centuries, after being labeled the “other,� is difficult, even in the case of those who are known as friends of Turkey. Nor can we say that Turkey is free of such prejudices. That the Treaty of Sevres is being remembered and reminded at every new stage reached in relations with the EU, is not without reason.

Naturally, what is expected from Turkey in the post-October 3 period is to struggle wisely against these prejudices. Wisely, because before us there are two big files that could further ignite Europe’s accumulated prejudices. The first is the judicial process launched in response to Orhan Pamuk’s statements, which he himself acknowledges, had consequences beyond his original intention. The other is the letter sent by the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) to the British Parliament asking for invalidation of the book entitled, “The Treatment of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-1916,� also commonly known as the “Blue Book,� written jointly by James Bryce and Arnold Toynbee.

Already deplored and condemned in the Turkish public conscience by an overwhelming majority for what he said to a Swiss daily, the legal case against Pamuk now runs the risk of turning into yet another defamatory campaign against Turkey.

The European Parliament has already formed a delegation to follow the legal proceedings. The US Congress condemned the prosecution, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn who is a great admirer, paid a personal visit to the writer in his residence. Even Salman Rushdie has joined the controversy. Pamuk’s prosecution deserves as much condemnation as what Pamuk said to the Swiss newspaper. If the trial, scheduled on the day the EU summit will be held, actually takes place on January 16, then the first summit Turkey will attend as an acceding country will turn into a “Turkey has no place in Europe!� meeting.

The second issue is being able, at last, to be on the verge of turning Britain against us on “genocide�, which so far has been “the� country that has stayed close to Turkish views in letting the issue to be discussed by historians. Apparently, the Armenian lobby in Britain is galloping nonstop towards that target after Turkey passed the ball to its court, something it had been waiting for long. Lord Avebury, Lord Archer of Sandwell and Lord Biffen, members of the House of Lords, and historian Ara Sarafyan have launched a campaign to respond to the TBMM’s letter. Their aim is to defend Toynbee’s book and stir up British public consciousness about what took place in 1915.

Morris says it is difficult to give a “no� answer in response to whether the prejudices Busbecq had 500 years ago still haunt the EU corridors. If only we do not strive to further ossify these prejudices!

October 17
Brussels

e-mail:s.gultasli@zaman.com.tr
SELCUK GULTASLI
10.24.2005 Monday - ISTANBUL 10:44