Turkish Forum

Tag: Recep Tayyip Erdogan

12th president of Turkey

  • President Erdogan someone who “destroyed the country”

    President Erdogan someone who “destroyed the country”

    Subject: A Respectful Rebuttal Regarding Your Recent Statement

    Dear Dr. Atac,

    I read your recent statement drawing a comparison between the Vazi Parliament that entrusted Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with temporary authority during our War of Independence, and what you described as a “traitorous parliament” granting lifetime authority to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I must respectfully, yet firmly, challenge this narrative both on historical grounds and factcheck  for the sake of national dignity.

    Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk)’e TBMM’nce 5 Ağustos 1921 tarihinde 3 ay süreli başkomutanlık görevi verilmişti!

    First and foremost, to equate Atatürk’s struggle for national liberation with your characterization of modern democratic developments is a distortion of both eras. The Grand National Assembly of Türkiye granted Atatürk extraordinary powers for three months in 1921 not because he demanded them for life, but because the nation was at war for its survival. Those powers were renewed multiple times and extended as needed. Historical context matters.

    Now, as for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, let us be honest and factual:

    • He has not been given power for life. He was elected by the Turkish people through internationally recognized democratic elections first aas Prime Ministaer, and later as President under the new system approved by a national referendum in 2017.
    • The presidential system of government adopted by popular vote did not abolish parliament but redefined the balance between the executive and legislative branches, similar to other presidential systems in the world.
    • Erdogan’s terms in office remain subject to constitutional limits, and his tenure will ultimately be decided by the voters—not by personal entitlement or parliamantary submission.

    Dr. Atac,  It is profoundly unfair and frankly dangerous to label the current Grand National Assembly as “traitorous” merely because it has operated within the bounds of a constitutionally restructured system, which was endorsed by millions of Turkish citizens through a legal, democratic process. Disagreement with policy is one thing; slandering institutions and comparing them to betrayal is something else entirely.

    Moreover  Dr Atac,, calling President Erdogan someone who “destroyed the country” ignores many undeniable realities:

    • Under his leadership, Türkiye became the world’s 19th largest economy, expanded its national defense industry, launched domestic satellite programs, and became a critical regional player in diplomacy and energy.
    • He has invested heavily in infrastructure, education, and healthcare, benefiting tens of millions of Turkish citizens from every province not just the elites of the major cities.

    You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. But when criticism turns into sweeping vilification that defames our republic’s elected leadership, we must draw the line especially when invoking the secred memory of Atatürk, who built institutions to reflect the will of the people, not the whims of ideology.

    In closing, I urge you to rise above this kind of rhetoric, not for the sake of any one leader, but for the unity and dignity of our homeland. Our ancestors did not sacrifice everything just to see their legacy torn down with divisive, inaccurate comparisons. Türkiye deserves better. So do its citizens.

    With all due respect and sincere intentions,

    Ibrahim Kurtulus

    Demirhisar Koyu 
    Sehit Ismail Hakki Kurtulus Mevki

    Merkez cami Mah No 1

    Cayeli – Rize  -Turkiye

    New York

  • Massive Protests in Turkiye

    Massive Protests in Turkiye

    Massive Protests in Turkiye Threaten Erdogan’s Grip on Power

    Massive Protests in Turkiye Threaten Erdogan’s Grip on Power | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G

    Protests continued across Turkiye against the government of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The unrest, which was triggered by the arrest of Erdogan’s rival, has now expanded to other concerns around the economy and civil liberties. What does this mean for Erdogan’s political future? Is this the end of the road for the Turkish president? Palki Sharma tells you.

  • Erdogan is Said to be the Descendant Of a Greek Pro-Armenian Anarchist

    Erdogan is Said to be the Descendant Of a Greek Pro-Armenian Anarchist

    Over the years, many articles have appeared in the Turkish press claiming that various high-ranking Turkish officials are of Armenian or Kurdish origin.

    These officials have often vehemently denied the claim, but sometimes have ignored it in order to avoid drawing more attention to it. For example, several years ago, when it was claimed that Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan is of Armenian origin, he simply replied: “I regret that they are calling me Armenian.” Given the prevalent racism in Turkey, calling someone an Armenian is considered an insult.

    Former Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz was reported to be of Armenian origin, as well as Devlet Bahceli, the Chairman of the MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), a radical ultra-nationalist party. I recently found a YouTube video in which Isa Ilyasoglu, who served in Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), claimed that Bahceli is of Armenian origin on his mother’s side. Ilyasoglu reported that during the genocide, a 16-year-old Armenian girl was kidnapped and raped by the Governor of Adana. That girl later became the grandmother of Bahceli who, contrary to what is indicated on his I.D. card, is not from Osmaniye, but from Halfeti, a town in the region of Urfa. As a child his family moved to the town of Bahce in Adana, where he acquired his last name, Bahceli.

    It is widely acknowledged that a large percentage of today’s Turks are descendants of Armenians, Greeks or Kurds, many of whom were Islamized and Turkified, particularly during the 1915 Genocide, when young Armenian children were abducted and adopted by Turkish families. Most of these children were too young to remember their ethnic origin. The Turkified and Islamized Armenians are often referred to as “Hidden Armenians.”

    However, over the years, many Turks have come forward stating that they have just discovered their Armenian origin. Some of them have even asked to be baptized in the Armenian Church and reconvert to Christianity.

    In 2018, The Turkish Government unexpectedly launched a website that revealed the ancestry of all Turkish citizens. Within days, millions of Turks rushed to find out their ethnic origin. As a result, the website crashed and shortly thereafter, it was shut down. Subsequently, the website was reinstated with “enhanced privacy measures.” There were several reports of Muslim Turks being shocked upon finding out that they had Armenian blood. One report claimed that an anti-Armenian Turkish fanatic, upon finding out that he was of Armenian origin, committed suicide.

    There is also a large group of Armenians in Turkey, known as Hemshens, who live in the Black Sea region. They were forcefully Islamized. Some of them have retained their Armenian traditions and native Armenian language which has a distinct dialect.

    In the YouTube video I recently found, the Turkish intelligence officer Ilyasoglu made sensational revelations about Turkish President Erdogan’s ethnic origin. I am not sure how true his report is, but given Ilyasoglu’s intelligence background, I could not ignore his claim.

    Ilyasoglu lived in England from 1995 to 1996 and moved to Germany in 2000. In 2005, he ran for the Turkish Parliament, but later withdrew his candidacy. He is currently the Chairman of the Resurrection Party which has the slogan, “one government, one nation, one flag and one religion – Turk.” He now lives in Germany. It is widely known that the Turkish government has many intelligence officers in Germany to spy on millions of Turks who live there, particularly Kurds and Erdogan’s political opponents.

    Erdogan’s I.D. card shows that he was born in Rize which is in the Greek Pontus region of Turkey. Ilyasoglu said in his video that “Erdogan’s father was a Greek man from Pontus. His mother was a Spanish Jew who came to Pontus via Georgia.” Ilyasoglu added: “If Erdogan dares, let him dispute it.”

    “The brother of one of Tayyip (Erdogan’s] grandparents was a Greek priest who, on the coast of the Black Sea, tried to establish the Pontus Greek Republic after the Russian-Turkish war.

    “His grandfather and his brother, who was a priest, were arrested, tried by the ‘Giresun Independence Court,’ sentenced to death in Giresun and hanged.” Ilyasoglu explained that he is from Giresun: “This is written in the memoirs of Judge Ali Kilic.”

    “In fact, Erdogan’s maternal great-grandfather, Tayyoub, was an anarchist, who after entering Turkish villages and committing murders, engaged in looting. Then, during the 1922 Marash Armenian rebellion, with his group, he sided with the Armenians, attacked Turkish soldiers and was killed in the Taurus Mountains.” Ilyasoglu added: “Let Tayyip Erdogan look for his maternal great-grandfather’s remains in the Taurus Mountains. In other words, his mother’s grandfather has no grave.”

    The above cited video is dated October 28, 2023. There are no reports in the Turkish media that Ilyasoglu was criticized or prosecuted for his sensational revelations about Erdogan, even though he has visited Turkey several times. Since the Turkish media is under the total control of Erdogan, no Turkish newspaper would dare to publish anything that may be upsetting to the President. It is not known why the Turkish government has not prosecuted Ilyasoglu for claiming that Erdogan’s forefathers are Greek. The reason could mean either that Ilyasoglu is telling the truth about Erdogan’s ancestry or that the President is reluctant to draw more attention to the claims in the video.

    According to a Turkish proverb, “a spoiled wine becomes bitter vinegar.” This can mean that some Islamized and Turkified Armenians become fervent enemies of Armenians. This is similar to the expression, “more Catholic than the Pope.”

  • NATO Summit shows Erdogan’s turn to the West

    NATO Summit shows Erdogan’s turn to the West

    The NATO Summit held in Vilnius, Lithuania, last week was mostly about Ukraine’s joining the club. As a result, and a new NATO-Ukraine Council was established to help boost cooperation.

    However, there is one more important aspect on the Summit results that deserves attention is the role of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who gave the green light to Sweden to join NATO.

    Fresh and full of energy after the re-election, Erdogan seemed to meet everyone and be everywhere during the Summit and demonstrated his strong commitment to further collaboration with the West.

    To the surprise of many, the Turkish leader, after years of blocking the Sweden’s efforts to get a NATO membership, this finally shook a hand of his Swedish counterpart. Certainly, Erdogan got a decent reward for his decision – hours after his vote for Sweden’s joining NATO the U.S. approved a supply of F-16 fighter jets delivered to Turkey.

    For the first time since entering the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden also met his Turkish counterpart. Despite the relations of the two countries has been frosty recently due to Erdogan’s sharp comments towards the U.S., the European Union and the Western values in general, this time the Turkish leader seemed to have chosen the right tone to break the ice and described his American counterpart as “my dear friend” when giving his comments to the media.

    But with the surprise comes some disappointment, too. Some experts believe, Erdogan showed that he was buckling under the West’s pressure. Before the summit, the entire Islamic world looked at him as the leader of Great Turkey with a stern stance to the Islamic values.  But in fact, he changed his mind about Sweden and went along with it. The Turkish people were proud of their President for his steadfastness, character and ability to keep his word, but in fact he once again has shown he does not live up to expectations.

    Playing different cards with opposing sides has become a signature of the Erdogan’s policy. However, changing mind and sides often results with ending up with nothing.

  • Turkey’s strategy reveals Erdogan has built a house of cards, not an Empire

    Turkey’s strategy reveals Erdogan has built a house of cards, not an Empire

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives for the G20 of World Leaders Summit on October 30, 2021 at the convention center “La Nuvola” in the EUR district of Rome. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

    The year of 2023 might become perhaps the worst time for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his political career. Being harshly criticized for his foreign policy due to balancing between the West and Russia, making accuses towards the U.S. (the Turkey’s main strategic partner) and sticking to the NATO at the same time, Erdogan’s internal policy is also close to ruins.

    The Erdogan’s failure to response to the earthquake that hit the Turkish northern territories and killed more than 35 000 people is on the top of the presidential election campaign agenda. The Turkish leader is accused by opposition for hailing some of the housing projects that crumbled, killing thousands of people. According to some construction experts, contractors were allowed to skip crucial safety regulations, increasing their profits but putting residents at risk. The video, taken during a campaign stop ahead of Turkey’s March 2019 local elections, Erdogan mentioned new housing for the city of Kahramanmaras (also called as Maras), near the epicenter February’s quake, as one of his main achievements.

    “We solved the problem of 144,156 citizens of Maras with zoning amnesty,” Erdogan said, using his term for the construction amnesties handed out to allow contractors to ignore the safety codes.

    The earthquake-damaged territories mostly inhabited by Kurds, have always been an epicenter for Turkey’s internal policy. Having been oppressed by the Turkish ruling party for years for the activity of the local PKK party (Kurdish Working Party, considered as a terrorist organization by the Turkish government), these territories faced a revealed connivance of authorities towards housing construction that adds even more oil to the flame that’s discrediting Erdogan’s policy among locals.

    But in his foreign policy Erdogan has been even more uncompromising for several years. Having demonstrated his Ottoman Empire’s ambitions, the Turkish leader has managed to make enemies almost from all his partners and near-located countries. Harsh and uncensored accusations towards the West, an aggressive imperial policy towards some Middle East and Northern African countries, unstable position towards the Ukraine’s crisis have earned Erdogan a reputation of one of the most untrusted leaders.

    As one Turkish saying goes, “One can trust a Turk after 40 days of his death”, Erdogan seems to having done everything to prove this. Sadly, there seems to be almost no time to recover from it before the May,14 presidential elections. Unless the people’s trust will again be bought.

  • After 105 Years, the Turkish President Still Planning to Cover up the Genocide

    After 105 Years, the Turkish President Still Planning to Cover up the Genocide

    By Harut SassounianPublisher, The California Courier

    www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

    The High Advisory Board of the Turkish Presidency met last Tuesday for five hours to discuss how to respond “to groundless and anti-Turkey allegations” regarding the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The Advisory Board includes President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ismail Kahraman (former Chairman of Parliament), Bulent Arinch (former Deputy Prime Minister), Cemil Chichek (former Chairman of Parliament), Koksal Toptan (former Chairman of Parliament), Mehmet Ali Shahin (former Chairman of Parliament), Yildirim Akbulut (former Prime Minister), President’s Chief of Staff Metin Kiratli and Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun.

     It is very satisfactory to Armenians worldwide that the Turkish government, after lying about the occurrence of the Armenian Genocide for a century, going to extraordinary lengths to blackmail other countries economically and politically, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on hiring lobbying firms and publishing denialist propaganda, is spending long hours wondering how to counter “the Armenian lobby.”

    This means that all of the Turkish efforts for 105 years to deny the Armenian Genocide have been in vain. Turkey has wasted a huge amount of resources and time to deny the undeniable! The Turkish government is welcome to try again to convince the world that no such genocide has taken place. Eventually, the Turkish leaders will give up seeing that they cannot persuade anyone to believe their lies. The day will come when the Turkish government will admit that it is much easier to tell the truth than to continue its useless strategy of distorting a well-established historical fact. It is in Turkey’s best interest to come to terms with the Armenian government and its Diaspora and negotiate a proper compensation and restitution for the damages caused to the Armenian people during the Genocide. Once Turkey acknowledges the historical facts and makes amends, it will no longer have to worry about the world’s reaction to the Armenian Genocide. On the contrary, the Turkish leader will receive accolades from the international community for facing the facts and dealing honestly with its past crimes.

    In the meantime, the Turkish government is foolishly continuing its hopeless campaign of denial of the Armenian Genocide. After last week’s five-hour High Advisory Board meeting behind closed doors, President Erdogan’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun relayed the President’s following statement: “hostility seeds that were tried to be sown through distorted historical events would not be able to find the opportunity to flourish in the land of truth.” He accused the “Armenian lobby” of exploiting the “challenging and painful era endured by all Ottoman citizens for the sake of political calculations through lies and slanders that were invented by various power groups.” Furthermore, he said that during the meeting, “comprehensive steps” were discussed to prevent the Armenian lobby from using the 1915 events to “defame Turkey and our nation and also the propaganda made by countries through unrealistic allegations that manipulate the issue with political calculations.” The Turkish Presidential meeting also deliberated on projects and activities set to “shed light” on the issues with historical and legal aspects, along with “facts for the national and international public,” he added.

    This new Turkish Genocide denial plan may have been triggered by the resolutions acknowledging the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. House of Representatives (405-11 votes) and the unanimous vote of the U.S. Senate last fall.

    The question is why would Turkey’s leaders spent five hours deliberating on genocide denial at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is raging in the country, its economy is in shambles, the Turkish Lira has collapsed and Erdogan is losing the public’s support. According to some analysts, this is Erdogan’s tactic to deviate the Turkish public’s attention from his misrule and misadventures both within and outside the country.

    Last month in a TV speech, Pres. Erdogan, showing his exasperation at the multiple problems of his government, once again lashed out at the “Armenian lobby,” among others. He vowed: “We will not give up before the forces of evil, either FETO, the PKK, the Armenian and Greek lobbies, or centers of hostility in the Persian Gulf.”

    The Armenian government quickly reacted to Pres. Erdogan’s lies about the Armenian Genocide. This is a welcome development, as previous Armenian governments ignored all such Turkish outbursts. The Armenian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan responded: “The statements made by the Turkish President on justifying the Armenian Genocide and insulting its victims are not a novelty and are manifestations of hate speech, which have an impact on maintaining and strengthening the atmosphere of xenophobia against Armenians in that country…. Denialism has no future, no matter who and how frames it. Despite the efforts of the authorities of Turkey to suppress the truth, the truth has been prevailing.”

    The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy also issued a statement calling Erdogan’s latest plans to deny the Armenian Genocide a “dangerous xenophobic policy of the Turkish authorities, directed against the activists of the Armenian cause…. Unfortunately, the denial of the Armenian Genocide and the incitement of hatred against Armenians are a state policy in Turkey.”

    In addition, the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region along with Assyrian, Greek and Jewish organizations issued a joint statement slamming the Turkish government’s latest announcement on countering the Armenian Genocide: “Understanding that denial is the final stage of genocide, enforcing the erasure of a people’s history and suffering, we call on people of good conscience to bring awareness to the plight of the victims of genocide both past and present, to hold accountable those who seek to distort historical truth, and ensure that never again will the world watch in silence while genocide is perpetrated.”

    My advice to President Erdogan and his cronies is to abandon Turkey’s century-long failed efforts at denial of the facts of the Armenian Genocide, acknowledge the truth and embark on a mutually agreed plan to compensate for the losses suffered by the Armenian nation as a result of the Genocide.