Flag of Kurdistan
Turkey has been enormously critical of Israel's military policy in Gaza since last year's war, and the most recent development is that Turkish television has aired a television program on the conflict in which a fictional Israeli soldier is seen shooting a Palestinian baby. Andrew E. Mathis
It's a charming bit of teledrama I'm sure. But what are the Turks trying to do in being so critical of Israel? Perhaps it amounts to their trying, in essence, to deflect attention away from its own dismal human rights record.
The chief area in which the Turkish government has committed the grossest human rights offenses has ben in its ongoing conflict with the Kurdish minority. Since 1978, the Turks have been in armed conflict with a secessionist group, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). There's a strong analogy to be drawn between Israel's fight with Hamas and Turkey's fight with the PKK. Both the PKK and Hamas are recognized by the international community at large to be terrorist organizations. For its part, the PKK has engaged in bombings, killings of officials, etc.
The Turkish response has been, according to Human Rights Watch, to engage in torture, house raids, extrajudicial killings, and firing on crowds without discrimination for who is a combatant and who is not.
Does that ring familiarly at all? Sound like the things with which Israel has been accused in its conflict with the Palestinians?
Then there's the issue of Cyprus. Turkey invaded the island nation, which has a mixed Greek and Turkish population, in 1974, and conducted a de facto military occupation for 30 years, creating a puppet state of Northern Cyprus in the process. A two-state solution has been proposed for Cyprus since 2004, but the Greek population has rejected it, opting instead for a reunified nation.
Does any of that ring familiar?
Finally, there is the general human rights record. In 2007, fully 2,830 abuse reports were filed with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Turkey, resulting in 331 judgments against Turkey. Add that to a total of 1,200 judgments in the previous 12 years.
In short, Turkey is in no position to criticize Israel about anything. They should recall the adage about glass houses and, rather than try to increase their clout in the Muslim world with their rhetoric against Israel, fix their own problems at home with regard to human rights.
Comments
Turks don't kill babies and children. They only protect themselves from the terrorists who are using US and Israeli made weapons!Dont try to justify the immorality of Israel's military!
Are you completely out of your mind?
PKK does not demand a separate state any more.
Annan Plan does not propose a two state solution.
We're in the process of solving the Kurdish problem and Cyprus.
We signed a protocol with Armenia recently to open the border.
We now have perfect relations with our Arab neighbors.
Greek president visited Turkey as a first job.
Russia, an ex rival is now a strong partner.
Obama praises us.
We are in the UN security council as non permanent member. We were voted for by the vast majority of the world for this position.
Read a news article or two about Turkey once in a while when you put down your guide to hide Israeli crimes.
What a shame.
I have come across this article through the Google website as I have an email alert for all news items relating to Cyprus. Although I am an avid supporter of freedom of speech I cant help but wonder the mixed rhetoric this particular item brings.
Firstly, the flag of Kurdistan ?
Then the mention of the Gaza conflict which I may remind has been mentioned by the UN Human Rights Council for war crimes by Israel against the Palestinians.
We are then advised about the alleged human rights offences by Turkey towards the PKK, a known and recognised terrorist organisation who have been responsible for the killing of Turks in Turkey and for its officials living or serving abroad. Let us not forget that it is the PKK and not Turkey that are known as Terrorists.
We are then enlightened about the details of the 35 year old Cyprus problem which has been summed up in 2 sentences. Brilliant or misguided ?
Finally, the mention of the word Muslim.
Does any of this ring familiar ?
Turkey is using Israeli and American weapons and I don't care about that. But don't come with the regular Turkish conspiracy crap Filiz.
This is a good thing to look into. I'd like to point out that all of the recent actions against the PKK are not in urban areas but only PKK camps in the mountains. This might have not been the case in the 90s but now very few non-PKK Kurds are being killed by TSK. But the question at hand is not the 90s but today and the IDF is attacking urban areas and are killing non-HAMAS citizens.
"Turkey points to Israel to deflect from itself" - excellent article. Finally someone with the common sense.
I'd like point out one thing to the author of this article. Turkey has been solving it's problems at home (unlike Israel). The Armenian issue is progressing positively, the PKK is near defeated and equal rights are being granted to Kurds, Greece's new PM is eager to engage with Turkey. Sadly I can't say the same for Israel. Maybe the very reason Turkey feels OK criticizing is the very fact that it HAS been solving its problems. You must be bind if you can't see that. You must also be bind if you don't think Israel is a little intimidated at Turkey's new ballsy attitude.
Well, when HAMAS and other terrorists are defeated equal rights will be granted to Palestinians.
It is time for the civilized world to stop criminal acts of Israel. Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. Enough is enough. I hope other nations will have the same courage to criticize Israel! Congratulations Turkey!
Kudos to US, Holland, Italy, Ukraine, Hungary and Slovakia who supported Israel in his fight against terrorism.
Oh boy the spin of this article is comical. How does one equate the PKK terrorist organization, which is recoginized by USA and EU as anything but a terrorist organization? IF that's your position then Hamas is innocent in its fight against Israel, right? With regards to the Cyprus situation you should pick up a book and do some reading; Turkey stopped the masacare of Turkish Cypriots by the Greeks as there guaranteed right and for the past 40 plus years there hasn't been any deaths or killings as a result. Can you say that about Isreal in the past 60yrs? Why don't you get a job on FOX news..they love spin on that program too.
Why is it that each time there is an anti-Turk news,
the source always seems to be Examiner.com?
You never have your facts straight and through this
Examiner.com. you spread misinformation.
Whether its armenia, the kurds or some human rights issues,
the Turks are always at fault.
My great-grandparents never returned from the eastern front,
aka, the Russian/armenian front. And believe me there are thousands of Turks with great-grandfathers than never came back.
I have a plan!
Lets fix the plight of your neighbors. And I mean all your neighbors-if you have any other then the Turks. And once you accomplish that goal...if ever
you'll work on Turkey
There are
Lets talk cyprus 1974. Turkey invated killing 4500 innocent people including women and children. The turkish soldiers were convicts from the jails of adana and ankara. brutal killers. they rape women and they killed a 6 m old baby who just got baptize in the church a day before. i wish we had the 105mm guns in the north of cyprus and we could take care of those brutal killers.
Turkey invaded northern Cyprus to protect the Turkish people of Cyprus. Greek Cypriots were massacring Turks in Cyprus and that is a well known fact. Denying the history by the Greeks is a crime to humanity. Throughout the history Greek army run away from the Turkish army like cowards and the war in Cyprus is a good example and the other one is the running away of the Greek army after the WWI in Izmir, Turkey.
What a collection of biased views!
Turks are always innocent "victims", they do not kill innocent people, we are even being advised to read up on our history! Has anyone of you read theirs? Turks were being massacred in Cyprus in 1974??? What have you been reading, the "Official Turkish Propaganda Handbook"? Is that your objectivity?
Turkey may be doing well in improving its image lately, and its geopolitical clout providing gains, but let's not mistake this for proof of innocense!! Cyprus was the scene of horrendous crimes by the Turkish army, and these crimes were unprovoked! Turks killed thousands of innocent people in Cyprus, unprovoked!
Turkish Cypriots have suffered immesurably since 1974, in the hands of the invading Turkish army. No wonder their population has dwindled from 120,000 then to less than 85,000 now. Turkey has landed upwards of 200,000 illegal settlers in Cyprus, looting and pillaging cultural treasures that have been in Cyprus for over 4,000 years, and desecrating Christian and Jewish cemeteries, while all mosques in the free Republic of Cyprus are taken care of and visited by the tourists (except a few minarets used by TMT terrorists against civilians). Turkey has been convicted time and again by the European Court of Human Rights for its illegal occupation of Cyprus, to say nothing of several UN resolutions demanding outright removal of 40,000 occupation troops plus the 200,000 + illegal settlers. This part of Cyprus is notoorious for its gang-land style activities. All one has to do is read the Turkish Cypriot press, which obviously your pro-Turkish contributors either do not, or pretend they do not
Your Turkish and pro-Turkish readers would do well to read the Turkish Cypriot press, as well as Today's Zaman a pro-government (AKP) newspaper in Turkey, to find out about the over 20,000 murders committed in SE Turkey over the last 25 years by JITEM (the secret operational arm of the Gendarmerie) as well as several murders of Turkish Cypriot dissidents (e.g. journalist Kutlu Adali, in 1996); Adali's widow won her case in the ECHR where Turkey was recently convicted (again!!) as not having done enough to uncover the murderers....And for the record. PM Erdogan and President Gul have stated several times that they want a two-state solution in Cyprus....
Internet should be for grown up, mature people but not for people like Cypriot who needs to find a sandbox to play in. If anybody is interested to find out the truth about the history of Cyprus please use Google and do a search under "Atrocities by Greeks in Cyprus" written by Greeks, Americans, and British. Greeks killed babies, children, women, and old people in Cyprus and did the same in Turkey after WW1. It is a shame that Greeks cannot accept simple facts in history.
Turkey will be destroyed with the rest of Israel's enemies when they come down against Israel as prophesised by the prophet Ezekiel.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Rick, keep praying and dreaming! Israel’s soldiers were not even able to defeat few Hamas fighters and returned to Israel with their tail between their legs after killing only babies and children. How Israel is hoping to defeat Turkey? Israel committed war crimes and the whole civilized world is the witness. Israel is surviving thanks to the American taxpayers and American Jews who are Jewish first and then American. Anybody living in USA should be an American first. Shame on you Israel! Israel is acting just like the Nazis of Germany and Israel’s end may exactly be the same!
Turkey is the worst terrorist state on the earth, that's why Turkey got no rights to criticize Israel. Nazi-Germany did committed genocide against Jewish people because they learned their lessons from their master terrorist turkish state. As we know how the terrorist turkish state committed genocide against ethnic armenians in 1915, then Hitler inspired by his master "terrorist turkish state" and did the known genocide against the Jewish people.
When the murderer turkish prime minister T.Erdogan was condemning the israel in Davos, his t-country's soldiers were beating, torturing and murdering kurdish children.
And you Andrew E. cannot just accuse someone as terrorist since the ones that you label them as terrorist has never committed any bombings against any civilian targets. If you have any evidence just come with it, or do not try to be one of the terrorist turkish state's so called journalist.
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