TURKEY MUST FACE ITS PAST FOR DEMOCRACY

Turkey should face the dark aspects of its history if it is to
establish a better future and take steps toward democracy, participants
of a panel discussion at Bilgi University said yesterday.

"The human soul is not an apartment that you could put your garbage
in front of the door for the door-keeper to pick up. Turkey should
face its garbage that it sweeps under the carpet," Bulent Somay,
a panelist, said.

The panel discussion titled "Facing yesterday, today and tomorrow"
was the first event of the Yuzleþme Association (a word meaning "to
face" in English) and brought together prominent academics, authors,
artists and activists to discuss Turkey's need to face its past.

Other countries in the world have faced their mistakes during their
transition to democracy, Aytekin Yýlmaz, general coordinator of the
association, told the Turkish Daily News. "The way to found a better
future is there," he said, adding that it is more difficult in Turkey
but it should start somewhere. Musician Ferhat Tunc said that the
racist, chauvinist, and ethnic nationalism goes out to the streets,
that would be a disaster. Tunc is one of the members of the advisory
board of the association. He added that the footsteps of the disaster
are being heard. "This association is one of the critical steps to
prevent this," he said.

Common language is vital

A real confrontation could be possible through finding a common
language with the oppressed and disadvantaged parts of the society,
said Somay during his speech: "The only way of facing is to make our
garbage to talk with each other." Somay added that understanding the
conditions that turn teenagers into murderers is vital, referring
to the teenager murder suspect of Turkish- Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink and the murderer of Catholic Priest Andreas Santoro. The anger
of the poor had been directed to constructive areas as they met with
leftists before 1980, Somay said, but the ways to reach those people
were cut with the September 12 military coup. The leftists started to
talk among each other afterwards, he said: "The way to touch us for
those teenagers is to shoot us in the head. Either we will develop
a common language, or they will shoot us in the head."

Facing today

Assistant professor at Bilgi University's psychology department,
Murat Paker, on the other hand said Turkey's conditions differ from
those conditions that took some countries to the Nuremberg courts
after the Second World War and to commissions in South Africa and
Central and South America. Parker said that Turkey has not had a
change of balance of power within the country that would lead it to
face its past. "We are not only talking about the history of Turkey
while we are saying 'facing.' We also talk about today," he said,
adding that for instance the Kurdish problem is still on the agenda.