The difference between Turkey and other countries is the absolute lack of a moderate, democratic core of intellectuals that say the right things to steer the moral majority onto the right route. The result is that the chavinists steer popular opinion to increasingly jingoistic levels. Even in places like Pakistan, India or Bulgaria you will find a large middle class of open minded and engaged people that empathise with ‘the other’ and support minority rights.

On the other hand all too many modern seeming Turks are a veneer. They are so caught up in their chauvinism and hatred that they have forgotten that as other societies move forward and progress their own country is kept behind by the prisons of their narrow minds. Turkey lost its empire a long time ago and is set on a self-destructive trajectory as it tries to console itself with easy fixes (racism, demonising of Kurds, stifling of politics) which happen to hasten the rot further.

It is like they take only the most negative qualities of Western culture and at the same time eschew all of the good things – like a broad, liberal education!

It’s funny how people can misuse “freedom of speech” even as a term to justify their utter hatred and abusive bigotry like SAS has. Hate speech and justification of horrific crimes against a minority, as well as the denial of a historical genocide (he claimed that denying the Armenian genocide is within the limits of free speech, in such a mocking and disrespectful fashion) and that Kurds deserve no rights or dignity from the Turkish government for being terrorists. Thereby lumping an entire population that has existed for so many years to a single organization that has existed for only a few decades. Such ignorance and stupidity (he tried many times to change the subject and hatefully insult Bahrain as a country even though he had no relevant reason to, except me being from there) should not be dismissed as free speech. It is inciteful, racist, corrupt and completely disrespectful to the many Kurds who are reportedly under vicious abuse, which he finds to be entirely justified and in fact, encouraged, to protect Turkey. This attitude is revolting. It’s not challenging an opinion respectfully. It’s simply denying abuse for the sake of petty PR, and self-serving propaganda, despite an undeniable amount of deplorable factual information.

You’d think that people who boast of an education while living comfortably in the West would have some standards, or at least the slightest bit of awareness, but he has really embarrassed himself here especially after resorting to personal attacks. The irony is that he claimed to be defending Turkey against terrorism, when in fact he proved exactly why we are running KurdishRights.org. He shows exactly what innocent Kurds everywhere have to put up with.

As long as we are pissing such disturbing, oppressive people off then I believe we’re doing the right thing here.

Good luck with the website- I will be sure to check it out.

If you have something to say about the old thread, say it there. I can assure you that all of your comments will appear. Consider that whole thread yours. But please, let this thread be open for those who actually care about Kurdish human rights.

I find your referring to Kurds as misfits extremely distasteful. A population that is forcefully displaced, imprisoned, denied cultural rights, have their villages wiped out and so on could more accurately described as persecuted.

But interestingly, most of the headlines of the above website do not deal with Turkey at all.

Some of them deal with Iran, other with Syria. Others deal with countries like Germany that was forced to ban a Kurdish language channel because of all the incitement to violence it had been broadcasting ( Thank God ).

In fact, were I to browse the above site I would actually have walked away with the impression Kurds were misfits everywhere they went. Which is of course far from being the case…..in Turkey, for instance, they are very well integrated in the life of………oops may be I need not say too much lest I be accused of spreading “propaganda”