Militant intellectuals in the "Merkel Cell"

An interesting incident is recounted in Ahmet İhsan Tokgöz's text titled My Memoirs of the Press, prepared for publication by Alpay Kabacalı. The Servet-i Fünun writers of the time, who opposed Sultan Abdülhamid, turned this opposition into a show whenever they got the chance. In such a period, the Boers began to wage a struggle for independence against the colonial power Britain in Britain's Cape Colony in South Africa.

Since Sultan Abdülhamid's relations with Britain were at quite a low profile in this period, the Servet-i Fünun writers turned this event into an opportunity, and went to the British Embassy in the Imperial Capital to wish the imperialist Britain success (!) in the massacres it was carrying out against the oppressed Boers and to convey that they were on its side. The anger felt toward Sultan Abdülhamid is a given. Being politically opposed and being angry are both human emotions, and understandable. But that the ways resorted to in order to soothe this anger a little and to obtain a number of political gains are so simple and vulgar is among the low stations that our people have seen repeatedly since long ago.

This incident is noteworthy in that it shows the self-orientalism of the militant intellectual in Turkey. In later periods too, this breed of intellectual has always needed a boost gear to influence power. This boost gear varies according to the spirit of the time.

In the 1960s the only channel on which the socialist militant intellectual in Turkey set his sights in order to break free of the conditions of the era was the Army. It should not be forgotten that Mehmet Ali Aybar, who was excommunicated by the Yön magazine crowd and the National Democratic Revolutionaries because he defended parliamentarianism, also hallowed the 27 May coup and struggled to give it a content. By the end of the 1960s, the only nuance among these socialist groups, which appeared quite different from one another, was that one side beckoned "come, come" to the Army as a first resort, while the others beckoned "come, come" to the Army as a last alternative.

So you see, the history of the worship of power by the resentful intellectual who comes from this channel, or by the complex-ridden intellectual who thinks he cannot be an intellectual unless he is hallowed by this channel, is quite old. He always demands reinforcement from the channel he thinks is strong. This demand for reinforcement and his inability to connect with society gradually make him militant.

In Turkey there is a profile of the intellectual who boasts of thinking independently but has always been bound by the navel to somewhere. When I think of this profile, what always comes to my mind is this remark by Charles de Gaulle, founder of the Fifth Republic, who was at one time the President of France: "Of course the communists also served France. But France was not the only country they served. Moreover, France was not even the first country they served."

De Gaulle, a French nationalist and essentially a soldier, said this remark of course within a historicity, and his addressees were very different. But these sentences can be functional for describing the militant intellectual in today's Turkey who is alienated from himself and the society he lives in. So much so that if you remove the word communists from de Gaulle's sentence and put in its place the phrase "militant intellectuals" in the sense of Turkey's breed, you can make many things understandable in terms of the reality of the moment.

Some faculty members who teach at various universities in Turkey, together with some retired former academics who recalled their militancy of the 1960s, wrote a letter in recent days to German Chancellor Merkel. They warned Merkel, who is to make a visit to Turkey, that "your coming to Turkey will be perceived as political support for the government and the President in Turkey," and asked her to cancel her visit. When the list of names who signed the letter in question is examined, of course, one can get more or less an idea of the degree of connection they have with this society.

I leave aside the reaction the Greens might give over this breed of intellectual's contacting Merkel; they are acting with a naivety such that they do not know what Merkel means for Germany and Europe. What do you think that communist Greek would think of our militant breed of intellectual when they tell him, "We asked Merkel for support"? In short, just like their predecessors, thoughtlessly, in order to put on a show, they fall for the first one who winks.

Historian Halil Berktay's description of those who sent this letter as "neo-mandatists" is very apt, yes, but probably "not enough." The comic side of the matter is that they interpret the criticisms directed at them as a nationalist reflex. For this type of intellectual, alienated from the society he is in, nationalist and fascist rhetoric is today virtually a skeleton key that opens every door. We have had our fill of the moral lessons that this breed of intellectual, who has hit rock bottom in terms of thought and consistency and has disregarded the moral values of the culture into which they were born, will give, and of their fake interest in Turkey.

The saga of this pitiful portrait of the intellectual among us is quite interesting and instructive. The predecessors of the militant intellectual type who coquettes today with Merkel by letter, saying "I am here, you can of course make use of me when you need, but in return, do not legitimize the politics I have declared war on, do not upset me, and see me," were yesterday also shouting the slogan "Army-Youth hand in hand" with the sophistry of "the vigorous forces."

By coincidence, the Merkel cell is a medical term. It is defined as the epithelial cells found in the skin of the palms and the soles of the feet that form the tissues of sensation. There is no harm in understanding it as the place where the militant intellectuals who are now in love with Merkel gather. It appears that our "always oppositional" intellectual has slowly entered the service of the imperialism of power. Wasn't it always so anyway?

So you see, this breed of intellectual's democratic credentials are synthetic, their intellectual orientation has a militant character, and they cannot run the car without a boost gear. Yesterday this boost was the Army. Today, having given up hope in the army, they expect something from outside. That is the difference.