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Khojali : Pretext to Incite Ethnic Hate Against Armenians in Turkey
By Contributor on February 22, 2015
http://armenianweekly.com/2015/02/22/ethnic-hate-against-armenians/
On Feb. 20, the Human Rights Association of Turkey issued a statement
in response to a planned anti-Armenian demonstration in Istanbul,
under the banner, `Demonstrations Condemning the Khojali Genocide and
Armenian Terror.' The Human Rights Association states that it has
petitioned the Istanbul Governorate ahead of the Feb. 22 protest,
which has already given rise to anti-Armenian sentiments.
The full text of the statement is printed below:
Khojali : Pretext to Incite Ethnic Hate Against Armenians in Turkey
On 19 February 2015, the Human Rights Association presented the
Governorate of Istanbul with a petition warning the officials that the
`Demonstrations Condemning the Khojali Genocide and Armenian Terror,'
to be held in Kadıköy, Istanbul on Feb. 22, have incited ethnic hatred
from the moment they were preannounced.
The demonstrations are organized by the Association of Reformist Youth
in Azerbaijan, with support from the Turkish Hearths Youth Branches
and the Turanist Movement Platform.
As our petition to the Governorate reports, militants from the
Turanist Movement Platform photograph and publish their public
displays including graffiti, banners, and posters in central locations
in Istanbul. In the declaration that they distribute in shops and that
we enclose with this petition, they incite violence by labeling
activists against racism as `terrorists.' Persons who somehow
perpetually remain `unidentified' write racist graffiti, such as
`You're Either Turkish or Bastards' or `You Are All Armenian, All
Bastards,' on church walls in Kadıköy, in addition to hanging flags
depicting the ultra-nationalist symbol (mythical wolf).
Protesters chanted `You are all Armenians, you are all bastards'
during the Khojali demonstrations on Taksim Square on Feb. 26, 2012.
Khojali is but a pretext for the real purpose of inciting ethnic hate
and hostility against the Armenians of Turkey, as globally observed in
the course of the Khojali demonstrations on Taksim Square on Feb. 26,
2012. Right before the eyes of the Minister of the Interior, on the
same square where he was making a speech, the demonstrators displayed
banners saying `You Are All Armenians, You are All Bastards,' while
shouting hate-filled slogans against Armenians.
The corrupt and shady collaboration between Azerbaijan and Turkey thus
comes to fruition: The organizers are able to brandish their schemes
for Feb. 22 because they have no doubt that the officials of the
Republic of Turkey will lavish them with endless tolerance.
In the petition we presented on record, we reminded the Governorate
that the racism displayed both at the identically themed
demonstrations of 2012 and at the preannouncement phase of the Feb. 22
demonstrations for `Condemning Armenian Terror' constitutes a crime
per article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code on `public humiliation or
incitement to hatred and enmity.' We also emphasized that incitement
to racist violence violates article 14 of the European Convention on
Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination.
We have requested that the Office of the Governor take preventative
measures against slogans, writings, banners, and threats inciting
ethnic hate or enmity; that, in cases where they occur, all legal
proceedings mechanisms be activated immediately after the
demonstrations, and that the state fulfill all its responsibilities
with utmost efficacy.
We now publicly reiterate our warning: You, officials who refrain from
criminalizing racist slogans on church walls, who officially or
unofficially permit protests and demonstrations preannounced by such
slogans, if you do not enforce the law, you will become partners in
the crime that is being publicly preannounced.
We address the prime minister: You have just paid your tributes to
Hrant Dink, calling him `a venerable Anatolian public intellectual.'
Have you forgotten that banners saying `Damned Be Hrant Dink' were
displayed right in front of his newspaper headquarters? Do you not
remember that on Feb. 23, 2014, a group, including a number of
Azerbaijanis, and calling itself `The Soldiers of Alpaslan TürkeÅ?,'
materialized in front of the Agos newspaper at whose doorstep Dink had
been murdered? Their banners read, `Long Live Ogün Samasts, Damned be
Hrant Dinks'We Salute Azerbaijan and Continue the Fight.' We had filed
a criminal complaint then as well. Your prosecutors did not lift a
finger.
The so-called NGOs of the state of Azerbaijan, where oppositional
journalists are left to rot in prison and honest public intellectuals
are abandoned to lifelong threats of lynching, we ask you: What are
you doing in Turkey? What business brings you to Istanbul? No one
believes that you mourn for those killed in Khojali; it is not in
their memory that you fight. You come to Turkey to support anti-
Armenians and menace the Armenians of Turkey, who have no connection
to Khojali.
A word to hatemongers in Turkey, who join forces with Azerbaijani
anti-Armenians: Save us your lies. It is not Khojali that concerns
you. It never was Khojali that concerned you. Your true intent is to
intimidate the Armenians of Turkey'and all non-Turkish, non-Muslim
peoples'and exacerbate their insecure existence.
The very existence of human rights defenders is warranted by the cause
of resisting and fighting against atrocities and persecution in Turkey
and in the world. However, it falls yet again on human rights
defenders to fight against those who exploit atrocities and victims'
pain for their own purposes of carrying racist violence across
borders.
We, human rights defenders, invite all to unite as one body against
racism, racist violence, discrimination and hate, in order to show
that you are alone in your schemes, to isolate you in society, and to
expose you before public conscience.
We remind the officials, once again, that they will be held
accountable for the public display of ethnic hate, the bloodiest
instances of which are only too fresh in our memory.
Human Rights Association, Istanbul Branch
Committee Against Racism and Discrimination
By Contributor on February 22, 2015
http://armenianweekly.com/2015/02/22/ethnic-hate-against-armenians/
On Feb. 20, the Human Rights Association of Turkey issued a statement
in response to a planned anti-Armenian demonstration in Istanbul,
under the banner, `Demonstrations Condemning the Khojali Genocide and
Armenian Terror.' The Human Rights Association states that it has
petitioned the Istanbul Governorate ahead of the Feb. 22 protest,
which has already given rise to anti-Armenian sentiments.
The full text of the statement is printed below:
Khojali : Pretext to Incite Ethnic Hate Against Armenians in Turkey
On 19 February 2015, the Human Rights Association presented the
Governorate of Istanbul with a petition warning the officials that the
`Demonstrations Condemning the Khojali Genocide and Armenian Terror,'
to be held in Kadıköy, Istanbul on Feb. 22, have incited ethnic hatred
from the moment they were preannounced.
The demonstrations are organized by the Association of Reformist Youth
in Azerbaijan, with support from the Turkish Hearths Youth Branches
and the Turanist Movement Platform.
As our petition to the Governorate reports, militants from the
Turanist Movement Platform photograph and publish their public
displays including graffiti, banners, and posters in central locations
in Istanbul. In the declaration that they distribute in shops and that
we enclose with this petition, they incite violence by labeling
activists against racism as `terrorists.' Persons who somehow
perpetually remain `unidentified' write racist graffiti, such as
`You're Either Turkish or Bastards' or `You Are All Armenian, All
Bastards,' on church walls in Kadıköy, in addition to hanging flags
depicting the ultra-nationalist symbol (mythical wolf).
Protesters chanted `You are all Armenians, you are all bastards'
during the Khojali demonstrations on Taksim Square on Feb. 26, 2012.
Khojali is but a pretext for the real purpose of inciting ethnic hate
and hostility against the Armenians of Turkey, as globally observed in
the course of the Khojali demonstrations on Taksim Square on Feb. 26,
2012. Right before the eyes of the Minister of the Interior, on the
same square where he was making a speech, the demonstrators displayed
banners saying `You Are All Armenians, You are All Bastards,' while
shouting hate-filled slogans against Armenians.
The corrupt and shady collaboration between Azerbaijan and Turkey thus
comes to fruition: The organizers are able to brandish their schemes
for Feb. 22 because they have no doubt that the officials of the
Republic of Turkey will lavish them with endless tolerance.
In the petition we presented on record, we reminded the Governorate
that the racism displayed both at the identically themed
demonstrations of 2012 and at the preannouncement phase of the Feb. 22
demonstrations for `Condemning Armenian Terror' constitutes a crime
per article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code on `public humiliation or
incitement to hatred and enmity.' We also emphasized that incitement
to racist violence violates article 14 of the European Convention on
Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination.
We have requested that the Office of the Governor take preventative
measures against slogans, writings, banners, and threats inciting
ethnic hate or enmity; that, in cases where they occur, all legal
proceedings mechanisms be activated immediately after the
demonstrations, and that the state fulfill all its responsibilities
with utmost efficacy.
We now publicly reiterate our warning: You, officials who refrain from
criminalizing racist slogans on church walls, who officially or
unofficially permit protests and demonstrations preannounced by such
slogans, if you do not enforce the law, you will become partners in
the crime that is being publicly preannounced.
We address the prime minister: You have just paid your tributes to
Hrant Dink, calling him `a venerable Anatolian public intellectual.'
Have you forgotten that banners saying `Damned Be Hrant Dink' were
displayed right in front of his newspaper headquarters? Do you not
remember that on Feb. 23, 2014, a group, including a number of
Azerbaijanis, and calling itself `The Soldiers of Alpaslan TürkeÅ?,'
materialized in front of the Agos newspaper at whose doorstep Dink had
been murdered? Their banners read, `Long Live Ogün Samasts, Damned be
Hrant Dinks'We Salute Azerbaijan and Continue the Fight.' We had filed
a criminal complaint then as well. Your prosecutors did not lift a
finger.
The so-called NGOs of the state of Azerbaijan, where oppositional
journalists are left to rot in prison and honest public intellectuals
are abandoned to lifelong threats of lynching, we ask you: What are
you doing in Turkey? What business brings you to Istanbul? No one
believes that you mourn for those killed in Khojali; it is not in
their memory that you fight. You come to Turkey to support anti-
Armenians and menace the Armenians of Turkey, who have no connection
to Khojali.
A word to hatemongers in Turkey, who join forces with Azerbaijani
anti-Armenians: Save us your lies. It is not Khojali that concerns
you. It never was Khojali that concerned you. Your true intent is to
intimidate the Armenians of Turkey'and all non-Turkish, non-Muslim
peoples'and exacerbate their insecure existence.
The very existence of human rights defenders is warranted by the cause
of resisting and fighting against atrocities and persecution in Turkey
and in the world. However, it falls yet again on human rights
defenders to fight against those who exploit atrocities and victims'
pain for their own purposes of carrying racist violence across
borders.
We, human rights defenders, invite all to unite as one body against
racism, racist violence, discrimination and hate, in order to show
that you are alone in your schemes, to isolate you in society, and to
expose you before public conscience.
We remind the officials, once again, that they will be held
accountable for the public display of ethnic hate, the bloodiest
instances of which are only too fresh in our memory.
Human Rights Association, Istanbul Branch
Committee Against Racism and Discrimination