Daniyal 1

Muhammad Daniyal Khaliq

Dr. Aamir Aziz

15th June 2015

Personal Responses as Ideological Political Resistances in Orhan Pamuks Snow

Abstract

This paper focuses on bringing out Personal Responses as Ideological Political

Resistances against the States hegemony in Orhan Pamuks Snow. The State officials in the

novel being affiliated to the secular ideology prescribed by the State start forcefully asserting

this ideology on the people of Kars. The result is a fierce struggle between the people

affiliated with both these ideologies. The Islamists of the city become politically active and

aspire for gaining power in the city by democratic means, and to the State and its official

stationed in Kars it is unacceptable to let any of these anti-secularists gain momentum and

power. This struggle for gaining power makes the novel replete with incidents narrating

bloodshed and chaos with both the sides trying to dominate one another by using force. The

State being the better adversary dominates the opposing groups, but this domination and

brutality is responded well by the characters of the novel in their different ways. From

picking up arms, to suicide, from democratically winning the elections to killings in Cold

blood the characters of the novel display a fine show of resistance to the State and that is

what this research paper tries to explore. This paper will shed light on the ways and means

that the State adopts for controlling its subjects as well as the strategies adopted by different

resisting characters to continue and uphold their ideology.

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Much has been researched about the States oppression on many levels, the theme of States

oppression and the Resistance that follows it is no more a political theme today it has entered

into Literature and has hence formed a new Genre in Literature i.e. Resistance Literature (The

term was coined by Ghassan Kanafani in his book Literature of Resistance in occupied

Palestine 1948-1966). Most of the Modern day States are run by Ideocracy ( Ideeocracy is a

political system whose activities are pursued in reference to the tenets of a Monolistic

Ideology) The term Ideocracy was first used by Aroslaw Piekalkiewiczand Alfred Wayne

Penn in their book Politics of Ideocracy, where the book introduces the concept of Ideocracy

and defines Ideocracy as a concept with an ability to encompass all those political systems

that legitimize their actions by reference to an all-inclusive utopian ideology. It distinguishes

pluralist systems, marked by competing schools of thought, from monistic systems in which a

utopian ideology is dominant, For a brief definition of ideology I would follow Goertz who

defined Ideology as a system of positive and normative ideas which are leading the social

actors in a complex social world.

Henri J. M. Claessen, Jarich Gerlof Oosten in their book Ideology and the Formation

of early States write, We can understand Ideology as the positive formulation of a social

organization as the ideas and social relationships according to which the members of society

should interact.

The States ideology usually is based on many economic, social and anthropological

factors that surround that State, once an ideology is constructed the State with all its

institutions starts observing, practicing and implementing it on its subjects, State with a firm

belief in its Ideology and with a blind eye towards disagreement starts investing all

its powers and resources to make its subjects follow the ideology that it sponsors because the

State regards this ideology as the only way to move forward and the only way to progress and

survive, but in the world that we are living in today its a matter of impossibility to have a
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common uniform opinion so this difference in point of views leads to personal resistances in

the people regarding the States ideology, this difference in opinion that later leads to strife is

not a phenomenon limited to my origin of Research i.e. Turkey but it exists everywhere

whether they are Democratic countries like America or the countries of South

America where they have a socialist system, the State has to bear the resistance of its

subjects, this paper on Orhan Pamuks Snow explores Political Ideological Resistances

offered personally by numerous characters of the novel as a response to Turkish State's

forceful assertion of its ideological and nationalistic Identity. The understanding of the term

Ideology here is rooted in the theories of two German Philosophers Karsl Marx And Friedrich

Engels, according to them Ideology of a State is nothing but a form of power necessarily the

product of ruling class, and same goes with the story of this novel too The novel is set in the

eastern Turkish city of Kars and the novel portrays a fierce clash between the Turkish

Islamists and the Turkish State sponsoring A Secular Model. Marxist ruling class is denoted

by the secular government and Turkish Army who through the course of the novel are bent

upon imposing their hegemony over their subjects. Several characters in the novel in their

own ways confront the Turkish State, the result is a series of raids and arrests and deaths in

the Novel, the novel also portrays the massacre of a certain political group by the State as a

response to their disapproval of States philosophy. This paper tries to get an insight into the

varieties of responses that the characters of the novel pose to the Turkish State represented

By the Turkish Army, the paper also looks into the ways and methods the Turkish State

adopts in containing and restricting the resisting characters of the novel. The paper also

proves that how despite States dynamism and extensive use of force the subjects in form of

this Novels subjects continue resisting even to their deaths.

This paper illustrates the ideological and political resistance that the characters of the

novel pose towards the States Hegemony in the Novel Snow. This research looks deep into
 Daniyal 4

the Resistance the Turkish State faces while it asserts its ideology on its subjects. The term

Resistance is connected with Power. According to James C. Scott theory of everyday

resistance (1) Everyday resistance is a practice (neither a certain consciousness, intent,

recognition, nor an outcome),(2) It is historically entangled with power (Vinthagen,

Johansson 1). The literary piece that I am working on is not the first Literary text to have

depicted Ideological and Political resistance but in fact there have been many such Pieces of

Literature, for instance Ghassan Kanafani wrote above 40 books most of them short stories

and plays sketching how the Israeli State had subjected Ghassan Kanafanis nation (Palestine)

to extreme attoricities and a continuous bloodshed. Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian

Stories,, Palestines Children: Returning to Haifa and other Stories and thats all left for you

are some of his important works. In the same way The Handmaid's Tale (1985) is a novel by

Canadian author Margaret Atwood.[2][3] Set in the near future, in a totalitarian Christian

theocracy which has overthrown the United States government, The Handmaid's Tale

explores themes of women in subjugation and the various means by which they gain freedom

from the States power by a continuous struggle and Resistance.

In the same way Samih La-Qasim wrote poems like Slit Lips,Sons of War.Confession

at Middday,Travel Tickets and more which are relatively short nationalistic poems that also

indicate how people through their Literature Resisted the State's Barbarity.

As I tried to prove above that Literature has also served as a medium of expressing resistance

and hence rejection of State's predominance by the subjects, but Orhan Pamuk's Snow has a

different case unlike the authors above he does not buy and support a certain belief and

opinion he does not support any of his characters, rather he through his narrative just depicts

what he has observed and what he has seen, he just narrate his experiences of the Political

Turmoil that his country is witnessing since ages, even he explains the protagonist of his
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Novel Ka as having two souls, Orhan Pamuk was also having two souls while writing this

novel, The basic theme of the Novel is Islamism versus Secularism and Orhan toes to neither

of the too making him different than many of the other Resistance Literature writers. While

giving an interview titled A Europe of Two Souls Orhan Pamuk commented that To have

two souls is a good thing. That is the way people really are. We have to understand, that, just

like a person, a country can have two souls. These souls are continuously in dialogue with

each other, sparring with each other and changing each other. To have democracy is precisely

to have this dialogue between these two souls. (Winter 40)

As described earlier this paper describes how the characters of the novel Snow despite

facing all odds never bow down to the State's assertion of a secular Ideology, they continue

resisting and dying and dying, the death continues till the very end of the novel and Ka the

protagonist of the novel who supports none of the fighting factions also becomes the victim

of this turmoil and gets killed, all it starts when the State uses force for the implementation of

its Philosophy, As Michael Foucault said, Where there is power, there is resistance.

(Lughod 1)the same applies here a use of force always backfires and results in friction

struggle and resistance.

What is State repression? By most accounts, repression involves the actual or threatened use

of physical sanctions against an individual or organization, within the territorial jurisdiction

of the State, for the purpose of imposing a cost on the target as well as deterring specific

activities and/or beliefs perceived to be challenging to government personnel, practices or

institutions (Goldstein 1978, p. xxvii).but why do the States do that Christian Davenport

replies to this question in his another article Multi-Dimensional Threat Perception and State

Repression: An Inquiry into Why States Apply Negative Sanctions by writing that: Regime

s respond to domestic threats by political Repression". The same applies to Orhan Pamuk's
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Snow, The Islamist characters in the novel have an established Political Power, the State fears

domination from them in the City Of Kars (where the whole action of the Novel Takes place)

and the State responds with violence and murder in order to keep its authority..

Given the duration of this practice, the vast numbers of its victims, the range of legal,

political, and religious restrictions condemning such activity, the many social movements and

human rights organizations dedicated to the elimination of this behavior, and the centrality of

relevant action to some of the most prominent ideas and political figures in human history, it

is surprising that so little systematic attention has been given to the topic of State repression.

But this paper will prove how modern States being tremendous Powerful by use all their

institutions in subjugating their own people in the name of policy, ideology and prosperity.

Chantel Mouffe in her book On the political says that If there are no democratic

channels to express political antagonism, if the political struggle between right and left is

transformed into a moralistic struggle between right and wrong, this invites violent and

anti-democratic practices, the same happens in Orhan Pamuks snow where the State

sponsoring a secular ideology considers its ideology to be the only true model through which

the country can progress, alongside this the State considers all the other ideologies to be of

zero benefit to the Turkish State. This political struggle between two ideologies converts

itself into a struggle between right and wrong, where the State while considering itself right

blocks all the other ideologies considering them wrong.

Chantel Mouffe talks of transformation of antagonism into agonism in her this book,

she says that the antagonistic struggle between two conflicting narratives is always going on

in a society and a decision always needs to be taken in her own words Properly political

questions always involve decisions which require us to make a choice between conflicting

alternatives (Mouffe 10). About this continuous ongoing struggle she uses the phrase ever

present possibility of antagonism (Mouffe 17). For Mouffe, antagonism always takes the
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form of a we/they discrimination, it requires identification and leads to the formation of

collective identities, the same goes in Orhan Pamuks snow where the Muslims for

implementation of their ideology form a political party and become the part of democratic

process and the story continues.

This paper by employing Antonio Gramscis concept of cultural hegemony also looks

into how the Turkish State actors had subjugated the characters of the novel by imposition of

this ideology. . According to Gramsci the ruling class always comes with such an ideology

that justifies and proves the social, political, and economic status quo as natural, inevitable,l

and beneficial for everyone, Orhan Pamuks Snow is one such example of this idea.

Louis Althussers concept of Ideological State apparatus also applies on this novel,

where a specific ideology is being prescribed by a political class to all the citizens via all the

institutions of the State, with the narrative that it ensures progression and development.

The research methodology used for the present research paper is the exhaustive and

qualitative analysis of Personal Responses as Ideological and Political Resistance in Orhan

Pamuks Snow by applying Chantel Mouffes idea of moralistic struggle between right and

wrong, the idea of antagonistic struggle between two conflicting narratives, Antonio

Gramscis concept of Cultural Hegemony and Louis Althussers concept of Ideological State

apparatus while trying to prove how the characters in the novel have their own personal

unique responses towards forceful assertion of State/s ideology in the novel Snow . MLA

format is used. The road map adopted for this research paper is abstract, introduction,

literature review, research methodology, data analysis and conclusion.

The novel Snow by Orhan Pamuk portrays a continuous ideological struggle between

people having different political, religious and social beliefs. This novel being set in Turkey

is a perfect illustration of the ongoing ever continuing ideological clash that this country is
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having since decades. The radical Islamists desperately trying to grab power in a democratic

way, the State thinking them to be fundamentalists and fascists and savages desperately

trying to block their way to power by any means. Even from very start of the novel till the

very end this antagonistic political struggle continues, with each side using radical methods to

dominate its opponent. The bloody turmoil that continues throughout the novel is even there

in the beginning.

This Islamists in the novel are having their unique ideology that to the secularists and

modernists in the novel is highly offending, The characters with secular beliefs in the novel

fear that if Islamists rose to power the country would go back to orthodoxy, the individual

freedoms would be lost and the thing they fear the most is the implementation of Islamic way

of life in the city of Kars where the whole action of the novel takes place. The phenomena of

ideological clash in the novel isnt very simple, it isnt only the secularists and Islamists

clashing in the novel, in fact the State having its secular ideology has turned an enemy to

every individual or group that challenges its ideological authority whether he is A Kurdish

Nationalist, a Republican, a socialist, or a Muslim with firm belief in religion. The Kurdish

want their cultural identity, the Muslims claim a democratic local government in Kars, the

communists fighting for their socialist cause and State as an ideological enemy to all of them

suppressing and subjugating all even their children and women.

The novel begins with the arrival of the protagonist of the novel Ka in the city of

Kars, who according to the novel had once fled the city due to this very political instability.

The novel writes:

Anyone tried and found guilty of insulting the State tended to feel rather proud of it.

But no one ended up in prison, as the police made no serious effort to pursue the

editors, the writers, or the translators in their ever-shifting whereabouts. But after the
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military coup of 1980, the authorities slowly got around to tracking down everyone

whod earlier evaded prison simply by changing address, and it was at this moment

that Ka, having been tried for a hastily printed political article he had not even

written, fled to Germany.(Pamuk 33)

The above quote describes the volatility of situation in Kars when the novel was

written. The novel narrates how due to States hegemonic policies and political dynamism the

people of Kars had turned radicals. Thats where the Gramscis concept of Hegemony

applies, the ruling class of Turkey with their peculiar view of the world, and with their

particular mindset and plan for progress had engulfed the whole population of the country,

despite their disagreement people were made to follow this model and that lead to a huge

ideological conflict that this novel portrays. The people in the novel despite once being

secularists had reverted to religion as a personal response to the States hegemony, these

people were now ready to fight and die for the sake of their Religion and the Ideology that

they derived through it, the novel goes like, Necip quickly interrupted him. Political

Islamist is only a name that Westerners and seculars give us Muslims who are ready to fight

for our religion. (Pamuk 65)

There are characters like Blue and Kadife who had turned radicals due to this very

State hegemony, Blue once a very modern and dandy youth was now heading a Islamist

radical group with many killings to his credit just because the State forced him to take up

arms and become an offender with police and intelligence agencies always in his search.

Similarly Kadife now a radical feminist was now heading a headscarf movement for the girls

of city of Kars who were bent upon not removing their scarfs despite States strictly

abandoning this religious symbol.

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The Turkish State in the city was represented by the local police, the intelligence

agency MIT, and the Turkish army and all of them self-righteous characters paying no heed

to the public demands and the aspirations of general public, they had very little respect for the

religious and political affiliations of the people of Kars and this is evident from the following

quote from the novel, People in the intelligentsia never believe in God. They believe in

what Europeans do, and they think theyre better than ordinary people. (Pamuk 103), thats

this inhumane strain that my research tries to point out, that ideally these people being State

representatives should devote all their energies to the will of the people that they represent

instead they with their European obsessed imagination are bent upon turning this country

with a majority muslim population into a Godless atheist land, and the People in the novel

who are deeply connected to religion take up force for the protection of their religious

identity, the struggle is filled with blood yet these State representatives dont understand the

situation and continue with their self-righteous attitude that worsens the situation.

For making their anti-Islamist rather anti-opposition strategy they continue to create

stereotypes against their ideological enemies thats where Chantel Mouffes idea of moralistic

struggle between right and wrong and the idea of antagonistic struggle between two

conflicting narratives applies, the Secular representatives of the State with their secular

models disapprove of the Islamist ideology calling it totally wrong, by calling them as

extremists, extortionists and terrorists, who can kill anybody who goes against their beliefs

the below quote from the novel is a proof:

Poor fool, said Turgut Bey. Then he fixed his eyes on Ka. The Islamists

have embarked on a cleanup operation. Theyre taking care of us one by one.

If you want to save your skin, I would advise you to increase your faith in God

at the earliest opportunity. It wont be long, I fear, before a moderate belief in

God will be insufficient to save the skin of an old atheist. (Pamuk 131)
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Turgut Bey in his above Statement is clearly warning the pratgaonist of the novel

Ka to be very careful during his stay in Kars as the islamists might try to kill him due to his

religious beliefs, Turgut Bey in his above Statement is right too, because some people in the

city had turned so radical that they didnt bother killing, and spilling blood. But such people

were to be found in both the opposing ranks, radicalism not being limited to a single side

makes this novel fuul of blood and violence.

The city due to all this violence showed pictures of destruction and calamity only as

throughout most of the novel curfew is imposed in the city, Armed men from both sides keep

continuing their patrols, general public stranded in its houses and most important of all the

city doesnt have any business, people are poverty stricken and the situation continues to

worsen day by day. The below quote from the novel explains this situation, Gone now were

all the Armenians, Russians, Ottomans, and early Republican Turks who had made this city a

modest center of civilization, and since no one had come to replace them the streets were

deserted. (Pamuk132) Similarly, It was only with the third volley that some in the audience

realized that the soldiers were firing live rounds; they could tell, just as one could on those

evenings when soldiers rounded up terrorists in the streets, because these shots can be heard

in ones stomach as well as in ones ears (Pamuk 156).

As described earlier the main reason of conflict in the city was that, The Islamists are

clearly winning the Mayor-ship of the city of Kars, when the States representatives decided

that they would never allow the Islamists to win this election, the popularity of Islamists was

rising day by day, because of the fact that they were promising the general public of Kars

something that the Seculars never gave them, the novel about their successful election

campaign narrates:
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They concentrate on the poor neighborhoods; they ingratiate themselves with

the women; they bring out hooked needles and sew gold thread onto the

childrens shoulders to protect them against evil. They say, Give your vote to

the Prosperity Party, the party of God; weve fallen into this destitution

because weve wandered off the path of God. The men talk to the men, the

women talk to the women. They win the trust of the angry and humiliated

unemployed; they sit with their wives, who dont know where the next meal is

coming from, and they give them hope; promising more gifts, they get them to

promise their votes in return. Were not just talking about the lowest of the

low. Even people with jobseven tradesmen respect them, because these

Islamists are more hardworking, more honest, more modest than anyone else.

(Pamuk 26)

This party called themselves the Gods party and secularists clearly were against this

notion because they thought that God had nothing to do with the State, the result is State

sponsored oppression and in Chantel Mouffes words a moralistic struggle between right and

wrong starts, State with all its might starts stopping the way of Prosperity party, Muhtar the

candidate from the prosperity party for the post of Mayor-ship had already sensed this thing

and during his conversation with Ka he said, There are only five days until the election, and

everyone knows were going to win, so the State is knitting a sock to pull over our heads. Its

prepared to say anything to bring us down (Pamuk 50). And Muhtar in future is also prove

right by the happenings in the city where a series of killings, house arrests, abductions, arrests

even a Coup is staged to make the winning of the Islamists impossible. During his

conversation with Ka, Muhtar told him that shortly they would be arrested by the police, they

would be told that they are being protected, instead they are going to be interrogated and kept

imprisoned till the elections just to make sure that the Gods party does not make it to the
 Daniyal 13

Mayors seat, Muhtar said: In a moment these men are going to come upstairs and take us

off to the station (Pamuk 61).

This political struggle between two conflicting ideologies had already taken the shape

of a fight between right and wrong when the State despite having laws and legal discourse at

its disposal decide to go unorthodox and started actions like spying on the suspected people

by spreading a network of Spies throughout the city, by bugging every sensitive telephone, by

arresting those whose presence in the city would have been dangerous for their designs, by

killing those who were uncontrollable, and spilling the innocent blood to give a silent

message that they the secularists, the people representing the State, those who stood for

right were in control and would do anything to preserve their ideology whatever cost it may

take. Muhtar has already sensed that his phone was bugged so he said Our phones at the

party headquarters here are tapped (Pamuk 63). Blue the radical Islamist during his meeting

with Ka had expressed his concern, when he doubted Ka as a spy, he asked him now would

you tell me who youre spying for? Im spying for the Republican, said Ka (Pamuk 73).

Ka told him that he was just a journalist who had come all the way from Germany to report

about the elections and the suicide epidemic in the city. But Blue was never satisfied by Kas

answer. Not only this spying and bugging, the State was also keeping record of every

movement, every action of the Islamists, Kadife by referring to her fathers information told

Ka about this, MIT kept files on leftists and democrats, but now theyre most interested in

the Islamists (Pamuk 114). Kadife during her one of the last meetings with Ka at a public

place during her conversation asked Ka if she was being followed by detectives or not, She

gave him a stern and businesslike handshake. Now look behind you as casually as you can

and tell me if I have one or maybe even two detectives following me( Pamuk 217). Other

than having professional detectives the Turkish intelligence agency MIT had also installed

Bugging devices like microphones and tapes on the people they suspected so that they can
 Daniyal 14

know about every action that these people take. All the people who were fighting against this

oppression by the State, as a collective response decided that they are going to have a united

Resistance that they are going to write to a German newspaper about the type of atrocities

that they were being subjected to, for this purpose they decided to sit at a hotel, while they

were having this conversation a socialist admitted to have been pressurized by the MIT to

such an extent that if he did not report the meeting to them, his group would be killed as a

consequence. This was the extent to which the State went for imposing its own version of

good and right. The State did not even spare the local hotels and cafes where mostly the

students of younger ages used to gather, even there undercover police officers could be

found.

Louis Althussers concept of Ideological State apparatus also applies on this here, the

State functions predominantly by ideology and secondarily by repression and violence in

Kars too, people are being killed, even women and youth are being subjected to violence,

because the State firstly failed to impose its hegemony, and since it failed to do it now took

the path of violence and bloodshed for keeping its control. The whole novel is replete with

narrations of death and suffering, Ipek said that:

As for Muhtar, one look and you know he has no connections, no importance

whatsoever. In fact, the reason Muhtar went into politics in the first place was

to be able to stand up to those people the way you can. But even if he wins the

election, to take office he still has to prove that hes the sort of person who can

take a beating from the State. (Pamuk 74)

This Statement tells that even if Muhtar manages to win the seat, he would still have

to bear the atrocities by the State, due to the very fact that the State considered itself to be the

only Right and disapproved of any ideology or entity challenging it, and those who were
 Daniyal 15

going to challenge its authority were going to get a sound thrashing at its hands. A play was

arranged in the citys theater with the motif of staging a coup to control things down and also

to teach a lesson to the resisting people by the act of firing live shots at the spectators during

the play, killing all those who the State considered to be wrong and a danger to their

hegemony. Many people got killed during that play, but the message went very clear that

the State would never bear any wrong to flourish and progress as long as they are in power

and that every ideology would meet the same fate. A few lines about the incident from the

novel are as follows, Before the audience had had a chance to digest the news, the soldiers

onstage cocked their rifles and took aim straight at the audience. They opened fire at once;

the noise was thunderous. (Pamuk 156).

The live rounds were not just fired once during the performance, the first incident of

firing did not invoke much fear in the people, so sprayed bullets another time, and since their

thirst for blood did not quench with a few more dead bodies, so they fired for a third time. It

was scene of a tragedy then. Necip an Islamist student got up from his sit to fall back with a

bullet having pierced his left eye and cranium. It was only with the third volley that some in

the audience realized that the soldiers were firing live rounds; they could tell, just as one

could on those evenings when soldiers rounded up terrorists in the streets (Pamuk 156).

The intensity of pain and suffering during that incident can be estimated from the

following lines, Those of us who were sitting in the back knew something terrible had

happened. But we were afraid that if we moved from our seats to get a better look, the terror

would find us, so we just sat there watching without making a sound (Pamuk 159).

The police and Army did not stop with their blood spilling spree at the theatre they

came out of the theatre, and entered the streets, and killed even innocent children who they

considered to have challenged the State, the entered the school with a majority of Islamist
 Daniyal 16

students studied in. Their sudden entry with loaded guns and attacking gestures made the

students protect themselves with knives and forks, and even these students were killed,

probably because the soldiers thought them to be challenging States authority with Louis

Althussers Ideological State apparatus fully at work.

One or two of the crazy ones, having stolen a few knives and forks from the

kitchen, decided to throw the utensils at the soldiers from the bathroom

window and began to horse around with the sole gun in their possession; so

the standoff ended in gunfire, with one beautiful slip of a boy nothing but

innocence in his facefalling to his death, a bullet in his forehead. (Pamuk

169)

Islamists were not the only section facing the wrath of the State, Kurdish Nationalists

had also their share of pain and suffering, Sadullah Bey a local Kurd journalist who had

already estimated after the coup that he would be arrested was ready to be picked up and

imprisoned, even he had prepared for it, but instead he was killed in cold blood:

When the doorbell rang much later, in the middle of the night, he bade his

wife farewell, picked up his suitcase, and headed for the door; seeing no one,

he stepped out into the streetwhere in the sulfur light of the streetlamps he

let his mind return to the glorious winters of his childhood, when he would

skate across the frozen Kars River, when the silent streets were covered with

this same beautiful snowand as he stood there, someone pumped two bullets

into his head and his chest, killing him on the spot.(Pamuk 172)

The extent of torture on the children of the Islamists was so high that they were made

to stand in freezing cold and snow with the intention that they would fall ill and ultimately
 Daniyal 17

die, thus the State would get rid of all these resisting sub-humans. The novel narrates this

incident as:

One of the children working in the kitchen had told Zahide that a large number

of detainees had been taken to the football stadium. With the goalposts now

only half visible, half buried in snow, most had been kept outside all day in the

hope that they would fall ill or perhaps even die; it was said a few of them had

been taken into the locker rooms and pumped full of bullets as an example to

the others (Pamuk 303)

Not only State was involved in these acts of terror but a few local secularists had also

joined hands with them and were killing and terrorizing everybody as they liked, Z Demirkol

was the head of one of such group, the group was responsible of killing dozens of people

during the coups night. In fact this group because of being local resident of Kars knew all the

people with anti-Ataturk ideologies, and those who had talked or worked against the secular

government. That night most of such people were executed by this militant group and army

or the police never stopped them from doing so, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Z

Demirkols group had even surpassed the State in spreading terror. The novel tells about their

actions as follows:

Just after the coup, theyd shot and killed one of two Kurdish boys they caught

writing slogans on the walls of Halitpas an Avenue; after arresting another

boy, theyd beaten him until he fainted. There was also the young unemployed

boy theyd taken to the religious high school so he could remove the graffiti

from its wallswhen hed tried to escape, theyd shot him in the legs. Thanks

to various informers, all those whod been saying ugly things about the

soldiers and the actors and spreading groundless rumors about them in the
 Daniyal 18

citys teahouses had been rounded up, butas was always the case in

murderous times like thesethere were still plenty of rumors and

exaggerations making the rounds, from the Kurdish youths whod died when

bombs exploded in their hands to the head-scarf girls whod killed themselves

to protest the coup, to the truck laden with dynamite that theyd stopped as it

approached Inn police station.(Pamuk 304)

The Turkish State in the novel employs every available method to retain its authority

and power over its subjects in the city of Kars, According to Louis Althussers concept of

Ideological State apparatus, the State tries to retain control over its subjects by means of

ideology, during the process people are made to believe this ideology to be the best way to

move forward and the best solution to all the problems of the State. State for maintaining this

Ideological State apparatus can also apply violence and also can control the organs of the

State. The same applies here, no matter what the reason, the Press in the city of Kars, and the

local journalists, either due to intimidation by the State or due to their allegiance towards the

States ideology continue to support even the wrong actions of the State, spreading false news

about all the opposing groups.

Sardar Bey a local news and magazine publisher during a formal conversation with

Ka reveals how the police stopped him from publishing the truth, If the truth could raise my

papers circulation, why wouldnt I write the truth? Anyway, the police dont let me print the

truth either (Pamuk 302).

The States forceful assertion of its ideology in the novel does not end up with spying,

killing, using violence and intimidating press only, when the State fails to apply all these

techniques in the novel, it uses the tactic of blackmailing its subjects, During the beginning of

the novel, the director of education was killed in a local caf. Since Ka was present in that
 Daniyal 19

caf, so he was called for interrogation about the incident and also for the identification of the

killer. Ka had just met Muhtar the local islamist politician and Blue, who was heading a

militant Islamist group. Now the police definitely knew that Ka was neither a follower of

Prosperity Party nor he could ever be part of Blues militant group, yet when he failed to

identify the killer among a group of freshly detained Islamist students, He was thought to

have been telling a lie and was told that since he had met Blue earlier and since he was failing

to recognize the killer so he can face consequences for that. Ka being a weak human was

surely intimidated by the act. Similarly Kadife being a strong politically active lady had

become a symbol of resistance and a source of inspiration for all the girls in the city who

wore Headscarves so the State thought of teaching her a lesson too, her partner Blue was

abducted and taken as hostage, Kadife was told to play a role in a drama, where she was

supposed to take her headscarf off, while calling it a symbol of orthodoxy and backwardness

and in turn her Partner Blue would be released. The State authorities thought that by

portraying this gesture on the screen, they would be able to change the socio-political beliefs

of people who still opposed the State. Kadife at the beginning refused to play the role, but

slowly she realized that it was the only way her partner Blue can be free, so she decided to

play that role and the State succeeded in blackmailing one of its subjects.

As described earlier, the whole city of Kars is witnessing a worst kind of political

turmoil that resulted from Ideological conflict between different groups and the State, As

Antonio Gramsci had explained that the ruling class always comes with such an ideology

that justifies and proves the social, political, and economic status quo as natural, inevitable,

and beneficial for everyone. (Crenshaw, Williams 3).One sees this very strain in this novel

too, where the State through its actions and rhetoric tries to prove that the ideology they are

subscribing to the nation is the only way to progress and that all the other Ideologies were
 Daniyal 20

simply not good enough to make their country progress, The below lines from Sunay Zaim,

the individual who was heading the martial law in Kars prove this point.

O honorable and beloved citizens of Turkey, said Sunay Zaim. Youve

embarked on the road to enlightenment, and no one can keep you from this

great and noble journey. Do not fear. The reactionaries who want to turn back

time, those vile beasts with their cobwebbed minds, will never be allowed to

crawl out of their hole. Those who seek to meddle with the Republic, with

freedom, with enlightenment, will see their hands crushed. (Pamuk 155)

The above lines from a staunch Secularist in the novel suggest that how the characters

believing in a secular ideology termed all the other ideologies would take their country

backward, also the point that prosperity and progress is only achievable through their

plans, and all the people who disagree with them are nothing but despicable beasts with a

strong pledge at the end too that the State would tackle them with an iron hand and they

would be taught a lesson.

The idea of forceful assertion of ideology or hegemony results in resistance and up-

rising, as described earlier, not only Islamists but all the other political groups like The

Republicans, the Kurds, the Socialists too were opposed to what the State wanted to

Implement. The clash between western Ideology and Islamic Ideology is present throughout

the novel, both the groups hated each other, both of them highly disapproved each other,

while accusing each other about all the ills that the city was surrounded in. thats where the

Individual Response comes, that later on despite being individual and unique becomes an

Ideological Political Resistance. Thats where also Chantel Mouffes idea of antagonistic

struggle between two conflicting narratives comes, For Mouffe, antagonism always takes the

form of a we/they discrimination, it requires identification and leads to the formation of

 Daniyal 21

collective identities.(Mouffe And thats what happens In Snow too, The Islamists, The kurds,

the republicans, the seculars and the socialists all of them would form groups and would form

their collective identity. All the resisting leaders of different ethnic, religio-political groups

despite having differences have become united to let the world know about the adversities

that they are facing by reporting to The Republican a German newspaper. Thus proving

Chantells point that for resisting and fighting ideologically, the political groups form

collective identities. One of the Islamists during the meeting of all the leaders uttered the

following lines, This is the personal response that this paper concentrates on, that despite

being subjected to extreme violence by the State, despite beaing all the hardships, still this

Islamsts stands so firm on his ideology that he is rigid in his ideological approach that he is

even ready to die for his beliefs,. Similarly the young Islamist continues to tell about his

approach, he simply feels proud of what he belongs too, He is surely not going to blindly

follow the Eurpeans as his State wants him to, He said these words regarding those

feelings,Im proud of the part of me that isnt European. Im proud of the things in me that

the Europeans find childish, cruel, and primitive. If the Europeans are beautiful, I want to be

ugly; if theyre intelligent, I prefer to be stupid; if theyre modern, let me stay pure. (Pamuk

278).

Blue one of the Islamists who later on turned Militant was also due to this fact that his

religious sentiments were hurt by a TV anchor who had passed an inappropriate remark about

the holy Prophet. Blue could not tolerate this and he finally killed that Tv anchor as a political

response that was actualy Ideology based, Ka described this incident in the following word in

the novel:

What had made Blue notorious was the claim that he was responsible for the

murder of an effeminate exhibitionist and TV personality named Gner Bener,

on whose quiz show, broadcast on a minor channel, contestants vied for cash
 Daniyal 22

prizes. Bener wore gaudy suits and had a penchant for indecent remarks,

favoring jokes about the uneducated. One day, during a live broadcast, this

freckled master of sarcasm was making fun of one of his poorer and clumsier

contestants when by some slip of the tongue he uttered an inappropriate

remark about the Prophet Muhammad. (Pamuk 69)

The entrance of Muhtar into the political arena, the brave decision of contesting an

election against the all-powerful State supported secularists was also a political response to

the force that was being used against them, In words of Blue, Muhtar had no political support

or connections at first but still he came out, now he had the support of his people who were

even going to make him win the elections, This thing can be extracted from the following

lines of the novel, As for Muhtar, one look and you know he has no connections, no

importance whatsoever. In fact, the reason Muhtar went into politics in the first place was to

be able to stand up to those people the way you can. (Pamuk 74)

The Turkish music and all cultural activities were banned forcefully, The Kurdish

people in the town as a response to this had made an organization called PKK, The three

representatives of PKK who were present in the meeting of all the resisting leaders made an

announcement that they would only support their cause if they start working for restoration of

Turkish Culture and Music in the city. They uttered these lines, the three youths from the

Kurdish association read out an even longer Statement, in which they threatened to withdraw

their signatures from the joint declaration unless the Frankfurter Rundschau published it, thus

restoring Kurdish culture and literature to its proper place (Pamuk 270).

This Statement by the Kurdish youth came as a response to the States continuous ban

on Kurdish music and culture, the Kurdish youth were desperate to restore their cultural
 Daniyal 23

identity that was under continuous threat by the secular organs of the State, about use of force

against their culture the novel tells the following lines:

This retinue included Kasm Bey, the courageous assistant chief of police,

who in his day had made life so difficult for the Kurdish PKK; a number of

army officers in civilian clothing, accompanied by their wives; the branch

manager of the ordinance survey office, joined by his wife, two daughters,

four sons in suits and ties, and three nephews; and the citys cultural director,

whose main job was to seize banned tapes of Kurdish music and send them to

Ankara (Pamuk 149)

As the lines depict it was a routine by the police to raid Kurdish hideouts where they

would look for Kurdish music cassettes and their duty was simply to confiscate that music

and send it to Ankara such was the level of oppression on Kurdish ethnic group.

This forceful assertion of hegemony can be seen happening throughout the novel For

instance Muzaffar Bey narrates Ka of a past event when a group Of Revolutionary artists had

come all the way from Ankarato perform a play that showed a lady coming to enlightenment

by throwing off her Headscarf. Muzaffar Bey said, In the late forties he himself had invited

a youth group to perform a revolutionary play in the civic center. This work tells of the

awakening of a young girl who has spent her life enveloped in a black scarf, he said. In the

end she pulls it off and burns it. (Pamuk 21)

These lines just advocate the point that this paper tries to prove, Headscarf was taken

as a reverend Socio-Religious symbol by the Islamists of the Kars, In Chantell Mouffes

terminplogy headscarf was a source of identification and pride for the Islamists, also this

Headscarf stood as a symbol of power for feminist Girls who wanted independence, But the

State took headscarf as a symbol of orthodoxy, and a hurdle towards development, so they
 Daniyal 24

wanted this symbol to be removed from lives of the people of Kars, and for this purpose such

play was arranged, that not only aroused hard sentiments in some of the spectators but also

gave rise to individual responses that is the major concern off this paper.

The State had employed various methods to stop the girls of Kars from wearing

headscarves, first of all they banned headscarves from school. The school administration was

ordered to make sure that none of the girls wears headscarf at school. The killing of the

Director of education that sparked situation of riots in the city was also due to the fact that he

had banned headscarves in the citys schools. When the State failed to stop girls from

wearing headscarves through verbal means, it sent In woman from Ankara to convince the

girls of Ka but when this failed, The Turkish State thought of fixing the problem by

intimidating and threatening the parents.

Teslime held her ground. She was about to be expelled from school in her

third year of study, just on the verge on graduating. Then one day her father

had some visitors from police headquarters; they told him that if he didnt

send his daughter to school scarf less, they would close down his grocery store

and run him out of Kars. (Pamuk 119)

Some of the girls decided that they are going to take off their scarf so that their

parents can be saved from further disturbance, but there were girls like Kadife and many

more who still wore scarf, hande, one of the girls who still wore a scarf during her

conversation with Ka revealed to him that scarf was like her faith, her belief and an eternal

part of her existence. She told Ka that When a girl has accepted the head scarf as the word of

God and the symbol of faith, its very difficult for her to take it off. Hande spent days locked

up inside her house trying to concentrate. (121). As is clear from the above quote that Hande

had a purely religious reason to wear a scarf, still there were others like Kadife whos reason
 Daniyal 25

of wearing scarf was a bit different she took wearing a scarf as a mode of expressing the

power that a lady can have in herself, It stood as a feminist symbol for her, whos wearing

reminded her that she was powerful in this Godforsaken place despite being a lady. She wore

scarf purely as a political Statement expressing her individual resistance to the States

Hegemony, She told Ka that As for me, I put on a head scarf one day to make a political

Statement (Pamuk 113). Although having different reasons to wear the headscarves these

ladies have united themselves into a collective identity, i.e the Headscarf girls Headscarf for

Kadife was just like a principle stand that she had taken to show her independence, State

despite having its tremendous power just could not make her throw away the veil under

ordinary conditions, but once the coup took place she was blackmailed to throw away her

scarf during her performance on stage but while Ka was convincing her to do as per States

orders she was resisting to do so. Her resistance towards this can be felt from these lines

This is just a play, Kadife. And because its just a play, it shouldnt be a problem to take off

your scarf. Said KaI see now what they want from me. But even if its a play, even its a

play within a play, Im still not baring my head (Pamuk 312). Talking about taking stands

upon your convictions Kadife uttered the following strong lines But if you dont have any

principles, and if you dont have faith, you cant be happy at all, said Kadife (Pamuk 312).

The headscarf issue remains the reason of Bloodshed and turmoil in the city of Kars

throughout the novel, Governments this policy to cleanse the State from Headscarf was not a

huge success, it had resulted in a lot of resistance. Every indivifual replied to States

oppression in a different way, as I described earlier some people to save this symbol of their

faith took up arms, some kept resisting without being violent, some silently gave it up but

there were some individuals in Kars who responded to States this oppression by committing

suicides. The reason Ka came to Kars was also that the city was witnessing a huge number of

suicide deaths since last many days and most of the dying girls had been wearing
 Daniyal 26

Headscarves in the past and were under tremendous pressure to take them off in present. And

some of these girls just succumbed to this pressure and took independence from the

oppressing world by killing themselves. The first girl who committed suicide was a fully

covered girl and when the State started penalizing those who still wore headscarves she came

to the conclusion that life had simply no meaning for her without a headscarf, When she saw

some of her friends giving up and uncovering their heads, and others forgoing their head

scarves to wear wigs instead, the girl began to tell her father and her friends that life had no

meaning and she no longer wanted to live. (Pamuk 16)

States oppression for implementation of its ideology can be estimated from the quote

given below where Muzaffer Bey admitted to the fact that the girls of Kars started

committing suicides when they were not allowed to attend school with their scarves.

Muzaffer Bey added. And because theyve been barred from their classes for flaunting this

symbol of political Islam, theyve begun committing suicide. Ka (22). The whole story of

the suicides can be understood by the following quote from the novel, the passage quoted

below by uttered by Vahit Suzme who was a Kars local who was very frustrated over the

anti-religious innetiatives of the secular State, He said the following lines:

Then let us go back to the beginning, sir. Lets remember what you did to

these girls whose upbringing took so many years of loving care. Who were the

apples of their parents eyes. Who were so very, very intelligent. Who worked

so hard at their studies. Who were all at the top of the class. When the order

came from Ankara, you set about denying their existence. If one of them wrote

her name down on the attendance sheet, you erased itjust because she was

wearing a head scarf. If seven girls sat down with their teacher, you pretended

that the one wearing the head scarf wasnt there, and youd order six teas. Do

you know what you did to these girls? You made them cry. But it didnt stop
 Daniyal 27

there. Soon there was another directive from Ankara, and after that you barred

them from their classrooms. You threw them out into the corridors, and then

you banned them from the corridors and threw them out into the street. And

then, when a handful of these heroines gathered trembling at the doors of the

school to make their concerns known, you picked up the phone and called the

police. (Pamuk 42,43).

For some young ladies who committed the suicide, the act itself was a source of pride,

to assert the point that she did not bow to the extreme pressures that her State subjected her

too, that she never compromised on her dignity and her will and that during whole her life she

lived for her own personal cause and that nobody can steal her honor by baring her head.

Kadife voiced the following words during the performance of the play the national theatre,

You dont understand a thing! said Kadife. A woman doesnt commit suicide because

shes lost her pride, she does it to show her pride. (Pamuk 397).

To Kadife baring her head was the worst kind of punishment she could ever endure,

she was even ready to die for it, she thought death to be a lesser punishment then to remove

her scarf and at the end of performance she expressed this feeling of hers by saying that

suicide just liberates you from every kind of punishment, After all, if you commit suicide

youll go to hell, so it makes no sense to worry about the punishment you might receive for

any other crimein this world or the next. But this is exactly why women commit

suicide, said Kadife. To escape all forms of punishment. (Pamuk 398).

The protagonist of the novel Ka was there in the city of Kars to revive his old love,

and to cherish old memories while reporting to his newspaper The Republican too. But those

three days of his stay landed him in shallow waters. Even on the first day of his stay he fears

for his life, having atheistic views, he thought that the Islamists would kill him, then since he
 Daniyal 28

met with Blue the radical Islamist, the State officials think him to be an Islamist and he fears

for his life from them too. Then he went to kadife for bargaining with her for saving her

partners life. But Blue was not spared by the State, Ka after some years was found dead in

Frankfurt Germany where he was living a life of Exile, perhaps he was killed by Islamists to

avenge the death of Blue, because Ka was the one who bargained with the State for his life,

In short Ka died and he did not deserve it. It was just that the conditions of Kars were so bad

that they engulfed everything that came in its way.

Orhan Pamuks Snow reflects modern Turkeys most burning issue the continuous

struggle between two ideologies, Secularism and Islamism. State throughout the novel

desperately tries to stop the Islamists in every respect. The State officials try to change their

culture, their identity, their religious beliefs by using every measure that they can use, from

violence to espionage, from counselling to torture. Some of the Islamists bow down, some

perish too, yet there are some, who despite all odds continue their struggle to preserve, to

uphold, to continue practicing what they find [art of themselves. They choose to die rather

than to live according to the wish of their oppressors. The State converting this ideological

struggle into a struggle between good and evil, very cunningly and with a definite plan

continues affirming its ideology, by subjugating its own subjects. The characters in the novel

with their unique Religious and political beliefs continue to give their response to the States

hegemony, they due to their common goals and motifs form their unique collective identities

to facilitate their struggle.

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 Daniyal 29

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