To Honour

Every few years some parliament or congress passes a resolution recognizing the Ottoman atrocities of 1915 as genocide against the Armenian minority.  This Sweden's Parliament passed a resolution as did a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee while British lawmakers are whispering about the consequences if they were to follow suit.  A short article in the Economist on the subject has generated nearly 250 comments, many of them quite belligerent.  It’s a topic that stirs strong emotions in people who care about the issues. 

I was intrigued by an article about the debate published in Radikal’s Sunday magazine which was written by Ahmet Insel (the link is in Turkish only I’m afraid)   The story’s title translates “Our Issue Of National Honour” and in the article Mr. Insel argues that there is nothing honourable in the way Turkey is behaving about the whole issue of 1915.  His closing two sentences read “Once we have looked at what happened to the Ottoman Armenians in an honourable fashion let’s then talk about what happened around it.  After that we can come to where and how to protect our national honour.”

The issue of honour is fundamental to Turks, and to most people in Oriental cultures.  These are honour-shame societies.  Those of us from Protestant European backgrounds look at the world through a lens of innocence-guilt and that gives us a completely different perspective on the world.  There’s a small book I recommend to anyone living in Turkey, the Middle East, Africa or Asia called Honor and Shame by Roland Muller.  Muller gives a concise explanation of three distinct worldviews:  Honour-Shame, Innocence-Guilt and Power-Fear.  He also makes a compelling case that none of these worldviews is any more Biblical than the others.  All three were at work in Eden and are shown in a positive light in different parts of the Bible. 

This means that we gain a deeper understanding of scripture if we can learn to look through different worldview perspectives.  That’s not easy.  We Protestants have spent centuries focusing on Jesus’ work on the cross as a cure for the guilt of sin, which it is.  But it’s also a cure for the shame of our sin can bring us and for the fear of punishment we deserve because of our sin.  The Bible speaks in many places of bringing the poor to a place of honour and of being without fear.  Understanding these different worldview perspectives clarified for me an enormous swath of behaviour in Turkey that previously had seemed incomprehensible.  Not only behaviour from Turks, but also from Koreans, Chinese and Africans with whom I work.

In the current political debate, part of what we see is western parliaments struggling with their concern over what really happened in 1915.  One can picture Swedish and American law makers arguing over the immorality of covering up the truth to keep peace with Turkey.  One can also imagine scholarly input on the legal definition of the word “genocide” and the imperative to keep the bar high in defining that word so as not to lessen the historical impact of Nazi genocide.  On the other side of the table sits the Turkish dignitary whose sole objective is to protect Turkey’s honour at pretty much any cost, the issue of what’s true being a matter of tactics rather than a fundamental issue. 

Mr. Insel began his article with the definitions of two of the three Turkish words regularly translated into English as “honour”.  The first is Onur, which encompasses the respect one receives or the honour shown by others.  It includes being given acclamation and awards or being seated in the section reserved for dignitaries.  The second word is Sheref, which is the honour accorded to one who is reputed to have done respectable and good things.  There’s clearly a lot of overlap in the two words, but the distinction is important.  Onur is the respect one is shown while Sheref is the reputation one has acquired.  Both onur and sheref are given in accord to one’s place in the hierarchy of society and family.  Grandfathers should be shown greater onur because of their age and position while a young person who seeks onur can be ridiculed for trying to act above her position.

There is a third word, Namus, which relates to the sexual purity of the women under a man’s protection and this is the word used for honour killings.  It confuses foreigners a great deal that the three distinct words are translated as one, but that’s the ongoing challenge of linguistics.

But back to 1915.  What Turkey is concerned about is its onur, the respect the Turkish Republic and the Turkish Nation receive from the rest of the world.  In an honour-shame society this is what matters and this is what drives people’s actions.  The ideal way to gain onur, of course, is by earning sheref the proper way, that is, by doing good and respectable things and living a right life.  But the ideal way isn’t the only way.  One can gain onur by manipulating circumstances, by managing reputations and even by shows of raw power.  In the Turkish mind if one has the power to demand respect, even in the face of behaviour we would consider despicable, then one’s onur has been protected.

This has enormous implications for those in Stockholm, London and Washington trying to work through the historical and legal issues of 1915.  Much of that work is really irrelevant.  The Turks will not tolerate anything that threatens their national honour, regardless of the evidence or logic.  Any solution that will bring peace and reconciliation will have to take this into account.

Similarly, this has enormous implications for our interpersonal encounters.  As guilt-innocence driven Protestants we look for the facts from a legalistic perspective and bring them to our Turkish friends who are concerned about their honour more than their innocence.  We need to understand their worldview and do what we can not to bring undue shame to them.  We need to see the value of honour.  We also need to help them understand more deeply the value of truth.  Living an honourable life is a good thing, but it should be honour earned within the boundaries set by the truth.  And ultimately, we all need grace to deal with our guilt, our shame and our fear!