"Illiteracy is The Mother of All Evils"
In an exclusive interview with Turkish Daily News Editor in Chief Ilnur Cevik, Managing Editor Yusuf Kanli and Parliamentary Bureau Chief Emel Aktug, Tantan said unless Turkey gets rid of illiteracy in religion, social conduct, human relations and moral values, it will continue to face serious threats in the form of terrorism and fundamentalism, among others.
"It's because of illiteracy that we have terrorism. It's because of illiteracy that there are complaints of a fundamentalist threat. It's because of illiteracy that we are complaining of loss of some of our moral values. Illiteracy is the mother of all evils," he said.
Tantan, a former police officer and former mayor of Istanbul's Fatih district, said that reforms need to be initiated in many areas in Turkey. He underlined the point, however, that these reforms would not be realized simply because Turkey was asked to do so by other states or international bodies. "We shall implement them because we want these reforms," he said.
Tantan stated that democratic reforms needed to be handled as an integrated whole, adding that even if all the required legislation for democratization were made, the country's problems would not be overcome if the duties and responsibilities of the police were not clarified and a straightforward definition of the extent of their power was not set down.
"What constitutes a breach of power and the consequences of a breach of power should be made very clear. Experts are now working on all these issues and they will be legislated one after the other," he said.
Here is the second part of the interview with Tantan:
TDN Mr. Minister, the interior affairs and justice ministries and the state ministry in charge of human rights are under the spotlight. We keep on talking about democratization and the need for reform in many areas. You have just mentioned one of those reforms, the law on organized crime. Another one is the law against terrorism. Today, Turkey is facing criticisms, although at a much lesser degree compared to the past. There are complaints of torture and degrading treatment at police stations, detention centers and prisons. There are charges of phone tapping. There are complaints of violation of individual privacy by disclosure of personal secrets. There are charges and more charges. Of course, eradication of these problems require reforms in many areas, including amendments to the Constitution and a redefinition of the duties, responsibilities and extent of powers of certain government agencies, including the police. These reforms require a coordinated effort by both your ministry, the Justice Ministry and the state ministry in charge of human rights. How are you approaching these issues? What are the short-, medium- and long-term goals in these areas?
TANTAN All the issues that you have mentioned indeed sum up to one thing. We consider all these issues as an integrated whole. While trying to legislate the law on organized crime, we are working as well on a draft on the education of the police. Torture is prohibited. Maltreatment and degrading treatment are prohibited by law. Still, there could be some individual cases, of which we strongly disapprove. Eradication of problems in one area will do no good as a whole. You have to handle these issues as part and parcel of one integrated whole. You have to fight against illiteracy. I do not mean illiteracy in the sense that we should be teaching how to read and write. What I mean is moral illiteracy, cultural illiteracy, behavioral illiteracy. This is the number-one threat in our society that should be dealt with urgently.
The social and professional rights of the police should be improved. Discipline should be established. The people that you ask to maintain public peace and order should have an internal discipline themselves. The duties, responsibilities and the definition of the extent of their power should all be well-established. What constitutes a breach of power and the consequences of a breach of power should be made very clear. Experts are now working on all these issues and they will be legislated one after the other.
When you look at the criticisms made at the Council of Europe or at other international forums you see that what is demanded of Turkey is nothing more than what we say we should do. We shall be doing all these things, not because they want us to, but because we want to take these steps.
As a person who has grown up in a Turkish and Islamic culture, I express with sadness that the Turkish and Islamic society, which, because of our culture, the teachings of Islam and noble values of our people, should have been in a position to teach human rights and liberties, is being asked from the outside to improve its human rights record. We shall take all these steps. They are part of our culture anyhow. We shall eradicate some elements and applications that do not fit to our culture, to our people. But we shall not be doing this because we are under pressure from any state or any international body.
We have to reform our understanding of police education. Until now, we considered education as a matter of schools, whereas education in the society and education of the society are much more important. The society has an education system peculiar to itself. If we can't bring under discipline the eduction of society, we cannot go anywhere. If we graduate a [policeman] and assign him a duty without social orientation and without providing him with some skills, this amounts to pushing him, in dire economic difficulties, into the mouth of the beast, and thus we create the danger ourselves. In overhauling the police education system, we shall consider all these issues.
A policeman cannot become a policeman by graduating from a four-year educational program at the Police Academy. He must be provided with skills to become part of the society where he will be serving. He will not be just providing security for the people of the region he is assigned to. He will not be an officer pursuing and capturing criminals. He will be at the service of the people.
TDN How?
TANTAN He could be good in sports, any branch of art or social science. Every Police Academy cadet will be raised with an amateur sportsman understanding. We shall hire the best amateur sports trainers in the world or send our cadets to them for training.
That is, we want a policeman to be an elder brother of the youth of the district he is serving, a brother to them, not someone to be afraid of. We want policemen to be the officers preventing crime, not trying to pursue and capture criminals. We want policemen to try to cure social ills by integrating in the society.
These are our aims. There are already many policemen and local administrators who have developed with that understanding and who are extremely successful. They have worked diligently all through the years and developed themselves without any help. We say we should help the new generations [of police].
Now, after all the sacrifices and hardships faced by police, if a handful of people acting with some personal or political purposes were involved in some wrong and extremely deplorable practices, this should not be generalized to the entire police society. That would be unfair...
TDN But, still, Mr. Minister, claims of torture are persisting. What specific measures are you taking or planning to take to prevent torture?
TANTAN We have no such claims now. But, if there are any individual cases, the executives immediately act on the complaints and if they are true, punitive action is taken against those responsible. But administrators have been trying to prevent torture for very many years.
Turkish society is under threat from both inside and outside. It is as if we are sitting on a box full of dynamite. The people should have a healthy analysis of this and take the side of its own forces. They have been doing that.
There is a need to cultivate our people's knowledge of citizenship. It's our duty. If we cannot increase our people's level of knowledge on citizenship, it is only natural that some unwanted formations will surface. All our people must feel themselves citizens of this state. They must be alert on the environment, social developments, cultural perceptions.
If people don't feel themselves as citizens, or if some people's knowledge of citizenship is very poor, you cannot expect much from them. Anyhow, the people must have targets and must know what they want. The education system of our schools, unfortunately, does not include this.
This "citizenship awareness" of our people needs to be strengthened. The time has come to liberate our people from the traps of people with very little ability and education who are found around every corner [such as heads of religious sects]. It is the duty of the state to provide proper religious education to its people so that they won't fall off course.
If you have a society with awareness of citizenship, you won't have such problems.
I am speaking as the minister of internal affairs. From the highest executive to the lowest-ranking member to the night watchmen, the police are trying to do their best for this country. There might be some individual errors, some deplorable practices that may stem from their psychology at that peculiar time. But, if you ask me whether I can stop all such actions that I disapprove of over night, I will tell you I can't. It will take some time to eradicate them all.
TDN There is some sort of professional solidarity in every profession. As journalists we may be at each others' throats, but if you say something bad against one of us, we immediately unite and take a position, all together, against you. There are claims that because of this professional solidarity in the police force, many misdeeds were covered up. For example, in the Metin Goktepe case, it took months to identify the suspects who tortured him to death... How would you overcome this practical difficulty?
TANTAN Whoever violates the law, whoever commits a crime will definitely be taken to account. I won't make any discrimination; irrespective who he or she is, everyone should respect the laws. If supremacy of the law is wanted, if justice is wanted, I should be the first to respect the laws.
TDN Mr. Minister, one last question. What is the biggest threat for the Turkish people?
TANTAN –Illiteracy. Unless we get rid of illiteracy, we shall continue facing this threat. Illiteracy needs some definition. It is illiteracy in religion, illiteracy in social conduct, illiteracy in human relations, illiteracy in moral values. It's because of illiteracy that we have terrorism. It's because of illiteracy that there are complaints of a fundamentalist threat. It's because of illiteracy that we are complaining of loss of some of our moral values. Illiteracy is the mother of all evils.
TDN Thank you, Mr. Minister. 1999-06-07 00:00:00
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