Referendum scenes from Egypt, and the coup-maker General Haftar commemorating the Armenian genocide

The constitutional amendment, which had been on the agenda for a while in Egypt under the Sisi administration, ABD ally in the Middle East and the model it wants to see both in the name of Islam and in the name of democracy, was put to a referendum. The amendment passed in parliament a short while ago, I think unanimously (in a parliament entirely chosen by Sisi, there is probably no need even to guess).

The constitutional amendment gives Sisi, who came to power through a military coup and who, being in his 2nd term of 4 years each under the current constitution, has no possibility of standing in elections again, the possibility, at the end of his term, of being elected 2 more times, starting from zero, and this time for 6 years each. This means staying in power until 2034 in total. The amendments, which at the same time grant the President the authority to choose members of the high judiciary and all offices, also define the armed forces not as a defense force at the service of the Egyptian people but as standing above the regime and as the owner of the regime. It was de facto like this before too, but this time the matter is secured by a constitutional provision.

That a constitution entirely contrary to reason, conscience and common sense was passed in a parliament without any discussion, merely by applause, shows that in that country there is first of all no parliament, and that an institution playing the role of a parliament is by now living the matter at the level of a cartoon. The constitutional amendment, which passed quickly through parliament on 17 April, was taken to a popular vote at the same speed on 19 April, that is, only two days after it was approved by parliament.

Although we say popular vote, there is no people in the picture. Let friends see it in the shopping, let a few ballot boxes be set up, let there be the appearance of a few people voting; that is enough.

The current constitution in fact grants, in such constitutional amendment referendums, a waiting period of at least two weeks after the parliamentary process, a mandatory period for the situation to be understood and discussed by the people. This constitutional period too was not observed. Again, while under the constitution amendments must be voted on article by article, this time, again as an exception, they were voted on as a whole.

Everything can be a matter of exception for Sisi. Because he is an "exceptional" leader, in all arrangements made on his behalf the constitution, the law, legality and custom can all be suspended as an exception. Abroad, ballot papers were not stamped, they were just printed on a printer and given to voters. And of course the meals distributed to those who had announced in advance that they would vote "yes" in the referendum, the organizations made to have selected voters vote repeatedly, the arrest of voters who, let alone campaigning, expressed an opinion in advance in the "no" direction, are only a few of the referendum scenes from ABD's dream of democracy in the Middle East.

In this situation, "To which people was the matter put?" The Egyptian people do not ask this question merely for humor; it is really a matter of serious curiosity, because independent observers say that the turnout in the referendum did not even reach the twos percent. Even so, no one doubts that at the end of the day a somewhat higher turnout rate will be announced.

In any case there is no database for voters. In Egypt it is not clear who will vote according to which rules, who is on which lists. Since there is no electronic database, voters can be identified according to their inclinations, selected in advance and called to the ballot box.

Shouldn't these have been disturbing things for ABD, the land of democracy? You will remember that in recent days we told what happened during the hearing, before members of the Congress's "commission investigating racism and white violence," of Dr. Abu Salah, whose two daughters and a son-in-law were killed by his racist, bigoted neighbors in ABD who could not bear to see a Muslim. How had that meeting turned, instead of listening with empathy to what the grieving father had lived through, into an aggressive speech in which hatred of Islam was vomited? The insolent Republican Morton Klein, who is also the president of the Zionist Organization of America, had said this, remember, to Dr. Abu Salah, whose children had been brutally, vilely killed:

"We really need Muslims who will do what Egyptian President Sisi has done, we need to rethink and reaffirm some parts of the Qur'an."

For them, Sisi's being seen as an ideal figure gives Sisi the courage to oppress his own people even more. The pot rolls and finds its lid, but what happens happens to the Muslim peoples inside the pot. They keep being suffocated, and keep dying, between the oppression of the imperialist pot and the collaborationist lid.

LIBYA'S WAR CRIMINAL GENERAL TALKS ABOUT THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

The Tobruk government under General Hafter, who has accumulated sufficient crimes to be declared a war criminal because of the coup he recently carried out in Libya with the support of the axis responsible for all the blood flowing in the Middle East and all the coups and occupations that have emerged, and because of the operations he has carried out to take the Libyan people captive, declared 24 April "the day of commemoration of those who lost their lives in the Armenian Genocide." Do you laugh or do you cry?

If the Armenian diaspora that believes in the Armenian genocide had a gram of sincerity and a measure of sense, would they not draw a lesson from how their cause has been turned in this way into a tool in the hands of today's genocidists?

Come on, the Armenian question; we accept that there is a debatable side to the events of 1915. We say that this too should be done by historians with their documents, not by politicians. But if you market it this much onto the agenda of politics, its biggest buyers become today's murderers, criminals, coup-makers, dictators whose eyes are veiled by the lust for power and who do not hesitate to shed the blood of millions for it.

All of them are disturbed by Turkey's stance today, by its stance against their own massacres, by its putting humanity to the fore rather than interests, and they see genocide rhetoric as a matter of a move against Turkey. First they put on the market the souls of the Armenians who lost their lives in those painful events, and kill them once more, but this time truly.

A little sense, a little thought, a little lesson. In Libya not a single Armenian is to be found, but at least 15 percent of the people are of Turkish origin. And the one speaking of the Armenian genocide is Hafter, who, because he has made attempts on the lives of tens of thousands of civilians with his coup and occupation attacks, is today on the agenda for being tried before the international criminal court. Is the picture not clear enough?