Reflections of Turkish, English, Persian and Russian Competition in Our Region

Competition of Turkish, British, Persian and Russian as Founding Political Actors in Our Region

Contemporary scholars (such as Roger Garaudy, Aliya Izetbegovic, Fazlur Rahman, SHNasr, İ.Raci Faruki, Ali Shariati, Nurettin Topçu from Turkey, Erol Güngör, Cemil Meriç) who try to find solutions to the problems experienced by the Islamic world and think differently from each other. ) we find it useful to discuss his works in the context of civic side readings.

While reading Islam between East and West and hearing what happened in Syria, Russia's last move and our martyrs, we protect and host Syrians, on the one hand, we are martyred by Syrians, especially when we see Syrians attacking Turkish soldiers on the border and trying to enter the country. The paradox we live in has become clear. When I heard the news that the US official came to Turkey, I thought I would share my thoughts on the influence of the Russians, Turks, British and Persians as the playmaker nations in the region, in the context of the Turkish Intellectual History and the History of Islamic Philosophy course. I believe that the primary duty of the academician is not just to attend classes, but to contribute to all kinds of public policies that try to offer solutions to the problems that the country lives in, each of us in his own field.

T.S. To tell the truth, my situation is like in the following verses of Eliot:

But how can I explain, how can I explain to you?
Once you explain, you will understand less.
The only thing I can hope to tell you is
They are just events: not what happened.
And the people to whom nothing ever happened,
He does not understand the insignificance of events.

However, “History is not a narrative of events. Let me share my concerns by saying that the historian's difficult task is to explain what happened.

Dreams of Uniting Humanity Online and the Clash of Civilizations Thesis

While Marc Zuckerbeg dreams of uniting humanity online with Facebook, recent events in the offline land have fueled the fire of the "clash of civilizations" thesis. So much so that “many scholars, politicians and ordinary citizens believe that the Syrian civil war, the emergence of ISIS, the turmoil caused by Brexit and the instability in the European Union all stem from the conflict between Western Civilization and Islamic Civilization.”

To make it concrete in terms of the Islamic world, when the USSR collapsed in 1989-1990, the bipolar world gave way to the New World Order under the leadership of the USA. In the new international system, the ideological-based East-West division has been replaced by the economic-based North-South classification. The USA and EU countries started to carry out operations in the energy production and supply centers where Muslim peoples live, in a process that started with the Iraq-Iran war and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Their legitimacy was first tried to be ensured by the theses of Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" and Francis Fukuyama's "End of History". Identifying the religion of Islam and Confucian teaching/tradition with the term "East" and presenting the West as the ultimate socio-political reality as the center of democracy and progress and presenting it as the conflict between them has no other function than to cover the West's eco-political war.

Probably because the implementation of the "Clash of Civilizations" was seen as more costly and risky, preparations were made in the Islamic world to carry out the "Intra-Civilizational Conflict" under the name Shiite-Salafi. The date of September 11, 2001, in this sense, is the symbol that the 3rd World War was triggered but continued with proxy wars in different parts of the world.

In this context, the Arab Spring, which started with the promise of democratization in 2010-2011, is the presentation of the reorganization of the Islamic world and the conflict of global structures in energy production and supply centers under the name of democratization. For this reason, in our opinion, the Arab Spring turned summer into winter by blowing a harsh climate in the Middle East. Afterwards, intra-civilizational conflicts between Muslim countries whose legitimacy was provided by Shiite-Salafi sect conceptions increased, people were displaced from their homes, and migration movements left many countries, especially Turkey, in a very difficult situation. ISIS/DAESH and al-Qaeda etc. The actions of the organizations in Muslim countries basically resulted in the victimization of Muslim peoples, in addition to these, a fear of Islam (Islamophobia) arose in the whole world with the attacks they carried out in some Western countries.

In short, in the Middle East, Near East, Far East and Central Asia, where the East and West division was made in the last century, the countries that have both cause (religion) and lineage (race) ties in some of them are either energy production or energy supply centers, but their people are getting poorer. . There is also the national dimension of the problem. While Turkey was dealing with regional problems as the focus of its energy supply center, it experienced a coup attempt with the terrorist attack on 15 July 2016. Therefore, we try to find solutions to national and international problems. While we are growing up, we must do our part to develop a new religious language, so that our probability of coming out with the least damage from what has been experienced becomes stronger.

Islam Between East and West

Are the terms East and West purely geographical areas; Is it the theoretical background of the conflict between civilizations thesis by identifying Islamic and Eastern cultures and positioning them as a necessary other to consolidate the dominance of the Western world? Or, by examining the course of human accumulation in different regions, does it point to the environment of the knowledge produced there?

In our readings of the History of Islamic Philosophy, we say that these terms refer to the manifestation of the Truth in different times and places, and therefore do not indicate that there is or will be a conflict between them.

The first example of this was given by Alexander the Great and his teacher Aristotle, who based his Eastern and Western intellectual accumulation as "Hellenistic Philosophy". His interpretation of the peripathic philosophy over the line of Alexandria, Hz. Al-Farabi, who based the Peripatetic doctrine by interpreting the data of the last message sent to Muhammad, gives the second example of the categorical distinction between East and West. While Farabi and Ibn Sina were their representatives in the East, Ibn Bacce, Ibn Tufeyl and Ibn Rushd developed the peripatetic tradition in the East, namely Andalusia. Therefore, he evaluated Eastern and Western cultures in the context of the manifestation of the One truth.

The Turks carried Farabi's teaching to the political field, and the Seljuk and Ottoman States also established the political connection between the East and the West. With Mehmed the Conqueror, Turkish Muslims declared to the whole world that the distinction between East and West had disappeared. Reterritorializing Philosophy in Anatolia is a re-reading and updating of the process. The political and intellectual foundations of the Turks being one of the most qualified playmakers in the Ancient World can be traced through this line.

Geographically and politically, they established the British empire, where the sun never sets on the British, and they became the representatives of the "Third Way" in a dualist system in terms of ideas. Today, they maintain their sovereignty over the Eastern and Western regions under the name of the Commonwealth. In this text, based on these determinations, we emphasize that they are constantly competing as playmaker political actors, especially in the East and West regions of the Ancient World.

When I re-read these lines of Aliya, I think I strengthened our determination a little more. According to Aliya, the emergence of the history of the West, England, and the Anglo-American mentality in general, in terms of philosophy of history, corresponds to the emergence of Islam in the history of the East. Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), the important German historian of history of the twentieth century, makes reference to the chapter "Issues of Arab Culture: Pythagoras, Mohammed, Cromwell" in The Collapse of the West.

At this point, with what Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) did, Hz. I must state that the relationship between Muhammad's religious, political and economic establishment of a new world state needs further research and I do not find it consistent. Because with Cromwell, the history of the United British state, the English Church and the domination of the British empire were established. It can be said that the foundations of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland were laid in his time. The maritime transport specification, also known as the Maritime Law, which he signed in 1651, not only made England a monopoly in trade, but also triggered immigration to America and became the basis for the establishment of the USA. Cromwell's policies lie at the root of England's becoming a great imperial power after the industrial revolution.

Well, where is this business in the USA, you say? I think that the historical basis that the USA will not basically go beyond the British policy was laid with Cromwell. Let me quote the information that Yasin Aslan shared in his tweet on 10.02.2020: "Britain Rules America" It was included in the secret diplomatic telegram that Kim Darroch sent to London and leaked to the press. In addition to Trump's incompetence and incompetence, the following insulting statements were also included in the Secret Telegram: 'We Brits run America. Queen In 2016, Elizabeth proposed the re-establishment of British sovereignty over America, given the current plight of America. The Queen said they saw that the 240-year experiment in autonomy began with good intentions, but that it did not end well.”

I do not know the accuracy of this, but my experiences in Jordan, Yemen, Kyrgyzstan, I think that England continues its role of playmaker and the USA is in the position of its supporter; I insist that it has been consolidated especially with the Brexit exit. My experience in both Atayurt and Yemen is that Russia is increasing its influence in the practical field.

Of course, with the destruction of Emir Timur's Golden Horde state, the role of Russia, which is at the level of a principality, in becoming a regional power first and then a global power should be opened to further negotiations. The other quarterback nation is the Sassanid tradition. It is the Persians who have gathered a significant amount and fed them with new readings every semester. Please note that I did not say Iranians, because Iranian Turkestan was ruled by Turks until recently, and there are still Turks at the top of the Iranian state. We also gathered this tradition to a great extent with Nizamülmülk, the prime minister of the Seljuk state. In other words, Turks, Persians and Russians have historically been playmakers in the region. It is a fact that China is a world power and with the wisdom of the wise ruler Tonyukuk, based on the Orkhon monuments, the Turks were prevented from mixing with the Chinese, and we have always been rivals since that day.

At this point, it should be emphasized that the distinction between East and West is categorical, and that Russia and England are concepts that belong to the West region. I think that the capitalist-socialist and/or North-South distinctions were, after all, classifications that provided a necessary other for the management of the world at that time. They are rivals, but it is true that their hostility remains in words and that they feed off of it. I can say the same situation when I read the economic power of China in Western countries, especially the USA, in the texts of economists, but…

Looking at the historical function of the Persians, it is necessary to remember the struggles against the economic-political wars of the West. It is known that when the Turks captured Iznik, Oguz Kaan started to turn towards the West, the moment before the Prophet's target of Constantinople, the economic and political center of the ancient world, was realized.

Well, when you are asked who fought against the Crusades, whose legitimacy was provided by this religious cover, you come across Seljuks, Ottomans and Mamluks in history. The last one is the political structure based in Egypt but using the name ed-Devletü't-Turkey; The hometown of Sultan Baybars, a Kipchak Turk. He is the leader who reads the strategies of the Portuguese and Spaniards, who made progress towards becoming a global naval power of the period, to turn to Egypt and Arabia over Yemen and then to Anatolia, and tries to develop a joint action project with the Ottoman Turks.

Now let's go back to the region, even someone who has worked in the Middle East for a short time knows that there can be no war without Egypt and no peace without Syria. "I do this in Syria, I do that!" without calculating the influence of Persia, China, Russia! It was painfully learned what it meant. Now, if we remember the French influence in the USA and England, of course Iran and Syria, the Western influence in the region will become more evident. Germany's influence on the EU and its direct interest in the region is evident, and its position on Turkey since the First World War is clear. Did you say Arabs? May I ask you if they have a function other than being units that wage proxy wars?

The article will take a long time. As a final word, I would like to say that England and in particular the USA, Russia and China are rivals, but I do not know whether they are enemies. The Persians and the Chinese are neither rivals nor enemies. Western countries are rivals with Persia-dominated Iran, but when I look at the historical foundations, I don't know if they are enemies.

And do these nations see the Turks as mere rivals, or as both rivals and enemies? Say what?

And yet another poem. This is from Goethe:

I compared the anvil to the nation and the hammer to the monarch;
The folk below are like a sheet of metal that is curved in the middle.
Woe to metal!
If random blows hit the metal arbitrarily,
The finished pitcher never appears.