gunduz-aktan-kitap-soyledikleri-ve-yazdiklari

WHAT HE SAID AND WHAT HE WROTE
(Lasswell,1930; Ascher and Hirscheelder, 2004). Nevertheless, diplomacy
and psychoanalysis were usually kept at a distance. Recently, as ethnic and
religious identity issues and terrorism began to expand and technology and
electronic communications began to transform civilization as we know it, it
was understood that it was as important to bring rational approaches to
interior and foreign policies as to make in-depth analyses of negative and
positive influences of individual and social psychologies on politics. This was
realized in Turkey, too. From the day I met him, Gündüz Aktan was aware of
the need for such a transition in diplomacy.
I met Gündüz Aktan in January 1992. We became friends a while later;
that is when he told me that he suffered from headaches when he was a
student in Paris. He had come across books by Sigmund Freud at a library,
which he began to read to gain insight into his inner self, and, deciding that
his headaches were rooted in psychology, he had cured himself of them. I
believe this experience of his played a large part in the development of the
tendency to utilize psychoanalysis to understand societies.
In January 1992, 200 people from all over the world gathered at the
Carter Center in Atlanta, named after the former US President Jimmy
Carter. 1 The representative from Turkey was Ambassador Gündüz Aktan.
Some strategies were discussed. Although Jimmy Carter had declared
that he was prepared to visit Cyprus to reconcile the sides, both the Turkish
and the Greek sides were reluctant to invite him. Gündüz Aktan was aware
of the devout religiousness of Jimmy Carter, but he had admired the
successful efforts of the former President to avoid utilizing faith in politics
and diplomacy.
I realized that Gündüz Aktan intended to initiate a process after making
an in-depth analysis of the histories and social psychologies of the two sides
that were always in diplomatic conflict. I was in agreement. But then, I did
not know Gündüz Aktan very well, and was not aware of his interest in
psychoanalysis.
The Carter Center initiative on Cyprus did not go any further. However, it
was the beginning of a close friendship and collaboration with Gündüz
Aktan that lasted until he passed away. Sometime after the Atlanta meeting,
Gündüz Aktan visited me in Charlottesville, where my university was located.
I introduced him to my colleagues in the CSMHI. I was better aware of his
interest in psychoanalysis. I realized that the ideas of Gündüz Aktan were
very prominent in the writing of President Turgut Özal’s book Turkey in
1 http://www.cartercenter.org/news/publications/peace/conflict_reports.html
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Gündüz Aktan