Posts Tagged ‘Moderate Secular Turkey™’

Video: Mourners gather in Istanbul to give al-Qaeda leader burial rites – even though he was buried at sea. ‘US, UK, Israel murdered a martyr,’ mourners chant

Thousands participated in a funeral ceremony for assassinated al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Istanbul on Friday, following Muslim burial rites but not including an actual burial.

Bin Laden was taken out by Navy SEAL troops last week and was subsequently buried at sea.

“The US, UK and Israel are the murderers of the martyr,” the participants chanted. “The US is the terrorist, bin Laden is the warrior.”

The mourners carried pictures of bin Laden and signs condemning his assassination, and called the man who planned the September 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans “a beautiful, wise man, a warrior for Islam.”

The mourners, who gathered near Istanbul’s Fatih Mosque, which is located in the area that is considered Turkey’s epicenter of Islamic extremism, burned Israeli, American and British flags, and prayed facing a stone bench that traditionally holds the body of the deceased.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk must be spinning in his grave – after 80 years of modernising and secularising, when Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan and his Islamist AK Party were elected in late 2002 it appears that a change of policy has meant that the clocks are being turned back in Ankara. All the way back to the Seventh Century.

EU Accession Committee members take note.

[Source: YNet News]

'Hu-huh-huh... they said 'naked', Abdullah.. heh."

Thousands of Turkish websites will most likely be closed after Turkey’s islamist government, via its Directorate of Telecommunications ordered the banning of the use of 138 words cited as as “indecent” or “provocative”.

A lawmaker from the opposition Republican People’s Party told the newspaper Milliyet: ‘our studies have shown that over 120,000 websites in the country will be closed’ [because of the measure].

The Directorate of Telecommunications warned hosting companies this week that sites with names that contain swear words, should not be registered. Read the rest of this entry »

German-flagged freight vessel 'Victoria', seized by IDF forces and loaded with weapons believed to be enroute to Gaza.

Israeli Navy personnel seized a German merchant vessel transporting weapons from Syria to Gaza 200 miles west off Israel’s coast on Tuesday. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said the “Victoria” ship sailed under the Liberian flag and was carrying various types of weapons.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed his finger at Iran, claiming it provided the Gaza-bound weapons.

The Prime Minister noted he authorised the Navy operation on Monday night. “We had reason to assume the ship carried weapons meant to hurt Israeli citizens. Read the rest of this entry »

Restrictions on alcohol are intensifying under the rule of the Islamist AK Party

Guests at the Istanbul premiere of a new vampire film were among the first victims of new curbs on alcohol that have raised secularist fears Islamic strictures may be encroaching on everyday life.

The rules, announced earlier this month by the tobacco and alcohol watchdog, tighten up license requirements for serving alcohol, impose restrictions on alcohol marketing and limits sales to designated areas in stores. Read the rest of this entry »

Turkish Prime Minister Erdoǧan routinely uses his position to intimidate Turkish media

Courtroom Jihad initiated by Turkey’s über-sensitive PM Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan to bully critical writers has become the norm, as Turkey slides ever closer to Islamic despotism:

Lawyers for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have filed a criminal complaint against the chief editor of a prominent newspaper, charging him with “assaulting the personal rights” of the prime minister in his critical columns.

The lawsuit centers on a column Ahmet Altan of daily Taraf wrote for his newspaper’s Saturday edition. The column, titled “Erdoğan ve Kof Kabadayılık” (Erdoğan and Empty Bullying), is the latest in a series of critical articles penned by Altan on Erdoğan’s recent statements and political stances. Read the rest of this entry »