erdogan ottoman
© Adem Altan/ReutersTyrkiets Præsident Tayyip Erdogan går ned ad trapperne imellem soldater iklædt traditionelle militæruniformer fra det Osmanniske Rige.
Jeg var overrasket over at lære, at mange tyrkere på sociale media har støttet Tyrkiets Præsident Erdoğan's handlinger og standpunkt, hvad enten det angår den ulovlige nedskydning af et russisk jagerfly, Tyrkiets brutale behandling af kurdiske civile i Tyrkiet, eller dets oliehandel med terrorister. Nogle går endda så vidt som til at bakke op om et come-back af det Osmanniske Rige. Men hvor mange af dem kender noget til den egentlige historie om den sidste del af det Osmanniske Rige, og de mange uskyldige mennesker, som døde i løbet af den tidsperiode?
"[Professor i Nyere Historie] Christian Gerlach ... argumenterer for at samfund såsom i det sene Osmanniske Rige eller i Nazi Tyskland er kendetegnet ved en masse vold imod adskillige politiske, religiøse eller etniske grupper i stedet for blot én."
- Dominik J. Schaller and Jürgen Zimmerer
Som citatet antyder, så bar Ungtyrker perioden (1906-1918) mange paralleller til Hitlers Tyskland. I Late Ottoman Genocides, skriver historikerne Schaller og Zimmerer: "En ny generation af historikere som arbejder på den Anden Verdenskrig og den tyske udryddelseskrig har... vist at nazisternes "kamp for Lebensraum" ikke blot var vendt imod jøderne - selvom de havde en fremtrædende position som ultimative ærkefjender i Hitlers ideologi - men også berørte polakker, russere, romaere og adskillige andre grupper." På lignende måde, det sene Osmanniske Rige, i dets ønske om at skabe et homogent rige bestående kun af tyrkere, satte iværk med udryddelsen af forskellige ikke-tyrkiske grupper: assyrere, armenere, grækere, og kurdere, blandt andre.

greek genocide turks
De ungtyrkiske lederes systematiske politik af voldelig 'tyrkificering' ramte først grækerne: "Mere end 100,000 Osmanniske grækere blev bortvist fra det Ægæiske område og Thrakien for at skabe plads til muslimske flygtninge, som selv havde været brutalt drevet væk fra Kreta og Balkanhalvøen. Hundredtusinder af grækere blev deporteret fra kystområderne ind til det indre [af Tyrkiet] grundet angivelige strategiske årsager gennem krigen. Til sidst fandt Ungtyrkernes anti-græske kampagne en fortsættelse i [Tyrkiets første Præsident] Mustafa Kemal's udvisning af osmanniske grækere. Branden af Smyrna [kendt idag som İzmir, Tyrkiet] og slagtningen af dets kristne indbyggere i 1922 markerede den symbolske afslutning på græsk tilstedeværelse i Tyrkiet." Massakrene og tvangsudvisningerne havde kostet mere end en million grækere livet.

Omkring 300,000 Assyrere bosiddende i det Osmanniske Rige blev myrdet; deres landsbyer blev brændt, og deres kirker ødelagt. Antallet af armenere, som blev ramt af Ungtyrkernes politik i 1915 oversteg derimod det af andre grupper, med op mod 1,5 millioner armenere, som mistede deres liv enten ved at blive levende brændt - nogle gange i grupper af blot kvinder og børn - eller ved at dø af sult og udmattelse på dødsmarcher med retning imod den syriske ørken. Mens nogle kurdere tog del i de osmanniske soldaters myrden, voldtægt og plyndring af armenerne, så gav nogle kurdiske grupper såsom Alevis fra Dersim [idag Tunceli Provinsen, Tyrkiet] ly til armenerne. Som resultat deraf, undslap de ikke Ungtyrkernes brutalitet. Gennem 1. Verdenskrig blev op mod 700,000 Kurdere - deriblandt gerningsmændene - tvangsflyttet, hvoraf omkring halvdelen deraf omkom.


Kommentar: Denne artikel er blot delvis oversat til dansk fra:
Wannabe Sultan Erdoğan and the Dark Side of the Late Ottoman Empire


The genocide of innocent people, simply because of their ethnicity or religious beliefs, by the rulers and agents of the Late Ottoman Empire is horrifying and reminds us of the victims of Nazi atrocities. And while some people deny that the Jewish Holocaust ever happened, so too, the mass murders mentioned above, despite all the evidence collected, are claimed by Turkish elitists as never having taken place. When France, Germany, Russia and Austria described the Turkish slaughter of Armenians as genocide, Erdoğan himself accused them of supporting "claims constructed on Armenian lies." Erdogan further sought to absolve Turks of the murder of at least 3.5 million innocent civilians by adding that these countries "should first, one-by-one, clean the stains on their own histories"...
Armenian Genocide
© Agence France PresseEt billede fra 1915. Turkiet deporterede to tredjedele af den armenske bofolkning; mange blev enten dræbt eller døde af sult under deres lange vandring
putin armenia
© Пресс-служба Президента РоссииRussia's President Putin at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. The Russian leader called the 1915 events a “mournful date, related to one of the most horrendous and dramatic events in human history, the genocide of the Armenian people."
Neo-Ottoman Wannabe Sultan Erdoğan

erdogan sultan
While a leader with a conscience would spend the time to review his country's history with a critical eye, and would surely put forth the effort to restore and strengthen relationships with communities who were persecuted, Erdoğan appears to do the opposite and continues the practices of the Late Ottoman Empire, albeit covertly in many cases. Indeed, there are many signs that Erdoğan looks back at the Ottoman Empire with pride, and aspires to reconstruct it, with himself as sultan of course. A few examples:

1) He turned the Yildiz Palace, a historic Ottoman palace in Istanbul into his own private Istanbul residence.

2) He argues that the Ottoman language should be taught at every school, saying that learning the Ottoman language will restore severed ties with "our roots" and added: "There are those who do not want this to be taught. This is a great danger. Whether they like it or not, the Ottoman language will be learned and taught in this country. This religion has a guardian. And this guardian will protect this religion till the end of time."

3) According to French politician Nicolas Dhuicq, Erdoğan seeks, "like the Ottoman Empire did before him, to move people and resettle several villages in northern Syria with Turkic-speaking peoples". Those peoples being the Uyghurs, a Turkish ethnic group primarily living in China. As SOTT editor Joe Quinn wrote on the Uyghurs:
There is substantial evidence of a major US/NATO operation to traffic Chinese Uyghur fighters from Xinjiang to Turkey, and then Syria, and back again to bring 'jihad' to western China. According to Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based satellite news service, abandoned villages in northern Syria have recently been filling up with the families of Muslim Chinese Uyghurs. These Uyghurs, claims the report, are entering the country, along with their wives and children, to fight alongside Al Nusra Front (formerly known as Al Qaeda) and ISIS/Daesh against the Syrian government. In addition to providing a cadre of battle-trained fighters to ship back to China, the influx of 'Turkic' Uyghurs into northern Syria is very likely an attempt by the Turkish government to populate the area with 'Turks' in advance of potential 'peace talks' on the likely future break-up of Syria.
4) Erdogan seems bent on continuing the Young Turks' policy of destroying the Kurds, who are primarily concentrated in the southeastern part of Turkey. Sputnik reports that "The Turkish military has launched a so called 'anti-terrorist operation' in that region, having deployed about 10,000 servicemen supported by armored units and attack helicopters." Feleknas Uca, a Turkish MP of Yazidi descent told RT: "I'm currently in the city of Diyarbakir, where the police are using tear gas against civilians every day. There are dead bodies lying in the streets. A 16-year old kid was killed only a few days ago. The families of the victims went on a hunger strike in protest." According to the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) at least 124 Kurdish civilians have been killed since mid-August.

5) Erdogan has taken a personal interest in insuring that laws are passed that punish anyone insulting "Turkishness" or Turkey, and laws specifically designed to suppress freedom of speech. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights published a report in October 2006, entitled Turkey: A Minority Policy of Systematic Negation, which states:
Article 301(1) took effect in June 2005 and states: "A person who explicitly insults being a Turk, the Republic or Turkish Grand National Assembly, shall be imposed to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of six months to three years." Article 301(3) says: "Where insulting being a Turk is committed by a Turkish citizen in a foreign country, the penalty to be imposed shall be increased by one third." Moreover, the interpretation of these provisions by prosecutors and courts has been broad. Several well-known writers, including Orhan Pamuk, have stood and are standing trial under these provisions for citing, for example, the genocide of Armenians during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, or killings of Kurds during the long-lasting conflict between Turkish forces and Kurdish separatists.
If we include the fact that Turkey has been supporting, training, arming, and happily doing 'bloody business' with ISIS and other terrorist groups in the region, then the extent of Erdoğan's corruption and that of his new Ottoman Empire becomes clear. He is not, obviously, on the side of humanity, peace or stability for the people and its neighboring partners, but on the side of imperialism, violent nationalism, oppression and destruction. Erdogan's comments on New Year's Eve, when he recalled Hitler's Germany as one example in history of an effective presidential system, saying "When you look at Hitler's Germany, you'll see it there", are hardly surprising.

Of course, a glorious Turkified and Islamized empire is unlikely to materialize while Western powers have their own imperialist agendas in the Middle East. But Turkey's recent history and actions inside and outside the country need to be exposed. If only to remember and honor the millions of innocent civilians who died during the 'subterranean Auschwitz', and to prevent it from happening again; whether it involves Syrian civilians, Kurdish civilians, or any other group of people that may fall victim to Turkey's, disgusting, imperialist, anti-human agenda.