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REPRESSIVE TURKEY: A BLATANT VIOLATOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS
By Appo Jabarian
USA Armenian Life Magazine
November 3, 2011
The Turkish police used Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's so-called
"KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) affair" as cover to arrest Ragip
Zarakolu, a well-known Turkish human rights activist and director of
Belge Publishing House, in Turkey.
An award-winning writer and publisher, Zarakolu is also chairman of
the Publishers' Association Freedom to Publish Committee of Turkey.
His detention was preceded by the October 4 arrest of his son Deniz
Zarakolu, editor of Belge Publishing House.
Belge has published Turkish editions of books that are ground-breaking
in that country, including books documenting the 1915 Armenian Genocide
and "The KCK File/The Global State and Kurds Without a State" by
Mehmet Guler.
"It is essential not to confuse the efforts of those who, like Ragip
Zarakolu, have worked to bring down barriers of censorship in Turkey
with those who press political agendas through violence. ... Zarakolu
is an honored PEN colleague and internationally-recognized defender
of the right to write and publish freely. We emphatically protest
his arrest," PEN American Center "Freedom to Write" program director
Larry Siems said in a statement.
Zarakolu is outspoken on various human rights issues including the
oppression of national minorities in Turkey as well as the Armenian
Genocide.
Despite several imprisonments by succeeding military juntas in Turkey,
Zarakolu relentlessly championed for freedom of thought and expression
emphasizing an "attitude of respect for different thoughts and cultures
to become widespread in Turkey".
The Ankara Initiative for Freedom of Thought
(http://gercek-inatcidir.blogspot.com) has launched a signature
gathering campaign that I encourage readers to sign. The Initiative
protests recent massive unwarranted imprisonments. The campaign is
named "That's enough!" ("YETTÄ° ARTIK !"-- in Turkish) Click the
signature form ("Destek icin imza formu") at the above web-address
and submit it with the mention of name ("adi soyadi"), profession
("meslegi") and city/country ("sehir ve/veya ulke").
Eilian Williams of United Kingdom's "Solidarity with the Victims
of All Genocides and the Forum for Stateless Nations" reported that
Members of British Parliament introduced an Early Day Motion (EDM no.
2267) condemning Turkey's blatant violations of human rights.
Williams issued an appeal to other MP's to sign the Motion. The appeal,
titled "Genocide, War Crimes and the Role of the AKP Government in
obstructing the peace process in Turkey," stated: "We ask MP's and
concerned members of the public to please take note of the findings
of two recent reports - one by noted academic Tove Skutnabb-Kangas
(presented on 10 October 2011 at the Frankfurt Book Fair) and the other
by a Human Rights Delegation from Hamburg and Stuttgart (based upon a
21-day Human Rights Delegation visit in September 2011). In light of
all of these troubling developments, we ask MP's to please consider
signing Early Day Motion (EDM) 2267 and we also ask concerned members
of the public to please alert their MP's to this important EDM."
"Last week, our lobby of MP's and protest outside the Turkish Embassy
in London sought to bring attention to the recent wave of arrests
of academics and politicians in Turkey. These arrests came as no
surprise," said Williams.
"Reporters Without Borders" also expressed concerns about the
security agreement which France and Turkey signed on October 7 and
which, according to French Interior Minister Claude Guéant, "goes
much further than the agreements that France usually signs in the
security domain."
"We hope that the French authorities will be much more discriminating
than their Turkish counterparts as regards combating terrorism,"
Reporters Without Borders said. "We urge them not to be sucked in by
Ankara's indiscriminate and repressive approach, which causes many
collateral victims, including journalists."
The arrests of Zarakolu and his son Deniz are only the tip of the
iceberg regarding Turkey's repressive measures executed against its
own citizens. I attempted to prepare a short list of these acts. But
as I continued reading the two reports, I realized how explosive the
numbers were. The sheer number of instances of violence by Erdogan's
government sadly mirrors a new Turkish panorama of darkness descending
upon humanity. The acts of repression by Turkey against its own
citizens are too many to list in this article.
Many observers are wondering: is Erdogan a crypto-Kemalist who
vacillates between his desire for neo-Ottoman imperialism and a
dire need to avoid becoming "The Sick Man of Europe and the Middle
East? Is he masquerading as a "devout Muslim" with the hidden motive to
"deliver" the Muslim world to Ankara for unholy purposes?
How much longer will the international Muslim community continue to
trust a group of political opportunists who pretend to be Muslims
but they persecute fellow Muslims?
During the Armenian Genocide the Turkish criminal triumvirate --
Talaat, Enver, and Jemal -- effectively misled the Turkish Muslims
into religious fervor through the help of their secret agents that
worked as "Mullahs." The Young Turk government agents operating as
"Mullahs" pitted large segments of misguided Ottoman Turkish Muslims
into acts of genocide against Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, and Syriac
Christians. They also misguided the Kurds -- fellow Muslims against
the Armenians. But at the end, the descendants of the Turkish criminal
leaders turned against Turkey's own Muslims and Kurds. Today's Turkish
triumvirate -- Pres. Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and "zero-problem-with-neighbors" Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
seem to have conspired to defraud yet again the international Muslim
community as "co-religionists;" and the West as "fellow democratic
leaders."
Despite being touted as a "model Muslim democracy," Turkey is far
from being a devoted practitioner of democratic values.
In Early 2000, the arrival to power by Erdogan's Justice and
Development Party (AKP) had given hopes for the rise of a tolerant
Turkish state. But Turkey has fared poorly. In fact, Turkey has
resorted to pre-1990â~@²s repressive policies against its dissidents,
national and religious minorities, blatantly and massively violating
their human rights.
By Appo Jabarian
USA Armenian Life Magazine
November 3, 2011
The Turkish police used Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's so-called
"KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) affair" as cover to arrest Ragip
Zarakolu, a well-known Turkish human rights activist and director of
Belge Publishing House, in Turkey.
An award-winning writer and publisher, Zarakolu is also chairman of
the Publishers' Association Freedom to Publish Committee of Turkey.
His detention was preceded by the October 4 arrest of his son Deniz
Zarakolu, editor of Belge Publishing House.
Belge has published Turkish editions of books that are ground-breaking
in that country, including books documenting the 1915 Armenian Genocide
and "The KCK File/The Global State and Kurds Without a State" by
Mehmet Guler.
"It is essential not to confuse the efforts of those who, like Ragip
Zarakolu, have worked to bring down barriers of censorship in Turkey
with those who press political agendas through violence. ... Zarakolu
is an honored PEN colleague and internationally-recognized defender
of the right to write and publish freely. We emphatically protest
his arrest," PEN American Center "Freedom to Write" program director
Larry Siems said in a statement.
Zarakolu is outspoken on various human rights issues including the
oppression of national minorities in Turkey as well as the Armenian
Genocide.
Despite several imprisonments by succeeding military juntas in Turkey,
Zarakolu relentlessly championed for freedom of thought and expression
emphasizing an "attitude of respect for different thoughts and cultures
to become widespread in Turkey".
The Ankara Initiative for Freedom of Thought
(http://gercek-inatcidir.blogspot.com) has launched a signature
gathering campaign that I encourage readers to sign. The Initiative
protests recent massive unwarranted imprisonments. The campaign is
named "That's enough!" ("YETTÄ° ARTIK !"-- in Turkish) Click the
signature form ("Destek icin imza formu") at the above web-address
and submit it with the mention of name ("adi soyadi"), profession
("meslegi") and city/country ("sehir ve/veya ulke").
Eilian Williams of United Kingdom's "Solidarity with the Victims
of All Genocides and the Forum for Stateless Nations" reported that
Members of British Parliament introduced an Early Day Motion (EDM no.
2267) condemning Turkey's blatant violations of human rights.
Williams issued an appeal to other MP's to sign the Motion. The appeal,
titled "Genocide, War Crimes and the Role of the AKP Government in
obstructing the peace process in Turkey," stated: "We ask MP's and
concerned members of the public to please take note of the findings
of two recent reports - one by noted academic Tove Skutnabb-Kangas
(presented on 10 October 2011 at the Frankfurt Book Fair) and the other
by a Human Rights Delegation from Hamburg and Stuttgart (based upon a
21-day Human Rights Delegation visit in September 2011). In light of
all of these troubling developments, we ask MP's to please consider
signing Early Day Motion (EDM) 2267 and we also ask concerned members
of the public to please alert their MP's to this important EDM."
"Last week, our lobby of MP's and protest outside the Turkish Embassy
in London sought to bring attention to the recent wave of arrests
of academics and politicians in Turkey. These arrests came as no
surprise," said Williams.
"Reporters Without Borders" also expressed concerns about the
security agreement which France and Turkey signed on October 7 and
which, according to French Interior Minister Claude Guéant, "goes
much further than the agreements that France usually signs in the
security domain."
"We hope that the French authorities will be much more discriminating
than their Turkish counterparts as regards combating terrorism,"
Reporters Without Borders said. "We urge them not to be sucked in by
Ankara's indiscriminate and repressive approach, which causes many
collateral victims, including journalists."
The arrests of Zarakolu and his son Deniz are only the tip of the
iceberg regarding Turkey's repressive measures executed against its
own citizens. I attempted to prepare a short list of these acts. But
as I continued reading the two reports, I realized how explosive the
numbers were. The sheer number of instances of violence by Erdogan's
government sadly mirrors a new Turkish panorama of darkness descending
upon humanity. The acts of repression by Turkey against its own
citizens are too many to list in this article.
Many observers are wondering: is Erdogan a crypto-Kemalist who
vacillates between his desire for neo-Ottoman imperialism and a
dire need to avoid becoming "The Sick Man of Europe and the Middle
East? Is he masquerading as a "devout Muslim" with the hidden motive to
"deliver" the Muslim world to Ankara for unholy purposes?
How much longer will the international Muslim community continue to
trust a group of political opportunists who pretend to be Muslims
but they persecute fellow Muslims?
During the Armenian Genocide the Turkish criminal triumvirate --
Talaat, Enver, and Jemal -- effectively misled the Turkish Muslims
into religious fervor through the help of their secret agents that
worked as "Mullahs." The Young Turk government agents operating as
"Mullahs" pitted large segments of misguided Ottoman Turkish Muslims
into acts of genocide against Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, and Syriac
Christians. They also misguided the Kurds -- fellow Muslims against
the Armenians. But at the end, the descendants of the Turkish criminal
leaders turned against Turkey's own Muslims and Kurds. Today's Turkish
triumvirate -- Pres. Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and "zero-problem-with-neighbors" Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
seem to have conspired to defraud yet again the international Muslim
community as "co-religionists;" and the West as "fellow democratic
leaders."
Despite being touted as a "model Muslim democracy," Turkey is far
from being a devoted practitioner of democratic values.
In Early 2000, the arrival to power by Erdogan's Justice and
Development Party (AKP) had given hopes for the rise of a tolerant
Turkish state. But Turkey has fared poorly. In fact, Turkey has
resorted to pre-1990â~@²s repressive policies against its dissidents,
national and religious minorities, blatantly and massively violating
their human rights.