Ertuğrul Özkök: Is the Palestinian keffiyeh around Javier Bardem's neck more effective than the 25 articles of the entire ummah?

In the 24 hours between last Saturday and Sunday, there were two developments concerning Gaza.

These developments have shown us very strikingly the situation of the “ummah,” that is, the Islamic world.

The Emmy Awards ceremony, known as the "Oscars of Television," took place in Los Angeles, USA, on Saturday night.

I watched the ceremony live.

What did Bardem say with his keffiyeh around his neck and his fist in the air?

The highlight of the night was Javier Bardem , considered Spain's most important male actor, appearing on stage with a Palestinian keffiyeh around his neck.

That's what I devoted my two-minute commentary to on Number 1 FM on Monday morning.

Bardem also gave a very impressive speech…

We recently saw him in the movie "F1" alongside Brad Pitt .

As an actor who has taken on such important and high-value jobs in Hollywood, he said something very risky:

This was a statement that meant , “I have no business with a company that does business with Israel.”

Oscar-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem attended the Emmy Awards wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh The next day the whole ummah was in Qatar

The next day, there was an extraordinary joint meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

At the end of this meeting, a 25-article declaration was published.

I read the declaration carefully twice, from beginning to end.

I asked two people, one a diplomat and one a foreign policy expert.

Then, I read it again with two friends, one of whom is a former diplomat and an expert on international relations, and whose opinions I value very much.

A 25-article declaration consisting of long paragraphs.

The full text is available in English on the official website of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Additionally, some websites in Türkiye published the full text of the 25-article declaration in Turkish.

If you have time, please go in and read it yourself.

In the long 25-article declaration, the following can be said:

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has 57 members.

These 57 members come together and sign a joint text against Israel's attack on Qatar.

(*) ONE: There is not a single new element in it.

(*) TWO: Long paragraphs and articles are almost repetitions of the same sentences.

(*) THREE: There is not a single concrete proposal or action element that would mobilize the entire Islamic world against Israel.

A clause similar to the NATO agreement, but it is also missing

(*) FOUR: Only Article 3 contains a sentence similar to Article 5 of the NATO Agreement. It states that "An attack on Qatar will be considered an attack on all Arab and member states, and Qatar will support the measures to be taken against it."

Article 5 of the NATO Agreement clearly states that "in the event of an attack on one of its member states, all member states will come to the aid of that state."

The phrase “standing by the side of” in the Ummah declaration is very vague next to the NATO statement.

FIVE: To summarize briefly, it is simply a statement expressing solidarity with Qatar.

The heads of state and government of the OIC and Arab League member countries attended the Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation-Arab League held in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on September 15. I wonder if they discussed where that plane went to Qatar during the conversations between meetings?

The declaration is an ordinary "diplomatic text" with no special features.

What I'm really curious about is something else...

For example, in informal conversations between meetings, did they ask each other "where did the Israeli planes come to Qatar?"

Or did they share the intelligence they received, even in whispers?

I'm not an aviation expert, nor am I a defense expert.

I'm just a big fan of National Geographic, Discovery Channel and BBC Earth.

You too can do the same as me.

Is it possible to go to Qatar without flying over the four countries of the Ummah?

Open the map of the Middle East and put it in front of you.

Look at which route a plane takes from Israel to Qatar.

Is it possible to go to Qatar without flying via Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia?

The distance between Israel and Qatar is, according to some estimates, 1200 km, and according to others, 1800 km.

If they did air refueling, who helped?

So, the delegates of these four countries sitting in that hall that day did not know whether the Israeli fleet of 10 or 12 planes had passed through their airspace?

Did they refuel in the air, and if so, who helped? Do they have any ideas?

Or did they do nothing because all of their air defense systems identified Israel as a "friendly country" in their "enemy identification" software?

President Erdoğan also attended the Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation-Arab League held in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on September 15. We always talk about the “hypocrisy” of the West, but what about the “ummah”?

We always talk about the "hypocrisy" of the West.

What about the hypocrisy of this neighborhood…

Friends are still trying to solve the mystery of this flight.

Or, “What is said in Doha stays in Doha, the arm of the Ummah is broken, will it remain in its sleeve?”

Well, I still think Türkiye has the clearest and most open stance on this issue, and that's another story...

In fact, although I don't have exact information, I'm sure that Türkiye largely ensured that the text came out in its current form.

Anyway, that's not my main point, I'll move on.

The next day, in the world media, what is the situation of Bardem and the Ummah?

After these two events that caught my attention within 24 hours, I watched the world media the next day and the day after.

Javier Bardem's photo at the Emmys, with a Palestinian keffiyeh around his neck and a clenched fist, was the talk of the town.

Tik Tok, Instagram, X, which are now the main media of the world's youth, and the WhatsApp messages I received were full of his photos.

While the pro-government Turkish media was trying to convince us by using the headline "Very harsh declaration" and wearing a velvet glove, the Spanish actor, who did a much braver job than that declaration, was giving Israel the most effective lesson that could be given.

Why did one actor do more work than the entire ummah?

Let me be frank, a movie actor did a more impressive job than the 57 countries of the Ummah combined last Sunday and Monday.

Why is this so?

Unfortunately, I have now lost faith that a serious answer to this question can come from the conservative side.

So let me give my own answer.

Javier Bardem A child of a democratic country freed from dictatorship

Because Javier Bardem is a child of a democratic country, Spain…

Born in 1969.

So he was born in Spain during the Franco dictatorship.

His father was not very important in his life. His mother, Pilar Bardem , was a left-wing activist who fought against the Franco regime.

His country, Spain, made a historic decision as a nation after the Franco dictatorship collapsed, and by looking forward rather than reckoning with the past, they established one of the strongest democracies in the world today.

Look at the countries of the world today…

Spain is one of the countries that has shown the greatest resistance against Israeli brutality in Gaza.

Look at the Ummah in Doha

What about the “ummah…” that gathered in Doha last Sunday?

Is there a single decent democratic country among them?

Can respect for human rights, justice and freedom cross the borders of those countries?

There was only Türkiye that could say “Yes” to these questions.

The democratic Islamic country founded by Atatürk and implemented by İsmet Pasha with a multi-party system...

Look at Silivri Prison today and you will understand its situation.

The last question Bernard Lewis asked before he died

Jewish thinker Bernard Lewis, who spent his life trying to understand the Muslim world, asked the Islamic world a question in his last book.

The summary was:

"You always say we're behind because of others. But have you ever asked yourself, 'Where did we go wrong?'"

We didn't ask, we couldn't ask.

We were afraid to ask, now we are even more afraid.

If we cannot be strong as an Ummah, let us first be strong as a nation.

Think about it…

What happened after that 25-article declaration, approved by 57 countries and considered "very harsh" by our ruling media?

Israel began occupying Gaza the next day.

That pathetic 25-article declaration published against Israel's massacres and its unlawful attitude tells us this:

Now is the time to ask ourselves this question.

Let alone being a “holy cause force” together as the Ummah.

First, let us be strong as Türkiye.

Look, the declaration mentions Russia, Jordan and Egypt as mediators, but Türkiye is not.

Let's first read Bardakoğlu's book "Confrontation"

The first step to start asking questions could be to read the book “Confrontation” by Ali Bardakoğlu , who is working to become the President of Religious Affairs of the entire nation, instead of Ali Erbaş , who attempted to become a Conquest Muslim with a sword in his hand.

Because the secret of being strong not as an “ummah” but as a “nation” is written there…

Justice first…

True justice.

Freedom… Human rights…

A real democracy, that is.

Today's Türkiye is now a very "old Türkiye".

New Türkiye must be built on this foundation.