Turning State Administration into Identity Politics: A Loss of Reason

In a country with a deep-rooted tradition of statehood such as Turkey, the fact that certain circles still dare to propose candidates for a high and strategic office such as the vice presidency based on ethnic quotas is not a simple political blunder; it is pure and simple madness. Moreover, this mindset is a dangerous and cheap manifestation of a mentality that drags the state to the bargaining table.

The office of vice president is not meant to ‘represent’ any particular group; it is an office that serves the entire nation. What matters is not whether the person occupying this seat is Turkish, Kurdish, Arab or of any other ethnic origin, but rather their state education, national consciousness, competence, experience and morality. It is that simple. Those who fail to understand this are not fit to govern the state; it is doubtful that they even comprehend the concept of the state.

Unfortunately, in recent times, some political groups have viewed the state as a mosaic of identities and have been eager to turn the bureaucracy and public offices into an ethnic puzzle, saying, ‘Put a Kurd here, an Alevi there, and a Laz over there.’ This approach is the product of a mindset that aspires to a primitive tribal order, let alone a modern understanding of the state. And to be frank, this mindset is contemptible.

Have you seen Lebanon? Have you forgotten Iraq?

You cannot point to a single country that has achieved prosperity by implementing this foolish model. Take a look at Lebanon. Every position has been divided according to sect and ethnic origin. The president is Maronite, the prime minister is Sunni, the speaker of parliament is Shia... What was the result? Civil war, instability, collapse and chaos. The state has become an organisation serving the interests of sects, not the people.

Iraq? Thanks to the ethnic and sectarian representation system gifted by the United States, there is no peace, no security, no development in the country. Everyone is managing ‘their own region,’ everyone is defending ‘their own identity.’ The concept of a common state has almost disappeared. Because the state cannot stand together under the umbrella of fragmented identities.

Merit, Not Identity

A person's ethnic origin is their identity, but it does not make them a statesman. Being a statesman requires loyalty to a nation, big thinking, and sacrifice. If a person who is to become the vice president, regardless of their ethnic origin, cannot feel that they belong to the entire people, then that position is an injustice to them and a threat to the nation.

Those who propose names for a position at the highest level of the Republic of Turkey in the name of ‘ethnic balance’ are actually diminishing and discrediting that position. According to them, the state is a coalition of interests; the nation is an arithmetic calculation. But we know: The state requires reason, character, and justice. This country is governed by national goals, not ethnic agendas.

We are brothers, but the state does not pass from father to son, it passes from the capable to the capable.

The Kurds of this country are ours, as are the Circassians, the Turks and the Bosniaks. We have paid the price of living together on this land, we have shared our bread, we have faced martyrdom together. But this brotherhood cannot be reduced to a bargaining chip for positions of power. Because brotherhood is sharing, not dividing. In particular, the positions of power in the state must not be the property of identities, but the trust of the nation.

Those who seek to place names like ‘so-and-so's man’ or ‘representative of this or that’ at the top of the state have no intention of bringing peace or democracy. Their sole aim is to make their own ethnic identity privileged and turn the state into their backyard. It is the duty of this nation to reject this narrow and dangerous mindset entirely and to proclaim once again in a loud voice:

The state is entrusted not to identities, but to merit.