This presentation of the case against Elif Shafak for "insulting Turkishness" unfortunately dodges the issues of religion in both the genocide of Armenian Christians by Muslims, and concerning the tensions in present-day Turkey resulting from its maneuvering to join the EU. Like so many other fronts in the jihad, it is being misrepresented as merely a "nationalistic" struggle. From AP: "Leading author faces trial in Turkey"
ISTANBUL, Turkey - Elif Shafak, one of Turkey's leading authors, is about to have a baby -- and go on trial.
The reason for this strange conjunction of joy and foreboding is her new novel, which has exposed her to a charge of "insulting Turkishness" because it touches on one of the most disputed episodes of her country's history -- the massacres of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
A University of Arizona literature professor, the 35-year-old Shafak divides her time between Tucson and Istanbul. She sought a postponement of her trial, set for Sept. 21, until after her first child is born but was refused.
She could get three years in prison, though similar trials of other Turkish writers have usually folded on technicalities and no one has gone to jail.
For now, she is sitting at a cafe on an Istanbul back street, reflecting on the peculiarities of being tried for the words she gave to an Armenian voice in the novel.
"I think my case is very bizarre because for the first time they are trying fictional characters," Shafak, a striking woman with unruly locks of blond hair, told The Associated Press.
The case has broad ramifications, highlighting a rising wave of Turkish nationalism and the whole question of whether Turkey, a Western ally and NATO member, should be admitted to the liberal, democratic European Union -- something the Bush administration supports.
Turks who long for EU membership worry that trials of writers are setting back their cause. But nationalists such as Kemal Kerincsiz, one of the lawyers suing Shafak, say Turkey shouldn't have to forsake bedrock convictions -- for instance, that there was never any Armenian genocide -- just to please Europe.
"The Easterner has to insult himself and degrade his own culture to ingratiate himself with the West," Kerincsiz said in a recent interview. "Our place is in Eastern culture."
Shafak said the law on insulting Turkishness "has been used as a weapon to silence many people. ... My case is perhaps just another step in this long chain."
That chain includes Turkey's best known novelist, Orhan Pamuk, and dozens of other writers and intellectuals forced to defend themselves against charges of "insulting Turkishness."
Shafak says the rising nationalism is a reaction to Turkey becoming more democratic and pluralistic as it strives to join the EU, and welcomes it as a sign her country is undergoing a momentous transformation.
"This ultranationalist movement is taking place not because nothing is changing in Turkey, but just the opposite, because things are changing," said Shafak. "The bigger the transformation, the bigger their panic."
The novel in question, "The Bastard of Istanbul," deals with taboos -- domestic violence and incestuous rape -- that are rarely discussed in this conservative, predominantly Muslim country.
But it is what her Armenian-American characters say that has landed Shafak in court.
For instance, this from a man worried about his niece being brought up by a Turkish stepfather:
"What will that innocent lamb tell her friends when she grows up? ... (That) I am the grandchild of genocide survivors who lost all their relatives to the hands of Turkish butchers in 1915, but I myself have been brainwashed to deny the genocide because I was raised by some Turk named Mustapha!"
Turkey insists the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians during forced evacuations in World War I was not a planned genocide but the result of the bloody breakup of the Ottoman Empire.
Shafak's book has sold 60,000 copies, a best seller by Turkish standards, and will appear in English next year.
[...]
She does not take sides on the genocide debate, but accuses Turkey of having "collective amnesia."
"Turks and Armenians are not speaking the same language," she said. "For the Turks all the past is gone, erased from our memories. That's the way we Westernized: by being future-oriented. ... The grandchildren of the 1915 survivors tend to be very, very past-oriented."
And who can blame them? The loss of 1.5 million fellow Armenians would tend to stick in one's mind.
I sent the following to Bush 43 in January, 2005. Of course, I got no response:
Dear Sir:
“The twentieth century was marred by wars of unimaginable brutality, mass murder and genocide. History records that the Armenians were the first people of the last century to have endured these cruelties. The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension and commands all decent people to remember and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the Armenian people."
George W. Bush, February 19, 2000
With all due respect, I don't think candidate Bush was referring to a then potential second term or perhaps a poster in the subsequent George W. Bush Presidential Library. In less than 19 days you will have let these people down.
Please don't do that. The date to commerate is April 24, 1915. Ninety years.
Your supporter and fellow Republican,
[update, 9/2006: I'm still a Republican. No I wouldn't have voted for Kerry in retrospect, but ... damn.]
Armenian Genocide
http://www.bibleprobe.com/christianmartyrs-armenia.htm
Somebody mind telling me why my link on the genocide of Armenians was removed ? I have posted it several times, I admit that. But it did have accurate information.
Somebody mind telling me why my link on the Armenian genocide was removed ? I have posted it several times, I admit that. But it did have accurate information.
Somebody mind telling me why my link on the Armenian genocide was removed ? I have posted it several times, I admit that. But it did have accurate information.
Somebody mind telling me why my link on the Armenian genocide was removed ? I have posted it several times, I admit that. But it did have accurate information.
It might be a technical issue. I looked at this thread a few minutes ago; it said there were 2 comments, but only the first was showing up. And then your link (very informative, by the way) popped up with a 4:33am timestamp.
one word:
BOYCOTT TURKEY!!!!!!
Shafak seems like a creative, modern Turk, very intelligent and independent minded. She is hailed as a brilliant writer and professor-- but a look at her
current column in Zaman reveals another side of her thinking.
In her criticism of "Islamophobia" in Europe she brings up reminders of European anti-Semitism, without any reference to Muslim anti-Semitism.
She writes of Europe's historical “racism" and "hatred of foreigners" as she introduces what she calls the new problem of Islamophobia. Her aligning of these concepts is telling.
She writes that Oriana Fallaci, to whom she refers as "he," “only knows how to write patriotic literature with prejudices and whose hair stands on end when Islam is mentioned."
She calls Bernard Lewis "an inciter of Islamophobia."
She downplays the recent terrorist attempts in the UK and implies that generalizations from them to all Muslims serve the interests of those who would promote "Islamophobia." Later she refers to the "journalists and theoreticians, who produce Islamophobia." Nowhere does she acknowledge that there is any justification at all for Europeans to be wary of Muslims. She labels those arrested recently in the UK as the “minutest of the minority.”
And so on.
Shafak although having written a provocative novel, challenging the long-held myths and taboos of conservative Turkey, seems trapped in her Islamic mind-set which holds stereotypical views of Europeans and is accepting of conspiracy theories and Muslim victimology.
As Marisol says, the AP article dodges the role of religion in the rise of Turkish nationalism and in the Armenian genocide – apparently Shafak does too, just as she dodges the role of Islam in the rise of European “Islamophobia.”
The holocaust denial relating to Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks, who were mass-murdered by the Ottomans and then by Ataturk is shocking. Only a few European and South American countries as well as Canada, Russia, Armenia, Cyprus, and Lebanon have officially recognized that this genocide even took place.
Among the holocaust deniers are the US, the UK, India, and shockingly ISRAEL !!! whose dhimmi-filled foriegn ministry is afraid of alienating their supposed Turkish allies. Talk about self-delusion!
Provoslavni -
I can't and won't speak for the "US" government - however, the horrors of World War One are very well recorded and documented in lots of archeives around the world. When you peel back the truths of that war, brings us right back to the present.
Evil is as Evil does; words can only record it's horrorific nature.
Elif Shafak, is a victim of her own blinded thought. While she out lines the horrors of the Turkish history, she does not clearly define that it was Muslim's killing Christians. She states it was Ottoman Turks slaughter Armenians...
And, JEN is correct that her article in Zaman shows that she can't remove herself and look at things more objectively.
As a U of A Alumni - I don't want her back on campus despite how good she is as a Lit Professor.
KnightHawk
Provoslavni the US and UK denying the holocaust is not surprising. Nor does it surprise me Israel is still loyal to Turkey however I can see that changing. But India? I find that surprising. I know the vile Ghandi who is hated by most of my hindu friends played a role in the caliphate movement but I am surprised the country hasnt recongnized it. But then again the tragedy was far away and why take on the heat when countries like the US and the UK actively deny it.
KnightHawk and pissedoffcanadian,
It appears that dhimmitude is a widespread mental and sociological disorder. India is starting to wake up and hopefully Israel will replace their idiot prime-minister soon. Until then...?
Another good website on the Armenian Genocide is:
Armenian National Institute
http://www.armenian-genocide.org
It has a timeline covering the genocide along with pictures from the period and links to other websites of interest.