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JUSTICE AND ITS SHADES OF COLORS
Today's Zaman, Turkey
March 11 2014
CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON
The average Western expatriate who visits Turkey does not understand
how complicated and multi-layered politics are in a country like
Turkey.
When you begin to comprehend it even a little, you will then begin
to understand better why people behave the way they do, their lack
of trust and their hesitancy to act and speak out about issues. A
Turk's attitude is very much related to the political culture that
they live in.
A huge disappointment on behalf of justice has occurred again. You
probably remember that when Hrant Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian
descent, was killed in the street in the middle of İstanbul in
2007, everyone assumed that it was a political killing similar to
those Turkey is accustomed to. A trial was held but the outcome was
disappointing.
Of course, we all know that no trial will bring back Dink -- or any
loved one, for that matter, whose life has been taken by murderers.
A couple of days ago Today's Zaman's front page read, "Five suspects
of Zirve massacre released, Christians anxious" (March 10, 2014). "On
April 18, 2007, Christians Necati Aydın, Ugur Yuksel and German
national Tilmann Ekkehart Geske were tied to chairs, stabbed and
tortured at the Zirve Publishing House in the southeastern city
of Malatya; the torture ended with their throats being slit," this
newspaper reported. This is another example of Turkish teenage males
being used by others with wider and more powerful political connections
and ambitions.
Everyone assumed that the assassin of Dink, a 17-year-old teenager
from the Black Sea city of Trabzon, and the five male youths who
murdered the three Christians were influenced by ultra-nationalists.
Orhan Kemal Cengiz reminds readers in his piece, "Is the Hrant
Dink murder being resolved?" (Jan. 17, 2013) that "in the Malatya
massacre case involving the slaughter of three Christians in 2007,
witness İlker Cınar said there were two different units inside the
General Staff -- white and black forces -- and that these were being
used in the operations against the Christians." Cengiz also points out
that, in addition to the black and white forces, some reports of the
National Intelligence Organization (MİT) make mention of "orange and
green forces at work too." Whatever the colors, the deaths of Dink
in İstanbul and of the three in Malatya and other victims around
the country reveal a network of connections with serious implications.
Nothing can undo the injustice done to people who are killed only
because of their color, race or belief.
It is disturbing when any human is killed for reasons other than
that of self-defense. I include in my regret of wrongful murders
not just minorities in Turkey who have suffered but the Turks on
the Gaza flotilla who died trying to do something about human rights
violations against the people of Gaza. I think of Kurds and Turks who
have died in the southeast in civil war, and the Greeks and Armenians
who were murdered in the past century or so, and more recently, those
who've died in protest, whether in Turkey, Egypt or Crimea. We have
to admit it is not only the justice system in Turkey or elsewhere,
but the media who have their own agenda at times.
Wouldn't it be nice if we all had a common agenda? That of true
justice.
Unfortunately, every judiciary system has its faults; some more than
others! Sadly, there is no such thing as true justice on this earth.
Though the United Kingdom has one of the best judiciary systems and
strives to practice separation of powers, even it slips up at times.
As long as mankind is part of a justice system, human nature prevails
and colors it. However, when justice is fair it can help ease the
pain of victims' families.
As one Necati, a regular reader of Today's Zaman, expressed it:
"What we see today in Turkey is you are awarded if you are a criminal,
punished if honest. ..."
In Turkey, the judiciary is structural and it is very much influenced
by the idea that citizens should be controlled all the time, and that
if they make bad choices, they should be corrected by the state.
Westerners need to understand that in Turkey the word justice and
the judiciary process equate with power, and humans are the pawns.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is
torture. The object of power is power." -- George Orwell
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/charlotte-mcpherson_341761_justice-and-its-shades-of-colors.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Today's Zaman, Turkey
March 11 2014
CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON
The average Western expatriate who visits Turkey does not understand
how complicated and multi-layered politics are in a country like
Turkey.
When you begin to comprehend it even a little, you will then begin
to understand better why people behave the way they do, their lack
of trust and their hesitancy to act and speak out about issues. A
Turk's attitude is very much related to the political culture that
they live in.
A huge disappointment on behalf of justice has occurred again. You
probably remember that when Hrant Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian
descent, was killed in the street in the middle of İstanbul in
2007, everyone assumed that it was a political killing similar to
those Turkey is accustomed to. A trial was held but the outcome was
disappointing.
Of course, we all know that no trial will bring back Dink -- or any
loved one, for that matter, whose life has been taken by murderers.
A couple of days ago Today's Zaman's front page read, "Five suspects
of Zirve massacre released, Christians anxious" (March 10, 2014). "On
April 18, 2007, Christians Necati Aydın, Ugur Yuksel and German
national Tilmann Ekkehart Geske were tied to chairs, stabbed and
tortured at the Zirve Publishing House in the southeastern city
of Malatya; the torture ended with their throats being slit," this
newspaper reported. This is another example of Turkish teenage males
being used by others with wider and more powerful political connections
and ambitions.
Everyone assumed that the assassin of Dink, a 17-year-old teenager
from the Black Sea city of Trabzon, and the five male youths who
murdered the three Christians were influenced by ultra-nationalists.
Orhan Kemal Cengiz reminds readers in his piece, "Is the Hrant
Dink murder being resolved?" (Jan. 17, 2013) that "in the Malatya
massacre case involving the slaughter of three Christians in 2007,
witness İlker Cınar said there were two different units inside the
General Staff -- white and black forces -- and that these were being
used in the operations against the Christians." Cengiz also points out
that, in addition to the black and white forces, some reports of the
National Intelligence Organization (MİT) make mention of "orange and
green forces at work too." Whatever the colors, the deaths of Dink
in İstanbul and of the three in Malatya and other victims around
the country reveal a network of connections with serious implications.
Nothing can undo the injustice done to people who are killed only
because of their color, race or belief.
It is disturbing when any human is killed for reasons other than
that of self-defense. I include in my regret of wrongful murders
not just minorities in Turkey who have suffered but the Turks on
the Gaza flotilla who died trying to do something about human rights
violations against the people of Gaza. I think of Kurds and Turks who
have died in the southeast in civil war, and the Greeks and Armenians
who were murdered in the past century or so, and more recently, those
who've died in protest, whether in Turkey, Egypt or Crimea. We have
to admit it is not only the justice system in Turkey or elsewhere,
but the media who have their own agenda at times.
Wouldn't it be nice if we all had a common agenda? That of true
justice.
Unfortunately, every judiciary system has its faults; some more than
others! Sadly, there is no such thing as true justice on this earth.
Though the United Kingdom has one of the best judiciary systems and
strives to practice separation of powers, even it slips up at times.
As long as mankind is part of a justice system, human nature prevails
and colors it. However, when justice is fair it can help ease the
pain of victims' families.
As one Necati, a regular reader of Today's Zaman, expressed it:
"What we see today in Turkey is you are awarded if you are a criminal,
punished if honest. ..."
In Turkey, the judiciary is structural and it is very much influenced
by the idea that citizens should be controlled all the time, and that
if they make bad choices, they should be corrected by the state.
Westerners need to understand that in Turkey the word justice and
the judiciary process equate with power, and humans are the pawns.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is
torture. The object of power is power." -- George Orwell
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/charlotte-mcpherson_341761_justice-and-its-shades-of-colors.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress