"Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion"
~ T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men.
Paralysed force, gesture without motion"
~ T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men.
Cengiz Aktar has a pretty good opinion piece over at TDN in which he seems to nail the nationalist (i.e. fascist) monster on the head:
Since the murder of Hrant Dink, anger has been expressed in various ways. The silent march of Jan. 23, which people from all walks of life joined, was a genuine demonstration. Citizens expressed their sincere feelings. However this was no turning point. This was not a reaction which was shared by the whole country, from east to west. I wish it had been.
This was rather a consolidation of those who shared the humanistic, democratic, open-minded and self-confident worldview that was represented by Hrant Dink, but who are also on the way to extinction. It was the instinctive gathering of a herd which lost a member to hunting hyenas. Just as is the case in game parks...
Let's not confuse these lands, whose inhabitants go between servitude and fatalism, with the France of '68.
Great line and true. In spite of the outpouring of emotion and the subsequent demonstration during Hrant Dink's funeral, there's no way Turkey could be mistaken for 1968 France. Why? As Cengiz says, because there is no support for reform from either the state or the politicians. Like others have already done, he notes that "the state and politicians fled the funeral in haste. Let's consider the insincere approach of the politicians as a calculation for the coming elections."
It's a calculation, all right, a calculation designed to pander to the lowest common denominator: the fascist sentiments of the masses. Like a good politician, Erdogan was off pandering to fascism by attacking one organization that stands for far more democracy than Erdogan ever has: the big, bad PKK.
Let's consider too, that Erdogan had the extremely important duty of attending the official opening of a tunnel. From TNA:
The [ANAVATAN] party's Mardin deputy, Muharrem Dogan, raised allegations that the construction firm had said the [Mt. Bolu] tunnel was not complete and that they are not responsible for any accidents.
The tunnel was opened last week with a ceremony attended by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi, after over 5,000 days of work. After a couple of accidents reportedly due to bad weather conditions and slick frost, the tunnel was closed to avoid further accidents.
Dogan asked the premier whether the speculation is true. "Why did you open the tunnel despite a statement from the construction firm that the electrical system for the tunnel had not been completed?" asked the deputy.
Why? Very simple, Mr. Dogan; Erdogan had to flee an Armenian's funeral. He would have used the Bolu tunnel excuse to escape the Pope if it would have worked. Campaign pandering. The fascist population simply will not vote for someone who attends an Armenian funeral, and Erdogan knows that very well . . It doesn't matter if all the rest of the world is watching.
Along with doing nothing with infamous Article 301--as well as doing nothing about racist school textbooks--Cengiz predicts how the political campaigns will use Armenian Genocide resolutions to circle the wagons:
Moreover, the country soon will face the anti-Turkey dimension of the matter with the genocide bills in France and the United States. The dominant rhetoric will use these developments. I can see statements like, if Hrant were alive, he would get angry, from now to turn the reaction, anger and sadness of today in the opposite direction. This would sweep aside the anger felt towards the Dink murder and consolidate the process of Turkey's closing itself to the world.
He notes that it is the Deep State at work, doing what it does best, stirring up emotion in the service of fascism to protect the privilege of the relative few who form the Deep State. And Cengiz finds it impossible to conclude without a reference to Germany of the 1930's. Yeah, that's it! Not France of 1968, but Germany of 1939. Or Eastern Anatolia of 1915 . . . and from 1925 until the present day.
Erdogan's campaign message must have reached Turkey's soccer fans, again from TDN [Note: Bear in mind that these are Trabzon residents suffering from their own stupidity . . . and you know what I mean]:
Trabzon, one of the biggest towns of the Black Sea Region, has been under a magnifying glass during the last two years due to a number of events, from the lynching of families seeking prisoner rights to the murder of journalist Hrant Dink by a local youth.
[ . . . ]
To show their anger, Trabzonspor fans on Sunday took their places in the stands of the Kamil Ocak Stadium with flags and banners that read "We are all Turks, we are all Mustafa Kemal," "I am Turkish, I am from Trabzon" and shouted slogans like "Martyrs never die, the country's unity will always remain in place."
Then there's Demirspor's idiot chairman, Adem Ailgan, who, last week, was "deeply sorry" for the murder of Hrant Dink, but now stumbles all over himself to reaffirm his "Turkishness":
Aılgan on Friday, following a series of reactions from the fans and the people of Adana, said he had been misunderstood. "I was deeply touched by the murder and Dink's wife's speech at the funeral. But I should have said, 'We are all Turks. I am a Turk; my father is a Turk and also a hadji. I apologize to the Demirspor community."
Ha, flake. Funny, his dad was a Turk and a hadjii. Who gives a damn? I wonder what political office he's running for? Then the dogs, or rather, Gray Wolves, came down from Elazig to Malatya:
Elsewhere, Malatyaspor entertained Elazığspor in Dink's hometown Malatya, and around 400 Elazığspor fans opened a banner that read; "We are not Armenians, We are not from Malatya, We are Elazığ, We love Turkey."
So much for the concepts of sin and shame. What a bunch of losers.
Well, there you have it. There really isn't any hope. If Turkey cannot come to terms with the Armenian Genocide, which happened almost 100 years ago, it cannot come to terms with its continuing Kurdish genocide. No, there really isn't any hope at all. Since we have nothing to lose, we might as well keep fighting.
2 comments:
You know it wrong, Mizgin. This time Tayyip was willing to attend the funeral -part of it-; but there was a consensus with Dink's family and his staff thta Erdogan's participation might have created logistical problems -too much security equals too much tension, etc.-, which is totally unwanted. I.e., this is a joint decision; although it is a fact that it's easier to blame Erdogan for trying to steal the nationalists' vote. Nevertheless, had that been the case, he wouldn't have directed harsh attacks towards MHP right after the murder.
Of course, that does not mean he is willing to play the 'nationalist' game, but Dink's funeral is not the proper example.
No, I don't have it wrong, Ertank. Erdogan is playing the political game and that's all that matters to him.
He began that game when he gave the order for security forces to murder Kurdish women and children during the Amed Serhildan last spring. There is no mistaking that.
Yeah, too much security does equal too much tension. It's been that way in "The Southeast" for decades.
It's very convenient politically the way the "consensus" worked out.
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