The price of "a sweet peace"

That the constitutional debates are being dragged here and there into unpleasant channels and are increasing social tension may give rise to concerns, but we must accept that these tensions and debates are of the nature of politics. That the tensions and debates cause weariness and concern also stems largely from people's alienation from politics. This feeling of alienation, which here and there readily gravitates toward the discourse of "national unity and solidarity," imagines a rosy, idyllic environment where there is no politics. It is clear that such an environment itself requires an authoritarianism that grants no right to speak, even no right to life, to people who do not think like oneself.

It is very natural for the search for a peaceful environment to attach itself to an anti-political authoritarian sentiment. Is it not these never-ending debates that disturb the peace? That the constitutional debates arouse such a feeling of weariness because they disturb social peace points to a weakness in our political culture, but we must also not forget that society has always been afflicted with such a weakness. Do not overlook the possibility that there was a subtle calculation in spreading the referendum period over 120 days instead of 60, that this feeling of weariness would prevail in a way that rushes to the aid of the rejection front. Truly, even if this was the calculation, we can say that some developments in the second 60 days, for example the YAŞ process, the HSYK crisis and the audio recordings, worked against this calculation. Even so, let us note that in the context of politics this morbid antipathy toward politics itself, this anti-political ideology, has always been an important instrument.

Yet however much reliance is placed on this instrument in the referendum process, the high citizenship consciousness created in society by the constitutional debates is far more conspicuous. For the first time in Turkey, society with all its components is taking part in the constitution-making process this actively. The people, for the first time, are participating in defining the meaning and dimensions of the state, citizenship, the social contract, the taxes they pay, and individual and human rights as an actor taken this seriously.

For two weeks I have been in the cities of the East and Southeast to attend conferences on the Constitution and the referendum. In Van, Batman, Diyarbakır and Şanlıurfa, the presence of an extremely lively social and political life is immediately noticeable. In Ankara, every word of politicians, and of journalist-writers or academics who appear on television programs, is recorded with great attention and every word is evaluated instantly. In the same way, all the stances and attitudes of actors influential in the region's politics are followed with the same attention and reactions are given accordingly. I can say that the conversation we held most recently in Şanlıurfa with the city's deep intellectuals in the Çift Mağara, which has been turned into a magnificent cultural venue after restoration, was an insatiably delightful brainstorm. I listened to unbelievably cool-headed and analytical evaluations on every subject, from the debates on democratic autonomy to the causes and consequences of the BDP's boycott decision, from each and every article of the referendum to the PKK's decision of non-action.

Someone who says he will vote "yes" in the referendum, for example, receives the BDP's boycott decision with great maturity and explains that persistently trying to change this attitude may not be very useful. He also adds that the voters the BDP, which is having great difficulty explaining this policy to its own voters, can mobilize from this hour on will not display an attitude different from CHP and MHP supporters.

Although the extension of the referendum period stirs the anti-political weariness we pointed out in some segments of the people, it also raises a stratum of thinkers who can discuss issues at every level and down to their deepest ends. Thus, besides the state and the PKK, which appear to have closed off the entire field of politics, social actors emerge who take on politics in a real sense in response to all the despotic discourse of both. Through their political participation, these actors will be the de facto parties to the new and just social contract that will take place in the construction of Turkey's future.

DO WE NOT OWE AN APOLOGY TO NUNS TOO?

Just as the CHP leader was in the "we will solve the headscarf problem too" mode, it came out that a fascist poster pointing to the danger (!) that "Muslim women will be dressed like nuns" if "yes" is said to the constitutional amendment had been prepared and hung by the CHP Avcılar Municipality. The moment attention was drawn to the scandalous sentence on the poster, the poster was abandoned as an orphan by CHP members. CHP provincial chair Berhan Şimşek did not neglect to say that the poster was a fake and that they were probably facing a government plot. Within an hour he fell into the position of someone who had no knowledge of the poster his own party had prepared.

Let us not dwell on that; many people have already written about it. What I want to draw attention to here is who has been insulted here. It is evident that likening Muslim women to nuns is accepted as an insult by both sides. Yet when it is accepted as such, those who are indisputably demeaned are the nuns, and those who reject the insult on behalf of Muslim women accept this demeaning as natural, knowingly or unknowingly. This creates a very clear debt of apology to nuns. For dressing and living as they believe, nuns deserve only to be mentioned with respect. The audacity with which the threats and hate speech against the headscarf burden themselves by dragging nuns into the matter must be noted on this occasion.