Staatsgreep in Turkije #58

quote:

'Because they spoke of Allah...'

Turkey has never been deprived of ironies. Who would think that one day an imam, viewed by secular Turks with deep suspicion, could unite conservative and secular Turks - at least in appearance. After dramatic divisions over the past 14 years it would be too premature to claim that "once again we are united, we are one nation." The optimism is understandable. Over-optimism is not.

The new, reasonable political language between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his political nemeses in Turkey is promising. Prime Minister Binali Y?ld?r?m's pledge to never divert from his reconciliatory line (a climate of unity) is promising, too. But the major political fault line that caused past and present political tremors is still there: a secularist urge to "modernize / westernize" conservative Muslims against an even stronger conservative urge to "Islamize" the "white Turks."

No doubt, Mr. Erdogan's confession over "why it happened" was genuine and honest:

"I am saddened at not having been able to unmask this treacherous organization [Gülenists] a long time ago. For that [failure] I am liable to God and to my nation. May God and our nation forgive us ... We tolerated them [Gülenists] because they spoke of Allah. [We thought] we have something in common [with Gülenists]. We failed to see that this structure [Gülenists] which we viewed as having a common range [goal] through different ways could be one with different intentions and sinister goals."

Genuine and honest, yes. But problematic, too. As Selahattin Demirtas, leader of the pro-Kurdish opposition party, forcefully reminded, why should the Gülenist government and military officials "who, too, failed to see what Gülen [and Gülenists] were about" now face life sentences but the president of the republic should be forgiven by God and by our nation?

President Erdogan's honest confession is also a manifesto providing useful input for any intellectual debate over what political Islam and what its fundamental principle of governance are about. It is a confession that Islamists in governance tend to discriminate against those "who do not speak of Allah." For any favorable treatment in government service, one must either "speak of Allah" or, if he is not so pious, must prove to be a loyal collaborator of the Islamists.

The "common goal" Mr. Erdogan speaks of is the advancement of political Islam in Turkey first and then in the rest of the world. In not-so-encrypted language, Mr. Erdogan is telling us that that "common goal" was the reason why he failed to unmask the treacherous organization that is Gülen.

Mr. Erdogan's account of "why it happened" is an honest manifesto revealing the usual symptoms of political Islam: The pious-looking are "us" and the rest are the "other." "Us" must always be favored, and the "other" discriminated - until, of course, an intra-Islamist war divides "us."

There is also an unmentioned nuance in President Erdogan's description of those "who speak of Allah." His political Islam is not so passionately embracing for some other Muslims who, like his stripe, "speak of Allah." In Sunni Islamist practice, a Shiite or an Alevi who "speaks of [the same] Allah" would not grant him entry into the favored group.

Mr. Erdogan's new, softer political language is music to the ears of millions of Turks who are weary of an unnamed (and non-violent) civil war along secular-conservative lines. All the same, there is hardly any convincing evidence that the nearly century-long great Turkish divide will disappear just because some crazy officers attempted to take over power and risked a violent civil war that would probably have ended with hundreds of thousands of dead people.

http://www.hurriyetdailyn(...)102758&NewsCatID=398
August/12/2016

quote:

Turkish foreign minister says 32 diplomatic personnel failed to heed return call

A total of 32 diplomatic personnel on foreign missions have failed to heed Ankara’s call to return as part of the investigation into the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), which was blamed for the July 15 failed coup attempt, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has announced.

“We had called back a total of 208 diplomatic personnel to assign them to the [Foreign] Ministry. The number of personnel who did not come back unexcused and without leave is 32,” Çavuşoğlu said, while speaking at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, on Aug. 12 in the capital Ankara.

The minister also added that two of the personnel who had been working in Bangladesh fled to the U.S. while the other had returned to Turkey and begun to work at the ministry.

In addition, Çavuşoğlu said a delegation from the U.S. Department of Justice would hold talks in Turkey on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24 to discuss the extradition of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

August/12/2016

quote:

Op vrijdag 12 augustus 2016 15:53 schreef Slayage het volgende:

[..]

die hakan een bekende gulenist en oud volksvertegenwoordiger van de AKP is al een tijdje zoek, hij smeerde hem vlak voordat de Gulen beweging weer een actie ondernam tegen de regering.

weet iemand welke actie dat ook alweer was?

pa van hakan aangehouden sukur

http://www.hurriyet.com.t(...)00&_sgm_action=click

quote:

Op vrijdag 12 augustus 2016 16:29 schreef Bilge het volgende:

[..]

Op 16 december 2013 diende Hakan Sukur zijn ontslag in wegens de sluiting van Gülenscholen. 2 weken later barstte het afluister/ corruptieschandaal uit. Gülen liet destijds om de paar dagen een aan hem gelieerde AKPartij-politicus zijn ontslag indienen, zodat de AKPartij steeds in het nieuws bleef als in slow-motion in elkaar stortende partij/ zinkend schip.

Wel grappig:
[ afbeelding ]
Erdogan als trouwambtenaar, Hakan Sukur als bruidegom en Fethullah Gülen als getuige. Foto is van 1995.

quote:

Fugitive putschist police chief captured in northern Iraq's Zaho

A fugitive police chief, who was being sought as part of investigations launched against the FETÖ and has been on the run ever since the July 15 coup attempt, was captured in a joint operation by Iraqi-Kurdish and Turkish security forces on Friday in the northern Iraqi town of Zaho.

Turkey's Ministry of Interior suspended Ahmet Duran Bitmez, who was assigned to the Batman Police Department, following the coup attempt. An arrest warrant was also issued for Bitmez, who could be found at any of his addresses.

Provincial police units found out that Bitmez had escaped to the northern Iraqi town of Zaho, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Turkish authorities notified KRG officials of Bitmez's escape, and the fugitive police chief was caught in a joint operation on Friday.

Bitmez was brought to Turkey later in the day, and detained after his testimony was taken.

Security forces suspect that Bitmez escaped to northern Iraq to seek refuge in the PKK terror organization's camps.
http://www.dailysabah.com(...)-northern-iraqs-zaho

quote:

AKP, CHP, MHP hold first meet on constitutional reform

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have gathered for the first time in order to hold talks on a “mini constitution package.”

At the meeting on Aug. 12, the three parties also delivered messages on the prevalence of the conciliation climate which has emerged following the July 15 failed coup attempt.

In the wake of the uprising, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had invited the CHP and MHP to meet to discuss steps to be taken in the wake of the coup. As at the “Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally” at the Yenikapı parade ground in Istanbul held on Aug. 7, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) was not included.

The Yenikapı event was the first time the leaders of the AKP, the CHP and MHP shared the same platform.

However the HDP – the third largest party in parliament – was not present.

In an interview aired on public broadcaster TRT late on Aug. 11, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu pointed at the absence of the HDP along the constitution-making process.

“Politics has a mission; politics is made in the legitimate field, not in the illegitimate field. The duty of politics, the duty of the CHP too, of the AKP too, and of the MHP too, is to take the HDP inside the legitimate field,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan blames U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen for orchestrating the coup attempt, which killed about 240 people. He has initiated a crackdown on Gülen’s followers within the judiciary, military and the rest of the government for alleged links to the coup plot.

Any constitutional change requires the support of at least 367 deputies in the 550-seat assembly to pass directly. The AKP has 316 seats while the CHP has 133 lawmakers.

Opposition parties have been wary of the AKP’s years-long campaign for a new constitution because Erdoğan has made transforming his office from a largely ceremonial post into an executive-style presidency a central aspect of the new charter. They worry this will concentrate too much power in his hands.
http://www.hurriyetdailyn(...)102805&NewsCatID=338
August/12/2016

quote:

Politiek moet zich harder opstellen tegen Ankara

De nationalistische bijeenkomst van zondag 7 augustus in Istanbul van Erdogan, Kiliçdaroglu en Bahçeli heeft weer bevestigd dat Turkije de andere kant op gaat dan Europa had verwacht. Namelijk nog meer nationalisme, nog meer agressie, geweld en haat richting de critici van Erdogan in Turkije.

De winnaar van het hele spel is Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We kunnen alles van hem vinden, maar hij is een echte politicus. Hij weet hoe hij de nationalistische snaren van de Turken kan raken en laat hen als het nodig is de straat op gaan. Niet alleen in Turkije, maar zoals we de afgelopen weken hebben meegemaakt en gezien ook in Nederland, Duitsland en alle andere EU-landen.

Persoonlijk maak ik me zorgen over de Koerden en alle andere denkers, journalisten, schrijvers en wetenschappers die kritiek uiten op Erdogan. Toen ik de beelden in Istanbul zag, moest ik denken aan de bijeenkomst van Hitlers NSDAP in Neurenberg (1935). Bij de reacties van de aanhangers van Erdogan dacht ik aan de aanhangers van Saddam Hussein. Die gingen ook de straat op en riepen steeds ja Saddam, ja Saddam, lang leve Saddam. Ik hoef niemand te vertellen wat the end van hun film geworden is.

De angst voor Erdogan en zijn aanhangers heerst nog steeds overal en waarschijnlijk zullen we er met z'n allen nog jaren last van hebben. Ik ga het niet meer over hun praktijken op de sociale media hebben. Uitschelden, intimideren, vernederen. Mensen vragen zich terecht af hoe lang dit mag duren en of ze zomaar hun gang kunnen gaan. Mensen zijn boos en teleurgesteld in de politiek van Den Haag. Ik verwacht niet dat Den Haag Erdogan de oorlog verklaart, dat zou onrealistisch en onverstandig zijn.

Vertel de aanhangers én tegenstanders van Erdogan, dat wij in een vrij land wonen en dat we er alles aan doen om onze problemen middels dialoog op te lossen

De politieke relatie tussen Den Haag en Ankara is te vergelijken met een verkering zonder liefde. Erdogan zou er niet eens wakker van liggen, want de bijeenkomst met de rode vlaggen heeft zijn nationalistische, narcistische gevoelens voor de komende jaren voldoende gemasseerd.

Wat de politiek wel moet doen, is aan Ankara duidelijk maken dat wij niet accepteren dat ze vanuit daar mensen monitoren en hen de straat op sturen om met hun vlaggen te wapperen en toeteren in de straten van Nederland. Vertel de aanhangers én tegenstanders van Erdogan, dat wij in een vrij land wonen en dat we er alles aan doen om onze problemen middels dialoog op te lossen. We verwachten van hen dat ze loyaal zijn aan en respect hebben voor de waarden en normen van alle Nederlanders.

Geweld

Er is geen ruimte voor mensen die geweld gebruiken tegen andere inwoners. Als jij moeite hebt je aan de waarden en normen van Nederland te houden, heb je toch echt niet het recht eigen rechter te spelen, mensen te bedreigen of gebouwen in de fik te steken.

Dat recht heb je niet en krijg je niet en als je het toch doet, lever dan je paspoort in en neem een enkele reis op eigen kosten of op kosten van degenen voor wie je de straat opgaat, naar de plek waar je je goed voelt en geweld mag gebruiken.

quote:

Op vrijdag 12 augustus 2016 21:37 schreef Triggershot het volgende:

[..]

quote:

Op vrijdag 12 augustus 2016 21:42 schreef Triggershot het volgende:

[..]

Ik vind stiekem deze wel leuk eigenlijk :

[ afbeelding ]

"We zijn in rook opgegaan"

quote:

Op vrijdag 12 augustus 2016 21:42 schreef zarGon het volgende:

[..]

Het is wel lame om in de archieven te duiken om dan vervolgens te komen met clipjes uit 1996...