The place where history catches its breath: Oman

MUSCAT

Oman is one of those pieces of land that, whatever happens in the world, live within their own independent history, with their own particular tempo of life and worldly cares. It is one of the six Gulf countries, but different from each of them. Though you may say, which of the Gulf countries is the same as another? In fact, with the alliance that three Gulf countries have recently formed against one of them, it can be thought that at least those three have the same or very many common characteristics, but in truth each country in this alliance also has many characteristics of its own.

Even so, what holds true for all of them and is lived in its strongest form, a tribal relations and culture layered over by the world's most advanced modern-postmodern consumption habits, forming a strange cultural alloy, makes them all resemble one another even more.

Oman, however, continues to preserve its own distinct line in this development as well. In that politics is shaped upon the traditional tribal balances while taking them into account, it is older and more traditional than all the other Gulf countries. This leads it to think and approach more cautiously and more maturely toward the developments occurring around it. When invited to the front that three Gulf countries formed together with Egypt against Qatar, it rejected this without hesitation and thus preserved its own distinct line. Today this stance, together with that of Kuwait, is regarded as an opportunity in reconciling and bringing the parties closer and ensuring stability in the Gulf.

Sultan Qaboos, who has ruled the country since 1970, is by his very presence both a result of the traditional culture of stability in the country and a force that provides it today. In 1996, with the Sultanic Decree issued by the Sultan, the Basic Law was declared in place of a constitution, and thus a transition to a Constitutional Monarchy was made, with a two-winged Assembly structure composed of the State Council and the Shura Council. This law also determines the election procedures for the head who will succeed Sultan Qaboos.

Oman displayed a very different stance from everyone else during the Arab Spring process as well. When the waves hit its shores, Sultan Qaboos is said to have taken an extremely cool-headed and empathetic attitude in listening to the people's demands with great care and doing what was needed. At this point, in listening to and meeting the people's demands, it may even be found excessive by some Turkish businessmen. In the construction of a highway, the long time spent to obtain the consent of a citizen who did not want to give up his right over the land his house stands on, where the road passes, is said to have cost the Turkish company quite dearly. This is related as an important indicator of the Omani Kingdom's relationship with its own citizens.

Oman, like the other Gulf countries, is an oil country. Non-oil sources of income are very scarce, the most important being fishing. That is why serious difficulties were suffered in past years when oil prices remained low. These days, with oil prices recovering, these difficulties have eased somewhat, but even during this time there has not been the slightest movement in the Omani Rial. The Rial functions almost as an indicator of historical and cultural stability. That is why they also have difficulty understanding the fluctuations the Turkish Lira is going through. Even so, whatever happens to it, in any case their hearts beat with Turkey, and they say they are ready to do whatever they can for Turkey. And we tell them the best thing they can do is to invest in Turkey and trade with Turkey. They ask for projects, they ask for fields in which to invest, etc.

Although it lives within its own particular history, the 48 years that have passed since Sultan Qaboos came to power have been a period in which Oman has been rebuilt from top to bottom, and its cities and environmental planning and development have been restructured. Whereas before it had no more than 20 km of highway in total, now the whole country has developed from end to end with highways and modern urban facilities. In return, it has deserved world awards for best preserving the historical and cultural fabric of its cities with this development. That is why it has earned the UN Habitat awards several times.

Nearly half of its population of 4.6 million consists of people from India and other Far Asian countries. In this respect it is similar to the other Gulf countries, but differently from them, Omanis work here in almost every sector and at every level. In this sense there is no sharp division of labor with the guest peoples. The education level is quite high and the people are quite religious. Ibadism, which constitutes the sect of 75 percent of the people, is reflected as a creed and culture embraced by the entire base. Ibadism is in fact also a historical-cultural identity that allows the people here to see themselves as separate and different.

On the shore of the capital Muscat, near the presidential palace, the Covered Bazaar known as Souq Mutrah is like a corridor opening into the depths of time. Here, the antique dealer Mr. Ahrar, introduced by our dear Batman friend Hacı Baysal, in his shop packed with antiques going back three or four thousand years, greets us with an excitement that makes us feel the privilege of being from Turkey, and sees us off with "Regards to Erdoğan!"

From the evil of the whisper...

While in Souq Mutrah, I felt that a message I received from a friend was trying to pull me out of the historical march I was in and into an atmosphere in which dogs constantly bark.

The person notorious for trying to convert the credit he thinks he has gained from active FETÖ confessionism into a privilege through operational slanders had whispered his whisperings about my well-known photograph with the head of the organization in a provocative Hannas language.

The well-known photograph was only a cross-section of one of many photographs taken during a visit organized in 2005 for a large group of journalists and academics, none of whom were FETÖ members, whose story I have told before. In the wider frame there is also the larger group of other participants. Let's move on, it is not worth dwelling on.

But that person who knows so much should have also reported what I wrote for years, years ago, about his own hodjaefendi, and what I said in my own doctoral thesis and at the conference he says I took part in about him!

And I wish he had also explained why what I said at that conference was not at all to the liking of his hodjaefendi, whose disciple he was still continuing to be at that time.

I know that no one has the mind or the morality to research that much, so let me give the copy and make their job easier. Come on, if they cannot read my Doctoral thesis (1997), which they can find online, because it is in English, they can look for something in this book of mine: "Neye Himmet Neye Hizmet: Öncesi ve Sonrasıyla 17-25 Aralık" (2014).

Of course, whatever they look for, whatever they find, this will not save them from being held accountable before the judiciary for their slanders against me.

May God protect us from the evil of the whisperings of Hannas, from the envy of the envious.