The two contradictory features of Turkish society

Sunday, June 25, 2006

One of the two most surprising features of Turkish society is its continual ability and unyielding desire to change. Transformation and adjustment compose two basic threads in the fabric of this culture. Over the last hundred years there have been a series of radical shifts in the social, cultural and political matrix in Turkey. As the country moved from a multiethnic, multi-religious, traditional imperial structure to a modern, secular nation-state, its elite decided not to belong to Eastern civilization anymore and opted for being part and parcel of Western civilization. Now how much and how successfully that goal has been realized might be a matter of dispute today but what remains indisputable is the amazing ambition and aptitude of the cultural and political elite in Turkey to trigger social change. The Republican regime has been profoundly effectual and determined in launching a momentous transformation that would penetrate into multiple layers of the society.

  Considerably, the Turks living abroad, especially Turkish immigrants in Europe, tend to be much more change-resistant, conservative, nationalist and reactionary than the Turks in Turkey. That inflexibility and sentimentality have to do more with “immigrant psychology” than with “Turkishness.” While many Turkish immigrants are frozen in time, retain a romantic notion of culture, and tend to stick to their dogmas; the Turks in Turkey continuously evolve and transform, and with an amazing speed and aptitude. In post-1980 era a momentous transformation has been on its way while the monopoly of highbrow culture and the conventional center-periphery structure has been shattered from various angles. What we are witnessing today is a multifaceted transformation that incites conflicts of interest and some disagreeing models in the society. Yet the hunger for further change runs deep. It is a hallmark that operates oftentimes at the expense of memory. As of today, we are a society perfectly capable of envisioning the future but unable to remember the past. Suffering from collective amnesia and a sense of rupture in history, the Turkish society is more often than not future-oriented -- a fact that facilitates social transformation and moving forward but thwarts historical consciousness and the ability to critically look behind. That is why, other than repeating general historical clichés about the Ottomans, we are a society that constantly thinks about the future and does little to come to grips with the past.

  Be that as it may, one other most surprising feature of the Turkish society is its persistence in making the same gross mistakes over and over again. It is thorny and taxing to try to change bureaucratic structures, not to mention the mentality of many bureaucrats. It is difficult to get rid of our national fears and knee-jerk reflexes, and make the government listen to economic experts blowing the whistle on the trajectory of the currency rate. It is just as hard to make secularist-Kemalist elite work together with the AKP people for the common good of the society. Unfortunately, for many elite in this country malevolent ideological differences matter more than the common good.

  An endless ability to change and re-adjust. And yet at the same time, the tenacity of the elite to make the same gross mistakes again and again. As we watch the latest economic crisis evolve both of these features resurface in Turkish society.