Kuffarphobia in Turkey Discussions - The 4 Freedoms Library2024-03-28T11:14:58Zhttp://4freedoms.com/group/turkey/forum?feed=yes&xn_auth=noThe Islamisation of the Aya Sophiatag:4freedoms.com,2020-07-13:3766518:Topic:2074292020-07-13T14:28:31.188ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<p>Now that Erdogan has consolidated power over Turkey and dismantled any democratic limitations, it's only a matter of time before the Aya Sophia, the largest and most important church in Christendom, becomes a fully fledged mosque, with all Christian iconography removed and Christian worship no longer permitted.</p>
<p>Now that Erdogan has consolidated power over Turkey and dismantled any democratic limitations, it's only a matter of time before the Aya Sophia, the largest and most important church in Christendom, becomes a fully fledged mosque, with all Christian iconography removed and Christian worship no longer permitted.</p> The Forgotten Armenian Genocide of 1019 ADtag:4freedoms.com,2019-05-11:3766518:Topic:2030462019-05-11T15:07:34.908ZKinanahttp://4freedoms.com/profile/Kinana
<div class="article_date">This suffering and mass genocide helped launch the Crusades. </div>
<div class="article_date">--</div>
<div class="article_date">May 4, 2019</div>
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<div class="author">By<span> </span><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/author/raymond_ibrahim/"></a><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/author/raymond_ibrahim/">Raymond Ibrahim</a></div>
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<div class="author">Last April 24 was …</div>
<div class="article_date">This suffering and mass genocide helped launch the Crusades. </div>
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<div class="article_date">May 4, 2019</div>
<div class="author"></div>
<div class="author">By<span> </span><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/author/raymond_ibrahim/"></a><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/author/raymond_ibrahim/">Raymond Ibrahim</a></div>
<div class="author"></div>
<div class="author">Last April 24 was <a href="https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2019/04/24/armenian-genocide-remembrance-day-revisiting-islams-greatest-slaughter-of-christians/">Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day</a>. Millions of Armenians around the world remembered how the Islamic Ottoman Empire killed — often cruelly and out of religious hatred — some 1.5 million of their ancestors during World War I. </div>
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<div class="article_body"><p><span>Ironically, most people, including most Armenians, are unaware that the first genocide of Christian Armenians at the hands of Muslim Turks did not occur in the twentieth century. Rather, it began in 1019 — exactly one thousand years ago this year — when Turks first began to pour into and transform a then much larger Armenia into what it is today, the eastern portion of modern-day Turkey.</span></p>
<p><span>Thus, in 1019, "the first appearance of the bloodthirsty beasts ... the savage nation of infidels called Turks entered Armenia ... and mercilessly slaughtered the Christian faithful with the sword," writes Matthew of Edessa (d. 1144), a chief source for this period. Three decades later, the raids were virtually nonstop. In 1049, the founder of the Turkic Seljuk Empire himself, Sultan Tughril Bey (r. 1037–1063), reached the unwalled city of Arzden, west of Lake Van, and "put the whole town to the sword, causing severe slaughter, as many as <em>one hundred and fifty thousand persons</em>."</span></p>
<p><span>After thoroughly plundering the city — which reportedly contained eight hundred churches — he ordered it set ablaze and turned into a desert. Arzden was "filled with bodies," and none "could count the number of those who perished in the flames." The invaders "burned priests whom they seized in the churches and massacred those whom they found outside. They put great chunks of pork in the hands of the undead to insult us" — Muslims deem the pig unclean — "and made them objects of mockery to all who saw them."</span></p>
<p><span><img alt="" src="https://www.americanthinker.com/images/bucket/2019-05/213489_5_.png"/></span></p>
<p><span>Eight hundred oxen and forty camels were required to cart out the vast plunder, mostly taken from Arzden's churches. "How to relate here, with a voice stifled by tears, the death of nobles and clergy whose bodies, left without graves, became the prey of carrion beasts, the exodus of women ... led with their children into Persian slavery and condemned to an eternal servitude! That was the beginning of the misfortunes of Armenia," laments Matthew. "So, lend an ear to this melancholy recital."</span></p>
<p><span>Contemporaries confirm the devastation visited upon Arzden. "Like famished dogs," writes Aristakes (d. 1080), an eyewitness, "bands of infidels hurled themselves on our city, surrounded it and pushed inside, massacring the men and mowing everything down like reapers in the fields, making the city a desert. Without mercy, they incinerated those who had hidden themselves in houses and churches."</span></p>
<p><span>Similarly, during the Turkic siege of Sebastia (modern-day Sivas) in 1060, six hundred churches were destroyed, and "many [more] maidens, brides, and distinguished ladies were led into captivity to Persia." Another raid on Armenian territory saw "many and innumerable people who were burned [to death]." The atrocities are too many for Matthew to recount, and he frequently ends in resignation:</span></p>
<p><span><strong>Who is able to relate the happenings and ruinous events which befell the Armenians, for everything was covered with blood[.] ... Because of the great number of corpses, the land stank, and all of Persia was filled with innumerable captives; thus this whole nation of beasts became drunk with blood. All human beings of Christian faith were in tears and in sorrowful affliction, because God our creator had turned away His benevolent face from us.</strong></span></p>
<p><span>Nor was there much doubt concerning what fueled the Turks' animus: "This nation of infidels comes against us because of our Christian faith and they are intent on destroying the ordinances of the worshippers of the cross and on exterminating the Christian faithful," one David, head of an Armenian region, explained to his countrymen. Therefore, "it is fitting and right for all the faithful to go forth with their swords and to die for the Christian faith." Many were of the same mind; records tell of monks and priests, fathers, wives, and children, all shabbily armed but zealous to protect their way of life, coming out to face the invaders — to little avail.</span></p>
<p><span>Anecdotes of faith-driven courage also permeate the chronicles. During the first Turkic siege of Manzikert in 1054, when a massive catapult pummeled and caused its walls to quake, a Catholic Frank holed up in with the Orthodox Armenians volunteered to sacrifice himself: "I will go forth and burn down that catapult, and today my blood shall be shed for all the Christians, for I have neither wife nor children to weep over me." The Frank succeeded and returned to gratitude and honors. Adding insult to injury, the defenders catapulted a pig into the Muslim camp while shouting, "O sultan [Tughril], take that pig for your wife, and we will give you Manzikert as a dowry!" "Filled with anger, Tughril had all Christian prisoners in his camp ritually decapitated."</span></p>
<p><span>Between 1064 and 1065, Tughril's successor, Sultan Muhammad bin Dawud Chaghri — known to posterity as Alp Arslan, a Turkish honorific meaning "Heroic Lion" — "going forth full of rage and with a formidable army," laid siege to Ani, the fortified capital of Armenia, then a great and populous city. The thunderous bombardment of Muhammad's siege engines caused the entire city to quake, and Matthew describes countless terror-stricken families huddled together and weeping.</span></p>
<p><span>Once inside, the Islamic Turks — reportedly armed with two knives in each hand and an extra in their mouths — "began to mercilessly slaughter the inhabitants of the entire city ... and piling up their bodies one on top of the other[.] ... Beautiful and respectable ladies of high birth were led into captivity into Persia. Innumerable and countless boys with bright faces and pretty girls were carried off together with their mothers."</span></p>
<p><span>The most savage treatment was always reserved for those visibly proclaiming their Christianity: clergy and monks "were burned to death, while others were flayed alive from head to toe." Every monastery and church — before this, Ani was known as "the City of 1,001 Churches" — was pillaged, desecrated, and set aflame. A zealous jihadi climbed atop the city's main cathedral "and pulled down the very heavy cross which was on the dome, throwing it to the ground," before entering and defiling the church. Made of pure silver and the "size of a man" — and now symbolic of Islam's might over Christianity, the broken crucifix was sent as a trophy to adorn a mosque in modern-day Azerbaijan.</span></p>
<p><span>Not only do several Christian sources document the sack of Armenia's capital — one contemporary succinctly notes that Muhammad "rendered Ani a desert by massacres and fire" — but so do Muslim sources, often in apocalyptic terms: "I wanted to enter the city and see it with my own eyes," one Arab explained. "I tried to find a street without having to walk over the corpses. But that was impossible."</span></p>
<p><span>Such is an idea of what Muslim Turks did to Christian Armenians — not during the Armenian Genocide of a century ago, but exactly one thousand years ago, starting in 1019, when the Turkic invasion and subsequent colonization of Armenia began.</span></p>
<p><span>Even so, and as an example of surreal denial, Turkey's foreign minister, capturing popular Turkish sentiment, <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/no-genocide-colonialism-in-turkeys-history-fm-cavusoglu-142673">recently announced</a>, "We [Turks] are proud of our history because our history has never had any genocides. And no colonialism exists in our history."</span></p>
<p><span><strong><em>Note: The first Turkic invasion of Armenia (and others) is documented in Raymond Ibrahim's recent book, </em></strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0306825554/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0306825554&linkCode=as2&tag=raymondibrahi-20&linkId=0f925201768b161ae319879bb3fdf1d7"><strong>Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West</strong></a><strong>.<em> American Thinker reviews of the book can be read </em></strong><em><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/10/how_islam_shaped_and_defined_us.html"><strong>here</strong></a><strong> and </strong><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/10/eternal_jihad_islam_will_never_ever_stop.html"><strong>here</strong></a><strong>.</strong></em></span></p>
<p><span><em><strong><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/05/the_forgotten_armenian_genocide_of_1019_ad.html">https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/05/the_forgotten_armenian_genocide_of_1019_ad.html</a></strong></em></span></p>
</div> Erdogan: Europe's favourite gangstertag:4freedoms.com,2016-04-01:3766518:Topic:1774262016-04-01T22:04:37.846ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<div id="print_content"><h1>Europe Courting Godfather Erdogan</h1>
<div class="byline"><p class="sans-serif"><b>by <span><a href="http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/author/Judith+Bergman">Judith Bergman</a> </span>March 31, 2016 at 5:00 am</b></p>
<p class="nocontent"><b><a href="http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7719/eu-turkey-migration">http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7719/eu-turkey-migration…</a></b></p>
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<div class="article_body" id="print_content_3"></div>
<div id="print_content"><h1>Europe Courting Godfather Erdogan</h1>
<div class="byline"><p class="sans-serif"><b>by <span><a href="http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/author/Judith+Bergman">Judith Bergman</a> </span>March 31, 2016 at 5:00 am</b></p>
<p class="nocontent"><b><a href="http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7719/eu-turkey-migration">http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7719/eu-turkey-migration</a></b></p>
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<div id="print_content_3" class="article_body"><div><ul class="content_preface_bullets">
<li><p>Erdogan has boasted that he is proud of boldly blackmailing EU leaders into paying him protection money.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Erdogan's threats were almost criminally sinister: "... the EU will be confronted with more than a dead boy on the shores of Turkey. There will be 10,000 or 15,000. How will you deal with that?"</p>
</li>
<li><p>According to the agreement, 80 million Turkish citizens will have visa-free access to the European Union.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The nightmare scenario for a desperate EU is that no matter how much it bows to extortionist demands from Turkey, the migrant crisis will continue to grow. Even if Turkey closes down all migrant routes from Turkey into Europe, refugees could take new routes through North Africa or the Caucasus.</p>
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<li><p>Meanwhile, 800,000 migrants are currently on Libyan territory waiting to cross the Mediterranean, according to French Defense Minister Jean-Yves le Drian.</p>
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<div class="itemprop_articlebody"><p>"We can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria anytime and we can put the refugees on buses ... So how will you deal with refugees if you don't get a deal? Kill the refugees?" This was the question Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in true mafia style, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-eu-turkey-idUSKCN0VH1R0" target="_blank">asked</a> European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on November 16, 2015 in a closed meeting in Antalya, Turkey, where the three met after the G20 summit.</p>
<p>While Tusk and Juncker have both <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-eu-turkey-idUSKCN0VH1R0" target="_blank">declined</a> to comment on whether the meeting took place, Erdogan has since then <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/12151701/Turkey-threatens-to-open-the-gates-and-send-refugees-to-Europe.html" target="_blank">boasted</a> that he is proud of the <a href="http://www.euro2day.gr/news/economy/article/1397081/hontro-paihnidi-sth-plath-ths-elladas.html" target="_blank">leaked minutes</a> of the meeting, where he boldly blackmails EU leaders into paying him protection money.</p>
<p>Erdogan's threats were almost criminally sinister: "... the EU will be confronted with more than a dead boy on the shores of Turkey. There will be 10,000 or 15,000. How will you deal with that?"</p>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" align="center">
<tbody><tr><td><img src="http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/pics/1534.jpg" width="600" height="338" border="0"/><p>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) has boasted that he is proud of blackmailing EU leaders, including European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (right), into paying him protection money.</p>
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<p>Finally, feeding into the denial/ignorance of the European elites, who were at that time reeling from the Paris terror attacks that had occurred just three days earlier, Erdogan -- who himself has hosted and supported terrorist groups from Hamas to Hezbollah to ISIS -- told his European colleagues, "The attacks in Paris is [sic] all about poverty and exclusion. These people... will continue to be terrorists in Europe".</p>
<p>The leaked minutes furthermore showed Tusk and Juncker pleading with Erdogan, almost begging him to see reason, pathetically telling him that the EU has been treating him "as a prince in Brussels."</p>
<p>"Like a prince?" Erdogan retorted, "Of course. I'm not representing a third world country." He also told Juncker, who is the former prime minister of Luxembourg, not to compare Luxembourg to Turkey: "Luxembourg is just like a town in Turkey."</p>
<p>In a speech in Ankara on February 7, 2016, referring to the meeting with Juncker and Tusk, Erdogan <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/12151701/Turkey-threatens-to-open-the-gates-and-send-refugees-to-Europe.html" target="_blank">boasted</a>: "I am proud of what I said. We have defended the rights of Turkey and the refugees. And we told them: 'Sorry, we will open the doors and say goodbye to the migrants.'" He then proceeded to repeat that very threat:</p>
<blockquote><p>"In the past we have stopped people at the gates to Europe, in Edirne we stopped their buses. This happens once or twice, and then we'll open the gates and wish them a safe journey, that's what I said. ... We do not have the word 'idiot' written on our foreheads. Don't think that the planes and the buses are there for nothing. We will show patience up to a point and then we'll do what's necessary."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A little over a month after Erdogan's latest threats, in February 2016, it all paid off. Erdogan received the European Union's assurance that his wishes had been granted in the form of the March 18 "<a href="http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18-eu-turkey-statement/" target="_blank">EU-Turkey Statement</a>." According to this agreement, the EU will pay Ankara €6bn over the next two years to be spent on Syrian refugees already in Turkey. Furthermore, by June 2016, at the latest, 80 million Turkish citizens will have visa-free access to the European Union, tempered by the EU requirement that Turkey has met "all benchmarks" by then. The promise to lift the visa requirements for Turkish citizens should be seen as real, however, and unlikely to be turned down because of "benchmarks" not being met -- especially as another part of the agreement clearly constitutes lip service, namely the commitment to "re-energize" Turkey's accession process to the European Union.</p>
<p>What has Turkey promised to do in return for these very tangible benefits? It has agreed that all new "irregular migrants" crossing from Turkey into Greek islands as of 20 March 2016 will be returned to Turkey. The agreement stipulates that this will take place</p>
<blockquote><p>"in full accordance with EU and international law, thus excluding any kind of collective expulsion. Migrants arriving in the Greek islands will be duly registered and any application for asylum will be processed individually by the Greek authorities in accordance with the Asylum Procedures Directive, in cooperation with UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]. Migrants not applying for asylum or whose application has been found unfounded or inadmissible in accordance with the said directive will be returned to Turkey."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For every Syrian being returned to Turkey from Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU – up to 72,000 Syrians. Priority will be given to migrants who have not previously entered the EU and to those who have not tried to enter the EU illegally. Furthermore, Turkey will take any necessary measures to prevent the opening of new sea or land routes for illegal migration from Turkey to the EU.</p>
<p>By succumbing to what amounts to Turkey's blackmail, the EU hopes to stop the people-smugglers who operate out of Turkey, and end the stream of migration between Turkey and the EU -- or as the agreement says, "substantially and sustainably reduce it." They are also hoping that the agreement in itself will stem the flow by discouraging migrants from attempting the dangerous route, when they know that chances are that they will be returned to Turkey.</p>
<p>Seen from Europe's own, hallowed, self-declared humanitarian principles, the deal represents not only a cop-out to Erdogan's thuggish blackmail, but a complete sell-out: not even European leaders can pretend that Erdogan's Turkey represents a "safe third country." What will happen with the migrants, once they are returned to Turkey, no one knows. That much is clear from the EU's own answer to the question of how it can be sure that returned refugees or migrants will be given protection in Turkey. The EU's circular <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-16-963_en.htm" target="_blank">non-answer</a> went: "Only asylum seekers that will be protected in accordance with the relevant international standards and in respect of the principle of non-refoulement will be returned to Turkey." As if Turkey under Erdogan has become world famous for respecting "international standards."</p>
<p>As late as March 18, on the day that the EU-Turkey Statement became official, Erdogan <a href="http://www.suchtv.pk/world/item/35409-democracy-freedom-and-the-rule-of-law-have-no-value-erdogan-says.html" target="_blank">stated</a>, "Democracy, freedom and the rule of law... For us, these words have absolutely no value any longer." The words "any longer" were only put there for show -- as any observer of Erdogan's Turkey will tell you, democracy, freedom and the rule of law, have <i>never</i> held any value for Erdogan.</p>
<p>Contrary to the views of the EU and the Obama Administration, Erdogan is not a democrat, and never has been. He has dedicated his career to transforming secular, European-oriented Turkey into an Islamist state, and has repeatedly rejected Western attempts to portray his rule as an example of "moderate Islam." He <a href="http://www.thememriblog.org/turkey/blog_personal/en/2595.htm" target="_blank">says</a> that such a concept is "ugly and offensive; there is no moderate Islam. Islam is Islam."</p>
<p>As a young man, Erdogan embarked upon a career in Islamist movements and parties, in direct opposition to the secular Kemalists, whose goal it was to keep Turkey a secular democracy with religion a wholly private matter. One of the parties in which Erdogan was active, the Refah Party, was described by the Turkish historian Soner Cagaptay as "an explicitly Islamist party, which featured strong anti-Western, anti-Semitic, anti-democratic and anti-secular elements." Erdogan was arrested and convicted for religious incitement in 1998 after Refah was banned by Turkey's constitutional court.</p>
<p>When Erdogan returned to the scene in 2002 with the so-called Justice and Development Party (AKP), his Islamist credentials could hardly be swept under the carpet in a Turkey that was still committed to a secular state.</p>
<p>So what do you do if you want to appear palatable to the secularists and the West? You introduce Islamic sharia law slowly and cautiously, in a piecemeal fashion. That is what Erdogan has done: gradually bringing all the former secular bulwarks against Islamists under his own Islamist sphere of influence -- the educational system, the courts and even the military.</p>
<p>The agreement with Turkey should not be cause for celebration in Europe. Erdogan's threats shaped the deal in a way that casts doubt on any hope of him actually abiding by the vain European dream of ending the flow of migrants from Turkey and Europe. The question, though, is not just a matter of his willingness, which is open to dispute. It is as much a question of whether Turkey is even capable of stopping the people-smugglers. The latter would appear open to doubt. "Ankara is likely to have made promises in Brussels that it can't and won't deliver,' <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/03/what-the-people-smugglers-of-istanbul-make-of-the-eus-deal-with-turkey/" target="_blank">said</a> Aykan Erdemir, a former opposition politician, now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. "Human smugglers will outsmart the Turkish authorities just as they have outsmarted EU authorities."</p>
<p>Even if one assumes that Turkey is both willing and able to close down the migration routes between Turkey and Greece, it is inconceivable that the Turkish people-smugglers will simply give up their blockbuster business. It is far more likely that they will open up even longer and more dangerous routes from Turkey to Italy. And if this contravenes the agreement with the EU, there is no mechanism to stop Turkey from turning a blind eye to them.</p>
<p>"Everybody knows that nobody can stop a smuggler -- they'll always find a way," Ahmad, a Syrian who was smuggled into the UK, <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/03/what-the-people-smugglers-of-istanbul-make-of-the-eus-deal-with-turkey/" target="_blank">told</a> the <i>Spectator</i>; "It will simply become more expensive."</p>
<p>That is of course the nightmare scenario for a desperate EU: No matter how hard it tries, or how much it bows to extortionist demands from Turkey, the migrant crisis will continue to grow. Even if Turkey closes down all routes from Turkey into Europe, refugees could take new routes through North Africa or the Caucasus. The deal with Turkey, in other words, is a far cry from being a cure.</p>
<p>A German think tank has simulated expected migrant flows through Europe this year, and has<a href="http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article153372386/Fluechtlinge-koennten-bald-ueber-die-Kaukasus-Route-kommen.html" target="_blank">come up with</a> an estimated range of 1.8 to 6.4 million people -- the latter being a worst-case scenario that would include large numbers from North Africa. According to French Defense Minister Jean-Yves le Drian, <a href="http://www.valeursactuelles.com/monde/selon-le-drian-800-000-migrants-stationneraient-en-libye-pour-rejoindre-leurope-60431" target="_blank">quoted</a> on March 24, 800,000 migrants are currently in Libyan territory waiting to cross the Mediterranean.</p>
<p>This is what Angela Merkel arguably started with her promise to receive every refugee in Germany, and this is what her EU colleagues are now desperately trying to stop. Perhaps they are not trying hard enough. In the leaked minutes from the meeting with Erdogan, Tusk told Erdogan, "...the EU can make itself less attractive to refugees, but that is not the solution we want." Many Europeans might not agree with him.</p>
<blockquote><p><i>Judith Bergman is a writer, columnist, lawyer and political analyst<br/>.</i></p>
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</div> Turkey Has 90 B61 Thermonuclear Bombs for Aircraft Deliverytag:4freedoms.com,2013-04-12:3766518:Topic:1226092013-04-12T04:15:41.394ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<h1>Proponents of ‘first strike’ nuclear war against Iran rob billions from their own citizens</h1>
<div class="b-op_edge_authors"><a href="http://rt.com/files/opinion/8b/00/00/00/michel-chossudovsky.a.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="http://rt.com/files/opinion/8b/00/00/00/michel-chossudovsky.a.jpg"></img></a><p>Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, professor of economics, founder and director of the Centre for Research on Globalization, Montreal and editor of the globalresearch.ca website.…</p>
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<h1>Proponents of ‘first strike’ nuclear war against Iran rob billions from their own citizens</h1>
<div class="b-op_edge_authors"><a href="http://rt.com/files/opinion/8b/00/00/00/michel-chossudovsky.a.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://rt.com/files/opinion/8b/00/00/00/michel-chossudovsky.a.jpg" class="align-left"/></a><p>Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, professor of economics, founder and director of the Centre for Research on Globalization, Montreal and editor of the globalresearch.ca website.</p>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://rt.com/op-edge/nuclear-war-iran-nato-629/">http://rt.com/op-edge/nuclear-war-iran-nato-629/</a></div>
<span class="time">Published time: April 10, 2013 14:23</span></div>
<div class="figure"><img title="" src="http://rt.com/files/opinionpost/1e/ab/d0/00/us-nuclear-bomb.si.jpg" alt="High explosives from the last B53 nuclear bomb being disposed of at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas (AFP Photo / HO / US Department of Energy) "/><div class="figcaption">High explosives from the last B53 nuclear bomb being disposed of at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas (AFP Photo / HO / US Department of Energy)</div>
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<p>The Pentagon and NATO’s multibillion-dollar war budgets are financed by massive economic austerity measures, impoverishing people in the US and NATO member-states in order to build advanced nuclear weaponry justified by the ‘Iran threat.’</p>
<p>While the Pentagon's modernization budget for the pre-emptive nuclear option is a modest ten billion dollars (excluding the outlay by NATO countries). the budget for upgrading the US arsenal of <i>"strategic nuclear offensive forces"</i> is a staggering $352 billion over ten years. (See Russell Rumbaugh and Nathan Cohn,<i>“<a href="http://www.stimson.org/spotlight/resolving-ambiguity-costing-nuclear-weapons" target="_blank">Resolving Ambiguity: Costing Nuclear Weapons</a>,”</i> Stimson Center Report, June 2012).</p>
<p>These multi-billion military outlays allocated to develop <i>"bigger and better nuclear bombs"</i> are financed by the massive economic austerity measures currently applied in US and NATO countries. </p>
<p>The war economy is largely funded by compressing all categories of civilian government expenditure. In the US, these refurbished state of the art nuclear bombs are largely funded by the dramatic cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.</p>
<p>Humanity is at a dangerous crossroads. America is a <i>"Killer State"</i>. The gamut of economic austerity measures impoverish the American people while generously funding the "Killer State" through multi-billion dollar contracts with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon et al. </p>
<p>War preparations to attack Iran are in <i>“an advanced state of readiness”</i>. Hi tech weapons systems including nuclear warheads are fully deployed.</p>
<p>At the height of an Economic Depression, <i>"War is Good for Business".</i></p>
<p>Escalation is part of the military agenda. While Iran, is the next target together with Syria and Lebanon, the US-NATO military agenda also threatens Russia, China and North Korea.</p>
<p>The Western media, the Washington Think Tanks, the scientists and politicians, in chorus, obfuscate the untold truth, namely that war using nuclear warheads threatens the future of humanity.</p>
<p>The real threat to global security emanates from the US-NATO-Israel alliance. </p>
<h2>The main actors in the Iran pre-emptive nuclear warfare</h2>
<p>Thermo-nuclear weapons are deployed by the three "official" Nuclear Weapons States (NWS) of the Atlantic Alliance, namely the US, the UK and France. The official NWS status is established under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).</p>
<p>Five other NATO member countries (categorized under the NPT as<i>"non-nuclear states"</i>), namely Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey, possess an arsenal of B61 tactical nuclear warheads or <i>"mini-nukes"</i> (Made in America) which are deployed under national military command and are targeted at Iran. The B61 can be delivered by a variety of different aircraft.</p>
<p>Are these five countries in violation of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty of which they are signatories? </p>
<p>In relation to ongoing war plans, the US-NATO-Israel military alliance includes a total of nine countries which possess a nuclear weapons arsenal:</p>
<p>The three official NWS (US, UK, France) plus the five <i>"Undeclared Nuclear States"</i> (Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Turkey) plus the State of Israel (Undeclared Nuclear State). With the exception of Israel, these countries are signatories of the NPT.</p>
<h2>Pre-emptive Nuclear Warfare</h2>
<p>While reports tend to depict the tactical B61 bombs as a relic of the Cold war, the mini nukes are the preferred weapons system for pre-emptive nuclear war. Were an attack directed against Iran to be launched involving the deployment of B61 bunker buster nuclear bombs, these five countries, with Turkey and Italy in the forefront, would play a major strategic role. </p>
<p></p>
<div class="figure"><img alt="A B-2A bomber releases a test version of the new B61-11 gravity bomb over the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, November 20, 1996 " src="http://www.brookings.edu/FP/PROJECTS/NUCWCOST/b2a.jpg"/><div class="figcaption">A B-2A bomber releases a test version of the new B61-11 gravity bomb over the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, November 20, 1996</div>
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<p></p>
<p>The involvement of these five <i>"non nuclear states"</i> as major actors in a US sponsored pre-emptive nuclear war raises the issue of definition and categorization of nuclear weapons states. In the words of Time Magazine:</p>
<p><i>"Is Italy capable of delivering a thermonuclear strike?…<br/> Could the Belgians and the Dutch drop hydrogen bombs on enemy targets?…<br/> Germany’s air force couldn’t possibly be training to deliver bombs 13 times more powerful than the one that destroyed Hiroshima, could it?…<br/> Nuclear bombs are stored on air-force bases in Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands — and planes from each of those countries are capable of delivering them.”</i> (“<a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1943799,00.html" target="_blank">What to Do About Europe’s Secret Nukes</a>.” Time Magazine, December 2, 2009)</p>
<p>The Time report is careful not to address the fundamental question. Are Turkey and Italy nuclear weapons states? The B61s are described as a leftover from the Cold War. The issue of post 9/11 pre-emptive warfare is not mentioned:</p>
<p><i>"These weapons are more than a historical oddity, says Time. They are a violation of the spirit of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) ... that provides a legal restraint to the nuclear ambitions of rogue states."</i> (Ibid). </p>
<p>While Iran does not possess nuclear weapons capabilities as confirmed by the latest US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), the nuclear weapons potential of these five countries --including delivery procedures-- are formally acknowledged.</p>
<p>These five countries possess WMDs, yet they do not constitute --in the eyes of public opinion-- a threat to global security. Moreover, at no time have these five countries been designated as <i>"rogue states"</i> or<i>"undeclared nuclear weapons states"</i>.</p>
<p>US and NATO military documents attest to the fact that the B61 is the weapon of choice of pre-emptive nuclear war as opposed to the larger thermo-nuclear bombs of the Cold War era. Moreover, were military action to be launched against Iran, these five countries would play a key role in the delivery of B61 bunker buster bombs with nuclear warheads. </p>
<p>The US had originally supplied some 480 B61 thermonuclear bombs to these five <i>“non-nuclear states”</i>, as well as to the United Kingdom, which is categorized as a Nuclear Weapons State (NWS). (See map below)</p>
<p></p>
<div class="figure"><i><img alt="RNEP: The Follow-On To B61-11" src="http://lewis.armscontrolwonk.com/images/551.jpg"/></i><div class="figcaption">RNEP: The Follow-On To B61-11</div>
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<p><i> </i></p>
<p>Casually disregarded by the Vienna based UN Nuclear Watchdog (IAEA), the US has actively contributed to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Western Europe and Turkey. While, some of these bombs were decommissioned as a result of political pressures, particularly in Belgium and Germany, the US --in liaison with NATO-- has launched a multi-billion dollar modernisation program of its tactical nuclear weapons arsenal.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.gsinstitute.org/pnnd/updates/PNNDupdate18.html" target="_blank">National Resources Defense Council (August 2007)</a>, the number of B61 nuclear bombs in Europe has been reduced from 480 to 350, following the removal of 130 bombs from the Ramstein airbase in Germany.</p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #993300;"><strong>As part of this European stockpiling and deployment, Turkey, which is a partner of the US-led coalition against Iran along with Israel, possesses some 90 thermonuclear B61 bunker buster bombs at the Incirlik air base.</strong></span> (<a href="http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/euro/contents.asp" target="_blank">National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe</a>, February 2005). This is all the more significant in view of the <i>"reconciliation"</i> and renewed bilateral military cooperation between Ankara and Tel Aviv in the wake of President Obama's March visit to Israel.</p>
<p>The stockpiling and deployment of tactical B61 (including the B61-11 earth penetrating warhead) in these five <i>“non-nuclear states”</i> are intended for targets in the Middle East. In accordance with <i>“NATO strike plans”</i>, these thermonuclear B61 bunker buster bombs (stockpiled by the <i>“non-nuclear states”</i>) could be launched against Iran, Syria and Russia:</p>
<p><i>"The approximately 480 nuclear bombs in Europe [350 according to 2007 estimate] are intended for use in accordance with NATO nuclear strike plans, the report asserts, against targets in Russia or countries in the Middle East such as Iran and Syria.</i></p>
<p><i>The report shows for the first time how many U.S. nuclear bombs are earmarked for delivery by non-nuclear NATO countries. In times of war, under certain circumstances, up to 180 of the 480 nuclear bombs would be handed over to Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey for delivery by their national air forces. No other nuclear power or military alliance has nuclear weapons earmarked for delivery by non-nuclear countries.”</i></p>
<p></p>
<div class="figure"><img alt="Nuclear Information Project, The B61-11 The Birth of A Nuclear Bomb" src="http://www.nukestrat.com/graphics/B61-11_WhitemanTransport.jpg"/><div class="figcaption">Nuclear Information Project, The B61-11 The Birth of A Nuclear Bomb</div>
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<p></p>
<p>Does this mean that Iran or Russia, which are potential targets of a nuclear attack originating from one or other of these five so-called non-nuclear states should contemplate defensive pre-emptive nuclear attacks against Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey? The answer is no, by any stretch of the imagination.</p>
<p>While these <i>“undeclared nuclear states”</i> casually accuse Tehran of developing nuclear weapons, without documentary evidence, they themselves have capabilities of delivering nuclear warheads, which are targeted at Iran. To say that this is a clear case of<i>“double standards”</i> by the IAEA and the “international community” is a understatement.</p>
<p><img alt="(Source: National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe , February 2005)" src="http://www.globalresearch.ca/articlePictures/nucleareurope.jpg"/></p>
<div class="figure"><div class="figcaption">(Source: National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe , February 2005)</div>
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<p></p>
<p>While political pressures have been exerted in recent years towards decommissioning the stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons, the arsenal of B61 bunker buster bombs with nuclear warheads remains fully operational. In the case of a conflict with Iran, mini nukes in the five non nuclear states would be actively deployed in liaison with NATO, which has fully endorsed the doctrine of nuclear pre-emption. According to the Pentagon: </p>
<p>... keeping these weapons in Europe is that they allow NATO members to participate in shaping alliance nuclear policy [i.e. pre-emptive nuclear doctrine]. In this view, transatlantic ties are strengthened when the risks and costs of deploying and securing nuclear weapons are shared between the US and the respective host nations. (Quoted in <i>"Parting words: Gates and tactical nuclear weapons in Europe"</i>. <a href="http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/op-eds/parting-words-gates-and-tactical-nuclear-weapons-europe" target="_blank">Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 14 July 2011</a>) </p>
<h2>Modernising the Mini-Nukes Arsenal</h2>
<p>The decommissioning of the B61 nukes stockpiled in Western Europe and Turkey is a smokescreen. The European tactical nuclear weapons project is not being phased out as some reports have suggested. Quite the opposite. In 2010, the US National Nuclear Security Administration initiated a program <i>"to refurbish and extend the life of the B61 bomb"</i> at an initial estimated cost of 4 billion dollars (Ibid). By 2012, the mini nukes refurbishing program had skyrocketed to $10 billion. (<a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/nwgs/CAPE-ICA-for-B61-LEP-July-2012.pdf" target="_blank">US Department of Defence, Case Independent Cost Assessment for B61 LEP</a>, Washington, July 13, 2012)</p>
<p>Described by the Federation of American Scientists, as <i>"a gold plated nuclear bomb project"</i>, this initiative consists in modernizing the existing pre-emptive nuclear arsenal of B61 tactical nuclear weapons deployed in the five undeclared nuclear states. Moreover, a new version of the B61 bunker buster bomb is envisaged: the B61-12. The latter is to be developed for deployment in Western Europe and Turkey with the backing of NATO and the German government, (<a href="https://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2012/11/germany-b61.php" target="_blank">Federation of American Scientists, November 2012</a>). </p>
<p>The Obama administration and Congress have pushed the program forward despite the enormous cost ... of refurbishing such complex weapons ... Advocates, including the Obama administration..</p>
<h2>Germany: Nuclear Weapons Producer</h2>
<p>Among the five <i>“undeclared nuclear states”</i>, <i>“Germany remains the most heavily nuclearized country with three nuclear bases (two of which are fully operational) and may store as many as 150 [B61 bunker buster ] bombs</i>” (<a href="http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/euro/contents.asp" target="_blank">National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe</a>. In accordance with<i>“NATO strike plans”</i>, these tactical nuclear weapons are also targeted at the Middle East.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/nukes/images/b61-12.jpg"/></p>
<p>While Germany is not categorized officially as a nuclear weapons state, it produces nuclear warheads for the French Navy. It stockpiles tactical nuclear weapons (Made in America) and it has the capabilities of delivering nuclear weapons. Moreover, <a href="http://www.eads.net/" target="_blank">The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company – EADS</a> , a Franco-German-Spanish joint venture, controlled by the powerful Daimler Group is Europe’s second largest military producer, supplying France’s M51 nuclear missile.</p>
<p>Germany imports and deploys tactical nuclear weapons from the US. EADS produces nuclear warheads which are exported to France. Yet Germany is classified as a non-nuclear state.</p>
<h2>Dangerous Cross Roads</h2>
<p>The tactical nuclear weapons deployed by the five non declared nuclear states are under national command and could be used in a pre-emptive US-NATO sponsored nuclear attack against Iran.</p>
<p>Tactical nuclear weapons are also deployed by Israel.</p>
<p>While it is unlikely that nuclear weapons would be used at the outset of an attack, they could be envisaged as part of a scenario of military escalation.</p>
<p>It is, therefore, important that public opinion in Western Europe, Turkey and Israel be made aware of the consequences of pre-emptive warfare and that political pressures be exerted on the governments of these 5 countries, with a view to blocking the deployment of the B61 nuclear warheads in their respective military bases as well as withdrawing outright from ongoing US-NATO pre-emptive war plans directed against Iran. </p>
<p>Tactical nuclear weapons are in essence slated to be used against non-nuclear states in the middle East. Their use was contemplated in both the Iraq war in 2003 as well against Libya in 2011.</p>
<p>The focus on tactical nuclear weapons (mini-nukes) as part of the conventional war arsenal, does not mean that the the US and its allies have scrapped the idea of using their arsenal of larger strategic thermonuclear weapons. While the latter would not be used against a non-nuclear state in the Middle East, they are deployed and targeted against Russia, China and North Korea.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.globalresearch.ca/articlePictures/B-61_bomb22.jpg"/></p>
<p>For those who believe the use of thermonuclear nuclear weapons belongs to a bygone era, think twice. </p>
<p>For further details on the dangers of Nuclear War, see the author's most recent book: Towards a World War III Scenario: <a href="https://store.globalresearch.ca/store/towards-a-world-war-iii-scenario-the-dangers-of-nuclear-war/" target="_blank">The Dangers of Nuclear War, Global Research, Montreal, 2011</a>.</p> READ MY HIPStag:4freedoms.com,2012-06-24:3766518:Topic:1049432012-06-24T16:02:13.122Zshivahttp://4freedoms.com/profile/shiva
<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">After all, a woman's body is a dirty, sinful thing, which is why muslim women are taught from an early age to be ashamed of their bodies and to keep them covered always.</span></strong></h3>
<div class="post-body entry-content"><span><span><br></br><span>Conditions of Islamic…</span></span></span></div>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">After all, a woman's body is a dirty, sinful thing, which is why muslim women are taught from an early age to be ashamed of their bodies and to keep them covered always.</span></strong></h3>
<div class="post-body entry-content"><span><span><br/><span>Conditions of Islamic Dress Code</span></span></span><p class="western">1. Clothing must cover the entire body, only the hands and face may remain visible (According to some Hiqh Schools).</p>
<p class="western">2. The material must not be so thin that one can see through it.</p>
<p class="western">3. The clothing must hang loose so that the shape / form of the body is not apparent.</p>
<p class="western">4. The female clothing must not resemble the man's clothing.</p>
<p class="western">5. The design of the clothing must not resemble the clothing of the non-believing women.</p>
<p class="western">6. The design must not consist of bold designs which attract attention.</p>
<p class="western">7. Clothing should not be worn for the sole purpose of gaining reputation or increasing one's status in society.</p>
<p class="western">Sounds chic, doesn't it? But hey, Allah never said he wanted BELLY DANCING.</p>
<p class="western">He said: "Say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty ; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof. " [Quran : 24.31]</p>
<p class="western" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Can you imagine<br/></strong></p>
<p class="western" style="text-align: center;"><strong>A burqa clad dancer</strong></p>
<p class="western" style="text-align: center;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489165?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489165?profile=original" width="380" class="align-center"/></a></strong></p>
<p class="western" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Neither can mohammedans, so they found a solution</strong></p>
<p class="western" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Ho! Ho!</strong></p>
<p class="western" style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489410?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489410?profile=original" width="300"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489100?profile=original" target="_self"></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489100?profile=original" target="_self"></a></b></p>
<div><center><span> </span></center>
<center><span>Male belly dancers are thrilling audiences in Turkey and other European capitals, drawing on a tradition dating back to Ottoman times when men in the Sultan's palaces were entertained by young male dancers as the women lived separately in harems.</span></center>
<center><span> </span></center>
<center><span><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489412?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489412?profile=original" width="267" class="align-center"/></a></span></center>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><span>As 36-year-old dancer "Alex" takes to the stage and the repetitive beats are replaced by Arabesque music, the young Turkish crowd goes wild, flinging their arms in the air and jostling for a view of his belly.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>"All kinds of people watch me. I dance on stage in clubs, bars and even rock concerts," said Alex, who goes by his stage name.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>His costume and dance style are distinct from that of a female dancer. He wears loose black trousers, a chain-mail headdress, a richly-tasselled belt and stole, and a cloak made of sheer fabric, which he extends with his arms like wings.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>"I am really against people thinking oriental dance is a female dance. In doing this they are trying to give it an identity...but all dances can have male and female characters."</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>Ballet also has male and female dancers, he points out.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>Alex began dancing aged 16, drawn to belly dance as he thought it was the most expressive dance for his body shape whilst also being highly in demand.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489420?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489420?profile=original" width="400" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>"He dances often two or three nights a week. It is popular with visitors," said club manager Metin Kemer.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>Alex said he learned the history of male belly dance from Ottoman palace archives and then modernized the tradition.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>The multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire, governed from Istanbul, spanned three continents in its heyday around 400 years ago.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>As the empire's reach declined and society modernized women became more in view and the number of female belly dancers rose, but Alex sees the dance as most erotic on a male body.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489369?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/110489369?profile=original" width="400" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span> </span></p>
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<div> </div> The Genocide of the Ottoman Greekstag:4freedoms.com,2012-05-06:3766518:Topic:1012102012-05-06T21:13:57.595ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<h1 class="asset-name entry-title" id="page-title">Important new book sheds light on the Islamic jihad genocide of the Ottoman Greeks…</h1>
<div class="asset-content entry-content"><div class="asset-body"><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0892416157?ie=UTF8&tag=robertspencer-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0892416157" target="_blank"><img alt="615 GG image.jpg" class="mt-image-center" height="300" src="http://www.jihadwatch.org/images/615%20GG%20image.jpg" width="300"></img></a></p>
<p><br></br></p>
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<h1 id="page-title" class="asset-name entry-title">Important new book sheds light on the Islamic jihad genocide of the Ottoman Greeks</h1>
<div class="asset-content entry-content"><div class="asset-body"><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0892416157?ie=UTF8&tag=robertspencer-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0892416157" target="_blank"><img alt="615 GG image.jpg" src="http://www.jihadwatch.org/images/615%20GG%20image.jpg" width="300" height="300" class="mt-image-center"/></a></p>
<p><br/><em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0892416157?ie=UTF8&tag=robertspencer-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0892416157" target="_blank">The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks: Studies on the State-Sponsored Campaign of Extermination of the Christians of Asia Minor (1912-1922) and Its Aftermath: History, Law, Memory</a></em>, edited by Tessa Hofmann, Matthias Bjornlund, and Vasileios Meichanetsidis.</p>
<p>A forgotten historical episode reexamined. From the <a href="http://www.caratzas.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=531" target="_blank">publisher's website</a>:</p>
<blockquote><em>Studies on the State Sponsored Campaign of Extermination of the Christians of Asia Minor (1912-1922) and Its Aftermath: History, Law, Memory</em><p>Edited by Tessa Hofmann, Matthias Bjørnlund and Vasileios Meichanetsidis</p>
<p>hardcover; 512 pages, 37 photographs, maps</p>
<p>The period of transition from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire to the foundation of the Turkish Republic was characterized by a number of processes largely guided by a narrow elite that aimed to construct a modern, national state. One of these processes was the deliberate and planned elimination, indeed extermination, of the Christian (and certain other) minorities. According to demographic studies, the numbers are stark: In 1912 the areas of Asia Minor and Thrace were inhabited by about 4-5 million Christians and 7-8 million Muslims; by 1923 only 250-300,000 Christians remained.</p>
<p>Raphael Lemkin, the legal scholar who introduced the term genocide into international law, formulated his early ideas on the definition of this war crime by studying the destruction of the Christians of Asia Minor, while the distinguished Turcologist Neoklis Sarris has noted that the annihilation of the Christian minorities represented an integral element in the formation of the Turkish Republic. As the editors of this volume note the recent resolution by the International Association of Genocide Scholars recognizing the Greek and Syriac genocides suggests a wider range of victim groups. This volume therefore represents an effort to provide an outline and a direction of a more extensive study of the deliberate destruction and elimination of a Greek presence that spanned over three millennia, in the space that became the Turkish Republic.</p>
<p>The last two decades have seen a massive amount of research of the genocide of the Armenian population in the Ottoman/Turkish space; our publishing house has produced a number of works, most notable of which was the eyewitness testimony of the Leslie A. Davis, US Consul in Harput (The Slaughterhouse Province: An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917). Much less scholarly work has been done on the genocide of the Greeks of Asia Minor and Thrace; there are many reasons for this, including the fact that Turkish governments have been successful in intimidating diplomats in the context of Turkish-Greek relations of the last generation, and of subverting academic integrity (inducing some scholars to make a career as denialists supported by international NGOs, all in the name of countering nationalism).</p>
<p>The volume includes article contributions on the areas subtitled: Historical Overview, Documentation, Interpretation; Representations and Law; Genocide Education; Memorialization; Conceptualization; and a very extensive Bibliography.</p>
</blockquote>
<p></p>
<p id="">Read a review of this vitally important book <a href="http://moderntokyotimes.com/2012/05/06/the-genocide-of-the-ottoman-greeks-new-book-which-focuses-on-the-christian-genocide/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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</div> Atheist makes gentle joke about Islam, has to flee Turkeytag:4freedoms.com,2012-04-27:3766518:Topic:1002582012-04-27T16:12:01.828ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<p>This is supposedly a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">secular</span> country, which considers itself <span style="text-decoration: underline;">a part of Europe</span>, and which <span style="text-decoration: underline;">wants to join the EU</span>. The european media and politicians seem to not care about <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the genocide of christians</span> there, nor <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the apartheid against the Kurds</span>. And…</p>
<p>This is supposedly a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">secular</span> country, which considers itself <span style="text-decoration: underline;">a part of Europe</span>, and which <span style="text-decoration: underline;">wants to join the EU</span>. The european media and politicians seem to not care about <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the genocide of christians</span> there, nor <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the apartheid against the Kurds</span>. And clearly they cannot even bring themselves to relate to an urbane, high-brow atheist either. Just what does it take to get them to grasp that islam wants to return us to the Dark Ages, where no-one dared to think outside of the strait-jacket of religious orthodoxy?</p>
<hr/><p><a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100152667/fazil-say-and-turkeys-war-on-atheism/">http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100152667/fazil-say-and-turkeys-war-on-atheism/</a></p>
<div class="storyHead"><h1>Fazil Say and Turkey's war on atheism</h1>
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<div class="oneHalf gutter"><div class="story"><div class="byline"><p><span class="byAuthor">By <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/tomchiversscience/" title="Posts by Tom Chivers" rel="author">Tom Chivers</a></span> <span class="lastUpdated bylineCategory"><a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/category/religion/" title="View all posts in Religion" rel="category tag">Religion</a></span> <span class="lastUpdated">Last updated: April 23rd, 2012</span></p>
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<p>Here in Britain, we are told there is a war on Christianity. Quite why people think that is a little beyond me, since we're still technically a Christian country, we have 26 bishops automatically appointed to the House of Lords, and whenever a former Archbishop says "Christian voices are being silenced" it silently gets plastered all over the front pages of every newspaper. But it's worth remembering that in some parts of the world people actually do have to worry about what they say about their religion, or lack thereof. What's surprising, though, is how close to home some of those places are.</p>
<p>Fazil Say, a Turkish composer and pianist, has said that he is going to leave his native country and move to Japan after he was <a href="http://www.nationalturk.com/en/turkish-pianist-fazil-says-twitter-messages-to-be-investigated-in-turkey-17534" target="_blank">placed under investigation by the Istanbul Prosecutor's Office</a> for "insulting religious values" and offending Islamic belief. His (alleged) crime? Tweeting that he is an atheist: “I am an atheist and proud to have said it loud and clear.” He also gently mocked the call to prayer ("The muezzin has recited the evenin azan in 22 seconds. What’s the rush? Lover? Raki binge?”) and reportedly said that since you get promised drinks and beautiful women for doing good deeds, Heaven sounds a bit like a pub or a brothel.</p>
<p>It's hardly savage stuff, but under Turkish law anyone convicted of insulting "religious values" can be sentenced to up to a year in prison. (One wonders whether this applies to all religions. Scientologists and Mormons must love the idea of a country where laughing at particularly silly religious stories is illegal. "So the angel who gave you these golden plates which said that we should give you all our money was called Moroni, eh?" "All right, chum, you're nicked.") So Say might be in actual trouble. "If I am sentenced to prison, my career will be finished," he says.</p>
<p>Two things are worth noting about this. One is that Turkey could soon be a member of the European Union (if it's foolish enough to still want to join) – and I hope it should go without saying that if you're in the business of jailing people for not believing in God, then you should not get anywhere near even consideration.</p>
<p>The other is that it is a reminder of how rare it is for people brought up Muslim to admit to atheism. <a href="http://newhumanist.org.uk/2784/no-more-lies">In a moving piece in this month's New Humanist</a>, the science teacher and programme-maker Alom Shaha writes about how he was called "brave" after deciding to write The Young Atheist's Handbook, a book about how he grew up atheist in an Islamic family in south-east London. "[B]ecause I come from a Bangladeshi background, because I was born into and grew up in a Muslim community, people who don’t know me, who haven’t read the book, have leapt to the conclusion that I must somehow be 'brave', and this worries me," he says. "I’m worried because there’s something insidious about the idea that I am brave, because at the heart of that suggestion is a very negative view of Islam and Muslims."</p>
<p>He's referring, of course, to the fear that there will be violent reprisals, and I think he's right to discount them. People seem to think that there is a law of omerta about Islam in the British newspaper industry, but actually the religion is criticised often in print and online – including once or twice by me, and I've never had so much as a rude email. But Alom, whom I know slightly (I've lost at poker to him), is, I think, being brave in another way, which he reveals here:</p>
<blockquote><p>I know a number of “ex-Muslim atheists”. We gather in pubs, raise glasses of alcohol in celebration of our godlessness and order the sausages and mash to demonstrate we don’t believe there’s any good reason (apart from vegetarianism) not to eat pork. But I am one of a small minority of “ex-Muslims” who is openly atheist in my day-to-day life.</p>
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<p>It's still harder for someone of Islamic extraction to "come out" as an atheist than it is for most people of Christian background. And this is in Britain, where (thankfully) we have no ludicrous blasphemy laws any more. Turkey is officially be a secular country – set up as such by Kemal Ataturk, who was so powerfully set against the nation's traditions that he banned the wearing of fezzes and turned the Ayia Sofia from a mosque into a museum. But nowadays the ruling party, which has been in power since 2002, is strongly connected to Islamic conservatism, and is drawing Turkey towards the sort of radical Islam to which the country has never previously been inclined. As the Fazil Say case shows, the state is quick to take action against perceived attacks on Islam, which it apparently believes includes statements of disbelief. (Regular readers might remember that <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100123035/darwin-censored-by-the-turkish-governments-porn-filter/">the Turkish government recently tried to censor online mentions of Darwin</a>, as well. Clearly there is a frightened-of-reality streak in the country's ruling classes.)</p>
<p>Now. People in this country might get all hot and bothered about the March of Intolerant Secularism (which, to a secular atheist's ears, normally sounds like "How dare they make me obey the same rules and laws as everybody else"). But in fact secularism – the utterly reasonable state of affairs in which governments do not get involved in religious belief – has not marched far enough. The Islamic world, even the so-called moderate bits like Turkey, would benefit enormously from a stronger secular movement, and more people, like Alom and like Fazil Say, who are brave enough to admit that they do not believe.</p> EU membership without a votetag:4freedoms.com,2012-04-22:3766518:Topic:997812012-04-22T16:08:18.939ZKinanahttp://4freedoms.com/profile/Kinana
<p>Since the request by Turkey to join the EU (in 2004?), I have asked German people if they will actually approve of membership. They all said the same thing. If the people were to decide by referendum then the answer would be NO. However, most believed that something political would happen which would grant Turkey membership anyway. Most believed that their own political leaders would betray them. </p>
<p>Now it seems that the EU bureaucracy is not confident about the…</p>
<p>Since the request by Turkey to join the EU (in 2004?), I have asked German people if they will actually approve of membership. They all said the same thing. If the people were to decide by referendum then the answer would be NO. However, most believed that something political would happen which would grant Turkey membership anyway. Most believed that their own political leaders would betray them. </p>
<p>Now it seems that the EU bureaucracy is not confident about the compliance/connivance of the German politicians to proceed with membership so they have contrived this solution. Voting about such things is such a bother after all! Will these new immigrants, with ‘<b>the same residency and labour rights’</b>, also have voting rights? If so, then it looks like a ploy to import voters to ensure more friendly politicians for the EU and Eurabia project.</p>
<p>What will happen when the native German people feel even more pressed against the wall?</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>EXCLUSIVE: TURKS TO GET SAME RIGHTS IN EUROPE’S ECONOMY AS EU RESIDENTS</p>
<div class="entry entry-content"><p><a href="http://hat4uk.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/turkspaperpaint.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-10154" title="turkspaperpaint" src="http://hat4uk.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/turkspaperpaint.jpg?w=500" alt=""/></a></p>
<h2><strong>Commission decision taken last week</strong></h2>
<h2>Brussels bringing Turkey into EU under the radar</h2>
<p><em><strong><span>Detailed plans to extend the same rights to Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Israel</span></strong></em></p>
<p><strong>The Slog has obtained sight of an official Brussels Commission document which, while not confidential, has not as far as I can tell been the subject of MSM coverage, or indeed any vote at all among MEPs. Although dated March 30th 2012 as a ‘proposal for a decision’, I can reveal that the decision has been approved and is already going ahead. It is to grant Turkish citizens the same residency and labour rights in Europe as existing EU citizens.</strong></p>
<p>The unelected European Commission has repealed the 1980 Ankara Accord between what was then the EEC and Turkey, and replaced it with a major change to the rights of Turkish citizens in the EU. The proposal was presented to a working group (we know not who) eleven days ago on March 30th, and approved by that same anonymous gathering. It specifically adds that ‘A first package with similar proposals in respect of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Israel was adopted by the Council in October 2010′ and that this too will be updated to bring it into line with the Turkish proposals.</p>
<p>I was certainly not aware of the October 2010 ‘package’, and I doubt very much if even the eurosceptic wing of the Conservative Party is up to speed with the fact that this Turkish grant of rights is about to pass quietly into law – as so many of these lunatic Commission decisions have a tendency to do. But the clauses in relation to non-eurozone members like the UK (already sinking under the weight of unrestricted migration) are truly mind-boggling. For example: (my emphasis)</p>
<p><em>‘this [Turkish accord] will facilitate the application of these provisions by Member States’ social security institutions. This Decision shall apply:</em></p>
<p><em> (a) to <strong>Turkish workers who are or have been legally employed in the territory of a</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Member</strong><strong> State</strong><strong> and who are or have been subject to the legislation of one or more</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Member</strong><strong> States</strong><strong>, <span>and their survivors</span>;</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong> (b) <span>to the members of the family of workers referred to in point</span>(a) provided that these</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>family members are or have been legally resident with the worker concerned while</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>the worker is employed in a Member State;</strong></em></p>
<p>This gives Home Secretary Theresa May-and-very-probably-will something of a problem: despite her protestations of ‘cracking down’ on migrant numbers and the rights of their dependents, as a Member State Britain will have to obey the diktat. Does Theresa even know about it, I ask?</p>
<p>I do not employ the phrase ‘ lunatic Commission decisions’ above lightly. Any unelected and yet sovereign body happy to take on the welfare needs of these workers at a time of euro meltdown must be deranged at least. To enumerate the idiocy involved here:</p>
<p>1. Turkey’s economy under the closet Islamist Recep Erdogan <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/turkey-why-erdogonomics-are-about-to-burst-his-own-bubble/">is about to go bang</a>. Enter millions of jobless Turks stage left.</p>
<p>2. Turkey has already <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/greece-erdogan-in-cyprus-annexation-threat/">threatened to annex Cyprus</a>…both parts of which represent an existing EU member.</p>
<p>3. Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia are all recently destablised States with growing Islamist power in their politics.</p>
<p>4. Um, none of them – including Israel – are in Europe. Small point, but worth bringing up I feel.</p>
<p>5. All four of the above States are anti-Israel in the most bellicose manner.</p>
<p>6. Germany has just <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/the-eu-no-migrants-please-were-german/">passed a law denying these very rights</a> to unemployed ClubMed citizens. How are they now going to feel in the light of this new law? How is Gunter Grass going to feel, having just been banned by the Israeli Government?</p>
<p>7. The anti-Islamist security ramifications of the new law would be horrendous. Yet Theresa May tells us that GCHQ must listen to and read <a href="http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/internet-privacy-is-the-new-global-oxymoron/">all our online and telcom communications</a> even without such a potty increase in the risks involved. (Only media outrage stopped Camerlot from slipping this little number through the Lobby Fodder).</p>
<p>Zero alignment with the map of Europe, the financial chaos of the eurozone, the political powder keg that is the middle east, and real life in the 3D Universe lies – as ever – behind the adoption of this proposal. It is time the Camerlot Establishment stopped complacently referring to unthinking EU madness as “an imponderable”. It is time William Hague started looking for a way out come what may. And that includes Theresa May.</p>
<p><a href="https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/exclusive-turks-to-get-same-rights-in-europes-economy-as-eu-residents/">https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/exclusive-turks-to-get-same-rights-in-europes-economy-as-eu-residents/</a></p>
</div> Is Turkey Using the Courts to Silence Critics? - Time Magazinetag:4freedoms.com,2011-11-26:3766518:Topic:900412011-11-26T03:40:11.700ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<div class="artHdWrapper"><div class="artHd"><h1 id="aeaoofnhgocdbnbeljkmbjdmhbcokfdb-mousedown">Is Turkey Using the Courts to Silence Critics?</h1>
<div class="byline">By <span class="name"><a href="http://www.time.com/time/letters/email_letter.html" id="emailWriter" name="emailWriter">PELIN TURGUT / ISTANBUL</a> </span><span class="date">Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011…</span></div>
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<div class="artHdWrapper"><div class="artHd"><h1 id="aeaoofnhgocdbnbeljkmbjdmhbcokfdb-mousedown">Is Turkey Using the Courts to Silence Critics?</h1>
<div class="byline">By <span class="name"><a id="emailWriter" href="http://www.time.com/time/letters/email_letter.html" name="emailWriter">PELIN TURGUT / ISTANBUL</a> </span><span class="date">Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011</span></div>
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<p class="caption">Journalists and human-rights activists protest in front of the Istanbul courthouse during the trial of two prominent Turkish journalists Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener on Nov. 22, 2011</p>
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</span><p><span class="lingo_region">Nine months after they were first detained, two well-known and internationally acclaimed Turkish investigative journalists finally appeared before a judge on Tuesday in a trial that has become a rallying point for critics of Turkey's curbs on freedom of expression. Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener are among 13 defendants, including editors of a hard-line secularist website, accused of seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-leaning government — charges that international observers say have little evidence to support them.</span></p>
<p><span class="lingo_region">"The prosecutors had promised to produce hard evidence to justify [the journalists'] pretrial detention. Where is it?" said Johann Bihr, head of Reporters Without Borders' Europe desk, outside the Istanbul courthouse. "Contrary to what was always claimed, the case against them is based on their work as journalists."<span class="see"><a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2099674,00.html" target="_blank">(Read TIME International's cover story "Erdogan's Moment.")</a></span></span></p>
<p>Held up as an example of secular democracy for the Middle East, Erdogan's government is increasingly under fire for its treatment of journalists, pro-Kurdish advocates and opposition activists. There are more than 1,000 cases before the European Court of Human Rights concerning the Turkish government's alleged quashing of freedom of expression, according to officials. "This situation has a chilling effect on journalism and journalists in Turkey," said Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary-general of the Council of Europe.</p>
<p>Members of the European Parliament, members of journalists' groups and rights advocates were among the dozens gathered on Tuesday outside Istanbul's so-called Palace of Justice — a pale pink edifice of granite and glass that squats over the center of the city. Part mall, part hospital in appearance and with 326 courtrooms, it opened in August as — it is said — Europe's largest courthouse. The irony was not lost on those gathered on Tuesday. "They'll need all those hearing rooms if they keep on detaining people," quipped one journalist.<span class="see"><a href="http://lightbox.time.com/2011/10/03/a-family-revisited/" target="_blank">(See pictures of homelessness in Istanbul.)</a></span></p>
<p>Turkey aspires to become an E.U. member, yet its penal code is in urgent need of reform. There are currently 68 journalists in jail — more than in China, according to the International Press Institute. They are frequently detained under vague antiterrorism legislation and then wait for months before seeing a judge. "We clearly have a situation which needs to be solved to help Turkey move forward," said Jagland. In addition to Sener and Sik, the defendants in this most recent case include editors of Oda TV, a hard-line secularist Internet news portal critical of Erdogan.</p>
<p>I have known Sik for many years — we worked together at Reuters. A passionate leftist who has spent his career working for human rights — and being harassed for that work — he is being accused of belonging to, of all things, a far-right nationalist network called Ergenekon that sought to stage a military coup and overthrow the government.<span class="see"><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2074165,00.html" target="_blank">(Read "Why Syria and Turkey Are Suddenly Far Apart on Arab Spring Protests.")</a></span></p>
<p>Sik was arrested in March, shortly before he was due to publish a book called <i>The Imam's Army</i>, an account of the allegedly increasing influence wielded by the Pennsylvania-based imam Fethullah Gulen among Turkey's security forces. Gulen is an elderly Muslim preacher who has millions of followers in Turkey — depending on whom you talk to, he is seen either as a moderate voice for tolerance or a secretive and sinister figure seeking to Islamicize the country. Police seized and banned <i>The Imam's Army</i>, but it was circulated on the Internet, and a group of intellectuals and journalists recently reissued it under a collective moniker as an act of civil disobedience.</p>
<p>Hundreds of people, including several former generals, are currently behind bars pending trial in Ergenekon-related proceedings. The glacial pace of Turkey's judicial process means that it can take months before a hearing. On Tuesday, the judge rejected a request that the 13 defendants be released, and then adjourned until mid-December. Any requests made by lawyers could result in similar delays, possibly dragging the trial out for months.<span class="see"><a href="http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,1539385008_1813188,00.html" target="_blank">(Watch TIME's video "Turkey's Unconventional Muslim Minority.")</a></span></p>
<p>Separately, hundreds of people — mostly pro-Kurdish activists — have been jailed in recent months on charges of belonging to the KCK, allegedly an offshoot of the separatist Kurdish PKK. In October, prominent publisher and free-speech activist Ragip Zarakolu and a well-known Istanbul-based political-science professor were among those arrested, prompting criticism from Europe and the U.S. Erdogan has thus far shrugged off criticism of the detentions — but as his aspirations to international leadership grow, he may find such practices less and less tenable.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2100227,00.html">http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2100227,00.html</a></p> FT: Erdogan's bodyguards beat up UN Security Staff!tag:4freedoms.com,2011-10-15:3766518:Topic:846862011-10-15T08:07:55.870ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<p>Does anyone know anything about this (from the FT on 10 Oct 2011)?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>"But Turkey’s regional role is not all positive. As he becomes more confident, Mr Erdogan is also becoming more willing to court confrontation. (That was mirrored recently by his bodyguards, when they beat up members of the UN security staff in New York.)"</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>And how about this gem, from the perfect example of a democratic Muslim state?</p>
<p><em>"However the backlash against the alleged…</em></p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about this (from the FT on 10 Oct 2011)?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>"But Turkey’s regional role is not all positive. As he becomes more confident, Mr Erdogan is also becoming more willing to court confrontation. (That was mirrored recently by his bodyguards, when they beat up members of the UN security staff in New York.)"</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>And how about this gem, from the perfect example of a democratic Muslim state?</p>
<p><em>"However the backlash against the alleged coup plot has become so widespread that it has swept up many people who are probably innocent of any wrongdoing – but who now languish in jail, awaiting trial or in, some cases, charges. It is not just military people who have been arrested. According to the International Press Institute, <strong>there are now considerably more journalists in prison in Turkey than in China.</strong> In Istanbul recently I watched a rally by journalists who were supporting their imprisoned colleagues. This is not something that would be tolerated in Beijing. But there is no doubt, talking to Turkish journalists, that they are now operating in a climate of fear."</em></p>