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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Feb 18 2012
Why `Zionists' might give me an award
by MUSTAFA AKYOL
You might have heard that there are dozens of journalists in Turkey's
prisons. For sure, this is a serious problem for Turkish democracy,
and hence I have been critical of the laws and legal mindset that has
caused these detentions. However, for the sake of presenting Turkey
with all its nuances, let me also shed some light on what sort of
`journalism' we could be talking about here.
The majority of the journalists in jail are supporters of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and they have been accused of
venerating the PKK's terrorist actions. Recently, a prison sentence
was given to a headline which read, `Suicide bombing: the road to
Kurdish liberation,' which would be a crime in some EU states as well.
(Mere sympathy for the PKK, however, should of course be free. But our
illiberal laws disagree.)
The most controversial cases are those of almost a dozen journalists
who are accused of making propaganda on behalf of the would-be juntas
in the Turkish military. And most of these are affiliated with a
popular website called `OdaTV.'
Frankly, I am not an avid reader of OdaTV, but recently one of their
pieces made my day. For it was about no one else but me and had a most
interesting headline: `Why will a Zionist foundation give an award to
Mustafa Akyol in March?'
`The jury will announce its decision in March, but let me tell you in
advance,' asserted Mehmet Å?ekeroÄ?lu, the writer of the article. `The
award will be given to Mustafa Akyol, who had long been chosen.'
What Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu was talking about is the Lioner Gelber Prize, which
is presented annually to the best non-fiction book of the year. I have
been indeed lucky enough to have my book, `Islam without Extremes: A
Muslim Case for Liberty' (W.W. Norton) as one of the 10 nominees of
this year, along with titles by Henry Kissinger and Francis Fukuyama.
But why Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu defined the Canada-based Lioner Gelber
Foundation as `Zionist' is beyond me. It is probably the result of the
paranoid anti-Semitism that is prevalent in many other `news stories'
of OdaTv.
Yet why in the world would a `Zionist foundation' reward me? For my
great contributions as a veteran Kibbutznik? Well, Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu had
an even better explanation. `In the recent years,' he wrote, the
`tarikatçı-Zionist media' had told me, `go on my son, write and
speak.' (`Tarikatçı' is someone who is a member of an Islamic sect; so
I was lucky to have both Islamists and `Zionists' as my mentors.)
These forces had in fact done the same polishing for Orhan Pamuk, who,
according to Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu, was rewarded for betraying the Turkish
nation by supporting `the Armenian genocide libel.'
But what was my treason to the Turkish nation? Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu wisely explained:
`Mustafa Akyol... is a sworn enemy of socialism, and a defender of
capitalism whose wildness have penetrated into all his senses and
bones... His biggest mission is to convince the poor masses that their
dire conditions are a part of their `fate,' and not the product of
capitalism... So, there is nothing more normal than a liberal-Zionist
foundation giving an award to Akyol.'
In other words, I was a distributor of the `opium of the people'
(a.k.a. religion), and hence came my bribes from the world's
capitalist cabals.
Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu's piece went on and on with such demonizing rhetoric, as
many other pieces in OdaTV do. Since I am familiar with such bilge, I
did not take it seriously. Moreover, I am ready to defend the right of
Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu and other Oda TV writers to keep on pushing their
ideology ` a toxic blend of socialism, nationalism, secularism and
anti-Semitism. But I would also disagree with anyone who thinks that
this is the type of `journalism' that Turkey needs to become a saner
country.
February/18/2012
Feb 18 2012
Why `Zionists' might give me an award
by MUSTAFA AKYOL
You might have heard that there are dozens of journalists in Turkey's
prisons. For sure, this is a serious problem for Turkish democracy,
and hence I have been critical of the laws and legal mindset that has
caused these detentions. However, for the sake of presenting Turkey
with all its nuances, let me also shed some light on what sort of
`journalism' we could be talking about here.
The majority of the journalists in jail are supporters of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and they have been accused of
venerating the PKK's terrorist actions. Recently, a prison sentence
was given to a headline which read, `Suicide bombing: the road to
Kurdish liberation,' which would be a crime in some EU states as well.
(Mere sympathy for the PKK, however, should of course be free. But our
illiberal laws disagree.)
The most controversial cases are those of almost a dozen journalists
who are accused of making propaganda on behalf of the would-be juntas
in the Turkish military. And most of these are affiliated with a
popular website called `OdaTV.'
Frankly, I am not an avid reader of OdaTV, but recently one of their
pieces made my day. For it was about no one else but me and had a most
interesting headline: `Why will a Zionist foundation give an award to
Mustafa Akyol in March?'
`The jury will announce its decision in March, but let me tell you in
advance,' asserted Mehmet Å?ekeroÄ?lu, the writer of the article. `The
award will be given to Mustafa Akyol, who had long been chosen.'
What Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu was talking about is the Lioner Gelber Prize, which
is presented annually to the best non-fiction book of the year. I have
been indeed lucky enough to have my book, `Islam without Extremes: A
Muslim Case for Liberty' (W.W. Norton) as one of the 10 nominees of
this year, along with titles by Henry Kissinger and Francis Fukuyama.
But why Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu defined the Canada-based Lioner Gelber
Foundation as `Zionist' is beyond me. It is probably the result of the
paranoid anti-Semitism that is prevalent in many other `news stories'
of OdaTv.
Yet why in the world would a `Zionist foundation' reward me? For my
great contributions as a veteran Kibbutznik? Well, Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu had
an even better explanation. `In the recent years,' he wrote, the
`tarikatçı-Zionist media' had told me, `go on my son, write and
speak.' (`Tarikatçı' is someone who is a member of an Islamic sect; so
I was lucky to have both Islamists and `Zionists' as my mentors.)
These forces had in fact done the same polishing for Orhan Pamuk, who,
according to Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu, was rewarded for betraying the Turkish
nation by supporting `the Armenian genocide libel.'
But what was my treason to the Turkish nation? Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu wisely explained:
`Mustafa Akyol... is a sworn enemy of socialism, and a defender of
capitalism whose wildness have penetrated into all his senses and
bones... His biggest mission is to convince the poor masses that their
dire conditions are a part of their `fate,' and not the product of
capitalism... So, there is nothing more normal than a liberal-Zionist
foundation giving an award to Akyol.'
In other words, I was a distributor of the `opium of the people'
(a.k.a. religion), and hence came my bribes from the world's
capitalist cabals.
Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu's piece went on and on with such demonizing rhetoric, as
many other pieces in OdaTV do. Since I am familiar with such bilge, I
did not take it seriously. Moreover, I am ready to defend the right of
Mr. Å?ekeroÄ?lu and other Oda TV writers to keep on pushing their
ideology ` a toxic blend of socialism, nationalism, secularism and
anti-Semitism. But I would also disagree with anyone who thinks that
this is the type of `journalism' that Turkey needs to become a saner
country.
February/18/2012