Music for a While (about a concert given in Ankara, March 1997)

[This paper was published in French in July 2010 on susam-sokak.fr :

http://www.susam-sokak.fr/article-esquisses-sur-la-turquie-des-annees-1990-beethoven-kemaliste-53657755.html]

Beethoven's music is not more 'contemporary' than much of Ottoman music. But this early nineteenth-century work actually is contemporary, for the worldwide popularity of the Ode to Joy makes it a living work. In Turkey, because of the message it conveys and the emotion it emanates, but above all because it is Western, it is perceived as an incandescent point of Kemalist teleology. Thus, since Refah is associated with the Ottoman "past", one can express a secularist opinion just by listening to Beethoven, a musician of the "present".

My interest in music was a major factor in my personal approach to Turkey, during the '80s. Repeatedly traveling through Anatolia we were seeking music, also trying to meet musicians and luthiers, and one of the most emotional moments was the Alevi Festival held in August 1987 in Hacıbektas (central Anatolia). In the meanwhile, in France, we had got in touch with several Turkish ozan (troubadours) in exile (mainly Alevi), attended concerts and festivals, and tried to learn the practice of the 'ud, the oriental lute.

In Ankara, an encounter with the master of the 'ud Cinuçen Tanrıkorur was an unforgettable experience, and the beginning of awareness as well, as Cinuçen Bey drew our attention to the mutual relations between music and politics in Turkey. Atatürk's will of introducing occidental values (the only true civilization according to the "Guide") in Turkey included occidental classical music. Before beginning scholarly researches about Turkey, my own perception of Atatürk and Kemalism was rather naïve; it was certainly due to a general atmosphere of complacency regarding “secular Turkey”, shared by the media and the majority of the specialists.

In addition to being a great lutenist, Cinuçen Tanrıkorur was involved in the Mevlevî worship of the whirling dervishes in Konya. Did that make him a conservative? Anyway, he was far from the cultural world of the Kemalist establishment in Turkey. And, for the first time, we met with the maestro a frank, even vigorous opposition against the Kemalist cultural politics, which had cost Turkey the loss of cultural heritage. Quite obviously music was a focusing point of this policy, and appreciating and practicing the classical old Turkish music somehow was a way of contesting Atatürk's policy as a whole. As the musicologist and musician Cem Behar wrote, the “music reform” implemented at the beginning of the Republic opened the way to create “a hierarchy of the types of music, according to political and ideological prejudices, and to cultural policies aiming to promote only 'desirable' musical activities, thus depriving of any state support the ones considered as 'undesirable' or 'outdated' by the nationalist ideology” (Behar, 1991).

Film director Sinan Çetin once produced a satirical short film on this topic: “Be happy, it's an order!”. It acts out a police raid on a café where villagers play traditional music and sing together with a bağlama player. Under the menace of guns the sergeant orders to play Borodin, Chopin, Bach, Brahms... or Beethoven. In front of the stunned soldiers, the assembly, first tentatively, gets on with happily playing and singing, Alla Turca, Beethoven's Ode to Joy, finally joined by the soldiers (see link above).

In fact, at the beginning of the Republic, the government apparatus and the new elite had assimilated such notions as progress, westernization, revolution, with what actually were only external signs of western gentrification, of the cultural practice of the western bourgeoisie. Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu has depicted in his novel Ankara (1934) the new conformism of the elite in the new capital, where were given only concerts of symphonic music, the very brand of the Kemalist revolution.

Things have changed, but indelible traces of this cultural feature of the thirties have persisted through the decades. Sixty years later, in 1997, the mainstream daily Sabah published a long article about Eskişehir, an important town in Western Anatolia, whose name means “old city”, but qualified by the reporter as the “city of the youth” (delikanlı kent). Four photographs were supposed to symbolize the city's “youth” and/or its “modernity”, framing the student cafeteria, the army aviation school, students of the Music Conservatory … and the young members of a string quartet. I guess that the French youth would consider such a musical form as absolutely outdated, but it symbolized here the modernity as much as aviation.

As a matter of fact, the string quartet seems to be one of the banners of kemalism and of the Republic – at least until the AKP's era. Official ceremonies being opened with a short performance by a string quartet is not uncommon, as I witnessed in 1996 in Ankara when was held a conference about the 1921 treaty between France and the kemalist regime.

Ceremony in honor of the anniversary of the National Security Council (MGK) in Ankara, with a string quartet. Sabah, June 1, 1997.

As another example, the anniversary of the foundation of the National Security Council (MGK), celebrated in Ankara in May 1997, was opened with such a performance. The photograph above displays a redundancy of signs. Four young female musicians, as a symbol of gender equality as it theoretically was established by Mustafa Kemal, play alongside other official icons: the portrait of the Guide, between two flags, and a flower wreath, red and white, the colors of the Turkish flag.

1996 comes to power the Refahyol coalition, led by Necmettin Erbakan, president of the Refah, an Islamist party. Western classical music then becomes an even more significant banner of secularism. For the first time, the ceremony of the National Assembly is opened with a musical performance by the Presidential Symphony Orchestra. It includes opuses of Turkish musicians, and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as well. And the day after, at the Hacettepe University (Ankara), the official opening of the new Academic year is celebrated again with a concert of the University's symphonic orchestra and choirs. In addition, the ceremony and the concert is held in what is a very temple for the Kemalist culture of the thirties, the Faculty of Languages, History and Geography (DTGF) (Zaman, October 4, 1996; Sabah, October 17, 1996).

Due to that specific political atmosphere, such ceremonies have induced a cultural tension, even enhanced by the organizers and performers themselves, as their will was to address a political message by the way of music. For example, the conductor of the University's orchestra addressed the public, saying: “We'll play now the March of Izmir, which shows us the true path. We will play it in honor of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the Founder of the civilized, modern and secularist Republic of Turkey”.

As for the concert given in the frame of the Assembly, of course every MP did not agree with it. Cemil Çiçek, Member from the Motherland Party (ANAP, rightist) has publicly objected, warmly applauded by the MP's from ANAP and Refah: “I feel irritated hearing a symphony concert within the walls of an Assembly which has been inaugurated with prayers. (…) It is not in conformity with our traditions. Where is our Turkish culture?”. What earned him this answer from the Assembly's President, Kamer Genç: “Honorable Mister Çiçek, you do still live in the XVIII^th century (…). Opening the parliamentary session with a concert is an honor. In fact this is precisely is the modernity (Zaman, October 4, 1996).

Two viewpoints, political rather than esthetic, were opposed in this verbal exchange. Some rhetoric turns appeared, which were largely used through the forthcoming months. For Çiçek and his party-mates, the Western symphonic music and the Muslim prayer belong to incompatible value systems. Associating them together is insulting for the second one. In addition, this music is not in its place as it has nothing to do with “Turkishness”. Noteworthy is the fact that works of Turkish composers were presented at the ceremony, as of Ulu Cemal Erkin's (1906-1972) or Osman Zeki Üngör's (1880-1958). But in the opinion of the conservatives, these composers, abandoning their Turkishness, have fallen into decay. Conversely, the Kemalists consider here Beethoven as “modern”, “contemporary”, although his Fifth Symphony dates back to 1805 – almost the XVIII^th century into which is rejected Çiçek by President Genç (whose surname means 'young”!). Chronology is at the point upset as if Mozart or Haydn were played there, they wouldn't be perceived as contemporary with the Ottoman Sultans but as “modern” composers, because Europeans.

In Turkey, therefore, unexpected cultural values are attributed to the so-called Occidental “classical music”, as it is associated with secularism, republic, modernity. It has been integrated into the ceremony apparatus of the Kemalist state and ipso facto generates resistance. A cultural nationalism mixed with religion can incite to an rejection of Beethoven (and others), because of the hierarchies described above by Cem Behar. Hence, under the Refahyol government (June 1996-June 1997), the Culture minister Ismail Kahraman (Refah), had retired from the museums some “indecent” pieces while trying to suppress operas, ballets and classical music performances by cutting down the subventions to the orchestras and ballet groups.

Some columnists of the far-rightist daily Türkiye regularly stand out against the military funerals protocol, which includes the performance of Chopin's Funeral March. The fact is that the iconic march was performed at the funeral of Atatürk in 1938: therefore, in the Islamist sphere, Chopin is disdainfully considered as a “kemalist” musician. But at that time, conversely, a classical musician, and particularly a conductor, can publicly afford to criticize political Islam, to defend secularism, heritage of Atatürk, of which he may consider himself, ex officio, as a guardian, as an authorized voice.

This interesting controversy about the place and role of classical music reached a culmination in April 1997. It was then a highly tense period. The Refahyol coalition was suspected of preparing a Sharia law in Turkey, and on February 28^th, the National Security Council (which was then the army's instrument to hold the government under control) had addressed the government an ultimatum enjoining it to sign up several measures aiming to protect and reinforce secularism. Anybody was aware that a refusal might lead to a military coup. On March 6^th, Erbakan bowed down and signed, and the following months were of a merciless confrontation between the secularist forces (above all the army) and the “religious reaction” (irtica), ending with Erbakan's resignation, on June 18^th.

The Ankara Music Festival, organized by the Sevda-Cenap-And Foundation, was held in this heavy atmosphere. It is worth knowing that the president of the Festival was Mehmet Basman, son of a well-known opponent to the reactionary government of Adnan Menderes (1950-1960), which already had challenged Atatürk's secularist measures – and ended hanged. Mehmet Basman had inherited this secularist spirit – and the Festival was therefore connotated as a secularist event.

A classical music concert organized by such a person and in such a context was a declaration of war on the government. The event unfolding, and the following comments echoed the rhetoric that had formed during the previous autumn, which consisted of sending the "Islamists" back to a bygone past by pitting them against "modernity", this time superbly symbolized by Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The Festival was a cultural and political challenge, a political act, a staging of "modern Turkey", "a message addressed to the Refah".

The famous symphony was performed on March 30, 1997. As no venue in Ankara could accommodate four hundred performers and an audience of thousands, the concert was given in the great hall of the Ironworkers Trade Union (Türk Metal Sendikası), 25 km from the city center. The Presidential Symphony Orchestra and Choirs, reinforced by the Bilkent Orchestra and the Ankara Opera Orchestra, were directed by a Georgian conductor, Jansug Kakhidze. The atmosphere in the hall was together of football matches and political meetings. The audience was much larger than the available seats: two thousand people remained outside, constantly disturbing the concert. Inside, people were chanting: "Turkey is secular, it will remain secular!”. Culture Minister Kahraman (RP) was booed, while Yetka Güngör Özden, chairman of the Constitutional Council (Anayasa Mahkemesi) and a notorious opponent of the Islamists, was cheered by the crowd. The loud protests of those who were left outside, the slogans which were chanted, the deplorable acoustics, the public's impatience during the slow movements, the untimely applause, gave cold sweats to the conductor, the performers, the lovers of Beethoven.

For most of the audience, it was a new and surprising show. Nuriye Akman, in Sabah, beautifully described the event, “the black-and-white picture of the choristers and musicians”, “the booklets waving like butterflies”, “the flight of ten thousand seagulls" of the final chorus. Obviously moved by the show, she concluded: "I thank Beethoven, I salute the creators of this garden of roses (Gülistan)". After the show, some listeners asked her: "Don't forget to write that the Minister of Culture was booed! And how we expressed our faith in secular Turkey!” “Modern Turkey is here!" reportedly exclaimed President Demirel at the end of the Festival.

The grumblers of the far-rightist Türkiye obviously didn't like the concert: "The performance was heavy, soulless", wrote Ayhan Songar, who regretted the politicization of the Festival, while still rejoicing for the young people who were lucky enough to attend the concert. But he interestingly asks: "Is Beethoven's music secular and Dede Efendi's [a Turkish composer contemporary of Beethoven's] music anti-secular?”. Rahim Er, in the same newspaper, regrets Demirel's remarks and the booing against Kahraman. And then, in such a newspaper, isn't a nationalist note in order? "Did a big country like ours need a conductor from a very small country like Georgia (minicik Gürcistan)?” Endly, Ömer Öztürkmen, again in Türkiye, makes the most pertinent criticism: the political connotations given to this music only reveal "the country's inability to find its own modern way of being (çağdaşlaşamayan Türkiye)". Fir him in other words, Kemalism might deserve, in turn, to be put away into a bygone past.

By associating secularist conviction with certain musical preferences, the audience was expressing complex equations. In the eyes of history, Beethoven's music is no more 'contemporary' than much of Ottoman music. But this early nineteenth-century work is culturally contemporary, for the worldwide popularity of the Ode to Joy does indeed make it a living work. In Turkey, because of the message it conveys and the emotion it emanates, but above all because it is Western, it is perceived as an incandescent point of Kemalist teleology. Thus, since Refah is associated with the Ottoman "past", one can express a secularist opinion just by listening to Beethoven, a musician of the "present".

In 1997 the proponents of secularism asserted, with surprising detours, that political Islam had no place in contemporary life.

President Demirel addressing the musicians of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra (Milliyet, March 31, 1997)

References

Behar, Cem (1991). “Ziya Gökalp, le kémalisme et la musique classique turque”, Cahiers d’Etudes sur la Méditerranée Orientale et le Monde turco-iranien (CEMOTI). 11, 9-16. Online: https://www.persee.fr/doc/cemot_0764-9878_1991_num_11_1_957.

Brisson, Elisabeth (2000). Le Sacre du Musicien. Paris: CNRS Editions.

Buch, Esteban (1999). La Neuvième de Beethoven. Une histoire politique. Paris: Gallimard.

Çetin, Sinan (2008). Mutlu Ol! Bu Bir Emirdir! Istanbul: Plato Film, 5'07. Online: ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmb1LSXGtIg

Newspaper clippings

“Mecliste senfoni tartısması”, Zaman, October 4, 1996.

“Üniversite açılısında yine laik dersi”, Sabah, October 17, 1996

Sarısın, Mehmet (1997). “Anadolu’nun ‘delikanlı’ kenti”. Sabah, January 1, 1997.

Cemal, Hasan. “Muhtesem konserin mesajı”, Sabah, April 1, 1997

Songar, Ayhan. “Bahar Konseri”, Türkiye, April 1, 1997

Öztürkmen, Ömer. “Miting gibi konser”, Türkiye, April 2, 1997

Songar, Ayhan. “Müzik festivali”, Türkiye, April 2, 1997.

Ilyasoglu, Evin. “Sarılın birbirinize ey insanlar !”, Cumhuriyet, April 2, 1997

Er, Rahim. “Çagdas Türkiye’de yuh sesleri”, Türkiye, April 3, 1997

Akman, Nuriye. “Bozkırda Beethoven”, Sabah, April 5, 1997

Emekçi, Mustafa. “9. Senfoni ile laik bir dua”, Cumhuriyet, April 6, 1997.

Mutlu Ol Bu Bir Emirdir

Sinan Çetin'den Nebil Özgentürk'ün Türkiye'nin Hatıra Defteri belgeseli için yapılmış "yasaklar" üzerine bir kısa film... Kanala Abone Olmak için Tıklayın; h...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmb1LSXGtIg