In the early 1990s, a number of Kemalist intellectuals fell victim to officially unsolved murder attacks in Turkey. What these journalists and scientists had in common was their high sensitivity to secularism. Also common was the slogan, which was then chanted at the funerals of the victims with mass participation: “Turkey will not become Iran.” The general opinion was that Iran was behind the crimes. The slogan condemned Iran and its intention to export the Islamist regime and announced from the mouths of hundreds of thousands that Turkey would not be allowed to be turned into a Sharia state.
Turkey did not become Iran, but we did not maintain a secular democracy. Since the beginning of the nineties, we have seen how a movement that initially portrayed itself as Muslim-democratic has gradually transformed Turkey into a religious autocracy. The fact that Turkey took action against the corona pandemic very late reminded the slogan of that time. Right, we shouldn’t be like Iran, which has long failed to take the epidemic seriously. However, the bold steps the government took, especially in religious areas, after finally facing the catastrophe, showed that it might not be as bad as becoming Iran.
Immediately after the admission of the Corona crisis, Iran banned Friday prayers, which believing men do together, and suspended the football leagues. What measures did the Turkish government take after the first official Corona case? They closed restaurants with alcohol! The Friday prayers, to which around twenty million men flock every week, continued. Religious autocracy apparently feared protests from its conservative base. The football leagues with hundreds of thousands of spectators continued to play.
Ankara didn’t lift a finger
Coincidence, of course, that it is a company from Qatar allied with Erdogan that holds the rights for the live broadcast of the games in Turkey. It is also a coincidence that the company, which makes millions of football bets, belongs to a media mogul close to Erdogan. It was no coincidence, however, that measures for the mosques in Turkey were only adopted late. In conservative circles, some believe that the virus spares mosques. Mosque visitors defying the risk of infection told reporters: “The virus does not spread in Allah’s house. In the Koran, suras also stand for healing. We read them all the time. Nobody dies before his time. ”
As a next step, the government quarantined travelers from Europe. That was right. But the approximately 21,000 pilgrims who came home from the Umrah from Mecca at the same time we’re able to move freely and go home. The Saudi government had already blocked the Kaaba because of the risk of infection, but Ankara did not lift a finger. The Umrah returnees sat at home and let the relatives who welcomed them after the pilgrimage kiss their hands. Only after public protests were a few homegrown pilgrims quarantined. In the middle of the night, students were brought out of their dormitories and the pilgrims were accommodated in the cleared rooms.
Cartoon about an execution
As the deaths increased, the government was forced to act. Long after Iran, Friday prayers were also banned here. In the leagues, the game continued without an audience, but after protests by the athletes, all sporting events were canceled. But it was too late. Some pilgrims returning home tested positive for the virus. The Fenerbahce basketball team had to be quarantined due to suspected infections. Abdurrahim Albayrak, vice president of the Galatasaray football club, was also tested positive after his team’s ghost game. And Fatih Terim, technical director of the team, was put in quarantine when it became clear that he was also in contact with the virus.
