Hasan represents all that is good in Turkey, he is the organiser of the East Mediterranean Yacht Rally. To the casual reader it may seem hard to believe that a yacht rally can be a force for peace in the Middle East, but trust me, as someone who has been on it, it is just that.
This year, for the first time in over twenty years the rally was cancelled due to the problems in that region and with Turkey also suffering, as she now is, things are getting worse not better and the problems I should point out move inexorably closer to western Europe.
Hasan and people like him are striving to keep Turkey free from thought control and domination by so called religious men who say that God is good and yet do evil in his name. Personally I am a non believer, but I would defend anyone's right to believe what seems right to them and to worship as they see fit. I'd even accept the right to evangelize or put forward ideas - after all I do.
Protestants and catholics have largely stopped killing one another, Sunnis and Shias must learn the lesson too and learn in fact, to tolerate both other religions and secular, humanist society too. It is simply not possible to rationalize the idea that your God is good and that violence and murder are OK.
I will shut up now. Here is Hasan's message, with some practical suggestions for how we can all help.
Dear Gill & Maslcolm,
This
time I don’t have good news from Turkey. Probably you receive the news
from your TV’s what is happening in Turkey over the past few days
starting from 27th May 2013.
The
first article attached was written few days ago by a friend of mine who
is a Turkish sailor and her friend is from New Zealand. The second and
third articles explain that the situation in Turkey is becoming more
difficult for the Turkish people if they don’t agree or accept the
Turkish government decisions on every subject to reorganize their
personal lives.
The
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government has received 50% of the votes at the
latest election in 2011 and according to the system; they have received
326 members in parliament, which is 60% of the total of 550 members.
The government is one person only, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and it is believed that he is personally ;
· against
secularism and he is trying to establish the Muslim religious rules and
orders to reorganize people’s life in Turkey. To limit the alcohol is
one of the significant attempts.
· against secular education system; the number of the religious schools has increased lot during the last 10 years,
· against
the Syrian President not because the Syrian President is a Dictator but
he is from a different sect of the Muslim Religion. Probably you know
something about Sunni – Shia division
· against
the old business groups and he has created his own Muslim businessman’s
organization. Now the new Muslim Businessman’s organization has the
full support of the government and the state which is more corrupt.
· against
the free media; all the major TV & newspaper groups are under his
control and they can’t give the correct information to the people in
Turkey about what is happening in our country or to the rest of the
world. The situation for the media is very similar or even worse to what
is happening in Russia. Depending on the latest reports of the world
media centre, Turkey is the second country in the world after China to
have many news reporters and writers in the prison because of their
articles.
Turkish
Parliament is not a decision making place any more. If the Prime
minister asks them to vote they do, or if the prime minister asks them
not to vote, they don’t. They are all figure heads and the oppositions
have no rights in parliament as they can vote but always lose and
because of their small numbers they are always defeated.
The
majority of the Turkish people, 70% are against the politics in Syria.
We don’t want to be involved with the interior problems of Syria. We
believe that they will find their own way, and they should decide for
themselves what is better for them in Syria. As the Turkish Military
General and, Admirals are also against Tayyip Erdoğan politics in
Syria, 30% of the Generals and Admirals are accused of organizing an
up-rising against the Turkish Government and they all have been sent to
prison. Most of them have been in prison for more than 2 years and the
court couldn’t finalized the case as there are 1,2 million documents to
be inspected.
Why I am writing this e –mail to you, to my friends around the world.
1. Please contact your local government or your local parliament members,
2. Explain what is happening in Turkey,
3. Ask them to stop selling “tear gas” and “water cannon trucks” to Turkey
4. Ask them to build a commission to investigate what is happening in Turkey
5. Ask them if Turkey became a Religious ruled country like Iran, would it be better for the rest of the world.
6. Forward this message to your friends around the world
Today is the 18th
day of the demonstrations. This is not a revolution or uprising but a
protest of the Turkish people who are not sharing the Prime Ministers
personal ideas. Up to now, 4 people lost their lives in total 3 people
were killed because of the police violence and 1 police died as he was
fallen from the bridge by mistake while they were chasing the
protestors. 12 young people lost one eye because of the plastic bullets
and tear gas cartridges and more than 7,500 people injured of whom 150
and over are in intensive care. Now the Prime Minister gave the order to
the security forces to arrest the medical people who are treating the
wounded people during the demonstration in 78 different cities in
Turkey. More than 600 people are arrested temporarily. The police
started also arresting people if they send messages to each other by
e-mail or twits to protest the government policy for Taksim Square. It
might be very difficult for you to believe all this is happening in
Turkey right now but all is true.
I
would have liked to tell you that Turkey is as beautiful as before and
as peaceful as before, but unfortunately it is not today.
With my best wishes,
Hasan Kaçmaz, Antalya, Turkey
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