Trkiyedeki ana akm kimliklerin imal edilme ve metalama srecini incelemek iin

80lerin yaratt ekonomik ve kltrel krlma dikkate deerdir. Ayfer Tun, 70lerden
tasarrufun kutsand yllar olarak bahseder. 80lerle beraber Trkiyede de yrrle
giren serbest piyasa ekonomisi ve pei sra gelen neo liberal politikalar tketim
pratiklerimizi deitirmi, kltrel ve siyasal simgelerin ve hatta kimliklerin
metalamasnda nemli rol oynamtr.
Bu sreci ele alrken ncelikle, Yael Navaro Yann bahsettii zere bu kltrel ve
siyasal kimliklerin ve onlarn simgelerinin zsel bir takm niteliklere sahip olmadklarna
benim de katldm vurgulamam gerekir. Somutlatrmak gerekirse, Trkiye toplumunda
soyutlanabilecek iki kesim olan laisistler ve slamclarn kltrel kimliklerinin,
kreselleme ve neo-liberalizm politikalaryla egdml olarak ina edildiini sylemek
uygun der. 80 sonras Trkiyesinin koullarnn getirdii metalatrmadan iki kesimin de
azade olmad zerine rnekler sunmak gerekirse, Tekbir giyimin tesettr rnleriyle bir
pazar yaratmas bunu yaparken Mslmanlk inancn modernletirerek defilelerle
pazarlamasn, inanc deil rettii metay temel almasn(tesettrn kendinde ve kendisi
iin gsteren olmasn) - laisist kesimin stanbulda Refah partisinin belediye seimlerini
kazanmas zerine Atatrk simgesini rozetlerle, alveri merkezi giriine yerletirilen
devasa Atatrk simgeleriyle dolama sokmas gsterilebilir.
80 sonras kltrel ve siyasal simgelerin metalamas zerine kabaca byle bir
giri yaptktan sonra, bu srete imal edilen simgelerin, kimliklerin toplumda nasl bir yer
tuttuunu aklamak zere kullanacam Jean Baudrillardn gsterileni olmayan
gsteren kavramn tantmamda yarar var. Sassureun kavramsallatrd biimiyle
etrafmzda grdmz nesneler, biimler gndergedir. Gndergeler, gsteren ve
gsterilenden oluur. Gsteren, grdmz nesnelerin dildeki yazllar veya grsel
imgeleriyken, gsterilen ise gsterenin bizim imgelemimizde yaratt soyutlamadr. Jean
Baudrillard gsterileni olmayan gsteren kavramyla, Atatrk, bayrak, tesettr, Hz. Ali gibi
gsterenlerin gsterilenlerinin toplumda ok farkl imgelere gnderme yaptna, bu
gsterenlerin toplumun farkl kesimlerindeki imgelerinin yzergezer olduuna iaret
etmitir.
Atatrk imgesini ele alarak balayabiliriz. Atatrk laisist kesim iin siyah elbisesi,
beyaz gmlei ve kravatyla gkyzn gsterirken bir ilerleme imgesi olutururken,
Akp semeni Atatrkn mmet konusunda syledii szleri, Atatrk anlamada baz
alabiliyor. Daha radikal slamclarda ise Atatrk batl deerlerle badatrld iin, bir tr
yozlama imgesi canlanabiliyor. Ayrca Atatrk lkc hareket iin ise Trkleri birletirme
misyonu ile imgeleniyor. Tesettr rneini ele alacak olursak, laisistlerin tesettr gericilik
imgesi olarak grdn syleyebiliriz. Ana akm slamclar ise tesettr slami deerlerle
imgelese bile, 80lerden sonra modernletirmeye ihtiya duydular. Bu modernletirme
srecinde ise Tekbir giyimin sahibinin sylediklerinden Tesettr Avrupada moda
yapacaz Tesettr adalatracaz anlald kadaryla, tesettr Kemalist
devletin modernist hedefleriyle modernletiriyorlard. Oysa ayn hedefler laisistler iin
baka manalara gelmektedir. Bu noktada ana akm slamclarn kapitalizm ve tketimle
barmasn, o paradigmada hareket ettiklerini grmek dikkate deerdir. Burada bir baka
rnek ise Hz. Alidir. Aleviler iin Aleviliin gemite temel krlmasna yol am
olaylardan hareketle sahiplendii Hz. Ali, Recep Tayyip Erdoann aznda Alevilik Aliyi
sevmekse, en Alevi benim szleriyle bambaka b imgeye indirgenmektedir.
Sonu olarak, yukarda bahsi geen imgeler Baudrillardn kavramndan hareketle
toplumun farkl kesimlerinde farkl manalara gelmekte, zsel bir takm niteliklere sahip
olmamaktadrlar. Bu noktada, Foucaultnun nominalizm tarafnda yer alarak,
kimliklerimizin birer ina olduunu sylemesi gsterileni olmayan gsteren kavramna
kout gitmektedir.

Economic and cultural fracture, which has occurred in 80s, is an important

determinant to examine manufacturing and commoditization process of mainstream
identities in Turkey. Ayfer Tun points out that austerity was blessed during 70s. Free
market economy and neo-liberal policies, which were enforced well in advance, changed
our consumption practices, and played an important role in commoditization of cultural
and politic symbols, including identities in 80s.
Firstly, its crucial to specify that, cultural and political identities and their symbols
do not have essential qualities, stated by Nael Navaro Yan. More clearly, its appropriate
to say cultural identities of secularists and Islamists, which are abstract identities, are
constructed in accordance with globalization and neo-liberal policies. Secularists and
Islamists are not independent from commoditization, which occurred after 80s. For
instance, Tekbir company created a market with abaya clothes, commercialized, and
modernized Islam with fashion shows based on their products, not religion, whereas
secularists circulated Ataturk symbols with badges and posters right after Refah party had
won the election in stanbul.
Right after slightly touching upon the commoditization of cultural and political
symbols in post-coup 80 era, it would be a good way to explain how these newly
produced symbols and identities function in society. In this respect, Jean Baudrillards
conceptualization of empty signifier will be borrowed. Objects and forms are signs in
Sassures conceptualization. Signs are composed of signifiers and signifieds. Signifiers,
are the literal expressions and/or visual images of what we see. On the other hand,
signifieds is the abstractions of the signifiers on our mind. Hence, Jean Baudrillard,
through the concept of empty signifier, points out that, empty signifiers such as
Atatrk, national flags, abaya, Ali, all have quite different meanings for the segments of
the society. As a result, he also argues that, mentioned signifiers, alongside with many
others, are nevertheless floating images.
Analyzing the symbol of Ataturk is a good way to start. Ataturk, for the secularists,
is a symbol of progression due to his black suit, white shirt and his tie, pointing out the far
skys, whereas Akp voters uses Ataturks sayings on Muslim community or Ummah as a
unit of analysis. More fundamental Islamists are often considered Ataturk as a sign of
degeneration since Ataturk is very much linked with Western Values in their
understanding. On the other hand, far-right wing of the political scale, which is to say
Ulkucu Movement or in a broader sense, the followers of National Movement Party (MHP
in Turkish), perceive Ataturk as a unifying center for Turkishness. Taking the example of
abaya into account, secularists perceives abaya as an image of bigotry. Mainstream
Islamists, on the other hand, have needed to modernize the traditional abaya after
1980s. In this point, hearing out Tekbir Clothing Companys owner is a good way to
strengthening the correlation. He argues that, Well make abaya as the new dressing
trend in Europe and Well modernize the abaya.. Moving from this point, it can be
argued that, mainstream Islamists, has been trying to modernize abaya in accordance
with the modernist vision of the Kemalist state. However, same vision of the Kemalist
state, has different meanings for secularists. In this respect, it is noteworthy that
mainstream Islamists has made peace with the consumption and capitalism and acted
accordingly to the new paradigm. Another important example to elaborate, is Caliph Ali.
Ali is widely followed and respected by the Alevi community due to his groundbreaking

happenings in the past. However, Recep Tayyip Erdoan once stated that, if being an
Alevi means loving Ali, I am therefore the best Alevi and as a result, image of Caliph Ali,
has changed dramatically in this narrow respect.
Consequently, the concepts and symbols discussed above, from the standing point
of Baudrillards perception, have different meanings for different partitions of society,
thus these notions cannot be linked with the essential qualities per se. In this respect,
that Foucault is on the side of nominalism, is in accordance with the statement that our
identities are products and correlated with the notion of empty signifer.