Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

[hagopn]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Many Turks have indeed opened their eyes and minds but they are still by far in the minority. Turkey is still just as deadly a threat to us as it was in 1915.

There are a great many moderates in the Turkish population who have a positive opinion of Armenians. The music world is an example where there is even a bias in favor Armenians among the musical circles themselves. (The same is true in Azeri musical circles, at least in the generation that saw light prior to the Artsakh war and the dominant fascist Pan-Turkist rhetoric/paradigm). All these can be leveraged to the favor of Armenia/Armenians if there is systematic labor in that direction, and in hindsight, Pres. Sargsyan's gamble yielded some positive results within the Turkish population. The AKP initially showed more tolerance and a slight nudge away from the Pan-Turkism, but now the Armen Ayvazyans are being proven correct. The fascists are the ones with all the levers.

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Would those historical events to be considered from the point of view of archival material also include the Turkish policy of the mass murder at Galippoli of prisoners and unarmed captured or surrendering soldiers? As a guess, I'd say no.

Those events will be morphed into the opposite story where the Turks were the actual victims..turkish propoganda is sickening.

[hagopn]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Those events will be morphed into the opposite story where the Turks were the actual victims..turkish propoganda is sickening.

Madison Avenue is not as expensive as we may think, but US tax dollars are feeding this machine. Turkish moderates themselves need to be educated about this. The ANC and such are merely preaching to the choir.

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

TURKS IRKED AS ARMENIAN CHURCH PLANS TO CANONIZE VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Jihad Watch
Oct 7 2013

Islamic supremacists never, ever take responsibility for their own
actions. The Turks are enraged because the Armenians are daring to
tell the truth about what the Turks continue to deny. "Armenian Church
to canonize martyrs of genocide. Ankara unhappy," by NAT da Polis
for Asia News, October 7, spelling and grammar as in the original
(thanks to C. Cantoni):

Istanbul (AsiaNews) - In a move that has surprised Turkey , the
Armenian Church is going to proceed with the canonization of the
victims of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish State in
1915, using Kurdish laborers for the massacres. The scientifically
perpetrated genocide by, is described by the Turkish historian Taner
Akcam as "A shameful act " (the title of his book ) . But the Ankara
government has never recognized it and rejects the definition of
" genocide."

Sources quoted by Turkish newspapers say the canonization will take
place in 2015, the centenary of the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians
killed in Asia Minor.

The main source of this news is ASAM, The research center of Turkey's
Eurasian strategy , according to which the great synod of the Armenian
Church was summoned to Yerevan the capital of ' Armenia. There is one
important fact: for the first time after 400 years - that is, after
1651 - bishops who came from all over the world attended this synod:
a real novelty in the history of the Armenian Church.

The synod - held at the end of September - was attended by the
Archbishop of Etsmiatzin , (considered the most sacred city for
Armenians ), the Armenian Archbishop of Lebanon, where there is also
a large community, which escaped the genocide ; the bishops of the
United States, Jerusalem , South America, France and the places where
there are Armenian communities of the Diaspora.

During the gathering the decision was made to canonize all the victims
of ' horrific genocide perpetrated by the Ottomans first and then the
Turks of Kemal Ataturk . The canonization will follow the formula of
the tradition of the Eastern Churches, which is the proclaiming of
the saints , stating the name of the place of martyrdom and not the
names of the individuals.

The decision of the Armenian synod has shaken Turkey. The President of
ASAM , Omer Ozkaya , says the decision has political motivations and he
points out that all the bishops of the Armenian Church gathered for the
first time after 400 years in order to give maximum visibility to the
"alleged" (according to the Turkish ) Armenian Genocide , proceeding to
the canonization of victims of genocide. Omer Ozkaya noted, however,
that in this way , the Armenians , give another religious , dimension
to the dispute between Diaspora communities and Turkey.

Another fact that has not escaped notice is that the synod was
convened in religious heart of Armenia, Etsimiatzin , which is the
great religious reference point for Armenians .

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/10/

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

ERDOGAN BLOCKS SYRIANEWS IN TURKEY

FARS News Agency, Iran
October 29, 2013 Tuesday

TEHRAN (FNA)- If you are a political journalist, the last place you'd
like to report about is Turkey from Turkey, the Muslim Brotherhood
government of fanatic Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has the highest record of journalists behind bars for criticizing
his way of democracy, a report said.

The Syrianews said in a report harshly critical of the Turkish
government that "we have received several inquiries from our readers
inside Turkey complaining they cannot reach our website while other
readers who usually use proxy breakers can view it easily, but after
the complains increased we decided to refer to an online tool to check
whether www.syrianews.cc known to be highly critical of the heavy
handed of the embattled and lost Turkish AKP government policies".

According to Syrianews, here are the results: [groong note: see tables
at http://english.farsnews.com/newstext...3920807000461]

"The online tool called Nimsoft Cloud offered by the website
www.watchmouse.com pings a server or website using a network of
over 30 monitoring stations worldwide, one of which is based in
Istanbul, Turkey, as the above image shows and it's the only station
that returned 'Unknown host: www.syrianews.cc' error message," the
report said.

The report quoted Turkish journalist and winner of the International
Reporter of the Year Award given annually by the National Union of
Italian Reporters (UNCI) as saying, "'Turkey is the biggest prison
in Europe for journalists."

CPJ, the Committee to Protect Journalists, wrote the following
intro on their website: 'The media environment under Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains extremely difficult. Journalists
continue to be jailed, the government censors sensitive topics, and
anti-press rhetoric from powerful figures emboldens prosecutors and
prompts media owners to fire independent voices.' commenting on a
letter they sent to the Turkish prime minister dated September 16,
2013 and Hand-delivered via the Turkish Ministry of Justice. (CPJ
calls on Erdogan to embrace press freedom).

Wikipedia lists the names of a number of Turkish journalists imprisoned
by Erdogan for daring to do their job and criticize his government,
the list can be found here: (List of arrested journalists in Turkey).

Gezi Park and Taksim protests handling by Erdogan were dark black
points in the history of extremely peaceful protests against municipal
decisions that led to the killing of a number of unarmed protesters by
the same criminal regime that hosts Alqaeda camps on their land. The
same regime refusing to recognize the massacres of the Armenians last
century and refusing to repent it.

"To be honest, it's kind of chilling yet makes us proud at
www.syrianews.cc to have our site blocked by one of the most hypocrite
fanatic regimes in the modern days. Isn't it the same regime that is
the most outspoken against the Syrian state for the latter's cracking
down on Alqaeda FSA terrorists and their Wahhabi Cannibal Sex Jihad in
Syria? Maybe Erdogan has some comfort now seeing the Al Saud regime
in Arabia joining his 'push for democracy' elsewhere than in their
own countries," the report added.

The following is a message by prominent German journalist Jurgen
Elsasser addressing Erdogan, slamming the dictator and caliph wannabe
for his policies towards Syria, the video clip has English subtitles,
you may have to open it in YouTube and turn CC on, Hello Erdogan.

"Go ahead Erdogan, block our website and jail reporters in your
country, you are exposed beyond repair and your days are numbered,"
the report concluded.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920807000461

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Turkish treasure hunters ravage Armenian graves

12:11 - 09.11.13


Unknown treasure hunters in Turkey's Batman province have desecrated
Armenian graves, Haberler reported.

Graves belonging to Armenians are said to have appeared under
treasure-hunters' target recently. After a dam in the vicinities went
out of order, several graves remained under water. But they became
visible again after the water disappeared. Profiting by the occasion,
the treasure hunters reportedly started dismantling the graves with
special digging machines in search of valuable items which they
believe might have been buried with the Armenians in the past.


Armenian News - Tert.am

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Turkish academia and the Armenian genocide

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/12/turkey-armenia-genocide-academic-research-media-exposure.html

Orhan Kemal Cengiz
December 22, 2013

Thousands of master’s theses and Ph.D. dissertations in the social sciences are written each year in Turkey. The Higher Education Board (YOK) keeps an electronic database of their topics and titles. A search in the database of dissertations on the Armenian genocide returns a striking result: Only four theses have been written on the issue and, as their titles immediately suggest, they all reflect Turkey’s official position on the massacres.

The four titles are as follows: “Armenian genocide claims in view of international law,” “The importance of pressure groups, lobby activities within the context of the so-called Armenian genocide,” “Turkish-Armenian relations in history and the impact of Armenian genocide claims on Turkey’s European Union membership process” and “Armenian genocide claims in international law.”

That is all Turkish universities have been able to produce in terms of theses on the topic of the Armenian genocide. How is this possible? Are there no academics willing to write dissertations contesting Turkey’s official history line and argue, for instance, that the 1915 events were a genocide? Or is there a state mechanism in place that doesn’t leave it up to chance?

A Dec. 12 report in the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos reveals that academics working on dissertations about the Armenian genocide are under the close scrutiny of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK). According to Agos, the TTK has asked YOK for the details of academics studying the Armenian issue and the YOK chairman, in turn, has asked universities to provide that information. A document Agos published indicates that the YOK chairman had asked universities to supply “the names of master’s and doctoral students working on the Armenian problem, the titles of their researches and contact information, in view of making them available to the Turkish Historical Society in the work it conducts.”

As I mentioned in my previous article for Al-Monitor, various government institutions in Turkey are busy making counter preparations for 2015, the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. The TTK is one of them. The society is likely to have requested the said information from YOK with a view of using it in those preparations.

When Agos asked the TTK why they needed that information, a TTK official stated that scholarships might be offered to academics working in this realm. Agos then asked whether the TTK would give a scholarship to someone whose thesis qualifies the 1915 events as genocide. The official responded that, since the TTK does not officially recognize the Armenian genocide, providing a scholarship to such a study might not be possible.

Agos argues that the TTK’s real motive is to control the academia and keep records of those working on the Armenian problem.

A subsequent report in the Taraf daily backed up Agos’ argument that those studying the Armenian genocide are being secretly profiled. Two former presidents of Istanbul’s Bogazici University, interviewed by Taraf, shed light on how the censorship mechanism works in the academia.

Ustun Erguder confirmed he had received letters from YOK with requests for information. “During my term as university president, YOK would send such letters, but we would dismiss them as [those requests] had nothing to do with our understanding of academic freedom. That’s something that has been done for years. We had even received letters suggesting we made sure that theses 'supporting Turkish unity' were written. … It is out of the question for me to approve of YOK requests seeking out the names and details of those writing theses on the Armenian problem,” Erguder said.

Another former Bogazici University president, Ayse Soysal, made the following comments: “I used to receive similar letters from YOK, while I was university president. It was routine. Two types of letters would come from YOK. One would be in the form of [suggestions] that we support studies backing the state’s official view on subject X or subject Y.”

The insight the two former presidents provide on how the system functions explains why only four dissertations have been written on the Armenian genocide and why all happen to be in line with Turkey’s official view.

In another article for Al-Monitor, I had written also about how Turkey’s non-Muslims' birth registries were marked with secret codes and how the non-Muslims could not become army officers, judges or policemen. And this latest example — the lack of even one academic thesis contesting Turkey’s official position on the Armenian problem — is another indication that certain taboo realms are besieged by unwritten but stern rules.

True, the Armenian taboo has been broken in Turkish civil society and intellectual life. Yet, it continues to exist in this or that form in the “official” realm. Thanks to the exposure of practices such as the TTK request for information about academics studying the Armenian problem, we are getting clues on how Turkey’s official theses are being produced and sustained.

No doubt, the exposed practices represent only part of the whole picture. To understand fully why, how and in what atmosphere Turkey’s official theses remain intact, the known pieces need to be brought together with the pieces that remain beyond our knowledge. Only then will we be able to know how Turkey’s official history theses are able to survive unchanged.

[UrMistake]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Conclusion ... turgs cannot behave and tolerate ,its not meant to be that way ...starting from first republic is build on basis of hate and turkey only for mongols....roots from witch they come from...

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

WHY IS TURKISH WRITER SEVAN NISANYAN IN JAIL?

Al-Monitor
Jan 30 2014

Author: Orhan Kemal Cengiz
Posted January 30, 2014

Sevan Nisanyan, a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin born in 1956,
is without doubt one of the most colorful personalities in Turkish
intellectual life. In the book Wrong Republic, he wrote about
questioning the "Ataturk taboo" in Turkey, arousing the anger of
secular-nationalist Turks. He outraged religious circles with his
criticism of Muslim beliefs, has infuriated feminists and leftists
and never hesitates to speak bluntly about the Armenian genocide.

Nisanyan is now in the first month of a two-year prison term in
Torbali, Izmir province. Ostensibly, Nisanyan is in prison not
for his contrarian views or identity, but because of "construction
infractions." Is this really the case? Why did only Nisanyan end up in
jail for building in an enviroment of rampant illegal construction? Is
his jail term really to punish his contrarian views?

This all began in 1995, when Nisanyan moved to the village of Sirince,
near the Selcuk township, in Izmir province. It was a small village
no one had heard of before Nisanyan moved in and began to fix the
roads, restore the crumbling houses and open small, charming bed
and breakfasts.

Today, however, according to figures provided by Nisanyan's ex-wife,
Mujde Tonbekici, Sirince has become a major destination, attracting
some 600,000 to 800,000 foreign and local tourists a year. Shortly
after settling in Sirince, Nisanyan won the hearts of the local
population with his contributions to the village. But all the
construction and restoration work encountered serious bureaucratic
barriers, and in 2001, he was sentenced to 10 months in jail for
construction-related infractions.

According to officials, their investigations of Nisanyan's
construction activities were legally justified. Sirince is subject to
government-imposed construction restrictions, but for some reason,
the "transition-period construction regulations" issued for areas
subject to such restrictions were never presented for Sirince.

As a result, Nisanyan has been sentenced to a two-year prison term for
installing a small, 40-square-meter shed on his own land. Dozens of
cases have been brought against Nisanyan for unpermitted maintenance,
repair and construction. If all of these cases end in prison terms,
Nisanyan could well spend the rest of his life in jail.

Nisanyan's former wife spoke about the process that led to Nisanyan
being in prison: "Sirince is a restricted construction zone. That is
why you can't build what you want. This is fine. But in the law, there
is a clause that says the government has to issue transition-period
construction regulations until the final construction-zoning plan is
made. This is to allow you to do construction legally. But look, it
has been thirty years, and we still don't have the transition-period
guidelines or the final construction plan. We ran into big problems
because of that. We couldn't carry out our construction. We visited
the government agency in charge 50 times, but couldn't get the
permits. Sevan, being a man who can't sit idle, went after them
persistently, but at the end declared, 'That's it,' and started
to build."

Nisanyan thinks the real targets of his prison sentence are his
identity and opinions. He was bitter and angry before he went to
prison. He expressed his sentiments to Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal:
"All my life -- with my books, with my work in the village -- I tried
to do something good for the people. What did I get in return? From
the state, I always got suspicion, enmity and despotism. I always had
to deal with ethnic and political prejudices, with disrespect and
contempt. Five governments, eight sub-governors -- [I] don't know
how many ministers and governors changed. Every once in a while,
we get a couple of decent people and high hopes. But in the end,
nothing changes."

Nisanyan was more blunt in an earlier interview with Agos, expressing
his views about the true motivation behind his prison sentence: "It is
obvious that the fact that I am Armenian plays a role in this process.

In Turkey, anyone who goes out of the box is punished, even if your
last name is [that of a] 'true Turk.' If you do something out of
the box, you get punished. On top of that, if you are Armenian,
your punishment is magnified."

There are many who think that Nisanyan was sentenced to prison not
because of construction infractions, but because of his views that
defy a number of taboos in Turkey. A local and international petition
campaign for his release states the following:

Sevan Nisanyan is being punished for doing illegal construction on
his own land in Turkey, which is a haven for illegal construction, and
is now incarcerated at Izmir-Torbali prison, since Jan. 2. Moreover,
instead of being awarded a Nobel Prize for architecture for what
he created in Sirince, he faces about 50 years of prison terms for
17 cases brought against him. In fact, everybody knows that the
case against Sevan Nisanyan has nothing to do with construction
infractions. He is being punished for his history and literary work
challenging the official ideology.

Another petition campaign asserts that the real reason for Nisanyan's
prison term are his views on Islam:

We denounce the injustice of ... years of prison terms slapped on Sevan
Nisanyan for a village tenement he built on his own land. The sentence
given to Sevan Nisanyan, who turned Sirince into a paradise of culture
and tourism in our country, which is a nirvana for illegal construction
and crooked urbanization, is unjust and disgraceful. We don't believe
that the heavy and unjust imprisonment of Nisan Sevanyan is because
of construction regulations, when another trial has been going on
for 13 and a half months' imprisonment for saying that satirical
and denigrating expressions about Islam in a country with a Muslim
majority can't be a hate crime. The sentence handed to Nisanyan is a
disgrace that should rattle our conscience and cast shadows on hopes
for freedom of thought.

In short, there is a sizeable group in Turkey that thinks Nisanyan's
going to prison has nothing to do with infractions of construction
regulations.

The corruption investigations launched against the government (that are
not going anywhere because of heavy pressure) have revealed illegally
issued construction permits amounting to millions of dollars in
Istanbul, making it a tragicomedy that an Armenian who built a small
shed on his own land ends up in prison. It is a reality that one must
think hard about to understand Turkey.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/nisanyan-turkish-jail.html#

[hipeter924]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Would those historical events to be considered from the point of view of archival material also include the Turkish policy of the mass murder at Galippoli of prisoners and unarmed captured or surrendering soldiers? As a guess, I'd say no.

Gallipoli myths are still going strong in New Zealand and Australia. They don't teach about the Armenian Genocide in New Zealand and Australian schools, which is probably why Turkey likes Australia and New Zealand so much.