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Today's Zaman, Turkey
March 27 2015
PM's top aide Mahçupyan: ErdoÄ?an's move for Gallipoli commemoration not `chic'
Turkish-Armenian author and columnist Etyen Mahçupyan, who currently
serves as a top adviser to Prime Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu, spoke
during a conference held at the University of Ghent on Thursday about
the very controversial upcoming commemoration ceremonies for the 100th
anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I on April 24, the
same date which Armenians around the world annually observe as
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
`If I may use the word `chic,' as in the French word [classy], the
fact that the government and [President Recep] Tayyip ErdoÄ?an chose
that day [April 24] as a different commemoration day was not chic,'
stated Mahçupyan.
`If we look at it cold-bloodedly, there is an answer to why he is
doing that. You may not like the answer but there is an answer. ¦ We
are going into elections. [The] AK Party [Justice and Development
Party] needs Anatolian conservative, nationalist votes,' said the
prominent intellectual in an effort to explain ErdoÄ?an's actions.
`You may say that politics should not count here, that ethics should
count. Yes, but these people are politicians,' he stated.
Mahçupyan explains continued support for alleged corruption
The top AK Party adviser also acknowledged the existence of a
prevalent belief that corruption is taking place within the ruling
party, saying: `Half of the AK Party says that, yes, there is
corruption. But there is also 70 percent [of the party] that believes
there is a threat of a coup d'état against the AK Party. So they
compare which is worse, [and] most people decide that a coup d'état is
much worse than corruption.'
He gave reasons for why members of the AK Party continue to support a
government they believe to be corrupt, stating: `It is much easier to
handle corruption, but once you have a coup d'état and the AK Party
has been gotten rid of¦[Turkey will have to] wait for another 20 or 30
years for another AK Party to come along. So people do not want to
lose what they have gained in the last 10 years.'
ErdoÄ?an has claimed that the largest corruption and bribery
investigation in the history of the Turkish republic, which went
public on Dec. 17 and 25, 2013, was an attempt to topple the AK Party
government.
`I feel like more of an ottoman'
Mahçupyan, who was a guest speaker at a seminar titled "New Turkey,"
also stated during the conference, `As an Armenian, in fact, I feel
like more of an Ottoman,' at which members of the audience applauded.
`Not only did we [Armenians] live in the Ottoman period but also in
Byzantine times, we were living in that land in such a way that we had
created a culture and so on. That is the precious thing, not the
political system that we are running that was established in 1923 and
so forth," he continued.
Mahçupyan had drawn harsh criticism from fellow Armenians after he
labeled the majority of Armenian intellectuals `clowns' in one of his
columns in 2014. Another Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hayko BaÄ?dat,
wrote a public response to Mahçupyan saying that the latter has become
`a court jester' by justifying the policies of ErdoÄ?an and the ruling
AK Party.
BaÄ?dat wrote, "At least clowns make children laugh, while court
jesters are supposed to entertain those who give the orders to kill
children,' referring to ErdoÄ?an's remark that he had ordered the
police to shoot during the Gezi Park protests that claimed the lives
of several teenagers.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_pms-top-aide-mahcupyan-erdogans-move-for-gallipoli-commemoration-not-chic_376528.html
March 27 2015
PM's top aide Mahçupyan: ErdoÄ?an's move for Gallipoli commemoration not `chic'
Turkish-Armenian author and columnist Etyen Mahçupyan, who currently
serves as a top adviser to Prime Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu, spoke
during a conference held at the University of Ghent on Thursday about
the very controversial upcoming commemoration ceremonies for the 100th
anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I on April 24, the
same date which Armenians around the world annually observe as
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
`If I may use the word `chic,' as in the French word [classy], the
fact that the government and [President Recep] Tayyip ErdoÄ?an chose
that day [April 24] as a different commemoration day was not chic,'
stated Mahçupyan.
`If we look at it cold-bloodedly, there is an answer to why he is
doing that. You may not like the answer but there is an answer. ¦ We
are going into elections. [The] AK Party [Justice and Development
Party] needs Anatolian conservative, nationalist votes,' said the
prominent intellectual in an effort to explain ErdoÄ?an's actions.
`You may say that politics should not count here, that ethics should
count. Yes, but these people are politicians,' he stated.
Mahçupyan explains continued support for alleged corruption
The top AK Party adviser also acknowledged the existence of a
prevalent belief that corruption is taking place within the ruling
party, saying: `Half of the AK Party says that, yes, there is
corruption. But there is also 70 percent [of the party] that believes
there is a threat of a coup d'état against the AK Party. So they
compare which is worse, [and] most people decide that a coup d'état is
much worse than corruption.'
He gave reasons for why members of the AK Party continue to support a
government they believe to be corrupt, stating: `It is much easier to
handle corruption, but once you have a coup d'état and the AK Party
has been gotten rid of¦[Turkey will have to] wait for another 20 or 30
years for another AK Party to come along. So people do not want to
lose what they have gained in the last 10 years.'
ErdoÄ?an has claimed that the largest corruption and bribery
investigation in the history of the Turkish republic, which went
public on Dec. 17 and 25, 2013, was an attempt to topple the AK Party
government.
`I feel like more of an ottoman'
Mahçupyan, who was a guest speaker at a seminar titled "New Turkey,"
also stated during the conference, `As an Armenian, in fact, I feel
like more of an Ottoman,' at which members of the audience applauded.
`Not only did we [Armenians] live in the Ottoman period but also in
Byzantine times, we were living in that land in such a way that we had
created a culture and so on. That is the precious thing, not the
political system that we are running that was established in 1923 and
so forth," he continued.
Mahçupyan had drawn harsh criticism from fellow Armenians after he
labeled the majority of Armenian intellectuals `clowns' in one of his
columns in 2014. Another Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hayko BaÄ?dat,
wrote a public response to Mahçupyan saying that the latter has become
`a court jester' by justifying the policies of ErdoÄ?an and the ruling
AK Party.
BaÄ?dat wrote, "At least clowns make children laugh, while court
jesters are supposed to entertain those who give the orders to kill
children,' referring to ErdoÄ?an's remark that he had ordered the
police to shoot during the Gezi Park protests that claimed the lives
of several teenagers.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_pms-top-aide-mahcupyan-erdogans-move-for-gallipoli-commemoration-not-chic_376528.html