Elections at the Ergenekon Prison

More than 100 suspects of the Ergenekon investigation are being incarcerated at the Silivri Prison near Istanbul and they also voted for the local elections last Sunday.

The results from two ballot boxes that they used were interesting:

DTP (Kurdish Nationalists): 83 votes

AKP (Islamists): 67 votes

MHP (Turkish Nationalists): 46 votes

CHP (Secularists): 41 votes

The prosecutors and the government media had created a public perception that links the Ergenekon gang to CHP. But it seems that the democratic choices of the suspects are actually much more different.

More interestingly, the Labor Party didn't get any votes. It is surprising, because Dogu Perincek, the leader of the Labor Party, is also in this prison. Maybe he didn't vote, we don't know yet...

The Quote of the Week

"Democracy counts people, but you should weigh them."

As far as I know, these words are attributed to several famous names, such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Muhammad Iqbal, but the actual source is probably much older, maybe even older than the Ancient Rome and Greece.

The First in the Election

Election results of 2009 (AKP yellow, CHP red, MHP claret, DTP green)

Election results of 2007 (AKP yellow, CHP orange, MHP purple, DTP blue)

Today's local elections show that this might be the beginning of AKP's end.

It seems that the rise of political Islam in Turkey has come to an end. It had all started by the foundation of Refah (Welfare) Party in the early 1990s. Since then, Refah and its successors (namely, Fazilet, Saadet and AKP), have been increasing their share of votes in every election. This is the first time that they lose ground.

Early results show that AKP (Islamist) is around 38 percent, CHP (center left) is around 23 percent and MHP (rightist) is around 16 percent. AKP lost several municipalities (check the maps, comparing the 2007 elections to tonight's results). Several coastal provinces are now belonged to CHP and MHP. And DTP (Kurdish nationalist) won several southeastern provinces. CHP was also surprisingly competitive in Istanbul and Ankara.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan admits that he is disappointed with the results. AKP had initially declared that their goal in this election was 52 percent. Then they revised it to 47 percent and then, finally, to 42 percent, which was the result of the last local elections in 2004. Today's score is around 4 percent lower than their minimum threshold.

Turkey still didn't feel the bitter consequences of the global economic crisis. Wait for the next general elections, which might occur earlier than it is expected. We may witness the true fall of AKP then.

Because a new political landscape is being shaped in Turkey...

Erdogan: Bad News for Rasmussen

In the previous post, I had written that "the Danish joy might be just wishful thinking, because I feel that Turkey would still use her veto card against Rasmussen when the (Secretary-General candidacy) issue would be discussed in the NATO meetings."

Hours after that post, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed my prediction:

"I told him (Rasmussen) about the annoyance of the public (over his possible nomination for NATO secretary-general.) My party has principles... and I definitely cannot contradict them. I told him he can appreciate what that means. There was serious indignation in Muslim countries because of the cartoon crisis. These countries are now calling us."

'We'll Elect a Religious NATO Chief'

All members of NATO, including the United States, have agreed upon a European name as the next Secretary General: Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The exception is Turkey.

President Abdullah Gul's recent remarks, emphasizing that Ankara doesn't object any specific candidate, don't mean a lot. The Danish joy might be just wishful thinking, because I feel that Turkey would still use her veto card against Rasmussen when the issue would be discussed in the NATO meetings.

I also think that Rasmussen is not the best candidate for this job and Turkey has got the right to veto him. If you are choosing the leader for a Transatlantic alliance, this person should be an incontestable visionary, a champion of international cooperation, an advertiser of multiculturalism and a fierce enemy of terrorism. Rasmussen, who opposes Turkey's EU membership and supports the PKK by providing a safe haven for its media outlet, have showed that he doesn't have any of these qualities.

On the other hand, the way that Turkey has opposed Rasmussen's candidacy has also worried me. Did you hear about the reasoning of Suat Kiniklioglu, deputy chairman for external affairs for the ruling AKP? Here are his words: "It is unacceptable that NATO be headed by an individual who has in the past rudely disrespected our values and religious beliefs." (...reminding Rasmussen's rejection to apologise after the cartoon crisis in 2005)

Flash back to 2007. Bulent Arinc, "the third man" of the AKP, was heralding their voters: "We'll elect a religious president." This was how the current president Abdullah Gul had been elected.

I fear that the next announcement from Ankara would be something like this:

"We'll elect a religious NATO chief!"

Having Rasmussen on top of the NATO is as ridiculous as having Gul as the Turkish President; because neither of them are the best names for these posts. On the other hand, refusing Rasmussen because of his stance against a religion is as stupid as electing someone the president of a state, which is constitutionally secular, because he is deemed as religious.

Turkey is the only Muslim member of NATO and it has got the right to consider its national interests in this alliance, but did its representatives ever ask what Rasmussen will really do as a NATO chief? Giving religious edicts or orchestrating a multinational military force?

Next Medium: Porn Sites?

While I was writing about the Ak Parti Tube last month, I was thinking that this was the bottom for a political party. The technology couldn't be used in a more reactionary way.

It seems that I was wrong.

When it comes to political shamelessness, the sky is the limit for the AKP.

Here is the latest news:

There are AKP advertisements on Youtube now!

The access to Youtube is still banned in Turkey and the sole responsible of this ban, the government party, can advertise itself on Youtube to reach the young Turkish voters who can still reach the website by illegal means.

What an impudence!

Obama's Visit and the Emergent Turkey

Reuters has published an analysis on U.S. President Barack Obama's upcoming Turkish trip.

The article highlights the emergent importance of Turkey, which should be regarded as a result of the new global conditions, but not the policies of the Turkish government.

* * *

U.S. President Barack Obama has created a chance to turn Turkey's role in the wider Middle East to maximum advantage simply by going there so early in his term.

Turkey, a sometimes prickly NATO ally, holds no magic solutions, but it can help the United States in confrontations and conflicts that stretch from Israel to Afghanistan -- via Syria, Iraq and Iran -- and from Cyprus to the Caucasus.

Obama's April 5-7 visit is a nod to Turkey's regional reach, economic power, unrivalled diplomatic contacts and status as a secular Muslim democracy that has accommodated political Islam.

CONTINUED...

Is an Islamist Deep State Better?

Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, has published another great article today.

Naturally, he is being attacked by the hired pens of the AKP, like every Turk who speaks the truth.

He summarizes the current situation in Turkey so perfectly that I must copy/paste the whole Newsweek article:

* * *

Turkey’s Secret Power Brokers

The Islamists aren't getting rid of Turkey's shady Deep State, but replacing it with one of their own.

By Soner Cagaptay | NEWSWEEK

Published Mar 21, 2009

From the magazine issue dated Mar 30, 2009

Conspiracy theories have been popular in the former Ottoman Empire ever since the 19th century, when Turkey became a pawn in Great Power games. But even by that standard, the current stories swirling around Istanbul and Ankara take the cake. Tales of a sinister "Deep State" (Derin Devlet) have surfaced in a recent court case alleging that underneath Turkey's modern democracy lies a powerful but invisible security and bureaucratic establishment that is plotting to undermine the elected government.

The charges have arisen in a case known as Ergenekon. According to government prosecutors, the Deep State, identified as a group of judges, journalists, union leaders, artists and retired military officers, were plotting a coup against the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP). The court papers say these secular nationalists were also, implausibly, planning Islamist, Marxist and pro-Kurdish terror attacks—all at the same time. In any other Western society, such incoherent accusations would be dismissed as fantasy. In Turkey, they've gained traction, for the simple reason that the country has long had a dominant security clique. Yet what the current rumors miss is that that power base has been broken up in recent years. Today it's the Islamists who are pulling the strings.

The old Deep State surfaced at various times in Turkey's history, stepping in to remove elected governments that strayed too far from the secular legacy of Kemal Atatürk, modern Turkey's founder. The sometimes corrupt and cozy links built by this establishment came to light most spectacularly in 1996, when an unlikely foursome—a politician, a police chief, a beauty queen and a drug lord—got into a car accident. Only the politician survived, and the ensuing embarrassing press coverage allowed Turkey's increasingly robust middle class to push back against this corrupt elite that had long limited their freedoms.

The Deep State was further weakened by the European Union accession process, which began soon after. In 1999, the EU decided to consider Turkey's candidacy—but only if Ankara improved civil liberties, weakened the military's role in politics and consolidated the country's democracy. Then, in 2002, the AKP came to power. At first it seemed to abandon its Islamist roots and embrace EU accession in order to win liberal support. Many Turkish democrats hoped the AKP would eliminate the Deep State once and for all and threw their support behind the party.

Yet in the seven years since, rather than get rid of the shadowy power brokers, the AKP has used cases like Ergenekon—which seems to have involved a genuine plot to overthrow the government—to attack Turkey's secular judges, media, its military and practically any political opponents. The police have taken more than 100 supposed plotters into custody, including not just underworld figures, but also journalists, military officers, businesspeople, judges and academics. Political opponents of the AKP have been pulled out of bed in the early morning hours, only to be released after three days of harsh police questioning. Unsurprisingly, many of these "suspects" have subsequently become much more docile.

Lest there be any doubt about the absurdity of some of the government's claims, consider: the Ergenekon case is based in part on the testimony of one Tuncay Guney, who claims to be a former Turkish intelligence officer now living in exile in Canada—where he says he's become a Hasidic rabbi. Never mind the fact that the Toronto Jewish community says Guney is neither a rabbi nor even Jewish; his assumed identity fits neatly into the anti-Semitism of Turkey's Islamists, who like to portray Jews as a nefarious influence in their country. Some of the allegations are also wildly contradictory. For example, prosecutors claim that Ergenekon plotters were backed by Washington. Yet they also say they planned to attack NATO installations in Turkey.

The tragedy here is that the AKP is not just using Ergenekon to rid Turkey of the old Deep State, but to intimidate its legitimate opposition ahead of nationwide local elections on March 29. As the last elections suggested, more than half the population still opposes the AKP, but many are now afraid to speak out due to signs that the government is monitoring its enemies. Journalists critical of the government have had embarrassing personal conversations leaked to pro-AKP media, and the police have recorded more than 1.5 million phone calls and e-mails in the Ergenekon case alone.

Such signs suggest that the AKP has replaced the old Deep State with a new one of its own. While still using the ghost of the previous establishment to conduct a witch hunt, now the Islamists are pulling the levers of power. The Deep State may have once functioned to intimidate communists and Islamists, but today it is used against secular, liberal and nationalist Turks in order to crush dissent. Turkey's progressives must be heartbroken. They hoped that political modernization and the AKP would finally rid their state of conspiracy theories and shadowy powers behind the throne. But such a change would have required a liberal party at the country's helm.

Cagaptay is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the author of "Islam, Secularism and Nationalism in Modern Turkey: Who Is a Turk?"

Inclusive Europe

I feel that the British understanding of culture is closer to the universality, when it's compared to the Franco-German conception. It is similar to the Turkish/Ottoman way.

Maybe this is why the British and the Turk have been ruling the world for centuries and the latter couple had always stucked in the way to the universality.

So, can we say that Europa Universalis can only be realized through an Anglo-Turkish perspective?

I'm not sure about it, but I would like to give an example.

The Financial Times has published an article today. It is about Kutlug Ataman's latest work, which is being exhibited in a London art gallery.

When we read the following sentence in a mainstream German or French media outlet, we'll see that a more inclusive and multicultural Europe, which doesn't snap his fingers at Turkey anymore, is finally alive and kicking:

"Ataman is part of a generation of Turkish filmmakers, along with Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ferzan Ozpetek and Zeki Demirkubuz, that has established an international reputation for making meditative and beautifully crafted works that recall the golden age of European art-house cinema."

The End -for Visas- Is Nigh

A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of Turkey.

Following the latest European Court of Justice decision, which stated that the Turkish truck drivers -and implicitly, all other Turkish service providers- can travel in the EU without visas, there is a silent debate in Germany.

The German government wouldn't like any Turks to hear it, but yes, Turks should be able go to Germany without visas. The German authorities can still block them while entering the country, but now they know that it is illegal on behalf of the international law.

Sevim Dagdelen, an MP of Germany's Left Party, made the following announcement yesterday:

"The public announcements of the German government hide some facts, reflecting the ECJ decision as if it only covers Turkish truck drivers. My party had presented a formal question to the government, concerning the ECJ decision. Their answer implicitly suggests that the Turkish citizens can enter Germany without visas, if their visit would last less than three months. It includes the Turkish tourists, businessmen, artists and patients."

Meanwhile, there is a similar debate in the Netherlands. The Dutch parliament has rightfully rejected a draft, prepared by three far-rightist MPs, to force the government to legally guarantee that the visa policy against the Turks will continue. The parliament's refusal is honorable, but the government's position is not. The Dutch government says that they don't need such a law, because they won't abolish the visa anyway.

Anyway?

Against any binding decision by any international court...

They just don't care.

But how long can you suppress the right, if you're proven wrong? Wouldn't the justice be served soon or late?

The Martyrs' Day of the World

Seyit Ali was an Ottoman private soldier during the naval operation in the Dardanelles Campaign. As the British Navy was forcing the way through the Dardenelles 94 years ago, Seyit was helping the Ottoman artillery unit by reloading the cannons to defend the Strait. He managed to lift a shell, weighed around 330 kg. That bullet hit the British battleship HMS Ocean, which still sleeps with the fishes in the Marmara Sea. Seyit was promoted to a corporal, but he couldn't manage to lift the bullet again. After he posed with a mock bullet, he said that he could do it again, if it's vital for the country.

Today is the 94th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Gallipoli, which was won by the defending Ottoman army in 1915. It is marked as the Martyrs' Day in Turkey.

Like the following Turkish Independence War, which was won against Britain, France, Greece, Italy and Armenia, the Gallipoli was also a miraculous victory. Britain's mighty royal armada was beaten, alongside the international troops of the British Empire and France, in this last battle against imperialism.

The result was 500.000 deaths and major political developments, like the resignation of Winston Churchill, as well as the rise of Mustafa Kemal, the founder of Turkey who was a leading commander in Gallipoli.

As the number of the casualties proves, Gallipoli was one of the last and maybe the deadliest trench war of the history. The opposing trenches of two sides were just 15 meters apart.

Do you know those lyrics of Turkey's national anthem? Mehmed Akif Ersoy, the poet of the anthem, had phrased it in the best possible way in the 7th verse:

What man would not die for this heavenly piece of land?

Martyrs would gush out should one simply squeeze the soil! Martyrs!

May God take my life, all my loved ones and possessions from me if He will,

But may He not deprive me of my one true homeland for the world.

Ersoy was not romantic, neither in the first or the last line. We have recently seen that the second line of this verse is also a fact. A fire was erupted in Gallipoli last week. The villagers went to the burnt forest and found bones and skulls (above). It is understood now that they belong to the Turkish soldiers who died in the Battle of Gallipoli and was buried there without tombstones.

However, they might have been the ANZAC soldiers, too. It doesn't make a difference. As Atatürk had stated in the most humane way:

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives: You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours: you, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."

By praising the courage of the decent soldiers and by protesting the enormity of the imperialist politicians, let's remember that the war continues and the martyrs from all nations keep falling down in vain, maybe while reciting another poem by Mehmed Akif Ersoy:

To the Martyrs of Canakkale

This Dardanelles war - without equal in the world

Four or five mighty armies are pressed and are hurled

To reach the Sea of Marmara by hill and pass

So many fleets have surrounded a small mass...

The Old World and the New World, all have come this way,

Bubbling like sand, like a flood, or like Judgement Day;

The seven climes of the world stand opposite you

Australia, beside which observe Canada, too!

Different are these hordes in face and skin and sound

Only their violence, forsooth, is equal all round.

Outstretched he lies there, shot right through his spotless brow,

For this Crescent, O Lord, what suns are setting now?

O soldier, for this earth's sake fallen to the dust,

If your heavenly forbears kissed your brow, it is just.

Brave you are, your blood makes the One God victorious,

Only the lions of Badr could be as glorious.

Who can dig a sepulchre great enough for you?

History itself, say I, cannot contain you.

That book records the epochs upturned in this race...

Eternities are needed to give you your place.

You, who destroyed the onslaught of the last crusade,

From the dearest sultan of the East, Saladin,

And from Kilic Arslan who earned high accolade

You who took the iron hoop hemming Islam in

And shattered into pieces on your own strong breast.

You with whose spirit move the legends of your name

The iron hoop that robbed Islam of all its rest;

Ages of history overflow with your fame...

No more these horizons for you no more this test...

Martyr, son of martyr, ask me not for a grave,

The prophet, open-armed, awaits his warrior brave.

If you sail through the Dardenelles Strait, you would see this giant writing on the wooded hills of Gallipoli: "Stop wayfarer! Unbeknownst to you this ground you come and tread on, is where an epoch lies!"

The Birds!

Istanbul Surrealism: My wife has taken this photo near our house a couple of days ago. The bridge over the lake is always crowded with people who feed the swarming birds with breads, like we also see in the famous Bosphorus ferries. Sometimes the birds look larger than they actually are...

The Stalinist Regime of Napoleon III?

Le Nouvel Observateur has published a great article by Jacques Julliard. Julliard made a brief visit to Istanbul and reported his observations about today's Turkey. I'll summarize his article for those who can't read the original in French:

* In Turkey, there is race between economic modernism and secretly rising Islamism. We see here an economic liberalism under an authoritarian government that applies political pressure, similar to the regime in China.

* On one side, with the skyrocketing national income and the flourishing urbanism, Istanbul has become one of the fastest growing cities of the world. There is a cultural boom and the newspapers, like Hurriyet, increase their sales miraculously.

* But on the other side, the government gets harsher and keeps the media under a constant pressure. The tax penalty against the Dogan Group and the arbitrary arrests of several journalists constitute a violation of the freedom of press, which is a requirement for a democracy.

* Strangling the press was a method of Napoleon III, but we see it now in Turkey. Let's don't forget that there were elections, political parties and a parliament under Stalin regime of the USSR, too.

* * *

Remembering a recent discussion in comments, I strongly condemn Monsieur Julliard, who is a respected historian! How can he make these comparisons?! Isn't it an example of reductio ad Stalinum? And isn't it reductio ad Napoleonum?! Bla bla bla...

Joking aside, I really have a lot respect for Julliard. Not because of what he has told against the Turkish government that I don't admire, but because of his honorable views about the EU. I don't agree with these views, too. However, he exemplifies how a person who is against the EU membership of Turkey should form and present his opinion. His views are truely consistent, rational and fair.

What are these views?

In the same article, he admits that he favors a Turkey, which is Kemalist (or post-Kemalist), secular, but still Muslim. And he says "non" to an Islamist Turkey. However, then he states that he is against the suggestion that Turkey should become an integral part of the EU.

His reasoning is not cultural, but political. He stresses the importance of the political union of the EU and he thinks that it wouldn't be possible with Turkey as a member. Instead, he suggests that Turkey should be in the same sphere with countries like Britain and Poland. And Germany-France axis should form the core of the EU. Basically, a Europe with two gears...

I wish that everyone who opposes Turkey's EU membership could be as reasonable and as honest as Julliard. Simply, he's not annoying...

An Innovation: Islamist anti-Darwinism

The religious resistance against Charles Darwin is deeply rooted in the Western society, because the Christian dogma bears serious contradictions with the Theory of Evolution.

The case is much more different for Turkey and other countries with mostly Muslim populations.

Until 1980s, most of the Muslims did not have any theoretical objection against the Evolution, because there were no verses in the Quran which contradict with this concept.

Hence, the Islamist Anti-Darwinism is a modern trend. It is an import from the West. If you read Adnan Oktar's works, you would see that the content, the form and the rhetoric in his books are strikingly similar with those of Evangelical Christians.

I'll provide you a cultural evidence from the history, which would summarize it all very well:

In one of his essay collections, Refik Halid Karay (1994, "Bir Avuc Sacma", p. 68) tells us about a phrase, which he had read in a textbook in the primary school. As Karay was born in 1888, the following sentence -with a florid Ottoman Turkish tone- should be in an Ottoman school book in the late 1800s, long before the foundation of the secular Republic of Turkey:

"Benî beşer ki eşrefi mahlûkattır, Cenab-ı Hak onu hayvanatı saireden hassai nutukla mümtaz kıldı..."

And here is its translation:

"Humanity is the most superior of all creatures. With his ability to talk, the Supreme (referring to God) made him privileged among other animals."

AKP: The Origin of Bigotry

A mock-up cover of AKP's "new" magazine, featuring the infamous Turkish creationist Adnan Oktar, aka Harun Yahya.

The magazine of TUBITAK, Turkey's leading science institute, was censored yesterday, after its editor has dared to put on its cover a story marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. The government's representative at TUBITAK has fired the editor of Bilim ve Teknik (Science and Technique) and removed all the content about Darwin.

This is another example about the reactionary tendencies of our bigot government. All those people who have been praising the AKP as Turkey's conversative-but-progressive liberals for years, where are you now? Will you talk about science or about editorial freedom? For an answer, read an article on a shameless newspaper, which still tries to appear as objective but can't hide its Islamist tendencies because of its close relationship with the AKP, manipulating stories in this kind of disguise.

* * *

Besides being a proof about the AKP villainy, the censorship mirrors another trend in Turkey. Pseudo-Muslims, whose roots are generally abroad, keep gaining ground and the government is responsible about this rising threat against the society.

True Muslims, don't fall into trap!

Islam is totally compatible with the Evolution Theory and besides several Islamic experts, now even hardcore Catholics began to change their course on this matter.

Don't imitate the Evangelical Christians or their apparatus in Turkey.

Forget the magazines. Be proud of the Quran and adopt the secular science as your companion book.

And always remember that Darwin's theory is just one page of that book...

Who is Shocked?

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has found another opportunity to roast the media. He just can't do this without revealing his utter ignorance.

On Sunday, I had told you that the Manisa branch of the AKP had provided a fake photo to prove that the participation to their local meeting was not low. The PR department of the party had manipulated the photo by adding clone AKP fans. Some newspapers have revealed the forgery and the party has fired the local PR official.

However, the PM was angry today, as if he didn't sack any of his comrades. These are his words, which demonstrate how much he knows about the simple facts of computer technology, such as the mysterious software called Photoshop:

"They say it's PHOTO-SHOCK. They say we make a PHOTO-SHOCK. After a while, the masses in the meeting areas naturally disperse. And then you see that the partisan media photograph it. They don't print the photos of the crowded areas. Whatever photo you take, my nation is here. You can't go anywhere with those manipulated photos."

These remarks summarize our barefacedly populist PM perfectly: 1) Blame on the press when you, yourself, make a mistake. 2) Don't hesitate to show your ignorance; because most of your voters, the illiterati of Turkey, are not more knowledgeable than you. After all, who needs facts? Just give them refrigerators...

The Quote of the Week

According to the lunar calendar, today is the birthday of Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

They had asked: "What is the best type of Jihad [struggle]?"

And the Prophet had answered: "Speaking truth before a tyrannical ruler."

Can You Use Technology In A Reactionary Way?

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has introduced an alternative to Youtube. Ak Parti Tube -yes, the naming is extremely creative- is online now. So AKP voters can watch the local election speeches of their candidates or upload their own videos to praise their supreme leader, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan I.

This reminds me of the Obama Campaign, which had used the communication technology excellently to reach its election goals. But there is a serious problem with our brand-new Ak Tube.

In Turkey, Youtube is still banned and there is no significant alternative as a video-sharing website. The AKP thinks that the ban on Youtube is justified and they may have a reason for this.

I have no doubt about it, because we all know that they, as the government party, didn't do anything to change the current legislation which limits the right of free speech, which should have been unconditionally granted to me, who is an ordinary citizen that would like to have access to Youtube.

Now I have an advise for Youtube administration: Sue the AKP in the Turkish courts. Make some trouble for this government, because they comfortably kicked you out of the Turkish market and introduced their own channel as an unfair competitor! I just hope that such a case would be beneficial for democracy. Maybe much more beneficial than the upcoming local elections...

Another clue about the way that the AKP uses modern technology: It is revealed today that the Manisa branch of the party has provided a fake photo to prove that the participation to their local propaganda meeting was not low. It can be clearly seen that the photo was manipulated with cloned AKP fans.

By Reading This Post, You Have Killed A Turk

I could also write this post under the label of "Moral of a Fable..."

Let's just read the Reuters story...

A court in Germany fined a man 1,800 euros ($2,300) for inadvertently passing on an SMS text message which told the recipient they had just killed a Turk by opening it, his lawyer said on Friday.

Shortly before Germany defeated Turkey in last year's Euro 2008 soccer tournament, the 28-year-old sent a message that in German read "by opening this SMS, you have killed a Turk".

The recipient was also urged to forward the SMS to encourage a "clean" tournament, landing the man in court charged with inciting racial hatred, his lawyer Karl Laible said on Friday. About 3 percent of Germany's population are of Turkish origin.

However, the court in the southern town of Lindau dropped the charge -- which could have led to a prison sentence -- in exchange for the fine due to uncertainty about the accusation and the man's motive, he told Reuters.

The man had been forwarded the message and accidentally sent it to the name at the top of his phone's address book last June, Laible said, adding that he had done so only once.

"The only reason the SMS became known about was because the home of the man he sent it to was searched by police. His mobile was confiscated and that's when the SMS was found."

"It's a farcical story really: my client is a conscientious objector and his brother-in-law is a Turk," Laible said.

No Comment Courtesy of the Economist

Hurriyet of Pre-Nazi Era Germany

Have you ever heard of Vossische Zeitung? Once, it was the biggest nation-wide newspaper of Germany. Actually it was the only one then.

Nowadays I read about the history of this obsolete newspaper. If you speak German, please read this Wikipedia article for a summary. There is a shorter English version.

I know that the history never repeats itself, but sometimes it comes close at doing so. If you ask me, there is a parallelism between the current situation in Turkey and the tragedy of Vossische Zeitung.

Read Hitler's Speech at the Berlin Sports Palace (1941) and see how he singled out Vossische Zeitung with a deep hatred.

Isn't it really familiar?

Democracy Silenced

In the previous post, you saw an incredible banner of the AKP supporters.

There was another banner in the same AKP meeting in Istanbul yesterday. However, this one was belonged to two protestors.

A couple of students, who wanted to stage a protest against AKP's Mayor of Istanbul, have tried to show the banner, which just reads "Hey Municipality, Give Us Our Study Grants!"

That was a peaceful reaction to the recent decision of the mayor, blocking the fund which was alloted to low-income university students.

And do you know what happened to those students? How did all the "democratic"AKP supporters react in front of their Prime Minister, who was angry at the press again even because of this student mischief, yelling, "Hey media, did you find something interesting there?"

Please watch it here.

A Non-Partisan Governor with an AKP Flag

In one of my posts in February, I told you about the "free" elections in Turkey. The AKP government had started to distribute household appliances to poor people in the Eastern provinces. It was claimed that the governor of Tunceli was giving them away as gifts. However, he denied the allegations of illegal electioneering by citing the principle of "social state," insisting that the "non-partisan" governor office has nothing to with politics, in accordance with the Constitution.

But the police in Tunceli, following the orders of a state prosecutor, has conducted a search in the governorship today. Surprise! AKP's propaganda material has been found near the governor's expensive "gifts."

So, it seems that the way I have called the governor was not wrong: He is the govern(ment)or. He is the symbol of the ill-minded transformation of Turkish politics. From a democracy, to something which looks like democracy, but actually is not.

AKP's fridge politics is a direct threat to the vitality of the democracy. It is not less dangerous than a military coup or an Islamist revolution. I feel that it is even worse, because it proves that this reactionary party now controls the bureaucracy as well. The last fortress of the democracy is the judiciary. We'll see if it will also fall down or not, but it is definitely besieged.

AKP supporters were carrying this banner today: "The Last Ottoman Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan I." Beware, the second one may come one day. And somebody should teach AKP voters that "the actual" last Ottoman sultan, Vahdeddin, had escaped from the country onboard a frigate, belonged to the United Kingdom, which had occupied Istanbul in 1920s. What a patriotism!

We Need A Mind At Peace

One and a half years ago, I had written that Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar is one of my favorite Turkish writers. His masterpiece, "Huzur", definitely tops my all-time top-10 list of novels.

If you read all their works, you would see that Orhan Pamuk is just a wanna-be Tanpinar. The themes are almost same, but Tanpinar's use of Turkish language is far more masterful than Pamuk. This is probably why I always feel that something, maybe that original spirit, is missing in Pamuk. (Pamuk's "Istanbul: Memories and the City," is completely another story. Simply put, it's his artistic climax.)

Tanpinar's "Huzur" has finally been published in English as "A Mind at Peace." Actually I have given the same link almost two years ago, but the book was not published yet.

Los Angeles Times has reviewed the book yesterday. I suggest you to read the review, buy the book and then compare Tanpinar and Pamuk, these two extraordinary writers, yourself.

If We Don't Speak Out, Who Will?

Turkish PM Erdogan is powerful enough to silence the democratic media, which reveal the corruption stories of AKP municipalities. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has stated it well: "The Turkish Sultan Wants a Well-Behaved Press."

Turkey's leading media company Dogan Yayin, which also owns the newspaper that I work for, has been fined $412.5 million last week.

The fine is a result of the investigation by the tax authorities, who have taken action following the order of the Ministry of Finance.

Anybody with a decent understanding of accounting can realize that this is an undeserved, unfair punishment with a political motive.

After scrutinizing this massive corporation for years, the ministry investigators have only discovered an insignificant fault, which would never cost anything to the Turkish taxpayers or the Turkish state or any other party.

However, they have pleasantly taken advantage of this technicality to besiege the only big media group left, which didn't fear to criticize the government.

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To summarize, this case has nothing to do with a tax fraud. If you don't believe in me, check the foreign press coverage or the reactions by international media organizations like the IPI or the explanation of Aydin Dogan, the owner of the media group: "Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan tries to create calm and silent Turkey."

In the last eight years, the Islamist government has finished off three big media outlets which were keen to remain unbiased. All of them have been seized by the state somehow and were sold to a few companies that were linked to the AKP and quickly transformed into the voice of the government.

We observe that PM Erdogan wants to play the same scenario with Dogan Yayin.

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I guess that the best reaction to this totalitarian trend has come from Cumhuriyet, one of the oldest newspapers of Turkey. I would like to emphasize that this newspaper is not related to Dogan Yayin.

Today, Cumhuriyet's first page was almost completely blank. The headline story was a large whiteness.

The short explanation argues that PM Erdogan battles with media, calls for public boycott against national newspapers, forces them to suffer from financial difficulties and if nothing avails, he effectively censors them. These practices by the AKP government show that they long for the quasi-dictatorship of the Democrat Party in 1950s.

OK, it's always easy to surrender when facing such power, but...

As Cumhuriyet asks:

"If we don't speak out, who will?"

Cumhuriyet's first page today...