by Iskender Pala, Author
Here, I think that the Republic of Turkey and you young people are very lucky for a Turkish civilization, and that you are a generation that will live a very happy life. This is the basis of my opinion. If civilization can be revealed by cultural data, then I count the nations of the world that have the most culture. After the destruction of Baghdad, after the destruction of Damascus, it is you who will represent all the wealth of the East, all that cultural history, that amazing accumulation going back ten thousand years. America, which has a history of 450 years, fascinates us with its collection of cultural materials and the magnificence of its museums. However, the energy he spent for this is now approaching the end. Because today’s young people see the culture they belong to as a part of their identity. Cultural conflict has made people say, “My culture beats your culture,” as well as making nations say, “My culture beats your culture.”
Istanbul or the geography of Anatolia is like a folder… There are files in the folder. You open the cover, the first file, you read a beautiful article, patterns drawn in a beautiful color. You are excited. You say how well he prepared it. You remove it, then you look at the back with the word “Republic”. Then comes the second file. You are reading, it consists of a few pages, colors and patterns are different. You are amazed there too, your eyes are dazzled. Once you look at it, the Ottoman is written on the back. Then another file comes: Seljuk. You lift Urartu, you lift Lydia, you lift Phrygia, you lift others… If a new civilization will emerge in the midst of new cultural conflicts, this civilization will be the Turkish civilization, which has all the accumulation of the East.
İskander PALA
© Copyright Cover photo by Levent Ağaoğlu, Istanbul. 1975