Turkish Forum

Month: March 2015

  • KIRLIKOVALI: 10 Reasons Why Obama Should NOT Travel to Armenia on April 24

    KIRLIKOVALI: 10 Reasons Why Obama Should NOT Travel to Armenia on April 24

     

    Sassounian: 10 Reasons Why Obama Should Travel to Armenia on April 24

    KIRLIKOVALI: 10 Reasons Why Obama Should NOT Travel to Armenia on April 24

     

    on March 24, 2015

     

     

    1. Obama would pay tribute to hundreds of thousands of compassionate American citizens for having raised over $117 million—today’s equivalent of over $2 billion—to aid destitute Armenians in the aftermath of the genocide.

    Please note that not a single cent of that enormous amount of aid went to destitute Muslims, mostly Turks, my family among them. This “American Aid” is a sad case of “selective morality” where help is given not to all those who needed it, but only to those who were co-religionists. This is how racists the outlook was in American those days.

     

    Initiated by Morgenthau and supported by President Woodrow Wilson, Near East Relief helped rescue and care for 132,000 Armenian orphans.

     

    Beware of numbers given by an Armenian propagandist. But even if we assume that the figure of 132,000 Armenian orphans is true, that does nothing for the more than a million Turkish orphans, my father among them, who were poor, destitute, sick, and without much hope. Morgenthau was too racist to ask for any part of that help to be given to those children who were of the “wrong ethnicity” and “wrong religion”. This massive aid is a shame in the history of racism in America.

     

    This massive charitable effort was the first international humanitarian outreach in U.S. history.

    First international humanitarian outreach in U.S. history? How about help given to the Philippines and  Cuba? These Armenian propagandists are too dependent on deception and misrepresentation. Even if it were  the first outreach, though, does it excuse the “selective morality” aspect of that help?

     

    1. By visiting Armenia on this occasion, Obama would be reaffirming the longstanding U.S. acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide

    But also destroying the US-Turkey relations just to honor a discredited political claim  and hurt US interests in order to uphold Armenia’s interests

     

    —a settled historical fact recognized as genocide by:

    Armenian diaspora, Armenia’s scholars, and their supporters

     

    – the U.S. government in a document submitted to the World Court in 1951;

     

     But other US records refute Armenian claims:

     

    1- George Montgomery, a member of the U.S. delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, had presented a detailed tabulation in 1919, showing a total of 1,104,000 Armenians alive, apart from those who had already immigrated to other countries.

     

    2- 29 March 1919 report of the Paris Conference subcommittee on atrocities, chaired by the U.S. secretary of State Lansing, lists Armenian losses as “…more than 200,000…” Even this number is exaggerated as they got their information from the Armenian church. The Turkish Historical Society documented the deaths of 53,000 Armenians using Ottoman police reports field on site, of which number only about 8,400 are reported as victims of massacres.

     

    3- Nielsen, Fred K., American-Turkish Claims Settlement Under the Agreement of December 24, 1923 and Supplemental Agreements between the United States and Turkey: On December 24, 1923 Opinion and report (1937).

     

     

     

    – the House of Representatives in 1975 and 1984;

     

    But other US Congress’ records refute Armenian claims :

     

    1- “American Military Mission to Armenia” (General Harbord) Report 1920 and the Annex Report Nat. Archives 184.021/175 which refers to “…refinements of cruelty by Armenians to Muslims…”.

     

    2- US Senate Resolution, Nov. 10, 1919 – Doc 151, p.8 : 1,293,000 Armenians alive and accounted for.

     

    3- Joint U.S. Congress Resolution No. 192, April 22, 1922 relative to the activities of Near East Relief ending 31 December 1921 which has unanimously resolved that a total of 1,414,000 Armenians were alive. This makes killing of 1.5 million Armenians an impossibility, since the total Armenian population was around 1.5 million at the time.

     

    – President Ronald Reagan in a Presidential Proclamation issued on April 22, 1981;

     

    Same president lashed out against Armenians terrorists because of JCAG killing a Turkish diplomat in Los Angels (Kemal Arikan in 1982) and distanced himself from Armenians

     

    – 43 out of 50 U.S. states;

     

    They were all one-time, resolutions with no legal impact that were passed with intense Armenian lobbying.  So, they can hardly be considered American support for Armenian case.

     

    – two dozen countries, including France, Italy, Russia, Canada, Holland, Vatican, Switzerland, Sweden, Argentina, Lebanon, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, and Venezuela;

     

    All non-binding resolutions passed because of intense Armenian nagging.  Please note that most relevant countries like the US, the UK, Sweden, Israel, Spain, and the UN did not agree with Armenian claims.  Armenian, after 100 years of lies, slanders, intimidation, and terrorism, could only manage have a handful of nations pass “one time, non-binding resolutions” .  Only 10% of the UN member nations have passed those meaningless, non-binding resolutions.  That is hardly a success or “sweeping support” for the baseless Armenian political claim of genocide. 

     

    – several international organizations, including the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities;

     

    Here is another Armenian deception.  UN- Sub-Commission only agreed to “receive” the Armenian claim; which in diplomatic parlance, means “I do not agree with you, but out of my kindness, I will have your claim in my files.”  It is a polite rejection of the Armenian claim.

     

    the European Parliament;

     

    Some in the political parties, as a gesture against Turkey, more than as support for the Armenian claim, did support the unfounded Armenian claim.  These political maneuvers mean nothing when it comes to judging history.  Politicians are not historians.

     

     

    and the International Association of Genocide Scholars.

     

    Genocide Scholars is an invention of the Armenian lobby, specifically the creation of  Zoprya Institute, notorious for its hate for all things Turkish.  Genocide Scholars are mostly not historians; they are mostly retired teachers, unemployed psychologists, sociologists who agree to promote “the official Armenian narrative” in exchange for favors (book deals, panesl, films, honorariums, etc.)  They deceive public with a perception created for them by the “Genocuide Industry” who employ them as key note speakers in staged events where Turkish views are censored.

     

    The Centennial could well be Obama’s last opportunity to regain the trust of the Armenian-American community by honoring his solemn pledge as Senator and presidential candidate to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

    1. Obama could lay the foundation for improved Armenian-Turkish relations based on truth and justice, in line with a pending resolution in the House of Representatives, and his previous April 24 statements, declaring that “a full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our interests.” Obama’s visit would also encourage Turkish human rights activists to continue their arduous task of assisting the government of Turkey to reckon with the darkest pages of its past.
    2. The U.S. president could take advantage of this visit to urge Turkey to lift the blockade of Armenia, while taking a glimpse at the biblical Mount Ararat just across the closed border.
    3. In response to mounting attacks by Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabagh (Artsakh), Obama could stress Washington’s strong support for a peaceful settlement of this thorny conflict.
    4. Obama’s visit would help balance Armenia’s relations with the West, particularly after its membership in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, and in view of Putin’s planned trip to Yerevan on April 24. Armenia has enjoyed close relations with Western Europe and the United States, and has participated in international peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, and Lebanon. More recently, the appointment of former Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan as Armenia’s Ambassador to Washington underscores the importance Yerevan attaches to its relations with the United States.
    5. Since Obama, due to the Ukraine crisis, is not planning to travel to Moscow to take part in the World War II Victory Day celebrations on May 9, he would have the opportunity to meet with President Vladimir Putin in Yerevan, in a less conspicuous atmosphere.
    6. Obama’s visit to Armenia would be a significant gesture of goodwill toward the Armenian-American community. Last week, 16 major Armenian-American organizations sent a joint letter to the president urging him to participate in the Armenian Genocide Centennial events in Armenia.
    7. Obama would be making a historic first U.S. presidential trip to Armenia, preceded by several high-ranking American officials: Secretary of State James Baker III in 1992; Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2001; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2010 and 2012, when she laid a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, as all U.S. Ambassadors have done on every April 24, since the country’s independence in 1991.
     
  • Bernard Lewis Questions The Armenian Genocide

    Bernard Lewis Questions The Armenian Genocide

    Bernard Lewis Questions The Armenian Genocide

    By Jonathan WilsonTue, 01/08/2008 – 23:13

    Dr. Bernard Lewis is a world renowned British-American historian on Islam, the Middle East, and the Ottoman Empire. He was a professor in Princeton University’s Near East Studies department. In this video, Dr. Bernard Lewis through decades of research states that the killings of Armenians during World War I cannot be classified as genocide. He has advised Western Governments on Middle Eastern policies.

    Dr. Bernard Lewis is described as the West’s leading historian on the Middle East.http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2007/0406/ed_distance.html

    In the Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, Martin Kramer considers that, over a 60-year career, Dr. Bernard Lewis has emerged as “the most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East.”

    Dr. Bernard Lewis on Armenian Genocide – Youtube Video

    Bernard Lewis Armenian Genocide Youtube Video

    It is interesting to note that objective historians like Bernard Lewis are all over the world, but very few have the courage of Bernard Lewis to speak the truth when so many historians are bullied and intimidated by the infamous ANCA (Armenian National Committee of America) and the Armenian American Assembly lobbyists which use hate campaigns, propaganda, and invest a lot of money in scholars, organizations, and politicians to support their crusade of Anti-Turkism. They also organize hundreds of volunteers to protest and flood politician offices to pressure them into following their political agendas.

    Objective historians like Bernard Lewis are what will bring peace to the world and ethics to the field. If you’re a historian, do the research, analyze both sides, go to both Armenian perspective websites as well as Turkish perspective websites, watch all the documentaries from both sides, and I guarantee you the truth will show itself as clear as day that the Ottoman government did not plan out a mass extermination campaign, and only stopped the violence through a relocation order that may have saved hundreds of thousands of Armenian and Turkish lives during World War I.

    Ethnic conflicts are terrible, they cause thousands of deaths (as they did in 1915), and governments struggle in differentiating between who is a rebel and who is a civilian. During World War I, the best solution proposed was to relocate hostile populations; this of course, was not good for the innocent Armenians among the guilty Armenians, but it was a last resort after many amnesties for Armenian revolts and uprisings.

    There are many genocides in the world, but only one gets recognition without any solid proof, that is the Armenian Genocide, yet the subject is debated amongst academics and historians around the world. Through decades of propaganda it has started to settle into peoples minds who did not read books on the issue. This is the same kind of tactics the Islamofacists use to brainwash millions of Muslims to believe in their extreme revision of history and religion.

    Hatred should not be preached on anyone, and no one should preach hatred or oppress other peoples’ views even if they differ from your own.

    Dr. Bernard Lewis’s Books

    • The Origins of Islamism (1940)
    • A Handbook of Diplomatic and Political Arabic (1947)
    • The Arabs in History (1950)
    • The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961)
    • Istanbul and the Civilizations of the Ottoman Empire (1963)
    • The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam (1967)
    • The Cambridge History of Islam (2 vols. 1970, revised 4 vols. 1978, editor with Peter Malcolm Holt and Ann K.S. Lambton)
    • Islam: From the Prophet Muhammad to the capture of Constantinople (1974, editor)
    • History — Remembered, Recovered, Invented (1975)
    • Race and Color in Islam (1979)
    • Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Functioning of a Plural Society (1982, editor with Benjamin Braude)
    • The Muslim Discovery of Europe (1982)
    • The Jews of Islam (1984)
    • Semites and Anti-Semites (1986)
    • Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople (1987)
    • The Political Language of Islam (1988)
    • Race and Slavery in the Middle East: an Historical Enquiry (1990)
    • Islam and the West (1993)
    • Islam in History (1993)
    • The Shaping of the Modern Middle East (1994)
    • Cultures in Conflict (1994)
    • The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years (1995)
    • The Future of the Middle East (1997)
    • The Multiple Identities of the Middle East (1998)
    • A Middle East Mosaic: Fragments of Life, Letters and History (2000)
    • Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew Poems (2001)
    • The Muslim Discovery of Europe (2001)
    • What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East (2002)
    • The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror (2003)
    • From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East (2004)
  • New York Turned into an Armenian City For a Few Days Last Week

    New York Turned into an Armenian City For a Few Days Last Week

    New York City, the unofficial Capital of the World, became the hub of major Armenian events last week on the eve of the Armenian Genocide Centennial.

    On Tuesday, March 10, the 100 LIVES initiative was launched by Vartan Gregorian, President of Carnegie Corporation of New York, jointly with entrepreneurs Ruben Vardanyan of Moscow and Noubar Afeyan of Boston.

    The organizers plan to collect the remarkable stories of Armenian Genocide survivors and their rescuers, including some Turks. The 100 LIVES project is establishing a $1 million annual prize to be given to those who risk their lives to save others in any part of the world. Prominent actor and activist George Clooney will award the inaugural ‘Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity’ in Yerevan on April 24, 2016. The winners of the prize named after Genocide survivor Aurora Mardiganian, who starred in a 1919 film called “Ravished Armenia,” are expected to transfer the $1 million gift to an organization that has inspired them in their humanitarian endeavor.

    The selection committee of this special award is co-chaired by George Clooney and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. The committee also includes former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, UN Secretary-General’s Advisor on Genocide Prevention Gareth Evans, human rights activist Hina Jilani, and Dr. Gregorian.

    The initiators of 100 LIVES also plan to take on the monumental task of digitizing millions of Armenian Genocide-related documents stored in the archives of numerous countries.

    Present at the launch were Hollywood celebrities, prominent journalists from CNN, CBS 60 Minutes, Time magazine, and PBS, and Who’s Who of New York. George Clooney and Ruben Vardanyan participated in a panel discussion moderated by Gwen Ifill, managing editor of Washington Week and co-anchor and co-managing editor of PBS NewsHour.

    Here are brief excerpts from George Clooney’s comments:

    “I got to learn about Armenia through a friend of mine named Bob Manoukian, who probably picking on my innocence at the time, said ‘you know some Senators, maybe you can talk to them to see if they can talk about the Armenian Genocide on the floor of the Senate.’ So I tried. That did not play so well, as you can imagine. We have some military bases apparently in Turkey, I did not know about. Incirlik — who knew? I was shocked. So you become sort of informed about Armenia through friendships. I was slow to the game on this one. Genocide — just because the word wasn’t invented for 30 more years, doesn’t mean that it did not happen! … My wife had no idea that I had been meeting with Ruben. She was in the middle of going to Strasbourg to the European Court to fight a real interesting Armenian battle. I went to park my car in L.A., and the valet guys are all Armenian, and they come over and say, ‘I want to kiss your wife … you don’t have to pay for parking.’”

    The launch of 100 LIVES was covered by the global media, including the New York Times. I was surprised to find my picture shaking hands with George Clooney on the front page of The Hill newspaper, a major Washington publication. During my conversation with Amal Clooney, I thanked her for representing the Republic of Armenia, along with prominent international lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, at the recent European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

    During the last weekend, the ‘Responsibility 2015’ Armenian Genocide Centennial Conference was held in New York City, lasting three days with the participation of over 50 renowned scholars, lawyers, authors, artists, journalists and activists from around the world, covering a wide range of issues related to various genocides. Among the prominent speakers were: David Balabanian, David Barsamian, Eric Bogosian, Chris Bohjalian, Israel Charny, David Gaunt, Aram Hamparian, Richard Hovannisian, Raymond Kevorkian, Charlie Mahtesian, Marc Mamigonian, Khatchig Mouradian, Mary Papazian, Geoffrey Robertson, Roger W. Smith, and Henry Theriault. I was honored to be included in such distinguished company, to speak on “Individual and Group Reparations.”

    Among the presenters at the conference were several Turkish scholars who delivered highly informative papers on the Armenian Genocide.

  • Ten Reasons Why Pres. Obama Should Travel to Armenia on April 24

    Ten Reasons Why Pres. Obama Should Travel to Armenia on April 24

    Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has invited several world leaders to Yerevan on April 24 to commemorate the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

    The Presidents of France, Russia, Poland and Belarus have already accepted Pres. Sargsyan’s invitation. The White House has yet to make a public statement on whether Pres. Obama plans to travel to Armenia on this most solemn occasion.

    A Century ago, Henry Morgenthau, US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, described the systematic annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as “The Murder of a Nation.” Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer, told CBS that he coined the term genocide based on the mass crimes committed against Armenians during WWI and Jews during WWII.

    Here are 10 reasons why Air Force One should make an auspicious landing in Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport on April 24.

    1. Pres. Obama would pay tribute to hundreds of thousands of compassionate American citizens for having raised over $117 million — today’s equivalent of over $2 billion — to aid destitute Armenians in the aftermath of the Genocide. Initiated by Amb. Morgenthau and supported by Pres. Woodrow Wilson, Near East Relief helped rescue and care for 132,000 Armenian orphans. This massive charitable effort was the first international humanitarian outreach in U.S. history.

    2. By visiting Armenia on this occasion, Pres. Obama would be reaffirming the longstanding US acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide — a settled historical fact recognized as genocide by:
    — The US Government in a document submitted to the World Court in 1951;
    — The House of Representatives in 1975 and 1984;
    — Pres. Ronald Reagan in a Presidential Proclamation issued on April 22, 1981;
    — 43 out of 50 U.S. states;
    — Two dozen countries, including France, Italy, Russia, Canada, Holland, Vatican, Switzerland, Sweden, Argentina, Lebanon, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, and Venezuela;
    — Several international organizations, including the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities; the European Parliament; and the International Association of Genocide Scholars.

    3. The Centennial could well be Pres. Obama’s last opportunity to regain the trust of the Armenian-American community by honoring his solemn pledge as Senator and Presidential candidate to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

    4. Pres. Obama could lay the foundation for improved Armenian-Turkish relations based on truth and justice, in line with a pending resolution in the House of Representatives, and his previous April 24 statements, declaring that “a full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of our interests.” Pres. Obama’s visit would also encourage Turkish human rights activists to continue their arduous task of assisting the Government of Turkey to reckon with the darkest pages of its past.

    5. The U.S. President could take advantage of this visit to urge Turkey to lift the blockade of Armenia, while taking a glimpse at the biblical Mount Ararat just across the closed border.

    6. In response to mounting attacks by Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), Pres. Obama could stress Washington’s strong support for a peaceful settlement of this thorny conflict.

    7. Pres. Obama’s visit would help balance Armenia’s relations with the West, particularly after its membership in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, and in view of Putin’s planned trip to Yerevan on April 24. Armenia has enjoyed close relations with Western Europe and the United States, and has participated in international peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Lebanon. More recently, the appointment of former Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan as Ambassador to Washington, underscores the importance Yerevan attaches to its relations with the United States.

    8. Since Pres. Obama, due to the Ukraine crisis, is not planning to travel to Moscow to take part in the World War II Victory Day celebrations on May 9, he would have the opportunity to meet with Pres. Putin in Yerevan, in a less conspicuous atmosphere.

    9. Pres. Obama’s visit to Armenia would be a significant gesture of goodwill toward the Armenian-American community. Last week, 16 major Armenian-American organizations sent a joint letter to the President urging him to participate in the Armenian Genocide Centennial events in Armenia.

    10. Pres. Obama would be making a historic first US presidential trip to Armenia, preceded by several high-ranking American officials: Secretary of State James Baker III in 1992; Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2001; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2010 and 2012, when she laid a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, as all U.S. Ambassadors have done on every April 24, since the country’s independence in 1991.

  • BULENT ARINC- ERDOGAN AND AKP FROM BLOOMBERG

    BULENT ARINC- ERDOGAN AND AKP FROM BLOOMBERG

    Bloomberg) — Frustrations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s efforts to maintain his dominance over politics bubbled to the surface, as a co-founder of the ruling AK party warned him against meddling in the government’s work. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc criticized Erdogan twice over the weekend, signaling tensions among long-term political allies ahead of parliamentary elections in June. Erdogan has been lobbying to install a presidential system in Turkey, reducing or possibly eliminating parliament’s authority.
    “The apparent power struggle between an elected president and an elected government moved to a new level,” Mert Ulker, head of research at Ak Investment in Istanbul, said in an e-mailed report on Monday. “The AKP government is apparently not moving in harmony with the president, calling to mind a conflicts-of-interest aspect which will likely keep the political risk premium elevated.”
    Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek, a member of the AK party, said Arinc was attacking Erdogan under orders from a “parallel structure.” The reference was to followers of U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who officials say are trying to undermine the government from within. Gokcek, in more than 30 tweets to almost 2.5 million followers, said Arinc should resign as deputy prime minister and government spokesman. “We don’t want you,” he tweeted.
    Arinc told reporters it was inappropriate for Erdogan to use the media to criticize government efforts to make peace with the nation’s Kurds.
    ‘Worthy Service’
    “We love our president, we know his strength and we’re aware of his worthy service to the nation,” Arinc said. “But don’t forget that this country has a government and this government will go to elections.” He dismissed Erdogan’s claims that he wasn’t aware of some of the steps the government has taken in the Kurdish process.
    Arinc vowed to defend Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, head of the party and the government, against any threat to his image before June 7 general elections, and predicted he would lead the next government. Davutoglu hasn’t said whether he will support Erdogan’s declared goal to make the president Turkey’s top official instead of the prime minister. Erdogan became Turkey’s first directly elected president in August, after ruling as prime minister for 11 1/2 years.
    Transition to a presidential system would require 367 votes for ratification in parliament or 330 votes to bring it to a popular referendum. AK currently has 312 seats.
    To contact the reporter on this story: Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara at [email protected]
    To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at [email protected] Amy Teibel, Mark Williams

  • Journalist Kabaş reads ‘manifesto’ on TV ahead of court appearance: I’m on trial

    Journalist Kabaş reads ‘manifesto’ on TV ahead of court appearance: I’m on trial

    KABAS

    Journalist Sedef Kabaş. (Photo: Today’s Zaman, Kürşat Bayhan)

    Journalist Sedef Kabaş faces five years in prison for sending tweets about corruption and the government’s attempt to sweep the scandal under the rug. Speaking ahead of her court appearance, she read out a manifesto on Halk TV addressing the charges and stating that she stands by her tweets:

    I am facing the possibility of five years imprisonment on the basis of a tweet I posted. And actually, because I made the police officers who came to my house wait for five minutes before letting them in, I’m also facing up to five years imprisonment for a separate case. In other words, prosecutors are pushing for me to receive a full 10 year prison sentence. Yes, some 3,770 days behind bars, all for a tweet I wrote.

    But let’s take a brief look at the country where I am being tried:

    In the country where my trial is taking place, the former Transportation Minister said in regards to my case, “I didn’t see Sedef Kabaş’s tweet, but social media is not the place for swearing and insults.” And while he acts as though my tweet was based on swear words and insults, a group many call the “AK Trolls” — media “trolls” working for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) — works morning to night hurling brazen insults and epithets at people from all factions of society.

    I am being tried in a country where the same leaders who openly flout the laws, the flag and the founding leader of the Turkish Republic focus on those who would make the police wait five minutes. All of this while groups who have formed their own police forces and even armies in the Southeast of the country are completely ignored.

    I am being tried because I opposed the closure of the largest and deepest corruption case in the history of the Turkish Republic. I am being tried because I said: “Thievery, corruption and bribery are universal crimes. Shutting down investigations that have uncovered serious and strong evidence, documents and testimonies that support the validity of these corruption claims is of course a decision that will go down in history.”

    I am being tried because I warned people to never forget those who moved to shut down the corruption investigation.

    I am being tried in a country where those who steal, take and give bribes, and look people straight in the eye while undermining them, are not only never tried, but are never even sent to court.

    I am being tried in a country where books are called “bombs,” where Twitter is called a “disaster for everyone,” where journalists who ask questions are called “shameless,” where intellectuals are disparaged with the words “mon cher,” where those who exercise their constitutional right to protest are called “vandals,” where police who uncover serious incidents of thievery are called “coup-supporters” and where prosecutors who initiate important investigations are called “traitors to the country.”

    I am being tried in a country where even those under heavy clouds of suspicion regarding serious charges of corruption and similar improprieties can climb to a balcony after elections to flash victory signs to their supporters below. It is a country where these same people can yell from campaign platforms, “Everything for our people, we’ve done nothing we won’t account for!”

    I am being tried because regarding those who likely used their own children to engage in bribery I asked, “They became government ministers, but were they ever able to be real fathers?”

    I am being tried in a country where those who asked, “Did you steal?” are labeled as coup-supporters, Zionists and traitors of the country by those who are somehow never quite able to claim, “No, we did not steal.”

    I am being tried in a country where I can only wonder what value system and religion has brought forth all of those citizens of ours who cast their votes at the ballot boxes saying to themselves, “Well, they do steal, but at least they work.”

    I am being tried in a country where the most enormous fonts are used in newspaper headlines in an effort to make news constructed of lies look more believable. When this doesn’t work, entire pages are given over to stories to help support them. It’s a country where in the past four years, more than 150 broadcasting/publishing bans have been put into place, including for the Soma mining accident.

    I am being tried in a country where the absolutely nauseating fantasy of the attack that took place in Kabataş — a lie so stupid that only those of questionable intelligence would actually fall for it — was trumpeted from headlines, alongside claims that alcohol had been consumed in mosques and that the mosques themselves had been attacked by protesters — all in the wake of the Gezi protests. And not a single legal step has been taken against those who propelled and propagated these lies and slander against others.

    I am being tried in a country where the doctors who helped treat wounded young protestors during Gezi had legal action taken against them, even though the killers responsible for the deaths of people like Ali Ismael Korkmaz and Berkin Elvan were either protected or simply never found.

    I am being tried in a country where, while officials claim, “No other country has the sort of freedom we do,” raids unfold against homes, newspaper offices, labor syndicates, political party offices and banks. We’ve now even seen a 13-year-old taken out of his classroom by the police for insulting the president.

    Both the president and the prime minister can’t stop talking about the oppression experienced by their own spouses, but the fact is, whether you are talking about headscarved or non-headscarved women in Turkey, violence against women has increased by 1,400 percent in the past decade. It is a country where a 13-year-old girl was recently forced into marriage and then killed, and where those who rape women are let free and where words from a person of some authority who claims six-year-olds can marry are not followed up with any legal action.

    We are being tried in a country where those who have shredded up and completely polarized our identities — secular or religious, Turkish or Kurdish, Sunnis or Alevis, AKP or Gülen movement, or perhaps pro-Gül or pro-Tayyip — have actually committed the greatest of all crimes in destroying Turkey’s future.

    And those same leaders who are incapable of protecting even one handful of land for our country try to win points by insulting Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a wartime genius who fought for the country in Tripoli, Gallipoli, on the Palestinian front and during the War of Independence. And though these people will never be tried in a court of law for what they have said about Atatürk, I am now being tried, and we are all being tried.

    Respect and esteem come down to the individual from democracy. Piousness comes not from prayer, but from your sense of humanity. And power comes not from office, but from honesty.

    I stand firmly behind my tweet, and will thus appear in court.