(This piece focuses on the example of Turkish-racism, but the provisions and evaluation are valid for Kurdishness and all types of racism and ethnic cases. H.K.)
Mr. Ahmed Naim refutes the thesis of Turkists in the following manner:
There is no point in having detailed debates with these people. What they want to impose is explicitly the ideal of irreligiousness. This article is surely not the place to debate a number of things including; the fact that it is impossible to strip religion from the public and replace it with something else; the fact that a man who does not bat an eye for the sake of “making the religion of God dominant, and His words divine ” will not take up arms for his brethren from the same race; those who cannot envision the fact that someone who leaves his brothers in religion, whom he called brothers since a thousand years and has shared their joys and sorrow, and for whom he would not hesitate to sacrifice his life, would not love his Yakut brothers –who cannot be identified as Christians or Shamanist- in the grizzly lowlands of Siberia; and those who hide the fact that the most favorable eras of the Turks was during the times when they tightly embraced the Islamic religion, and their regression and deterioration started with the breakdown of faith and religion.
We can only pour our grief out to the Turkist-Islamists. Because I suspect that it is much easier to come to terms with them under the scope of Islam and make them acknowledge the truth in the name of religion. In our discussions, I realized that they have a heart. Though they mention the so-called weakness of the Turkish element, and that it requires help, but they do not want to offend the community of Islam (the community of believers, also referred to as the ummah). They see this community as necessary for the cohesion of other Muslim groups (tribes and races) and for the Turks to be trained in an easier manner and for them to rise.
But they are mistaken at one point:
They say that “The Turkist community (Turkish unity) consolidates the community of Islam, the case of race is not against Islam, and two goals do not clash with each other, on the contrary, they complete one another. We can at least try to warm up many youths, who did not get their share of Islam in the region, through the use of tribalism and homeland cases…”
They add a concept of faith in tribes, right beside the faith in religion. Amongst them, those who I have no doubts about their faith and commitment to Islam do not harm their Islamic sensitivities when they boast about their tribe, and on the contrary they believe that “if a person brags about his/her tribe compared to other tribes, this would help them to advance and progress.”
When you have a debate with them and turn their case to an indefensible matter, they say, “What can we do? If we leave this cause, Turkishness will be in ruins, the Arabs and Albanians started before us and we are at the position of legitimate defense; whoever started it is more ruthless…” But if you turn to the Arabs, they will probably plead similar points.
This is what we say to our Turkist-Islamist brothers:
The fact that the Turk needs assistance and realizing the right path. It is unjust to occupy the Turk with exhaustion, which will continue to harm him and bring him into a state where he can no longer think about felicity in this world or the afterlife. It worthy of commendation to ameliorate the Turk's social, economy and ethical state, and is favorable in the eyes of God. It is quite a sacred duty to serve the language to achieve this, to make literature the soul-food and to increase the knowledge and action strength of the tribe. It is a religious duty for your other Muslim brothers and sisters who speak Turkish, even though they are not Turkish to assist you in this matter. However, none of these activities should lead you to go back to the tribalism cause which existed in the pre-Islamic period, and boast about your forefathers. Language is a tool for communication. Develop the language and knowledge of the Turk, but rather than saying, “O Turk” to them, address them by saying, “O Muslim.” When you want to encourage them, do not do this for the sake of Turkism, but for the sake of Islam. In the past four or five years you fell behind this raw cause; what did this bring you except for bringing you at odds with your other Muslim brothers and sisters? Who will be 100 percent Turkish when we go three generations back?
We do not need to know the laws of Jenghiz, nor the lands of İlhan, or to commemorate the Golden Army; we cannot brag about the polytheism of the past. What we need is to know and learn about the Muhammedan law, the lands of Islam and the champions of Islam. It is not worth mentioning the pride of tribes beside the pride of Islam.
It is not legitimate for a person to side with his/her own tribe just because he/she is from the same tribe even though they are wrong; but it is legitimate to provide assistance to one's tribe under the scope of justice and without treating any of the sides unjustly and in a hostile manner.
The goal of Islam is to melt away the ties of tribes within the tie of Islam.
