Ertugrul Ozkok:A pile of shoes at the front door
Güncelleme Tarihi:
There was a very interesting interview broadcast on CNN Turk last week between host Taha Akyol and the head of the Turkish Central Bank, Durmus Yilmaz. At one point, the conversation turned to a photograph taken of Yilmaz' wife at the door of their house. As you may recall, that photograph was much talked about, to the point that I even wrote a column on it. Yilmaz, without flinching, had this to say about the photograph: "The picturing of those shoes outside the door was ugly." He added "At my home, I take off my shoes inside my own home. I cannot say whether or not this is a good or bad thing. It is just my life style."
And so, what about those shoes at the door? They apparently belonged to some youths who had come to see him at home. They had taken off their shoes before stepping in. As to who exactly these youths were, Yilmaz said they were young students whose education he was helping.
Yilmaz talked about Popper and Havel during the interview. It was clear he is a man who is open to the world. I should also add at this point that he performance as head of the Central Bank has been quite good of late.
Which is how I get to my main point here: let no one come before me and tell me that "image is not important." Yes, it is important. Because those shoes in a pile outside the front door have been the subject of many questions to me from people living outside of Turkey. Clearly, they were affected negatively by that image. Which is why I say that people with sensitivity towards religion should be aware of these images more than anyone, since they can be used against them.
Today's headline in the Hurriyet, which I announced yesterday, elicited a strong reaction from readers. There were many AKP members who called me; they agree that the "Cuppeli Ahmet" incident which we cover in today's Hurriyet is akin to the "ugliness of the pile of shoes at the front door."
The greatest gift to Islam would be if well-meaning people would not allow those who condone and carry on these images to go on this way. One AKP member who called me yesterday said this: "When religion gets professional, it becomes more and more ignorant. Zionism is Judaism's professional level, while Christianity's is Evangelism, and Islam's is fundamentalism. If the well-meaning members of these three religions don't fight against the growing ignorance in these religions, people will start sliding towards whole new sets of beliefs."
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it yesterday for the first time ever: "Is there a threat to the very founding values of our Republic? Of course there is." This is an important discovery on his part, and it is significant that he has said this. If only everyone would start to clean up the dirty vistas in front of their houses, they would also gain the right to talk about dirty vistas in front of other peoples' houses. And in doing so, their authority and credibility would also increase. And maybe one day in the not-so-distant future we will no longer even need to keep on describing to ourselves and others what exactly secularity or "religious backwardness" are.