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Pre-election campaign in Turkey checks `blood purity' of politicians
Nothing good will come out of this pre-election campaign, as the
Turkish population consider themselves pure Turks, Ottomans by origin.
Any other origin is considered `unclean'.
This week the Turkish press publicized two news items worthy of close
attention. The first was about the decision on Leo Suren Halepli,
Turkish citizen of Armenian descent,to be employed by the Turkish
government. Tthe second item referred to publication of the names of
Armenian journalists killed in the years of the Armenian Genocide of
1915. It is unlikely that we would be interested in these posts, but
for the gaining momentum campaign for parliamentary elections.
March 4, 2011
PanARMENIAN.Net -
Any statement given by the main contenders for the majority should be
treated in this context. As for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
he, as always, does his usual, playing to the gallery on the brink of
a scandal, accusing every possible and impossible one. Once more he
swears fidelity to the Turkic Union, EU, Arabs and anyone, except the
recent strategic partner and ally - Israel. But there is an
explanation to everything: it is impossible to enlist the support of
the Arab world, meanwhile maintaining good relations with Israel. Only
Hosni Mubarak and to some extent, the League of Arab States (LAS)
headed by Egyptian diplomat Amr Moussa have so far managed to do so.
But alas, all is gone, and now Turkey is trying to play a major role
in the Arab East, completely forgetting both about Saudi Arabia and
yet quite competent Gaddafi. However, Turkey is well aware that the
path to Arab states that have experienced a `revolution' lies through
Egypt. Especially to that end did President Gul leave for Cairo.
`We'll share our mutual experiences and will describe how we
implemented reforms in our country. The transition period must be
open, transparent and satisfying; it must meet people's expectations,
and must involve people in this process,' Gul said. He also stressed
in this issue the sincerity of Turkey, which forms part of the region.
`We have gained a high reputation and our opinion counts. What
happened is a people's revolution. What needs to be done today is to
act rationally and decisively. It is necessary to ensure democracy and
supremacy of law,' the Turkish president said.
As always, words and actions of Turkish officials are diametrically
opposite. Democracy is good, of course, but how to deal with
dissatisfaction of the OSCE, regarding the harassment of journalists.
The ability of Turkey to fog the truth is known for long, since the
times of the Ottoman Empire. One may even say that nothing has changed
for over 600 years, except the look of Turkey - from a gown with a
hookah to a business suit from the best designers.
Within the same pre-election campaign there also began the process of
`defaming' the leaders of major political parties. At least so Turkish
politicians interpret the mention of their non-Turkic roots. It all
started a couple of years ago, when MP Canan Aritman `accused'
President Gul of the Armenian descent of his mother. Now Armenian
roots are attributed to Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, leader of the Republican
People's Party (CHP), and the other day they started to talk about the
Jewish origin of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Nothing good will come out of
this campaign, as the Turkish population consider themselves pure
Turks, who were Ottomans by origin. Any other origin is considered
`unclean'. We will not mention that the Young Turks and Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk were Donmeh (Jews who converted to Islam). Neither shall we
mention about their Armenian grandmothers. But the most interesting
point is that among the ancestors of Turkish politicians no
Azerbaijanis are found. This fact alone means nothing, unless you take
into account that they did not exist at the time of the Ottoman
Empire, when Circassians, Albanians, Slavs, and anyone but the
Caucasian Tatars were captured or taken into harem ... And the fact
that the Turkish Premier is a Laz by nationality is not news.
However, it's strange enough that a country avid for getting into
Europe, should care about `purity of blood'. Europe once experienced
this in 1930s. The good news is that everything that's happening now
in Turkey is merely a campaign.
Karine Ter-Sahakyan / PanARMENIAN News
From: A. Papazian
Nothing good will come out of this pre-election campaign, as the
Turkish population consider themselves pure Turks, Ottomans by origin.
Any other origin is considered `unclean'.
This week the Turkish press publicized two news items worthy of close
attention. The first was about the decision on Leo Suren Halepli,
Turkish citizen of Armenian descent,to be employed by the Turkish
government. Tthe second item referred to publication of the names of
Armenian journalists killed in the years of the Armenian Genocide of
1915. It is unlikely that we would be interested in these posts, but
for the gaining momentum campaign for parliamentary elections.
March 4, 2011
PanARMENIAN.Net -
Any statement given by the main contenders for the majority should be
treated in this context. As for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
he, as always, does his usual, playing to the gallery on the brink of
a scandal, accusing every possible and impossible one. Once more he
swears fidelity to the Turkic Union, EU, Arabs and anyone, except the
recent strategic partner and ally - Israel. But there is an
explanation to everything: it is impossible to enlist the support of
the Arab world, meanwhile maintaining good relations with Israel. Only
Hosni Mubarak and to some extent, the League of Arab States (LAS)
headed by Egyptian diplomat Amr Moussa have so far managed to do so.
But alas, all is gone, and now Turkey is trying to play a major role
in the Arab East, completely forgetting both about Saudi Arabia and
yet quite competent Gaddafi. However, Turkey is well aware that the
path to Arab states that have experienced a `revolution' lies through
Egypt. Especially to that end did President Gul leave for Cairo.
`We'll share our mutual experiences and will describe how we
implemented reforms in our country. The transition period must be
open, transparent and satisfying; it must meet people's expectations,
and must involve people in this process,' Gul said. He also stressed
in this issue the sincerity of Turkey, which forms part of the region.
`We have gained a high reputation and our opinion counts. What
happened is a people's revolution. What needs to be done today is to
act rationally and decisively. It is necessary to ensure democracy and
supremacy of law,' the Turkish president said.
As always, words and actions of Turkish officials are diametrically
opposite. Democracy is good, of course, but how to deal with
dissatisfaction of the OSCE, regarding the harassment of journalists.
The ability of Turkey to fog the truth is known for long, since the
times of the Ottoman Empire. One may even say that nothing has changed
for over 600 years, except the look of Turkey - from a gown with a
hookah to a business suit from the best designers.
Within the same pre-election campaign there also began the process of
`defaming' the leaders of major political parties. At least so Turkish
politicians interpret the mention of their non-Turkic roots. It all
started a couple of years ago, when MP Canan Aritman `accused'
President Gul of the Armenian descent of his mother. Now Armenian
roots are attributed to Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, leader of the Republican
People's Party (CHP), and the other day they started to talk about the
Jewish origin of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Nothing good will come out of
this campaign, as the Turkish population consider themselves pure
Turks, who were Ottomans by origin. Any other origin is considered
`unclean'. We will not mention that the Young Turks and Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk were Donmeh (Jews who converted to Islam). Neither shall we
mention about their Armenian grandmothers. But the most interesting
point is that among the ancestors of Turkish politicians no
Azerbaijanis are found. This fact alone means nothing, unless you take
into account that they did not exist at the time of the Ottoman
Empire, when Circassians, Albanians, Slavs, and anyone but the
Caucasian Tatars were captured or taken into harem ... And the fact
that the Turkish Premier is a Laz by nationality is not news.
However, it's strange enough that a country avid for getting into
Europe, should care about `purity of blood'. Europe once experienced
this in 1930s. The good news is that everything that's happening now
in Turkey is merely a campaign.
Karine Ter-Sahakyan / PanARMENIAN News
From: A. Papazian