In this mailing:
by Burak Bekdil
• October 19, 2014 at 5:00 am
It
was the Islamists who, since they came to power in the 2000s, have reaped
the biggest political gains from the "Palestine-fetish."
But
the Turkish rhetoric on "solidarity" with our Palestinian
brothers often seems askew to how solidarity should be.
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Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right)
gives a warm welcome to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who travelled from
Gaza to Turkey on an official visit in January 2012. (Image source:
MEMRI)
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"The Palestinian cause" is a unique charm that brings
together Turks from different ideologies. Turkish Islamists view it as an
indispensable part of "jihad;" the conservatives feel attached
to it because it has a religious connotation; for the leftists it is part
of an "anti-imperialist" struggle; the nationalists embrace it
just because most Turks embrace it. In the 1970s, when a dozen Turks a
day on average were killed in street violence, the "Palestinian
cause" was the only issue that otherwise warring fractions of the
Turkish left, right and Islamists could agree on.
But it was the Islamists who, in the 2000s, made the biggest gains
from the concept. Since 2002, when they came to power, they have reaped
enormous political gains from the "Palestine-fetish," to which
they also love to be ideologically attached. For the Turks, it has been
like abusing alcohol and wanting to have a healthier life. It still is.
by Raheel Raza
• October 19, 2014 at 4:00 am
One
blogger writes that Malala hates Pakistan's military. I believe it is the
other way around.
I
would so like to see the day when Malala is welcomed back in Pakistan,
with the whole country cheering.
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Malala Yousafzai is awarded the Sakharov Prize for
freedom of thought, by Martin Schulz, President of the European
Parliament, in Strasbourg on November 20, 2013. (Image source: Claude
Truong-Ngoc/Wikimedia Commons)
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Ever since Malala Yousafzai -- winner this month of the Nobel Peace
Prize -- came on the scene in October 2012 in a shocking way, after being
shot in the face by the Taliban at the age of 15, I have been watching
the conspiracy theories unfold.
One of the highlights of The Girl Summit, hosted by Prime Minister
David Cameron in the UK last July, was that Malala attended, along with
her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai. As a fellow Pakistani, I congratulated
him on Malala's successes and for being the model father that every girl
would want to have. He said thank you but acknowledged, sadly, that in
Pakistan there is a lot of hostility against them.
This did not come as a surprise. Not everyone is proud of Malala.
Sadly, Pakistan has not fully celebrated its Nobel laureates, and
conspiracy theories still abound.
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