Hitler Finds An Audience In Turkey

[HOB]

Hitler Finds an Audience in Turkey

 

Speculation about why his 'Mein Kampf' is on bestseller lists includes anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism or maybe just the piddling price.

By Amberin Zaman

Special to The Times

 

March 16, 2005

 

ANKARA, Turkey — "Mein Kampf," Adolf Hitler's notorious work outlining his anti-Semitic world view, has become a bestseller in this officially secular but mostly Muslim nation. Its sudden rebirth has alarmed the country's small Jewish community and raised concern among officials in the European Union, which Turkey aspires to join.

 

Remzi and D & R, Turkey's two largest bookstore chains, rank the work among the top 10 on their bestseller lists this month, as they did in February.

 

At the Ada bookshop in a popular Ankara shopping strip, "Mein Kampf," or "Kavgam" as it is called in Turkish, has sold out.

 

"It's our fifth-highest-selling book," said Serkan Oznur, the store manager.

 

Though nationwide sales numbers are not available, the number of publishers releasing editions of "Mein Kampf" in Turkey has grown to 13. One of them, Manifesto, announced a press run of 50,000 for its version, which jockeys for shelf space with such titles as "Hitler's Secretary" and "The Unknown Hitler." The German dictator's work appears prominently in most bookstore displays here.

 

Silvio Ovadyo, a spokesman for Turkey's 20,000-member Jewish community, said he couldn't explain why publishers had decided to promote Hitler as an author.

 

"It's anti-Jewish propaganda. Naturally, we are very concerned," he said in a telephone interview. "Turkey is our country, our home."

 

Why this nation — which welcomed millions of Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition and was the first Muslim country to recognize the state of Israel — now appears so fascinated with Hitler is a question that sparks heated debate. Booksellers said buyers tended to be men between the ages of 18 and 30.

 

Like several other vendors here, Oznur insisted that the newfound popularity of "Mein Kampf" was a factor mostly of price. Sales soared after several new translations were published at the beginning of the year and priced at about $3.50 a copy. Most books of a similar length cost nearly double that.

 

Some analysts say the appeal of "Mein Kampf" probably has to do with the rising anti-Americanism here, a result of the U.S.-led invasion of neighboring Iraq. Among the work's chief rivals on the bestseller lists is "Metal Storm," a gory thriller that depicts a U.S. invasion of Turkey. The hero, a Turkish spy whose training includes shooting his puppy, avenges his homeland by leveling Washington with a nuclear device.

 

In a country where conspiracy theories are commonly used to explain international politics, "it is accepted wisdom in some circles that Israel dictates U.S. policy," said Dogu Ergil, a Middle East expert at Ankara University. Thus, his theory goes, anti-Americanism morphs into a hybrid strain of anti-Semitism that in turn arouses curiosity about Hitler.

 

Others say Turks are drawn more by the book's nationalistic message than its anti-Semitic rants. Nationalist sensitivities have been sharpened by European Union demands that Turkey ensure greater freedom for the country's religious minorities and restive Kurds as conditions for its membership in the alliance.

 

"Nationalist reflexes have been triggered, there are fears the country will be dismembered," said Nilufer Narli, an Istanbul-based sociologist.

 

Though Ovadyo said members of the Jewish community were not yet planning legal action against the book, German officials said they would like to see it withdrawn.

 

The German state of Bavaria, which controls the copyright, has long fought the publication of "Mein Kampf" around the world, and officials there reportedly plan to take the campaign to Turkey.

 

"The book's wide availability and popularity ought to be a matter of serious concern," said a German Embassy official here who requested anonymity.

 

Oznur, the bookstore manager, disagrees.

 

"Anyone who reads 'Mein Kampf' realizes what a psychopath Hitler was," he said. "If more people had read it, there might have been no [second] World War."

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...ack=1&cset=true

[DominO123]

Le Figaro

17 mars 2005

 

«Mein Kampf» parmi les meilleures ventes;

TURQUIE Le renouveau du nationalisme à travers le succès de librairie

du manifeste d'Adolf Hitler

 

Istanbul : Marie-Michèle Martinet

 

Placée ce mois-ci au quatrième rang des best-sellers, une réédition

de Mein Kampf, le manifeste antisémite rédigé par Adolf Hitler en

1925, s'est vendue, en Turquie, depuis sa sortie en janvier, à 50 000

exemplaires.

 

Si les livres sont le miroir de ceux qui les écrivent et, par

ricochet, de ceux qui les lisent, les ouvrages qui, ces derniers

temps, caracolent en tête des meilleures ventes de l'édition turque

font un peu frémir. Mein Kampf, publié pour la première fois en turc

en 1939, puis réédité par une douzaine d'éditeurs, n'avait jamais,

jusqu'à présent, dépassé les 20 000 exemplaires par an. Il se

négociait alors autour de 20 YTL (environ 11 euros). Cette fois, les

éditions Manifesto ont décidé de casser les prix en proposant

l'ouvrage à mois de 6 YTL. Pour l'éditeur Oguz Tektas qui signe cette

opération, il s'agit simplement d'une belle réussite commerciale, qui

n'avait d'autre objectif que de «gagner de l'argent». Sans négliger

l'argument lié à la modicité du prix du livre, on peut cependant

s'interroger sur les motivations des lecteurs turcs qui, dans une

période où leur pays prétend se rapprocher de l'Europe et des valeurs

démocratiques qu'elle défend, se sont précipités sur ce brûlot de

l'antisémitisme nazi : «J'observe qu'il existe actuellement, en

Turquie, un courant antieuropéen et antiaméricain qui peut être

favorable à la vente d'un tel livre, analyse le professeur Ahmet

Içduygu, spécialiste des relations et des migrations internationales

à l'université Koç d'Istanbul. Ce courant s'exprime par un renouveau

du nationalisme, nourri par la pression ressentie par de nombreux

Turcs.

 

Ils ont le sentiment que l'on veut leur dicter leurs actes. D'où une

certaine crispation...» Récemment, d'autres succès de librairie

semblent s'être construits autour de cette crispation nationaliste

effectivement perceptible. Le roman Orage de métal, qui se projette

en 2007 pour décrire une guerre provoquée par les Etats-Unis

attaquant la Turquie, s'est déjà vendu à plus de 100 000 exemplaires.

L'un de ses auteurs, Burak Turna, un ancien journaliste spécialisé

dans les questions de défense, ne cache pas son opposition à la

politique internationale américaine. Visiblement, ses idées sont

partagées par un grand nombre de lecteurs turcs qui, solidarité

musulmane aidant, ont jugé tout aussi sévèrement la guerre conduite

par les Américains en Irak et la politique menée par Israël dans les

territoires occupés par les Palestiniens. Les choix des lecteurs

turcs seraient donc l'expression de certains non-dits : «Le sentiment

de frustration actuellement ressenti par un grand nombre de personnes

en Turquie peut inconsciemment les amener à acheter tel ou tel livre,

précise le professeur Ahmet Içduygu. A l'inverse, certains auteurs

turcs peuvent faire les frais de leurs prises de position jugées

antinationalistes. Ainsi, le prestigieux romancier Orhan Pamuk, dont

les ouvrages sont traduits en France par Gallimard, a été violemment

mis en cause, le mois dernier, à la suite d'une interview accordée à

un magazine allemand. Dans cet entretien, il avait évoqué le génocide

arménien de 1915 en des termes jugés, par certains, contraires à

l'intégrité nationale turque. Le succès retentissant de la réédition

de Mein Kampf pose évidemment la question d'un éventuel antisémitisme

turc, qui irait pourtant à l'encontre d'une très ancienne tradition

d'accueil. La Turquie n'a jamais été un pays antisémite. Depuis le XV

e siècle et les persécutions de l'Inquisition jusqu'au génocide nazi,

de nombreux juifs échappant aux pogroms ont trouvé refuge sur les

rives du Bosphore. Silvyo Ovadya, qui dirige cette communauté

comptant 22 000 personnes en Turquie s'est déclaré «irrité» par le

regain d'intérêt manifesté par les lecteurs turcs pour Mein Kampf. Il

s'est également étonné que cet ouvrage de 500 pages puisse être

publié à si bas prix... Les juifs de Turquie n'ont pas oublié qu'en

novembre 2003, à Istanbul, deux synagogues ont été la cible

d'attentats terroristes islamistes qui ont fait 25 morts et des

centaines de blessés.

[Anonymouse]

Who cares? It's just a book.

[sev-mard]

Who cares? It's just a book.

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That's an interesting statement especially coming from you fine sir. Books lead to thought, thought to discussion, discussion many times(not always) to action.....and there you have it.

[Anonymouse]

That's an interesting statement especially coming from you fine sir. Books lead to thought, thought to discussion, discussion many times(not always) to action.....and there you have it.

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So what do you guys propose we ban this book because it leads to thought, engaging in the same anti intellectual behavior a Nazi or a Commie engaged? When you control what people can or can't read, can or can't speak, that is how you control thought.

[whitelotus]

Banning the book is only going to raise more curiosity which will lead to more copies being sold on the black market.

[Stormig]

Anyone who reads Mein Kampf ought to be a masochist. A long time ago, when I first got acquainted with the internet, I found a copy online and downloaded it. It inspired - tears of boredom.

[Anonymouse]

Anyone who reads Mein Kampf ought to be a masochist. A long time ago, when I first got acquainted with the internet, I found a copy online and downloaded it. It inspired - tears of boredom.

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I read it. But I'm a sadomasochist. I just love giving my victim's a cellophane whipping.

[phantom22]

Hey Mouse,

 

Your avatar has the eyes of a "khent." Do you also have such eyes? If so, you belong in a "khentanotz."

[Siamanto]

Hey Mouse,

 

Your avatar has the eyes of a "khent." Do you also have such eyes? If so, you belong in a "khentanotz."

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

phantom22,

I'm really impressed: with one look in the eye, you can tell if someone is "khent" or not. You should patent your innovative technology/methodology!

[Boghos]

Arguing that Mein Kampf is selling well in Turkey because it is cheap is a ludicrous proposition. In all socialist countries the complete works of all enlightened leaders were very cheap, I don´t think people were interested...In the more capitalist side of the world, cheap books are undesired books.

 

Turks don´t need to buy Mein Kampf. As Stormig mentioned it is a very boring book, I couldn´t get past the few pages (bought it ai Amazon a few years back). Turks already live in a totalitarian paradise...

[phantom22]

Hey Siamanto,

 

 

Please take a good look at the avatar of Anonymouse. Look carefully at the "eyes." What is your impression of the eyes of the avatar? Don't you agree that they are the eyes of a deranged individual?

[gamavor]

Amerikanski, do you remember the last time when I called you ...... NEVER MIND!

[phantom22]

Hey Mouse,

 

Have you read the memoirs of the physician, Dr. Mehmet Rashid? He believed that Armenians were microbes in the Turkish "body" and therefore had to be exterminated. It is just a memoir, so no need to be concerned with it.

Edited March 21, 2005 by phantom22

[gamavor]

Hey Amerikanski,

 

The American Government openly supports Turks in their efforts to cover up the Genocide. Does that mean that US are accomplice of a Nazi state?

[Stormig]

BTW, for the sharp brains out there - anyone aware of whom Bush is portrayed like in posters on billboards and the like in Turkey? Hitler. Now I doubt anti-Americanism (or being anti-Operation Iraqi Obliteration - ahem - Liberation) and Bush/Hitler-lovin' can go hand in hand. Maybe in lala-land. That rhymes, too.

[Anonymouse]

Hey Mouse,

 

Your avatar has the eyes of a "khent." Do you also have such eyes? If so, you belong in a "khentanotz."

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Yes I am a khent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boo.

[Anonymouse]

Hey Mouse,

 

Have you read the memoirs of the physician, Dr. Mehmet Rashid? He believed that Armenians were microbes in the Turkish "body" and therefore had to be exterminated. It is just a memoir, so no need to be concerned with it.

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

No I have not, but what is your point?

[phantom22]

Mein Kampf is just a book, you stated.

[Anonymouse]

Mein Kampf is just a book, you stated.

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Yes, did you think it was a rune with magic powers that gave its readers the ability of mind control?

[Stormig]

World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : Germany

 

Germany: Interior Minister Schily bans Turkish newspaper

By Justus Leicht

25 March 2005

Back to screen version | Send this link by email | Email the author

 

At the end of February, in an overnight operation, Germany’s interior minister Otto Schily (Social Democratic Party-SPD) banned the company Yeni Akit, which is based in the German state of Hesse and publishes the Islamic newspaper Anadolu Vakit (Anatolian Times). The assets of the company were also confiscated.

 

Anadolu Vakit is the European edition of the newspaper Vakit, which is published quite legally in Turkey. A press statement issued by the German Interior Ministry stated: “The legal bases for the ban are paragraphs 3 and 17 (association statute) together with paragraph 130 penal code (incitement). The Yeni Akit company opposes the concept of understanding between nations, its aims and activities contravene the penal statutes. A large number of articles deny or play down the Holocaust and spread anti-Semitic/anti-Western propaganda.”

 

According to press reports at the end of 2004, a deputy of the Christian Democratic Union had already drawn the attention of the interior minister to an article in the newspaper in which the existence of the Holocaust is denied. According to Spiegel Online, the paper described the Holocaust and “so-called gas chambers” as “lies” and as “nothing other than Zionist music.”

 

The interior minister does not reveal whether the ban is actually based on a “large number” of articles that deny the Holocaust or whether most cases are just “anti-Western propaganda.” He simply maintains that its decision is not based on isolated cases but rather on “systematically pursued incitement,” which it is “by no means prepared to tolerate.” He continues: “Despite a large number of investigations on the part of the state attorney’s office over past years, the shareholders and managers of the publishing house have failed to show any response and instead clearly increased the intensity and frequency of articles with an inflammatory content.”

 

This is a remarkable statement to back up the banning of a newspaper. The claim of “systematically pursued incitement”—i.e., the continued violation of criminal law—is declared proven by the fact that the state attorney’s office has carried out a “large number of investigations” over the past few years. Following an enquiry by the WSWS, the German interior ministry reported that there had in fact been a total of eight such investigations. In none of these cases was an official complaint lodged—on merely formal grounds, according to the Interior Ministry.

 

The newspaper was banned, therefore, because over several years, the state attorney’s office had attempted on a number of occasions to pursue investigations along the lines of popular incitement—without success. Despite pressure from the state attorney’s office, the newspaper failed to “show any response”—i.e., had refused to make changes along the lines demanded by the police and German government. This is a clear case of arbitrary state censorship.

 

In Turkey, Vakit reacted to the ban in Germany by proclaiming Schily to be a Nazi and featuring him on a number of cover stories sporting a swastika. Schily, along with representatives of the CDU, expressed his outrage at such a parallel. The deputy chairman of the CDU parliamentary fraction, Wolfgang Bosbach, addressed Schily directly in the Bundestag and declared: “When we see how you are being abused in the Turkish media, how you are presented as Adolf Hitler, then the opposition sides with the interior minister, because we also feel we have been offended.”

 

Schily could have tried to take action against Vakit for slander, but instead he wrote a letter to his Turkish counterpart, Abdulkadir Aksu, calling upon him in more-or-less open terms to take action against the newspaper. According to the letter, such “denigrations” were “unacceptable.”

 

The chairman of the social democratic fraction in the European parliament, Martin Schulz, was even more forthright: “The issue is what someone from a government led by a moderate Islamic party says about such a crazy Islamic organisation as that which is behind this publication. Here is a test for the readiness of the government in Ankara to take on the radicals and extremists.” Schulz demanded that “the measures that have been taken by Germany be supported by Turkey”—e.g., through the legal persecution of the journalists and editorial staff of Vakit.

 

This comment is notable because until now, the repressive activities of the Turkish government and judiciary against the press and politicians from the opposition camp had always been used as an argument against entry by Turkey into the EU. Now, however, a prominent EU politician is calling upon the Turkish government to take action against “radicals and extremists”—terms that are regularly used by the Turkish state to describe left-wingers and supporters of the Kurdish national movement.

 

Nearly two years ago, Schulz was also compared to the Nazis by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after Schultz had asked the latter a few critical questions in the chamber of the European parliament. Although Berlusconi expressly refused to apologise for his remarks, the German government sought to play down the affair and continued to support Berlusconi in his post at that time as president of the EU council.

 

Berlusconi, it should be noted, is the head of government of one of Germany’s most important partners in the EU. He is also the richest inhabitant of Italy and a close ally of the Bush administration in the US. He is a man who embodies the sort of “Western values” that Schily is seeking to protect by trampling all over basic democratic rights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Copyright 1998-2004

World Socialist Web Site

All rights reserved

[Anonymouse]

It is illegal to question the veracity of the Jewish Holocaust in Germany, France, Canada, and other European states. Supposedly they fought Nazis and Commies to secure the right of "free speech" but I guess it only proves that Foucault was right, namely that truth is about a language of discourse based on power relations.

[Arpa]

I am not surprised.

In fact Hitler was a Turk. No wonder he continued the legacy wher his progenitors had left.

He comes from that bastard lineage of that bastard Mehmet sowed his seeds at the gates of Vienna during the siege of said city, when he raped that Austrian fraulein.

His name was Mehmet Itler*.

 

* Itler means "the dogs" in Turkish.

[armjan]

Hitler & Islam

http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/33Rlg/Islm/Islm&Hitlr.htm

[Anonymouse]

I am not surprised.

In fact Hitler was a Turk. No wonder he continued the legacy wher his progenitors had left.

He comes from that bastard lineage of that bastard Mehmet sowed his seeds at the gates of Vienna during the siege of said city, when he raped that Austrian fraulein.

His name was Mehmet Itler*.

 

* Itler means "the dogs" in Turkish.

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I'm sorry I must not have been paying attention in history class, but can you please establish the veracity of that claim?