Bigotry reminds us of itself the moment we forget it

They say, "The wound may heal, but the scar remains." Think of the wounds people endure, the pain, the traumas; perhaps most of them pass, but one must consider what they take with them as they go, and what is left behind.

What great persecutions this country has been subjected to; we have lived through days and months as a society where we struggled to breathe, left alone with words stuck in our throats. From those who gathered in front of a hotel to burn people alive, to those who murdered infants in their cradles in Kahramanmaraş, these lands have witnessed much villainy. Bigotry would remind us of its ugly face the moment we forgot it.

One of those reminders took place in Istanbul 55 years ago. Let us go back a little further before reaching that day.

İmran Öktem, one of Turkey's prominent judges, was born in Istanbul in 1904. Graduating from Kabataş High School in 1924, Öktem subsequently studied law and began his professional life as a judge in the following years.

Having served as a judge in provinces such as Sarıkamış, Uzunköprü, and Ankara respectively, Öktem was appointed as a member of the Court of Cassation in 1949 and as the First President of the Court of Cassation in 1966. And finally, on the first day of May 1969, İmran Öktem completed his life's journey and departed from among us.

Above, we said that bigotry reminds us of itself the moment we forget it. Now let us return to one of those days: the funeral ceremony of İmran Öktem. For that day, we are faced with a funeral that was almost left on the ground. Specifically, members of the Association for the Struggle Against Communism, certain supporters of the Justice Party, and bigoted circles called for the funeral of İmran Öktem not to be held, and unfortunately, these calls were effective on the imams. Because of this, the ceremony, which was supposed to be held at the Hacı Bayram Mosque, was moved to the Maltepe Mosque. However, the verbal attacks and insults did not end there either. Moreover, the events escalated. So much so that Brigadier General Nabi Alpartun, Deputy Head of the Artillery Department of the Land Forces Command, had to draw his pistol to protect İsmet İnönü, who was present at the funeral. According to İnönü, that day was another "31 March Incident."

As we stated, while the funeral was lying there, the bigoted mob tried to prevent the burial. Upon this, as a final resort, İzzet Gözübüyük, the brother of Court of Cassation member Abdullah Polat Gözübüyük, led the funeral prayer.

So why was Öktem the target of the bigoted mob? To find the answer to this question, it is enough to look at the speech he gave at the opening of the judicial year in 1966-67. In that speech, Öktem made the following remarks: "Reactionary and right-wing movements, such as Nurculuk, which are accepted by the majority of Muslims as impossible to reconcile with Islamic tenets, have become very dangerous within the country. I draw the attention of my enlightened and truth-seeing citizens. A significant portion of my citizens who are caught up in these movements are pure and clean people. In the face of the need to believe in God, they have fallen into the nets of religious profiteers and have lost their way. It is necessary to save them."

It was because of these and similar warnings that bigoted and right-wing circles targeted Öktem, and as a result, those terrible events that should not be forgotten took place on the day of his funeral.

I believe that İmran Öktem's words, "it is necessary to save the people who join these structures," while criticizing organized Nurcu structures, are of vital importance. If nothing else, the events of July 15 and the aftermath serve to confirm this. I do not know if religious circles will give İmran Öktem his due in this regard, but I think it is essential that people who stand for a secular, democratic state of law do not forget this great judge.