{"id":27231,"date":"2010-11-29T08:47:39","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T06:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=27231"},"modified":"2023-04-05T14:27:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T11:27:37","slug":"to-invite-or-not-turkeys-dilemma-with-controversial-figures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2010\/11\/29\/to-invite-or-not-turkeys-dilemma-with-controversial-figures\/","title":{"rendered":"To invite or not: Turkey\u2019s dilemma with controversial figures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fatma Di\u015fli Z\u0131bak, \u0130stanbul<\/p>\n

\"V.S.
V.S. Naipaul<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Turkey had a new-born debate last week over the invitation of controversial writer V.S. Naipaul, to the European Writers\u2019 Parliament in \u0130stanbul that was held on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Before the meeting, some Turkish writers announced their intentions to boycott the event if Naipaul attended, citing the writer\u2019s controversial remarks about Islam. Naipaul, a Trinidadian writer of Indian descent who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001, offended many Muslims in 2001 when he compared the religion\u2019s effects to \u201cthe colonial abolition of identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it \u201chas had a calamitous effect on converted peoples\u201d following his visits to Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, claiming that Islam had both enslaved and attempted to wipe out other cultures.<\/p>\n

Several Turkish authors had threatened to boycott the event after Hilmi Yavuz, a poet and academic, wrote in his column in the Zaman daily that it was inappropriate to invite a writer who had insulted Muslims. His criticism set off a wave of angry comments, prompting organizers of the event to politely tell Naipaul not to come to Turkey.<\/p>\n

Novelist and academic Nedim G\u00fcrsel, whose book \u201cDaughters of Allah\u201d led to a storm of reactions in Turkey last year over claims that he insulted Islam, argued that Naipaul was subjected to \u201can execution without trial\u201d in Turkey because many, who did not read even a single line from his work, made hasty judgments about the writer and launched a campaign against him.<\/p>\n

G\u00fcrsel, who read two of Naipaul\u2019s books following the outbreak of controversy over them, admitted that his arguments about Islam and its influence on non-Arab civilizations are open to debate; however, he was treated unjustly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not trying to act like Naipaul\u2019s lawyer here to get him off the hook. What I am saying is, let\u2019s read his books, understand them and then debate. Let\u2019s not judge him solely on excerpts from his books,\u201d G\u00fcrsel told Sunday\u2019s Zaman.<\/p>\n

Yavuz, who is said to have triggered the debate over Naipaul\u2019s attendance by addressing Muslim intellectuals in his column \u201cWill the consciences of our writers be at ease when sitting at the same table as V.S. Naipaul?\u201d said Naipaul made the right decision by not attending the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis conscience as someone who directed so many insults at Muslims would be disturbed by being among so many Muslims in a Muslim country. His absence from the event saved him from such a disturbance. It was the right decision,\u201d Yavuz said.<\/p>\n

In remarks to the media last week, poet Cezmi Ers\u00f6z defended Naipaul decision to not come to Turkey, explaining that his remarks on Islam were not simply criticism but tantamount to a \u201chate crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is not someone who criticizes Islam in intellectual terms. He hates Muslims. Just as we cannot make insulting statements against Jews out of anger at the state policies of Israel, the same goes for this as well. Naipaul harbors a remarkable Islamophobia; he committed a hate crime,\u201d Ers\u00f6z said.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s test with controversial figures<\/p>\n

This is not the first time that international figures who made controversial statements have sparked protests at cultural events in Turkey. Last month, Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica withdrew from the jury of the 47th edition of Antalya\u2019s Alt\u0131n Portakal (Golden Orange) International Film Festival as a result of protests against him. What made Kusturica a target of harsh criticism were his reported comments in support of the genocide of Muslims in Bosnia perpetrated by Serb forces.<\/p>\n

Yeni \u015eafak columnist Fatma K. Barbaroso\u011flu approached the issue from another perspective. She said what makes the debate over the attendance of such controversial figures to cultural events in Turkey so heated is the fact that different reactions are given according to the background of the institution that invites them.<\/p>\n

For instance, she recalls Kusturica\u2019s uneventful visit to Bursa earlier this year and \u0130stanbul\u2019s Bilgi University inviting Naipaul earlier for another event. Both drew no protests from anyone and there was little, if any, media coverage.<\/p>\n

Kusturica attended an event in Bursa upon an invitation of the Bursa Municipality, which is run by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), several months before the film festival in Antalya. This led many to attack the government because Culture and Tourism Minister Ertu\u011frul G\u00fcnay was among those who protested Kusturica\u2019s attendance to the festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch controversies are usually used to take revenge for past events,\u201d Barbaroso\u011flu told Sunday\u2019s Zaman.<\/p>\n

She admitted that it is very natural for authors or poets to boycott events in protest of those they are highly critical of. Some people in Turkey just failed to respect the very right of the authors and poets embarking on a vigorous campaign to defend controversial figures, which in turn increases tension, she said.<\/p>\n

via Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fatma Di\u015fli Z\u0131bak, \u0130stanbul Turkey had a new-born debate last week over the invitation of controversial writer V.S. Naipaul, to the European Writers\u2019 Parliament in \u0130stanbul that was held on Thursday. Before the meeting, some Turkish writers announced their intentions to boycott the event if Naipaul attended, citing the writer\u2019s controversial remarks about Islam. Naipaul, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":27233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2939],"tags":[4517],"class_list":["post-27231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultureart","tag-naipaul"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}