Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
May 24 2013
Living by the ‘de jure’ sword
by Burak bekdil
Islamists often – but not always – come in two flavors: Those who
would decapitate an infidel, take out his heart and eat it in front of
cameras, like the “freedom fighter” in Syria; and those who have the
same sentiments and goals but pursue smarter means to Islamize the
whole universe, including “lesser Muslims,” through “de jure” methods.
The most preferred de jure methodology is “majoritarianism.”
Turkey is the world’s best example of how smartly smarter Islamists
function – and how de jure! On April 15, 2013, the world-renowned
Turkish pianist Fazil Say was sentenced to a 10-month suspended prison
sentence for tweeting and retweeting words that some Muslims, all
Islamists and “independent” judges thought insulted Muslims and their
faith.
A couple of days ago, Turkish-Armenian linguist and former columnist
Sevan Nisanyan was condemned to 13 months in prison (not suspended)
for alleged blasphemy against Muslims in a blog comment.
Mr Nisanyan’s “Hrant Dink-style” conviction came on the same day a
parliamentary commission, with the majority of votes from the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies, passed new restrictions
on the sale and consumption of alcohol, the Islamists’ nemesis
beverage.
As this column was written, the lawyer and women’s rights activist
Canan Arin was awaiting trial which could put her in jail for five
years because, in a conference speech on “child brides,” she had
criticized the Prophet Muhammad for marrying, according to some
accounts, a 9-year-old, and President Abdullah Gul, for marrying,
according to official accounts, a 15-year-old. Mrs Arin has been
prosecuted for “denigrating the values embraced by all or a part of
the society,” and for “insulting the president.”
Ironically, this trial takes place in a country where the government,
in rhetoric, has launched a campaign against child brides. Turkey
looks like a lost soul: Marrying a 15-year-old girl is normal but the
government fights underage marriages and an activist who criticizes
child marriages faces a five-year prison sentence!
Fortunately, criticizing rape or sexual harassment has not yet fallen
into the catalogue of crimes under the heading “denigrating the values
embraced by all or a part of the society,” since Turkish criminal
statistics show that quite a number of Turks have embraced both as
their values.
Only a few weeks before the inflow of “halal courtroom news,” a
Turkish sociologist had likened atheism to autism, not because both
words start with an “a” and end with the suffix “ism,” but because he
believed that autistic children cannot go to heaven. The professor,
who happens to be the chairman of an association that should provide
care and education for autistic children, even proudly unveiled his
plans to provide therapy for autistic children “so that they could
become faithful children.” In a saner country, of course, the
sociologist would have been forced to have therapy “so that he could
become a saner scientist” – if not arrested for child abuse.
And three days ago, Mahmut Macit, a senior member of AKP’s Ankara
provincial board, flared up about insults against believers with a
tweet that read: “My blood boils when spineless psychopaths pretending
to be atheists swear at my religion. These raped types should be
annihilated.”
Mr Macit probably falls into the third category of Islamists: Those
Islamists who officially belong to the second category but cannot hide
their true sentiments that they actually belong to the first category.
You may dislike Mr Macit, or condemn him for his remarks which no
prosecutor will think “denigrate the values embraced by all or a part
of the society.” But at least you must thank him for being honest
while his second-category peers quietly praise him, even while
publicly denouncing him.