THE DAILY BLADE: If At First You Don’t Succeed …
Talk about unfortunate timing: Just as European Union diplomats were bending over backwards (or were they just bending over?) to reassure Turkey that a proposal requiring member states to criminalize "publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes" will not include the Armenian Genocide, a group of young Turkish nationalists savagely murdered three Christian employees of a bible publishing company in the name of Islam. One of the victims, German citizen Tilman Ekkehart Geske, who was 46, was buried April 20th at an Armenian cemetery in the town of Malatya, a hotbed of nationalism and the hometown of Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981.
The other victims were Turks who had converted to Christianity from Islam. One of them, Necati Aydin, 26, had previously been charged with insulting Islam and was imprisoned for one month after he was caught distributing bibles in Izmir. As in the case of January’s assassination of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink - who was convicted of insulting Turkishness for pressing Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide - nationalists used Aydin’s prosecution as justification to impose a death sentence.
In two other chilling parallels to Dink’s murder, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul lamented the effect the killings would have on his country's image, and a group of 150 marchers in Istanbul lit candles and unfurled a banner that read "We are all Christians." After Dink’s murder, they were all Armenians, remember?
A supposedly secular nation, Turkey is deeply suspicious of, and hostile to, the Christian minorities living in its midst. The string of attacks on Turkey's Christian community – comprising less than 1 percent of the country’s population of 71 million - that have occurred over the last 14 months include the murders of three Catholic priests, one of whom was praying in church when he was shot to death.The Associated Press quotes several Turkish media outlets on the motives of the 11 nationalists who have been detained for questioning in connection with the murders as of this writing:
One group of suspects detained in the slayings Wednesday told investigators they carried out the killings to protect Islam, a Turkish newspaper reported. …
"We didn't do this for ourselves, but for our religion," Hurriyet newspaper quoted a suspect as saying. "Our religion is being destroyed. Let this be a lesson to enemies of our religion." …
Local media said the suspects were students, and that the residence where they were staying belongs to an Islamic foundation. …
In a statement, Ronald Pofalla, general secretary of Germany’s Christian Democrat Party - which opposes Turkey's accession to the EU - said: "The Turkish state is still far from the freedom of religion that marks Europe."
Turkey’s Christians are becoming increasingly fearful that as the country becomes more nationalistic and Islamist, they will be repeated targets for violence. The Associated Press reports:
Christian leaders said they worried that nationalists were stoking hostilities against non-Turks and non-Muslims by exploiting growing uncertainty over Turkey's place in the world.
The uncertainty - and growing suspicion against foreigners - has been driven by the faltering EU bid, a resilient Kurdish separatist movement and by increasingly vocal Islamists who see themselves - and Turkey - as locked in battle with a hostile Christian West. …
Nationalists, who have long dominated public debate in Turkey, have also begun to call for Turkey to withdraw its EU bid and make its own way in the world. Some young men indoctrinated with a vision of Turkish greatness - and with a view of the West as intent on keeping the Islamic world weak - view non-Muslims with suspicion. …
Against these developments, the EU is making a grave mistake in letting Turkey off the hook for the genocidal murder of Armenian Christians by their Ottoman forebears. With nationalism and Islamism joining in an unholy alliance, history will surely repeat itself. The Turks got away with it the first time, so what’s to stop them from finishing the job now?
Click Here If You Want To Stop Genocide
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is launching a 10-day Internet campaign - "Click for Justice" - that will help voters send targeted e-mail messages to their Senators and Representatives urging passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106/S.Res.106), and advocating that the U.S. take an active role in ending the genocide in Darfur. The online campaign, which takes place April 20th to 30th, also includes outreach to MySpace and Facebook members. More than 100,000 postcards promoting the "Click for Justice" campaign have been distributed at events and university campuses nationwide. Organizations and student associations that would like to participate can e-mail clickforjustice@anca.org. If you prefer snail mail, use this stamp.
Bright Lights, Big City
For more than a quarter-century, 200 10,000-watt upward-facing floodlights on the 72nd and 81st floors of the
Empire State Building bathed the upper floors of the legendary Art Deco skyscraper in light from dusk till dawn. As part of a $400 million refurbishing project, the floodlights will soon be replaced with computer-controlled light-emitting diodes (LEDs) "capable of producing millions of colors and infinite patterns," reports The New York Times. The article also includes this bit of trivia: On May 1, 1931 President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington, D.C. to turn the skyscraper's lights on for the first time, and that revolving beacons (AKA "Freedom Lights") that symbolized peace were added in 1956.As The Stiletto’s office is graced with a huge picture window facing the Empire State Building, she is looking forward to the new, improved light show.
If This Is Just A Dream, The Stiletto Does Not Want To Wake Up (Part II)
Remember those caffeinated doughnuts The Stiletto told you about (third item)? Well, here’s something else that’s the stuff of dreams: Booze boosts the antioxidant activity of strawberries and other fruit used in ’Ritas and other summery libations, according to research published in Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. As The Stiletto has been known to sip into something frosty instead of her usual vodka martini (third item) when the weather gets steamy, this is welcome news.
Comments