Association launches campaign to confront Turkey's 'unofficial' history

The association was established with the support of human rights activists and the Young Civilians, a civil society group known for its use of sarcasm in protests, and is composed of many prominent intellectuals, including Ayşe Hür, Tanıl Bora, Mithan Sancar, Etyen Mahçupyan and Mesut Yiğen.

The association, whose motto is “Those who don’t understand history are doomed to repeat it,” believes that if the gangs of the early days of the republic had been convicted, the Turkey of today probably would not have to deal with the Ergenekon gang, a clandestine terrorist organization nested within state organs and charged with plotting to overthrow the government.

According to Yılmaz, the Ergenekon investigation is an important step in confronting the past.

 “A society that is not able to control its military is a doomed society. The military has been a founding element throughout the history of Turks, including the republic. The Ergenekon investigation led to it being questioned. If the investigation continues further east than Sivas, the way toward confrontation with the past will be opened,” he says.

He says the common theme between Ergenekon suspects -- their opposition to European Union values -- calls to mind an event in history known as Vaka-i Hayriye (the Auspicious Incident), which resulted in the abolishment of the Janissary army of the Ottoman Empire.

“Ottoman Sultan Selim III wanted to change the structure of the army and realign it with the values of the West. He was not successful. Twenty years after him, Mahmud II was able to do so. It was a bloody event. Of course, as an association that is against all kinds of violence, we don’t mean a bloody event. But if the Ergenekon investigation enlarges and also discovers what really happened in Kurdish populated areas, it could be a new Vaka-i Hayriye.”

Yılmaz says the state does not want to confront the past since it is not ready to apologize and society does not strongly demand confrontation, making their aim difficult to reach.

“The burden of the past is extremely heavy, and we cannot talk about society’s courage in carrying it, but still, we don’t think we are demanding too much. We aim to question the official history,” Yılmaz underlines, adding that this is why they launched a campaign called “Unofficial Republic” together with the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER).

According to them, since the very beginning, there were two faces to the republic: One of them was the official ideology that the citizens were born to and the other an unofficial republic composed of people who were excluded from the official republic -- political opponents, Kurds, religious people, Alevis and minorities.

As part of the Unofficial Republic campaign, the association will organize a number of events during the year, the first of which will be an inquiry into five Turkish intellectuals who were victims of summary executions:

“Although we call them assassinations by unknown perpetrators, the truth is they were killed by ‘deep’ forces,” Yılmaz says. The five intellectuals whose assassinations will be discussed are Mustafa Suphi, a Turkish communist leader who was killed with 15 of his friends in the year 1920; Ali Şükrü, a deputy and the leader of the opposition against Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was killed by Atatürk’s bodyguard; Sabahattin Ali, a novelist who was killed because of his political views; Musa Anter, a Kurdish poet killed by JİTEM; and Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was assassinated two years ago.

“The official republic continues manipulating society and trying to make it believe its official history. Societies that are not able to discuss their heroes and sacred values cannot confront and reconcile with their past; we have to think about our heroes,” Yılmaz says.

Toward this aim, the association has another campaign of apology and recompense. Researchers will look into some names from history and re-evaluate them, for example, Mahmut Esat Bozkurt, one of the very first justice ministers of the republic, and Hüseyin Avni Ulaş, who was an opponent of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

“The İstanbul Bar Association presents awards in the name of Bozkurt. His name is given to streets in many cities; he is respected greatly. Remember that he said, ‘Everything in this country belongs to Turks, and other peoples in this country have only one freedom -- to be slaves of the Turks.’ For example, Hüseyin Avni Ulaş, who was tried in court for allegedly being involved in an assassination attempt against Atatürk in 1926 and later acquitted, was actually a deputy who opposed every undemocratic decision of the time, including the İstiklal Mahkemeleri [Independence Courts],” Yılmaz says. The İstiklal Mahkemeleri were extra powerful courts established in the early days of the republic to try the opponents of the republican regime.

He underlines that when researching the unofficial history of the republic, there is no paucity of sources. “Actually there is paucity of research into the unofficial history of the republic. The same sources of the official history can be used, too. It depends on how you read them,” he says.

But Yılmaz adds that establishments that research history should be independent, and this is why they will soon launch a campaign for the abolishment of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK).

He also points out that there are disagreements over where they should begin confronting the past, whether they should start from the earliest or the most recent events.

“It is possible to start from 1915 or from the assassination of Dink. But it is preferable to start with recent events since the memory of society is fresh,” Yılmaz says.

According to him, the official history of the republic is militarist, and most official historians are racists. “It is very difficult for official historians to be independent because it would mean that they have to contradict themselves and all the work they have done until now.”

 “As long as the domination of the military over civil society continues, it is impossible to confront the past. The relationship between society and the military is like being in love with the executioner. The second obstacle is the lack of independence of universities. In order to confront the past and reconcile with it, a new language is needed,” Yılmaz emphasizes.