“Where’s my space to pray in this mosque?” inquires Muslim feminist Hind Makki in a post about her bold project, Side Entrance, which calls out mosques for their successes and failures when it comes to making adequate and equal provisions for women.
Germany “Men and women at Juma prayers at the Islamic Centre of Hamburg in Germany.” From http://sideentrance.tumblr.com/
Side Entrance is a Tumblr blog and Facebook page that tackles the issue of women’s prayer spaces in comparison to men’s with reader-submitted photos from all over the world that show the often drastic difference in quality between the two. The blog’s introduction says simply, “Photos from mosques around the world, showcasing women’s sacred spaces, in relation to men’s spaces. We show the beautiful, the adequate and the pathetic.”
Hind Makki explains the reason behind the project:
I was moved to write a piece about women’s mosque experiences during Ramadan 2012, when my friend was berated and nearly kicked out of her mosque for daring to pray in the half-used 2nd floor of a multi-million dollar mosque, behind the male congregants. She prayed upstairs because the women’s area in the basement was hot, loud and moldy. That incident spurred me to start this Tumblr, though I’ve had idea of showcasing the differences between men and women’s prayer spaces in mosques for a long time.
There are many mosques around the world that boast incredible space for female congregants. Yet, in my experience, there are many more with inadequate or bad spaces for women. Still, other mosques bar women from entering altogether. The prayer experiences of many Muslim women are too often frustrating; mosques seem to be built to cater only to the male experience. Yet it is my optimistic belief that as more people see photos of the spaces women must pray in, and hear our stories, we will gain more male allies, who will collaborate with us to improve the situation.
Makki also posts quotes from readers and articles that relate to the ongoing debate about the role of women in the mosque, often revealing the frustration and sadness felt by women who are barred from fully participating in the religion they earnestly practice.
Ruwaida Gafoor comments, “I feel that many women in my community don’t attend the Jummah salaah because we have been conditioned not to do so. Also, the masjid is designed in a way that deters women from attending.”
Evidently, there must be a change in mental attitudes as well as physical spaces to properly make a difference.
Makki celebrates the beauty of mosques around the world, but brings up the very valid point that it’s unfair for women to worry about the invididual attitudes of each specific mosque before they enter. In a post titled, “70 Insanely Beautiful Mosques Around the World,” she reflects:
Each time I see a particularly stunning mosque, I immediately wonder, “Is there a women’s prayer area? Do they keep it unlocked during prayer times? If I were ever blessed to visit this beautiful mosque, would there be an adequate place for me to pray?”
Not having to immediately think about these questions when seeing a mosque you ache to pray in, that is Muslim male privilege.
Another quote by Rashid Patch succinctly addresses the blog’s position on the issue of women’s place in the mosque: “If women can’t enter, it doesn’t count as a masjid.”
via Women’s Prayer Spaces Featured In ‘Side Entrance’ Blog: A Call For Improved Conditions In Mosques.
ON MONDAY, AUGUST 5, TURKISH DEMOCRACY WILL DIE IN PUBLIC, STRIPPED NAKED BY THE FORCES OF FASCISM AND TREASON. ALL APPROPRIATE AND DISPROPORTIONATE VIOLENCE WILL BE RENDERED.
THE BIGGEST LEGAL FIASCO IN HISTORY, ONE CALLED ERGENEKON, WILL BE DECIDED BY JUDGES WHO HAVE SPENT YEARS SLEEPING AT THE BENCH. IN BIZARRE HARMONY, THE HAPLESS ACCUSED HAVE SPENT YEARS IN PRISON AWAITING THEIR RIGHT TO A SPEEDY TRIAL DUE TO DELAYS IN THE GATHERING, TAMPERING, POLLUTING AND CREATION OF EVIDENCE. COMPLICATING MATTERS FURTHER, SECRET WITNESSES HAD REMAINED SO SECRETIVE THAT THEY WERE DIFFICULT TO LOCATE AND COMPENSATE. THUS DIRECT CONFRONTATION AND EXAMINATION BY DEFENSE COUNSELS WAS NOT AVAILABLE.
BUT THIS MONDAY, THIS BLOODY MONDAY, WILL BE THE DAY THAT JUSTICE SPEAKS GIBBERISH AND ALLTHE CLOCKS IN TURKEY RUN BACKWARDS. ALL PEOPLE WHO BELIEVED IN THE RULE OF LAW WILL GATHER IN PUBLIC DISBELIEF AT THE ABSURD VERDICT RENDERED BY ABSURD JUDGES EDUCATED AT THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND SCHOOL OF LAW.
THE GOVERNOR OF ISTANBUL, A MAN NAMED HAPPY, HAS HAPPILY BUT UNDEMOCRATICALLY BANNED ALL GATHERINGS, DEMONSTRATIONS, CHANCE MEETINGS, AND SOCIAL DATES BETWEEN BEAUTIFUL WOMEN AND HANDSOME MEN WITHIN 15,000 KILOMETERS OF THE COURT, WHICH IS LOCATED AT THE PRISON. UNHAPPILY NAMED SILIVRI, THE PRISON IS IN FACT 380,000 KILOMETERS (ON AVERAGE) FROM THE EARTH ON THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. SOMEWHAT PARADOXICALLY, GOVERNOR HAPPY CONFIDENTLY CLAIMS TO BE A LAWYER.
TO CHEER AND HASTEN THE CITIZENRY ON ITS COLLECTIVE WAY TO DISBELIEF AND DESPAIR, GOVERNOR HAPPY HAS ASSEMBLED DIVISIONS OF ROBOCOPS TO SQUEEZE PEPPER GAS AND BATTALIONS OF RUBBER-BULLET MARKSMEN TO LACERATE FOREHEADS AND DESTROY EYE SOCKETS. SINCE THE WEATHER WILL BE SEASONABLY HOT, THE EVER HELPFUL HAPPY WILL GATHER HIS COLORFUL FLEETS OF ACID WATER SPRAY TRUCKS TO REFRESH THE BY NOW BEATEN, BRUISED AND SEMICONSCIOUS CITIZENS OF WHAT WAS ONCE CALLED THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY, A SECULAR NATION OPERATING UNDER THE RULE OF LAW.
MONDAY, BLOODY MONDAY, THE SADDEST OF ALL POSSIBLE DAYS.
Cem Ryan Istanbul, the unhappiest of cities in the unhappiest of countries
4 August 2013
“It was a cold, bright day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.” 1984, George Orwell
The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
USA
Dear Mr. President:
It has been three years since I last wrote to you advising that there was a political force rising in Turkey to throw off the Islamo-Fascist ruling party, the now infamous AKP. Mr. President, you know AKP well, even embracing the malevolent prime minister as a friend. I am sorry for the harm this has done to your reputation and America’s. This damage is irreducible and nothing can be done either for you or the Turkish prime
minister. But plenty can and should be done for the Turkish people.
I was wrong in using the words “political force” in my earlier letter. The force that has arisen transcends politics and politicians. It is suigeneris and it is for real. Its name, GEZI PARK RESISTANCE; its success is inevitable. Inevitable, yes, inevitable despite you and your agents destructive and subversive meddling with the democratic, secular Republic of Turkey. The world knows the truth, Mr. President, that the AKP is the main
destructive force in Turkey. And before the Turkish Constitutional Court was destroyed it opined similarly.
After a ten-year on-going coup by the now-radical Islamic AKP, Turkey is fully under occupation. You and your CIA and all your other subversive operators have achieved another great victory over another secular country. For shame, Mr. President, to spout about democratic values the while undermining and destroying all institutions along with the culture essential for democracy. There is no democracy in Turkey. And that’s why the Turkish youth took to the streets. To restore the nation’s embrace of the founding principles of Atatürk. To assure that they, the Turkish young people, would have a viable future, just like young people in America. You wouldn’t gas them, would you, Mr. President? Then why, in the middle of all this unspeakable violence, did you sell the lamentable Erdoğan even more toxic pepper gas? Why? (I have copies of the invoices, Mr. President.)
To maim the young, patriotic Turkish democrats who chose to fight for their freedom? Over ten thousand injured. Eleven have lost eyes from gas capsules directly aimed at their faces by the fascist police. 106 people suffered severe head trauma damage. Five dead. And blindings, poisonings, deaths, beatings by the police, and pursuits by AKP “civilian” police with scimitars… And now eleven thousand more imprisoned in an AKP nazi-style round-up. And still you sell this criminal government more deadly chemicals for the desperate Erdoğan to injure, blind and kill his fellow Turkish citizens. History will not be kind to you for this, Mr. President. Nor will it be kind to your mouse of an ambassador, one Francis Ricciardone, who described the AKP government’s apalling violence against Atatürk’s Turkish Youth as its having a “conversation about your future.” Such a conversation! Such disgusting words! What benumbed diplomatic brain would utter such stupidity? He has further encouraged the fascist criminals in the AKP government with additional platitudes about the USA sharing democratic values with these AKP gangsters. How could you tolerate such tripe from such a high-level representative of our country, Mr. President? How?
President Obama at Anıtkabir
You, on your first visit to Turkey, stood misty-eyed at Atatürk’s grave on April 6, 2009. There and then, you wrote in the guest book that you looked forward to “supporting Ataturk’s vision of Turkey” and “providing ‘peace at home, peace in the world.’” Were these remarks sincere, Mr. President? Perhaps. Or were you lying through your crocodile tears? Perhaps. But the real truth is that your words have indeed proved hollow. You unashamedly embraced and continue to support the repulsive policies of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, policies that have brought disasters at home and chaos in the world. Do you still stand behind your ambassador’s lamentable support for one of the greatest ongoing human rights violations since America’s murderous antics with Pinochet in Chile forty years ago? Would you dare return to Turkey and repeat your past words about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk? I doubt it. The roof at Anıkabir would crash on your head. Do you still believe that a violent government like AKP, rotten to its core with human rights violations, shares America’s values? Given America’s “values” over the past ten years as applied to Turkey and the world you probably do. But do you know what you are supporting?
In less than a decade, the ruling party has imposed the shadow of the dark cloud of sharia over the land. The largest budget item is for the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Mosques and mini-mosques (mescit) are everywhere. Sounds spiritual doesn’t it? Well imagine what would happen in one of the occupying power’s land, say in America, if every theater, ballpark, shopping mall and school had a prayer chapel? That’s a bit much for a secular country like America to deal with, isn’t it? Sure it is. But that’s what the government of Turkey imposes on it’s own soon-to-collapse secular nation.
Moreover, early morning knocks-on-the-door have imprisoned thousands opposed to this government. All opposition are called terrorists and bounced into jail by Erdoğan’s kangaroo courts. University rectors have been defamed and deposed, replaced by government-friendly yes-men and yes-women. Same for the faculty members. Oh, and freedom of speech on campus or anywhere else? None!
You, a constitutional lawyer by training, know well that every democracy requires an independent judiciary. Not so in Turkey. Evidence is ill-gotten and completely tainted. Witnesses give secret, unsworn testimony. Those accused spend years and years in prison while “evidence” is gathered and contaminated. There is no effective, or even ineffective, law of habeas corpus. Judges and prosecutors are clients of the ruling party, in effect, the prime minister. Defense counsels are routinely punished and even arrested for making procedural objections in court.
You also know that a free press provides a vital protection against an abusive government. But not here, Mr. President. Except for a few minor and heroic exceptions, Turkey’s press and media is completely government-controlled. The prime minister tells the corrupt media bosses who to fire and who to hire. It is a sick joke, another travesty of justice. Yet most of the Turks read and watch the government’s puppet media. This speaks to the other requirement for democracy—the necessity to have an informed electorate. Forget that too in Turkey. More journalists are in jail in Turkey than anywhere in the world, including China and Iran.
As most people know, except perhaps Americans, Turkey occupies a dangerous spot in the world. For centuries, religious extremists have been imposing sharia governments on the citizens. Since Turkey became a secular state in 1923, it has been beset by these destructive religious elements. Hence the historic need for a strong army to protect itself from these dark external and internal forces. But now, since the dark forces have taken over the government, there is no longer a need for such an army. Why? Because the Islamo-Fascist conspired to destroy the staunchly secular Turkish military. In a series of ridiculously implausible conspiracies worthy of an Adolph Hitler, the army’s generals have been jailed and replaced by government-friendly hacks. And since the nation is already under occupation by religious extremists, the historical internal security responsibilities for the military have been eliminated by the parliament. Amazingly, the major opposition party voted in agreement. And who now has the responsibility for internal security? The thoroughly violent, completely nazified police. Turkey is indeed a nation under occupation. The dark forces are consolidating their power. And the young people stand alone facing the oppressive, treasonous government. And to the extent that you and your ambassador continue to provide deadly weapons to its police force, the young people face you too. Believe me, Mr. President, all of you should be worried and careful about this.
Having widely, and illegally, ignored the Turkish Constitution, the fascist government is writing a new one which will dramatically change Turkey to the presidential system (like America’s) and give even more power to the head of government. This is the hope and dream of the current prime minister. He will continue to do what he knows best: demeaning, dividing, lying, scheming, repressing, hating and revenging.
Civilian” Police and Police
Meanwhile murderous cops go free. Thousands of protestors (now known as terrorists) are in jail under unspeakably disgusting conditions. Every public assembly is considered a terrorist gathering. So-called “civilian police,” more accurately described as Hitler-Brownshirts, roam the streets with scimitars, meat cleavers, clubs and knives. This unspeakable, genuine terror has the full support of the prime minister. In fact, they are “his people,” AKP street thugs. And, in case you are wondering, the actual police are just as bad. The police force is under the de facto control of one of your CIA assets living under protection in rural Pennsylvania. Violence. Violence. Violence. None of this is mentioned by your representative in Ankara either. Nor you for that matter. The world knows, but you don’t? You need much better advisors, Mr. President.
Sadly for humanity, the Erdoğan of Turkey is also sui generis. Stubborn, arrogant, always straight ahead at full speed, the first ten days of the Gezi Park Resistance revealed his true essence in all its ignominy. And so it continues with rants about conspiracies, plots, name-callings, arrests, an overall disgraceful show of bad government and criminality. Erdoğan may have destroyed everything: the constitutional court, the media, the judicial system, rules of evidence, university independence, social life, the arts, the army and virtually all aspects of what had been the, as you yourself so movingly called it, “Ataturk’s vision of Turkey.” All these things may have been destroyed. But then Erdoğan called Atatürk a drunk. And that will finish him.
These kids have Erdoğan’s number. There is no way he can stand against their dazzling intelligence and creativity. I wish you had been with me in the streets to meet some of them. Then you would fully understand all that I have written. History tells us that fascists are like bulls, going forward ever forward, punishing and restricting and arresting. And at their end, they blabber into the wind and get their ravings blown back into their faces twice as hard. Turkey is now at that point. You may have noticed this, Mr. President. That’s why when the end comes for fascists, they fold up like cheap suits, their distorted world and their faults reeking of their doom. They, the fascists, are few, and the people, in Turkey’s case, the UNIFIED young people, who chant proudly that they are Mustafa Kemal’s soldiers, are many. And remember, Mr. President, both in the arena and out, the bull never wins.
Sincerely yours,
James (Cem) Ryan, Ph.D.
28 July 2013
Istanbul, Turkey
ATATÜRK’S TURKISH YOUTH “We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal!”
BRIEF BIO:
James (Cem) Ryan was born and raised in The Bronx, New York City. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he holds
advanced degrees in economics and English literature, a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in literature. He is a proponent for peace and founder of West Point Graduates Against the War: http://www.wpgaw.org/ and Service Academy Graduates Against the War:
The recently announced demand for lands from Turkey by the Prosecutor General of Armenia attracted much attention from Armenians worldwide and harsh criticism from the Turkish government. While this was the first time that an Armenian official had raised this issue since the country’s independence in 1991, the demand itself is not new. Armenians have been seeking the return of their historic territories from Turkey for decades.
A confidential 1943 document, declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency, reveals that the US government was well aware of the Armenian demands for recognition of the “atrocities” and return of Turkish occupied “provinces.”
The document dated December 13, 1943, authored by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of the CIA, stated: “All the Armenian press in the United States is active in keeping the Turkish Armenian massacres fresh in the minds of its readers. Fearful that the Axis atrocities of the present war [World War II] will eclipse the atrocities of the last when the final reckoning comes, they are anxious to keep alive the Armenian case against Turkey. Armenians have present as well as past grievances against Turkey, whose capital levy tax ‘Varlik’ falls harder on Armenians than on any other minority group in Turkey. Even more unforgivable in the eyes of Armenians is the fact that Turkey holds provinces which, they are firmly convinced, belong rightfully to Armenia. Restitution of these provinces to Armenia is the goal of all Armenians.” Elsewhere in the document, OSS accurately reported that “Armenians, almost without exception, entertain feelings of deepest suspicion, hostility, and fear” toward Turkey.
A second declassified confidential document dated July 31, 1944, carries a surprising title: “Tashnags Turn to Soviet Russia.” The OSS indicated that “the once uncompromisingly anti-Soviet Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Tashnags) officially changed its spots, and the swing toward support of the Soviet Union, which has been growing gradually more perceptible during the last few months, has culminated in the adoption of a pro-Soviet policy at the Federation’s annual convention held in Boston the first week of July.” This OSS report was prepared as the Soviet Union had announced its intention to claim the Eastern provinces of Turkey (Kars, Ardahan, and Surmalou) in a post-World War II settlement. The Soviet claim was backed by the Armenian Church, the Soviet Armenian government and the Diaspora, including the anti-Soviet Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF).
The OSS astutely reported: “The Tashnags have never actually renounced their dream of a free and independent Armenia, including the Turkish irredenta, which has kept them at loggerheads with the USSR, ever since Armenia was established as a Soviet [illegible] in 1920. … With the vision of independence fading, the now Soviet-friendly Tashnags are turning their attention to the acquisition of the Turkish provinces of Armenia by the Soviet Armenian Republic.”
In explaining ARF’s post-war expectations, OSS stated: “If, as the Tashnags believe and hope, Turkey remains neutral [in World War II], she will be in a highly vulnerable position, and one item of payment for her neutrality, according to Mr. [James] Mandalian [editor of the Boston-based ARF newspaper Hairenik], would be the cession of Turkish Armenia to Soviet Armenia.”
The 1943 OSS document also contained a lengthy report on the Armenian-American press, focusing its attention on six of the 17 Armenian newspapers in the United States: “Hairenik and Asbarez (Tashnag)” classified as “rightist-nationalist;” “Baikar, Nor Or (Ramgavar)” and “Eritassard Hayastan (Hunchag)” classified as “liberal;” and Lraper (Armenian Progressive League of America)” classified as “leftist-Communist.” The last two newspapers are no longer in publication.
According to OSS, Hairenik and Asbarez are “strongly nationalist, anti-Soviet, and anti-Communist,” while Baikar is “resolutely opposed to the Tashnags and their principles. The Ramgavars have accepted the incorporation of Armenia into the Soviet Union as the most satisfactory way out of Armenian problems, and many articles are printed in Baikar extolling the Soviet regime in Armenia, particularly in its relations to the Armenian Apostolic Church.”
OSS estimated that the 95,000 Armenians in the United States in 1943, mostly settled in Massachusetts, New York, and California, “retain a keen interest in the affairs of their homeland [Soviet Armenia], though few, if any, would go back there.”
Two Israeli companies, including one exposed by EIR in 2001-02 as under investigation in the U.S. for being part of a massive Israeli espionage network (see EIR, Feb. 1, 2002), have been identified as playing a central role in handling the NSA’s acquisition of call information from major telecommunications companies.
* VERINT Systems, formerly known as Comverse Systems, a U.S.-based subsidiary of the Israeli Comverse Technologies, was reported by author and NSA expert James Bamford to have been designated by the NSA to process all the call information (metadata) obtained from Verizon. By the time it got the NSA contract, Comverse was already well-known as a leading firm in wiretapping, or what it called the “lawful interception market” for law-enforcement agencies. In 2002, about the time NSA launched its Stellar Wind operation, tapping into the major telecoms, former NSA Director Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minihan joined the Board of Directors of Comverse-Verint.
* NARUS, another Israeli company, similarly processes all the information obtained from AT&T for the NSA. Narus was founded in Israel in 1997, and in 2010 was acquired by Boeing. Narus’s NarusInsight supercomputer system, which was installed in AT&T’s San Francisco Internet facility and identified by AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein, gave rise to a famous 2006 class action lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T, Hepting v. AT&T.
Additionally, AMDOCS, another Israeli telecommunications firm profiled by EIR in 2001-02, specializes in analyzing (i.e. data-mining) customer billing records for major U.S. telecoms; this data is similar to the “metadata” collected by the NSA on all phone calls in the U.S. Some investigators believe Amdocs is also involved in the NSA Stellar Wind program; indeed, it would be surprising if they were not.
Ha’aretz reported on June 8 that both Verint and Narus have ties to both the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, and the Israel Defense Forces intelligence-gathering unit 8200.Ha’aretz also raises the question of whether Mossad is a party to the intelligence-sharing arrangement between the U.S.’s NSA and Britain’s GCHQ, Britain’s Cheltenham-based signals-intelligence agency.
