Censorship and History

Warning: the following may be verbose in places, reader warning is advised.


As I had hope, my job as an English teacher has brought me in contact with locals of various backgrounds, offering me an opportunity to learn a little more of what people who live here think about and struggle with. Most of my students are recent graduates of high school, who take English because they have a vague notion that it will help them get a better job, although they are not exactly sure what that will be. Because I teach the lower levels the students are not as serious about learning and as such are not as interested in serious matters. I do, however, get an occasional opportunity to lead an activity class with some of the more advanced students, which has turned out to be the highlight of my teaching experience so far.
Yesterday I had a chance to talk to a person, the disposition of which I had hoped I would have a chance to meet while living here. I was leading a speaking activity on local history, in which I tried to get the students to talk about some of the historical monuments or places in the city that they found most interesting. Unfortunately, of the four that were there only one wanted to talk about something of local interest. When the class was over the students asked me some of the standard questions pertaining to my likes and dislikes about Istanbul, in which I gave my standard answer about loving the beauty, history and excitement, but hating the traffic and the “tourist tax” as I have termed it (in an attempt to remain light hearted about it).
After most of the students left, one fellow remained, and asked if I had a minute to talk about some of the points of history that we were discussing. He said that he thought the stories about Gallipoli were exaggerated for patriotic reasons. This fascinated me, so I encouraged him to explain further. He said that all his life he had heard the stories, but found them hard to believe. When he went to University he started to look into it and found that some scholars disagreed about some of what had become the standard interpretation.
The main problem is twofold. Firstly, censorship is endorsed by the state here (as far as I have heard). He was telling me about one recent writer (whose name eludes me at present) who was thrown in jail for a while because he published a book about the Armenian Genocide, which is a very taboo subject here. I have seen traces of this tension, for I walk past the French embassy everyday and sometimes I see protesters in front who are denouncing France for their insistence that Turkey accept responsibility for the massacre. I suspect that these protesters are accusing the French and of being Turk bashers and minority supporters against unjustified claims of injustice. I have also seen the other side, impoverished Armenians wandering the streets and begging. I have come to identify them by distinctions of dress and appearance. The women have a particular way of wearing their head scarves that is more eastern European rather than Muslim. As well, they have faces that are much more weathered than the standard Turks, indicating a life spent in persistent proximity to the sun. So in a country where censorship is openly endorsed, it is had to know what is true concerning important historical and even political events.
The second problem is the same one that besets Canada as well, that of ambivalence. Despite the fact that this is arguably one of the most historically rich cities in the world, so few people are really interested in or understand it. For the majority of the people that I have met the palaces, walls, churches and mosques are just ornaments giving color to the backdrop of the city. Yet this is not a particularity of Turkish people. No matter where one lives one will always find that the majority of people are not really interested in history, theirs or otherwise. Our lives are so full of many various concerns, both profound and profane, that an accurate account of history is something that is easily relegated to the lower lines on our “to do” lists. For many, deliberating on how to procure the next months rent is a far more immediate concern then researching the large and annoying decrepit walls that occupy the opposite side of their street and are occasion for bizarre and lost tourists to occasionally meander by. For the majority all that really matters is that Istanbul was the center of a great empire and then became a republic under the great national hero, Ataturk. The rest of the history is for the tourists who are easy to swindle a couple of extra dollars from.
For the political powers, those who control the censorship, there are expedient reasons why some of the facts of history need to be interpreted in a certain way. This country has mandatory military service for young men, so it becomes an imperative that they don’t inquire too much into the old or recent atrocities that the army has participated in. Other wise the will to fight might be weakened on account of a sympathy for the plight of the enemies. The Kurds to the east should not be seen as anything other than a pestering and rebellious group who need to be put down. Whether their cause is justified is secondary to the political necessity of maintaining a program of integration in the area. The Government truth, then, can be seen as what is the best for the state as a whole.
Back to my student. He talked somewhat openly about the Armenian genocide and about other aspects of history that he had discovered in his studies. He told me a story about when he went to one of the major cities of the Kurdish regions and saw the way that the Kurds were being mistreated. He said that this convinced him that it was conceivable that the same atrocities could have been perpetrated by the armies of the past. He does not doubt that the silence on such issues is equivalent to a confession of guilt.
As the conversation continued I asked him if he was a Kurd as well, to which he answered that he was. He told me that the Kurds are not allowed to take schooling in their mother tongue, but have to learn Turkish to go to school. The Kurds of Turkey are not an insignificant aspect of some minor back wood. According to my interlocutor, they number 15 million, which is greater than the population of Canada west of Toronto. There are also significant Kurdish populations in Iran, Iraq and Syria. As well, they are not a primitive group of irascible highlanders, at one time they were among the key champions of the Muslim faith against the Christian crusaders. One of the most important generals of all time, Saladin, was one of their ancestors.
However, they are known to be a volatile populace, so it is entirely likely that they have caused some unrest in their area, which incidentally was once inhabited by Armenians. I was informed that Che Guevara, the romantic revolutionary hero and general butcher of Rage Against the Machine fame has also become a figurehead for disgruntled Kurdish youth. Someone told me once that they have been divided amongst several countries as a pacification measure.
Some members of the international community have recognized that the Turkish treatment of the Kurds is an impingement on their human rights and have been putting pressure on the Turkish government to reverse some of these policies. It is one of the major impediments that Turkey must overcome in order to receive acceptance into the coveted European Union.
But here, to date, these are only things that are to be talked about in empty rooms when no one else is listening, but this cannot last. As more of the population learns English, there will be more serious consequences then greater access to American television (apparently "Desperate Housewives" is popular here, I can only guess why in a population base where the vast majority of the work force is men). There will also be greater access to English books which are harder for the government to censor. Perhaps, eventually the few who take an interest in finding an accurate account of history will be the ones who rewrite the history that will become the vernacular for the population at large.
I bid the fellow I was speaking with well, and encouraged him to continue his historical research. As he left I was not surprised to see him carrying a copy of Brave New World, as part of his English reading practice.