CHRISTIAN WOMAN'S FAITH ATTACKED IN ISTANBUL AIRPORT

[Yervant1]

So called the only Muslim democracy, where minorities roam around freely. What a farce!

 

 

 

 

CHRISTIAN WOMAN'S FAITH ATTACKED IN ISTANBUL AIRPORT

 

Assyria Times

http://www.assyriatimes.com/engine/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3422

May 19 2010

 

Returning from a recent trip to Lebanon, Helen Talia, traveling with

her friend Laurice Somo, both from Chicago, approached the security

gates at Istanbul Ataturk International Airport, carrying a host

of religious (Christian) gifts ~ crosses, rosaries in her carry-on

handbag.

 

"No sooner did I approach the first security attendant, says Talia,

my bag was turned upside down and ridded of all the religious gifts

I had brought back from places of worship I had traveled thousands

of miles in pilgrimage to Lebanon ~ Mar Charbel and Haresa. Needless

to say, the manner in which the procedure was carried out was very

vicious and without any regard to the value that another human places

on his or her spiritual practices.

 

I gestured to the young woman handling the items to use caution,

but instead, and rather in a sarcastic tone, she stared me in the

eyes and said in the English language, 'do you have a problem?' then

proceeded to dump everything in a big garbage dumpster next to her,

without offering me an explanation, then quickly moved me to the next

security station.

 

In the meantime, the otherwise forbidden [liquid] items, the water,

which I was carrying in my bag, remained untouched and made it through

security. I began to speculate the obvious that the intrusion was

not part of security, but rather a deliberate attack on my faith and

a form of intimidation.

 

When asked to place a complaint at the second security station,

a female supervisor, proceeded to contact two airport police, both

male, one of whom grabbed me by the left arm while snatching my U.S.

 

Passport and flight boarding pass out of my right hand. 'Now, do you

want to place a complaint?' asked the security supervisor angrily.

 

This all happened in what seemed to be in the blink of an eye

. . . I noticed the one officer who grabbed my passport quickly made

a photocopy of it, claiming it was necessary in order to document

the complaint, while pretentiously placing a call to a superior who

would handle the claim, one who never made it to the scene.

 

With only twenty minutes left for my flight to take off to Chicago,

still no visible sign of anyone who was coming to address the issue,

I began to realize that I was being given the run-around. At this

juncture, I concluded my flight, but vowed to follow-up with a story

and a letter to the Turkish Embassy upon returning to the United

States," concludes Talia.

 

This story is dedicated to the memory of the unborn Assyrian, Armenian

and Pontian and Anatolian Greek children, whose lives were stolen

before birth, and whose mothers were raped while carrying the seed of

life in their holy wombs during the Ottoman Empire, the Young Turks

era and the formation of the Republic of Turkey.

 

This article calls to the Republic of Turkey to recognize the Genocide

and criminal activities committed against the Assyrians, Armenians,

and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks c. 1870-1930, and to establish

grounds for restitution.

 

Helen Talia was born in Baghdad and raised in Chicago, where she

currently resides. She is a Certified Public Accountant, a writer

and an activist.

[Nané]

Wow! This article made my blood boil. Thank you for posting it Yervant.

[Arpa]

Too bad, or maybe good that I am not the Emperor of China. If I were I would place a huge trash can, no, a dumpster at every terminal to trash every hijab, every yazma, every shalvar, every charshaf and every vartik, every jewelry and trinkets with the moon and the star or الله‎ Allāh. Have a barber on duty to shave their stinky beards. http://eyeranprotestrsjourney.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/ayatollah20khomeini1.jpg

I would love to go to stambokh, BULL-stan, I mean stan-BULL, no, I won't. With a huge 10 by 10 foot cross, around my neck.

Edited May 21, 2010 by Arpa