The Türkiye Century is a paradigm shift

Once the Türkiye Century program was announced, certain groups turned up their nose, because that is all they could do. There have also been quite a few who expressed displeasure about Türkiye’s comprehensive technology moves in this frame. Türkiye’s visible success in the health field during the pandemic period had also given rise to limited repercussions. Yet, the local and national automobile reaching the mass production stage, and the developments in military technology signal activity regarding the solution of problems that have been carrying on for more than two centuries. Those who identify this activity as a paradigm shift are not wrong. As I tried to explain in the previous column, the majority, including those who base their historical opinion on the conflict between religion and science, have turned a blind eye to the paradigm change. 

 The Ottoman Empire failing towards the end of its era to lead change and transformation in madrasahs, and in a broader sense, within education institutions, was our own problem, but this could not be considered a conflict between religion and science. There was a method we had been accustomed to, and this method was successful in previous centuries. Concepts such as the new order and new method clearly showed the method change. It wasn’t long before new institutes developed as attraction centers alongside traditional ones. The changes in the military field were more pronounced. It is truly surprising to see a similar state two centuries later. Those who embrace the traditional approaches were late to reform themselves, and certain institutes became history. This was inevitable. A similar process is in place today.  

The ideological confusions that were caused in later times by identifying events that influenced a period in our history through contrasts that did not belong to us, like the battle of light and dark, are beyond prediction. We can see this ideological confusion, especially in the critical approaches that emerged during a time in which we were at the center of developments regarding the “regression” problems we have been striving to overcome for more than two centuries. Those who preferred in the past to be on the science side of the opposition are now, surprisingly, determining a moral and political approach. The similar and different approaches that emerged in more than two centuries are interesting. The experience witnessed in Ottoman education institutions is repeating once again. This is not a conflict. 

Some presented the Türkiye Century program as the declaration of an ungrounded intention. Similarly, the heroism concept was also used in reference to negative approaches, far from the literal meaning. These indicate a psychological approach rather than a scientific one. The words a mayor used to trivialize the developments in military technology reveal the depth of the psychological position. This thus indicates an ideological positioning, bringing us back to the topic of displacement. 

Daryush Shayegan’s book “Wounded Consciousness” attracted wide attention in the 1990s. He later published another book titled “Asia Confronts the West.” A recess in history was one of the concepts Shayegan focused on. One does not need to think long and hard to realize this concept was used in reference to the East. I have no intention to trigger a new debate about how on-point this definition is. There was already a serious body of literature in the West – independent of Shayegan – on the East’s relationship with time. The books mentioned here were an addition to this literature. In fact, this was a form of association that we are familiar with. The representation of the relationship between “the East and time” continues to remain on the agenda ever since Osman Hamdi’s renowned “The Tortoise Trainer” painting. It would be wrong to expect everyone to appear on the history stage at the same time after a perception of stagnation, which was engraved in minds. 

We can talk about displacement regarding the East-West confrontation as well. The comfort of a West-centered world can be identified as a state of mind. Entirely different groups, or in fact, completely opposite groups displaying common reactions since criticisms emerged against the West-centered or Eurocentric world, is important in terms of understanding this state of mind.  

Regardless of their opinion, those who have been unable to break through the mindset of the past in terms of method and perception will have no choice but to deal with the “wounded consciousness” concept. It also needs to be noted that this is a periodical problem.