Turkey: Violence and Death at Election Rally in Hopa

With Turkey's 17th general election scheduled for June 12, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan traveled on Tuesday to Hopa, a town on Turkey's northeastern border with Georgia, to attend a rally, but instead encountered rioting that resulted in the death of a retired school teacher. As reported by Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=protests-death-mar-erdogans-election-rally-2011-05-31):

"Lokumcu, a retired teacher, died in the hospital due to a heart attack, reportedly after collapsing during a police crackdown in the city. Lokumcu’s friends said he was kicked by a police officer while already on the ground due to the gas bombs used by the police.

Nine people were wounded and six others were overcome by pepper gas sprayed by the police, Hopa State Hospital authorities told the Hürriyet Daily News over the phone.

. . . .

Protests and clashes between the police and the protesters continued for the whole day, although they were not covered by television channels.

. . . .

The protests in Hopa started before Erdoğan’s arrival in the coastal town. A group of demonstrators hung a huge banner, reading 'Erdoğan, get out of Hopa,' on a building overseeing the square where the prime minister would hold his rally. Another building in the square bore a huge banner for the main opposition CHP."

This is not the first instance of violence surrounding the upcoming Turkish elections. In April, one person was shot dead in southeast Turkey after a dozen Kurdish politicians were barred from participating in the general election.

Meanwhile, preparations continue in Turkey for a second flotilla expected to challenge the Israeli sea blockade of Gaza later this month. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, seeking to galvanize Turkey's Islamic vote, stated last month (http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?ID=221581&R=R1):

"It should be known that Turkey will give the necessary response to any repeated act of provocation by Israel on the high seas."

Remarkable how Davutoglu can engage in such hypocrisy, given Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish minority. Davutoglu also ignores the fact that in Turkey, life expectancy is 72.23 years and infant mortality is 24.84 per 1,000 births, whereas in Gaza, life expectancy is 73.68 years and infant mortality is 17.71 per 1,000 births. In addition, Turkey's literacy rate is 88.7%, while in Gaza it is 91.9%.

How do you say in Turkish, "Charity begins at home"? Better still, how do you translate, "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones"?

Roger Cohen's "Arabs Will Be Free": Sickening

The following blog entry, which was submitted as an online comment in response to Roger Cohen's op-ed, "Arabs Will Be Free", was censored by The New York Times. Abusive? Not on point? Judge for yourself. To what depths has The New York Times descended? And they want me to purchase an online subscription to their newspaper . . .

In a New York Times op-ed entitled "Arabs Will Be Free" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/opinion/29iht-edcohen29.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), Roger Cohen would equate the democracies of Turkey, Lebanon and Israel. As one who has spent time in all three of these countries, I am deeply disturbed by Cohen's comparison.

In an opinion piece entitled "While democracy is advancing in Turkey", written by Serkan Demirtaş and published on Friday by Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=while-democracy-is-advancing-in-turkey-2011-03-25), it is observed, inter alia, that in Turkey:

• 68 journalists have been jailed, hundreds more are being prosecuted, and this country ranks 138th in the Reporters Sans Frontiers index of countries in terms of free media;
• hundreds of people from academia, civil society and the business world have been held in prison for years without being convicted of any crime;
• there is massive illegal wiretapping;
• personal privacy is violated almost every day, and it is widely believed that the judiciary is no longer independent, the media is biased, and democratic rights and freedoms are limited by growing government pressure.

Regarding Lebanon, Cohen tells us:

"Talk to Hezbollah: That’s obvious. It’s no terrorizing monolith."

Hezbollah is "no terrorizing monolith"? Cohen fails to mention:

• the 2005 murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri by Hezbollah;
• Hezbollah's bombing of the Jewish community center building in Buenos Aires in 1994, which killed 85 people and injured hundreds;
• the 1984 kidnap and murder by torture of William Francis Buckley by Hezbollah.
• the 1983 bombing of the Beirut barracks housing the U.S. members of the multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon, which killed 220 Marines, 18 Navy sailors, and three Army soldiers. Attempts at rescuing survivors from the rubble were subsequently hindered by Hezbollah sniper fire.

I go to sleep and still see the bodies of persons murdered by Hezbollah in my dreams.

Israel's democracy? Not by any means perfect, but how does Cohen begin to compare Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas party with Hezbollah, which has a "militia" that can easily overpower the Lebanese army, and which is regularly used to intimidate other Lebanese factions. Unlike Shas, which has no military wing whatsoever, Hezbollah currently has an arsenal of more than 40,000 rockets and missiles, provided by Syria and Iran.

The power of Israel's democracy? In Turkey and Lebanon wives, mothers, daughters and sisters are regularly victims of so-called "honor killings". In Israel, on the other hand, a former president has just been sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a former employee and sexually harassing two other women. Although an embarrassment to Israel, it also serves as a reminder of the power of Israeli democracy, where women's rights will not be trampled, where a woman heads the main opposition party, and where a woman serves as the chief justice of Israel's Supreme Court.

Cohen writes:

"Democracy is a messy all-or-nothing business. That’s why I love it. You can no more be a little bit democratic than a little bit pregnant."

Sorry, but I don't buy this. As evidenced by the number of Turkish journalists currently languishing in prison, there are obviously countries that call themselves "democratic", but which do not respect the fundamental principles of this form of government.