“Submit, and Find Peace!..”

When Haji Bektash Veli said in the thirteenth century, "Let us be one, let us be strong, let us be alive," he did not say it so that it could be thrown around by today’s dictatorial regimes and single-party systems. For some time now, we have been living face to face with groups completely devoid of integrity or a moral stance, people who are shameless enough to weaponise any sacred word for their own interests. So much so that these individuals, who oppress the very people they claim to be "one" with, deceiving them through invocations of God and religion while dragging the country into filth, run places of instruction and corporate education centres where harrowing incidents never leave the headlines. What are the Muslims, who have not raised their voices in protest even once against these horrors, waiting for?

We see that the world’s one point five seven billion faithful Muslims have lost their conscience to the extent that they turn a blind eye to all the depravity unfolding in their countries. Indeed, they have not risen up even once! Turkey has a seventy per cent population adhering to the Sunni faith—which is the only belief the state administration recognises—yet they stand by and watch as the country transforms into a republic of violation. Furthermore, they do not hesitate to brand anyone who speaks out against this as a terrorist. What a flagrant contradiction!

Let us look at the recent national agenda... A few days ago in Konya—known as one of the most religiously devout cities in Turkey—a mosque imam was arrested on allegations of sexually abusing an eleven-year-old child. Go back a few days before that. This time, the incident took place in Ağrı. In this deeply religious city, a seventeen-year-old instructor at the Imam Bukhari Residential Quran Course for Boys sexually abused a nine-year-old boy who stayed at the institution permanently because he had no family. In his statement, the child recounted how the door to the room was locked and he was violated.

Tragically, violence is woven into it too! Although the child explained away the bruises on his body by claiming "I fell" because he was threatened, did the officials at the institution really notice nothing at all? Or was there, once again, an attempt to cover up the incident? You can keep your faith, but have you lost your absolute humanity?

We all live within a society and, as the majority, we abide by its rules—or rather, we are forced to comply. Lately, we have witnessed in an even more brutal manner how those who object and rebel are brought to a halt through immense tyranny, stripped of their very spaces to live.

While following societal rules, we expect everyone to conform to these norms. Why? Because we fear those who are not like us. Just as we do not love them, we hold no respect for them either. Within societal structures, if one person acts, others begin to follow suit without question. We observe this particularly in tight-knit religious communities and cult-like groups that rarely interact with the outside world.

For instance, all these individuals attend a religious course where everyone they see is exactly like them; one person speaks, and everyone listens. Tragically, it is at this stage that obedience, identification, and internalisation begin. The child is raised alienated from different people and environments, and deliberately nurtured to harbour hatred. Concepts of right and wrong are taught through biased templates of people and lifestyles. Of course, it is impossible to find good intentions here. Every day, we witness together how harmful these standardised human molds can be to a society. If there is a person holding a position of authority within these groups, it is evident that the members conform even more strictly: "submit, and find peace!" Tell me, did a so-called prime minister not openly utter these very words?

Let us examine the way of thinking, feeling, and behaving that individuals within these groups display in light of what they are taught... Whatever your faith may be, if there is injustice and inequality somewhere, if cases of sexual abuse, rape, and harassment are multiplying, would any individual who calls themselves human not stand firmly against it?

Anyway... let us return to the matter of obedience and submission. While the country is shaken every single day by different sexual abuse crimes, the Mersin Muftiyat recommended that instructors should display behaviours toward Quran course students such as "touching, stroking their heads and cheeks, hugging, and kissing... to make themselves loved." Unbelievable!

In a place where children aged four to six receive instruction, why would a mufti make such statements instead of fiercely protecting them? Only one thing comes to mind: to "normalise" potential sexual abuse in the eyes of the child. And nothing is done in the face of this reality. As abuse crimes multiply, they are legitimised. We are darkening by simply watching one another. As long as the guilty are not prosecuted and punished, those living within that society are effectively encouraged to commit these crimes.

Do not simply say, "Look what times we live in"; sometimes, a person shudders merely thinking about what else they might be forced to witness.

In truth, we have been openly violated in every sphere of life for years. In this system where we are exploited from head to toe, there is a historical era I want to recall to offer a shred of hope: the "Age of Enlightenment". In this era, communities centred on religion and a singular deity turned their gaze toward philosophy and questioning. In response, Europe banned science and thinking, deeming it contrary to religion. Yes! It banned thinking! Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the French Revolution took place. A struggle had been waged since the fifteenth century to destroy the darkness of the Middle Ages. The result is this: though we still feel the presence of religion in Europe three centuries later, we know that people of different faiths, cultures, religions, and backgrounds can coexist.

The progressive minds that exist in Turkey, few though they may be, are already shedding light on those days. This sickening, degrading era will eventually fade into history in all its raw truth. Tragically, the price will be heavy. Even in these early stages of the twenty-first century, countless massacres have been written into our national history; so many people have been killed; so many journalists sit in prison for no crime; so many workers have been dismissed. Yet, hope never diminished; there were those who guarded human dignity, like Nuriye and Semih, who became the voice of the left-wing workers dismissed by decree. I want to conclude this piece by sending my greetings to them and to all those who resist. We might not live to see it, but the bright days of the future are being built by those resisting this darkness. At the time of writing, it is exactly the hundred and forty-seventh day of the hunger strike. The government remains silent, refusing to restore their rights. And what of the public? The hundreds of thousands of dismissed people? They have gone into hiding, and no one sees them!