RC
NEWS
Soli Özel, RC 76,
Gives 2006
Commencement
Speech
R
obert College sent its 2 0 0 6 graduates into the world on
J u n e 24, 2 0 0 6 . Guest speaker for the occasion was Soli
Özel, RC 76, professor of international relations at Bilgi
University and a well-known columnist. The following are
excerpts from his humorous and insightful speech.
" Y o u r speaker is a technologically challenged graduate of
this school who 30 years ago, only managed to complete and
hand in his last psychology paper inspired by Attila ilhan's
Which Sex (Hangi Seks) after the commencement ceremony. In
this class, of 160 students, 61 have been accepted by the
world's most prestigious universities. This is a class with one
class member who gained a first at the International Philosophy
Olympics, some are members of the European Youth
Parliament, every student here uses today's technologies as
easily as sipping water, and it has produced the music groups
Nötr and Bunsen Burner. So I am well aware of whom I am
addressing. I imagine then that you can guess how many
months I have been pondering what I might say to you.
A fear of not being remembered began because most of my
classmates were unable to remember who had been speaker at
our commencement. To tell you the truth, it was a painful
realization to me that I too could not remember a word of what
Cemal Reşit Rey told us that day.
In fact the relationship between memory and forgetting is
one of the major relationships of our lives, perhaps the first
one. What we choose to remember and what we don't,
determines, whether we are aware of it or not, how we live our
lives, the roads we take, and those we don't. The logic of the
times we live in, where the old clocks with hands are
increasingly replaced with digital ones where you cannot even
see the previous minute, makes it hard to forge a connection
between the past and the future.
The belief that modernity is a forward progression and the
tendency of modern societies to worship the new and the
young leads to a perception of the past as a faraway world, at
best a nostalgic trace. But the past offers us clues and
signposts for our future, often in ways it doesn't even realize.
All that is needed is to be able to read these signs and create a
language to share what we understand from them with others.
Only then can m e m o r y become a way not of being mired in
the past but of forging the future, transmitting experiences
through generations and a tool for creating something better
and tying the past to the future. To be stuck in the past
condemns us to failure in our actions to transform life. But
mythologizing the past and comprehending it only at an
emotional level can create a barrier to creating the future.
For an impatient and dynamic society like ours where few
experiences are transmitted through generations, it is very
important that language is a way not of cutting the tie that
binds generations but of being its foundation.
After these weighty words I would like to give you a
numerical account of the 30 years which separate the class of
1976 from the class of 2 0 0 6 . This is not out of nostalgia, or the
result of an 'oh life was good back then' game the mind can
play. Even though its conditions are not easy, I am happy to be
living in the year 2 0 0 6 . I list the following facts to be able to
discuss what role this class will play in a tough future and what
qualities it can bring to its responsibilities.
In 1975, when the population of Turkey was about 40 million
people, 33 percent lived in cities and 67 percent lived in rural
areas. Today the population is 72 million; 60 percent live in
cities, 40 percent in rural areas. The population of Istanbul is 12
million today, compared to 4 million in 1976. In 1976 a third of
the population was illiterate whereas 85 percent can read and
write today. In 1976 telephone subscribers totaled 6 8 0
thousand. You could wait 10 years to get a phone line. An
ordinary citizen was only allowed to take 2 0 0 dollars in foreign
currency when traveling abroad. Our knowledge of the world
and communication with it was limited. We were the world's
fourth most closed economy and paid for the high social costs
of that in that period.
In the past 30 years Turkey has come out of its shell, moving
from a closed economy exporting predominantly agricultural
products to an economy selling industrial products and services
to the four corners of the world. Even if not as wealthy as its
potential, society has become dynamic, open to the world and
better off. For better or worse, we are the world's contemporary
today to a degree not seen in our recent history.
But this positive picture also activated social fault lines,
bringing with it tremors whose effects we are increasingly
seeing. When change turned into a nightmare for those who
could not adapt to it or its pace, the instincts to protect the
known, turn inward and not leave the flock were strengthened.
The Turkey of 2 0 0 6 , despite the prevailing crisis psychology,
is a candidate to play a leading role in tomorrow's world.
Particularly because of its position as a functioning structure in
the middle of one of the world's most unstable regions, it is
given importance, and its support is sought out. To be able to
use this position to increase society's well-being depends on
how creative Turkish people are. This is the quality that I think
sets this high school apart from many others. Perhaps the most
important value gained in this institution is the free thinking
spirit that infuses every corner of the campus. It is because free
thinking combines with freedom of expression and creativity
under this school's roof that people graduate from this school
as an individual.
Free thinking individuality together with a sense of social
responsibility is the state of being that can merge universal
values with local values. Such people then manage to be a
subject of change instead of its object.
Dear friends, the privilege of studying at a school of
unparalleled beauty ends today. Some of your friendships here
will last a lifetime. If you ever feel sad at not being here, don't
fret. What Kavafis said in a poem about his city goes for this
school too. Even if you should run away from this school, the
school will always be with you. I will close with lines adapted
from the esteemed writer Haldun Taner, whom I had the good
fortune to hear in Mitchell Hall, from his play " S e r s e m Kocanin
Kurnaz Karisi". Those who are old enough will remember the
original as read by Munir Ozkul: 'What is senior class? While we
are studying we are there, when we are gone our voices will be
but a pleasant echo. In time they will be forgotten. At best we
will be a faded picture in a yearbook. Our memories remain at
school. At the end of every year these memories will emerge
from their hiding places and spill into the corridors. We are not
there but our memories will whisper to each other until the end
of the holidays. The new year brings new students, the
memories scurry back to their hiding places... Curtain!' "
R C A A A Holds
A n n u a l Spring
Dinner with
Salih M e m e c a n
T
he RC A l u m n i A s s o c i a t i o n in A m e r i c a ' s
A n n u a l Spring Dinner was held at Dervish
Restaurant in New York City on May 25, 2 0 0 6
with guest s p e a k e r Salih M e m e c a n . Mr.
M e m e c a n , one of the most prominent political
c a r t o o n i s t s in Turkey, the creator of the
a n i m a t e d political satire series B i z i m C i t y and
the c o m i c strip Sizinkiler, received his Ph.D. in
architecture from the University of Pennsylvania
as a Fulbright s c h o l a r in 1983. His BA and MA
degrees in architecture are from the Middle East
Technical University in A n k a r a , Turkey. He is
married to Nursuna M e m e c a n , RC 7 5 .
Mr. M e m e c a n ' s s p e e c h f o c u s e d on the
f r e e d o m of expression from the point of view of
a cartoonist. As e x p e c t e d , a lively interaction
with the audience was held over the controversy
of the publishing of c a r t o o n s of P r o p h e t
M u h a m m e d in a Danish newspaper late last year.
Mr. M e m e c a n also presented s o m e of his work
prepared for the World E c o n o m i c Forum held in
Davos, Switzerland this year. Mr. M e m e c a n
graciously a u t o g r a p h e d his c a r t o o n , which he
created for the RC A n n u a l Giving C a m p a i g n this
year.
Upon c o m p l e t i o n of Mr. M e m e c a n ' s splendid
presentation, around 40 RC grads and friends
enjoyed Turkish food and had a great time
catching up with old friends.