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Cihan News Agency, Turkey
Jan 17 2015
Are we apostates?
ISTANBUL - 17.01.2015 11:28:01
Of course we are not. But this is what thousands of ErdoÄ?anists keep
claiming. Some of them even wrote to me saying that they want to
punish me with a Kalashnikov rifle. Some of them are lazier and told
me that I will be punished when Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL) fighters arrive in Turkey.
Following their leader -- who shouted `seed of Israel' at a protestor
after the Some mine massacre that claimed 301 lives -- some Justice
and Development Party (AKP) supporters continue to call me and my
colleagues the slaves of Jews and the US, infidels and enemies of
Muslims, among other things.
When Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an openly called me a traitor in a televised
public speech a few months ago, he was not able to satiate the
ferocious desires of AKP supporters, so they have to invent new
insults and curses all the time. I empathize with them. Using the same
insults and libelous accusations every time could be boring, so they
exasperatedly search for new expressions.
Turkey's streets have gradually returned to the state they were in in
the 1990s, when mafia and gunmen kept killing each other and innocent
people while the corrupt police stood idly by. Being called an
apostate, traitor, son of Jews or a MOSSAD-CIA-MIA6 agent is no fun.
When ErdoÄ?an's chief fatwa-giver, Hayrettin Karaman, wrote in his Yeni
Å?afak column that my faith is now in question, implying that I have
become an apostate, I started to be concerned about being turned into
another Hrant Dink. I am luckier than poor Hrant in the sense that he
was alone as a target, but the ErdoÄ?an regime is not only targeting me
but rather hundreds of journalists and academics who dare to criticize
him. I am never afraid, but as father of three little wonderful kids
and the husband of an extraordinary wife, I am a little concerned.
What is worse, some regions in Turkish Kurdistan have already returned
to the Turkey of the 1970s, when leftist and right-wing youth kept
killing each other, scores every day. It is also highly probable that
Turkey's western regions might explode one day if ErdoÄ?an continues to
eradicate freedoms and continues feeding the public with hatred.
We know very well what some of us did to Turkey's Armenians, Greeks
and Alevis (the latest being Madımak) in the past, and there is no
guarantee that this will not be repeated. Now, our colleagues at the
Cumhuriyet daily have been receiving death threats. Much like Madımak,
where many Alevi intellectuals, writers and journalists were burned in
a hotel in the early 1990s, Cumhuriyet may face, God forbid, such
provocations.
Unfortunately, AKP leaders keep releasing statements to make their
supporters upset with Cumhuriyet. Even some Zaman (Turkish edition)
readers have contacted the editors and asked why the daily continues
to keep Ä°hsan Yılmaz and Bülent KeneÅ?, who insulted the prophet! Even
some of our readers believe these fabricated lies of the AKP media.
Two days ago, the radical Islamist and staunchly pro-AKP Yeni Akit
daily prepared a list of prophet-insulters that included the
Cumhuriyet daily, Ä°hsan Yılmaz, Bülent KeneÅ? and Emre Uslu. They are
simply making us targets. When, in the early 2000s, Yeni Akit
published pictures of some superior court judges who rejected the
right of a teacher to cover her head just outside the school (not
inside), an Ergenekon suspect burst into their meeting, shot all of
them with a gun and killed one of them.
In Turkey, history repeats itself, so I am concerned for my Cumhuriyet
daily colleagues and friends. Two days ago, Yeni Akit published a
cartoon in which the Cumhuriyet daily was depicted on a bull's-eye. So
far, not even a single AKP member has denounced the abhorrent act!
Make no mistake, this is not just about press freedoms anymore. We
have already passed that threshold. ErdoÄ?anists are only afraid of a
military coup, and when they make sure that the military generals are
either too afraid to challenge ErdoÄ?an's private army (yes, he is
trying to make the Turkish police his private army) or take public
blame for a collapsing economy, he will not hesitate to swiftly
`Assadize' Turkey, where only the loyal supporters are be allowed to
be engaged in political affairs and the dissenters end up in jail --
if they are lucky enough to avoid being executed in the streets.
(Thank you).
Ä°HSAN YILMAZ
http://en.cihan.com.tr/news/Are-we-apostates-_5546-CHMTY1NTU0Ni81
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Jan 17 2015
Are we apostates?
ISTANBUL - 17.01.2015 11:28:01
Of course we are not. But this is what thousands of ErdoÄ?anists keep
claiming. Some of them even wrote to me saying that they want to
punish me with a Kalashnikov rifle. Some of them are lazier and told
me that I will be punished when Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL) fighters arrive in Turkey.
Following their leader -- who shouted `seed of Israel' at a protestor
after the Some mine massacre that claimed 301 lives -- some Justice
and Development Party (AKP) supporters continue to call me and my
colleagues the slaves of Jews and the US, infidels and enemies of
Muslims, among other things.
When Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an openly called me a traitor in a televised
public speech a few months ago, he was not able to satiate the
ferocious desires of AKP supporters, so they have to invent new
insults and curses all the time. I empathize with them. Using the same
insults and libelous accusations every time could be boring, so they
exasperatedly search for new expressions.
Turkey's streets have gradually returned to the state they were in in
the 1990s, when mafia and gunmen kept killing each other and innocent
people while the corrupt police stood idly by. Being called an
apostate, traitor, son of Jews or a MOSSAD-CIA-MIA6 agent is no fun.
When ErdoÄ?an's chief fatwa-giver, Hayrettin Karaman, wrote in his Yeni
Å?afak column that my faith is now in question, implying that I have
become an apostate, I started to be concerned about being turned into
another Hrant Dink. I am luckier than poor Hrant in the sense that he
was alone as a target, but the ErdoÄ?an regime is not only targeting me
but rather hundreds of journalists and academics who dare to criticize
him. I am never afraid, but as father of three little wonderful kids
and the husband of an extraordinary wife, I am a little concerned.
What is worse, some regions in Turkish Kurdistan have already returned
to the Turkey of the 1970s, when leftist and right-wing youth kept
killing each other, scores every day. It is also highly probable that
Turkey's western regions might explode one day if ErdoÄ?an continues to
eradicate freedoms and continues feeding the public with hatred.
We know very well what some of us did to Turkey's Armenians, Greeks
and Alevis (the latest being Madımak) in the past, and there is no
guarantee that this will not be repeated. Now, our colleagues at the
Cumhuriyet daily have been receiving death threats. Much like Madımak,
where many Alevi intellectuals, writers and journalists were burned in
a hotel in the early 1990s, Cumhuriyet may face, God forbid, such
provocations.
Unfortunately, AKP leaders keep releasing statements to make their
supporters upset with Cumhuriyet. Even some Zaman (Turkish edition)
readers have contacted the editors and asked why the daily continues
to keep Ä°hsan Yılmaz and Bülent KeneÅ?, who insulted the prophet! Even
some of our readers believe these fabricated lies of the AKP media.
Two days ago, the radical Islamist and staunchly pro-AKP Yeni Akit
daily prepared a list of prophet-insulters that included the
Cumhuriyet daily, Ä°hsan Yılmaz, Bülent KeneÅ? and Emre Uslu. They are
simply making us targets. When, in the early 2000s, Yeni Akit
published pictures of some superior court judges who rejected the
right of a teacher to cover her head just outside the school (not
inside), an Ergenekon suspect burst into their meeting, shot all of
them with a gun and killed one of them.
In Turkey, history repeats itself, so I am concerned for my Cumhuriyet
daily colleagues and friends. Two days ago, Yeni Akit published a
cartoon in which the Cumhuriyet daily was depicted on a bull's-eye. So
far, not even a single AKP member has denounced the abhorrent act!
Make no mistake, this is not just about press freedoms anymore. We
have already passed that threshold. ErdoÄ?anists are only afraid of a
military coup, and when they make sure that the military generals are
either too afraid to challenge ErdoÄ?an's private army (yes, he is
trying to make the Turkish police his private army) or take public
blame for a collapsing economy, he will not hesitate to swiftly
`Assadize' Turkey, where only the loyal supporters are be allowed to
be engaged in political affairs and the dissenters end up in jail --
if they are lucky enough to avoid being executed in the streets.
(Thank you).
Ä°HSAN YILMAZ
http://en.cihan.com.tr/news/Are-we-apostates-_5546-CHMTY1NTU0Ni81
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress