ULTRA-NATIONALIST GROUP TARGETS TURKEY'S ARMENIANS

[Yervant1]

The KKK's of Turkey!

 

 

ULTRA-NATIONALIST GROUP TARGETS TURKEY'S ARMENIANS

 

Today's Zaman, Turkey

Nov 28 2012

 

28 November 2012 / HANIFE SEVDE KOSE / E. BARIÅ~^ ALTINTAÅ~^, Ä°STANBUL

 

An ultra-right group mainly active in the social media has been

targeting Armenian agencies, schools, churches, foundations and

individuals in Turkey as part of an anti-Armenian hate campaign.

 

Reactions by social media users have mounted over provocative tweets

from the chairman of a group that calls itself the International

Association to Fight Unfounded Armenian Allegations (ASÄ°M-DER). He has

recently been actively targeting Armenians and Turkish-Armenian

institutions on Twitter, claiming that these groups are part of a

conspiracy supported by the Armenian diaspora against Turkey.

 

ASİM-DER Chairman Göksel Gulbey has been tweeting the names of

Turkish-Armenian schools, churches and foundations, which civil

society members say is tantamount to turning them into targets for

ultra-nationalists in a country where prominent figures of Armenian

descent as well as Christians involved in missionary activities have

become targets of violence. The 2007 killings of three Bible

publishers in Malatya, the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist

Hrant Dink and the 2006 murder of an Italian priest in Trabzon are

some of the painful examples of the ultra-nationalist threat.

 

The group, founded in 2002, has been actively holding conferences and

organizing events to promote its cause, with its chairman saying they

had provisional and regional branches as well as a few chapters

located abroad. But it came under the national media spotlight earlier

this week, mostly due to the recent tweets.

 

According to Taraf columnist Markar Esayan, the campaign is part of a

larger plan to create an anti-minority atmosphere. Esayan, in remarks

to Today's Zaman, recalled Turkey's past experiences with the

demonization of Turkish Armenians and said, "These Turkish-Armenian

schools [whose addresses have been tweeted by Gulbey] were established

under the control of the Ministry of Education. I have also studied in

one of these schools and worked as a supervisor afterwards. On the one

hand, too much importance shouldn't be attached to such campaigns, but

on the other hand, those responsible [for provocative claims] should

be held accountable for their claims," he said, adding that

prosecutors should act.

 

Rober KoptaÅ~_, editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos,

also asserted that ASÄ°M-DER's presence is the product of a deeper and

darker mentality than mere nationalism. KoptaÅ~_ said: "Gulbey argues

that the existence of Armenian institutions is proof of Turkey's

freedom and tolerance. So, according to [Gulbey], the activities of

Armenian institutions in Turkey are not acceptable as they pursue

'demonic' goals. ... This approach, which associates the Armenian

ethnicity directly with hostility and malignity, is a threat to our

national peace."

 

KoptaÅ~_ also noted that illegal structures nested within the state

hierarchy in Turkey -- referred to as the "deep state" -- frequently

resort to anti-minority campaigns to create chaos and achieve their

shady goals. The involvement of such groups was also evident in the

trial regarding Dink's murder. After a lengthy process, the court

found that the killer and one man who was found guilty of inciting the

shooter to undertake the murder had acted alone, although a large body

of evidence indicated an organized-crime link. The judge who heard the

case later told the media that he was also certain that the two hadn't

acted alone, but accused the prosecution of failing to prove it

properly.

 

"Turkey cannot afford a new wave of hostility against its Armenian

citizens," warned KoptaÅ~_.

 

ASÄ°M-DER Chairman Gulbey denied the claims that his organization was

"targeting" any groups. He said the lists he tweeted consisted of

publicly disclosed address data about Turkish-Armenian institutions,

saying there are too many in Turkey. "When we said in a press

statement that there are 57 foundations, 21 schools and 15

associations, we were accused of lying and exaggerating numbers." He

said they had to share the names and address information to refute

these claims.

 

In response to a question on whether he would feel responsible if an

assault occurred on any of the organizations he publicly tweeted

about, Gulbey didn't directly respond, but said he wondered if any

Armenian organizations would be upset if he was attacked by an

Armenian radical.

 

He also said they were "concerned" that these groups were associated

with the Armenian diaspora, admitting that his group's statements were

only "allegations" with no solid proof.

 

Several rights groups are preparing to file a criminal complaint

against ASÄ°M-DER with prosecutors this week.

[Yervant1]

REVEALING TOO MUCH: INFO BELONGING TO ARMENIAN GROUPS ONLINE

 

Today's Zaman

Nov 29 2012

Turkey

 

On Nov. 24, 25 and 26, International Association to Fight Unfounded

Armenian Allegations (ASİM-DER) head Göksel Gulbey published the

street addresses and contact information of Armenian foundations,

schools and churches active in Turkey via his Twitter account.

 

Try to imagine what it would mean if a neo-Nazi -- or any other

extreme right-wing organization -- in Germany were to do the same with

details about the addresses and telephone numbers of Jewish synagogues,

foundations, schools and so on.

 

Actually, no matter where in the world it happens, when racist

organizations get hold of contact information belonging to vulnerable

minority groups and then purposefully disclose it, it always means

the same thing: Go and "beat people up, hit them or at the very least,

make them very uncomfortable and worried."

 

Prior to the release of this contact information, Göksel Gulbey was

involved in a series of incidents targeting Armenians. In fact, in one

case, Gulbey made a formal complaint to the Interior Ministry about

the number of Armenian foundations active in Turkey (57), asking in his

complaint, "Is there really a need for this many Armenian foundations?"

 

Another incident in the past involves the fake execution by Göksel

Gulbey and other ASÄ°M-DER leaders of a plaster model of Armenian

President Serzh Sarksyan. When the association's activities are

examined more closely, it in fact appears that their problem lies

more in the actual existence of Armenians rather than any "Armenian

allegations."

 

In democratic societies the world around, there are generally two

limitations placed on freedom of expression. One of these has to do

with open invitations to violence, and the other with racist rhetoric

that spreads hatred and enmity targeting specific groups. Turkey's

history is filled with incidents in which minority groups were targeted

for attacks. And while debates may rage about what the limitations

to freedom of expression are, and what certain rhetoric means in

practical terms, you cannot overlook such a history and its legacy.

 

You would not have to know much about Turkish history to understand

that addresses and telephone numbers belonging to Armenian

organizations, when published on the Web by extremist rightist

organizations, turn people into targets, and that this was in fact

the goal. Our prosecutors should move into immediate action and start

investigations into the matter, but I have never witnessed the laws

of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) used this way.

 

As I have written before in this column, the application of former

Article 312, the infamous article of the TCK on provoking hatred and

enmity, now Article 216, in cases in which people encourage hatred and

enmity against minorities and other vulnerable groups has proven an

exception rather than a rule. Despite a history marked by frequent

painful episodes of this type, prosecutors and judges ignore and

overlook just how serious the results of rhetoric, expressions and

announcements can be when they target certain groups.

 

They do not want to understand the potential seriousness of these

situations. They do not want to see that words or rhetoric aimed at

the majority are in fact much different in a practical sense from

words or rhetoric targeting minority groups, and that these things

can lead to very different results. At this point, there are some

civil society organizations preparing to open legal cases against

the above-mentioned use of Twitter. I do hope that the legal system

will spring into action here. For as long as we are unable to prevent

rhetoric on hatred that targets minorities, we will not be able to

prevent hate crimes. And this is the truth, one which we know from

a history marked by these episodes.

[Yervant1]

ULTRA-NATIONALIST GROUP TARGETS ARMENIANS IN TURKEY

 

http://hetq.am/eng/news/21032/ultra-nationalist-group-targets-armenians-in-turkey.html

11:06, November 29, 2012

 

A far-right Turkish group mostly active in the social media has been

targeting Armenian schools, churches, foundations and individuals

in Turkey as part of an anti-Armenian hate campaign according to a

November 28 Today Zaman report.

 

Goksel Gulbey, chairman of the International Association to Fight

Unfounded Armenian Allegations (ASIM-DER), has been actively targeting

Armenians and Turkish-Armenian institutions on Twitter, claiming

that these groups are part of a conspiracy supported by the Armenian

diaspora against Turkey.

 

Civil society representatives argue that such action is tantamount to

turning them into targets for ultra-nationalists in a country where

prominent figures of Armenian descent as well as Christians involved

in missionary activities have become targets of violence. The 2007

killings of three Bible publishers in Malatya, the 2007 murder of

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and the 2006 murder of an

Italian priest in Trabzon are some of the painful examples of the

ultra-nationalist threat.

 

According to Taraf columnist Markar Esayan, the campaign is part of

a larger plan to create an anti-minority atmosphere. In remarks to

Today's Zaman, Esayan recalled Turkey's past experiences with the

demonization of Turkish Armenians.

 

"These Turkish-Armenian schools [whose addresses have been tweeted

by Gulbey] were established under the control of the Ministry of

Education. I have also studied in one of these schools and worked as a

supervisor afterwards. On the one hand, too much importance shouldn't

be attached to such campaigns, but on the other hand, those responsible

[for provocative claims] should be held accountable for their claims,"

Esayan said.

 

Rober Koptas, editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos,

also asserted that ASÄ°M-DER's presence is the product of a deeper

and darker mentality than mere nationalism.

 

Koptas said: "Gulbey argues that the existence of Armenian institutions

is proof of Turkey's freedom and tolerance. So, according to [Gulbey],

the activities of Armenian institutions in Turkey are not acceptable

as they pursue 'demonic' goals. ... This approach, which associates

the Armenian ethnicity directly with hostility and malignity, is a

threat to our national peace."

 

ASIM-DER Chairman Gulbey denied the claims that his organization was

"targeting" any groups. He said the lists he tweeted consisted of

publicly disclosed address data about Turkish-Armenian institutions,

saying there are too many in Turkey. "When we said in a press statement

that there are 57 foundations, 21 schools and 15 associations, we

were accused of lying and exaggerating numbers." He said they had to

share the names and address information to refute these claims.

 

In response to a question on whether he would feel responsible if an

assault occurred on any of the organizations he publicly tweeted