Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that trust and a sustainable relationship are formed when there is love plus honesty, saying, “For a person to be trustworthy actually means you can easily turn your back on that person. That's why we say home should be a 'zone of trust' in a family.” Prof. Dr. Tarhan: “The entire world embracing the Quran after the Gaza events, and sincere people turning to it, also shows us that we cannot represent Islam. Strategically thinking managers prioritize the value judgment 'I would rather lose money than trust' for this reason. If you want to exist sustainably and permanently, you must invest in trust capital. The most effective currency for this is honesty. It increases trust capital, it increases capital.”
Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, evaluated the issue of excessive doubt and suspicion.
To understand extremism, the normal must first be known!
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that to understand extremism, one must first know what is normal, saying, “What is the feeling of trust? One needs to understand that first. The feeling of trust has 3 pillars: the psychological feeling of trust, the sociological feeling of trust, and the political feeling of trust… All three are formed simultaneously.”
Tarhan: “Keeping one's word, being honest, safeguarding trusts…”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan explained that trust is formed in a person who possesses many qualities such as “keeping one's word, being honest, safeguarding trusts, being consistent, being sincere, not lying, being faithful to debts, standing by a person, being believing, not being artificial, being sincere, possessing sincerity, being just, having a set of such principles and values, and having empathetic behaviors,” and continued:
“For a person to be trustworthy actually means you can easily turn your back on that person. That's why we say home should be a 'zone of trust' in a family. We used to refer to home as a 'nest of love, zone of love,' but after insecure events increased greatly in the world, love is not enough; a person can deceive someone they love. Therefore, if there is love plus honesty, trust and a sustainable relationship are formed. For this reason, having trust and honesty is the most important thing. Open, transparent, honest, accountable relationships create individual trust.”
Tarhan: “When there is no trust in family relationships, a person cannot sleep peacefully when they come home”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan pointed out that when trust weakens in society, conspiracy theories also become more widespread, stating, “When there is no trust in bilateral relationships, in family relationships, a person cannot sleep peacefully when they come home, they cannot lie with their back turned. They don't immediately believe everything said, they start questioning. What happens in such situations? There is constant anxiety.”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan also reminded that lying is the root of all evil and distrust, saying, “If you have a personality that lies, your spouse and those around you will say 'I wonder' every time you speak and won't believe you, but if you have built trust, they will believe what you say. Building trust does not prevent verification. In such situations, trusting everything immediately would be naive; it needs to be verified. That's why our ancestors always said; 'Trust does not preclude control.' Therefore, the feeling of trust is for a person to feel secure.”
Tarhan: “In a person you just met, trust is the rule, suspicion is the exception”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan explained that the lives of paranoid and non-paranoid individuals in bilateral relationships were examined, and the rates of betrayal were found to be equal for both, and continued:
“At least the non-paranoid person spends that time in between well, comfortably, while the other spends it constantly tense. Therefore, being paranoid has no benefit for a person; they destroy themselves. In close relationships and experiences, trust is the rule, suspicion is the exception, but if it is a person I know as an enemy, someone whose malice I have seen before, then suspicion becomes the rule. In a person whose malice you have not seen, even a person you just met, trust is the rule, suspicion is the exception.”
Tarhan: “The feeling of trust is the greatest capital”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan stated that assuming good intentions in close relationships is essential, and that the feeling of trust is the greatest capital, noting that in many workplaces and large companies, prominent businessmen say, 'I would rather lose money than trust,' because if there is trust, there is sustainability.
Prof. Dr. Tarhan also pointed out that in institutions without trust, people are constantly on alert, saying, “When people are on alert, employee turnover is very frequent in such institutions. It changes frequently because the person does not feel secure about their future.”
Trust is at the foundation of law
Prof. Dr. Tarhan explained that in people's loyalty to the institution they work for, the first priority is loving the institution, the second is feeling secure about their future within the institution, and the third is the salary they receive. He also pointed out the importance of a person being sure that no injustice can be done to them, saying, “For example, being sure that they won't suddenly be taken away without reason one night, being sure that no unjust, unlawful procedure can be applied when they are in a police station, being sure that nothing unlawful will happen when they go to court. If these exist, then there is law in that society. Trust is at the foundation of law. Otherwise, people live in constant fear. Trust is weak in cultures of fear.”
Referring to political scientist Fukuyama's discourse on “high-trust societies, low-trust societies,” Prof. Dr. Tarhan said, “In high-trust societies, because people feel secure, they can take risks and invest in their future and close relationships. Thus, innovation and entrepreneurship are more prevalent in them. In low-trust societies, people spend more of their energy on defense.”
Sometimes we are Eastern, sometimes Western…
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan also made an assessment of Turkish society, saying, “We are a society like an ostrich. Sometimes we are Eastern, sometimes Western. Neither bird nor camel, this is our situation in Turkey. It's a bit of a strange analogy, but unfortunately, it's true. That is, we look and see that while we should be imitating the science, technology, and civilization of the West, we are imitating their lifestyles and many of their unhealthy values. For example, until 1950, Turkish classical music and folk music were forbidden in Turkey. This is not something to be defended; it's like rejecting one's own culture and identity. As a result, because it was forbidden to listen to Eastern music on the radio, people listened to Arab radios, and arabesque culture became more widespread in Turkey than it ever was in the Ottoman Empire. I'm not saying this because I'm criticizing arabesque culture, but because I'm saying it's wrong.”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that when our own culture is suppressed, it is replaced not by the culture provided by the official ideology, but by the culture that the people enjoy.
Extremism feeds its opposite
Prof. Dr. Tarhan also emphasized that extremism feeds its opposite, and continued:
“What happened to Turkey? Later, it chose the path of democratization, and in such a situation, with the feeling of trust and democratization, people could express good and bad. If the managers in Turkey in the 1940s had insisted on staying, they would have ended up like Ceaușescu. What happened in Romania? He insisted on not leaving, the people's trust was lost, and eventually, it broke where it was weakest, it exploded. That's how it would have been. Therefore, the sanctification of human values, freedom of expression, freedom of thought is actually not a coincidence in the world. When this happens, trust is formed in society, among people. Where do people live better and more securely? Do they feel safer in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, or in Norway, Sweden? They feel safer in Norway, Sweden.”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that in Western countries, there is a system, not just individuals, saying, “The moment the individual system breaks down, chaos immediately begins there too. We also lack a system. There are good people, but because there is no system, there is a culture of fear… For example, the Ottomans were forced to try to keep society together through suppression.”
In cultures of fear, gossip and lies are abundant…
Prof. Dr. Tarhan noted that in societies where fears are dominant, people cannot express themselves, and said that in cultures of fear, gossip, lies, and hypocrisy are very abundant.
Prof. Dr. Tarhan said, “For example, the biggest reason for this in Eastern cultures – for hypocrisy, lies, deceit, and distrust, which do not befit us, that is, do not befit the word Muslim, and for this to have become almost a tradition – is the existence of environments of fear and oppression. The biggest reason for the West to overcome this is that honesty and freedom are valued there. Yet, these values are values taken from us. They took them from the Umayyads of Andalusia.”
The entire world embracing the Quran after the Gaza events…
Prof. Dr. Tarhan stated that those whose ‘ties to Allah have weakened, who have forgotten the feeling of accountability to Allah’ have only a cultural Islam, and concluded his words as follows:
“The events in Gaza, and the entire world embracing the Quran after the Gaza events, and sincere people turning to it, also show us that we cannot represent Islam. People can find it better in the Quran. Even a small group there showing resistance with that innocence, purity, like the companions, became a slight example to people and led to many changes. This means we cannot be a good example. Strategically thinking managers prioritize the value judgment 'I would rather lose money than trust' for this reason. If you want to exist sustainably and permanently, you must invest in trust capital. The most effective currency for this is honesty, and it increases trust capital, it increases capital.”