Crescent and Star Turkey Between Two Worlds
By
Stephen Kinzer
Farrar,
Straus and Giroux Publishers, 240 pages
A review by Debbie Dilley
March
11, 2002
Stephen Kinzer’s book
Crescent and Star: Turkey, Between Two Worlds, provides an excellent overview
to the country of Turkey and its contemporary problems for readers who are
unfamiliar and new to the subject. This book cannot be classified into one
literature genre: it is not a history book yet it relies on the retelling of
historical facts, it is not a book on social and political commentary yet it
does focus heavily on those aspects of Turkish society, and it isn’t a
travel guide although it does take you on a tour of Turkey’s exotic and
not-so exotic spots. Similar to the country of Turkey itself which can be
called democratic, authoritarian, Middle Eastern, and European at the same time
and yet be none of these things at another; Crescent and Star seeks to show
Turkey in all of its cohesion and its fragmentation. The style in which Kinzer
chooses to write this book is unusual. Before each chapter is an italicized
short story detailing specific aspects of life within Turkey. In the table of
contents Kinzer calls each of these meze, which is the Turkish word for
"appetizer". These meze offer themselves as "tastes"
of Turkish life, however they provide no transition between the chapters
themselves. Stories about smoking water pipes, camel fights, and lost
civilizations are all topics that will draw readers to this book. On a cursory
level, I would recommend this book to others because of the meze alone.
However, the book is more than the "appetizers", but only just. To
use a quote from Kinzer himself, "Theoretically, meze are appetizers
leading to a main course, but often the main course, like Turkey’s
supposedly great destiny, never materializes."
Within Kinzer’s organization
of the book, the chapters are considered as the "main course" of this
work. Topically, these chapters cover everything that a book about modern
Turkey should include: from the country’s beginnings, its identity, to its
government, and even through subjects considered as "taboo" in
Turkish society. Although his coverage on certain issues may vary from topic to
topic, it is always in a clear narrative style that creates a balance between
historical annotation and personal experience.
The two strongest chapters in
Crescent and Star deal with subjects heavily grounded in the history and within
the social ideology of all Turkish citizens. The second chapter entitled
"The Hero", illustrates the life of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the
founder of modern Turkey. Although Ataturk sought to make a secular country,
his image can be found anywhere in Turkey, which makes him an almost idol-like
figure. The other chapter which stands out within this work is called
"Guardians", in which Kinzer explains the role of the military in
Turkish government and the strong link that military has with the citizens of
Turkey. His writing style in these chapters is very confident. Kinzer
concretely explains the major implications of these two realities in Turkish
society so that any outsider would be able to understand them.
Kinzer’s confidence seems to
wane in chapters dealing with subjects that are a little more sensitive
politically and socially to Turkey. Kinzer illustrates a wonderful experience he
had at pre-going-to-jail-party for a Turkish journalist by the name of Ragip
Duran. In a candid interview Duran states that there are 5 taboo subjects for
anyone to write or comment about in Turkey. Those taboos being: "the role
of the military in the government, Greece and Cyprus, the Kurdish problem, the
Islamic movements, and the Armenians". The closer someone stays to the
"official position" of the government, the further away that person
is from judicial prosecution.
Overall, Kinzer’s coverage of
these "taboo" subjects does stay close to the official position of
the Turkish government. His writing style in these chapters seems hesitant, as
he has a tendency to bounce around in his subject matter. This makes the reader
feel as if they are stuck in an audience watching the actor pacing back and
forth on stage reciting his lines and not delivering them. For example, while
Kinzer is discussing the role of the military in the Turkish government, he
states that the public is ready to advance to a more democratic Turkey and that
the ruling elite in the government (which largely consists of military
officials) does not want to change. Yet he later states that the Turkish public
is incapable of making sound decisions on their welfare politically and that the
military is needed to maintain order. He begins the chapter by making a
statement that would seem quite revolutionary within Turkey and then later
changes his mind and adopts the words of the government itself.
This happens throughout the book,
Kinzer hints at possible "fuzzy thinking" on behalf of the Turkish
government and then changes his rhetoric to be more acceptable to the
"official position". Also, his coverage of these topics shows only
side of the story. For example, he deals with the Islamic political movements
in Turkey, and how they were ideologically flawed, but lightly brushes the
subject of the Turkish governments use of Islamic terrorist groups as a covert
arm of the governments justice system. His coverage of the Kurdish issue in
Southeastern Turkey focuses solely on the guerrilla war that occurred there and
on the terrorist group that lead the insurrection, but neglects to cover the
politically peaceful ways in which the Kurdish people have attempted to ensure
their rights and the harsh way in which the government deals with them.
Perhaps the chapter that was most
promising within this book was entitled "Ghosts". The ghosts that
haunt the Turkish government are the Armenians and their genocide in 1915,
Islamic terrorists, and peaceful Kurds. This chapter carefully tucked into the
middle of the book, is written so that these issues never materialize.
Seemingly serious issues that Kinzer is trying to explain become merely
background noise, and so this chapter hasn’t used itself to it full potential.
It is important to remember, however, that this book is not designed to be an
all-encompassing commentary on the problems that riddle the Republic of Turkey.
This book is designed to portray a country in flux, struggling to be modern and
resisting change at the same time. The first and last chapters of this book
crystallize that fact. If one had to sum up these chapters in a word, that word
would "hopeful". Hopeful for change, hopeful for the future, and
hopeful that the legacy of Turkey will be perceived as "great" as it
is today tomorrow. The book ends oddly with one of the meze, in which Stephen
Kinzer recounts his days as a disc jockey on a radio station in Istanbul. His
music program focused on the "Blues" music of African-Americans. He
sums up all the issues facing Turkey as merely a case of the "blues".
Its a strange ending to say the least, the previous chapter fills one with hope
for the future, and the meze turns that message of hope to a message of
learning to cope.
Once again, I feel that this is
drawing the reader back to government sanctioned view of Turkey. Not to say
that that view is necessarily bad, in fact recognizing that point of view is
essential to truly understanding the country of Turkey and all of its
idiosyncrasies. However Kinzer was given a unique opportunity as a foreign
journalist to offer more comprehensive coverage of Turkey and to comment on
those issues that the government of Turkey does not wish to address. An
opportunity that the author did not take with this work. In conclusion, this
book must be treated as a meze itself. It leads to a main course, in the fact
that it opens the doors of curiosity about the Republic of Turkey. In that
respect, it proves itself to be an excellent book for those who are just beginning
on their journey into the history and culture of Turkey.
for other editorial reviews
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0374131430/reviews/ref=pm_dp_ln_b_6/002-5454563-0422401