Turkey's perceptions, realities and misfortunes

There is a general perception that Türkiye is today moving rapidly toward the place it deserves in the world economy and politics. Of course, it is not possible to say that this is merely a matter of perception. Indeed, when we approach the subject from the standpoint of perception, we cannot ignore that in certain media outlets the exact opposite perception is constantly being cultivated.

Although it is a fact that the harsh waves of an economic crisis being experienced on a world scale are battering its shores today, Türkiye is a country that over the last twenty years has multiplied its exports eightfold, recorded visible progress in its industry, moved toward building up know-how for producing high-technology products, and made a leap toward producing significant human capital with the number of universities reaching 208. With the progress it has achieved in health, transportation, education, industry, urbanization and technology, it has also undergone a change in lifestyle. This change is crowned with successes in many fields.

Especially with the successes achieved in the defense industry, while Türkiye has almost ended the terror within its own borders, with its successful operations in countries such as Azerbaijan, Syria, Libya, the Eastern Mediterranean and Somalia it has begun to make everyone feel a weight in its region that changes world balances. With this weight it has become a powerful actor determining the course of events in problem areas in the Balkans, in the attempt at siege and occupation against Qatar, and in Northern Iraq and Syria.

All of this also produces perceptions that make Türkiye's strength and weight felt, both at home among its own people and abroad. On the condition, of course, that the perceptions of friend and foe are not the same.

When we speak of perceptions, there is nothing you can do about points of view that you could not correct even if you caught a bird with your mouth, about the evil eye, about envy. This is so both at home and abroad. The subject falls into the field of political hermeneutics; it is somewhat long but not an incomprehensible subject. However, the fact that no matter what you do everyone will understand what they wish does not give you a right to make mistakes; ultimately you have to do what is right in the right way and with the right intention.

Of course, it is very important to explain the right things you do properly also to those who have no prejudice against you. What you tell must also not remain at the level of "Turk-to-Turk propaganda." You need to explain to those who need to understand, with suitable and correct messages and languages.

Türkiye today is a country that is the object of far greater interest, curiosity and admiration from all over the world than its own citizens suppose. Especially in the Islamic world, people watch it with great curiosity, interest, admiration, adoration and good wishes. Unfortunately, it is the only country in the Islamic world that has been able to put forward a successful model of unity between people and state. The only model in which there is a state that represents its own people, can be held accountable to them, and thereby feels the obligation to bring good services to them is in Türkiye. This model is one that the entire Islamic world is also looking for, but reaching such a model is not at all easy for them, because at their head are powers that have established armies not to serve and represent them but to keep them under control.

As for Türkiye, although this characteristic is of course its most important strength, it is not an eternal one. Until recently Türkiye was not at a very different point from these peoples. The army was not as occupied with defending the country as it was with politics and with the beliefs and values of the people, so in the beginning, with this understanding, it could do nothing but turn a simple terror problem into a giant.

In a place where Türkiye has become a world power, discourses that will convey this situation of Türkiye with good public diplomacy are of course needed. However, one needs to be very careful, especially in the language of cinema and television series that convey these discourses. This language, which attributes a new and entirely different role to Türkiye, can at times, in the name of exalting Türkiye, easily slip into demeaning others and creating an inappropriate, baseless and unjust perception of otherness.

A truth we must not forget is that the successes achieved in Türkiye's name today were realized thanks to a more positive outlook that went beyond racism and opened to the world. Those who today climb on the back of these successes to feed their own racism are, first and foremost, clinging like parasites to this successful model.

What has made Türkiye a world power today is not that racist outlook; on the contrary, it is an outlook that surpasses it and can look from a more universal place. Frankly, had we remained bound to that outlook, which was valid in Türkiye until recently, we could not have gone a barleycorn's length. It is because we were able to go beyond this outlook that we have been able to cover some ground.

The interest in Turkish series in the world is also, to a great extent, a response, a greeting and a reward that other peoples give to the successes Türkiye has achieved over the last twenty years. For that reason these series need to be a little more careful and to use a far more meticulous language in order to behave more empathetically. They need to remember that every word said, every expression used, is not addressed only to the people of our country but is watched with interest all over the world. Although, even if only our own people were watching, it must be remembered that the words said to others also touch the tips of our own people.

That the words said to Barzani in the name of fashioning cheap titles of heroism and superiority for ourselves constitute today a direct insult to at least 15-20 million of our people, our Kurdish brothers, and not to see this, is, at the very least, a very serious problem of empathy. Yet art, above all, requires a serious level of empathy. Moreover, from whichever side you look, there is also an open distortion of reality.

Likewise, in the scenes presented these days in the name of combating illegal migration and migrants, there are very unfortunate images that are not at all compatible with the reality of a great Türkiye.

Leaving everything else aside, in a country that today has seized unprecedented opportunities to have its brands, language, culture and series accepted by the world, such intolerant images toward other languages and cultures are both very shameful, unfortunate, and not at all compatible with Türkiye's greatness. Let us say that much.