Turkish Forum

Category: World

  • Israel is in denial over Turkish rage

    Israel is in denial over Turkish rage

    Turkey was shocked by Goldstone’s report on the Gaza conflict, but Israel is seeking other explanations for deteriorating ties

    • simon_tisdall
    • Simon Tisdall

    The apparent inability of Israeli leaders to see their actions as others see them – that is to say, to put themselves in other people’s shoes – may partly explain the depth of the outrage with which they greeted the Goldstone report on last January’s Gaza conflict. Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu seems to have been genuinely taken aback by the UN inquiry’s hard-hitting conclusions, in particular its recommendations about the investigation of individual Israeli responsibility for possible war crimes.

    What Netanyahu, former prime minister Ehud Olmert, opposition leader Tzipi Livni, defence minister Ehud Barak and rightwingers such as foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman viewed as a fully justified act of self-defence in the face of relentless Palestinian rocket attacks was seen by much of the world, despite Israel’s ban on media access, as an appalling, disproportionate assault on a defenceless civilian population. Gaza did enormous damage to Israel’s reputation and interests – but it is unclear, even now, whether this is fully understood in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

    Radically differing perceptions, running exclusively in parallel lines, also exacerbate touchy issues such as Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons arsenal and the apparent contradiction of denying Iran its nuclear “rights”. But sometimes, worlds collide.

    An unexpected move by Turkey last week to postpone military exercises with Israel suddenly channelled conflicting versions of reality into a direct, head-on crash. Ankara’s decision was its way of expressing its continuing displeasure over Gaza. Prime minister Tayyip Erdogan fell out publicly with Shimon Peres, Israel’s president, over the issue at Davos in January. The row has been simmering ever since. But by dramatically wrecking the flagship exercises, which also involved the US and other Nato members, Turkey effectively forced Israel’s leadership to look at things from the other side’s perspective.

    The picture thus produced is both instructive and discouraging. Secular Muslim Turkey is (or was) Israel’s best friend in the Middle East. Bilateral trade between the two countries is worth about $3bn a year; military co-operation, including Israeli arms sales, is long-established. Before Gaza, Turkey acted as mediator in talks between Israel and its old foe, Syria. Ankara also offered a link to sympathetic Arab states of the Gulf. Turkey’s economy is growing overall, as is its importance as an energy and commercial hub. In short, it was clear that Turkey was a uniquely important and influential ally.

    Recognising the value of the link, some Israeli politicians tried to play down the rift, apparently hoping to patch things up. But others, including commentator Amir Oren, looked for different reasons to explain Turkey’s behaviour, refusing to believe Gaza could be the cause. “Erdogan is aiming for a large-scale reconciliation with old enemies: the Armenians, the Syrians, the Greek Cypriots and the Kurds. Israel is a burden for him, not an asset,” Oren said.

    Other explanations included the assertion that Erdogan had imposed his will on Turkey’s weakened military, which in the past would have resisted his order to cancel the exercises. Meanwhile, Ofra Bangio, a Turkey expert at Tel Aviv University, told the Christian Science Monitor that Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy calculations were shifting as it strengthened its ties with Iraq, Syria and other leading Arab world countries and turned away from an unwelcoming European Union. “In Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s ideological framework, Israel doesn’t play a central role,” Bengio said.

    A senior Israeli foreign ministry official, speaking to the Haaretz newspaper after an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis with Turkey, was even more pessimistic. “It may be that the reality has changed and that the strategic ties we thought existed have simply ended,” the official said. “Maybe we need to be the ones who initiate renewed thinking regarding our ties and must adopt response measures.”

    On this analysis, Israel’s relationship with Turkey, valuable for so many reasons, may soon be a thing of the past – an avoidable outcome since the analysis looks fundamentally flawed. They’re not pretending; Turks really are upset about Gaza, as indicated by a much-watched Turkish television drama series depicting clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians that has further inflamed relations. The Turkish public was scandalised by January’s events and Turkey’s politicians have reacted accordingly, as politicians do.

    But among Israeli leaders, the perception is different. Gaza, a justifiable action, cannot be accepted as the real reason for the row; so ulterior motives and complicated explanations are sought. Inhabiting a parallel world, they just don’t get it.

    Source:  www.guardian.co.uk, 22 October 2009

  • EU launches digital library at Frankfurt Book Fair

    EU launches digital library at Frankfurt Book Fair

    (FRANKFURT) – The European Union used the world’s biggest book fair to launch the EU Bookshop’s digital library, making more than 50 years of documents in about 50 languages available for free on the Internet.

    Individuals, companies and isolated libraries from Australia to Zambia can download files dating back to 1952 when six countries created what is now the 27-member EU.

    “With the digital library, we have total transparency” of EU legislative and cultural publications, Commissioner for Multilinguism Leonard Orban told AFP on Sunday.

    The project also underpins “the commitment of the European Union to preserve and encourage the history of the union in its linguistic diversity,” he added.

    The library’s oldest document is a speech by Jean Monnet to inaugurate the High Authority of the Coal and Steel Community, the EU’s precursor.

    From four official languages at its start, the union now counts 23, but some publications are also available in Chinese, Russian and around 20 other languages.

    Orban voiced hope that the digital library would be “an additional tool for combating prejudices.”

    On a practical level he added: “No one can complain now of problems consulting legislative texts and associated documents.”

    Roughly 110,000 publications or 12 million pages — the equivalent of four kilometres (2.5 miles) of bookshelves — were scanned from EU archives from February 2008 at a cost of about 2.5 million euros (3.75 million dollars).

    The library counts around 140,000 publications today, and 1,500 “born digital” ones are added each year. More pre-digital documents will also be scanned into the system.

    Topics covered by EU institutions, agencies and other bodies include education, the environment, health and transport, an EU statement released at the Frankfurt Book Fair said.

    Official statistics from 1953 to the present are also available.

    The library’s contents will also be a part of Europeana, a project of prominent national European libraries and archives that Claudia Lux, president of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions called the largest digital library worldwide.

    EU Business

  • Controversy and chaos but BBC is delighted by BNP leader’s ‘humiliation’

    Controversy and chaos but BBC is delighted by BNP leader’s ‘humiliation’

    The BBC said that it was delighted with the outcome of Question Time last night, insisting that the decision to change the format of the show to focus almost entirely upon Nick Griffin had humiliated the British National Party leader.

    A11But the reaction from viewers suggested that the gamble had not been a complete success, with many of the audience writing on internet messageboards that they felt the programme was one-sided and allowed Mr Griffin to claim that he had been victimised.

    Four out of the five questions the panel were asked directly related to the BNP, with the fifth focusing on Jan Moir, the Daily Mail columnist, who attracted more than 20,000 complaints for a piece about Stephen Gately, the deceased Boyzone singer.

    BBC sources said that the show had been skewed to ensure that the corporation would not be accused of giving Mr Griffin an easy ride.
    Writing on the BBC website, one viewer said: “A political debate programme or a chance to bully a man? Give him a chance to answer the questions put to him. I have never been so angry about a programme in my life.”

    Both the BBC and Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, are expecting a barrage of complaints from viewers who were offended by Mr Griffin’s presence on the show.

    Peter Hain, the Welsh Secretary, who campaigned to block the broadcast, said after the show: “This decision could end up blighting the lives of many decent people just because they are not white. The BBC should be ashamed of single-handedly doing a racist, fascist party the biggest favour in its grubby history. Our black, Muslim and Jewish citizens will sleep much less easily now the BBC has legitimised the BNP by treating its racist poison as the views of another mainstream party when it is so uniquely evil and dangerous.”

    Mr Griffin had to be smuggled in and out of the BBC via a back entrance last night after about 25 anti-fascist protesters broke into Television Centre, cheered on by hundreds more who were blocking the road outside.

    About 600 demonstrators expressed their disgust as the BNP leader was ushered towards BBC Studio Six surrounded by bodyguards for the recording of Question Time.

    His chaotic arrival at the entrance on Frithville Gardens was delayed because his car had to struggle through the crowd. “It seems the police do not have this mob under control,” Mr Griffin said.

    An initially peaceful demonstration soured late in the afternoon when police responded to a breach of security by physically restraining protesters. Wooden poles were torn from placards and hurled into the four-deep line of officers.

    Scotland Yard said that six arrests were made at the protest, two for violent disorder, one for a public order offence, one for actual bodily harm and one for assault on a police officer. The sixth was for a person wanted on a warrant. One of those held was Martin Smith, 43, a national officer with the Unite Against Fascism pressure group.

    As the demonstration became more heated, Heathcote Rughven, 19, a drama student, said that he had been struck on the head with a police baton. He said: “The police were being the more aggressive of the two parties. A few people got hit. I feel it was undeserved because we were just chanting and being peaceful and the police charged.”

    Between 25 and 30 protesters broke off from the main demonstration and charged the BBC’s main entrance gate as a vehicle was allowed through.

    Backed by chants of “BBC, shame on you” and “Nazi scum off the streets” the small gang, believed to be predominantly from Unite Against Fascism, slipped through security and ran on to BBC property.

    Rachel Parish, 20, a philosophy student, made it through the security barrier but was stopped in the car park. “The BBC should be ashamed. How can you give a platform to Nazis?” she asked. Dozens more demonstrators got as far as the stage door in the reception area. Paramedics treated three police and three protesters for minor injuries.
    The Times

  • BNP on Question Time: Nick Griffin uses BBC to attack Islam and defend the Ku Klux Klan

    BNP on Question Time: Nick Griffin uses BBC to attack Islam and defend the Ku Klux Klan

    The BBC was under siege last night after the leader of the BNP used his appearance on Question Time to attack Muslims and homosexuals while defending the Ku Klux Klan.

    By Robert Winnett and Rosa Prince

    A10Nick Griffin said Islam was not compatible with life in Britain, while describing homosexuals as “creepy”.

    However, he admitted sharing a platform with the Ku Klux Klan, which has carried out racist attacks across America’s Deep South, and defended leaders in the organisation as “non-violent”.

    The remarks provoked indignation from other members of the BBC panel and hostile parts of the audience, some of whom booed, calling him “a disgrace”.

    The BNP leader said he could not explain for legal reasons why he had previously sought to play down the Holocaust and had now changed his mind. He was challenged by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary and a fellow panellist, who said there was no such law.

    Mr Griffin defended his use of Sir Winston Churchill on BNP literature on the basis that his father had fought in the Second World War. He claimed that Churchill would have been a member of the BNP and was “Islamophobic” by “today’s standard”.

    Asked whether he denied that millions of Jews and other minorities had been killed by the Nazis, Mr Griffin would only reply: “I do not have a conviction for Holocaust denial.”

    He was then chastised by David Dimbleby, the host of the programme, for smiling.

    The controversial statements were made in response to intense questioning by members of the audience from ethnic minorities.

    BBC Television Centre in west London came under siege as filming took place, with MPs joining hundreds of protesters behind lines of police. There were six arrests as dozens of protesters attempted to storm the studio.

    BBC studios in Hull, Scotland and Wales were also targeted by demonstrators. The cost of the police operation was estimated to have been more than £100,000.

    The BBC was certain to be questioned over why it allowed Mr Griffin to air such controversial views but executives were hoping that the intensive questioning that he faced would justify their decision to invite him on the Question Time panel for the first time.

    The BBC, which Mr Griffin denounced on the programme as “ultra-Leftist”, had claimed that impartiality rules meant that it had little choice but to invite him on to the programme after the BNP won seats in the European Parliament in elections this year.

    He was joined on the panel by Mr Straw, Baroness Warsi, the Tory spokesman on community cohesion, Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, and Bonnie Greer, a black American playwright.

    Mr Griffin was seated next to Miss Greer.

    One of the most controversial moments came when Mr Dimbleby asked the BNP leader why he had been pictured with David Duke, the former leader of the Klan. Mr Griffin claimed that parts of the racist group, officially classed as a “hate organisation” in America, were “non-violent”.

    However, he insisted: “I’m not a Nazi and never have been.” He claimed that he was “the most loathed man in Britain” among British fascists.

    He was questioned over his views on Islam and said it had “good points” but “does not fit in with the fundamental values of British society”.

    He described white Britons as “aboriginals here”. “The indigenous people of these islands, the English, the Scots, the Irish, the Welsh, the people who have been here for the last 17,000 years, are the aboriginals. The majority of British people are descended from people who have been here since time immemorial.

    “You people wouldn’t allow us to have our name on the census form — that’s racism.”

    Amid angry scenes, one Asian member of the audience asked Mr Griffin where he would like him to be sent, and added: “You’d be surprised how many people would have a whip round to buy you and your supporters a ticket to go to the South Pole — that’s a colourless landscape, it’ll suit you fine.”

    Questioned over whether he believed that British people had suffered genocide at the hands of successive governments, Mr Griffin said: “That is the case. It’s about destroying a culture.”

    On the subject of homosexuality he said “a lot of people find the sight of two men kissing in public really creepy”. “That is how a lot of us feel, a lot of Christians, a lot of Muslims,” he said. “I don’t know why, that’s just the way it is.”

    Speaking after filming had finished, Mr Griffin claimed that he had been able to “land some punches” and acknowledged that his appearance would “polarise normal opinion” but expressed confidence that it would have an impact.

    “A huge swath of British people will remember some of the things I said and say to themselves they’ve never heard anyone on Question Time say that before,” he said. “Millions of people will think, ‘That man speaks what I feel.’ ”

    About one million people voted for the BNP at the European elections, leading to Mr Griffin taking up one of its two seats in the European Parliament. As a result, the BBC said impartiality rules effectively forced it to include the party in Question Time.

    Mark Thompson, the director-general, said the Government should ban the BNP if it felt that Mr Griffin should not have been allowed to take part in the broadcast.

    “If there is a case for censorship, it should be decided in Parliament,” he said. “Political censorship cannot be outsourced to the BBC or anyone else.”

    He said the BNP had “demonstrated a level of support that would normally lead to an occasional invitation to join the panel on Question Time”.

    Politicians from minor parties, including George Galloway, the Respect MP, and Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green party, regularly appeared on Question Time.

    Mr Thompson insisted that Mr Griffin had been invited so that the public could challenge his views, rather than any “misguided desire to be controversial”.

    Speaking before the programme, Gordon Brown said the BNP’s appearance was a matter for the BBC and that he was confident that Mr Griffin would be exposed for his “unacceptable” views.

    “I hope that the exposure of the BNP will make people see what they are really like,” the Prime Minister said.

    However, there were fears that Mr Griffin’s appearance would lead to an increase in support. He had said he was hopeful his party would be propelled into “the big time” as a result of the broadcast.

    The Telegraph

  • Israel’s attacks will lead to its isolation

    Israel’s attacks will lead to its isolation

    By Gideon Levy

    A8Israel has been dealing one blow after another to the rest of the world. While China has still not recovered from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s absence from the reception at its Tel Aviv embassy – a serious punishment for China’s support for the Goldstone report – France is licking its wounds after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “vetoed” a visit by the French foreign minister to Gaza. And Israel has dealt another blow: Its ambassador in Washington, Michael Oren, will boycott the conference next week of the new Israel lobby J Street.

    China, France and J Street will somehow get by despite these boycotts, Turkey will also recover from the great vacationers’ revolt, and we can expect that even the Swedes and Norwegians will recover from Israel’s loud reprimands. But a country that attacks and boycotts everyone who does not exactly agree with its official positions will become isolated, forsaken and detestable: North Korea of today or Albania of yesterday. It’s actually quite strange for Israel to use this weapon, as it is about to turn into the victim of boycotts itself.

    Israel strikes and strikes again. It strikes its enemies, and now it strikes out at its friends who dare not fall exactly in line with its official policies. The J Street case is a particularly serious example. This Jewish organization rose in America along with Barack Obama. Its members want a fair and peace-seeking Israel.

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    That’s their sin, and their punishment is a boycott.

    Oren, meanwhile, is a devoted representative: He also is boycotting. After criticizing Israeli columnists, including this one, in an article in The New Republic for daring to criticize Netanyahu’s speech at the UN – an outrage in its own right – the ambassador-propagandist uses the boycott weapon against a new and refreshing Jewish and Zionist organization that is trying to battle the nationalistic and heavy-handed Jewish-American establishment.

    In whose name is Oren doing that? Not in the name of Israeli society, whose ambassador he supposedly is. The former ambassadors from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union would have acted the same way.

    Such aggressiveness is a bad sign. It will drive away our last true friends and deepen our isolation. “A nation alone” has turned into our goal, our isolation has become an aspiration. Whom will we have left after we attack and boycott everyone? Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League? Our propagandist-attorney Alan Dershowitz?

    Dividing the world up between absolute good and evil – our side and our enemies, with no middle ground – is a sign of despair and a complete loss of direction. It’s not just our ambassador in Washington, who knows nothing at all about democracy and pluralism and only wants to please his masters. Such behavior – kicking and barking crazily in every direction – is destroying Israel.

    Without giving us a chance to voice our opinion, Israel is falling to the status of an international pariah, the abomination of the nations. And whom can we thank for that? Operation Cast Lead, for example. Only the United States remains our automatic and blind ally for all our mistakes. Another democracy that saw its status deteriorating so much would ask itself first and foremost what mistakes it had made.

    In Israel our approach is exactly the opposite: The rest of the world is guilty. The Scandinavians are hostile and the Turks are enemies, the French and British hate Israel, the Chinese are only Chinese and the Indians can’t teach us anything.

    Any legitimate criticism is immediately labeled here as anti-Semitism, including Richard Goldstone, the Jewish Zionist. We are pushing everyone into a corner roughly and hope they will change their opinions and suddenly be filled with a deep understanding for the killing of children in Gaza. Now America too, even its Jews, are no longer immune to this aggressive Israel mad with grandeur.

    The damage is piling up from Beijing all the way to New York. After the J Street boycott even American Jews will know that Israel is not a tolerant, open-minded or liberal country, despite what they are being told.

    Now they will know that “the only democracy in the Middle East” is not exactly that, and whoever does not repeat and proclaim its propaganda messages will be considered an enemy – they may also be punished severely.

    They should just ask the billion Chinese who are licking their wounds from the mortal blow the Israeli Foreign Minster dealt them personally.

    Haaretz

  • Illegal Terrorist organisation PKK supporter BBC, now also supports BNP

    Illegal Terrorist organisation PKK supporter BBC, now also supports BNP

    BBC is right to allow BNP on Question Time, says Mark Thompson

    A7Censorship is decision for ministers not broadcasters, insists corporation chief

    The BBC‘s director general, Mark Thompson, today robustly defends the corporation’s decision to invite the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, on to Question Time, and challenges the government to change the law if it wants to censor the far-right group.

    Writing in the Guardian, Thompson says ministers would have to impose a broadcasting ban on the party – as Margaret Thatcher did with Sinn Féin in the 1980s – before the BBC would consider breaching its “central principle of impartiality”.

    Griffin was not asked on to the flagship current affairs show out of “some misguided desire to be controversial”, he says, but because it is the public’s right “to hear the full range of political perspectives”.

    He adds: “It is a straightforward matter of fact that … the BNP has demonstrated a level of support which would normally lead to an occasional invitation to join the panel on Question Time. It is for that reason alone … that the invitation has been extended.”

    In what appears a direct challenge to the cabinet – including the Wales secretary, Peter Hain, who has argued vociferously for Griffin’s invitation to be rescinded – Thompson says: “The case against inviting the BNP to appear on Question Time is a case for censorship … Democratic societies sometimes do decide that some parties and organisations are beyond the pale. As a result they proscribe them and/or ban them from the airwaves.”

    Referring to the ban on Sinn Féin in the 1980s, he says the BBC opposed the move by the Thatcher government, but abided by it. The corporation would similarly abide by a decision to proscribe the BNP.

    “My point is simply that the drastic steps of proscription and censorship can only be taken by government and parliament … It is unreasonable and inconsistent to take the position that a party like the BNP is acceptable enough for the public to vote for, but not acceptable enough to appear on democratic platforms like Question Time. If there is a case for censorship, it should be debated and decided in parliament. Political censorship cannot be outsourced to the BBC or anyone else.”

    Thompson says the BNP will be challenged tenaciously on the programme.

    Hain described Thompson’s position as “plain wrong”. He said: “He is dodging the fact the BNP is a racist, fascist party in complete contradiction to the BBC’s own equal opportunities and anti-racist policies. The BBC are in total denial about their gifting of a massive early Christmas present to the BNP. This is probably the worst decision the BBC has made in recent times.”

    Following an emergency meeting last night, the BBC Trust rejected appeals against Griffin’s invitation to appear on the programme, saying it was “a question of editorial judgment”.

    Griffin, who is an MEP, arrived in London from Strasbourg and will begin preparations for the show at a secret location this morning before travelling to Television Centre by car in time for the planned 6pm recording. The BNP is so concerned about its leader’s security that it explored chartering a private helicopter to get him to the studio, but was told by the BBC there was nowhere for it to land. Anti-fascist protesters are planning a rally outside Television Centre with members of the broadcasting union Bectu.

    Griffin told the Guardian he admired Thompson’s “personal courage” by inviting him. He described one of his fellow panellists, the Conservative peer Lady Warsi, as “a token Asian Muslim woman” and, in a message to supporters, said the debate was his chance to “take on the corrupt, treacherous swine destroying our beautiful island nation”.

    He predicted it would be “political bloodsport” when he faces Warsi, Jack Straw, the justice secretary, Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, and Bonnie Greer, a black American playwright and critic who lives in Britain.

    Ben Bradshaw, the culture secretary, said: “I have always thought we have to take the BNP on. I have always thought they condemn themselves as soon as they open their mouths. In a democracy where they have elected representatives not just at European level but at local level it is very difficult for a broadcaster to exclude them … We should not give these people the opportunity to claim they are being gagged.”

    BBC