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ARMENIAN AS AN 'INSULT'
Hurriyet Daily News, turkey
March 26 2015
Ankara Mayor Melih Gökcek has sued writer Hayko Bagdat on the grounds
the writer insulted him in Twitter. In the tweet which was considered
insulting, Bagdat wrote, "They have given Ankara to an Armenian,
what a shame."
Gökcek's lawyers, in the petition they submitted to court, said,
"For a person who is so much loved and respected by the people, this
word which was used with a disgusting meaning was a heavy violation
of the personal rights of our client as well as hugely disrespectful
toward all those who support, love and respect our client."
It is impossible for me to understand why the word "Armenian" is
"disgusting."
The words Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Greek, British, German, Italian,
etc. refer to an "ethnic" belonging. They cannot be considered
insulting; those who use it as an insulting word and who perceive it
as insulting word are committing a racist hate crime, let's be clear
of that fact first.
On the other hand, who would believe an Armenian would use this word
as an insult?
Obviously, in those days when the "I'm sorry but Armenian" matter
was debated, Bagdat would have been making a joke.
However, in this country, for a long time, instead of laughing at
jokes we have been stuck in a situation where we draw an insult out
of them. Nobody is laughing; nobody makes fun of themselves. "Grave
seriousness" has become stuck on people.
Bagdat's last book, "Gollik," was published by İnkılap Publishing
House. In it, Bagdat wisely and light-heartedly makes fun of himself,
his identity, his immediate environment and everybody else; I recommend
you read it. I wish Gökcek's lawyers had also read this book; there
would have been no need for them to open this case...
The PM should name this situation
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is an interesting person. When I listen
to his speeches, the rhetoric he uses gives me the impression we live
on a different meridian.
For instance, he spoke like this the other day: "We did not have any
communication problem with our president on any matter in the past
seven months. If there is a flaw in the information flow, this could
be eliminated. If there are differences in evaluation, this may be
discussed. Nobody should be expecting chaos over a scenario that there
is a difference of opinion between the government and the president."
We know the difference of opinion is not a "scenario" because the
president himself declared this difference of opinion. It was nobody
else but the president who said, "There is a communication problem.
Let's bring the presidential system and leave this behind."
If there is a "scenario," then the scriptwriter is sitting in BeÅ~_tepe
Palace. The prime minister had declared the "transparency package" as
his first major move; when the president said, "You will not be able
to find a district head of the organization for the party or a mayor,"
the prime minister had to give up the package he had announced with
a press conference.
Do I need to recall the Hakan Fidan incident? Or the "security
package," which was to be revised through talks with the opposition,
but was hastily brought to parliament? Or the Dolmabahce declaration
and the monitoring committee?
Nobody has an "expectation of chaos." The thing we are living through
can only be called this, nothing else. The question is: who is running
this government?
If we need to name it, then let's not name it "chaos." Let's be polite
to the prime minister.
Well, then, what do we call it?
Back two rows
Davutoglu said Istanbul would make it to 25th place in the 2018 list of
"World Finance Centers." Not a lot of time has passed since he said
this, since it was only the last week of 2014.
A new list has been issued and Istanbul fell two places from the
previous list. While it had been in the 42nd spot previously, it lost
its place to Casablanca and fell to 44th.
In order to find the answer to why Istanbul is going backwards, let us
look at what kind of criteria is sought to determine the ranking. The
first is corruption and the rule of law. If you cannot curb corruption
and cannot apply the laws equally, then you lose points. Second are
tax laws. They need to be simple, just, predictable and transparent.
Third is the human resources issue. Knowledgeable, well-educated and
talented human resources are needed, but our education system is not
even able to teach Turkish decently.
As a result, this is a country where politicians are trying to bankrupt
a bank... What is going on here never escapes the attention of those
who monitor these kinds of developments in the world...
March/26/2015
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/armenian-as-an-insult.aspx?PageID=238&NID=80177&NewsCatID=503
Hurriyet Daily News, turkey
March 26 2015
Ankara Mayor Melih Gökcek has sued writer Hayko Bagdat on the grounds
the writer insulted him in Twitter. In the tweet which was considered
insulting, Bagdat wrote, "They have given Ankara to an Armenian,
what a shame."
Gökcek's lawyers, in the petition they submitted to court, said,
"For a person who is so much loved and respected by the people, this
word which was used with a disgusting meaning was a heavy violation
of the personal rights of our client as well as hugely disrespectful
toward all those who support, love and respect our client."
It is impossible for me to understand why the word "Armenian" is
"disgusting."
The words Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Greek, British, German, Italian,
etc. refer to an "ethnic" belonging. They cannot be considered
insulting; those who use it as an insulting word and who perceive it
as insulting word are committing a racist hate crime, let's be clear
of that fact first.
On the other hand, who would believe an Armenian would use this word
as an insult?
Obviously, in those days when the "I'm sorry but Armenian" matter
was debated, Bagdat would have been making a joke.
However, in this country, for a long time, instead of laughing at
jokes we have been stuck in a situation where we draw an insult out
of them. Nobody is laughing; nobody makes fun of themselves. "Grave
seriousness" has become stuck on people.
Bagdat's last book, "Gollik," was published by İnkılap Publishing
House. In it, Bagdat wisely and light-heartedly makes fun of himself,
his identity, his immediate environment and everybody else; I recommend
you read it. I wish Gökcek's lawyers had also read this book; there
would have been no need for them to open this case...
The PM should name this situation
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is an interesting person. When I listen
to his speeches, the rhetoric he uses gives me the impression we live
on a different meridian.
For instance, he spoke like this the other day: "We did not have any
communication problem with our president on any matter in the past
seven months. If there is a flaw in the information flow, this could
be eliminated. If there are differences in evaluation, this may be
discussed. Nobody should be expecting chaos over a scenario that there
is a difference of opinion between the government and the president."
We know the difference of opinion is not a "scenario" because the
president himself declared this difference of opinion. It was nobody
else but the president who said, "There is a communication problem.
Let's bring the presidential system and leave this behind."
If there is a "scenario," then the scriptwriter is sitting in BeÅ~_tepe
Palace. The prime minister had declared the "transparency package" as
his first major move; when the president said, "You will not be able
to find a district head of the organization for the party or a mayor,"
the prime minister had to give up the package he had announced with
a press conference.
Do I need to recall the Hakan Fidan incident? Or the "security
package," which was to be revised through talks with the opposition,
but was hastily brought to parliament? Or the Dolmabahce declaration
and the monitoring committee?
Nobody has an "expectation of chaos." The thing we are living through
can only be called this, nothing else. The question is: who is running
this government?
If we need to name it, then let's not name it "chaos." Let's be polite
to the prime minister.
Well, then, what do we call it?
Back two rows
Davutoglu said Istanbul would make it to 25th place in the 2018 list of
"World Finance Centers." Not a lot of time has passed since he said
this, since it was only the last week of 2014.
A new list has been issued and Istanbul fell two places from the
previous list. While it had been in the 42nd spot previously, it lost
its place to Casablanca and fell to 44th.
In order to find the answer to why Istanbul is going backwards, let us
look at what kind of criteria is sought to determine the ranking. The
first is corruption and the rule of law. If you cannot curb corruption
and cannot apply the laws equally, then you lose points. Second are
tax laws. They need to be simple, just, predictable and transparent.
Third is the human resources issue. Knowledgeable, well-educated and
talented human resources are needed, but our education system is not
even able to teach Turkish decently.
As a result, this is a country where politicians are trying to bankrupt
a bank... What is going on here never escapes the attention of those
who monitor these kinds of developments in the world...
March/26/2015
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/armenian-as-an-insult.aspx?PageID=238&NID=80177&NewsCatID=503