"Spy and Nightmare"

BEIRUT

"If what happened on 15 July was a scenario, why did you, in the first hours, fall into great joy and support the coup attempt with all your media outlets?

Why did you start distributing halva and baklava in the streets and begin feasts with fireworks?

Why did you, in the first hours, arm all your media with their propaganda and begin announcing as if the people's "revolution of liberation from the dictator Erdoğan" had begun?

Never mind these, but still, now that all your schemes have been exposed, if you insist that what happened was a film show, though we understand the reason for this insistence of yours, go ahead. We too say, yes, this was a film. It was a scenario written, with the blood of the Turkish people, with its martyrs and veterans, with its honor and dignity, together with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is your "nightmare"."

So says the Lebanese writer of Turkish origin Hamza Tekin at the launch in Beirut of his book on 15 July, which he titled al-Kabus wa'l-Casus and to which I contributed a foreword.

On Wednesday, at the headquarters of the Yunus Emre Foundation in Beirut, at an evening attended by the Turkish Ambassador Çağatay Erciyes, representatives of many political parties from Lebanon and a large number of participants of Turkish origin, we discussed 15 July with what came before and after it and with its political-sociological meaning and context. At the end of the evening we signed the book for the participants.

These words of Hamza Tekin are in fact, on the one hand, an answer to those who say that the coup attempt in general was a scenario, but on the other hand they also touch on the international dimension and meanings of the coup attempt by drawing attention to what happened in Lebanon in the first hours of the coup night. In Lebanon, in the first hours, certain circles, those Tekin refers to as "spies-agents," did indeed receive the news of liberation from Erdoğan with great joy, distributed halva on the roads and showed their joy with fireworks. But as the hours went on, when their "nightmare," that is, Erdoğan's magnificent return, came to pass, the other circles, who had been plunged into sorrow and turned to prayer in the first hours, of course filled the squares with far greater enthusiasm and celebrated the victory of the Turkish people and of Erdoğan.

Truly, this situation is to some extent a direct reflection of the political and demographic division in Lebanon. But in his book Tekin takes the spies and agents in the Islamic world as a general typology. While describing as spies, together with FETÖ, the forces that regard foreign interventions in the Islamic world as normal and that invite and station such interventions, he explains that, in response to the domination these spies have somehow kept up for a century, Erdoğan has turned into a complete nightmare for them, while of course representing a hope for the oppressed and the patriots.

There are about 25-30 thousand Turkish citizens in Lebanon in total, and also 20 thousand Turkmen. We have a large number of citizens of Mardin origin, and they have several associations. Lebanon is the place abroad where the highest rate of "yes" came out in the 16 April Referendum.

THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN LEBANON AND SYRIAN REFUGEES

Although no census has been conducted in Lebanon since 1932, according to UN 2016 data it has a population approaching 6 million. This population reflects a complete ethnic, religious and sectarian mosaic. A total of 18 religions and sects are officially recognized. Among them the main ones are: Maronite Catholic (21%), Sunni (27%), Shiite (27%), Greek Orthodox (8%), Greek Catholic (5%), Druze (5.6%), others... The distribution of political power is arranged accordingly. For example, besides the rule that the President be from among the Maronites, the Prime Minister from the Sunnis and the Speaker of Parliament from the Shiites, the ministries too are distributed accordingly. This distribution continues as a regime of compromise reached as a result of a long civil war that extended into the 1990s. In fact, this mosaic structure in Lebanon expresses much better today the marvel of the order the Ottomans maintained in these lands for 400 years. The marvel part is, first, that it is proof of the freedom of religion and conscience practiced in the past. That there was no ethnic and religious-sectarian purge, that the right to life was granted to everyone, and second, that this order was maintained for 400 years with great success and in peace. However political and judicial balance the Ottomans had established, when the Ottomans withdrew, doomsday broke loose, and the same balance could never be established again. Even so, these days an attempt is made to secure it with this distribution, and thank God there is a system that has been working since the early nineties.

Like Turkey, Lebanon is a country directly affected by the civil war in Syria. Against a population of 6 million, Lebanon hosts a Syrian refugee population of close to 1.7 million. Together with the Palestinian refugees who came earlier, the number of refugees reaches 2 million, that is, a third of its population. Proportioned to the population, this is a far, far greater number than Turkey's. Can you imagine what it would lead to if a third of Turkey's population, that is, a number of about 26 million, were refugees in Turkey? Turkey hosts in its country a refugee population of about 5 percent of its own population, and with the way it hosts them it produces, in the full sense of the word, marvels and makes a great difference in the world. But truly, when we look at the number of refugees in Lebanon and at the way the situation is received by the people there too, Lebanon's task is both more difficult and what it does is in no way inferior to Turkey's.

Not only is Lebanon's economy not as good as Turkey's, but also in Lebanon, just as in Turkey, there is no very great social reaction and rupture against these refugees. Just like the people of Turkey, the people of Lebanon too receive the situation with understanding.

This is, without doubt, a situation that cannot be seen in any Western country, indeed we are very much used to seeing completely opposite situations. It requires a little more consideration, let us continue with that later...