BY ATILGAN BAYAR
AKSAM- We've been told by academics and journalists for the last 30 years that nation-states have run out of gas. But when we look at the recent past, we can see that not nation-states, but states that aren't nations have collapsed - for example, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Iraq. All these dissolved states were not nation-states, or else they started to collapse just as they lost their nation-state character.
But certain people have been trying to make us believe that nation-states are dissolving. All the foreign academics arguing this live in the nation-states which are working to strengthen their national structures in the era of the dissolution of nation-states. Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug warned of this danger in a speech he made before being appointed to his post. The National Intelligence Agency (MIT) undersecretary has also said that nation-states are under threat. In recent months, some have argued that nationalism was the product of nation-states, while others say nationalism has ended and so too would nation-states.
But it's the nature of our nation-state that it seeks nationality, but avoids nationalism. For example, our nation is called Turkish, but the Turkish nation doesn't point to a race. It covers all people attached to this state through ties of citizenship. It doesn't push citizens belonging because of their blood, but because of their will, consciousness and culture. Now Turkey is at an interesting crossroads of history and has to repair the concept of nation-state. Some have forgotten that Turks are a nation, not exclusively a race. This misunderstanding should be corrected.
Moreover, we should ensure that religious and ethnic trends are gathered together on the basis of citizenship and under the category of nation again. At such a time, it's a great advantage to have a commander like Basbug, with his great intellectual capacity and ability to analyze. It's also very appropriate that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan now makes statements defending the nation-state, when those seeking dissolution are looking out for opportunities. But the concept of nation-state should be made clear in people's minds, just like the concept of secularism. We can expect Erdogan to explain its scope and importance to the people himself.