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Turkey's Erdogan Gives X-Ray Into Asia Mind
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
December 27, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Firing back against European Union allegations of
cracking down on the free press, 60-year-old Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan rejected criticism, declaring that Turkey has the world’s freest press. “Nowhere in the world is the press
freer than it is in Turkey. I’m
very sure of myself when I say this,” said Erodon, in response to raids on
opposition media connected with Erdogan’s political foe Fethullah Gulen. Gulen accuses the Erdogan government
of corruption, including Cabinet ministers and Erdogan’s son Bilal. “The free press is so free in Turkey
that one can make insults, slanders, defamation, racism and commit hate crimes
that are not tolerated even in democratic countries,” said Erdogan, turning
tables on his EU critics. Since
winning reelection for a third term Aug. 11, Erdogan’s acted more like Turkey’s
last Ottoman ruler, Sultan Mehmed VI before abdicating power in 1923.
Pandering to Turkey’s new conservative Islamic majority, Erdogan rode
anti-Israel propaganda to a decisive victory, giving him license to criticize
the EU and United States. No matter
how pro-Western Turkey looks as it seeks a bid into the 28-member EU, Erdogan
reflects the old school oriental view on the East side of the Bosphorus Strait,
the waterway dividing Turkey’s Western and Oriental side. Whether Erdogan gives speeches, East
or West of the Bosphorus, he’s all oriental, hypersensitive to any criticism. “I’ve personally experienced this,
so has my family,” said Erdogan, insisting that Turkey supports a free press. When you look at the current row
between the U.S. and North Korea, it revolves over a Hollywood Movie, poking fun
at 31-year-old North Korean President Kim Jong-un. Whether communist states are East or
West, North or South, they don’t tolerate criticism.
Every year that Armenian Genocide Day rolls around April 24, Turkish
authorities deny any government-backed mass murder of Armenians by the Ottoman
Empire starting in 1915. Erdogan
and Turkish officials threaten every year to break off diplomatic relations in
any country officially recognizing the Ottoman’s death marches where some 1.5
million Armenians died. Claiming
that Turkey has the world’s most free press is almost as outrageous as Erdogan’s
Nov. 15 remarks that the Seljuk Turks discovered America. Promoting the same nationalism as
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan whips up anti-EU and U.S. sentiment as
he simultaneously flirts with joining the EU.
Erdogan can’t explain why a 16-year-old high school student was arrested
and charged with insulting the president, calling him the “chief of corruption.” Asian states, especially repressive ones, don’t tolerate dissent.
When governments spend resources repressing the population, they first
crack down on the press. Turkey has
more journalists in jail by percentage than Iran or China, both known for their
repressive tactics. “To date, more
than 25 journalists have been injured in clashes when police have used force in
major operations,” said the Hong Kong Journalism Assn. Nov. 26 in response to
journalist beatings and arrests.
When Britain’s Crown Colony was forced to surrender sovereign to Beijing June
30, 1997, protests were inevitable as Communist China took power. Like all communist regimes, they’re
more concerned about holding power than honoring the will of the people. Putin still hasn’t gotten over
pro-Democracy protesters driving Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovich from Kiev Feb.
22. His seizure of Crimea March 1
was a direct result of what Putin sees as Western encroachment in Ukraine.
Erdogan’s intolerance of Turkey’s free press, calling press reports on
his government insults, mirrors the Asian state-of-mind where critical press
reports are seen as an attack on the status quo.
“You cannot insult them [his family] like this in any other country. There is not limit to insults [we
receive]. You cannot run such
headlines in Europe and the U.S.,” alluding to the U.S. recent spat with North
Korea. Erdogan, like Putin, Kim
Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping, all don’t tolerate insubordination by
the press. Erdogan’s raids on
opposition press are designed to intimidate journalists into obedience and
conformity. Whether or not
President Barack Obama gets stung by the opposition media, he sucks it up
without reprisals. What makes
Erdogan so dangerous is his prodigious smoke blowing, touting his government as
backing the world freest press.
Erdogan’s defense of his crackdown on Turkey’s free press reveals the
same contempt for the truth as in other fascist states like Kim’s North Korea,
Putin’s Russia, Xi’s China, Castro’s Cuba and a host of other repressive regimes
around the planet. “We are not the
scapegoats of the EU,” said Erdogan, shifting blame away from his repressive
tactics onto the EU and U.S. “We
are not a country that Europe can criticize, wag its finger and scold them
without looking in the mirror themselves,” said Erdogan, whipping up nationalism
to his conservative Islamic following.
EU officials meant nothing raising questions about Erdogan’s crackdown on
the free press other that pointing out inconsistencies with the EU charter. Erdogan’s extreme defensiveness
stems from desire to maintain a stranglehold on power, not to give Turkey’s
journalists the respect they deserve protecting Turkey’s democracy.
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