ERDOĞAN AT DAVOS: POT CALLS KETTLE BLACK

"The events are under control... Security forces will intervene with every possible means indiscriminately, including against women and children."
~ R. Tayyip Erdoğan during the Amed Serhildan.

The big show yesterday was at the international meeting of all the world's leading terrorists at Davos, Switzerland:

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of an angry debate on the Gaza war with Israel's President Shimon Peres at the Davos forum on Thursday.

[ . . . ]

Erdogan criticised the audience for applauding Peress emotional defense of Israel's war in Gaza, before the moderator, insisted that the debate had gone overtime.

Erdogan said Israel had carried out "barbarian" actions in Gaza. "I find it very sad that people applaud what you have said because you know how to kill people," shouted Erdogan before he left. There was more applause when he left the stage.

"I do not think I will be coming back to Davos after this because you do not let me speak," Erdogan shouted before marching off the stage in front of the attendance and the audience.

But this isn't the first time Katil Erdoğan has behaved like a jackass in public or overseas. He did the same in Brussels recently, over Cyprus:

In a speech organized by the think tank group called "Europe's Friends", the argument between Erdoğan and Matsakis, who is a parliamentarian in South Cypress and had stolen Turkey's flag at the Green Line in November, 2005. While Erdoğan was talking, Matsakis happened to shake his head and Erdoğan became furious and said, "You shake your head, you shake your head. There is a word in Turkish which will fit perfectly in this situation, but it's not all right to say it here."

In that case, Erdoğan was referring to a crude idiom in Turkish. Of course, this statement comes from a guy who, as a friend said, "speaks Turkish like Bush speaks English."


A Turkish writer at Forbes also noted that Katil Erdoğan's behavior is nothing new:

Those who watched the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan storm out of a Davos panel on Thursday after a loud exchange with Israeli President Shimon Peres may have witnessed one of the biggest diplomatic brawls of their lifetime.

One Turkish diplomat said, "Not since Nikita Khrushchev's banging of his shoe at the United Nations [1960] have I seen anything like this on the world stage," referring to the Soviet leader's outrage during a U.N. discussion.

But for us Turks, watching Erdogan "lose it" at the World Economic Forum's meeting in Davos, Switzerland, was nothing new. It was, rather, an Erdogan classic--charismatic yet boorish; ardent but intimidating.

Today the psychological analysis was in at Hürriyet:

Psychology Professor Acar Baltaş said there was a thin line between Erdoğan’s gestures of self-control and aggression. Erdoğan’s anger developed spontaneously, crossing this thin line, he said, adding that Erdoğan could have demonstrated his reactions in a more appropriate way and within a frame of courtesy.

"Erdoğan couldn’t overcome his anger. He believes in what he said, hitting his left hand on his heart. He made gestures and pointed fingers, which can be acceptable. But rushing off the stage by saying what he had in his mind has no use for a prime minister of a country. What is important is not to be right, but to maintain the right position," he said.

"He can’t bear any criticism. He charged Peres, the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize winner, for being a murderer and criticized the audience. He likewise shouts at the media here, in his own country, and has control over almost all processes. But he spins out of control once he can’t control a situation, like in Davos."

[ . . . ]

Psychiatrist Özlem Mestçioğlu, meanwhile, said Erdoğan’s reactions were harsh and what he demonstrated at the end was a sign of desperation.

"He can’t control his feelings. His departure, which attracted criticism in the Western media for childishness, is actually a sign of helplessness. He left because he thought otherwise it might lead to a worse situation. In personal relations, there can be such words but on a political stage, you can’t do that as a prime minister," he said.

While Abdullah Gül was foreign minister, he was able to control Katil Erdoğan's outbursts to an extent, by pinching or kicking his leg under the table as a reminder for Erdoğan to control himself. Unfortunately for Katil Erdoğan, Gül wasn't sitting next to him at Davos and there was no table to hide the reminders.

In one account, Katil Erdoğan indicated his anger was directed at Katil Peres and the moderator, the WaPo's David Ignatius. In another, he says he was angry with the moderator but not with Peres, the Israeli people, or the Jewish people. In addition, he claims that he believes anti-Semitism is a crime against humanity. Too bad his words in recent weeks have had the opposite effect in Turkey, a country whose best-seller a couple of years ago was Mein Kampf. Check this from a recent edition of Radikal:

Signs read: "It is free for dogs to enter" and "Jews and Armenians cannot enter through this door".

Here's one of Katil Erdoğan's quotes, again from the Forbes piece:

Erdogan said, red-faced and turning angrily to Peres, "When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill. I know well how you hit and kill children on beaches."

But Erdoğan seriously lacks the same heartfelt compassion for Kurdish children in his own country, as he proved during the Amed Serhildan almost three years ago, according to his own words:

"The events are under control... Security forces will intervene with every possible means indiscriminately, including against women and children."

At the moment, there are a number of children who've been in prison in Amed (Diyarbakır) for a year:

MP [Malik Ecder] Özdemir [CHP] summarised the conditions of the children in prison thus:

“There are 20 children staying in a cell made for 5-6 people. They have been separated from their families and their education has been interrupted. They have been taken to court 2 to 3 times, their statements have been taken, their identities were verified, and then they were sent back to prison. As this trial is taking so long, it is difficult for these children to believe in justice.”

The MP demanded an immediate end to the prosecution of the children:

“Their psychological condition is precarious; they seem remorseful. They said, ‘We only wanted to take our friend’s body; we did not know this would be punished as severely.’”

There are other Kurdish children in adult prisons throughout Turkey:

Currently dozens of children in Diyarbakır, Adana and other provinces are being tried not in children’s courts but in Special Authority Heavy Penal Courts. They stand accused of membership in an terrorist organisation after taking part in protests against alleged maltreatment of Abdullah Öcalan in prison, or protests at the visit of Prime Minister Erdoğan to the city.

Following a change in the Anti-Terrorism Law in 2006, 15- to 18-year-olds can now be tried in such courts.

Recently, two children in Adana were sentenced to 21 years imprisonment after taking part in pro-Kurdish Newroz events in Gaziantep.

In addition, the case of a 15-year-old boy who was run over by a tank of the security forces last year in Cizre is not being prosecuted, but forty of the boy's friends, who attended his funeral, were put on trial. In another case, Turkey has been found guilty of violating a child's rights by the ECHR.

Some of us also remember the case of Ahmet and Uğur Kaymaz, who were murdered by Katil Erdoğan's security forces almost five years ago. The state terrorists who killed them were acquitted at trial.

Nor can we forget the treatment AKP's police thugs handed out to Kurdish children during Newroz last year, nor it's treatment of Kurdish women during the same holiday.

So, for Katil Erdoğan to tell Katil Peres that he "know[s] very well how to kill" and then to refer to children, is a serious case of the pot calling the kettle black.

The truth of the matter is that this little Davos stunt was nothing more than an AKP campaign tactic.

After watching the reruns of video footage on Turkish TV, particularly on Haber 24, it was clear that after Katil Erdoğan read a statement to reporters from prepared index cards that he was holding in his hands. In other words, the outburst was planned. Secondly, thousands welcomed Katil Erdoğan when he arrived in Istanbul after the incident. Thirdly, Katil Erdoğan was again pimping his wife as part of this campaign stunt, who also made remarks to reporters at Davos. A view of a video of her remarks indicated no index cards but she did manage to start blubbering again as she did a few weeks ago.

Now, bear in mind that this is the same bitch who's never spent so much as five minutes to try to squeeze out a single tear for dead Kurds . . . the majority of whom are Muslim.

Repeat after me: "This was an AKP campaign stunt."

For the cost of his campaign, it looks like Erdoğan will suffer a setback in becoming a regional big-shot, something he's been working at for a few years now, from TIME:

But the outburst may have pulled the plug on Ankara's efforts to position itself as a mediator between Israel and the Arab world. Since last May, Turkey has hosted five rounds of Israeli-Syrian peace talks — currently suspended as Israel prepares for a general election — and recently acted as a mediator between the Palestinian Hamas leadership and Egyptian officials seeking a cease-fire in Gaza.

"The most important quality of a mediator is to be able to maintain an equal distance to all parties involved," says Cuneyt Ulsever, a columnist for Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. "Erdogan's inability to control his anger is a problem. I think even Erdogan realizes that he overstepped the mark. After this outburst, it will take six months to a year for him to regain credibility as a mediator [between Israel and the Arab world]."

In addition:

Erdogan may have responded with a view to boosting his domestic political position ahead of Turkey's local elections, coming up in March. Even though polls show his Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power since 2002, comfortably ahead, the Prime Minister needs to expand his support base. "The stakes are high for him," says Ulsever. "Erdogan is afraid that if the AKP gets below 47%, people will see it as the beginning of the end."

Deutsche Welle came to a similar conclusion:

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's performance at the World Economic Forum in Davos has destroyed any hopes that had been pinned on him to act a mediator in the Middle East conflict.

[ . . . ]

But his verbal attacks against Peres and the moderator as well as his announcement to skip Davos next year show that Erdogan can't be taken seriously as a Mideast mediator anymore.

[ . . . ]

Still, Erdogan should have shown more diplomatic tact. He's the leader of a large country which is an important player regarding regional peace. Erdogan is not going to earn respect or prizes as a peacemaker and mediator on the world stage if he acts like a center-forward from a Istanbul district football team -- which he once was.

Erdogan's attempts to reiterate his friendship with Israel and the Jewish people after the spat can no longer limit the damage done to his image and to Turkey's.

Late today, Obama's new Mideast envoy removed Ankara from his itinerary.

In spite of everything, there will be no damage to the Turkish-Israeli relationship, as Hürriyet noted yesterday and the paşas confirmed today. After all, Turkey still needs Israel's help in repressing the Kurdish people, just as it needed Israel to capture Öcalan for it.

If Katil Erdoğan were serious about his concern for Palestinians, why has there been no end to the relationship, particularly the military relationship, between Turkey and Israel?