Hierarchy in empathy

Israel has been pushing Palestinians around as if they are sub-human beings and trying to drive them off of the Israeli land for some time now. In fact, last year the 60th anniversary� of such efforts was celebrated. The Arab-Israel wars in 60 and 70’ies, the Sabra-Shatila massacre in Lebanon, the recent Israeli-Lebanese war in 2006…. Mutual hostility, resistance and over exaggerated retaliation have been there for years but the reactions in Turkey this time are unmatched.

There must have been a sort of social pillar of the new interest shown by the Justice and Development Party, or AKP to the countries in the region and differing from well established foreign policy choices of Turkey since 1923.  But the picture today is this: While trying to have empathy for Palestine finding one’s self in the lap of the animosity towards the West and of anti-Semitism through a black-and-white approach and through subconscious hostility towards non-Muslims. Reactions against the apology campaign to Armenians may also have played a role in this flood of feelings for Gaza.

The reactions have reached to such an extent that even Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who is coming from an entrenched anti-Semitic political tradition had to remember his responsibility and to remind at last week’s  parliamentary group meeting that anti-Semitism is a crime against humanity. Then the Jewish community published an announcement written in an utmost diplomatic language to express the uneasiness caused by the outpouring of anti-Jewish feelings.

Rhetoric from head to toe

We should ponder upon developments. The cheapest shot for cursing is Israel. But there is always an excuse, a force majeure for all tyrants including those who are here. This “flat guilty” label decided for Israel, however, doesn’t match with Turkey’s reality.  This country has in-depth military/strategic ties with Israel. While all Jews are being condemned for the Israeli army’s cruelty, military contracts are flying around and Israeli pilots are flying in Turkish air space. The activists of Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People, or Mazlum-Der, close otherwise to the government, raiding an AKP building are aware of the frame. The Prime Minister himself, already aware of his contradictions recently responded as “it is easy for a bachelor to get a divorce,” in a familiar Turkish wording, to those who call for “cutting diplomatic ties with Israel”.

Top level harsh and “ethical” statements issued by the government do not mean anything in the face of these realities. But in all this mess, let’s put the government aside for next week’s piece; a government that de facto shelved the claims of being a peace dove in the Middle East when transformed them into thoughtless friendship with Hamas.

I wonder indeed how a genuine empathy occurs. Is this through rhetoric or humanitarian action? Is it by refusing all injustice occuring on both inside and outside the country or by saddening for Palestine because of the Israeli factor? Of course empathy occurs through making no selection between the beneficiaries of humanitarian action.

As a matter of fact except a few non-governmental organizations gathering material aid, the feelings haven’t been turned into action. On top, not only for the Palestinians but also for all sorts of injustice, rhetoric is at the center. The most striking example is the number of refugees welcomed by Turkey after the U.S. occupation in Iraq. I wrote it before a couple of times, we are the only neighboring country having a hard time open its door to four million, two million of whom are internally displaced, Iraqis who had no other choice but to escape from their own country as a result of the violence and chaos. Iraqis entering Turkey through the southeastern border when caught, they have to dive into the River Tigris at the cost of their lives! Only about 6,000 refugees are in Turkey as Syria accepts 1.2 million and Jordan welcomes 750.000!

As for Darfur let’s presume that the disinterest in Turkey towards the ongoing genocide in this other Muslim “brother” country Sudan, is due to its distance and to the fact that both sides are Muslims. But what about the harsh treatment Muslim Somali and Nigerian asylum seekers are exposed to in Turkey? I believe non-Muslims stand no chance with this limited empathy.

To take the sensitivity shown towards the tragedy in Gaza seriously we should have equal empathy towards the injustice going on right before our nose. Otherwise, this, as it is today, will never go beyond cheap heroism via Jewish antipathy.