28/03/2010
By Aland Mizell
It is the 50th anniversary of Saidi Kurdi’s death; however, on this commemoration, the location of Saidi Kurdi’s grave remains unknown. Since May 27, 1960, when during a coup, the military removed Saidi Kurdi’s grave from the graveyard and took it to Isparta, Turkey, to an unknown location, no one knows where Said Kurdi ‘s grave is. This is classic example of the cruel and unjust mentality that for many decades the Turkish government has perpetrated toward Kurdish people. Even a dead body of a Kurd was a threat to the status quo in Turkey. Isn’t it time for the Kurdish people to ask the government where Saidi Kurdi’s grave is?
Once President Kennedy said,” A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” Even though Saidi Kurdi is not living among us, his ideas continue day by day to prove him right. As a visionary man who believed that men of his modern age want to know the reason and goals for everything, he proposed a solution to the Kurdish problems of contemporary man from his Islamic perspective. Saidi Kurdi provided the answer to the Kurdish question that occupies the minds of scholars of the twenty-first century. A century ago he asked Sultan Abdul Hamid to open a university in Van and to teach three languages-- Kurdish, Arabic, and Turkish. He said that the reason he wanted to teach Kurdish was because the majority of the people in the region are Kurds, and they have the right to learn their mother language; therefore, the university should be teaching in Kurdish. Also, Arabic is necessary because it enables Muslim people to understand their religion. Finally, the university should teach Turkish because it is the state’s official language. Big egos have little ears. The question needs to be asked, “If Sultan Abdul Hamid had accepted his offer for a university, would Turkey be facing this kind of problem today? Many Turks believe that imperialist powers have ruined the peace and unity of the Turkish people, and therefore they are using the Kurdish card to achieve their goals. If the demand of Saidi Kurdi had been met, would the outside powers be able to use the Kurdish card now? Why did it take so long for the Turks to understand Saidi Kurdi’s solution? Why did the Turkish government leave the door open for the other nations to use this card? Why did it not take care of its citizens and treat them with justice and equality, rather than call them by the name of Mountain Turks. Today the Turkish government has realized that without cultural reforms there will not be a democratic initiative, that is to say that it must, for example, make the Kurdish language far more acceptable in everyday life. Another example would be to give broadcasting licenses to individuals to have TV, newspapers, and radio in the Kurdish language. It should open up a Kurdish language Institute. Also, some city Turkish and Kurdish officials, including some generals, celebrated the Kurdish holiday Newroz as a good will gesture. This is the first time that millions of people have participated in the Newroz celebration in Diyarbakir. That’s what Saidi Kurdi envisioned a century ago, and this vision provides a prescription for today’s Kurdish problem.
Turks have finally come to the realization that Saidi Kurdi’s idea was not a threat to them. If fact, in the many ways it offers a solution to the problems. Even during the revolt in 1925, Saidi Kurdi’s attitude toward the revolt was one of unity, and he demonstrated that all Muslims who belonged to different ethnic groups such as Arab, Berber, Kurd, or Turk are one united nation. When the leader of the revolt Sheikh Said sent a letter to Saidi Kurdi asking for his support and requesting that he join the revolt, Saidi Kurdi answered, “The struggle you are embarking on will cause brother to kill brother and will be a fruitless effort. Saidi Kurdi, Kurds, and Turks are brothers. The sword may not be drawn against brothers, the sons of Islamic heroic defenders, and I shall not draw mine.” Saidi Kurdi always believed that Islamic identity should occupy the highest position in the identity hierarchy of Muslims. He did not believe that one nation is superior to another nation like Gulenists claim that only Turks can save the world and be the true defender of Islam. But rather Saidi Kurdi considered Islamic nationhood to be the basic bond that unites different ethnic groups such as Kurds, Arabs, and others and thus will establish social harmony. According to Saidi Kurdi, nationalism that claims the superiority of one race or ethnicity over another, such as Gulenists claim only Turks are superior, is a kind of negative nationalism and racism, which in the thoughts of Saidi Kurdi was the source of injustice, cruelty, inequality, and enmity among the society. For Saidi Kurdi, religion should be competent to create equality, justice, and harmony not within various Muslim nations only, but also with other religious groups as well. Saidi Kurdi opposed the idea of ethnicity-centered nationalism.
Of course, there is a lot that has to be done; for example, Turkey is the most centralized state in the world. Every decision has to be decided in Ankara. From setting up village systems for law enforcement officials to appointing Ankara must approve it. The best way to understand people is to listen to what they need. For a long time, the Turkish government refused to listen to the Kurdish people. Even the Prime Minister who launched the Kurdish Democratic Initiative stated in a Parliament speech that it was clear that this issue of the Kurdish problem could not be resolved with the traditional policies of statist elites. The Prime Minister also confessed that for more than 70 years the Turkish government had pursued the wrong policies such as racist, assimilation policies that denied the varied identities. Even though it took many decades for Turkey to understand Saidi Kurdi’s solution for the Kurdish problem, failure could be success, if Turkey learns from its mistake.
Dr. Aland Mizell is a regular KurdishMedia com writer and is with the MCI. You may reach the author via email at: aland_mizell1@hotmail.com
