Turkey received three major existential blows in a century.
First, it quit its civilization claims.
Second, it lost its orbit because it quit its civilization claims.
Third and most importantly, as a result of all this, it failed to see what happened to it, what these existential blows it received signified.
It couldn't have seen it, because it had also lost its pioneering generations that would understand the kind of annihilation disaster they were facing and ensure that this disaster was overcome.
Ultimately, Turkey, which could not be physically invaded by the West was mentally invaded directly through its own elites.
Now, Turkey is fighting to find its orbit, to gain its independence in the true sense, politically, mentally and culturally.
This is the fundamental existential problem we are experiencing in Turkey.
Yet, we, as all our segments, are too busy throwing our own truths into each other's faces. We are probably afraid of the truth; facing reality.
So, what is going to happenn when we face reality?
When we face reality, we are going to see that the European states are still clinging on to their century-old claims despite going through two dreadful world wars and being devastated.
When we face reality, we are going to see that for the last millennium, world history has basically been made by two actors – Muslims and Europeans – that Europeans have been fighting with us for centuries, aiming to collapse the Ottoman civilization in order to establish absolute hegemony over the world.
When we face reality, we are going to see that with the halt of the Ottoman civilization, Turkey was isolated from history and that to do this, instead of physically invading Turkey from the outside, they gained control over it by secularizing it mentally from within and why Turkey – which they see as a wedge blocking their way – was stopped and how it was taken under the control.
When we face reality, we are going to see that in a time period which the West colonized the world, how we turned the three continents - where history was made - into a land of peace for five full centuries and how, in the last century which they isolated us from history as a history-making civilization actor, they turned the three continents into hell.
When we face reality, we are going to see why and how effort is made to root out the origins of the spirit that makes it possible for this country to make history once again; yet, we are the ones holding the meaning maps, fundmental dynamics of a world that will pave the way for humanity, enable the establishment of a humane, just world; that once we rediscover these dynamics, we will rise from our ashes and play a key role in making history yet again.
When we face reality, we are going to see that the Westernization/secularization process that took place in this country was actually a process of mental colinization; why we could not see that this resulted in our quitting our civilization claim, losing our orbit as well as our pioneering generations and that Western thinkers see this burning truth and what we can offer the world a lot better than us.
When we face reality, we are going to see why Toynbee for example, one of the greatest history philosophers of our time said, “The Ottoman Empire is the future of humanity,” and what this means.
When we face the reality, we are going to see why Slavoj Zizek, one of the currently living Marxists, was not afraid to say, "Islam has always been a tolerant religion. The travelers who came from Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries had become stumped by the tolerance here. Islam has a history that goes far back in terms of having genuine tolerance. If we want to learn something about multiculturalism, I will very openly say that we need to look at your history," and why our intellectuals who have been hit by metamorphosis continue to carelessly lecture about secularism, why they are still having trouble to grasp these realities which Western thinkers see and remind us of who we are.
In short, Turkey is going to re-adopt its civilization claims. It has been under siege both within and outside for two centuries so that it does not find its orbit and face its own realities, which will lead it to raise pioneering generations that will pave not only their own path but humanity's.
The way to break the siege: Becoming a safe haven
But we are almost about to break the siege.
The most fundamental way to finally conclude our struggle to successfully find our orbit is - I emphasize - seeing that Turkey, which could not be invaded physically, was invaded mentally and hence, by gaining an intellectual and cultural, social and political atmosphere that will embrace all segments of society and offer justice, fairness and brotherhood.
Sure, we are face-to-face with a very trying period. The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) and all other terrorist organizations do not hesitate and will not hesitate, with the orders they receive from their masters, to resort to terrifying means to turn Turkey into an unlivable county.
However, despite everything, we are obliged to put into practice the truth that Muslims are a "safe haven" both today and tomorrow, just like they were in the past.
We are the only ones capable of proving, first in our country, followed by our region, the fact that Islam, thereby Muslims, are a safe haven. We have already shown this to everyone around the world by opening our arms to the aggrieved Syrians.
Of course we are going to fight against FETÖ, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and other terrorist organizations to the end. However, it is observed that efforts are being made to weaken the fight against FETÖ and the PKK.
In an environment which we are surrounded by a ring of fire and the U.S. and Russia are in agreement, Turkey needs solidarity. If we fail to achieve this, our journey to finding our orbit may be interrupted. Just a reminder.
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