PM's Least Favourite Cartoonist Awarded

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 17 July 2006

PM's least favourite cartoonist gets Freedom of Press Award. PM Erdoğan had previously sued cartoonist Musa Kart for this image.......

Penguen Magazine subsequently published a front page cover featuring 8 animal caricatures of the PM in support of the original cartoonist. You could read the background at http://www.fecoweb.org/News/07-4-05Turkish%20cartoon%20lawsuit.html but this link seems to have disappeared. So try http://www.counterpunch.org/dickinson03312005.html instead.
Will the PM ever learn to be tolerant or at least intelligent enough to realise that legal action and attempts to censor expression merely creates a greater spotlight for the "offending" images? After all, this PM should be acutely aware of the need for freedom of expression since he was imprisoned for publicly reciting an Islamic poem including the lines:
"The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers..."

.......more love, peace and understanding from religious commentators eh!

Back in 1984 British pop group Frankie Goes To Hollywood received invaluable media attention when their single Relax was banned by the BBC for indecent lyrical suggestion. Of course Relax went onto become a No:1 hit for weeks.

Now it is the duty of WEMW to publish the cartoons of the PM so the public can better appreciate the mentality of the PM, his advisers and the prevailing attitude of authorities in Turkey.

While discussing the recent Prophet Mohammad cartoon controversy, a Muslim Turk and close associate of NPP commented that we in the West never produced cartoons about Jesus. Of course, we laughed because Jesus and the Bible have been the brunt end of endless jokes. One need only point to Monty Python's The Life of Brian as an example of the West coming to terms with satirical humour about spiritual belief.

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 17 July 2006

Protest Against Mayor Gokcek Using Ataturk

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 12 July 2006

We awoke yesterday to the story of a staue of Atatürk being removed from the Kızılay district in the Turkish capital Ankara. Apparently, architect-sculptor Ragip Çeçen wanted to publicly demonstrate against Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek for alleged failure to pay outstanding fees for work done. Aided by 6 frineds, the architect installed a 2.5m high statue of Atatürk at dawn while the attention of the police was focussed on a seperate demonstartion in another part of the town. The statue had to be removed by the Ankara Municipality using a crane. The sculpture depicted Atatürk pointing a finger and would be seen as a symbolic gesture pointing to the mayor's lack of commitment to the principles of Atatürk; Mayor Göçek is a member of the AKP government, an administration widely assumed to be less than enamoured with the legacy of Atatürk.
The next day we wake to find media debate over how appropriate is to use the image of Atatürk for personal demonstration and there is a photo of Mayor Gökçek describing the act of misusing Atatürk as ugly.
In addition to this bizarre story, the daily headlines report that AKP deputy Mr. Eyüp Ayar has been ordered to pay a fine of 5,000TL (approx. $3,200) for insulting Erkan Mumcu, leader of opposition party The Motherland Party (ANAVATAN), one of the opposition parties. The offending words were "You sly dog you" during a parlimentary debate. Also, Sabah newspaper have been fined 10,000TL for publicly humiliating Denis Baykal (Republican People's Party) by accusing him of hiding his financial assets. One really wonders if these politicians don't have anything better to do?

No wonder the most part of 70 million people continue to struggle on while the politicians debate their personal attributes and keep lawyers in fees.

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 12 July 2006

Rock Against Everything for Peace

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 10 July 2006

Representatives of NPP visited the Barışarock-Rock for peace HQ in Istanbul last week to offer the inclusion of the Rainbow Bridge peace concept with their festival. NPP had spotted an article in The New Anatolian newspaper featuring the rainbow colours and aligning them with peace.
The article said the festival was sponsored by Coca-Cola which surprised NPP since it had been assumed Barışarock had been initiated as an antithesis to such corporate brands as Coca-Cola. Indeed, it seems there must have been a misunderstanding or misprint in the newspaper because Barışarock representatives denied any association with Coca-Cola and even reject any offer of sponsorship from Coca-Cola or any other corporate party.

Further more, they are against using the national slogan Peace at Home, Peace in the World because Ataturk was a soldier of war and they associate the national 'peace' slogan with nationalism and nationalist parties in Turkey.

NPP came away from the meeting concluding how confused a country Turkey is. Surely the concept of peace must invlove embracement, tolerance and compromise; not be anti-everything. Unfortunately, peace means different things to different people and as the years have passed, NPP has been forced to realise how naive and unrealistic the concept of Rainbow Bridge is.

Barışarock did offer NPP to promote the Rainbow Bridge concept at the festival, but the over whelming feeling of anti-establishment and aligning Ataturk with negative right-ring nationalism left a depressing, sad and uncomfortable taste in the mouth.

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 10 July 2006

Turkey, Food Production & The EU

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 07 July 2006

In Turkey, 45% of the country is involved in the agricultural sector, but according to EU regulations this must be reduced to 15%. How is that going to happen and doesn't it seem ridiculous?

Currently, the Turkish Prime Minister is having trouble with the hazelnut producers. One of his closest advisers, Cüneyd Zapsu, has business interests in hazelnut processing. In the late 1980s, he became the chairman of the Association of Hazelnut Exporters. As he further expanded his own business, Zapsu also became the chairman of the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council, which brings together representatives of hazelnut producers from some 50 countries. Subsequently, accusations of personal interest over and above the national and public interest have been publicly voiced, see: http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=51467

This may lead us to the wider subject matter of food production and abstract questions such as how do companies like Coke and Red Bull make so much money from American coloured sugar water and sugared caffine overdose? Because the public apparently want it, buy it and that's democracy.

Nuts innit?! But, nothing we can do but publish a blog! Nuts oh hazelnuts - Cadbury's take them and then cover them chocolate!

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 07 July 2006

Same Old Rhetoric & Faces In Turkey

An open letter to
Mr. Kanli Yusuf
Editor
Turkish Daily News

Dear Sir,

having just glanced through http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr we read the following:

"Early elections would bring relief." Mehmet Agar, Leader DYP

Isn't it blatantly obvious the next election will merely give the AKP another mandate to govern Turkey? Unless there is something going on the public is not privy to (of course someone somewhere always has a hidden agenda), there appears to be no substantial opposition in Turkish politics, just as there has been no substantial opposition in British politics for the last 10 years.
Why do politicians insist on nonsensical rhetoric? Why does the media insist on publishing it? Why does the public continue to swallow it?
Because, that's what politicians do, that's what the media does and the public tends to eventually consume whatever it is given.

It seems the same old faces run Turkish politics and Turkish football (it's important, 1/6 of the world watching the World Cup this month) and incredibly, there are even more of the same old faces waiting to come around yet again.

And then we read:

"Nobody has the right to attack religious and cultural values of societies. All freedoms have a limit. You cannot have unlimited freedoms, there has never been unlimited freedom of expression in history"
This is a quote from Turkish Prime Minister Tayiip Erdogan in an address to Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as reported by The Turkish Daily News.

Surely, this matter was addressed by Turkey's founding father years ago when he stated:

"Freedom consists of man's ability to do what he thinks and desires without any influence or intervention by others. This is the broadest definition of the concept. Mankind has never attained liberty to this extent and never will because as is known, men are creations of nature and nature itself is not absolutely free either; it is subject to universal laws."
Ataturk c.1930

Maybe it's just the humid weather, but I am so bored, so incredibly bored with the same old mind set, same old games, same old rhetoric. I don't suppose it will change in the short term and why does one even bother to voice another little drop in the vast ocean of opinions? Then again, I don't suppose my opinion is any less ridiculous than those we read today.

I can only ask, please, the public of the Turkish Republic, think about who you are supporting and who you will next vote for to run your country. I know, I may be having a proverbial wee wee in the proverbial wind, but I can still hope; can't I?

Good luck Turkiye! From what we read, you need it.

Best wishes, Arther C. Withernee
Correspondent for NPP

English Artist Risks Trial

This article is about an English artist depicting Prime Minister Erdogan as a dog. It is copied and pasted directly from The Turkish Daily News. Thank goodness no has drawn Erdogan with his underpants outside his trousers as they did with British PM Major or with Mrs. Thatcher's testicles!
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=46144
Turkish prosecutors are investigating an English artist for exhibiting a collage that depicts Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a dog receiving a prize in a pet show from U.S. President George W. Bush.
Michael Dickinson, a long-time resident of Istanbul, displayed the collage in March without permission from the organizers of an Istanbul show dedicated to peace along with other 'authorized' works themed mostly on Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and opposition to the war in Iraq.
"It came to me in a flash. I thought, 'Damn the consequences, I must put that picture up'," Dickinson told Agence France-Presse.
After the curator of the exhibit was charged with "insulting the dignity of the prime minister," Dickinson wrote to the court claiming responsibility and is now himself being investigated on the same charges.
If indicted, he will stand trial and risk one to three years in jail. The British art movement Stuckism, to which Dickinson belongs, condemned the probe as an "intolerable" repression of freedom of expression in a country seeking to join the European Union. It also wrote to Blair, asking him to put pressure on the Turkish authorities to drop the case. Last year, Erdogan sued a newspaper for publishing a cartoon depicting him as a cat. He later sued a humour magazine that protested against the lawsuit by running a cover depicting the prime minister as a variety of animals. The lawsuits prompted critics to question Erdogan's declared commitment to freedom of expression.

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 14 June 2006

The Image Of Modern Turkey

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silva are in Turkey for a week. It’s the first visit by a Swedish monarch in over 70 years. In 1934 , the King's Grandfather, Crown Prince Adolf VI Gustaf visited and met with Ataturk.

Queen Silva was received at a lunch hosted by Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc’s wife Munevver and attended by the PM’s wife Emine Erdogan and the Foreign Minister’s wife Hayrunnisa Gul as well as the wives of other ministers and deputies.

The photo caption in the The New Anatolian was:
“Headscarved welcome for Swedish Queen Silva.”
So, from Ataturk's vision back in 1923, this is the image of the modern Turkish Republic in 2006.

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 01 June 2006

We Love Sofi

Hagia Sofya should be a mosque again?

Oh Turkey, but I guess it's the same for many nations where political wrangling upsets the market place while the everyday bod in the street gets by one way or another. Why should anyone be surprised? This is where East meets West; where cultures mix, clash and collaborate. This is a country where secular principles were laid down to help manage those clashes and collaborations; not easy within today's level of the world human psyche.
This is a country where a political party is free to declare a proposal that Hagia Sofya be returned to the status of a working mosque; whose cultural capital Istanbul is still called Constantinople by Greeks. No doubt there may be deep lingering feelings of many kinds in Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Bulgaria. That's 7 countries bordering Turkiye, let alone the EU, the USA, Asia and beyond. No wonder Turkey so often gets a bad press. And there is Ataturk, the man who tried to seperate religion from politics. Do either the USA or Iran want that?

Well, at least in Istanbul, this yabanci (foreigner) feels free to believe in whatever he chooses.

I have an artist friend of whom I never know if he'll be miserable or elated or calm. But, he's usually good for a passing quote on life, love and the above:

"Paintin's like football - you gotta score! Score a goal like scoring a sale at the right price. That keeps all the punters happy and allows my business to be creative. When we're creative, people get employed and paid. All the punters like a good score.
Whatever I feel about the creative process, it is like religion - it's my business! Not yours, not the next door neighbour's, not the Pope's nor Bush, Blair, Godfathers, Bishops, Imans, Vicars nor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran or Castro in Cuba. If I have profound spiritual experiences or if I feel nothing at all - it's my business! The secular constitution alows me at least that freedom - it leaves your personal business as your own and private business. "

Snowy Sofi 1995

It is interesting to note that the man calling for Hagia Sofya to be returned to mosque status was former Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan. He was recently found guilty of embezzling state funds and sentenced to prison. A recent proposal has been voiced within Turkish political circles to abolish the immunity of members of parliament with regard to corruption, yet the proposal has been either sidelined or denied by the current ruling body. The current government changed the law to allow Erbakan to serve his prison sentence at home; old age and ill health cited as the justifications. The former PM was healthy enough and at liberty to give a public speech over the past weekend. During the 1990’s when Erbakan came to power, he also generated debate regarding the building of a mosque in Taksim Square. This proposal was also supported by current PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan while he was Mayor of Istanbul.

We love Hagia Sofya at WEMW; or Sofi, as NPP refer to her. If the Muslim makes her a mosque, then maybe the Christian will consider reclaiming her for Byzantine times gone by and where will it all stop? Surely a museum has been an excellent solution where all races and religions can visit and marvel at one of the wonders of the world.

Sofi? She's beautiful just as she is!

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 31 May 2006