Apparently so.
Pope: No Religious Motive in Bishop’s Death
June 4, 2010 - 12:04 PM
by: Greg Burke
Just hours after a Catholic bishop was killed in Turkey, the Vatican said it was the work of a mentally unstable man, and Pope Benedict also tried to downplay the incident on Friday.
Speaking to reporters on his way to a three-day trip to Cyprus, Benedict said while the circumstances of the killing are still not clear, it was not politically or religiously motivated.
“We should not blame it on Turkey or on the Turks,” the Pope told us as he came to the back of the plane at the start of the trip. “It’s clear that it’s not a political-religious assassination.”
Italian-born Bishop Luigi Padovese was stabbed to death early Thursday afternoon at his home in Iskenderun, Turkey, near the Syrian border. Shortly afterwards, authorities arrested his driver, and said the man had recently been suffering from depression and mental instability.
“We’re still waiting for a full explanation, but we don’t want to mix up this tragedy with Islam,” Benedict said. “It’s a separate case that saddens us but shouldn’t be allowed to cast a shadow over the dialogue.”
Another Italian priest, Father Andrea Santoro, was killed in Turkey in 2006, and the man arrested in that case was also described as mentally unstable.
Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim, and while the country hopes to join the European Union, critics point to a lack of religious freedom in the nation.
The timing of Padovese’s killing was significant, as the bishop was scheduled to travel to Cyprus for Pope Benedict’s visit this weekend.
Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded the country in 1974. The Turks currently holds nearly 40 percent of the island. Benedict will not visit the Turkish side of the island but will spend the night at the Vatican embassy, which sits right on the dividing line.
On his first day, Benedict was greeted warmly by both Catholics and Orthodox, but quickly saw how tense the situation on the small island is, as a Cypriot Orthodox bishop told him that Turkey was trying to take over the entire nation.
“It has turned the Orthodox Christians of Cyprus out of their ancestral homes, where they had lived for centuries,” said His Beatitude Chyrsostomos II at an outdoor ceremony in Paphos. “They want to make everything Greek and Christian disappear from occupied Cyprus.”
Let me think about this for a moment. According to the Church, the Pope, il papa himself - the One sanctified by God to carry His word, infallible ... said it was not something we can blame on Islam. So ends the story, if I believe in the infallibility of il papa - which I do, and I don't. Of the office and the man when seeking God's grace in truth and justice, but not when that man seeks a detente with Islam over truth.
Christendom loses when we ignore the tactics used by some who are a bit ... awkwardly and uncomfortably Muslim. What was the name of the man who shot Pope John Paul II? I can't recall. And neither can I recall where he was from. Of course, no connection.
Two Bishops and a Pope - two murdered and one seriously wounded, by three deranged Muslim males. Of course that is possible. So let us check England, France, the US, Germany, Russia - and see if we can find 3 Islamic religious figures murdered or seriously, and all 3 must occur in the same country. ??? A hint: the answer has fewer letters than the hoped for (by some) answer. NO. What about the flotilla brigade - the Turkish contingent onboard, singing death to Jews and a hoped for martyrdom. Are they also deranged? No says their Prime Minister, just the guy who killed the Bishop, and the Pope goes along with the charade.
If we are very quiet and pay attention we can hear the warnings.
Turkey
Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Turkey: Hamas is not a terrorist organization. Rachel Corrie stopped by Israeli navy
Israeli troops board Rachel Corrie after 4 calls ignored. Erdogan may join next flotilla
DEBKAfile Special Report
June 5, 2010, 10:07 AM
After four calls to change course from Gaza to Ashdod were ignored, Israeli troops were reported to have boarded the Irish-flagged Rachel Corrie some 28 miles out to sea and sailed it to the Israeli port of Ashdod after the ship's pro-Hamas passengers stood by their determination to break the Israeli blockade.
No violence or injuries were reported.
Midday Saturday, June 5, the cat and mouse game between the Israeli Navy, with orders to keep the ship from entering Gaza and the pro-Hamas activists aboard the ship reached its climax. Israeli calls transmitted to the Rachel Corrie ever since dawn met with no response.
Earlier reports during the morning elicited a denial from the Israeli military spokeswoman that troops had boarded the Irish-flagged ship. "At this minute, there's no takeover," she said cautiously.
Turkish security sources quoted Prime Minister Recep Erdogan as preparing to go beyond abusive rhetoric against Israel and considering using his navy to break Israel's siege of Gaza - or even sailing aboard the next flotilla to break the blockade in person on the assumption that Israel would not dare stop him.
According to debkafile's sources in Ankara, the Obama administration is in contact with the Turkish PM and trying to cool him down.
Mike Hammer, spokesman of the National Security Council, urged the Irish boat to sail to Ashdod and deliver materials for Gaza there in the interests of avoiding a confrontation and protecting their own safety and the safe transmission of assistance to the people of Gaza.
Regarding the Gaza blockade, he said "the current arrangements are unsustainable and must be changed." The US is working urgently with Israel, the Palestinian Authority and other international partners," he said, "to develop new procedures for delivering more goods and assistances to Gaza while preventing the importation of weapons."
But for now, the US official called on all parties to act responsibly.
Friday night, Rachel Corrie's 20 passengers rejected a deal reached between the Israeli and Irish governments for UN and Irish officials to attend Israel's inspection of the cargo before sending it overland to the Gaza Strip, insisting on sailing straight to Gaza and delivering the materials themselves. They were also unresponsive to an earlier Israeli offer by Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossie Gal inviting the activists on board the Rachel Corrie to accompany the shipment to the Gaza border.
"We will cooperate with the UN and international organizations in order to ensure that all of the cargo is put to the use of Gaza's citizens," said the Israeli official.
In Washington, Turkish ambassador Namik Tan said his government would break relations with Israel unless it apologized for the commando raid on its flotilla for Gaza which left 9 activists dead after they attacked the troops. In Ankara, prime minster Recep Erdogan said Friday, June 4: "I do not think Hamas is a terrorist organization. They are Palestinians in resistance, fighting for their own land."
Switching from Turkish to Hebrew and English he quoted the Ten Commandments back at Israel saying: Thou shalt not kill."
temerity
DEBKAfile Special Report
June 5, 2010, 10:07 AM
After four calls to change course from Gaza to Ashdod were ignored, Israeli troops were reported to have boarded the Irish-flagged Rachel Corrie some 28 miles out to sea and sailed it to the Israeli port of Ashdod after the ship's pro-Hamas passengers stood by their determination to break the Israeli blockade.
No violence or injuries were reported.
Midday Saturday, June 5, the cat and mouse game between the Israeli Navy, with orders to keep the ship from entering Gaza and the pro-Hamas activists aboard the ship reached its climax. Israeli calls transmitted to the Rachel Corrie ever since dawn met with no response.
Earlier reports during the morning elicited a denial from the Israeli military spokeswoman that troops had boarded the Irish-flagged ship. "At this minute, there's no takeover," she said cautiously.
Turkish security sources quoted Prime Minister Recep Erdogan as preparing to go beyond abusive rhetoric against Israel and considering using his navy to break Israel's siege of Gaza - or even sailing aboard the next flotilla to break the blockade in person on the assumption that Israel would not dare stop him.
According to debkafile's sources in Ankara, the Obama administration is in contact with the Turkish PM and trying to cool him down.
Mike Hammer, spokesman of the National Security Council, urged the Irish boat to sail to Ashdod and deliver materials for Gaza there in the interests of avoiding a confrontation and protecting their own safety and the safe transmission of assistance to the people of Gaza.
Regarding the Gaza blockade, he said "the current arrangements are unsustainable and must be changed." The US is working urgently with Israel, the Palestinian Authority and other international partners," he said, "to develop new procedures for delivering more goods and assistances to Gaza while preventing the importation of weapons."
But for now, the US official called on all parties to act responsibly.
Friday night, Rachel Corrie's 20 passengers rejected a deal reached between the Israeli and Irish governments for UN and Irish officials to attend Israel's inspection of the cargo before sending it overland to the Gaza Strip, insisting on sailing straight to Gaza and delivering the materials themselves. They were also unresponsive to an earlier Israeli offer by Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossie Gal inviting the activists on board the Rachel Corrie to accompany the shipment to the Gaza border.
"We will cooperate with the UN and international organizations in order to ensure that all of the cargo is put to the use of Gaza's citizens," said the Israeli official.
In Washington, Turkish ambassador Namik Tan said his government would break relations with Israel unless it apologized for the commando raid on its flotilla for Gaza which left 9 activists dead after they attacked the troops. In Ankara, prime minster Recep Erdogan said Friday, June 4: "I do not think Hamas is a terrorist organization. They are Palestinians in resistance, fighting for their own land."
Switching from Turkish to Hebrew and English he quoted the Ten Commandments back at Israel saying: Thou shalt not kill."
temerity
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Helen Thomas lets us all know why she is still alive and useful - God is afraid of her.
Helen Thomas rips into Robert Gibbs over US response to flotilla massacre
At Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called on Helen Thomas, who in a very animated fashion, confronted him for refusing to assign responsibility in the raid, which left nine people dead.
Thomas: “The initial reaction to the flotilla massacre, deliberate massacre, an international crime, was pitiful.
What do you mean you regret something that should be so strongly condemned, and if any other nation in the world had done it, we would have been up in arms?
What is this sacrosanct ironclad relationship where a country that deliberately kills people and boycotts every aid.. and abet the boycott?”
Gibbs: Well, Look I think the initial reaction regretted the loss of life as we tried and as we still continue to gather the relevant. ..
Thomas: Regret won’t bring them back.
Gibbs: Nothing can bring them back Helen, because I think if you could that wouldn’t be up for debate. We are.. we believe that a credible and transparent investigation has to look into the facts and we’re open to international participation in that investigation.
Thomas: Why did you think of that so late, why didn’t you initially condemn it?
Gibbs: Why didn’t we think of?
Thomas: Why didn’t you initially condemn it?
Gibbs: Again, I think the statements that we initially released speak directly to that.
*************************************************************
This woman. She is ... I have no words for her.
fools
At Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called on Helen Thomas, who in a very animated fashion, confronted him for refusing to assign responsibility in the raid, which left nine people dead.
Thomas: “The initial reaction to the flotilla massacre, deliberate massacre, an international crime, was pitiful.
What do you mean you regret something that should be so strongly condemned, and if any other nation in the world had done it, we would have been up in arms?
What is this sacrosanct ironclad relationship where a country that deliberately kills people and boycotts every aid.. and abet the boycott?”
Gibbs: Well, Look I think the initial reaction regretted the loss of life as we tried and as we still continue to gather the relevant. ..
Thomas: Regret won’t bring them back.
Gibbs: Nothing can bring them back Helen, because I think if you could that wouldn’t be up for debate. We are.. we believe that a credible and transparent investigation has to look into the facts and we’re open to international participation in that investigation.
Thomas: Why did you think of that so late, why didn’t you initially condemn it?
Gibbs: Why didn’t we think of?
Thomas: Why didn’t you initially condemn it?
Gibbs: Again, I think the statements that we initially released speak directly to that.
*************************************************************
This woman. She is ... I have no words for her.
fools
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Turkey: It was like 9/11 !!
You have to wonder how people like this actually get to be a Foreign Minister, well, forget that, you have to wonder how a country like this manages to ... forget it - none of it makes sense regardless of how pathetic a country it is.
Turkish FM likens flotilla raid to 9/11
Shortly before meeting with US Secretary of State Clinton, Ahmet Davutoglu tells reporters in Washington, 'Israelis think they are above any law, but we will stop them'. American sources tell Ynet decision to call off Netanyahu visit prevented embarrassment for Obama in light of events
Yitzhak Benhorin
June 1, 2010
WASHINGTON – As the tensions between Israel and Turkey escalate, senior officials from both countries arrived in Washington on Tuesday for a series of meetings, on the backdrop of the deadly Israel Defense Forces raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
The incident prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off his meeting with US President Barack Obama, which was scheduled to take place at the White House on Tuesday.
A day after leading the move to condemn Israel at the United Nations Security Council, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday evening in Washington.
During a press conference ahead of the meeting, Davitoglu said he was disappointed with Washington's cautious response to an incident he likened to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
"Psychologically this attack is like 9/11 for Turkey because Turkish citizens were attacked by a state, not by terrorists, with an intention, a clear decision of political leaders of that state," he said.
"The Israelis think they are above any law, but Turkey and the rest of the international community will stop them," he said, comparing between the IDF operation and pirate operating in the Gulf of Eden.
Sources in Washington told Ynet that the decision to call off the Obama-Netanyahu meeting was made at the request of the Israeli side, which asked to move up the meeting to Monday evening, when the American president was unavailable after returning from a visit to Chicago.
The sources clarified, however, that they regretted the decision to postpone the meeting, which prevented an embarrassment for Obama in light of the recent events in the region.
PR efforts in Washington
National Security Advisor Uzi Arad continued his trip from Canada to Washington, where he met with Obama's national security advisor, James Jones and other White House officials.
Despite the wide protest against Israel across the world, former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger expressed his support for Israel in an interview with the MSNBC channel. He explained, however, that although the Navy operation was justified, its performance caused Israel damage.
Despite the claims of a serious PR failure following the incident, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren presented Israel's stance on the major news channels. Oren told MSNBC that Israel was cooperating with the Americans and that Netanyahu had spoken to Obama three times in the past day.
Information Minister Yuli Edelstein joined the media efforts as well, giving interviews to a number of different channels. During a press conference at the Israeli Consulate in New York, the minister said that "Israel has nothing to apologize for over the operation it took in order to protect its citizens.
"Bringing goods into the Strip without supervision, as well as weapons and ammunition, is a move which could inflame the entire region and renew the circle of violence. The Turkish ship had activists trained by al-Qaeda who tried to hurt our forces."
retards
Turkish FM likens flotilla raid to 9/11
Shortly before meeting with US Secretary of State Clinton, Ahmet Davutoglu tells reporters in Washington, 'Israelis think they are above any law, but we will stop them'. American sources tell Ynet decision to call off Netanyahu visit prevented embarrassment for Obama in light of events
Yitzhak Benhorin
June 1, 2010
WASHINGTON – As the tensions between Israel and Turkey escalate, senior officials from both countries arrived in Washington on Tuesday for a series of meetings, on the backdrop of the deadly Israel Defense Forces raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
The incident prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off his meeting with US President Barack Obama, which was scheduled to take place at the White House on Tuesday.
A day after leading the move to condemn Israel at the United Nations Security Council, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday evening in Washington.
During a press conference ahead of the meeting, Davitoglu said he was disappointed with Washington's cautious response to an incident he likened to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
"Psychologically this attack is like 9/11 for Turkey because Turkish citizens were attacked by a state, not by terrorists, with an intention, a clear decision of political leaders of that state," he said.
"The Israelis think they are above any law, but Turkey and the rest of the international community will stop them," he said, comparing between the IDF operation and pirate operating in the Gulf of Eden.
Sources in Washington told Ynet that the decision to call off the Obama-Netanyahu meeting was made at the request of the Israeli side, which asked to move up the meeting to Monday evening, when the American president was unavailable after returning from a visit to Chicago.
The sources clarified, however, that they regretted the decision to postpone the meeting, which prevented an embarrassment for Obama in light of the recent events in the region.
PR efforts in Washington
National Security Advisor Uzi Arad continued his trip from Canada to Washington, where he met with Obama's national security advisor, James Jones and other White House officials.
Despite the wide protest against Israel across the world, former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger expressed his support for Israel in an interview with the MSNBC channel. He explained, however, that although the Navy operation was justified, its performance caused Israel damage.
Despite the claims of a serious PR failure following the incident, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren presented Israel's stance on the major news channels. Oren told MSNBC that Israel was cooperating with the Americans and that Netanyahu had spoken to Obama three times in the past day.
Information Minister Yuli Edelstein joined the media efforts as well, giving interviews to a number of different channels. During a press conference at the Israeli Consulate in New York, the minister said that "Israel has nothing to apologize for over the operation it took in order to protect its citizens.
"Bringing goods into the Strip without supervision, as well as weapons and ammunition, is a move which could inflame the entire region and renew the circle of violence. The Turkish ship had activists trained by al-Qaeda who tried to hurt our forces."
retards
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Turkey: Culture of Peace, Horizons of Ignorance.
honor
Turkish girl buried alive by father and grandfather for talking to boys
By Tom Pettifor
6/02/2010
Mirror.co.uk
A terrified girl of 16 was buried alive by her father and grandfather - as a punishment for talking to boys.
The body of Medine Memi was found in a sitting position with her hands tied in a 6ft hole beneath a chicken coop.
A postmortem showed she had been conscious when she was covered with dirt.
One forensic investigator said: "What we found is blood-curdling.
"She had no bruises on her body and no sign of narcotics or poison in her blood - she was alive and fully conscious when she was placed into the pit."
The medical examination revealed a large amount of soil in Medine's lungs and stomach - indicating she had suffocated during a slow and agonising death.
The teenager's remains were discovered outside her family's house in the town of Kahta in south-eastern Turkey.
She had been missing for 40 days and the hole had been cemented over.
A coroner was told how desperate Medine repeatedly tried to get help from local police in the weeks leading up to her horrific death. Her father and grandfather are accused of killing her because her friendship with boys "brought dishonour on the family".
*****************************************
There are other sources:
BBC - which includes the following tidbit: A local organisation that campaigns against honour killings said the victim, one of 10 children, had gone three times to the police to complain that she was being beaten, but she was sent back to her family each time.
and even more insight into the people of peace, we are told we must accomodate ...
...the practice is linked more to the customs of this region of Turkey, than to religious belief.
When girls or women are deemed to have stained the family honour, by behaviour as innocent as simply talking to boys, there is strong peer pressure from the community on the male members of the family to restore their honour, say groups working on the issue in the south-east.
The only way allowed by their code is to kill the girl or woman - usually a young man is given the task after a family council meeting, and the method and location of the killing are discussed in detail.
Afterwards, the family will try to pretend she never existed.
or visit
Turkish Daily News, English
Now - some will tsk tsk and exclaim that all this proves is Americans have no shame. We dishonor our fathers, mothers, families, and think nothing of it. True, to a degree. Many Americans value the life of innocents, and the rights of individuals over groups - or, we place an emphasis on individual liberties versus group liberties. I understand the conundrum we end up in when we go to extremes, but we do not participate in barbaric actions that were sanctioned in pre-Islamic times, condoned in many parts of the Islamic world, and tolerated in several other parts. Of course you could reference abortion - and that would be the best you could do, a response that does not have a snappy response. The best is - a majority of Americans oppose abortion. It is kept alive as an issue by a minority. In any case, the barbarism and evil acts of a father upon a daughter, are unconscionable.
evil
Turkish girl buried alive by father and grandfather for talking to boys
By Tom Pettifor
6/02/2010
Mirror.co.uk
A terrified girl of 16 was buried alive by her father and grandfather - as a punishment for talking to boys.
The body of Medine Memi was found in a sitting position with her hands tied in a 6ft hole beneath a chicken coop.
A postmortem showed she had been conscious when she was covered with dirt.
One forensic investigator said: "What we found is blood-curdling.
"She had no bruises on her body and no sign of narcotics or poison in her blood - she was alive and fully conscious when she was placed into the pit."
The medical examination revealed a large amount of soil in Medine's lungs and stomach - indicating she had suffocated during a slow and agonising death.
The teenager's remains were discovered outside her family's house in the town of Kahta in south-eastern Turkey.
She had been missing for 40 days and the hole had been cemented over.
A coroner was told how desperate Medine repeatedly tried to get help from local police in the weeks leading up to her horrific death. Her father and grandfather are accused of killing her because her friendship with boys "brought dishonour on the family".
*****************************************
There are other sources:
BBC - which includes the following tidbit: A local organisation that campaigns against honour killings said the victim, one of 10 children, had gone three times to the police to complain that she was being beaten, but she was sent back to her family each time.
and even more insight into the people of peace, we are told we must accomodate ...
...the practice is linked more to the customs of this region of Turkey, than to religious belief.
When girls or women are deemed to have stained the family honour, by behaviour as innocent as simply talking to boys, there is strong peer pressure from the community on the male members of the family to restore their honour, say groups working on the issue in the south-east.
The only way allowed by their code is to kill the girl or woman - usually a young man is given the task after a family council meeting, and the method and location of the killing are discussed in detail.
Afterwards, the family will try to pretend she never existed.
or visit
Turkish Daily News, English
Now - some will tsk tsk and exclaim that all this proves is Americans have no shame. We dishonor our fathers, mothers, families, and think nothing of it. True, to a degree. Many Americans value the life of innocents, and the rights of individuals over groups - or, we place an emphasis on individual liberties versus group liberties. I understand the conundrum we end up in when we go to extremes, but we do not participate in barbaric actions that were sanctioned in pre-Islamic times, condoned in many parts of the Islamic world, and tolerated in several other parts. Of course you could reference abortion - and that would be the best you could do, a response that does not have a snappy response. The best is - a majority of Americans oppose abortion. It is kept alive as an issue by a minority. In any case, the barbarism and evil acts of a father upon a daughter, are unconscionable.
evil
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Israeli Toleration for Turkish Behavior Ends.
Why Israel humiliated Turkey in response to a TV show
When Israeli officials summoned the Turkish ambassador over an anti-Israel TV show, they seated him in a lower chair and conspicuously failed to place Turkey's flag on the table. But at issue was much more than TV.
Yigal Schleifer
Correspondent
The Christian Science Monitor
January 12, 2010
Istanbul, Turkey
A diplomatic spat is threatening to worsen Israel’s strained relations with Turkey, traditionally one of its most important allies in the region. The rift exposes growing Israeli frustration with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who in a bid to increase Turkey’s regional standing has increasingly spoken out against Israel.
This latest crisis included a showdown at Israel’s Foreign Ministry, where Turkey’s ambassador was summoned to explain Mr. Erdogan’s recent harsh criticism, as well as a TV show that portrayed Israeli intelligence agents holding a woman and her baby hostage.
Breaking with diplomatic protocol, Israeli officials failed to include the customary Turkish flag on the table between them and the Turkish ambassador, whom they seated on a low couch. To rub it in, they instructed the press members in attendance to note that they were sitting in higher chairs and the usual diplomatic niceties were conspicuously absent.
“The message was, ‘We’ve had enough,’” says Ephraim Inbar, an expert on Turkey-Israel relations at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. “Erdogan has taken things too far. It might have not been the best treatment for an ambassador, but it came from the gut. The signal is that we’re not going to take it anymore.”
A ploy to derail Barak's fence-mending visit?
But there’s also reported disagreement among Israel’s upper echelons as to how to deal with Turkey, and this spat could have been timed to interfere with Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s fence-mending visit to Turkey this weekend.
According to the center-left Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the hard-line Yisrael Beiteinu party, opposes the diplomatic efforts of Mr. Barak, who leads the left-leaning Labor party. The paper also reported that the treatment of Turkey's ambassador had been personally ordered by Lieberman.
“We get the sense that Lieberman wants to heat things up before Barak’s visit,” a senior Foreign Ministry source told Haaretz. “All of the recent activities were part of Lieberman’s political agenda.”
Semih Idiz, a foreign affairs columnist with Milliyet, a Turkish daily, says this latest spat calls into question just how much progress Barak could actually achieve.
“Even if Barak’s visit is successful, the question is still when the next eruption will be. I think the career diplomats on both sides are trying to control things, but there are loose cannons out there,” he says. “I think we’re going towards a split of some kind, because Erdogan seems fairly intent on keeping his position and there are people in Israel (who) seem intent on picking on his words and responding in kind. This doesn’t suggest there will be a thaw in the relations any time soon.”
Dr. Inbar of Bar-Ilan University insists that the problem is not with Turkey, but its leader. “We want good relations with Turkey and want to maintain those good relations,” he says. “It wasn’t against Turkey, but against Erdogan.”
'Unbridled tongue-lashing'
Erdogan’s criticism of Israel has been particularly vocal since the 2009 Gaza war. In recent months, Erdogan has also started chiding other countries for worrying about Iran’s possible quest for nuclear weapons while they say nothing about Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
During a Monday press conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Erdogan again laid into Israel.
“[The Israelis] have disproportionate capabilities and power and they use them. ... They do not abide by UN resolutions. ... They say they will do what they like,” he said.
In a statement released soon after, Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned Erdogan’s “unbridled tongue-lashing.”
“Israel has the full right to defend its citizens from terror and missile attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah,” the ministry said in a statement. “Israel is sensitive to Turkey’s honor and seeks good bilateral ties, but we expect reciprocity,” the statement also said.
Turkey
When Israeli officials summoned the Turkish ambassador over an anti-Israel TV show, they seated him in a lower chair and conspicuously failed to place Turkey's flag on the table. But at issue was much more than TV.
Yigal Schleifer
Correspondent
The Christian Science Monitor
January 12, 2010
Istanbul, Turkey
A diplomatic spat is threatening to worsen Israel’s strained relations with Turkey, traditionally one of its most important allies in the region. The rift exposes growing Israeli frustration with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who in a bid to increase Turkey’s regional standing has increasingly spoken out against Israel.
This latest crisis included a showdown at Israel’s Foreign Ministry, where Turkey’s ambassador was summoned to explain Mr. Erdogan’s recent harsh criticism, as well as a TV show that portrayed Israeli intelligence agents holding a woman and her baby hostage.
Breaking with diplomatic protocol, Israeli officials failed to include the customary Turkish flag on the table between them and the Turkish ambassador, whom they seated on a low couch. To rub it in, they instructed the press members in attendance to note that they were sitting in higher chairs and the usual diplomatic niceties were conspicuously absent.
“The message was, ‘We’ve had enough,’” says Ephraim Inbar, an expert on Turkey-Israel relations at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. “Erdogan has taken things too far. It might have not been the best treatment for an ambassador, but it came from the gut. The signal is that we’re not going to take it anymore.”
A ploy to derail Barak's fence-mending visit?
But there’s also reported disagreement among Israel’s upper echelons as to how to deal with Turkey, and this spat could have been timed to interfere with Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s fence-mending visit to Turkey this weekend.
According to the center-left Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the hard-line Yisrael Beiteinu party, opposes the diplomatic efforts of Mr. Barak, who leads the left-leaning Labor party. The paper also reported that the treatment of Turkey's ambassador had been personally ordered by Lieberman.
“We get the sense that Lieberman wants to heat things up before Barak’s visit,” a senior Foreign Ministry source told Haaretz. “All of the recent activities were part of Lieberman’s political agenda.”
Semih Idiz, a foreign affairs columnist with Milliyet, a Turkish daily, says this latest spat calls into question just how much progress Barak could actually achieve.
“Even if Barak’s visit is successful, the question is still when the next eruption will be. I think the career diplomats on both sides are trying to control things, but there are loose cannons out there,” he says. “I think we’re going towards a split of some kind, because Erdogan seems fairly intent on keeping his position and there are people in Israel (who) seem intent on picking on his words and responding in kind. This doesn’t suggest there will be a thaw in the relations any time soon.”
Dr. Inbar of Bar-Ilan University insists that the problem is not with Turkey, but its leader. “We want good relations with Turkey and want to maintain those good relations,” he says. “It wasn’t against Turkey, but against Erdogan.”
'Unbridled tongue-lashing'
Erdogan’s criticism of Israel has been particularly vocal since the 2009 Gaza war. In recent months, Erdogan has also started chiding other countries for worrying about Iran’s possible quest for nuclear weapons while they say nothing about Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
During a Monday press conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Erdogan again laid into Israel.
“[The Israelis] have disproportionate capabilities and power and they use them. ... They do not abide by UN resolutions. ... They say they will do what they like,” he said.
In a statement released soon after, Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned Erdogan’s “unbridled tongue-lashing.”
“Israel has the full right to defend its citizens from terror and missile attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah,” the ministry said in a statement. “Israel is sensitive to Turkey’s honor and seeks good bilateral ties, but we expect reciprocity,” the statement also said.
Turkey
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Christian Martyrs - Turkey
Wednesday May 14, 2008
TURKEY: SUSPECTS ALL DENY KILLING IN MALATYA MURDERS
Accused ringleader blames other culprits; letter reveals alleged masterminds.
ISTANBUL, May 14 (Compass Direct News) – All five culprits arrested last spring for the savage murder of three Christians in eastern Turkey have proclaimed their innocence, declaring they did not personally kill any of the victims.
In their court testimonies completed Monday (May 12) at the sixth hearing before Malatya’s Third Criminal Court, the five young Turkish men have defended themselves by blaming each other for the killings.
All have insisted that they had not planned to murder anyone and that no individuals or group instigated their raid on the Zirve Publishing Co. office in Malatya on April 18, 2007. (See sidebar below on letter implicating alleged masterminds of the murders.)
Turkish Christians Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German Christian Tilmann Geske were tied up, stabbed and tortured for several hours before their throats were slit. The five suspects were all caught by police at the crime scene.
“Our purpose was just to gather information and give it to the press,” alleged ringleader Emre Gunaydin said in a nine-page handwritten statement he read to the court on Monday.
He claimed they took along knives “only to protect ourselves,” insisting, “If we had wanted to kill them, we would have brought a real gun along with us.” The suspects had three guns, each equipped only to shoot blanks.
“I didn’t kill anyone. I just hit them,” Gunaydin said. “And I didn’t order anyone to kill them.”
But according to the other four suspects – Hamit Ceker, Cuma Ozdemir, Abuzer Yildirim and Salih Gurler – it was Gunaydin who planned the whole attack, without telling them he had any intentions to kill the victims.
In separate court testimonies over the past four months, the four either blamed Gunaydin directly for all three murders or claimed they did not see who had killed certain of the victims.
But as the final suspect to testify, Gunaydin fingered Salih Gurler for leading the violence, saying he saw him stab Yuksel.
“I remember very clearly Salih slanting his knife, stabbing and twisting it into Ugur’s back,” Gunaydin claimed.
He also said Yildirim hit Aydin so hard he blacked out, and that then Gurler tried unsuccessfully to choke the 35-year-old pastor with a rope around his neck.
At that point Gunaydin claimed he became sick to his stomach and went and washed his face in the sink. When he came back, he said, Gurler and Ozdemir were standing at Geske’s head.
“Salih was hitting him, and I suppose slashed him some,” Gunaydin said.
Gunaydin repeated previous claims that the violence exploded when Aydin angered them all by slandering Islam and its prophet Muhammad, and by insisting that Jesus was God.
But he pointedly denied a number of claims made against him by his fellow suspects, including his alleged boasts of the powerful mafia links of his older brother and uncles with known criminals like Sedat Peker.
“I am not a member of the Ulku Ocaklari (Ideal Hearth),” he said, referring to an ultranationalist youth group linked with the Nationalist Movement Party.
Initial Statements Rejected
Gunaydin also rejected an admission in his initial police statement that after the Malatya raid, he planned to go to Kocaeli province and kill Aydin’s brother-in-law, also a Protestant pastor.
He said that doctors had told him he needed six months to recover from his injuries, incurred when he fell from a third-floor balcony to the street trying to escape from the scene. He complained that, just a month later, right after his release from the hospital, he was subjected to four days of intense interrogations by police and prosecutors.
For this reason, Gunaydin said, he was rejecting all his previous, signed statements and presenting the court with his own written, “true” statement. But under questioning from the presiding judge and prosecutor, Gunaydin appeared unsure when asked about details in his new statement.
“I don’t remember,” he said repeatedly. “I have gone through trauma.”
“I am doubtful he actually wrote this himself,” one plaintiff lawyer told Compass after the hearing. “More likely, he just copied something that was prepared for him to write.”
When the court then invited plaintiff lawyers to begin their cross-examination of the witness, Gunaydin declared that he was claiming his legal right to remain silent for the remainder of the trial.
During cross-examination of Gurler during the morning court session, the suspect was quizzed in detail about his claims that once he and the others realized Gunaydin planned to kill the three Christians, they wanted to escape from the scene.
Gunaydin had locked the door and put the key in his pocket to prevent them leaving, he said. According to Gurler’s testimony, though, he opened the door when police arrived and demanded entrance. Gurler said he did not know how or when the key was put back in the lock.
In the afternoon session, Gunaydin declared he had left the key in the door when he locked it.
Judge Eray Gurtekin reminded both Gurler and Gunaydin of the repentance clause in the fourth article of Turkey’s penal code No. 221, under which their sentences would be reduced if they turned state’s evidence and informed the court about any individuals or organization behind this attack.
“There is no one behind this incident,” Gunaydin responded, echoing all four of the other suspects. “I will not wrongly accuse anyone.”
Results of Gunaydin’s bone testing, requested by defense attorneys at the April 14 hearing to prove he was under 18 years of age at the time of the murders, were rejected by the court as inconclusive.
Solitary Confinement ‘Inhumane’
Noting that all five suspects had now completed their court testimony, Gunaydin’s defense lawyer, Niyazi Tokmak, requested that the court remove the suspect from the heavy security measures of solitary confinement, under which he has been jailed for the past year.
“This treatment of my client is not humane,” Tokmak stated, complaining that Gunaydin’s cell was lighted 24 hours a day and remained under constant camera surveillance.
Unable to restrain herself, Ugur Yuksel’s elderly mother, sitting on the front bench of observers next to widow Suzanne Geske, cried out, “So is what they did humane?”
Several Turkish newspapers reported that Tokmak retorted, “Shut up. Don’t argue with me. Be quiet.”
To date, each suspect’s courtroom testimony and cross-examination has been conducted individually, to prevent fellow suspects from hearing the others’ statements.
But because of major contradictions between the five testimonies, the judge announced that all five will be summoned to be cross-examined together at the next hearing, set for June 9.
Representatives from several human rights groups joined an official observer from the German Embassy in Ankara and members of the Turkish and foreign press attending the May 12 hearing.
Turkish widow Semse Aydin again boycotted the trial proceedings, protesting the partiality of the judges hearing the case against her husband’s murderers.
With the panel of three judges hearing the case effectively blocking plaintiff attempts to procure evidence against both the murderers and the alleged instigators behind them, head plaintiff lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz said, “We can’t go anywhere with this. I am really frustrated.”
SIDEBAR
Informant’s Letter Names Alleged Masterminds
Near the close of Monday’s (May 12) hearing on the April 18, 2007 murders in Malatya, the state prosecutor asked Gunaydin if he knew a person named Metin Dogan. Gunaydin denied knowing him.
Now jailed in Malatya’s Elbistan Prison for killing a man who had murdered his older brother, Dogan wrote a letter to the chief prosecutor of the Malatya Third Criminal Court dated February 5, 2008.
In the letter, made available to plaintiff lawyers just this week and obtained by Compass, Dogan claimed he had been offered $300,000 in 2005 to kill anyone he found in the Zirve Publishing Co. office in Malatya.
Since childhood, Dogan said, he had been an active Malatya member of the ultranationalist Ulku Ocaklari youth organization, linked unofficially with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
“One day in 2005 Ulku Ocaklari President Burhan Coskun called me and told me to come immediately to MHP’s provincial office,” Dogan wrote. “I went immediately.”
Dogan said he found three men with Coskun, all waiting for him. He identified them as the provincial MHP president, Mehmet Ekici; a former MHP member of parliament identified only by his first name, Namik; and a retired major general.
“You are to telephone Zirve Publishing and threaten them,” Dogan said Namik told him. After he made the phone call, he said Namik told him, “We have put an end to them. This job fits you, my lion. You will do this. Whoever you find at the Zirve Publishing office, you will kill.”
Namik reportedly told him, “Don’t worry at all,” promising the major general would rescue him if necessary. He then proceeded to outline where and how he was to do the murders, promising to tell him later when to act.
“But before two months had passed,” Dogan wrote, “I went to prison for killing the man who had murdered my older brother. So then Emre Gunaydin, who I know, was given this job.”
Dogan said he was ready to back up his claims with “powerful proofs” to the court, and lawyers said they likely will call him to testify.
In today’s Taraf newspaper, the former MHP parliamentarian identified as Namik Durhan flatly denied Dogan’s allegations, calling them a “plot.” Insisting that he did not know Dogan and had never met him, he described Coskun as “a trustworthy person.”
According to a report today on the CNNTURK.com website, both Durhan and Ekici have denied the allegations in official statements requested by the prosecutor. There has been no response to date from military authorities regarding the general named in the letter.
“This man Dogan may be referring to a generally correct framework about these murders,” head plaintiff lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz told Compass. “But I am suspicious if he actually has any concrete evidence or not.”
TURKEY: SUSPECTS ALL DENY KILLING IN MALATYA MURDERS
Accused ringleader blames other culprits; letter reveals alleged masterminds.
ISTANBUL, May 14 (Compass Direct News) – All five culprits arrested last spring for the savage murder of three Christians in eastern Turkey have proclaimed their innocence, declaring they did not personally kill any of the victims.
In their court testimonies completed Monday (May 12) at the sixth hearing before Malatya’s Third Criminal Court, the five young Turkish men have defended themselves by blaming each other for the killings.
All have insisted that they had not planned to murder anyone and that no individuals or group instigated their raid on the Zirve Publishing Co. office in Malatya on April 18, 2007. (See sidebar below on letter implicating alleged masterminds of the murders.)
Turkish Christians Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German Christian Tilmann Geske were tied up, stabbed and tortured for several hours before their throats were slit. The five suspects were all caught by police at the crime scene.
“Our purpose was just to gather information and give it to the press,” alleged ringleader Emre Gunaydin said in a nine-page handwritten statement he read to the court on Monday.
He claimed they took along knives “only to protect ourselves,” insisting, “If we had wanted to kill them, we would have brought a real gun along with us.” The suspects had three guns, each equipped only to shoot blanks.
“I didn’t kill anyone. I just hit them,” Gunaydin said. “And I didn’t order anyone to kill them.”
But according to the other four suspects – Hamit Ceker, Cuma Ozdemir, Abuzer Yildirim and Salih Gurler – it was Gunaydin who planned the whole attack, without telling them he had any intentions to kill the victims.
In separate court testimonies over the past four months, the four either blamed Gunaydin directly for all three murders or claimed they did not see who had killed certain of the victims.
But as the final suspect to testify, Gunaydin fingered Salih Gurler for leading the violence, saying he saw him stab Yuksel.
“I remember very clearly Salih slanting his knife, stabbing and twisting it into Ugur’s back,” Gunaydin claimed.
He also said Yildirim hit Aydin so hard he blacked out, and that then Gurler tried unsuccessfully to choke the 35-year-old pastor with a rope around his neck.
At that point Gunaydin claimed he became sick to his stomach and went and washed his face in the sink. When he came back, he said, Gurler and Ozdemir were standing at Geske’s head.
“Salih was hitting him, and I suppose slashed him some,” Gunaydin said.
Gunaydin repeated previous claims that the violence exploded when Aydin angered them all by slandering Islam and its prophet Muhammad, and by insisting that Jesus was God.
But he pointedly denied a number of claims made against him by his fellow suspects, including his alleged boasts of the powerful mafia links of his older brother and uncles with known criminals like Sedat Peker.
“I am not a member of the Ulku Ocaklari (Ideal Hearth),” he said, referring to an ultranationalist youth group linked with the Nationalist Movement Party.
Initial Statements Rejected
Gunaydin also rejected an admission in his initial police statement that after the Malatya raid, he planned to go to Kocaeli province and kill Aydin’s brother-in-law, also a Protestant pastor.
He said that doctors had told him he needed six months to recover from his injuries, incurred when he fell from a third-floor balcony to the street trying to escape from the scene. He complained that, just a month later, right after his release from the hospital, he was subjected to four days of intense interrogations by police and prosecutors.
For this reason, Gunaydin said, he was rejecting all his previous, signed statements and presenting the court with his own written, “true” statement. But under questioning from the presiding judge and prosecutor, Gunaydin appeared unsure when asked about details in his new statement.
“I don’t remember,” he said repeatedly. “I have gone through trauma.”
“I am doubtful he actually wrote this himself,” one plaintiff lawyer told Compass after the hearing. “More likely, he just copied something that was prepared for him to write.”
When the court then invited plaintiff lawyers to begin their cross-examination of the witness, Gunaydin declared that he was claiming his legal right to remain silent for the remainder of the trial.
During cross-examination of Gurler during the morning court session, the suspect was quizzed in detail about his claims that once he and the others realized Gunaydin planned to kill the three Christians, they wanted to escape from the scene.
Gunaydin had locked the door and put the key in his pocket to prevent them leaving, he said. According to Gurler’s testimony, though, he opened the door when police arrived and demanded entrance. Gurler said he did not know how or when the key was put back in the lock.
In the afternoon session, Gunaydin declared he had left the key in the door when he locked it.
Judge Eray Gurtekin reminded both Gurler and Gunaydin of the repentance clause in the fourth article of Turkey’s penal code No. 221, under which their sentences would be reduced if they turned state’s evidence and informed the court about any individuals or organization behind this attack.
“There is no one behind this incident,” Gunaydin responded, echoing all four of the other suspects. “I will not wrongly accuse anyone.”
Results of Gunaydin’s bone testing, requested by defense attorneys at the April 14 hearing to prove he was under 18 years of age at the time of the murders, were rejected by the court as inconclusive.
Solitary Confinement ‘Inhumane’
Noting that all five suspects had now completed their court testimony, Gunaydin’s defense lawyer, Niyazi Tokmak, requested that the court remove the suspect from the heavy security measures of solitary confinement, under which he has been jailed for the past year.
“This treatment of my client is not humane,” Tokmak stated, complaining that Gunaydin’s cell was lighted 24 hours a day and remained under constant camera surveillance.
Unable to restrain herself, Ugur Yuksel’s elderly mother, sitting on the front bench of observers next to widow Suzanne Geske, cried out, “So is what they did humane?”
Several Turkish newspapers reported that Tokmak retorted, “Shut up. Don’t argue with me. Be quiet.”
To date, each suspect’s courtroom testimony and cross-examination has been conducted individually, to prevent fellow suspects from hearing the others’ statements.
But because of major contradictions between the five testimonies, the judge announced that all five will be summoned to be cross-examined together at the next hearing, set for June 9.
Representatives from several human rights groups joined an official observer from the German Embassy in Ankara and members of the Turkish and foreign press attending the May 12 hearing.
Turkish widow Semse Aydin again boycotted the trial proceedings, protesting the partiality of the judges hearing the case against her husband’s murderers.
With the panel of three judges hearing the case effectively blocking plaintiff attempts to procure evidence against both the murderers and the alleged instigators behind them, head plaintiff lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz said, “We can’t go anywhere with this. I am really frustrated.”
SIDEBAR
Informant’s Letter Names Alleged Masterminds
Near the close of Monday’s (May 12) hearing on the April 18, 2007 murders in Malatya, the state prosecutor asked Gunaydin if he knew a person named Metin Dogan. Gunaydin denied knowing him.
Now jailed in Malatya’s Elbistan Prison for killing a man who had murdered his older brother, Dogan wrote a letter to the chief prosecutor of the Malatya Third Criminal Court dated February 5, 2008.
In the letter, made available to plaintiff lawyers just this week and obtained by Compass, Dogan claimed he had been offered $300,000 in 2005 to kill anyone he found in the Zirve Publishing Co. office in Malatya.
Since childhood, Dogan said, he had been an active Malatya member of the ultranationalist Ulku Ocaklari youth organization, linked unofficially with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
“One day in 2005 Ulku Ocaklari President Burhan Coskun called me and told me to come immediately to MHP’s provincial office,” Dogan wrote. “I went immediately.”
Dogan said he found three men with Coskun, all waiting for him. He identified them as the provincial MHP president, Mehmet Ekici; a former MHP member of parliament identified only by his first name, Namik; and a retired major general.
“You are to telephone Zirve Publishing and threaten them,” Dogan said Namik told him. After he made the phone call, he said Namik told him, “We have put an end to them. This job fits you, my lion. You will do this. Whoever you find at the Zirve Publishing office, you will kill.”
Namik reportedly told him, “Don’t worry at all,” promising the major general would rescue him if necessary. He then proceeded to outline where and how he was to do the murders, promising to tell him later when to act.
“But before two months had passed,” Dogan wrote, “I went to prison for killing the man who had murdered my older brother. So then Emre Gunaydin, who I know, was given this job.”
Dogan said he was ready to back up his claims with “powerful proofs” to the court, and lawyers said they likely will call him to testify.
In today’s Taraf newspaper, the former MHP parliamentarian identified as Namik Durhan flatly denied Dogan’s allegations, calling them a “plot.” Insisting that he did not know Dogan and had never met him, he described Coskun as “a trustworthy person.”
According to a report today on the CNNTURK.com website, both Durhan and Ekici have denied the allegations in official statements requested by the prosecutor. There has been no response to date from military authorities regarding the general named in the letter.
“This man Dogan may be referring to a generally correct framework about these murders,” head plaintiff lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz told Compass. “But I am suspicious if he actually has any concrete evidence or not.”
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Israel and the Armenian Genocide
Knesset to discuss Armenian genocide
Knesset accepts Oron's initiative, will discuss mass murder of 1.5 million Armenians during early 20th century. Oron: 'Certain ethical dilemmas cannot be avoided.'
Jerusalem officials warn of Turkish reaction.
by: Amnon Meranda
YNet News March 27, 2008
In an unprecedented move, the Knesset decided on Wednesday to appoint a committee to discuss the Armenian genocide that occurred during World War I.
The decision was based on a bill proposal made by Meretz-Yahad Chairman Chaim Oron. Eleven Knesset members voted in favor of the proposal, none opposed or abstained. Oron requested that the Knesset's Education Committee hold the discussion.
"It is only proper that the Knesset, which officially represents the Jewish people, recognize the Armenian genocide," said Oron. "It is especially important at present, as we are dealing with so many cases of Holocaust denial. There are certain ethical dilemmas that cannot be avoided. I am aware of Turkey's objection to the matter, but I believe this is a subject that the Knesset must discuss."
Knesset Member Zeev Elkin (Kadima) said, "I am proud of our efforts, which have brought on this historical achievement, and which other parliaments in the world have succeeded in doing a while ago. Israel should have been among the first countries in the world to recognize this genocide."
State officials warn of tensions with Ankara
Senior State officials in Jerusalem told Ynet on Wednesday evening they believed the decision to be "out of place and undesired." In similar attempts to agree on such things in the past, said the officials, the Foreign Ministry and coalition "got on their hind legs to avoid any embarrassment."
The sources said however that the ministry must clarify its position and not try to silence the Knesset.
"We believe that the Turks will not be perturbed by the debate itself but rather with its practical sides. Past experience teaches they want to know what level the discussion is being held on and what implications it will have on Israeli policy," said the officials in Jerusalem, stressing that Israel's official stance has not changed.
"Israel's position is that we are aware of the tragedy that befall the Armenian people. There are contradictions in the versions told by those involved in regards to the historical recollection of what occurred," they said.
The Armenian genocide
90% of the Armenian population residing within the territories controlled by the Ottoman Empire were murdered or deported during the massacre. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were murdered or died of starvation and disease during the period between 1894 and 1918.
The slaughter of the Armenian people is considered by many to be the first genocide of large proportions of the 20th century. Turkey has denied reports of the massacre, calling the event a war with the Armenian people and claiming that many of the Armenians were simply transferred to different areas of the empire.
April 24 marks an international day of remembrance for the Armenian genocide, and every year Armenians from all over the world gather to mark the occasion.
In October 2007 the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved a bill naming the slaughter of the Armenians genocide. Prior to the vote on this matter, US President George Bush said that the bill was not the answer to the massacre, and that its approval was likely to damage relations with Turkey.
In October of 2006 Turkey suspended its military relations with France due to a French law passed, making the denial of the Armenian genocide illegal in the country.
Roni Sofer contributed to this report
Knesset accepts Oron's initiative, will discuss mass murder of 1.5 million Armenians during early 20th century. Oron: 'Certain ethical dilemmas cannot be avoided.'
Jerusalem officials warn of Turkish reaction.
by: Amnon Meranda
YNet News March 27, 2008
In an unprecedented move, the Knesset decided on Wednesday to appoint a committee to discuss the Armenian genocide that occurred during World War I.
The decision was based on a bill proposal made by Meretz-Yahad Chairman Chaim Oron. Eleven Knesset members voted in favor of the proposal, none opposed or abstained. Oron requested that the Knesset's Education Committee hold the discussion.
"It is only proper that the Knesset, which officially represents the Jewish people, recognize the Armenian genocide," said Oron. "It is especially important at present, as we are dealing with so many cases of Holocaust denial. There are certain ethical dilemmas that cannot be avoided. I am aware of Turkey's objection to the matter, but I believe this is a subject that the Knesset must discuss."
Knesset Member Zeev Elkin (Kadima) said, "I am proud of our efforts, which have brought on this historical achievement, and which other parliaments in the world have succeeded in doing a while ago. Israel should have been among the first countries in the world to recognize this genocide."
State officials warn of tensions with Ankara
Senior State officials in Jerusalem told Ynet on Wednesday evening they believed the decision to be "out of place and undesired." In similar attempts to agree on such things in the past, said the officials, the Foreign Ministry and coalition "got on their hind legs to avoid any embarrassment."
The sources said however that the ministry must clarify its position and not try to silence the Knesset.
"We believe that the Turks will not be perturbed by the debate itself but rather with its practical sides. Past experience teaches they want to know what level the discussion is being held on and what implications it will have on Israeli policy," said the officials in Jerusalem, stressing that Israel's official stance has not changed.
"Israel's position is that we are aware of the tragedy that befall the Armenian people. There are contradictions in the versions told by those involved in regards to the historical recollection of what occurred," they said.
The Armenian genocide
90% of the Armenian population residing within the territories controlled by the Ottoman Empire were murdered or deported during the massacre. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were murdered or died of starvation and disease during the period between 1894 and 1918.
The slaughter of the Armenian people is considered by many to be the first genocide of large proportions of the 20th century. Turkey has denied reports of the massacre, calling the event a war with the Armenian people and claiming that many of the Armenians were simply transferred to different areas of the empire.
April 24 marks an international day of remembrance for the Armenian genocide, and every year Armenians from all over the world gather to mark the occasion.
In October 2007 the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved a bill naming the slaughter of the Armenians genocide. Prior to the vote on this matter, US President George Bush said that the bill was not the answer to the massacre, and that its approval was likely to damage relations with Turkey.
In October of 2006 Turkey suspended its military relations with France due to a French law passed, making the denial of the Armenian genocide illegal in the country.
Roni Sofer contributed to this report
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