January 27, 2007

Showing solidarity with the Armenian minority who were able to survive from the 1915 genocide and condemning the murder of an Armenian journalist by a Turkish nationalist, hundreds of thousands had marched last week shouting “We are all Armenians.” This brotherly demonstration has shocked the Turkish nationalists who claim either the genocide was justified, never happened or that Armenians are a “loyal” minority who should accept Turkish superiority. Some even went so far as warning all oppositionists to Turkish superiority would face the same fate the Armenian journalist received.

Turkish prime minister Erdoğan found the funeral march for the slain Armenian journalist Hrant Dink remarkable, yet, he found the solidarity slogan shouted by hundreds of thousands, “We are all Hrant Dink, We are All Armenians” offensive. He spoke against the slogan aimed at bringing two different religious groups of Turkish citizens together, saying, “This type of slogan, indicating we are all Armenians may spark off a reactionary event. We need to prevent such reactions. That is why that slogan is wrong.”

The words used by the prime minister were exactly the same ones used by the racist nationalist front who have been screaming that “they were being provoked” by such slogans.

The right wing press has been targeting the solidarity slogan last week. The right wing Tercuman’s headline was, “If you can’t say you are a Turk, then get the hell out!” Cumhuriyet, on the other hand, a pro-military nationalist daily wrote, “Due to this slogan, Turks, the real owners of this land, have fallen to the level of minorities in their own land.” This approach demonstrates the mentality of the nationalists, pretending to be leftists, which places the Greek, Armenian and Kurdish nationals in Turkey as only being guests and not equal citizens of Turkey.

The Fotospor daily paper wrote in support of the Turkish soccer player, Emre Bebeloğlu , who is on trial for racism in England, on its headline the day after the funeral, “We are all Turkish, we are all Emre,” showing the open racist, nationalist mentality.

These were followed by the collective attack on the slogan by the right wing. The head of the fascist-nazi party, BBP, Yazıcıoğlu, who is involved in the assassination, joined forces with the other fascist-nazi party MHP’s leader Bahçeli and others, saying, “Where we are from is very obvious,” rejecting the solidarity call of “We are all Armenians.”

It was reported that those who attacked the brotherhood of both nations claiming to be the “real Turks” are the ones who have soiled the Turkish identity the most.