Canan Arıtman’s DNA call a national disgrace
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Oluşturulma Tarihi: Aralık 25, 2008 00:00
Just when we thought the debate over the ethnicity of President Abdullah Gül could not become more offensive it did. In fact, it has become stupid.
A little background: first a new Web site was launched enabling Turks to "apologize" for the "Great Catastrophe" befalling Armenians in 1915. Many politicians took the opportunity to label this mild expression as treasonous; others were far more mature. President Gül, who made history with his visit to Armenia earlier this year, opted for the high road. He said he did not see an apology as in order, but he defended the Web site as expression of free speech.
This was not enough for Canan Arıtman, an opposition deputy from the People’s Republican Party, or CHP. She announced her discovery that Gül is some kind of crypto-Armenian, that his responsible rhetoric was in fact based on the secret that his mother is Armenian. Many people, including many in the CHP, have condemned this racist assertion. Gül responded with a denial and lawsuit, which was probably not necessary.
But now, Arıtman declares that in court proceedings she will force the president to undergo a DNA test to prove his Turkishness. She should have called a geneticist before saying something so stupid.
For DNA cannot prove race or ethnicity. One of the most interesting things that we have learned from the new science of DNA testing is not how different we are, but how much we have in common. Of the millions of genes that make up the genetic code of each and every human on earth, fewer than 1 percent of our genes make us different from one another.
It is rather ironic that the things we attach importance to, like skin tone, are governed by far fewer genes than things that we don’t think of as important in identity politics, like height. American President Barack Obama is rather obviously of African origins. But you could not tell this from a genetic screening. There is no gene that can, for instance, define an American Indian. This is because of many of the so-called "defining characteristics" of Indians are common to most people living in Asia.
The fact is that DNA proves our commonality not our differences. We have so much in common, in fact, that according to research by the Human Genome Project, any two individuals on the face of the earth can identify some kind of common ancestry within six generations.
In other words, all of us are cousins. Ethnicity, in a scientific sense, is a fiction. It is a wholly social invention. Turks, Armenians, Jews, Norwegians, Arabs or Aborigines, we are all simply human.
Parliamentarian Arıtman has now done more than just add to racist stereotyping. She has now added scientific ignorance to her contributions to public discourse. Her conduct is a national disgrace.
This was not enough for Canan Arıtman, an opposition deputy from the People’s Republican Party, or CHP. She announced her discovery that Gül is some kind of crypto-Armenian, that his responsible rhetoric was in fact based on the secret that his mother is Armenian. Many people, including many in the CHP, have condemned this racist assertion. Gül responded with a denial and lawsuit, which was probably not necessary.
But now, Arıtman declares that in court proceedings she will force the president to undergo a DNA test to prove his Turkishness. She should have called a geneticist before saying something so stupid.
For DNA cannot prove race or ethnicity. One of the most interesting things that we have learned from the new science of DNA testing is not how different we are, but how much we have in common. Of the millions of genes that make up the genetic code of each and every human on earth, fewer than 1 percent of our genes make us different from one another.
It is rather ironic that the things we attach importance to, like skin tone, are governed by far fewer genes than things that we don’t think of as important in identity politics, like height. American President Barack Obama is rather obviously of African origins. But you could not tell this from a genetic screening. There is no gene that can, for instance, define an American Indian. This is because of many of the so-called "defining characteristics" of Indians are common to most people living in Asia.
The fact is that DNA proves our commonality not our differences. We have so much in common, in fact, that according to research by the Human Genome Project, any two individuals on the face of the earth can identify some kind of common ancestry within six generations.
In other words, all of us are cousins. Ethnicity, in a scientific sense, is a fiction. It is a wholly social invention. Turks, Armenians, Jews, Norwegians, Arabs or Aborigines, we are all simply human.
Parliamentarian Arıtman has now done more than just add to racist stereotyping. She has now added scientific ignorance to her contributions to public discourse. Her conduct is a national disgrace.