In last week's column, where I mentioned that I see symptoms of "implicit colonialism" in journalists and editors who report news from Turkey to the West, it stirred trouble on Twitter (see "We finally see the other side of the Western media" on April 11).
I realized that foreign journalists are in complete solidarity. One of them accused me of being a bully.
I thought, "Whoa!" One wrote that I was utterly stupid and then received great applause from friends. They of course studied in the U.S. with support from the Gülen Movement, so it is obvious that they would be backed by awkward youngsters who are delusional enough to think that they know everything. I don't even want to get started on how the juvenile White Turks who regard the Europeans as "Übermensch" became involved in the discussion. Still, it was entertaining.
There were also those who suggested I read articles on Orientalism and colonialism.
I didn't want to tell them, "Don't you worry; you weren't even born when I was at that stage of life!" I kept my silence.
To an extent, I owe an apology to Alex Christie-Miller, whose piece I mentioned regarding the "hanging of Erdoğan." He said, "I quoted the grocer in the same story."
I checked and he was right. However, Christie-Miller writes his pieces with such hostility toward Erdoğan that one is thrown off balance by such vehemence. Hence, it is possible that I missed it.
Yet, one thing is quite clear: Our friends who have been reporting from Istanbul to Western media outlets have long been dreaming of a single kind of Turkey. There is no room in that Turkey for anybody other than the "good children" of Gezi. So unless you are slightly bohemian and a tad communist, and come summer time have your photograph taken with "resistance everywhere" inscribed in the sand, you don't fit the criteria.
Obviously there are times when our Western journalists behave "offbeat." They take to the nature trails to observe birds, visit rug weaving workshops and watch Fenerbahçe or Galatasaray football matches to feel the adrenaline at the bleachers. So then, where is the real Turkey? Where are the people?
Where are Erdoğan's voters? They are never mentioned in their pieces.
One look at their newspapers and the pieces they submit is enough to understand that their motive is to provoke the question, "Will the opposition be in trouble after its defeat in the local elections?" Yet, there is no proper mention of those who cast their votes in favor of Erdoğan.
It is evident that they are no longer interested in Diyarbakır, which they once loved; whereas once upon a time, the predominantly Kurdish-populated southeastern province of Diyarbakır was swarming with foreign journalists. Why were they not there this time around? They are simply underhandedly "opposing" the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
A brief browse of articles by such journalists is enough to see that they contain no significant information or opinion on the neo-nationalist sociological base of the opposition.
They get upset with me when I say this, but they are all more like Otpor militants than journalists.
Their latest favorite intellectual is Professor David Harvey. Not because they attend Harvey's "Reading Marx's Capital" seminars, but rather because Harvey continues to come up with ideas like the suggestion that a second Gezi incident may erupt at any moment. Let them make as much noise as they like; we don't take them seriously. We are now aware of their mission.
Finally, for the journalist who suggested I read articles on Orientalism: In Edward Said's words, "Orientals were rarely seen or looked at; they were seen through, analyzed not as citizens, or even people, but as problems to be solved or confined."
It seems like Said's definition corresponds perfectly with such journalists' opinions of the vast majority of the public in Turkey.
