Is Turkey a Western country ?
Selcuk Erez
Most Turks have little doubt that Turkey in a great variety of fields is at par with Western nations, but most Europeans would disagree.
How would one define Western standards ? In a period of ever-encompassing globalization, the Western standard can be thought to reflect achievement of an international scale in a number of subjects such as the sports, industry, economy etc etc.
Turkey claims to be among the world’s leading producers of agricultural products; textiles, motor vehicles, ships and other transportation equipment; construction materials; consumer electronics and home appliances. Yet, in the minds of the citizens of European nations, Turkey lacks some attributes, the presence of which would render it more Western than it is at present .
Actually, until the beginning of the 19 th century , in the West, Russia was similarly thought of as non-western country , a country with Asiatic attributes. This interpretation started to change after the Napoleonic Wars, but Russia was only fully claimed to be one of the Western countries when she finally cultivated musicians, men and women of literature and artists of Western caliber.
The first quarter of the 19 th century is characterised by the emergence of a number of remarkable Russian artists. The most interesting commonality among these artists was that their actual “day-time” professions were something other than the branch of art in which they eventually excelled : Borodin was a chemist, Cesar Cui, a military engineer and Mussorgsky was a member of the Imperial Guard . Dostoevsky was a military engineer,Tolstoy had studied oriental languages and law, wheras Chekov was a physician.
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This development was secondary to a wide spread and serious art education in the Imperial Russia: A great number of physicians should write plays so that one of them can prove to be a Chekhov . How many chemists should be interested in music so that one among them can turn out to be Borodin ?
If this is valid, it is very proper to study the status of art in Turkey . A report by an eminent cultural analyst, Dragan Klaic can be very useful for such an evaluation: In 2005, Klaic studied the cultural infrastructure in Istanbul the city that harbours most of the artistic potential in Turkey (Istanbul’s Cultural Constellation and Its European Prospects :A Report Commissioned by www.labforculture.org.) After commenting about some important investments of the private sources,
he said that there was a growing realm of small scale artistic facilities geographically concentrated within the two square kilometers between the Galata bridge and the Taxim Square in Beyoglu. He remarks on the odd name of the Ministry expected to promote art in Turkey, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Klaic comments, “The name implies that the government sees it as a factor of tourist promotion rather than a developmental entitlement of the Turkish people.” That a very small part of the budget of that ministry goes towards culture is a disturbing reality.
Dragan Klaic suggests the following to remedy the situation he observes:
1. Constant engagement and support of foreign private foundations, networks, institutions, the EU and EU member states .
2. Formation of a broadly representative organisation for arts and culture. More alliances and umbrella organizations to connect players and enhance mutual trust and cooperation.
3. Establishment of a centre for cultural policy information, documentation and training.
4. Development of cultural policy from grassroots initiatives.
Hence, as much of a powerhouse as Turkey might be in certain sectors, it is nevertheless a culturally developing country, and its transformation to a developed entity will not actualize until the popular reformation of its arts and culture. It will be important for parties contending for the 2012 elections to consider the above recommendations to remedy the situation.
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