A Look From Turkey’s East To The World
BERIL DEDEOGLU b.dedeoglu@todayszaman.com
As is the case for most countries, during the electoral process the interest of the greater public in external developments declines.
Nevertheless, this lack of interest is larger in politicians compared to ordinary people, because an important part of the population pursues their lives in connection with other countries and they define themselves according to external developments. Several regions in Turkey can set an example for this fact, but Van and Dogubeyazit, which are the extreme eastern points of the nation, prove what they say about Turkey: in order to understand Turkey, you should go to the provinces.

The eastern Anatolian town of Van is a city of poplars. It’s an important center with its historical background and its natural beauty forged by mountains and lakes. The region is marked by many civilizations from the Urartians to the Ottomans and it has astonishing social diversity. Kurds, Azeris, Farsis, Arabs, Turkmens, they all live side by side; Hanefis, Alevis and Shafiis share the same city. The city’s main economic resource is the trade from the neighboring countries, even if everyone claims that agriculture and stock-breeding are the main activities. That’s why foreign countries have vital importance for Van. The truck and bus circulation increases near the Iranian border, showing that the region is the crossing point and the transfer center for Middle Eastern peoples. Dogubeyazit’s markets, named after Iran, Pakistan and Syria, indicate commerce’s importance. For the local people Iran’s nuclear activities, the European and US position towards Tehran or the name of the Iranian president have no importance at all. What is imperative is not to have a development that would obstruct commercial transactions, such as a war in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan or even in Russia.

This is exactly what Jean Monnet has said about Europe and what Karl Deutsch emphasized in his “security community” and “social communication” theories. According to these, societies with historical, ethnic and religious ties establish trade relations and communication more easily than others and these links strengthen interactions between societies. Some sort of interdependence is thus created. The interdependence increases the level of security and thus reduces the risk of armed conflict. This approach was formulated according to the European experience and its practical result is the European Union. Nevertheless, this theory is viable in Turkey’s border towns too. In eastern Turkey merchants care about the end of the Iraqi civil war more than the presence of the American troops; they don’t want to see a destabilized Syria; they are worried about a US embargo against Iran and they don’t think that a Turkish military operation in northern Iraq would be wise. In brief, the vast majority of the inhabitants are not influenced by the electoral rhetoric and global power’s attitudes.

Another example of the incompatibility between political calculations and social demands is set by the polemic about Van’s Akhtamar church. On the official road signs there is an insistence on the use of “Akdamar” orthography. But the excursion boats to the church’s isle prefer to use its original name. The local people are very religious, however they criticize the absence of the cross and the bell on the restored church. They even stress that religious tourism could be stimulated if the building was used as a church and not only as a museum. Apparently local people don’t think that there is a connection between this building and the Armenian issue, piety nor the foreign powers.
http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2007/07/1807-media-scanner-10-july-2007.html