My friend said: "I oppose the US. What business do they have in the Black Sea?" adding: "The US is an imperialist and occupying state. And human rights and NGOs are made up by the US; they are their vessels."My friend may have been right, but he didn't stop there:
"I am opposed to Gül going to Armenia. It was a lost cause. I am against the European Union, too. They are interfering with our internal affairs. We can't even smoke comfortably. The roads are infested with radar systems. It's killing us. I don't like the West. And just because I dislike the West doesn't mean I like the East. Take a look at Africa -- a continent of cannibals. All that comes Turkey's way from Africa is filth, ignorance and narcotics. I don't understand why we are trying to invest in Africa. And the Middle East is a whole different can of worms. Were they not the ones that stabbed us in the back after World War I? And Israel is real pain as well. The same goes for Iran. Filled with mullahs. We should close off our borders with the Middle East. The Chinese are our national enemies. They did a lot of damage to Turkey in the past. These are documented on the Orkhon memorials. And nowadays cheap Chinese products have flooded our markets. India is the land of stench. And the Japanese look down on Turks. The Russian Federation and Ukraine exported call girls to Turkey in order to ruin our moral fabric. We earn our money and the calls girl pocket it. And have the Russians not been threatening our straits in the Black Sea region for centuries? What we should actually do is limit Turkey's relations with outside countries. We should never leave our country, nor should be let anyone enter ours. Furthermore we should ban the use of digital satellite dishes. While we're at it we should do away with the private sector. They are sucking us dry. We should exile the Christians -- they are working as missionaries, as servants of an imperialist system. I am against Alevis and Sunni Muslims, too. Alevis act like they are a separate religion altogether. The Sunnis are turning the country into state of religion. I am against different ethnic backgrounds, as well. They are all partisans."
"So do you have any solutions to offer to that," I said.
"Yes," he said. "If we get rid of Christians, Alevis, Sunnis, all different ethnic groups and the private sector, what remains will be decent enough for Turkey. This way, happiness and peace would arrive in Anatolia."
I couldn't stand it, so I said: "You have done such elimination that you didn't leave people in Turkey or any countries in the world. I think you should stand in front of the mirror first and take a look at yourself. Although you might not like the West, you went to school in the US. You got married in Paris. Your daughter is currently going to school in Germany. Your son is an executive in a US-based finance company and he is conducting sales transactions in global stock exchanges. You visit Europe, the Far East or the Russian Federation a couple of times a year either for business or travel. Despite all this, you are against Turkey opening up to the world and integrating with it more deeply? When you can benefit from the luxuries of the age, you would rather have Anatolia suffice with the minimum resources that remain in the heartland? Isn't this a strong contradiction? How do you describe yourself for God's sake?"
He looked me in the face and said, "I am progressive."
In the old days, people would modify their Şahin model cars, a cheaper model of the Tofaş automobile brand, to look more like the luxury model, Doğan. Just like that, my "progressive" friend has evolved into a "regressive with the look of a progressive." He is just oblivious to that fact.
He put his car in reverse gear instead of into first gear, but he looks straight ahead although the car moves backwards. He is not aware of that.
Like an overprotective father afraid to let his growing children play outside, he doesn't trust his people. He is not aware.
Although his body remains as before like a mummy, his internal organs have left his body. He is unaware.
While he makes use of the opportunities of the age such as democracy, human rights, civil society groups, advancing communication and transportation tools, he doesn't see his people as being worthy of these. He is not aware.
Instead of making concrete efforts to increase the wealth and happiness of Turkey, he has found an easy short cut. He is not aware.
Battling with Quixote's windmills and blaming the windmills for everything that goes wrong comforts him. He is not aware.
