Turkish Tempest in Davos over Gaza

It's appalling that leaders of the so-called developed nations watched in silence as Israel pummelled Gaza into rubbles, killing innocent men, women & children. That the Turkish Prime Minister said the obvious & was almost silenced by the moderator shows how decadent and conspiratorial the West is towards the Arabs. if shameful & atrocious Military exercise had been carried out by any other country in the Middle East other than Israel, would The US & it's poodle, Britain keep mute & not condemn the kilings? Wouldn't they have dispatched their military might to Gaza. Even the UN, whose facilities were destroyed couldn't come out bravely to call Israel to order. Treating every country with equal respect, dignity and voicing condemnation when fully deserved will go a long way to bring about the much-needed peace, not only in the Middle East but will make the world a better place.

There is one problem Turkey giving lecture to the Israelis.

Turkey is a country that persecutes and prosecutes those who want a free debate on issues that the Turks deem "insulting to Turkishness". Turkey is a country that still tortures dissidents who die in Turkish prisons. Mr. Erdogan is a leader who wants to be seen as "championing" human rights, or human suffering, but in fact demonstrates an extreme nationalist view that "nothing out of the ordinary happened to the Armenians", a whole elimination of an entire people is a mere "incident" or a "dispute" in his mind. Unless The Turkish State comes clean with the reality of the Armenian Genocide carried out by Mr. Erdogan ancestors, he'd better think twice before criticizing ISraelis for defending themselves against a group who think firing rockets towards blind targets in Israel is a sport.

Please forgive Mr. Erdogan for being the sole voice of protest against what would otherwise have been a one-sided argument conveyed fully in accordance with the "Davos Spirit". Unfortunately, Mr. Erdogan lacks the diplomatic acumen that would have required him to sit silently and applaud civilly while Mr. Peres delivered a defunct defense rhetoric, one which, by any stretch of logic, does not sound any credible then one arguing "My neighbor attacked me so I defended myself and killed him and -in my anger- everyone else who happen to live in the neighborhood. Sadly, both Israel and Turkey have so much to lose if their historically strong friendship wavers.

To Zareh:
Thanks for providing an excellent example of an "argumentum ad hominem".

Excellent reaction. That had to be done before to Israel. It is noteworthy that Turkey is the only serious voice against Israel while the Arab world, EU, UK, UN and US were turning a blind eye to the issue.

We must be honest for peacefull world. PM. Erdogan said true things but he was thinking about local elections.
To Zareh : What Turkey did to Armenians (if they did it that is, which hasnt been proved) was during the first world war, it was 100 years ago.Now there are Armenians living quite peacefully in İstanbul for a hundred years. İstanbul was forbidden to Armenians at Roman Empire.
And as to Kurds, ive lived in Turkey for 15 years, and Kurds have the exact same rights there as with Turks, both socially and legally, Turks and Kurds live with no problem together. But “some” of the Kurds, claim some of Turkey s land belogs to them and want to found a Kurdish country on the east, which Turkey dont let of course, so Turkey ONLY fights with PKK and never the Kurds. Turks had Kurdish presidents, prime ministers and generals.

I would advise to express a bit more cautiously history those or other countries, especially about history of Israel which as what other country knows that such MASS DESTRUCTION. And death of innocent people. And as to Armenia no genocide existed, it only their imaginations

[...] Posted by Justin Fox | Comments (0) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This The Tayyip Erdogan-Shimon Peres rumble last night was partly about Gaza. But it was also about the limitations of panel moderation at [...]

[...] Posted by Justin Fox | Comments (0) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This The Tayyip Erdogan-Shimon Peres rumble last night was partly about Gaza. But it was also about the limitations of panel moderation at [...]

out from davos forum...is briliant.....

To Kaunos:

Credibility is all what leadership is all about. Without it demagoguery is what remains. And Erdogan has proven to be a perfect demagogue to his people. Come March elections in Turkey he will collect the results. One cannot have a cake and eat it too, Mr. Erdogan dismisses the genocide that Turkey has caused to Armenians in 1915 as "incidents" and now says he is driven from humanitarian concerns. He is more likely driven from a fear that Israel and its actions are going to alienate Turkey as an important player in the Middle East. No one, except perhaps some Turkish circles, believe in his crocodile tears.

To mnser:

Some espouse ignorance at their own peril.

Bravo, Mr. Erdogan, it's about time someone stood up for the innocent.
zareh, all I have to say is, today there are more Armenians living in Turkey than in Armenia. Find your own fight to fight, and start looking to the future rather than the past, the past is for learning and making sure the future is better. Let go of the hatred.
Peace

Let go of the hatred spinozza555 says. My friend you must be either joking or projecting your own hatred upon others. You seem to have a hard time looking back at recent history and todays harsh Turkish racist reality, and prefer the ostrich's way. Mr. Erdogan is quite content with his neo-Ottomanist behaviour that has awakened a deeply rooted anti-Jewish and anti-Armenian hatred in some segments of the Turkish society. Signs that say "No Jews and Armenians allowed but dogs are" are only the visible part of this hatred. As for the 3 million Armenians that you claim to reside in Turkey today, are you counting the generations who descended from the 10's of thousands of orphaned Armenian children and toddlers who were kidnapped in 1915 by Turks and raised as Muslim Turks? a crime which constitutes one of the UN definitions of Genocide? Then you are right, there could possibly be more Turkified Armenians today in Turkey than Armenia.

The fact remains that Mr. Erdogan's unbalanced and undiplomatic attacks on Israel is nothing but a show. Indeed many innocent civilians suffered in Gaza, but what Erdogan is doing is just a political game using the name of all who suffered. Remember 5000 Kurdish villages obliterated by the Turkish armies in Eastern Turkey a mere decade ago, all in the name of fighting terrorism? Who are you kidding here?

Peace indeed!

To Zareh:
Speaking of being blinded by hatred, this is the same Turkey which accepted Jews when they were not welcome elsewhere in Europe during WWII (which was a great risk at that time), the same Turkey which saved the Cypriot Turks from being annihilated when everyone else turned a blind eye to the military coup in Cyprus (which came at a great cost to Turkey felt even today), the same Turkey which sent troops to Africa as part of United Nations to prevent ethnic cleansing, the same Turkey which opposed the killing of civilians in Iraq by not allowing its ally United States use its land or air space during the Iraqi war (which came at a cost again), the same Turkey which sent troops to Afghanistan as part of NATO to rebuild a wrecked Nation and the same Turkey which is built on the "Peace at Home Peace in the World" motto in 1923. In this recent episode, whole Turkey has been opposing to the killing of Palestinian civilians disproportionately and indiscriminately (and not in any way to Israel's right to defend itself). Yet, this will still be used as an opportunity by some to advance their causes at the expense of the ones who are suffering NOW.

To kaunos about hate!

The following eloquently describes what hate is and I could not have said it better.

By Soner Cagaptay
he Washington Post, Monday, February 2, 2009

Erdogan's recent anti-Israeli statements -- he even suggested that God would punish Israel -- have made normal relations a thing of the past. On Jan. 4, 200,000 Turks turned out in freezing rain in Istanbul to wish death to Israel; on Jan. 7, an Israeli girls' volleyball team was attacked by a Turkish audience chanting, "Muslim policemen, bring us the Jews, so we can slaughter them."
Emerging anti-Semitism also challenges Turkey's special status. Anti-Semitism is not hard-wired into Turkish society -- rather its seeds are being spread by the political leadership. Erdogan has pumped up such sentiments by suggesting Jewish culpability for the conflict in Gaza and alleging that Jewish-controlled media outlets were misrepresenting the facts. Moreover, on Jan. 6, while demanding remorse for Israel's Gaza operations, Erdogan said to Turkish Jews, "Did we not accept you in the Ottoman Empire?" Turkey's tiny, well-integrated Jewish community is being threatened: Jewish businesses are being boycotted, and instances of violence have been reported. These are shameful developments in a land that has provided a home for Jews since 1492, when the Ottomans opened their arms to Jewish people fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. The Ottoman sultans must be spinning in their graves.

To Zareh:

Very unfortunate and regrettable indeed. Nonetheless, presenting the recent anti-Israel sentiment as being unique to Turkey would be a one-sided view. According to The Brussels Journal published by the Society for the Advancement of Freedom in Europe (SAFE), a Swiss non-profit organisation "...anti-Semitic violence is becoming more commonplace in every country in Europe. At the same time, anti-Israel demonstrations, which have strong anti-Semitic overtones, are being held with alarming frequency in cities across Europe." Synagogues and Jewish centers have been firebombed in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. The National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism in France says "it has received more than 100 reports of anti-Semitic violence since the start of Israel's military operation in Gaza on December 27. Recent incidents include arson attacks against synagogues and Jewish community centers in several French cities, as well as physical assaults of Jews in Paris and elsewhere." The reaction is not limited to Europe as last week, we heard about the oldest synagogue in Venezuela being vandalized. All this to show that such regrettable events are happening all over the world and would not justify an effort to single out Turkey.