"Recep Tayyip Erdoğan", "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan", "Recep Tayy Erdoğan"!

The host was roaring wildly on the stage, and the people under the stage, the elderly, children, women, and men all hissed and shouted the names of their leaders. Countless flags are dancing wildly under the stage. The red is the star and moon flag of Turkey, accompanied by the orange, white and blue flags of the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Erdogan campaign speech scene

The gunship was hovering in the sky; the armed police didn't dare relax for a moment with sunglasses, and they were watching around with a telescope; people kept pushing and suffocating in the hot square.

Soon, with the deafening drumbeat, Erdogan's presence, people reached out to pay tribute to the leader, and sang the leader's three paragraphs more enthusiastically:

"Rejep Tayyip Erdogan", "Rejep Tayyip Erdogan", "Rejep Tayyip Erdogan"!

Turkish people listening to Erdogan (trabzon)

At this moment, one person wrote a few big characters on the orange paper, holding up and waving in the crowd. After being seen by a person wearing sunglasses, the slogan was immediately taken away and the person was taken away. The whole venue was still boiling.

An insignificant detail has become the epitome of Turkey's current society:

Democracy, but not freedom.

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In 2014, Erdogan gradually implemented an Islamist policy after being elected as the Turkish Conservative President: a large-scale new religious school and mosque was built, emphasizing the glorious history of the Ottoman Empire and Islam, and trying to restore religious guidance and Cohesive effect; in 2016, the Turkish army that wanted to overthrow this religiously inclined Erdogan government was at this time. The coup ended with Erdogan's victory, after which Erdogan consolidated his individual. The rights measures have been intensified. In 2017, a constitutional amendment was adopted that abolished the post of prime minister and implemented a presidential system.

But this is not the end of the story. The secular liberals and religious conservatives in Turkey are still pulling. Compared to the country's aggressive and innovative approach more than 90 years ago, the presidential election in late June 2018 has made Turkey's The future is becoming more and more treacherous in the surging currents of all parties.

This article was written on June 13, 2018. The opening scene is when Huang Ruijie rides on the Silk Road and happens to pass the canvassing event in Erdogan, a northern coastal city of Trabzon. At the same time cycling between different cities, we also happened to interview Turkish citizens of different ages and strata, and wanted to get a glimpse of the most authentic views of the society on the current political ecology. (The people appearing in this article are all pseudonyms, and the opinions of the interviewees do not represent the author's position.)

Black Sea (Pazar)

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"I want to have a security company"

One

After a day of riding, we came to Sakarya, where a UWC alumni and friends invited us to dinner. My friend's name is Omut, thick eyebrows, tall nose bridges, light blue windbreaker and Nike shorts. His short and powerful handshake made me feel his vigorous spirit, only to learn during dinner that he was one A Turkish "high school" classmate. One month before the test, he chose to review at home, and he seemed confident. He hopes to be admitted to the law department of Istanbul University, the country's highest institution. The education system in Turkey is similar to our college entrance examination system. It is also that the test scores are directly linked to the choice of school. Admission is based on merit. If you fail to pass the exam this year, you can repeat it.

On the streets of the city, red, blue, and huge advertisements for candidates for the general election are everywhere. Most of them are hung on the exterior walls of high-rise buildings, as if the "big brother" is watching every time Pedestrians coming and going, and nine out of ten on the way were Erdogan. Thinking of Omut just turning eighteen, I asked, "This is your first vote this year, right?"

"Correct"

"Will you vote for him?" I pointed at the huge portrait of Erdogan in the distance.

"No, I don't like him, I want to vote for Muharrem İnce. (Muharem Inje, Republican People's Party candidate)" he said calmly.

"why?"

"Because I don't like Erdogan. For example: Inge will use 50 liras for science education and 5 liras for the army; Erdogan will use 50 liras for religion and the army and build Mosques and religious schools, but only 5 liras for real science education. "①

"Looking at your understanding of politics, do you want to be a politician in the future?" I seemed to immediately understand why he chose the law department.

"No, I want to have my own security company."

"Why is it a security company?" This is some distance from his image in my heart.

"Because security is a very profitable field, and there aren't many competitors in this field in Turkey. I can make a lot of money, and then use this money to pay other people's tuition and support their education. "He raised his head higher.

"How did you think of using your money in this way?" After hearing this clear answer, I wondered why.

"This money can change their destiny. I am investing in their future; and Islam is very focused on giving. Maybe I help them today, and tomorrow they may help me." The original religion was not in him. Life is erased, but preserved in a cultural way.

Facing the pressure of further studies, Omut said that his dream was unequivocal.

I nodded my head, wishing him good results in the college entrance examination and helping more people on this path of life.

Election ads everywhere in the city (photographed by Görele)

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two

A religious dream of a 12-year-old boy

We rode down D 100, and we are about to ride to Tosya. At 1 noon, the temperature rose to 37.6 degrees, and we couldn't stand the burning sun, so we found a roadside restaurant and stopped.

As soon as I stepped into the restaurant, a little boy started entertaining us. He was wearing a dark green T-shirt, black trousers, short hair, and placed his hands under his chest, respectfully, not at all like a naughty 10-year-old.

"what do you want to eat?"

"Turkey Roast (Köfte)"

While we were eating, he put his right hand in his waist for a while and put it in the purse behind his butt. After dinner, he took away our tableware, "Do you want tea?"

Watching the child's words and deeds matured inconsistent with his appearance, I wanted to talk more with him: "Drink."

Turkish Kebab Köfte with green pepper and onion tomatoes (Photo by Tosya)

After serving tea, the entire restaurant has only one table for us. Looking at him aside, I started using Google Translate on my phone and asked, "What's your name, boy? How old?"

"My name is Onur, I'm 12 years old."

"Aren't you going to school now?"

"I went to elementary school and now I don't go to school because it is Ramadan."

"How long do you have classes every day? Do you take care of the restaurant after school?"

"Yes, I have classes 9-15 every day, and I work as a waiter in the restaurant after school."

I quipped: "Would you like to grow up and continue this business and manage this restaurant like your dad?"

"I don't want to," he glanced at his father with some dodge, "I want to be a teacher." At this time, the wind was getting stronger, and we decided to go inside the restaurant and continue to use translation software to communicate.

Boy Onur and father

Entered the restaurant and saw three Ataturk portraits hanging on the main wall. I continued to ask, "Which subject do you want to teach?"

"religion."

I was a little surprised that a 12-year-old kid wanted to be a religious teacher in the future, "Why?"

"I just like it."

Erdogan hopes to strengthen the education of religion in school, train more people like this child, and let this "religious generation" play a role in reviving the Ottoman Empire.

Following this logic, I continued to ask, "Then you should especially like Erdogan?"

He used Google Translate and pressed a few words, "Yes I like"

After hearing Erdogan's words, a few of his brothers came together and took us a plate of cherries for us to eat. As a result, the child took the phone and deleted the line just typed, as if nothing had happened. I also asked the opinions of the older brothers, and they all shook their hands, saying that they did not like Erdogan, and the one more revered in their hearts was Ataturk. I saw three portraits of him hanging on the wall behind. From the founding of Turkey to the present, it will be the centennial anniversary. The founding father looked at the restaurant on the wall, and still looked at the country in the passing years.

Twelve-year-old Onur turned his back to the wall, but already had his own plan.

Xingyue Banner Waving (Photo taken in Kavak)

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Retirement life of a Turkish "old returnee"

Three

Finally at the seaside city of Samsun, we saw the long-lost white waves and beaches. In the evening, Magdalena and I were sitting in a dessert shop. In the evening of June, the weather was not too cold. When we were sitting on an outdoor chair, an old man next to him took the initiative to talk to us: "How are you? ? "

I replied, "Very well, my companion is German, I am Chinese." Seeing him taking the initiative to talk to us, we sat in the chair next to him and looked carefully. He was wearing a striped shirt The red light on his face and the silver hair made him look more shy under the light.

After chatting a few words, he found that his English level was extraordinary-from 1978 to 1980 he went to England to study for a master's degree in business management. At that time, Turkey was in the middle of a battle between the right and left. Samsun was in a state of tension. It had to be escorted by soldiers from all sides in order to cross the line between factions. "It was too dangerous at that time." After graduation, he returned to Turkey. Runs his own gas station. Now at the age of retirement, he went fishing on the shoreline during the day, and drank a few drinks outside the dessert shop at night, chatting with friends.

Seeing the bottle on his table, I wondered: "Isn't it stipulated in the Muslim teaching that Muslims can't drink?"

He replied solemnly: "Alcohol is a disinfectant, especially for Muslims. Alcohol is very important. I drink it for disinfection."

After hearing this explanation, the old people and us laughed. This is the first time I have heard such a "serious" explanation.

"It was Ataturk who taught you that alcohol is a disinfectant, right?"

"Yes, Ataturk is a great man. But as Churchill said," You can't defeat Turkey by soldiers, but you can defeat Turkey by provoking religious forces in Turkey and let them fight for power in the country. Internal fighting, they will even do things against Turkey. '"I saw the old man's tone gradually become heavy, and I began to listen more carefully.

Ataturk's portraits are still remembered in all corners of Turkey to this day

He went on to say: "Unfortunately, this is exactly what is happening in Turkey now. Now" religious people "recommend" what the government should do and not do, and now the government does nothing without consulting these religious people Can do. "A car passed by behind us, and the lights flickered at us.

This is the crossroads that Turkey's current political development has encountered. One side is the elite who inherited the secular rule of the father Atatuk and insisted on the separation of politics and religion. Represents the power of traditional Islamic politics, a cultural and political renaissance of religion.

"Will you vote for Erdogan?" Looking at the recent election campaign in full swing, I am also curious about his position.

"I will vote for Muharem Inje. Erdogan only develops its economy on infrastructure. Turkey ’s infrastructure may be better than Europe in this decade, and then someone will say on TV: 'We are back It ’s the glory of the Ottoman Empire before. '"Speaking, the old man also used his mouth to mimic the sound of gongs and drums:" Dongbura Dongbura Dongbura. "Perhaps Erdogan's dream is to restore the territory of the Ottoman Empire and become again Leader of the Islamic world. "But if a country's economy does not export, there will be no extra money to develop the country's economy. Construction is only construction, construction is over, and Turkey's economy is over."

"The election you think he will win?"

He lowered his voice a lot, "Yes."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because they tried everything to blackmail to win this election. Money, money, money, all he wanted was money. In the eyes of many people, Erdogan is like a prophet. If Erdogan asks them : "Are you ready to die?" They will say: "Yes, we are ready to bid farewell." The people who chose him did not even have a high school level, only junior high school level, they did not know the meaning of the election. Trump in the United States is the same, they have the same personality, they are as bad to the country, and the people who choose them have the same education level. Trump can become Erdogan in Turkey, and Erdogan can also be Become Trump in the United States. "②

"But Trump's wife is different from Erdogan's," the dessert shop owner quipped. We at the table laughed again.

Several acquaintances often walked in between conversations, and after greeting each other, Magdalena asked, "Is the same group of people passing here every day, right?"

"Yes," the old men at the table laughed. "I came to this place at seven o'clock every day to pass the time. Ali was nine o'clock. We have been here for decades." The salty sea breeze blew across.

"But the people will still be happy, food, music." The elder continued, "The people are like sheep, they are like this." Then he blocked the sight of the other directions with two hands, "They only Think of today, not tomorrow; they go to sleep now instead of thinking about what this nation will be like in a century. "

It was getting colder and colder, "We like to enjoy our life, I'm leaving now, and I'm going fishing tomorrow." We shake hands and say goodbye, he left us alone.

The helpless back of the old man was swaying under the yellow street lamp, which made people think of the uncertain future of this country.

Sunset at Samsun (Photo by Samsun)

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postscript

In the epoch coordinates, individual limitations always affect the perception of historical turn. Even the first-timers often suddenly wake up afterwards. And Turkey is precisely because of its changeable historical process and cultural diversity, giving different people different perspectives on Turkish society. From the perspective of today, think about the 96 years after Ataturk's secularization movement. In a longer time span, that groundbreaking change did not seem to be the unity of the country, but more of society. The division of people: Some people go smoothly in secularist society and scoff at religious teachings; but there are also people who believe in religion. They ca n’t separate the lifestyle and thinking they have been used to, and treat them as secular. In today's complex country, religiously entangled and geobounded, believers and secular people, elders and young people, poor people and rich people ... have an inarticulate dispute, and this fragile balance is in a different politics In the ecology, it has never stopped changing its direction of tilt. To this day, this country is still pulling, choosing, and rebounding between secular freedom and religious conservatism.

Turkey ’s presidential election came to an end on June 24, 2018. As predicted by the elders in the third story, the leader of the “Orthodox Party” and Muslim conservative Erdogan prevailed by 20.6% of the votes. Rival Inge was re-elected as Turkish president.

What Turkey will do at this crucial crossroads still has to wait for history to give us the answer.

The last sunset of Ramadan in Hopa

Turkish historical background:

Modern Turkey was formally announced on October 29, 1923 in its capital, Ankara.

The Ottoman Empire in Japan was defeated in the First World War, but with the budding and development of the Turkish National Movement, in the prestigious officer Mustafa Kemal (he was also later known as Atatürk, Under the leadership of Turkish (meaning the founding father), the new regime gradually gained a foothold with its goal of "abolishing the old Ottoman system and establishing a modern republic."

Kemal, the first President of the Republic after the founding of the People's Republic, immediately began a series of vigorous reforms in an attempt to establish this new regime under the shadow of the Ottoman Empire into a secular state. Radical reforms have brought many changes in politics, law, culture, social and economic policies, such as: expelling the Sudanese royal family and establishing a large National Assembly; abolishing Persian-Arab script and using Latin script; strictly restricting the wearing of religious clothing; Promote the development of modern feminism and so on.

It is worth noting that, although Kemal reform is famous for its de-Islamization initiative, the secularism is not anti-religion or anti-Islam: the government maintains all Turkish citizens in their private space Of the world are religiously equal and free to believe, but they have a clear-cut opposition to political religion because it jeopardizes the independence of the government and the ability to treat other religions equally.

But religion does not exist in politics and culture and cannot be completely eliminated. There have been four military coups in modern Turkish history. The Turkish army, which controlled the "secularization" of the founding father, used a coup to overthrow an Islamist government.

In 1997, the military and the government ’s opposition "bloodless coup" ousted the highly religious Prime Minister Erbakan, and at the protest rally, the hero of this article, Erdogan, appeared on stage. He cited a song Prohibited poems, accused of "incite religious hatred of the people", squatted in the prison for 120 days:

"The mosque is our barracks, the dome is our helmet, the minaret is our bayonet, and faith is our soldier."

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Author's Note:

①: A public school in Turkey is closed, and religious schools have sprung up. When Erdogan was the Turkish Prime Minister in 2012, he declared his desire to "build a devout generation", and the religious school has increased tenfold in 15 years.

And even if the students are not in a religious school, the examination system still requires students to learn about religion. A large amount of prayer time occupies time for learning scientific knowledge, and the refurbished curriculum system strengthens the understanding of the concept of "jihad" in the Qur'an. , While greatly reducing the study of secularist principles, reducing the content of "evolution". Some parents say Erdogan is taking the child's future.

②: There are similarities in the distribution of voters in both. In Turkey, the Republican People ’s Party relies on Western liberal intellectuals, big capitalists, and business elites, mainly concentrated in Turkey ’s European region, large cities, and more developed coastal areas; while the JFD relies on its obvious localization characteristics. Small and medium-sized business owners, religious persons, farmers, small craftsmen, and other lower-middle-class people are mainly concentrated in Turkey's Asian region, small cities, suburbs, and the conservative and backward Anatolian plains. They have low levels of westernization and secularization, strong religious consciousness, and attach great importance to Islamic beliefs and Ottoman cultural traditions. However, due to their long-term marginalization, they have a strong desire to fight for political rights. This is not the same as the "silent" group of Trump "Most people" are very similar?

Citations:

· The Road to Turkey: Islamization or Diversity? http://www.sohu.com/a/205087103_825951

· Vigorously set up religious schools, can Erdogan win the battle for education? http://wemedia.ifeng.com/65652020/wemedia.shtml