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It is scary really for those “ordinary” people who live in Turkey. After all, it is rather alarming to live in a country where the rulers see the post-World War I settlement as unjust and open to debate. It feels like a terrible case of déjà vu. Moreover, it is not only the last century which is being re-examined in terms of enmity, but many more centuries are at stake. We are supposed to shoulder the responsibility of the “Turks’ big burden of leading the ummah” and are asked to behave accordingly. The cost of living in Turkey now far exceeds the responsibilities of ordinary citizenship. Now we are not free agents as individuals and not even members of a national and/or religious community, but some sort of subjects whose lives are shaped by a grand historical/holy mission. We should remember the fact that we constantly live on a frontline which is shaped by the struggle between Islam and the West.
Even the peace process with the Kurds is being assumed to be part of the grand historical mission. The so-called “Turkish-Kurdish alliance” dates back to Manzikert in 1071, when Kurds welcomed their Turkish co-religionists in their march to Anatolia, we are told. The second turning point is thought to be the Sunni alliance against the Shiite İsmail of Iran in the 16th century. Never mind that it is a horrible part of in the historical memory of Turkish and Kurdish Alevis, the new rapprochement rhetoric gives a lot of reference to this alliance. Despite that, it has created tensions within the Kurdish movement, as even some prominent Kurds have referred to this historical alliance to broker the terms of peace.
It’s a pity that we are drifting every day more away from the prospect of living in a freer society, as now we cannot even claim freedom from history. It may no longer mean much to those who live in Western liberal societies, but freedom from history is one of the basic conditions of individual freedoms in our societies.
What I hear a lot from my Kurdish inlaws and HDP friends is that people in the West of Turkey are indifferent and don’t care. They go on about their lives, eating in high priced restaurants, going to night clubs, while people are dying or exiled in the East. So this evening, on the service bus home, I was excited to here one of our teachers, a classic Western white Turk, fly into a rage about the situation in the East. “What is this stupid government doing!?” he shouted. “There are people dying in the East. Our soldiers are killing them! It has to stop. They need to take care of the situation out there. ‘Special Forces’! They are murder squads!” And then our driver, a Kurd from Bingöl, a man I have known for 6 years and with home I have swapped village stories, tells him that he is mistaken. The government is fighting a just war. The PKK are funnelling thousands of weapons into these towns. The people shot are allowing guns and missiles to be stored in their houses. The stories of security forces firing on people in the streets are all lies concocted by the Kurdish party. They want to divide the country. All typical AKP drivel, except he speaks AS a Kurd. And so the teacher who was so upset about the killings in the East isn’t sure anymore. “You have family out there, don’t you? You know I guess,” he says. And our driver continues. “I don’t have family in Diyarbakır, but yes, out East. And I know how sneaky these terrorists are.They fire on civilians and then blame our security forces. But what are soldiers to do? They terrorists are flocking over the border by the hundreds!”
"But how can you believe all that."
"I don't just believe it. I know. I've seen it myself. They will tell every kind of lie to get sympathy. They are terrorists. The HDP parliamentarians especially, all deceiving people like you. You can trust only one thing--that they will do anything to split the country." This is all fantasy. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, The European Human Rights Courts, reporters on the ground from Vice, Reuters, Al Jazeera and everyone else have quite a different view of what’s going on.
originally posted by: 23432
What puzzles me is that no one , so far , on this thread has wrote anything about the real conspiracy , the hidden Armenian's of Turkey and their real role in these events.
originally posted by: 23432
Erdogan did get the % 50 of the votes in a fair and square election.
One should prefer to respect people's own choice .
originally posted by: theultimatebelgianjoke
originally posted by: 23432
What puzzles me is that no one , so far , on this thread has wrote anything about the real conspiracy , the hidden Armenian's of Turkey and their real role in these events.
The survivors of the genocide ?
With what do you plan to blame them ?
originally posted by: 23432
Erdogan did get the % 50 of the votes in a fair and square election.
One should prefer to respect people's own choice .
Absolutely agree. People are responsible of the politicians they choose to vote for.
This shouldn't prevent anyone from having a critical regard on the achievements of the said politicians, and on the practical consequences of their own policies.
You defend fascism, I defend authoritarianism.
Why ? Because you can consider politics without fascism, but you can't consider leadership without authority.
originally posted by: theultimatebelgianjoke
a reply to: 23432
Sounds cool.
What are the rules ?
Putin never had to amend the Russian constitution in his favour unlike Erdogan and his referendum.
But those who elected the 'puppet' were perfectly aware of the whole scheme in advance.
It didn't surprise anyone and it didn't went further than intended.
14th Heavy Penal Court had ruled release of Can Dündar and Erdem Gül following the “violation of rights” verdict by the Constitutional Court.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had commentated on the Constitutional Court’s ruling to release the journalists Gül and Dündar as “In my opinion, media can’t have unrestricted freedom. These reports include all sorts of assaults against the Prime Minister and the President of this country. Will we sit back and watch while it attacks the Prime Minister and the President? The Constitutional Court may have decided on the matter and I can only remain silent on this decision. But I can’t accept it. And I neither obey the decision, nor respect it. Because there is an obvious reality here. This is not an acquittal or release order. Actually, the court (of first instance) deciding on the matter could have insisted on its decision”
Chief Judge of the Constitutional Court upon President Erdoğan’s words “I neither recognize nor respect AYM’s decision” following release of Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, had said the court’s decisions are binding for everyone and every institute.