A film (festival) has come to Bingöl

We are in Bingöl for the International Short Film Festival. There is a complete holiday atmosphere in the city, as if the climate had changed and become the Mediterranean.

I realized that I had not come to Bingöl for a long time from the magnificent change and vitality I saw in Bingöl. It is evident at first glance that Bingöl has received a good share of the change and development Turkey has been experiencing for 15 years. Wide roads, a viaduct that connects the two sides of the city and gives the city a new face, and of course the stamp the university campus has put on the city's landscaping.

One can immediately observe that Cevdet Yılmaz, a son of the city who long served as Minister of Development and is now Deputy Chairman of the AK Parti, shows his loyalty to his pledge to Bingöl in the best way. By God, the traces of Mr. Yılmaz's loyalty to this pledge are felt not only in Bingöl but throughout the entire region. The campus of the University, which has 17 thousand students, is of a quality and standard that makes no concession to any university in the west. It has been chosen as one of five pilot universities. Rector Prof. Dr. İbrahim Çapak, together with his team, is working heart and soul to develop the university further in every respect.

THE CITY AND THE REFUGEE

Our first stop within the Short Film Festival events was the "City and Refugee" Panel held on the University campus. In the panel chaired by Rector Prof. Dr. Çapak, together with Mayor Yücel Barakazi and Bingöl Governor Ali Mantı, we discussed the state of our cities in the face of the refugee phenomenon our country faces, whose numbers have reached 3.5 million.

Mayor Barakazi tied refugeehood to human existence and to our being sent to the earth. Indeed, by our very creation. The first punishment Adam and Eve (peace be upon them) received for falling for Satan's temptation was their exile to this world. None of us is permanent in this world, none of us is the owner of the places we live in. This property belongs to God; we are only lingering a little.

Of course, on the other hand, there is a life that becomes routine in this world, and within this life some people are forced to change places for political reasons, wars, or social and natural disasters. Some of these relocations are characterized as asylum, some as migration, some as hijra and some as exile. Of course there are differences among these relocations.

Turkey has throughout history always been the address of refugee flows. Indeed, the demographic composition formed by these flows has also constituted Turkey's strength and wealth. This is a situation that applies not only to Turkey but to all great civilizations. Great civilizations have generally been founded as a result of great waves of migration and asylum. After America was founded by people who were forced to flee Europe, especially because of wars of religion, it kept its doors open to asylum for a long time. Today's power of the US stems from the fact that, until recently, it managed these waves of migration and asylum well and always kept its doors open. But lately the US is losing this power, and in this state it is falling into the weakness of many civilizations before it, just like Europe. When Great Civilizations or empires begin to close their doors to waves of migration and asylum and start building high security walls, it in fact indicates that the stages of collapse have begun. The withdrawal inward that it starts in the name of not sharing its comfort begins to dry up the sources of its renewal and nourishment as well, and it becomes inevitable that its existing potentials slowly begin to rot with this closedness.

In this respect, if people truly knew, a refugee is an opportunity for a country, for a city, a nourishing resource.

The refugee is also a test for the city, because city dwellers accustomed to a certain comfort may begin to feel discomfort because of the refugee's out-of-the-ordinary presence and life. A good philosophy of the city dweller that can manage this is very important. The cities of Turkey, which see the refugee as a guest rather than as a burden, or even as a refugee, are in my view passing this test extremely well. A hundred thousand refugees in European Union countries have thrown all the settings of the cities off, and have stirred up every kind of xenophobia, racism and ideology of hatred to the fullest. In the refugee camps in Germany, on average at least one arson incident a day is carried out by racist Germans. As for Turkey's policy toward the refugees it has taken in not only from Syria but from Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Libya and many other places, it is exhibited by not only the government but also the people with the same quality. For example, the guest Syrian population in Kilis has exceeded the city's own population, yet the people of Kilis put forth a complete epic of humanity and brotherhood.

THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN BINGÖL

The International Film Festival, which continued for 5 days at Bingöl University, was truly worth seeing. It showed the changing climate, and undoubtedly also created a climate by its very presence. The 1,000-seat hall was packed full, and outside there was a crowd twice the number of those who got in. It was interesting in this respect to observe what kind of cultural foundation cinema has reached in Turkey, but even more interesting and meaningful was the great interest such an event received in Bingöl from the public and students. You can observe that in the region's cities, whose names have for years been mentioned more with terror and negative news, such events reveal the true face of the city.

I congratulate the Ministry of Culture, the Bingöl Governorship, the University, and of course my esteemed friend Baran Meyda, who has been this event's greatest laborer from the very beginning, on this event they carried out in Bingöl with great success.

And of course I thank Halil İbrahim Kalaycıoğlu, the Zülfikar Ağa of Kurtlar Vadisi, who both thrilled the young people with the concert he gave in the ceremony hall and, later, in the evening gathering, with his performance with the saz, in which we also saw his dimension as a vocal artist, as well as Director Sinan Çetin, Fatoş Güney and all the artists who strengthened the event with their participation.