Tweet
JUSTICE AT HOME, JUSTICE IN THE WORLD
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Sept 18 2013
by SERKAN DEMÄ°RTAÅ~^
The government has all the right to seek justice in the name of the
more than 100,000 Syrians killed by the Bashar al-Assad regime since
March 2011, and to try to lead the international community to bring
those responsible to account. Calling for the punishment of al-Assad,
who allegedly wielded chemical weapons against civilians on Aug. 21,
is also in line with this very universal value of justice, as prominent
Turkish authorities frequently touch on.
Seeking justice for ousted President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt, for
Palestinians in Gaza who have long been suffering from an Israeli
embargo, and other examples, are also understandable for a country
that long ago declared itself an advocate of the sufferer, wherever
they are in the world, regardless of religion or ethnicity.
Despite fierce criticisms from various political groups both inside
and outside Turkey, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government
has reiterated that it will not abandon this foreign policy based on
conscience, justice and moral principles. Although one can disagree and
argue that this policy is not sustainable for a country like Turkey,
which has ambitions to become a regional and global leader, it deserves
to be respected as it is based on humanistic values and ethics.
At this point, however, I believe, that the very citizens of this
country have the right to question why the government is not caring
for the justice of its own people, too.
Need an example? Just look into the trial process of Hrant Dink's
murder. Dink was first killed by triggerman Ogun Samast on Jan. 19,
2007, but he has continued "being massacred" since then in every phase
of the judicial process Dink's family expressed its disappointment
and reaction in a letter before yesterday's hearing, more than
six-and-a-half year after the murder: "As the Dink family, we will
no more be tools of the state mechanisms that have been mocking us,
and we will not attend the hearings of the retrial." The state and its
judiciary are yet to bring justice for the country's Armenian-Turkish
journalist, once a symbolic figure in reconciliation efforts between
Turks and Armenians.
Dink's case is cited here as it's the most actual and newsworthy one;
otherwise, the absence of justice or the inability of the judicial
system to provide justice is a wider and more common problem in
Turkey. Apart from the structural problems of the Turkish justice
system, which long ago lost its independence and impartiality, its
reflex to protect "the state" at the expense of breaching the rights
of individuals, appear to be the roots of this problem of injustice.
It's getting increasingly difficult to understand how this country will
bring justice to Syrians, to Palestinians, etc., when it fails to ease
the pains of the mothers of Ethem Sarısuluk, Ali İsmail Korkmaz,
or Ahmet Atakan. Or how this government will explain its inaction
against and tolerance toward security forces' violating rules and
procedures? How can injustice turn into a norm in a country aspiring
to join the EU one day?
The problem that this government is reluctant to see is that this
inconsistency is perfectly observed by the world and is one of leading
sources of its loss of credibility.
September/18/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/justice-at-home-justice-in-the-world.aspx?pageID=449&nID=54617&NewsCatID=429
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Sept 18 2013
by SERKAN DEMÄ°RTAÅ~^
The government has all the right to seek justice in the name of the
more than 100,000 Syrians killed by the Bashar al-Assad regime since
March 2011, and to try to lead the international community to bring
those responsible to account. Calling for the punishment of al-Assad,
who allegedly wielded chemical weapons against civilians on Aug. 21,
is also in line with this very universal value of justice, as prominent
Turkish authorities frequently touch on.
Seeking justice for ousted President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt, for
Palestinians in Gaza who have long been suffering from an Israeli
embargo, and other examples, are also understandable for a country
that long ago declared itself an advocate of the sufferer, wherever
they are in the world, regardless of religion or ethnicity.
Despite fierce criticisms from various political groups both inside
and outside Turkey, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government
has reiterated that it will not abandon this foreign policy based on
conscience, justice and moral principles. Although one can disagree and
argue that this policy is not sustainable for a country like Turkey,
which has ambitions to become a regional and global leader, it deserves
to be respected as it is based on humanistic values and ethics.
At this point, however, I believe, that the very citizens of this
country have the right to question why the government is not caring
for the justice of its own people, too.
Need an example? Just look into the trial process of Hrant Dink's
murder. Dink was first killed by triggerman Ogun Samast on Jan. 19,
2007, but he has continued "being massacred" since then in every phase
of the judicial process Dink's family expressed its disappointment
and reaction in a letter before yesterday's hearing, more than
six-and-a-half year after the murder: "As the Dink family, we will
no more be tools of the state mechanisms that have been mocking us,
and we will not attend the hearings of the retrial." The state and its
judiciary are yet to bring justice for the country's Armenian-Turkish
journalist, once a symbolic figure in reconciliation efforts between
Turks and Armenians.
Dink's case is cited here as it's the most actual and newsworthy one;
otherwise, the absence of justice or the inability of the judicial
system to provide justice is a wider and more common problem in
Turkey. Apart from the structural problems of the Turkish justice
system, which long ago lost its independence and impartiality, its
reflex to protect "the state" at the expense of breaching the rights
of individuals, appear to be the roots of this problem of injustice.
It's getting increasingly difficult to understand how this country will
bring justice to Syrians, to Palestinians, etc., when it fails to ease
the pains of the mothers of Ethem Sarısuluk, Ali İsmail Korkmaz,
or Ahmet Atakan. Or how this government will explain its inaction
against and tolerance toward security forces' violating rules and
procedures? How can injustice turn into a norm in a country aspiring
to join the EU one day?
The problem that this government is reluctant to see is that this
inconsistency is perfectly observed by the world and is one of leading
sources of its loss of credibility.
September/18/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/justice-at-home-justice-in-the-world.aspx?pageID=449&nID=54617&NewsCatID=429