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COOL RECEPTION FOR ERDOGAN IN BERLIN
Die Welt
Oct 30 2012
Germany
The Alawites in Germany will stand by a promise they made earlier:
"As soon as Tayyip Erdogan sets his foot on German soil again,
we will be there to protest," Ali Dogan, Secretary General of the
Alawite Community in Germany, said. "We will no longer tolerate that
Europe regards this brute as a democrat."
This is the promise that Dogan had given 50,000 people with Turkish
roots in March. At the time, the Alawites protested against Erdogan
together with Kurds, Armenians, and Turkish social democrats in
Bochum. The protests then were provoked by the announcement that
Erdogan was intended to be the recipient of the Steiger Award,
honouring humanity and tolerance. Just as then, Dogan is certain
that Erdogan is a "flawless anti-democrat." Erdogan and his party
violate human rights and cover up the organizers and perpetrators of
the massacre of Alawites in Sivas in 1993. Dogan explained: "People
of different faiths and critical journalists are victimized and held
in arbitrary detention in Turkey." [passage omitted]
Erdogan likes to use his trips to Germany for election campaign
purposes. In a speech given in 2008, he told 20,000 compatriots taking
part in an event in Cologne that assimilation was "a crime against
humanity." It now seems to be time again for thousands of Alawites
to give vent to their anger. Erdogan will come to Berlin to attend
the opening of the Turkish Embassy, the largest representation Turkey
has abroad. On Wednesday [ 31 October], Angela Merkel will have lunch
with the Turkish prime minister in the Chancellery. They will discuss
the crisis in Syria and the EU accession process of Turkey in several
one-on-one meetings.
It is expected that tens of thousands of people will join the protests
during Erdogan's visit. Basically, the Alawites have three demands:
no war against Syria and no arms deliveries to jihadist troops
from Turkey, freedom for all political prisoners, many of whom are
on hunger strike in Turkey, and equal rights for all ethnic and
religious minorities in Turkey. "It is unacceptable that Turkey goes
on suppressing minorities," Ali Dogan said.
Merkel and Erdogan will also speak about the conflict with the Kurds.
In September, Erdogan lashed out against the German authorities,
claiming that they fail to do enough against the Workers Party of
Kurdistan (PKK), which collects protection money and recruits new
supporters in Germany. He made the allegation that Germany did not
want Turkey to resolve the Kurdish conflict. [passage omitted]
[Translated from German]
From: Baghdasarian
Die Welt
Oct 30 2012
Germany
The Alawites in Germany will stand by a promise they made earlier:
"As soon as Tayyip Erdogan sets his foot on German soil again,
we will be there to protest," Ali Dogan, Secretary General of the
Alawite Community in Germany, said. "We will no longer tolerate that
Europe regards this brute as a democrat."
This is the promise that Dogan had given 50,000 people with Turkish
roots in March. At the time, the Alawites protested against Erdogan
together with Kurds, Armenians, and Turkish social democrats in
Bochum. The protests then were provoked by the announcement that
Erdogan was intended to be the recipient of the Steiger Award,
honouring humanity and tolerance. Just as then, Dogan is certain
that Erdogan is a "flawless anti-democrat." Erdogan and his party
violate human rights and cover up the organizers and perpetrators of
the massacre of Alawites in Sivas in 1993. Dogan explained: "People
of different faiths and critical journalists are victimized and held
in arbitrary detention in Turkey." [passage omitted]
Erdogan likes to use his trips to Germany for election campaign
purposes. In a speech given in 2008, he told 20,000 compatriots taking
part in an event in Cologne that assimilation was "a crime against
humanity." It now seems to be time again for thousands of Alawites
to give vent to their anger. Erdogan will come to Berlin to attend
the opening of the Turkish Embassy, the largest representation Turkey
has abroad. On Wednesday [ 31 October], Angela Merkel will have lunch
with the Turkish prime minister in the Chancellery. They will discuss
the crisis in Syria and the EU accession process of Turkey in several
one-on-one meetings.
It is expected that tens of thousands of people will join the protests
during Erdogan's visit. Basically, the Alawites have three demands:
no war against Syria and no arms deliveries to jihadist troops
from Turkey, freedom for all political prisoners, many of whom are
on hunger strike in Turkey, and equal rights for all ethnic and
religious minorities in Turkey. "It is unacceptable that Turkey goes
on suppressing minorities," Ali Dogan said.
Merkel and Erdogan will also speak about the conflict with the Kurds.
In September, Erdogan lashed out against the German authorities,
claiming that they fail to do enough against the Workers Party of
Kurdistan (PKK), which collects protection money and recruits new
supporters in Germany. He made the allegation that Germany did not
want Turkey to resolve the Kurdish conflict. [passage omitted]
[Translated from German]
From: Baghdasarian