Posted on 01/04/2012 2:24:39 PM PST by Righting
Turkey: Killed for requesting a Kurdish song
A weekend in December 2011 ended tragically when Gazi Akbayir, a man originally from Tunceli, was brutally murdered after having requested that musicians in a bar sing a folksong in Zaza Kurdish, his native language. The sad incident took place in a bar in Izmir in Turkey. News sources reports that Akbayir was attacked by a group of people after the song was played. He argued for his right to listen to a song in his mother tongue and was then assaulted with knives. Akbayir is said to have left the bar bleeding, only to be shot by a gun when escaping to his car. He was shot eight times and died on the way to the hospital.
Rising intolerance
Turkish Weekly reports about reoccurring incidents of religious and ethnically based violence, signs of the Turkish society becoming more and more intolerant. Turkey has received several warnings from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, pointing out that the country needs to strengthen its criminal law provisions to “establish protection mechanisms or specific bodies to combat racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance”.
(Excerpt) Read more at freemuse.org ...
Racism Against Kurds After the Van, Earthquake | İstanbul Voices
www.istanbulvoices.org/
26 Oct 2011 by Sean David Hobbs
Racism Against Kurds After the Van, Earthquake
BY SEAN DAVID HOBBS · OCTOBER 26, 2011
While the Turkish national response to the 7.2 magnitude Earthquake in the province of Van in eastern Turkey has been filled with remorse and a desire to help there has also been an ugly “other” face to the national Turkish response. Eastern Turkey is an area predominantly Kurdish in ethnic background. Recently in eastern Turkey there have been flare-ups in fighting between the Kurdish Workers Party (or PKK) and the Turkish military.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity a Turkish Professor of Literature named “Murat” explained, “When many Turks first heard (about the earthquake) our first reaction was happiness… It felt like (biblical) revenge from God to the Kurds for the killing of our young soldiers the week before.”
The earthquake followed on the heels of the October 19th attack by the PKK on the Turkish military and police in Hakkari, Turkey. Hakkari is a province near the epicenter of the earthquake in Van, Turkey. 26 Turkish soldiers have been reported dead from the October 19th attacks.
On Monday, following the earthquake center-right journalist Duygu Canbas said on the air, “Even if it is in Van we are very sad about this news.” Kurds have been offended by Ms. Canbas’ statement believing Ms. Canbas said indirectly, “Even if it is in a place where Kurds predominantly live, we are saddened by the earthquake news.”
Right wing talk show host Muge Anli went a step further when she said on Monday, “Everyone should know their place. At one time you (Kurds) wanted to throw stones and hunt Turkish soldiers and then in hard times you (Kurds) go and cry out ‘Wah wah wah’ and want help.”
Following an outcry against such gauche statement the Turkish national media has appeared more sympathetic in the past few days.
Still Kurds feel uncomfortable. Dicle Kara, 29, a Kurdish woman and activist originally from the province next to Van said, “After the (October 19th Attack) and now the Van Earthquake the feeling is that one needs to pick a side. Either you are for Turks or for Kurds… But I don’t want to pick a side! I don’t support the PKK and I don’t support the Turkish army and I hate how aggressive everyone is acting toward one another!”
One Turkish journalist, Ali Mendillioglu, 38, who has worked closely in union organizing with both Kurds and Turks states, “The October 19th attacks did much to fan Turkish nationalism against Kurds.” Mendillioglu points to the comments section on Turkish news websites. “There are many comments on these websites about how the earthquake was God’s justice against the Kurds.”
However, Mendillioglu says the problem of Turkish racism against Kurds is a problem with deep roots in Turkish society. Explains Mendillioglu, “Turkish Racism against Kurds is the fundamental problem in Turkey today.”
http://www.istanbulvoices.org/2011/10/racism-against-kurds-after-the-van-earthquake/
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Turkey strike kills 35, Kurds decry "massacre" Hindustan Times
Reuters
Diyarbakir, December 29, 2011
First Published: 20:02 IST(29/12/2011) Last Updated: 20:03 IST(29/12/2011)
Turkish warplanes launched air strikes against suspected Kurdish militants in northern Iraq near the Turkish border overnight, the military said on Thursday, but local officials said the attack killed 35 smugglers who were mistaken for guerrillas.
The Turkish military confirmed it had launched the strikes after unmanned drones spotted suspected rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), but said there were no civilians in the area and it was investigating the incident.
The attack, which Turkey's largest pro-Kurdish party called a "crime against humanity", sparked clashes between hundreds of stone-throwing protesters and police in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's restive mainly Kurdish southeast.
Police responded by firing water cannon and tear gas at the demonstrators. Seven people were detained. One police officer was hurt after being hit by a stone, witnesses said.
"We have 30 corpses, all of them are burned. The state knew that these people were smuggling in the region. This kind of incident is unacceptable. They were hit from the air," said Fehmi Yaman, mayor of Uludere in Sirnak province.
The Sirnak governor's office said 35 people had been killed and one wounded during an operation near the border with Uludere district.
The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) said party leaders were heading for the area and that it would hold demonstrations in Istanbul and elsewhere to protest the deaths.
"This is a massacre," BDP Deputy Chairwoman Gultan Kisanak told a news conference in Diyarbakir.
"This country's warplanes bombed a group of 50 of its citizens to destroy them. This is a war crime and a crime against humanity," she said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/RestOfAsia/Turkey-strike-kills-35-Kurds-decry-massacre/Article1-788820.aspx
This has to be a misprint. Erdogan and his government have told us they are officially a Moslem country. Everyone knows Moslems are forbidden to drink alcohol. Was this a juice bar?
I know perfectly well that, in addition to being peaceful, Islamists are not hypocrites.
.. and from where is that happening? The rising Islamism (political Islam, sharia law advocates) in the AK Party and many believe, the influence of American citizen Fethullah Gülen and his "movement".
And who was it that demanded that Turkey's military must never interfere again to end such Islamist excesses?The EU!. The Turkish military must not interfere to protect modern Turkey and restore the secular constitutional Republic of Turkey, said the EU if Turkey wants to become a member of the EU.
I believe that the one's who are forcing Turkey into a Iran-style republic where last kicked out of government by the Army in 1996 -- they returned in 2002 promising the voters that they would respect Turkey's secular heritage -- now with the help of Europeans the Islamists are nearing total control. I believe that recent changes in the Constitution prevents the Army from legally removing them for new elections.
I lived in Turkey for a year. They have legally brewed at least two beers since Sultan times. Nothing better than a cold Efes Pilsen on a hot day.
The Kurds are outbreeding the Turks two to 1 and by mid-century half of the country’s population will be Kurdish. This is giving Erdogan nightmares.
Re: the Sirnak Massacre (Oct. 29, 2011). What would have happened if the US or Israel hit “civilians”???
I was there before all the Islamism, Sharia Law stuff. I read a few months ago that 40 percent of the Turkish adults say that they will not live under Sharia Law. Period!
The AK Party got elected promising they'd fix the economy, rid the nation of corruption, and respect modern Turkey's secular heritage. They did the first two apparently but they lied about the third one. Much trouble now and more to come.
There's a war going on where Turkey is defending against the PKK. The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by our own Department of State and by European countries. The PKK has killed thousands since the 1980s.
PKK routinely crosses into Turkey from northern Iraq to kill Turks. The PKK is not associated with the regional Kurdish government of Iraq.
When you read a headline that Turkish military "invades" Iraq the above describes what is really happening.
There are connections between the PKK and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) quoted above, so naturally they are screaming loudly about a "massacre." Notice that the news source quoted has massacre in quotes.
BTW, the terrorist groups PKK, etc. are fighting to take the very territory that Armenia claims. If I am not mistaken.
I have heard this as well. As the demographic situation becomes clearer, expect violence from the ethnic Turks.
Duygu Canbas
http://www.onedergi.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/LIVEIM11.JPG
Muge Anli
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3559/mgee010152.jpg
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