Turkey is under severe attack, can’t you see?
The imperialist EU dares to tell us how to improve the rights of our women. Isn’t this yet another of those evil plots that have been cooked up lately against Turkey ?
I am tired of seeing negative news about Turkey, particularly in the foreign press. Like most Turks I believe the world is biased against us. But I cannot understand why. Is it because they are envious of us and do not want Turkey to be a superpower again as in Ottoman times or do they have a genetic defect that prevents them from liking Turks? Both questions beat me.
However, allow me to drive the point home by scanning the news about Turkey on the same day this article was penned.
Büyükanıt’s warning on ‘threats’
The first source out of Washington labels Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt’s speech delivered in the United States to a mainly Turkish audience under the heading “serious threats.” Under this title the news release read as follows: “The Republic of Turkey has never faced threats, risks and difficulties of this magnitude since 1923, the date of the republic’s founding.”
Gen. Büyükanıt urged the nation not to lose faith, adding, “We have fears that we need to overcome. Who can divide Turkey? There are vigilant forces to prevent such calamity.”
The next day he warned all Turks to be on the look out for a grand scale plot to pull the curtain open in order to legalize the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) by granting this notorious organization the opportunity to engage in politics.
Subversive forces in Turkey and abroad immediately started asking who those “vigilant forces” might be. The insinuation is to obfuscate minds and to let them think of the existence of illegal ultra-nationalist paramilitary groupings who allegedly are allowed to eliminate the enemies of the nation and the state. Kurds do not have any problem other than supporting a terrorist organization and thinking that they are ethnically different than what the constitution affords them to be a citizen.
Another unfair critique is the over emphasis on the risks, difficulties and dangers that Turkey is facing in an unprecedented magnitude since the declaration of republic. Perverse writers and irresponsible spokesmen of shady groups are asking why Turkey is under such duress. How can a modern functional, delivering system can end up producing a society more problematic than a backward, war-torn, poor society that it was at the beginning of the 20th century?
These wise guys mean that we should look at how Turkey has been managed so far, failing to be among the prominent, developed countries of the 21st century.
EU’s warning on women’s rights:
The second news emanates from the European Parliament. Its subject matter is a (second) report on Turkey’s legal framework on women’s rights. The report reads, “[Progress]…has in general been satisfactory, but its substantive implementation remains flawed.” It looks at women’s role in social, economic and political life in Turkey.
The report emphasizes that respecting human rights, including women’s rights, is a sine qua non for Turkey’s membership of the EU, as if we do not respect our women. Furthermore, the report carries the fingerprints of Ms. Emine Bozkurt (PES, NL) and was adopted with 522 votes in favor, 15 against and 53 abstentions. Why would this lady work to tarnish Turkey’s image? Do you think she is helping Turkish women by pointing at their difficulties in their homeland while she is enjoying the comfort of European citizenship and the prestige of membership of its Parliament?
We know that she has given up her nationality and instead become a Dutch citizen most probably because her father defected the country on the premise that he was a Kurd and under pressure. Otherwise how could the authors of the report unjustly “regret the slowing down of the reform process in Turkey over the last year and the persistent problem with women’s rights…particularly in the poorer regions of the country.”
MEPs also deplore the fact that, in parts of south-east Turkey, girls are not registered at birth. MEPs note that this hampers the fight against forced marriage and “honor crimes,” since the victims have no official identity, and they urge the Turkish authorities to continue taking all necessary measures to ensure that all Turkish children are registered at birth. This is really insulting.
The report condemns “instances of violence against women, including honor killings, domestic violence, forced marriage and polygamy.” It calls on the Turkish government and the commission to tackle “violence in general and honor crimes in particular” as a priority and to set up special high-security shelters. The report also “stresses the importance of systematic investigation and effective punishment” and therefore the training of police and judicial authorities in gender equality issues and the fight against violence.
In my mind this is a direct intervention into the internal matters of a country and needs a proper retribution. But European Parliament’s insolence does not stop here. The report notes that the political participation by women in Turkey is too low and that there is an absolute need for female role models in positions of power and decision-making. MEPs point out that discrimination against women can sometimes best be remedied by temporary positive discrimination measures. MEPs also urge the political parties in Turkey, starting from the upcoming elections in 2007, to include more female candidates on election lists.
Offending our ‘national pride’!
Now let us be fair: Has the Turkish Parliament or the government issued statements that would hurt the national feelings of EU countries? And I do not know who else, other than conspiratorial forces in Turkey that work for foreign powers, would have given out such figures that further offend our national pride.
Based on this information, the EU Parliament expressed concern about Turkish women’s vulnerability due to discriminatory practices because of education and a high illiteracy rate. Based on the (imperialist!) UNICEF estimates, each year between 600,000 and 800,000 girls are either prevented by their families from going to school or do not attend it because of logistical difficulties. MEPs therefore call on the Turkish government to ensure gender equality in access to education and the labor market, especially in the southeastern regions. The female employment rate in Turkey is just under 25 percent, compared to the average women’s employment rate in the EU-25 of 55 percent.This is too much and unacceptable. Isn’t it obvious that Turk’s only friend is another Turk as we often repeat ourselves when faced with such unfounded slanders?
The internal ‘intellectual’ enemies:
The third source is Turkish, obviously deceptive. It gives an account of writers, intellectuals etc., who have been prosecuted and penalized for crimes of thought and expression. Their numbers have risen to 293 in year 2006. This number was 157 the previous year. According to the news source, neither the incumbent government nor the main opposition party had heeded warnings and advices of independent law scholars and liberal institutions to annul or to drastically change the problematic Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) that penalizes attempts to denigrate Turkishness (by oral or written means) or the formal institutions of the state. Eight persons were prosecuted for insulting the personality of Atatürk and 24 for writing things that were interpreted by the prosecution with the intention of influencing court procedures of ongoing trials.
The news source has concluded its reporting by stating that intimidation on intellectual life and freedom of expression was on the rise in Turkey.
I believe this statement or judgment is equally liable for insulting the country and it judiciary. That is why Article 301 of the TCK should never be annulled.
Now, do you see under what unjust attacks and treacherous accusations we are experiencing? The Turk’s best friend would be another Turk if the prosecuted and penalized ones had not have been Turkish. But then they may have converted from another ethnic and/or religious origin as many did in Ottoman times. We have to be agile and hawkeyed, for we are surrounded by internal and external enemies. Or is this a nightmare from which we will wake some day?