Will Charlie Hebdo’s tanks reach Türkiye?

The weekly French satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine’s cartoon mocking the catastrophic earthquake in Türkiye, which caused mass destruction, should not be discussed within ordinary orientalist tradition. As reflected to the public, a Charlie Hebdo illustrator published the cartoon representing the great destruction that resulted from the earthquake with the caption, “No need to send tanks.” This caption very clearly adds a different meaning to a cartoon representing mass destruction. We can very easily deduce that they are very pleased with this result. What gives meaning to the cartoon is the caption, which expresses the pleasure that the picture they wanted to achieve via tanks, in other words, through war, happened by itself with the impact of the earthquake. Of course, there is no clarity about who was supposed to cause this destruction with the tanks. Still, it is possible to make certain guesses through a simple analysis regarding the likely perpetrator.

Beyond determining the Charlie Hebdo illustrator and the magazine’s perception and thoughts about Türkiye, we need to identify whether such publications correspond to a more general position. This is a matter that closely concerns the millions of Turks and Muslims living in Europe. We have not had the opportunity until now to determine the sort of reaction this cartoon drew among the French public. However, we were unable to find a strongly critical article in the intellectual circle either. This applies to the Qur’an burning and tearing sessions as well. Considering this as the general state, I would like to evaluate the magazine’s publishing stance.

Charlie Hebdo’s contents and similar publications within the same frame have forever been bound by the democracy and freedom of expression context. This is clearly a very restricted area. Yet, despite this, similar subjects have been discussed within the same scope for quite some time. The Qur’an burning acts that emerged in North European countries, and were encouraged by previous Charlie Hebdo publications, were forced within the same scope. The inappropriate expressions and depictions used in reference to Prophet Muhammad have constantly been on the agenda since the early 1990s, paving the way to different politics. The fact that this is restricted to democracy and freedom of expression context leads to major results. The fact that such a matter is not subjected to criticism philosophically may allow us to see the taboos, and, in fact, the sacred values of the modern criticism understanding.

Narrowing down the scope of the atrocious acts performed in pagan rituals to anti-religion and anti-science sentiment provides a vast area of maneuver, particularly to the policies developed in imperial centers. Edward Said’s criticism of orientalism offers a serious point of view to reveal this vast area of maneuver and identify its process. This is different from the generally accepted criticism in Türkiye, which is inadequate in terms of analyzing the current process. The general context here is the rightness and wrongness of the West’s East perception. Yet, the Danish politician burned the Holy Qur’an under Swedish state protection. We can speculate that they wanted to create a pagan ritual atmosphere. They regularized this ritual too. All these abominable events emerged upon Türkiye’s demand from Sweden to extradite the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) members under their protection. This is a development that exceeds Charlie Hebdo’s publishing stance. It is absolutely clear that a terrorist media outlet is in question. Their sentiments about the earthquake confirm this argument.

We need to focus on regional differences rather than making a general analysis of European countries and the U.S. However, direct attacks targeting a religion’s fundamental sources, or media outlets targeting an entire country and its people, are clearly the problem of the European intellectual environment.

***

We are going through a major disaster as a nation. I am not in a position to say anything about the magnitude of the disaster, and the resulting agony. We had taken important lessons from the big 1999 earthquake. We must take heed of the evaluations that they were not enough. Most of us had either an acquaintance, a family member, a beloved, or a friend in the earthquake-hit area. We will bind the wounds together, and relieve the pain together. In any time of disaster or tribulation, our ancestors would say, “this too shall pass.” We better grasp the meaning of such words in time. Now is the time to unite and be one.