TURKISH ISLAM AND THE ROBOSKI MASSACRE (May 2012)

Ahmet Altan (Taraf, 23 May 2012) 

Religious people and Kurds As far as I know, religious people see "this world" as a "place of testing".

What the real life will be like in the "afterlife", where eternity will be experienced, becomes clear in the "test" given in this world.


The rules of this "test" have been determined, there is "worship", which is "visible" and relatively easier to comply with, and there is "morality, honesty, fairness, non-infringement", which is less "visible" and, as far as I understand, much more difficult to comply with. "Seeing every created thing as a trust from the Creator."

Mosques are overflowing, restaurants are closed during Ramadan, pilgrimages are carried out in groups, alcohol is not consumed, and our religious people have no problems in worshiping.

So, how does "morality, honesty, fairness, not violating people's rights, seeing every created thing as a trust from the Creator" go?


Do religious people see all of God's servants as "entrusted to them", do they defend their rights, do they rebel against injustice, do they believe that God created all his servants "equal"?

Does it protect the rights of all servants? Or does it distinguish “some” servants from others? Here, there is a fundamental question to which "religious people" must give a clear and definite answer:

Can a "nationalist" person act in accordance with all the commands, morals, honesty and understanding of equality of the "religion"?

Recently, Altan Tan wanted a "fatwa" from religious scholars to solve the Kurdish issue. Religious people forgive my ignorance, but wasn't that "fatwa" given in the "farewell sermon" of the Prophet Muhammad?

Didn't the Prophet oppose "nationalism"? What more fatwa? That terrible "Turkish-Islamic synthesis" placed nationalism at the heart of religion and destroyed the egalitarianism, fairness and honesty of Islam.


Can there be an "understanding of Islam" in which the word "Turk" comes to the fore? How many of these Muslims are Turks and how many are Islamic? Does the Islamic faith unite its existence with "the name of a nation"?

Doesn't a "Turkish" Muslim who believes in the "Turkish-Islamic synthesis" distinguish those from his own tribe from other tribes, consider them superior to other tribes, and look down on the people of other tribes?

So, does this fit religion? Do Turkish Muslims, who believe in the "Turkish-Islamic synthesis" and see it as compatible with their religion, also accept the "Kurdish-Islamic synthesis"? Since they accept the Turkish-Islamic synthesis and find it appropriate to add a tribal name to Islam, they cannot object to the Kurdish-Islamic synthesis.


Is it religiously permissible for people who believe in the same God, the same book, the same prophet to separate because of their "tribe"? How does the Islam of Turks and Kurds differ? Are people separated according to their tribes in the afterlife? Will the Kurds stand on one side and the Turks on the other?

Is there such a separate place in the afterlife? If you say, "There is no such thing as separate in the afterlife, everyone is a servant of Allah", why is there such separation, discrimination and nationalism in this world, which is considered the gate of the afterlife? What is the religious answer to this?


Look, there is a whole Kurdish people there whose rights have been usurped, they have gone through a lot of pain and torture, today they cannot educate their children in their native language, the country they live in and are citizens of is named after another "tribe", everything here is Turkish, as if the Kurds do not exist here.

“Turkish-Islamic synthesis” accepts this as natural. “Turks” may accept this as natural. Does he accept the "second" concept of that synthesis, "Islam", as natural? Does Islam say that "smaller tribes cannot have the rights that more populous tribes have"? Is Islam such a religion? Or is Islam a religion of "equality"?

If it is in favor of equality, how can there be an understanding called "Turkish-Islamic synthesis"? If it is not in favor of "equality", what kind of religion is this? Can there be a religion that denies the equality of "slaves"?


Why don't Turkish Muslims defend the rights of their Kurdish "brothers", fight for their equality, and oppose the injustices they suffer? We have been discussing the Uludere massacre lately, but "Turkish" Muslims are very silent. Isn't there a common value called "Muslim conscience" that covers the entire Islamic world?

Does this "conscience" sound different depending on each geographical region and the tribe you belong to? Isn't "conscience" included among the common values of Islam? Isn't it among the "rules" of Islam to protect the rights of people who were killed unjustly?

Does a Muslim find it religiously more appropriate to remain silent in the face of "unfair" deaths when his "relatives" are in power? Well, let me ask all the Muslims of this country, whether they answer or ignore.


If Prophet Muhammad had lived, what would have been his attitude towards the Uludere massacre?

If you say "Prophet Muhammad would have remained silent", I will promise never to write a single word about religion and religious people again and leave you alone. A religion whose prophet would remain silent in the face of the Uludere massacre would not interest me anyway.

But if you say, "The prophet would not keep silent," I say, "Oh, the ummah of Muhammad, why are you silent?"