Preaching to the Converted

Last week we had two prominent Turkish journalists visiting London. Ece Temelkuran is a staunch critic of the Turkish government and Ekrem Dumanli has probably voted for the ruling party since it was established a decade ago. They both gave lectures in SOAS. The crowd that they drew was impressive. The lecture theatres were both filled beyond their capacity. In the UK, we are used to see such crowds only at celebrity gigs. The audience of both gatherings were very young. This is an unusual interest in politics for UK standards. These are all positive points for the community of immigrants from Turkey.

However, it is essential to draw attention to a wasted opportunity. Neither, Ms Temelkuran nor Mr Dumanli needed to give these lectures. They both preached to the converted. If they could swap their audiences, it could have been much more productive for everybody. Both the speakers and the audiences had an easy ride. Speakers were asked questions complementing their speeches, audiences heard what they already believed in. Neither speakers nor the audiences were challenged to question their position. This is not useful for a society. Especially in politics, tribalism is detrimental. We should all question ourselves or at least be open to hear questions that challenge what we believe in order to avoid becoming dogmatic and loose touch with reality. Tribalism combined with segregation is a spiral downwards for decay in a society. Sooner or later it can cause irreversible damages for the community relations.

Once, an Indian colleague of mine asked me if I could tell where in Europe people are from by just looking at their face. I found this amusing. However, he could differentiate where in India someone is from by just looking at their face whereas I would have no idea. There are many communities in the UK. Just because they are from one country, sometimes we have the tendency to assume these communities are homogeneous. Through personal experiences in my neighbourhood, I have grown to learn that no matter how small a community is, they may have as many fractions as they had in the countries they originate from. Compared with the rest of the society, they would still have more in common with each other. The experience of immigrant life helps them realise this. However, we should not assume that they are homogeneous and try our best to be respectful to the sensitivities within the communities.

What can be done to promote better cohesion within and between communities? I believe the most urgent step would be beating the segregation. If we return to the example presented at the beginning, is there a way that could encourage people to have an intellectual debate without segregation? Changes in community can be achieved starting from the intellectuals. If Ms Temelkuran and Mr Dumanli could sit at the same table, presenting their point of view, the audience would have been a mixture too. It is impossible for either of the speakers to change their opinion about the government of Turkey. This is probably true for both of the audiences too. However, both sides should be able to empathise with each other. The society is made of both fractions. Neither of the opinions is the sole representative of the community. They should both accept the existence of the other and be happy to live with the reality that they will always disagree at least on this particular issue and possibly on many other issues too. In addition, the speakers should realise that some of the points they make are unfairly biased or even plainly wrong. The best way to see this is through having a grown up conversation with each other and hear the other opinion. These are very simple suggestions. But unfortunately, it is not straightforward to implement.

You may have other suggestions to help the society to understand each other better. I would be grateful if you could contribute to this through comments. I would like to conclude my words on a positive note. The organisers of both events had good intention to build strong community relations between the different fractions. On this occasion it did not came to a conclusion but these good intentions will come to fruition sooner or later. We are very lucky to have community leaders who put the progress of the community first, community leaders who risk their own personal gains to build a better future for all of us. I would like to personally thank them for their personal sacrifices towards this dream.