Basin of Ideas: Mediterranean

24/01/2024

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The shores of the Mediterranean, the center of the world, are ringed by harbors that are always brimming with ideas;

Istanbul, Troy, Miletus, Pergamon, Halicarnassus, Athens, Thessaloniki, Izmir, Ephesus, Rome, Barcelona, Beirut, Piraeus, Alexandria, Kyrenia, Famagusta, Paphos, Haifa, Tripoli, Casablanca, Tunisia, Algeria, Assos, Haifa, Jaffa, Jaffa, Alanya, Alexandria, Latakia, Tartus are cities where great thinkers were raised. Universal thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, Ibn Bacce, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Rushd, Ibn al Arabi, Ibn Batuta, Ibn Khaldun, Ismail Hakki Izmirli, Muhyiddin Kafiyeci of Bergama, Ishak Efendi (Başhoca), Hilmi Ziya Ülken, Niyazi Berkes are the leading lights, the treasures of light of the Eurasian Civilization emerging from the Mediterranean Basin.

The Mediterranean Basin is an Atlas of Thought, the world’s most comprehensive Encyclopedia of Thinkers; it is the homeland of philosophy. The encyclopedia’s article on the firsts is one of the most crowded articles. The first philosophy was founded in Athens and Miletus, the first library in Alexandria and Pergamon, the first Christianity in Antioch and Tarsus, the first sociology in Tunisia, the first roots of the modern alphabet in Phoenicians, the civilizations of Asia Minor, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Crete, and the Andalusian Civilization all came to life on these shores.

The islands, peninsulas, rivers, mountains, inland seas, harbors, basins, straits, gulfs and canals surrounding the Mediterranean Sea have led to the emergence of the most impressive ideas and thinkers in this most interactive piece of geography.

Called the Sixth Continent by one of our thinkers, the Fisherman of Halicarnassus, the Mediterranean is a basin located in the middle of three continents and contains all intellectual accumulations; from Alexandria to Iskenderun, Izmir to Italy, Spain, Morocco to France, Cairo to Catalonia and many more.

Cyprus, the Center of the World, the rare island of the Mediterranean, has a global potential as the Basin’s treasure trove of ideas, with its location holding the center of the Cradle of Civilizations.

The comparative advantage of Cyprus is its position and opportunity as an island of ideas, a paradise of contemplation, and a center of production of high-value ideas.

It is of the utmost importance to note that European philosophy cannot be understood without the process of development that took place elsewhere in the continents surrounding the Mediterranean and passed on to Europe. The beginnings of the development of what is called Western philosophy lie in the region the Hellenes called the Orient (Anatole). The first center here was Miletus. Thales, Anaximandros and Anaximenes were the first philosophers in the history of philosophy with their intellectual activity and the problems they addressed.

The second and main center was in Europe: Athens. However, the next and third center, Alexandria, was located outside the borders of Europe, in Egypt, and the next one, Baghdad, was a little deeper in the Orient. Source: Elmar Holenstein, Felsefe Atlası, Düşünmenin Mekânları ve Yolları, 2015 June, Istanbul, Küre Yayınları

Situated in the middle of the Miletus-Alexandria-Baghdad triangle, Cyprus is in a position to reproduce the intellectual heritage of Asia Minor-Greater Asia-Africa.

Cyprus has started to accumulate an important intellectual infrastructure for many years by providing the education of the students of the countries in this triangle at the universities on the island. Starting from the coming years, this accumulation should be put on the agenda to aim for the first place in the world in intellectual activities.

The accumulation of knowledge we have shows that the mental conditions for doing philosophy began in Africa. The most important contribution of the African continent to philosophy is the ability to speak. Having the ability to speak means that one has the cognitive ability to not only understand, but also to bring out every philosophy that has developed since the Axial Age 2500 years ago. The early humans who spread from Africa all over the world 50,000 to 100,000 years ago carried this ability with them. Source: Elmar Holenstein, Atlas of Philosophy, Spaces and Ways of Thinking, June 2015

Cyprus, where Time and Grounds intersect, will bring forth a universal Mind from the treasure of these intersections and present it to the common use of all humanity.

In contrast to the European Hegenomy, which dominated for only 500 years by using external resources that do not belong to it; the mathematics and rationality of Asia Minor symbolized by Miletus; the mathematics of Diophantos symbolized by Alexandria, the wisdom of Pythagoras (sophistry) and the mathematics of Khwarezmi symbolized by Baghdad, the wisdom of Baytül Hikme; In Cyprus, the Center of the World, the Eurasian Millennium, which is emerging from its own resources from the beginning of the 21st century, is preparing to take its place in history as the 3rd Millennium. The richness of thought of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Maveraünnehir is being reshaped on the island of Cyprus.

The British political historian Arnold Toynbee said of the Ottoman system of recruitment: “Taking a lamb from the flock, making it a sheepdog and giving it the task of protecting the flock against the wolf is an ingenuity invented by the Turks.” “Source: Ömer Özkaya, Understanding the Game

People who think for this country need to step outside the drudgery of daily life. One cannot be a guardian of something without being a madman. Any serious production of ideas requires some kind of retreat. Source: State capture.

Japan was the first non-Western society to recognize the need to “copy” Western ideas and institutions. Source: Niall Ferguson, The West and the Rest: The Shifting Global Balance of Power

What we need more than knowledge is ideas! Source: Ömer Özkaya

Individuals and nations do not understand each other. We live in a world of ideas based on vague notions. Source: Ömer Özkaya

Unfortunately, we are not in a low-intensity war but in a low-level model of thinking! Source: Ömer Özkaya, Project

The Mediterranean is the global basin of ideas, the source of ideas, the intellectual memory of humanity.

Philosophy-science, the discipline of human systematic thought, was initiated by Aristotle on the shores of the Mediterranean. Cyprus, the bearer of a gigantic heritage, is thus destined to be the global leader of the production of ideas. The strong are right and being strong is only possible through globalization. The Turkish Empire (Ottoman Dynasty) was a leader in utilizing the Mediterranean as a global pool for the unlimited recruitment of people and therefore ideas.

The principle of ademiyet (non-existence) in terms of language, religion, race, sect, creed, starting from Edirne (1363) and going back to Abu Hanifa ensured the sustainability of the Turkish Mediterranean Empire for centuries. Edirne prepared the conquest of Istanbul. Due to the 60/40 non-Muslim/Muslim composition, a common way of life was taken as a basis. Within the framework of the principle of Adamiyat of the Hanafi sect, all human beings have inalienable rights and this principle came to life in Edirne. Europe’s 2nd largest Synagogue, Selimiye Mosque, is in Edirne. Ahlli hanafi Ahl al-Bayt. The principle of Adamism, the inviolability of people’s rights and freedoms, was first implemented in Edirne and brought to Istanbul. Source: Edirne Governor Günay Özdemir Asam – Eurasia One: February 18, 2017 Partnership of Civilizations.

The self-confidence brought by the richness and experience of the past heritage is the assurance that the Turks, who have existed on the shores of the Mediterranean since 1221, will reproduce global thinking practices in the coming years, starting from Cyprus.

The Turks, who have the longest coastline and the heart of the Mediterranean coast, Cyprus, are at the stage of establishing Yesevi tables in Cyprus, using the technological opportunities brought by the age of globalization, the tradition of creating and spreading ideas that they have accumulated with the tradition of Kaman (Shaman), Bilge, Abdal, Alperen, Eren, Dervish, Dede, Veli, Scholars, which they have developed starting from Greater Asia.