The Arabs between Turkization, Turkenization

Turkization was a campaign launched by the Ottomans and later the Turkish army to turn areas under their control into purely Turkish territories; changing names of cities, towns and even people and forcing the use of the Turkish language exclusively upon non-Turkish speaking peoples.

The military coup attempt last week in Turkey kept many Arabs on their toes. Most are against the coup and wished for the government of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to prevail. Yet, as Arabs always do, they split into two teams: skeptics and Turkenized. The latter is derived in analogy with Westernised, Americanised etc.

In spite of the fact that the coup attempt is a wholly Turkish matter, Arabs found it their business to oppose the take over and to support the democratically elected government. But the skeptics think that they should wait and see and revise the whole situation with a different perspective.

They think that the coup was attempted in race between combating teams; each wants to eliminate the other. As the Arabing saying goes: one team wants to eat the other for lunch, before the other eats them for dinner.

The skeptics argue as follow; there were major Turkish foreign policy shifts and turnarounds days before the attempted coup. The prime minister and Erdogan";s right hand, Ahmet Davut Ughlu, was humiliatingly replaced by a more 'yes-sir” prime minister, Mr. Bin Ali Yildrim.

Mr. Ughlu";s hesitation to come hard after the so-called 'parallel state” was behind his deposition, it was reported. President Erdogan and his new PM swiftly apologised to the Russians over the downing of their fighter jet last November, healed the rift with Israel, assured the Europeans that Turkey will end their agonising nightmare of the Syrian refugees by naturalising them, sent a delegation to Cairo to negotiate a settlement with President Sisi";s government of Egypt. They even went as far as hinting the acceptance of president Bashar Alasad of Syria staying in power for an interim period.

The skeptics believe that this sudden and holistic cooling of the exterior fronts was in preparation for the heating up of the domestic ones. In other words, it was all part of president Erdogan efforts to give a final blow to the 'parallel state; i.e. his opponents outside the political spectrum.

The second point of argument by the skeptics is the speed in which Erdogan government announced the tally of thousands of names in the military, public service and regional governments. Most notably was the announcement of 2700 names of judges and prosecutors hours after the coup attempt who were allegedly part of the military plot to oust the government.

The battle between Erdogan and the judiciary is reminiscent of that fought by the deposed Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi. More notably is that both Erdogan and Morsi belong to the same political school; Muslim Brotherhood. It is inconceivable by any account, argue the skeptics, for those thousands of names to have been identified just hours after the failed military attempt and that surely they were prepared ahead of time.

The other Arab team is the team of the Turkenized. This is a team that was and is still unconditionally supportive of measures and vindictive actions Erdogan may adopt to 'cleanse” (the term they use) Turkey from the traitors and conspirators. The Turkenized are more Turks than the Turks themselves.

They iconize Erdogan and hail him in thwarting the coup, whereas the Turks came out en mass in millions throughout Turkey in defiance of the military curfew raising their national flag not a portrait of Mr. Erdogan. They attack the skeptics"; team with zeal and passion giving them lessons in 'democracy, secularism and Islam”.

They remind them of the great economic power Turkey had become during the reign of Erdogan. And when/if need be, they resort to 'their” Islamic interpretations to silence the skeptics. Thus a famous so-called 'Da";iah” (spreader of God";s word), dreamt of Erdogan the savior. Another had a dream of Mohammad the Prophet asking the Turkish people to look after president Erdogan! A third counter argued a skeptic over measures of vengeance by Erdogan by saying 'if Erdogan urinates over their heads, we will say how merciful of him as he is cleansing them with his sacred urine” (sic.).

Diehard Turkenized Arabs are very dangerous to the democracy in Turkey. They encourage Mr. Erdogan to become tyrannical pheros through sanctification and attacks on anyone who dares to criticise him. In so doing, the Turkenized are the same as the 'Persianized” (derived from Persia which is modern day Iran). The latter refers to groups like Hezbullah who see no wrong by Iran and its infallible supreme leader. The Persianized and the Turkenized are alike!

Perhaps I should mention that I love Turkey and I am a frequent visitor to Istanbul. I am amazed by the country";s endless riches and I love its culture and language which I am becoming communicative with. I am a worried skeptic over Turkey slipping into a theological dictatorship having survived the abyss of a military tyranny. My feelings will have no real effect on the unfolding events in this great nation.

However, Turkey has not ridden out the storm yet. Many challenges and threats remain ahead. The Turkenized Arabs are one of those threats for they want to push Erdogan, and by definition Turkey, into the same fate of their countries of mayhem and destruction.

Has Turkey abrogated, once and for a military dictatorship comeback? Or is this the beginning of the end of Secularism in Turkey at the hands of Erdogan with the help of Turkenized Arabs? Only time will tell.

The writer is an academic and media expert.