Ignorance

Turkey's acceptance of the Kurdish problem, which it has been struggling with for 30 years but which is as old as the history of the Republic, as a matter of public order has come to its very end. For at least 8-9 years it has largely been accepted that the problem has far deeper dimensions than can be handled with a military approach. The governing party has dared, at the cost of confronting all the deep elements of the system, to demolish the system's paradigm and replace it with a new one, and it has paid prices for this. Only two years ago, despite a 47 percent share of the vote, it narrowly turned back from the brink of being closed down.

As is always said, the state has now understood that this matter cannot be solved by military methods and that it cannot defeat the PKK, and the PKK has understood that it cannot sustain this matter by military methods. Truly, when one looks at the picture as a whole, this is only a myth. The truth of the matter is this: whatever is understood when "the state" is said, it has never grown tired of armed methods, and likewise the PKK has not understood or accepted that it cannot get results from armed struggle.

Looking at the strange cooperation, division of labor and coordination in the provocations that emerge every time we come to the threshold of peace, what is clearly understood is that both sides are leagues away from the point at which we hope they have understood. The expectation that both sides have realized something is an extremely naive wishful thinking.

The PKK is very well aware that it will sustain its existence to the extent that the guns speak, and that otherwise it will have no standing. And it is ready to take this to the end. Some may be willing to take it to the end in order to keep open their shops that have been formed by war. But unfortunately, the asabiyya that comes alive in some people as long as a climate of conflict continues can make them take pleasure in the continuation of this war, even if they have no interests, indeed even at the expense of their interests. This is simply called "jahiliyya." The jahiliyya asabiyya as you know it. This jahiliyya is shared equally by both sides.

Even when it is known that it will lead to no result, even when it is known that it will bring no benefit, it is a fight carried on as a blood feud that produces no virtue and pursues no cause of rightfulness. The jahiliyya asabiyya is deadly. It cannot even revive the people who champion its cause. It has no way other than to scorch everyone in a fire of grudge, hatred and enmity and destroy them.

Those who adopt the jahiliyya asabiyya as a motivation for struggle have no value to offer anyone. That those who carry on this cause, far beyond obtaining their own rights, are moved by grudge, hatred and feelings of revenge toward others is no exception. Because jahiliyya is deadly.

On the state side too, it is clear that there is a segment that does not tire of the war game. These are segments that, if Turkey were to burn, have no concern other than cooking their own eggs in that fire. A Turkey that they cannot rule, that they cannot own unconditionally, they do not care at all, whatever happens, even if it falls into fires. The way they aspire to rule Turkey today through the plots and intrigues they carry out causes Turkey a great deal of trouble, but be assured it does them no good either.

If they were content with their rights, if they tried to develop the rights they have along their natural course, both they would gain more and the country would gain a great deal. But jahiliyya is just that sort of thing anyway, a mode of existence that apparently robs one of one's mind. If you like, try to turn it inside out with the concept called rationality. There is no measure that prevents the rational from being greedy, but however rational the greedy may be, he cannot escape thrashing in the swamp of jahiliyya. Actually, how much can the rationality of one seized by these feelings work? Jahiliyya is the mind's falling under the influence of such feelings. It is something that cannot be compensated for with knowledge, let alone with diploma-and-certificate education.

Therefore it is not that both sides have truly understood that this matter will not work by armed struggle. Indeed, this discourse is rather an observation voiced by the overly well-intentioned segments of both sides. More than that, this approach is the approach of the AK Parti, which truly wants to end this matter and in this respect tries to spoil the big game, the greedy, jahiliyya game that benefits no one at all. Judging by the prime minister's reaction as he came out of the mosque to the recent events, sustaining this approach does not look easy at all. The jahiliyya asabiyya threatens reason, common sense, mercy, conscience, in short everything that is human.

A little reflection....

AHMET ABİ HAS ALSO PASSED TO THE TRUTH

Ahmet Şişman, one of the silent heroes of the cause of Islam, who took his place with his effort at some point in almost every endeavor undertaken in Turkey in the name of Islamic education and striving, passed to the Truth at the end of the Night of Barat. Behind him he has a series of ongoing charities that will bear witness for him and keep his ledger of reward open, but let us also bear our witness. We have witnessed his honorable stance, his effort and his striving as one of the righteous, may your place be paradise.