Already feeling unsafe in Turkey


Date posted: February 10, 2014

LAMİYA ADİLGIZI

 

“I am speaking frankly. As a prime minister who was jailed for reciting a poem, I will not agree to let anyone do time because of his or her thoughts, views and writings. I will not consent to turn a blind eye to an act of brutally murdering anyone for their opinions and remarks,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said while celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Zaman daily in January 2012.

He later said that his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government would “not let the pain and suffering experienced in the past recur now or in the future.”

These words belong to Erdoğan, who broke his promise when he sued Today’s Zaman journalist Mahir Zeynalov and deported him from Turkey to his native Azerbaijan without a court decision, just because he voiced views that the Prime Ministry Coordination Center (BİMER) said are “against the state and government.”

Forgetting his past and moving in the opposite direction, Erdoğan intended to tyrannize others — the same way he was treated years ago in this country. Though he’d stressed that one of his main goals was not to let the pain of the past return, he brought the past to the present and even curbed freedom of speech as burdensome to his native Turkey.

Since the early days of his government, building an atmosphere full of threats and smear campaigns that never let writers feel free to express their thoughts and feelings the way they wanted to, Erdoğan drew a red line in the media, acting arbitrarily, according to his moods. Unable to take criticism, he instead resorted to curtailing freedoms and limiting others’ liberty.

Thus, in a conflict between Erdoğan’s honor and freedom of speech that has been escalating since the start of the battle between Erdoğan and the Gülen movement, honor won the victory.

Erdogan’s honor overrode freedom of speech in Turkey and Mahir got deported because of a simple allegation — that he’d posted critical tweets that targeted Turkey. No, no — I mean Erdoğan’s Turkey.

Mahir’s deportation should not only be evaluated within the framework of the increasing constraints of freedoms in Turkey, as it is a new start in the AK Party-Gülen fight to the finish. It will definitely lead to the opening of further chapters in this controversy, which will probably turn into a long, drawn-out serial.

Erdoğan removed Mahir from Turkish soil and left all foreign journalists, particularly Azerbaijanis, living and working in Turkey under a huge cloud of suspicion. As a person sharing Mahir’s nationality, I already feel insecure and uncomfortable in Turkey, a country that I have always felt a strong sentimental attachment to. Mahir said the same in his reflections on the nightmare he has been going through since Feb. 4.

Turkey was the only country and İstanbul the only city that I wanted to live in aside from my hometown of Baku, Azerbaijan, as like almost all Azerbaijanis, I always felt myself at home in Turkey. Although my passport is not the same color as those of Turkish people, I have always felt myself a Turk; throughout the years I, together with Mahir, have always shouldered the same patriotic responsibilities as Turkish people, who most Azerbaijanis see as Turkish Azeris, not as “others.” And right now I wish Turks to shoulder the responsibility of our safety, and in this case Mahir’s, to rescue him from Erdoğan’s despotism, so that we can feel at home in Turkey, as we did before.

Source: Todays Zaman , February 10, 2014


Related News

Zaman Editor-in-Chief: Turkish government no longer democratic

Ekrem Dumanlı was arrested on December 14, part of a series of coordinated raids by Turkish authorities against a number of prominent media figures, all facing charges of belonging to a terrorist “parallel organization.” The organization in question? Fethullah Gülen’s outlawed Hizmet movement.

Experts speak on role of digital media in society in İstanbul

The Medialog Platform brought together academics and communication experts from different parts of the region surrounding Turkey in İstanbul on Friday for their second International Communication Conference, to discuss the impact of social media on politics and social movements.

Int’l scholars discuss ijtihad, qiyas at İstanbul symposium

Around 1,000 theologians, academics and opinion leaders from more than 100 countries gathered for a two-day symposium in İstanbul over the weekend to discuss the importance of ijtihad and qiyas in Islam.

Nearly 500 police officials reassigned in Ankara, İzmir

Erdoğan has reacted furiously to the corruption investigation, decrying an attempted “judicial coup” his supporters see as orchestrated by the Hizmet movement. He has reassigned thousands of police officers, more than a hundred judges and prosecutors, and purged official bodies of executives he suspects of being close to Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Turkish ambassador leads an unrealistic mission: bringing a reclusive Muslim cleric before Turkish courts

Although Turkey immediately blamed Gulen for the coup attempt, it took Ankara nearly six weeks to make a formal request for his extradition — and that was based on earlier alleged crimes, not for his supposed role in the coup.

Turkish-Arab forum focuses on gov’t oppression on Hizmet

Discussing the recent developments in Turkey and the Muslim world during the “Arab-Turkish Intellectuals Forum” in İstanbul on Tuesday, a scholar from Egypt likened the smear campaign conducted by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan against the Hizmet movement to the suppression of a civic movement in Egypt.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Turkey’s post-coup purges shake higher education

Minister Şahin praises Journalists and Writers Foundation for courageous coverage

Pak Turk International Schools, Colleges Organize 14th Inter-School Mathematics Olympiad

Parents dream of their children being admitted to Turkish schools in Senegal

Inability to generate values

Turkic American Alliance’s iftar brought diplomats together in Washington DC

Turkish family, kidnapped in Pakistan, deported to Turkey Saturday morning

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News