A friend of mine had told me that she sees the vessels like a district at night from her house in Sultanahmet, where she had moved recently. But, in the morning she didn’t ask herself why those houses she had seen at night were not there in the morning.When you look at İstanbul from the sky at night, the vessels look like frigates preparing for a big naval battle. But those vessels fall silent, like miniature ships, when viewed from land. A miniature, lacking any depth or symmetry. Vessels lined up on a flat surface waiting to go north, carrying distant worlds to other truths.
It is still snowing in İstanbul. Speeches are made from snowy windows. There are still things to speak about. A shelter is sought. Speeches are formed in words that are the country for friendship and brotherhood. This language is one that will tell one another about ourselves; it will allow us to be carried toward one another. Do we have a common language between us? Which words will we use to describe what is going on?
Those who are talking about separation or division should read Neşe Düzel’s interview with Adil Gür.
When feelings effervesce so strongly and when rage boosts prejudices, it seems more meaningful to look at the unbiased results of scientific studies.
Based on the results of the surveys he recently conducted, Gür, who is the owner of the A&G polling company, has arrived at striking conclusions. The interesting part of his statement is about statistics concerning autonomy: “Only 10 percent of people want to have an autonomous Kurdish region in the Southeast with its own parliament, police and civil servants. Ninety percent say ‘no.’ Even, 79 percent of Kurds and 64 percent of the supporters of the Democratic Society Party [DTP] say ‘no’ to autonomy.”
When asked who says “yes” to autonomy, Gür gives quite an interesting answer: “Yes, the majority of those who say ‘yes’ are not Kurds. Those who say ‘yes’ are the White Turks living in the West.”
This week, I was in Bursa as a guest of the Bursa Journalists’ Association. At a panel discussion titled “Freedoms in Turkey,” I tried to talk about common points. It was a speech pointing to the inequalities that block freedoms. The questions posed by the audience and the general mood were exemplary in showing the polarization we experience. The majority of the audience was from the Kemalist tradition, and they tended to describe Kurds as those who seek to separate and divide the country. This reminded me of Gür’s striking observations: “The majority of those who advocate separation are not Kurds but White Turks of Turkey.”
There is a group in Turkey that has convinced itself that there is an ongoing separation in Turkey and that it is the Kurds who seek to separate. It is acting with prejudice shaped by fear. Although the majority of Kurds say “no” to the option of separation, these results do not seem to satisfy this group.
A mindset that narrowly constructs reality from the point at which it stands is a mindset that has lost a sense of reality. Such a narrow perception that has closed itself to outside life only produces ideological prejudices. What we experience today is the fanaticism created by an extremist ideology, and it is the fanaticism of those who look at things with false pride stemming from their belief that they possess the reign of rights.
Although the reality of the country offers completely contradictory data, they continue to pretend that they do not exist, guided by their old habits. It is the habit of dissociating themselves from reality.
They do not know who Kurds are, what they eat or drink or what they think. This ignorance also makes them have reactions that are closer to racism when Kurds become visible and are debated. This is the reason why they slip up or are shocked when they face a problem to which they have never given the slightest thought.
In this case, what we should do is submit ourselves to the guidance of truth, only truth.
Benzer Haberler 
