Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

[londontsi]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-235895-us-envoy-told-not-to-interfere-in-domestic-matters.html

US envoy told not to interfere in domestic matters

The government recently warned the US ambassador in Ankara to stay out of Turkey's internal affairs,.......

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http://www.sabahenglish.com/National/2011/01/14/turkish_pm_israel_must_remove_foreign_minister

Turkish PM: Israel must remove foreign minister

The prime minister of Turkey, ........ has called on the J.ewish state to remove its hawkish foreign minister who .......

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Hypocrisy cannot get worse!

[Hayayrun]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

For Turkey "tolerance" is a foreign word, they don't want to be tolerant.
A nation, who is after 96 years still very proud having slaughtered 1,500 000 Armenians brualy, cannot be tolerant.
Turks think and speak always bad about Armenians. The word "ermeni" is used as a swear word. Turks don't respekt us, they always wanted to abase us Armenians every where ...

[KanadaHye]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Couldn't they have used an attractive woman... yikes.

[Federate]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

At a loss for words... bell?
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Ana Zalewska & Karolin Machova for Elle Turkey by Senol Altun

http://fashiongonerogue.com/ana-zalewska-karolin-machova-elle-turkey-senol-altun/

[Alexandros]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?


Alevis use cemevis as their houses of worship, however, Religious Affairs Directorate argues that cemevis could not be considered places of worship. Hürriyet photo


Ankara authorities look to close Alevi group for cemevi statute

Friday, December 24, 2010

ANKARA - Radikal

Ankara provincial authorities have moved to close down a local Alevi association because it aims to build a cemevi “as a house of worship,” daily Radikal reported Friday.

“This action shows that the [government’s] Alevi opening is not sincere,” said Ali Yıldırım, a lawyer and one of the founders of the Çankaya Cemevi Building Association.

“Our Sunni citizens can found associations to built mosques. Alevis should be able to build cemevis as well,” said Hikmet Sami Türk, a former Turkish justice minister who noted that mosque-building associations are some of the most frequently established entities in the country. Building cemevis is also not against the law, he added.

Alevis are widely perceived by many as a liberal form of Islam.

When Alevis in Ankara formed the association in 2004, one of their primary aims was “to build cemevis, which are the belief and worship centers for Alevi believers,” according to the group’s charter. The association also aims to construct cemevis in Alevi-populated areas that are part of lands Ankara municipality has allocated for places or worship as part of a citywide reconstruction plan.

As per legal requirements, the association submitted an application to the Interior Ministry for recognition in 2004, but the ministry expressed its concern about the “place of worship” phrase contained within the group’s statutes. Ministerial authorities asked for clarification on the issue from the Religious Affairs Directorate, to which the latter said cemevis could not be considered places of worship.

As a result, the ministry demanded the association remove the phrase from its statutes, suggesting the group replace it with “building a cemevi for cultural purposes.” The association, however, refused the recommendation.

“There is no breach of law here,” said Ankara University Law School member Hasan Ayrancı upon reading the association’s statutes.

Ankara’s Governor’s Office warned the association to again change the code in June, but the group responded saying the statute was not open to discussion.

As such, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office opened a case against the association late last month.

Link

[Joseph]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

http://www.economist.com/node/17632939/comments#comments

Turkey and religious freedom
Wooing Christians

Some, but not all, want to improve the lot of Christians in Turkey
Dec 2nd 2010 | DIYARBAKIR AND MARDIN | from PRINT EDITION

IT IS well known that Kurdish tribes took part in the mass slaughter by the Ottomans of around 1m Armenians in 1915. “Collaborating Kurdish clerics pledged that anyone who killed an infidel would be rewarded in heaven with 700 mansions containing 700 rooms, and that in each of these rooms there would be 700 houris to give them pleasure,” says Mala Hadi, an Islamic sheikh in Diyarbakir.

The sheikh is among a handful of local leaders seeking reconciliation with the Kurdish region’s once thriving Christians. “We are ready to face the past, to make amends,” promises Abdullah Demirbas, mayor of Diyarbakir’s ancient Sur district. To atone, Mr Demirbas has been providing money and materials to restore Christian monuments in Sur. These include the sprawling Surp Giragos Armenian Orthodox church where, until recently, drug dealers plied their trade amid piles of rubbish. It is now squeaky clean and even boasts a new roof.

Yet in the neighbouring province of Mardin, Kurdish tribes continue to harass the handful of Christians who remain. Their main target is the Mor Gabriel Syrian Orthodox monastery. Perched on a remote hilltop, this 1,600-year-old monastery faces five separate lawsuits contesting its right to retain land that church leaders say they have owned for centuries but have been unable to register because of bureaucratic stonewalling. Two cases were brought by Kurdish villages dominated by the Celebi tribe, which some accuse of participating in the bloodletting of 1915 and now provides men for a state-run Kurdish militia fighting separatist PKK rebels. (One tribal leader, Suleyman Celebi, is a member of parliament for the ruling Justice and Development, or AK, party.) The others were begun by the government and rest partly on a law providing that farmland which lies fallow for more than 20 years can be reclaimed by the state as “forest”.

Otmar Oehring from Missio, a German Catholic charity, calls the cases “baseless” and says “the state’s actions suggest it wishes that the monastery no longer existed.” He points to systematic persecution of some 2,000 Syrian Orthodox Christians living in and around Midyat. “The Syrian Orthodox community beyond the monastery has suffered repeated attacks, with land around villages often set on fire. The perpetrators are unknown, but are thought locally to be either local Kurds or the Turkish army, or both, he notes in a report published last month.

The plight of the Syrian Orthodox in Midyat flies in the face of AK’s efforts to improve the treatment of Christians. Greater freedom for non-Muslim minorities is among the European Union’s main demands on Turkey, which is hoping to join. The AK government has made a string of gestures: restoring an Armenian church in Van and opening it to worship (if only once); giving free Armenian-language textbooks out in schools; and sending out orders from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, that Christians must not be ill-treated. None of this impresses Samuel Aktas, the bishop in charge of Mor Gabriel. He has vowed to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights. “I have remained silent in the face of these injustices; but no longer so,” he declares.

Europe

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Turkish hunters toured city with killed animals on their cars (photos)

During solemn events dedicated to the 88 anniversary of seizure of Edrine from Greeks local citizens witnessed an appalling scene.

Hunters of Edrine toured the city on cars with killed animals, foxes, rabbit, wild boar, birds, tied to them.

Those local citizens don't exactly look appalled - suggesting it is nothing new they are watching. That said, I'm sure in lots of middle-of-the-sticks towns in America there will be independence day pageants which will have exactly the same thing.

[londontsi]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Londontsi, you can post pictures in your posts. If you have Firefox, right-click on the desired photo, click on "copy image location" and then paste the link between these --> [IMG] [/IMG]

Done. Thanks for the tip.

[Federate]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Turkish hunters toured city with killed animals on their cars (photos)

During solemn events dedicated to the 88 anniversary of seizure of Edrine from Greeks local citizens witnessed an appalling scene.

Hunters of Edrine toured the city on cars with killed animals, foxes, rabbit, wild boar, birds, tied to them.

You need to visit the web site to see photos including pictures of their military

http://news.am/eng/news/39478.htm

Londontsi, you can post pictures in your posts. If you have Firefox, right-click on the desired photo, click on "copy image location" and then paste the link between these --> [IMG] [/IMG]

[londontsi]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

http://news.am/eng/news/39478.html

Turkish hunters toured city with killed animals on their cars (photos)

During solemn events dedicated to the 88 anniversary of seizure of Edrine from Greeks local citizens witnessed an appalling scene.

Hunters of Edrine toured the city on cars with killed animals, foxes, rabbit, wild boar, birds, tied to them.