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Adopted Homelands

Ron Coody - 7/27/2011

On the front page of the Turkish newspaper I picked up today at the local Istanbul cafe two articles confronted me.

At the top of the page an article described how Gizem Dogan, an 18 year old who went missing during the attack of the Norwegian terrorist Breivit, had once said how she was proud to be a Norwegian Muslim. Along with many of her friends, she had traveled to the summer camp as part of her growing interest in politics. Her family immigrated to Norway ten years ago from the city of Konya found in the heartland of Turkey. Her father repaired satellite systems and they enjoyed living in a place where she had made good friends and learned a second language. A bright and vivacious girl, Gizem was popular with her peers. In he last moments she was seen running into the forest trying to escape the gunman.

In the center of the front page, the second article to confront me reported the verdict from the high-profile murder case of Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian Turkish citizen who was shot in the head in broad daylight January 19, 2007 downtown Istanbul. He was a writer and intellectual who had sought to promote peace between his ethnic group and the majority group of his country. The long history of tension would occasionally result in harsh feelings. After his death, a hundred thousand Turkish citizens filled the main streets and side streets of Istanbul to denounce the murder and denounce extreme nationalism. At the same time, some considered the murderer a hero for defending the motherland. The newspaper in my hands reported that after four years of deliberations, the court passed a prison sentence on the murderer for 22 years and 10 months, with possible parole even earlier. Dink's brother responded by saying the sentence was too light.

The victim in Norway was a young lady from a Muslim minority. The victim in Turkey was a mature man from a Christian minority. Both had made written and spoken public comments how they loved their respective countries even though they were not in the majority. They both apparently worked through the legitimate means of education, political process and media in an attempt to show that they and others from their minority group live as human beings with the same kinds of needs and desires found in people from different races or religions. Both had enemies who perceived them or people like them as a threat.

Breivit gave the world very detailed insight into why he struck out with lethal violence against his countrymen. His manifesto of 1500 pages gives a picture of how he lived and what he thought. As the investigation proceeds with officials studying his written document and interviewing him while the Norwegian police hold him in custody, an accurate evaluation of his psychological state will develop. His isolation, exaggerated sense of power and ego, and fantasies about medieval crusades are just some a many signs that he had lost touch with reality. Yet mixed in with the illness was a breadth of information about politics, sociology, religion, and other subjects. He attempted to analyze the information yet continually came up with faulty conclusions. Sadly, the most dangerous faulty conclusion was that liberal European immigration policy (multiculturalism) posed a dire threat that required armed self-defense. He styled himself in his sick mind as a Crusader, armed for God to defend Europe from the infidels. He then attacked the ruling political party hoping to spark a revolution returning to European Christendom (under the Pope, as he disliked Protestantism and thought it would be reabsorbed in the Catholic Church). In his broken mind the whole scenerio resembled a fantastic computer game far more than reality.

In Turkey, since the death of Dink in 2007, the ensuing investigation brought to light the Ergenkon conspiracy in which many Turkish military and other leaders had hoped to spark social unrest through a number of high-profile murders and incidents so they could launch a coup against the current AK party. The Ergenkon case continues with new evidence coming to light month to month. What is clear is that a sizable part of the population holds strongly nationalist and isolationist views. Dink's murderer, who was a 17-year-old at the time, was not apparently mentally ill. He had been recruited from a sizable pool of zealous youth who would do anything to protect their country from a threat. The day he died he had written, "It is obvious that those wishing to alienate me and make me weak and defenceless reached their goal. Right now they have brought about a significant circle of people who are not low in number and who regard me as someone “insulting Turkish identity” due to the dirty and wrong information. The diary and memory of my computer is full of messages from citizens of this circle full of rage and threats." Describing the anxiety he felt he added, "I am like a dove...Like a dove I have my eyes everywhere, in front of me, at the back, on the left, on the right. My head is moving as the one of a dove... And fast enough to turn in an instance." Strangely, Breivit discusses the Ergenekon Conspiracy, noting that it failed, though he could have conceivably drawn some ideas from it. Darkness has a way of feeding on darkness.

In Norway fear and hatred of the foreigner worked in a sick mind to spawn an unspeakable tragedy. In Turkey fear and hatred of the foreigner took the life of a peace-loving "dove". Breivit made liberal use of Bible verses in his manifesto, drawing from certain texts a justification, even a command for his actions. Among the countless texts he ignored are Exo 22:21 "Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner; remember that you were foreigners in Egypt" and Exo 23:9 "Do not mistreat a foreigner; you know how it feels to be a foreigner, because you were foreigners in Egypt." He also missed that in the geneology of Jesus (whom he mentions but denies personally believing), one can find women who were not ethnic Jews, but foreigners, including a former prostitute, who lived peacefully and honorably among them.

As a foreigner living as a guest in Turkey, I can especially appreciate the value of these texts. I wouldn't want to be mistreated or mocked or rejected because I believe differently, or my skin and hair have a lighter shade, or my name is hard to pronounce. Most people I know here would agree that mistreating foreigners is wrong. From the reaction in Norway I believe that most Norwegians would denounce nationalism and racism. Furthermore, some of them would be quick to point out that showing kindness and love to one's neighbor not only creates peace and friendship, it is what Jesus taught. We mourn with those who mourn and we hope for justice with those who seek it. When confronted with the profound loss of her husband Rakal Dink said that such tragedies can "only be overcome by understanding and forgiveness". Such understanding and forgiveness could be very hard to achieve, but without it the cycle of bitterness between majority and minority groups cannot be stopped.