In the first of our City and Culture Interviews, we are with Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, a scholar and Founding Rector of Üsküdar Üniversitesi, one of our country's distinguished figures. It was an enjoyable and lengthy conversation from which we will benefit, so I will start with the questions;
1. What does living in a city mean to you?
When understanding something, we need to consider it with its opposite; one needs to know the village-city relationship. What was life like in a village? Especially 50-60 years ago, there was a society living within nature, where people married their neighbors' daughters, did their fathers' jobs, and could easily meet their basic needs – a society that had lasted for centuries. The biggest change related to serious industrialization and urbanization happened after 1950. This was, of course, related to a significant development movement. Previously, we were a predominantly village-based society, but then we transformed into a predominantly urban society. Now, around 90% of everyone lives in cities. With the impact of globalization, villages and cities have almost become equal. The culture in rural life is different from that in city life. While rural life was closer to nature and focused on basic needs, when people came to the city, they encountered a change brought by industrialization, such as becoming a worker, a bourgeois, or moving away from feudal structures. Regarding the adaptation process to this, it can be said that sociological changes related to adaptation do not happen in 10-20 years but in a few hundred years. Sociological changes from top to bottom have never occurred in human history. Authoritarian and totalitarian regimes have always tried to do this, appearing to succeed in the short term, but then sociological roots revived. Urbanization also brought about a significant cultural change. It gave rise to an urban lifestyle culture from a rural lifestyle culture. Here, of course, the behaviors of managers, leaders, and the influence of the press and visual media brought about urbanization. However, because we entered urbanization so rapidly, we were somewhat forced to urbanize by being distanced from our societal roots. We were told to completely forget the past, to completely disregard it. When such urbanization occurred, it produced an "arabesque solution" in Turkey. People created their own special solutions; they came from villages but established their own associations in the city. They used village life as a refuge against the social pressure of the city. Regionalism and localism emerged. It became as if every district of Istanbul was filled with representatives of a particular city. We shouldn't blame people for this. What else happened in the city? A bottle and glass factory was established in Paşabahçe, and a shoe factory in Beykoz. When factories were built there, people came to work. They weren't given homes or infrastructure. So, they built shantytowns in the forests and made homes for themselves. If a factory was established, the necessary infrastructure should have been built with it. This situation is one of the biggest reasons for distorted urbanization in the city. For example, similar things happened in the Golden Horn (Haliç); the state always acted after the people here.
Therefore, we cannot say that the state's guidance on urbanization and urban architecture has been sufficient. Because architecture indirectly affects culture. If you can create good architecture, people make an effort to conform to it and respect it, whereas if people are left to their own devices to establish their social lives, they become more prone to isolation. That is why urbanization became a necessity here. Cities grew rapidly, and migration somehow increased. In such situations, because we are a society prone to social solidarity and close relationships, we tried to continue urbanization while preserving social ties. For example, people from a town in Anatolia came to Istanbul and built an apartment building. In every flat of that building, uncles, aunts, and children lived. Instead of a modern nuclear family, a traditional nuclear family formed. In other words, we created our own modernism. This is actually a good thing; we created a family relationship where social solidarity continued. In fact, a sociologist who studied the family structure in Turkey says this: “You are not an extended family, nor are you a nuclear family, but you have become a confederation of nuclear families.” This kind of socialization emerged in many districts of Istanbul. It's a good thing it did. This is something that reduces crime. It is a feature that reduces negative impacts on human relations and children's education. In societies where family ties are weak, crime and violence increase.
The family's social comfort system, which is negatively labeled as 'neighborhood pressure'. However, if only this neighborhood pressure could function correctly… The law of a small place is great, and the law of a great place is small. What happens when this is absent? People easily commit crimes, lie, cheat, deceive, and no one in society asks them why they did it; there's no condemnation. Social norms have deteriorated. Urbanization where social norms are broken means chaos. Therefore, we must achieve urbanization by maintaining social norms. When we talk about urbanization, when we talk about city and culture, the most important thing we should understand is this: whatever culture the majority of people belong to, that is the city's culture. If uncultured people are in the majority, there will be chaos in that city. If cultured people (people with ethical rules) are in the majority, there will be happiness, peace, and order.
2. What would you like to say about the effects of city and culture harmony on individuals and society?
What we mean should be this: in the city, there's a rule like stopping at a red light for city and culture harmony; if a few people don't comply, they are punished, but if hundreds don't comply, no one can do anything. Therefore, the most important measure of civilization here is adherence to rules. But the rules must also be fair to people. For example, if there's no rule for person A but there is for person B, there's no justice. Where justice is not fair, there's no peace. If we want peace in a city, that city must first be governed justly. When it is not governed justly, for example, when there is income inequality, and there are hungry people and people sleeping on the streets, can we speak of a city culture here? A new version of the feudal structure has seriously emerged here. Capitalism has been corrupted by self-interest, selfishness, and deceit. As a result, income inequality has emerged, and for this reason, people are currently living on the brink of a social explosion. If we come back to city culture from this; for there to be harmony in a city, justice must absolutely be accepted as a high value in that city.
For example, if there is justice in a home, there is peace in that home. For instance, if you fulfill every wish of one child but obstruct the wishes of another, jealousy, animosity, and non-peaceful competition will arise. Peaceful competition is beneficial, but non-peaceful competition is harmful. This also applies to cities. If those who govern the city only provide advantages to those close to them, then resentment, anger, hatred, and hostility will emerge in other cities. First, coolness and lack of affection appear; if this continues, hatred emerges; if this continues further, enmity arises. If it continues even longer, demonization appears. In such a case, causing harm becomes a pleasure. Therefore, it is quite important for the state to ensure fair distribution in the governance of cities; this must be provided. This is important for harmony in the city. If there is a sense of justice, the level of welfare rises there. You might know the famous example of Fatih Sultan Mehmet. Before the conquest of Istanbul, Fatih Sultan Mehmet, disguised one morning in Edirne, went to a tradesman and bought something. When he wanted to buy a second item, the tradesman said, “I've made my first sale, let my neighbor make one too.” He went to another, who directed him to yet another, and this incident repeated several times. Upon this, Fatih said: “I can conquer not only Istanbul but the whole world with this nation.” Why? Because there is justice, unity, and peace. This is one of the most beautiful criteria of urbanization. Humanity has not yet reached this level. Due to polarization in society, cities have moved away from being peaceful. For there to be harmony in a city, there must first be a fair system of governance in that city.
If we were to give an example from our past regarding harmony in the city: how was this achieved? During the Ottoman era, there was the Ahi Organization. For instance, if Ahi members practiced butchery for eleven months, they would practice gardening for one month so that their feelings of compassion would not dull. For example, the saying “his shoe was thrown onto the roof” comes from the traditions of the Ahi Organization; when a tradesman committed fraud, his shoe would be thrown onto the roof, and no one would buy from him. Here we see an established system. With this, the Ottomans were able to create an urban culture, achieve peace, and it continued for centuries. Otherwise, a state would not last 600 years. And they achieved this with all minorities, despite differences. In this way, the city could be governed in peace. When you talk about harmony, this comes to mind: first, justice, and second, a culture of respect among people. Societies need to have a consciousness of living together. If there is a consciousness of living together, urban culture emerges there. This is about people accepting themselves as they are, not about trying to change them. Humanity is trying to do this with democracy, but we have already succeeded in doing it for centuries; a social control system was established with the Ottoman Ahi Organization. When this was suddenly abolished, what happened? The social control system broke down, and arabesque culture emerged. We learned an intermediate method between Eastern culture and Western culture. For example, in the Ottoman Empire, Turkish Classical Music and Turkish Folk Music were forbidden for years until 1950. As a result, people tuned into Arab radios, and the Ottomans were influenced by Arab music as much as they were not, and what happened? In Anatolia, arabesque music, a mixture of Arab music and Turkish music, became the music of the people.
Sociological changes do not happen with prohibitions and laws; the reason for the widespread prevalence of arabesque music in Anatolia is entirely related to the banning of a group. When people cannot listen to their own music, they look for other solutions. This means that pressures backfire in sociology! It is important to know this. Therefore, for harmony, instead of trying to change our cultural values from top to bottom, it is necessary to establish a system where everyone can live and work in peace and tranquility. If this exists, harmony is created. That's why in a free market economy; goods come to the market, there is equal competition, there is equality of opportunity, and over time, quality goods are accepted and sustained, while others disappear. Similarly, quality cultures are like this. Trying to change our traditional culture from top to bottom negatively reflects on our urban culture.
3. How do human psychology and cultural values reflect on the environment?
Humans have an identity, and cities also have an identity. What is identity? It is the answer given when asked the question, "Who am I?" A young person in adolescence asks questions like: Who am I, where should I direct myself, why? While asking these questions, they form their own identity. This ethnic identity, cultural identity, sexual identity, our biological structure, our personality come innately; their proportion is 30-40%. But 60-70% is formed through social learning, which is the sense of identity. It is the feeling that shows the originality of the person, of the city. This sense of identity also exists in the city. Every city has an identity, and therefore every city has a soul. When it loses that, it disintegrates. That is why maintaining the city's identity is important. When we go to cities in the West, we see that in municipal services, it's not road and stone construction that comes to the forefront, but social municipalism. In social municipalism, more importance is given to activities that form the city's identity, to cultural activities.
Furthermore, when we talk about city culture, opera and orchestra are understood. But these are not national. They can be done, but they must be national. Our national values form our national culture, because that is our identity. Aliya Izzetbegović has a beautiful saying: “A war is lost not when you die, but when you resemble the enemy.” He says. We absolutely must build our cities in accordance with our own identity. For example, the Seljuks and Ottomans had an architecture that reflected their identity. But we perceived urbanization as concrete-ization; we covered all sides of the Bosphorus with concrete. Urbanization doesn't mean concrete-ization. We cannot be universal without being local. We need to exist in the universe by preserving our local values. When you skillfully play a Western instrument, Westerners look down on you as someone who imitates them. However, we should be able to play our own instrument in the most beautiful way. If we combine local values with universal values, we will be more respected. For a city to have a national culture, cultural standards must first be determined. These cultural standards are things that the people of the city will create together, by living together. The state does not and should not impose a lifestyle. Because when it imposes a lifestyle, lifestyle racism emerges. In the USA, there is a 'Happy Family' study conducted by the University of Nebraska, a study about common characteristics in happy families. Three common characteristics emerged. First, spending time together; second, frequent use of words of appreciation, approval, and praise; and third, families who go to church together / worship together. This means that if there are shared cultural values together, happiness is easier in the family. So, the more cultural sharing and cultural cooperation there is, the more they enjoy the same food, the same type of entertainment, the same type of travel, the more common art and common music there is, the more common values are formed, allowing frequencies to work in sync. Cultural identity is very important in this sense. Municipalities should create an environment for each city to create the codes of its own cultural identity. This is already the biggest duty of municipal councils.
4. Famous Psychologist Albert Bandura states, "The behaviors exhibited by the environment influence a person's behaviors." In this regard, can we speak of a psychology of nature? What are the effects of an individual's environment on human psychology?
There is a causal link between environment and human behavior, which is true. For example, people from the Black Sea region have an active nature. The reason is that they do not live in collective buildings; everyone lives far from each other, in the mountains, within large gardens. The places they live are rugged, so they need to be constantly active. This creates a hyperactive, excited type of person. We don't know if geography created this, or if these types of people adapted to it, but ultimately there is a relationship between the two. For example, there is a family from the Black Sea who moved to Van. When we look at all the villages in Van, we see that the village where the Black Sea family lives is lush green, while others are not as green. Therefore, we can say that human life influences culture, and culture influences human life.
5. Every image leaves a mark or a wound on a person. In city life, too, there are things we see, things we are forced to see, and things we are exposed to… After a while, we normalize towards the evils/negativities we encounter. Is this normal, and what would you advise our readers on this matter?
There is a chicken-and-egg relationship between humans and the environment. Humans influence the environment, and the environment influences humans. Our most significant weakness in urban life currently is the collapse of the neighborly system. Where this is absent, a neighbor starves to death, and people only realize it when the smell comes. Unfortunately, such a situation exists today. Previously, there was a "neighbor's bowl"; it would sit empty at home, and people would put a portion of their cooked meal into it and take it to their neighbors, saying, "a share of what's cooked at home also goes to the neighbor." This custom has disappeared. "He who goes to bed full while his neighbor is hungry is not one of us," was the Prophet Muhammad's valuable saying. Unfortunately, the culture of sharing has disappeared. Westerners scorned Eastern culture as a "charity culture." It is even Nietzsche's famous statement: "Helping increases operating costs." After this, they observed animals. There was always a nuclear family model. They thought, "It's like this for animals, so it should be for us too," and disbanded the extended family. They applied the "big fish eats small fish" mentality to social life, and as a result, the West rapidly transformed into nuclear families, and what happened? Egocentrism came to the forefront. In such situations, the family began to suffer seriously. Individualization became the most important thesis of modernism. We perceived individualization as selfishness. And this situation affected the city and urban life, as well as neighborliness. In a place where individualism and egocentrism prevail, others are completely uninterested in whether their neighbor is hungry or if someone has fallen somewhere. As a result, social ties weakened.
The biggest problem of the West right now is loneliness. Lonely people have emerged in crowded cities. Loneliness is currently the biggest psychosocial problem of city life. In fact, those who once belittled Eastern culture have now started to engage in social responsibility projects for this reason. Because 50% of society consists of disadvantaged people: the sick, the elderly, the disabled, the poor… The others are those who are in an advantageous position. Now, if you take societal relationships from biological nature and turn them into competitive relationships, a system emerges where the strong crush the weak. As a result, social ties among people have weakened. The weakening of social ties means the weakening of the neighborly system. The greatest evil that modernism has done is harming the culture of neighborliness, solidarity, and sharing all over the world. They even ask Mother Teresa: “How can the world become more livable?” and she says, “By doing good one-on-one.” Now there is a capitalist system corrupted by self-interest and selfishness, which deems doing good unnecessary. In such a system, the institution most harmed was the family, and the second most harmed institution was the neighborly system. In the absence of a neighborly system, unhappy people increased. The level of welfare rose, but the level of happiness did not rise in parallel. When neighborly ties are neglected, the state cannot keep up with everything. When it cannot keep up, suicides and deaths increase. This loneliness is a nightmare of modernism. Why humans, why not animals? For example, take a thousand monkeys and keep them together for a thousand years; they cannot become a society, they cannot establish a state. They live according to eating, drinking, and reproducing. Because their genetic codes are like that. But humans are relational beings. Beings not genetically coded to live alone.
Look, the biggest feature distinguishing civilized societies from uncivilized ones is whether they accept the rule of law. In oppressive, authoritarian systems that do not accept the rule of law, people withdraw into themselves and become unhappy. In overly liberal systems, the strong can easily prey on the weak. That is why the human element is very important here. Whatever the human identity is on an individual basis, that is the city's identity on a city basis. If a person has an identity, knows where to stand, respects the rights and laws of others, keeps their word, and does not lie, the increase of such people forms the city's culture. In Texas, the municipality made a statement saying, “We want you to know we cannot protect you,” if a woman goes out at night. America, supposedly a highly developed country, is becoming unable to protect and provide this. Why? Because there is no neighbor who says, “Don't do that, son/daughter, it's shameful,” when a child misbehaves. Social control has weakened.
To read the second part of the interview: https://uskudar.edu.tr/tr/icerik/6070/tarhan-evrende-muthis-bir-denge-ve-olcu-var
Source: Şehir ve Kültür Magazine/ Zeynep Betül Kavak
Issue: 76 November 2020