Mustafa Destici, the head of Turkey’s Great Unity Party, “wants his government to expel tens of thousands of Armenian nationals residing in Turkey in retaliation against France for declaring a remembrance day for victims of the World War I-era genocide of Armenians.”
Note: the term “right wing” is used in this story to describe Destici’s Great Unity Party, in the context of Turkish “nationalism.” To Leftists, anyone who ascribes to nationalism is “right wing” — from those who support human rights and democracy to those who support Nazism and Iranian and Turkish nationalism. This labeling is designed to discredit patriotic nationalists who are trying to defend their nations by associating them with the likes of Destici.
Although Destici is presented as outlandishly “far right,” he is quite in line with Turkey’s Islamic supremacist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has furiously denied the Armenian genocide. Back in 2016, Erdogan accused German MPs of Turkish origin who recognized the genocide of being “terrorists” and having “impure blood.” Erdogan also claimed that it was “not possible for a Muslim to commit genocide.” Many of these MPs who supported the Armenians received death threats.
“Rightwing Turkish politician calls for expulsion of Armenian migrants,” by Ayla Jean Yackley, Eurasianet, February 8, 2019:
A far-right Turkish politician wants his government to expel tens of thousands of Armenian nationals residing in Turkey in retaliation against France for declaring a remembrance day for victims of the World War I-era genocide of Armenians.
President Emmanuel Macron said this week France would mark April 24 as a “national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide.” Turkey’s government, which denies the killings amounted to a genocide, has vigorously condemned the decision.
Researchers estimate between 10,000 and 30,000 Armenian nationals are in Turkey, many of whom have overstayed tourist visas after finding work there. They often face greater scrutiny when foreign governments pressure Turkey to formally recognize the genocide.
“There are 100,000 Armenians here who came from Armenia and are illegally filling their stomachs. I’m saying we should expel them. Why are we letting them stay? While they lobby against Turkey, we continue to feed them,” Mustafa Destici, who leads the small Great Unity Party (BBP), said at a campaign rally on February 7.
It was not clear where Destici came up with a figure of 100,000 nor what “lobbying” efforts Armenian labor migrants living in Turkey could have conducted to persuade Macron. It is not the first time Destici has used the number, or threatened to expel Armenian citizens from Turkey; he made a similar demand in 2015. In 2017, he called on Russia to abandon its military alliance with Armenia.
Destici’s hardline party only receives a few hundred thousand votes in Turkish elections but retains an outsized influence at a time of heightened nationalism in Turkey. In June, the BBP joined President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s electoral alliance, along with a larger right-wing group, in parliamentary and presidential polls, earning one seat in parliament.
Erdogan has in the past suggested kicking out undocumented Armenian nationals in response to moves by other nations to recognize the genocide. In 2015, he said Turkey could “deport” them if it wished, evoking the Ottoman Empire’s deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians to the Syrian desert during World War I.
But Erdogan has also taken unprecedented steps toward acknowledging the pain of the descendants of the killings. Each April 24, he offers his condolences to the 60,000 or so Turkish citizens of Armenian descent who remain in Turkey.
The day after his original statement, Destici issued another statement clarifying that he had no quibble with Turkey’s Armenian citizens, for whom he had “endless respect,” he said.
Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s spokesman, said in a statement this week he “violently condemned” France’s decision to commemorate April 24, saying the allegations of genocide lack a legal basis. France legally recognized the killings as genocide in 2001, and another two dozen nations have done so as well.
Turkey argues that both Turks and Armenians died during internecine warfare amid the chaos of World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. However, most Western scholars agree that around 1.5 million Armenians perished in a systematic genocide that began in 1915…..
Terry Gain says
Muslims should be denied entry to every civilized nation until Erdogan and GAAS apologize for the Armenian holocaust.
Frank Anderson says
T.G., I do not believe an apology would have any meaning whatever under the Islamic doctrine of lying whenever it helps their cause. As long as islam teaches all the barbaric, uncivilized disrespect for values of freedom and liberty, no muslim should be accepted as “normal” in non-muslim societies. Please reconsider.
gravenimage says
True, Frank.
Gene says
Why would you end a good policy just because Erdogan apologizes?
gravenimage says
Erdogan is never going to apologize, in any case.
Eur says
I hope that this time Muslims do not kill the Armenians.
Matthew D Schroeder says
Of course, in Quranic terms, Erdogan is right. Muslims can’t commit genocide, because non-Muslims aren’t really human. Killing the “vilest of created beings”– what’s wrong with that?
mortimer says
Mustafa Destici wants to EXPEL Armenians from Turkey to PROVE that there was no GENOCIDE OF 2Mn ARMENIANS between 1870 and 1925.
Ethnic cleansing will surely NOT convince the world that a GENOCIDE did not occur.
Mustafa Destici wants to complete the genocide against Armenians.
GreekEmpress says
+1
I don’t understand any Armenian (or Greek) wanting to live in Turkey. As recently as 2007 Hrant Dink, journalist and editor of a Turkish/Armenian newspaper was assassinated by a Turkish nationalist. Dink was also prosecuted 3 times for speaking out about Turkish/Armenian relations and the genocide. His “crime” was “denigrating Turkishness”.
gravenimage says
GreekEmpress, Jihad Watch covered the terrible murder of Hrant Dink at the time:
“I shot the non-Muslim”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2007/01/i-shot-the-non-muslim
Muslim Turks were so enraged over his saying that Muslims had murdered Armenians that they had to murder another Armenian…
gravenimage says
True, Mortimer.
mortimer says
Many Muslim Turks are descended from Armenians… parents, grandparents, etc. They would need to implement laws like the Nuremburg racial laws.
gravenimage says
Most Muslims are descended from the victims of Islam, Mortimer.
Wellington says
The denial by Turkey to this very day of the Armenian genocide by Turks during WWI serves as both a condemnation of Islam and Turkish nationalism, including secular Turks like Mustapha Kemal (Ataturk).
The incapacity to apologize for past wrongdoings is a characteristic of every culture and civilization on earth EXCEPT Western Civilization. The West has unambiguously apologized for its wrongs, which often have been less than the wrongs of other societies (e.g., the Islamic world’s enslavement of blacks began in the seventh century as opposed to the West’s which only began in the fifteenth century, and the West has profusely apologized for this, contra the Islamic world, which has NEVER apologized for its role in black African slavery, starting with Mohammed himself, and which is why any black who is a Muslim is even more confused where proper priorities, decency and common sense are concerned than other Muslims).
When have American Indians apologized for barbarism directed against other American Indians or whites? When has the sub-Saharan African world apologized for the enslavement or genocide of one black African tribe against another (Tutsi against Hutu as recently as 1994)? And the Asian world has blood on its hands many times over for genocidal and enslavement activities directed against others, e.g., the Rape of Nanking, December 1937-January 1938 by the Japanese and Mao and his Communist “associates” of the murder of millions of fellow Chinese.
Seems only the West has to apologize for its wrongs (and I don’t include Russia as part of the West and which nation has never formally apologized for anything even though it has so much to apologize for). This is demonstrative of what a phony, double-standard world we live in. By now, one knows this or should know it.
I hate hypocrisy and the bitter irony here is that the West, which is the least hypocritical civilization on earth, is accused of hypocrisy more than any other culture or civilization on earth. Indeed, what a phony world we live in.
Avenger says
You were doing great Wellington until you spoke of Orthodox Russia not being a Western nation and never apologizing for past military atrocities.
In 2010, Putin and the Russian Parliament publicly apologized to Poland for the Katyn Forrest massacres. In 2006, Putin apologized to the Czech Republic for the 1968 Soviet invasion of Prague. Also remember that many Russians died liberating Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany.
Russia has only been communist for 84 years and its worst atrocities were under that facist form of government. Eighty four years of communism compared to Russia’s actual existence of 1160 years is but a blink of the eye.
As far as Russia “not” being a Western nation is ludicrous. Russia is predominantly Christian with a very Western style legal system but in Wellington’s view, Orthodox Christians can never be Western they have no Pope.
Wellington says
Avenger: Well, as Kepha recently wrote here just the other day at JW quoting P.J. O’Rourke, Russia is the West’s idiot half-sister. But I digress. Now to your points one-by-one.
I’ll begin with your last one and move “upwards.” First, I am an agnostic and don’t consider the West the West because some Westerners are Roman Catholic and look to the Pope as God’s representative on earth (though the present Pope, and perhaps here we can agree, is a huge disappointment all around). Loads of Westerners have been Protestant and thus the bishop of Rome means little to nothing to them. Then there are skeptics like myself who are not religious at all (as many Founding Fathers of America were—not atheists but also not believing in the divinity of Jesus, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin serving as two such examples). So, you set up a semi-straw man here and then knocked it down. Cheap and inaccurate stuff.
The apology for the Katyn massacre which Russia denied for decades became necessary by 2010 since continuing to deny it, in the face of overwhelming evidence, would be akin to Turkey continuing to deny the Armenian Genocide during WWI. So, here Russia is ahead of Turkey but being ahead of Turkey in this regard should not result in any kind of adulation.
Regarding the 1968 Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia (and I hope you are not one of those who wants to draw a distinction between “Russian” and “Soviet” since the two were essentially synonymous as Latvians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Moldavians, et al. would readily agree), it was egregious in the extreme and so how could Putin for PR purposes do other than apologize for this? (And do you really think he meant it?) But at the same time, Putin indicated that the Czech Republic being provided with an extremely limited missile defense by the US, a missile defense which could possibly knock down a handful of missiles at best, posed a mortal threat to Russia which could strike the Czech Republic with literally hundreds upon hundreds of medium-range missiles. The missile defense offered the Czech Republic by Bush 43 was meant to enable Czechs to down a rogue missile or two launched by a heinous polity like Iran and in no way posed any kind of rational military threat to Russia, though Putin averred otherwise. How pathetic too was Obama withdrawing said missile offer by the US to the Czech Republic and Poland without getting ANYTHING from Putin in return.
Yes, many Russian soldiers (whose bravery I have never denied, indeed I have lauded Russian courage many times here at JW)) died liberating many nations, including Czechoslovakia, from Nazi rule but this was simply replaced with another tyranny, i.e., the USSR dominated by Russians. Replacing one tyranny with another should receive plaudits from no decent person. Get this? A la George Kennan, Russia looks upon its neighbors as vassals or enemies, whether under Czars, First Secretaries or now Putin. Don’t take this up with me first and foremost, take it up with Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Finns, Georgians—ah yes, it’s a long list.
As for Russia before Lenin, Trotsky, et al., it was a place where most were serfs, where freedom was absent, where the achievements of countries like England, France, The Netherlands, et al. massively eclipsed any achievements by Russia (which helps explain why Peter the Great who yanked Russia somewhat into modern times made that famous journey of his in disguise because so many Western nations were so far ahead of Russia and he knew it) and where such rot as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was created.
Look, I have long honored Russian courage and Russian achievements in the intellectual and artistic spheres, but on the matter of liberty Russia has been a moron over and over and over again. This is Russia’s huge character flaw and it has not only hurt non-Russians but Russians themselves for many centuries now. And, as Pope John Paul II said back in the early years of his pontificate, Poland is about as far east as one can go and still be entirely within the orb of Western Civilization. Just so.
Your turn for rebuttal if you care.
gravenimage says
Fine posts, Wellington.
And Russia itself regularly denies being a Western nation.
GreekEmpress says
+1
I abhor the hypocrisy too.
gravenimage says
Turkey: Politician calls for expulsion of Armenians as revenge for French recognition of Armenian genocide
…………..
In other words, if anyone dares notice that Turkey expelled and murdered most of its Armenian population a hundred years ago, then Muslim Turks will get “revenge” by expelling the last of them…
Brutal Muslim “logic”.
zimriel says
“not possible for a Muslim to commit genocide”
Well, yeah. If a Muslim does it to a kafir, it’s not a crime.
GreekEmpress says
Graven,
Thanks for the link—I just read it.
gravenimage says
Thank you, GreekEmpress.
The Armenian Genocide–really, a genocide of *all* Christians in Turkey–was the worst, but the surviving remnant of Christians has suffered since. For instance, there was a pogrom against Greek Christians in Istanbul in the 1950s:
“Turkey’s Kristallnacht: When Greeks Were Targeted at the Istanbul Pogrom”
https://greece.greekreporter.com/2018/09/06/turkeys-kristallnacht-when-greeks-were-targeted-at-the-istanbul-pogrom-photos/
GreekEmpress says
Graven,
Thanks for that link, too. I don’t know how I missed it—I read Greek Reporter and I try to keep up with what’s going on over there.
gravenimage says
Thank you.
somehistory says
“Don’t speak of our crimes or we will commit more. We will commit more anyway, but this is a warning not to make a mention of our crimes.” from the minds of moslims.
This mindset is displayed often…when a terror attack has been investigated and the moslim culprit is facing punishment, other moslims threaten attacks. If a never moslim begins to work against islam in a big public way, threats are made against him/her, accusing of hatred of moslims and promising more terror.
It is no surprise that this situation with the Armenians is taking place. As Mr. Glazov has written, moslims are psychopaths, which means they never accept responsibility for wrongs done, but threaten the same kinds of wrongs if mention is made of previous crimes. They can use what they did before to reinforce the danger of going against them, but others must not mention these same things because to do so is to point out how evil they are.
Knowing what happened before, it is a wonder that Armenians would wish to go to turkey and a surprise they would wish to stay.
gravenimage says
Somehistory wrote:
“Don’t speak of our crimes or we will commit more…
……………..
Absolutely spot on, Somehistory.
Necrophage says
So in revenge for someone noticing their violent persecution of a minority people, they will continue persecuting the same minority people.
Islam is a mental disease.
Lookmann says
Another forgotten Islamic genocide by Indonesia :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_timor_genocide
gravenimage says
Yes. I am glad that East Timor is finally free.