CAN WE CONDEMN THIS?
By Oktay Eksi
Turkish Press
Sept 29 2006
HURRIYET- Europe, European countries and Europeans always think
that they are right. You could see a typical example in yesterday’s
newspapers. Ahead of general elections to be held in the Netherlands
on Nov. 22, two separate Dutch parties removed three Turkish-origin
politicians from their lists of candidates to run for a seat in
Parliament. Christian Democrat Appeal (CDA) officials decided to expel
Ayhan Tonca and Osman Elmaci from the party because they denied the
existence of the so-called Armenian genocide. The Labor Party of the
Netherlands also expelled Erdinc Sacan for the same reason.
Elmaci and Tonca were first flexible in the face of this pressure.
But as they were expected to state it in written form, they resisted.
And they were expelled after this resistance.
If such a thing happened in Turkey, then we would be labeled
fascists. EU inspectors (!) would come and go, and members of the
European Parliament would come and its most elegant members would
publicly make the following threat: ‘Turkey has to make up its mind
if it wants to become an EU member and stop excluding people for
their views. Otherwise you can’t be a member.’ Now what about the
Netherlands, which touts its democracy and thinks itself a country
of tolerance? Are we going to congratulate them and say: ‘Well done…
It’s good when you do it. You’ve done an appropriate job for democracy,
freedom of speech and a model society of tolerance.’ Don’t they insist
on the Copenhagen criteria? Is there a statement in the Copenhagen
criteria that makes it legal to put pressure on the thoughts of others?
Article 301 is cited in discussions of freedom of expression in Turkey,
but nothing is said about the law on denying the so-called Armenian
genocide. What we have done will be labeled assimilation and a crime,
but what they do is called integration and is applauded.
People are free to condemn Turkey.