Lebanon Stories

According to studies by the World Bank, Lebanon's current economic crisis is one of three deep crises in world history in terms of its impact on living standards since the mid-1800s.

Lebanon was already a country in crisis before the pandemic and the massive explosion that killed 200 people in 2020. The country was embroiled in protests in the last quarter of 2019. The main reason for the protests was a rebellion against politicians who were robbing the country. The people were tired, exhausted and fed up with politicians.

The country, where six million people live, consists of one million refugees who fled Syria. The national income, which was $55 billion in 2018, fell to $33 billion in 2020. Half of the population lives within the economic limits defined as poverty.

A $556 million aid package has been prepared for the people of Lebanon, which has been governed by an interim government since mid-2020, but its contents are unclear. The Lebanese pound has lost 90% of its value since 2019.

The point the country has reached is so sad that some of the views that emerged during French President Macron's visit to Lebanon last year were extremely saddening for any country in the world. A section of the people wanted to be under French protection again. They had become so fed up with their own immoral politicians that they had come to the point where they could even sacrifice the independence of their country for the change of their conditions.

My story about Lebanon goes back to the early 2000s. I looked at my old notebooks the other day. I found what I wrote in the lines below. I also thought about today. I saw that I had witnessed the painful history of a country.

My notes from the notebook:

I arrived in Beirut yesterday at noon. First, I stopped by the office of the company I work for in the Aresco Center building and attended a meeting at a bank called Banque Audi.

Lebanon had been calm for a long time. There was no major conflict or developments resembling war. However, today the Israeli and Lebanese armies began fighting in southern Lebanon. When I visited Beirut in January 2007, there had been a political crisis in the country for a long time due to the failure to elect a president, and there was both a fierce political struggle and sometimes heated street clashes between government forces and Hezbollah forces. When I came to Beirut in 2007, a curfew had been declared due to the heated clashes, but I took long walks in the streets despite everything. The people who encouraged me to go out were the people walking and jogging on the beach.

All modern construction along the coastline had been halted due to the fear that had prevailed in the country following the Israeli bombardment in the summer of 2006. During the walk, I passed through the areas controlled by the soldiers and took as many photographs as I could without anyone noticing.

In this development, I witnessed the completion of a significant portion of the construction on the coastline. Very luxurious and modern buildings and stores were opened and new hotels were offered to the city. Four Seasons is one of these hotels and I have the chance to watch a beautiful view from my room.

The temperature is around 37-38 degrees and the humidity is very high. Beirut is scorching hot due to the heat waves coming from the Arabian Peninsula. My palms get wet as soon as I step outside and I can't see anything because my glasses have evaporated from the humidity.

The next day, we were in the office of a lawyer in Beirut, where we had gone to discuss our legal affairs. The room was full of books. Books on Islamic history, Middle Eastern politics, philosophy of law, and especially biographies of political leaders who played important roles in Middle Eastern history immediately caught my attention and interest.

During the meeting, a woman enters. I can tell from the lawyer's face that she has received alarming news. My guess is correct. Southern Lebanon is being bombed by Israel. During the conversation, I learn that during the years of the civil war and the wars with Israel, the entire electrical grid of Beirut was destroyed and that lighting was provided by generators set up by small entrepreneurs in each neighborhood, and that the residents of each neighborhood paid a certain amount of money for this service.

Lebanon is an interesting country in the Middle East. On the one hand, it is very modern, on the other hand, it has a Hezbollah and an alternative army that has not emerged from the darkness of the Middle Ages. Since Hezbollah was the force that saved Lebanon from the Israeli occupation, it has been accepted to a certain extent even among the Christian population in the country.

A few months ago, I met with current Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005, and during the dinner that provided the opportunity for me to meet him, I had the opportunity to have a three-hour conversation with his national security advisor, Mohamad Chatah. He is also a former economy minister. He worked for the IMF for many years and taught at the University of Houston in Texas.

I ask Chatah about Hezbollah's place in Lebanese politics. He points to two Hezbollah ministers before he begins his long explanation. On one side is the country's official army, on the other side is Hezbollah in the coalition government and its independent army. From time to time, Lebanon's official army and from time to time Hezbollah's army clash with Israel. Hezbollah ministers also represent the country in Istanbul with Prime Minister Hariri.

The Turks are very popular in Lebanon because of the ship that brought aid to Gaza. I learn that Turkish flags are hanging from the windows of houses in southern Lebanon, again in the lawyer's office we visited. Of course, I don't like this popularity at all. The fact that the ship that went to Gaza set off as a result of a reactionary foundation's cooperation with the government and that the incident was carried out in a manner that violated the rules and seriousness of a government and international policy is a huge fiasco. I remember feeling ashamed for a moment when I read that the details of the incident were given as a headline in The Herald Tribune in July. Members of the Turkish government whose names are mentioned together with the world's most vicious terrorist organizations. This is not possible!

Although I am against even the existence of Israel, under the current conditions of the world, embarking on such a clever international policy adventure is incompatible with state seriousness. In international politics, scenarios are written by some and played by others. It is a naive dream to think that the Middle East problem will end one day.

It has been 11 years since I wrote the above lines.

It was the end of 2013. While reading The New York Times, there was a news story about an assassination in Lebanon. I thought to myself, who else had they killed? When I read that the person who had been killed was Mohamad Chatah, my hair stood on end. We had written and talked after our conversation at the dinner in Istanbul. He was a very pleasant person and had a broad vision. There was a lot he had done and could do for his country. If he were alive today, he would probably part ways with his son Hariri. That was the kind of person I knew. We had enjoyed talking to each other. I was shocked by the news of the assassination. I had never known anyone I knew who had been killed in such a brutal way, and this news had shaken me deeply.

I'm particularly following today's developments in Lebanon. I talk to my friends living in the country from time to time. Heartbreaking stories.

03.08.2021