The city and theology reflecting on themselves

Amid the intensity of two important symposia I attended last week, one in Kayseri and the other in Çorum, I was able to follow, whenever I found the chance, the historic agreement between Armenia and Turkey.

First of all, it must be said that it is very exciting to see that, in connection with this agreement, Turkey's foreign policy is governed by what is truly "political," that is, by a will that confronts problems and makes human beings human, rather than by a lazy caution that is inert and afraid of taking risks. We are going through a process that I prefer to call "the return of politics to Turkey's foreign policy." This process signifies the abandonment of the paradigm, which exists with all the neighbors from Cyprus to Syria, from Greece to Iran, which renders all the country's resources utterly unproductive and drags it into inertia, and which rests on the understanding that "no solution is the best solution."

No one can say that this step is risk-free and that no problem will arise, but politics is risk from beginning to end in any case. Looking at what kind of inertia and unproductiveness risk-free politics has dragged the country into, we can say that the risks taken cannot be greater than this disaster. Moreover, this risk is not an adventure undertaken out of the blue. It is more accurate to view it as obstacles in the path of a march that Turkey's own historical progress can no longer avoid beyond a certain point. May it be auspicious.

The symposium held in Kayseri by the Faculty of Theology of Erciyes University bore the title "Islam in Today's Turkey," and over two days papers by competent scholars from different universities who think about Islam were presented and discussed on subjects such as religion and secularism, identity, society, philosophy, education, politics and family relations, along with the manifestations of religious life, religious life and religious communities.

In the papers, each of which also deserves separate discussion, the criticisms theologians directed at their own field, and even at the Diyanet, showed that theology has come a considerable way in self-reflection. Among their many other benefits, such symposia let you see the side that further increases the capacity of a scientific discipline for reflecting on itself. For example, what Dr. Necdet Subaşı said about his experience of confronting his own theological heritage in connection with the Alevi workshops revealed the living dimensions of this "self-reflection." There may be people who think very differently from the Alevis on this matter, but it is possible to say that confronting this subject, and trying to understand the Alevis by listening to them, also makes a strong contribution to the level of self-understanding of Islam in Turkey.

Since we have mentioned reflecting on oneself, we can say that the international symposium titled "City and Civilization," organized by the Çorum Municipality, represented another example of this through the "city." The city is a field in which every kind of human experience takes place in its most refined and complex forms; a field in which a civilization displays all its skills, its quality and its power. We can think about all the dimensions of the modernity we live in, and of change, only through the experiences we display in, or are passing through in, cities. Thinking about the city is itself a task that develops people's reflection on themselves and refines and makes more graceful their stance toward life and humanity.

The symposium held in Çorum constitutes the first step of a series of symposia planned in 4 stages. The first of the City and Civilization programs, realized under the advisory role and initiatives of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mahfuz Söylemez and with the support of Mayor Mustafa Külcü, was on the Classical Islamic City. The next steps of the program will include symposia titled the Ottoman city, the Republic and urbanism, and Thinking the city of the future. In the symposium, attended by about 25 participants from the US, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Sudan, Nigeria, England, Saudi Arabia and many other countries, and about 30 from Turkey, the classical Islamic city was addressed in all its dimensions over two days. Beyond what was said about the city, this international gathering, held in Çorum (one of the most ancient places in the history of the world's cities), turned into a true feast of culture and thought.

It must be noted that this work of the Çorum Municipality, which invites reflection on the city, has brought to a very good point a new and auspicious trend that has recently developed against cultural municipalism's reduction of culture almost to entertainment events.

The importance that Mayor Külcü, who was elected only a short time ago, has given to culture, even though he has in such a short time turned Çorum into a complete construction site in the physical sense as well, will be regarded as a serious contribution to the development of urban consciousness and understanding.

In sum: Turkey is reflecting on itself, through its politics, its theology and its cities.