A shameful day

     Bulldog, my point was not that there are no threats to Bush or to Turkey. My point was that they exaggerate these threats to enact racist policies, or policies which take away the rights of one or more groups in their society. It doesn't even have to do with democracy, just basic human rights. What does banning the Kurds' language and denying their identity have to do with living in an unstable region? In fact, regions are made unstable by such racist policies, because it gives people every excuse to go against the government by weakening the social structure of the state. That has nothing to do with safety, thats just extreme nationalism left over from the old days.

     Turkey is actually lucky...they are the only U.S. ally in the region not to be targeted by religious extremists. If anything, they face less threat than all of their non-European neighbors, who are either targeted by religious extremists or by the U.S., or both.

     On top of that, Turkey has the largest army in the region with American equipment.

Originally posted by Bulldog Turkey does have "unknown/outside" threats, you may agree or disagree with how she deals with this and the policies which are enforced but it's not done simply for no "reason"

     What are these outside threats, and why is it essential to deny citizens basic rights in order to combat these threats? In fact none of the policies I mentioned (about Kurds and other minorities) have anything to do with battling threats. Only creating threats.

I think he is only capable of showing his passport.

Originally posted by Brainstorm I think this is a unique opportunity for the democratic turkish people to ask for real democracy. It seems that there are many Turkish citizens who believe that military and para-military organizations should not get involved in politics ,as well as that the huge impact of  nationalism should be fought within the country.

easier said than done. You know the Turks of Anatolia have the oldest tradition of military interfierance. Millitary coups are not that unussualy and are accepted(unfortunaly)

...The building housing the �Agos� offices was surrounded and searched by security forces on Thursday morning. Although they found no explosives there, two police officers stayed on to guard the entrance to the building.

Later in the day, police in Ankara blew up a suspicious package outside the Turkish parliament which carried a TIT note calling for the release of the two main suspects in the February 19 shooting of Dink. The package contained a timer but no explosives, police told Reuters news agency. The note warned that real explosions will follow unless Ogun Samast and  Yasin Hayal are released...

continued

http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2007/01/76F34B1B-EFD3-498C-AB0B-7B2B089416D1.ASP

Turkish Nationalists have declared that those marching are Armenians, Kurds, and Leftists, and that "real" Turks did not go to the rally.

Just out of curiousity, what does those round black signs they are carrying say?

and we are armenians.(I think this is what nationalist greatly dislike.)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4499219.html


Edited by mamikon - 26-Jan-2007 at 13:43

Apparently there're some developments in the Hrant Dink's killer case. He was spotted, after the murder, posing with police officers who apparently praised him: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6323887.stm