Why There Should be More Abant Platforms
While we were in Paris for the Abant Platform meeting, French President Jacques Chirac signed the new job law that stirred widespread criticisms and protests.
As we were returning from a reception that was hosted by Ambassador Osman Koruturk, the police fearing the wrath of the young French people who were gathering at the Concorde and Champs-Élysées- Clémenceau squares had already secured the National Assembly. We were watching the students and trying to understand what they were saying from the windows of our hotel, located one or two hundred meters away from Sorbonne University, the center of the action. By the way, I wish to express my gratitude to the organizers of the Abant meeting as they hosted the guests in places that enabled them to witness such events. The atmosphere at the Abant Platform was, as Ismet Ozel put it, "everything is happening during my lifetime."
The following day, while passing by Sorbonne University that was closed by barricades, we were discussing Professor Bernard Lewis's argument in which he claims that one of the reasons why Islamic societies have lagged behind is because there has been little or no spying. Lewis says while oriental languages were taught and many orientalists were educated in Western schools, the East has no serious curiosity for the West, until recently.
We met Ali Bulac shortly after our discussion. Bulac humorously said that as soon as Chirac signed the labor act, he joined the students and supported their protests, adding, "As you can see, we are also taking part in their demonstrations as they have always done in ours."
The reason Abant has been so successful takes shape at this point. The Abant spirit in Brussels, Washington, Moscow and Paris has endeavored to minimize the centuries-old ossified paradigm and indifference as well. The Platform comes together with Western intellectuals and tries to understand them, as it also exerts all efforts to express itself in a bias-free atmosphere. Abant tries to generalize what Bulac did on the intellectual level. Abant is doing its utmost to contribute to understanding both the West and itself. And we learn on the way back that works are underway in order to include many Western intellectuals from now on in the Abant platforms that are held in Turkey
Putting this broad Abant vision aside; hosting Alain Touraine, one of the greatest sociologists in the world, was a huge success that helped conceal the flaws at the meeting. Especially, the expressions Touraine used in support of Turkey's prospective membership in the EU were subject headings that could frequently be used in EU discussions.
I wish we could refer not only to Bediuzzaman Said Nursi as a Turkish intellectual but to other names as well. I wish French intellectuals had taken part in the negotiations more actively and there had been more French participants in the hall. The list of criticisms, naturally, could go on and on, but it does not cloud the success of Abant Paris. As a result, the two intellectual groups reached a consensus on Turkey's prospective membership and also to increase the number of Abant-like platforms.
TURKISH DAILY NEWS
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