’It was not a good idea!’

In similar gatherings we rather see Hezbollah in the lead. This time it was also the case but there are a large number of Latin Americans participating in the forum. Naturally the Gaza crisis is the central topic. The rest is speeches and debates on imperialist hegemony, solidarity and resistance against it, as the title refers.

As usual the real discussions are taking place over breaks or while sipping coffees. Everyone hearing that we are from Turkey is getting excited so much that people who I set appointments to meet after the meeting said, "Actually we want to ask you about Turkey." I will return this later on but let me just say that the interest and excitement toward Turkey in the Middle East go way beyond the Gaza crisis and this meeting. At the capitals of Damascus, Cairo in addition to the Gulf countries such as Doha and Abu Dhabi that I have visited in the last few months, people agree on something else about Turkey. That is the interest shown toward a Turkish production of a television series called "Gümüş" (Silver). Everyone, from sheiks’ wives in the Gulf to pro-Hezbollah in Lebanon, is asking something about the series.

After I wrapped up my contacts here, I want to focus on the region’s interest toward Turkey. But let me share a striking topic with you here. It seems that thoughts and feelings of people in the region are becoming distant from that of people in the West. I am talking about the alienation in various circles in the world beyond local differences seen in the region.

Before I arrived in Beirut, I was stunned that left-liberal British the "Prospect" magazine selected the U.S. Chief of Joint Staff Gen. David Petraeus as the "Intellectual of 2008." I couldn’t believe my eyes and thought how ironic it was (because at once I took an ironic article seriously). So I read the article very carefully. Unfortunately, it was not an irony and the news story was a very serious one. The magazine was against the Iraq war in the past. But lately it is said to produce original ideas inviting change. So Petraeus saying that the modern war should be won through methods giving importance to people’s lives, came up with the "humane war fighting doctrine"! Therefore, it reads, he deserved this title!

I am not at all an unconditional admirer of the "Western civilization" but this is too much, much more than my skepticism. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, I had written that when Gandhi was asked about what he was thinking about the Western civilization, he said, "It could have been a good idea!" After seeing what has been happening I have an urge to say, "It was not a good idea!" But the worse is that there is not an alternative hopeful vision of civilization to embrace entire humanity. But the happenings taking place in the East are strengthening the urge to say, "It was not a good idea!" After these entire hypocrisies, one is distancing himself from everything the West serves on behalf of humanity. This is purely a nightmare scenario! Two different pictures, Prospect’s choice of the intellect of the year and the forum in Beirut, have strongly convinced me that this is a nightmare.



Nuray Mert is a columnist for the daily Radikal in which this piece appeared yesterday. It was translated into English by the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review's staff