From anti-Semitism to Erdoğanophobia

That, because of the Soma incident, the subject suddenly came around to anti-Semitism and turned, through this subject, into a new campaign against Prime Minister Erdoğan, is not an event that can be met with indifference.

The matter must have begun first with the spread of a report that Prime Minister Erdoğan had shouted "Israel's spawn" at someone in Soma. It is understood that such a debate arose from a barely discernible voice, picked up amid a complete crowd and noise, being reported in this way and attributed to the prime minister. Yet that the prime minister never uttered such a word was denied within the same evening by a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the dictation of an entirely different word in that noise in this fashion was assessed as the result of a malicious campaign.

That this word was pinned on a prime minister who regards anti-Semitism, like all racisms that treat any race or religion as an object of hatred and fear, as a crime against humanity, is something easily understood from the nature of the environment we are in. With this report spread in this way, it is very well understood who has moved, and where and with what instinct of informing.

There is one thing these informers should know: if anti-Semitism is not given a premium, or if this accusation is avoided, it stems not from fear of or reservations about the authorities they wish to inform, but only from a sensitivity related to our own beliefs. Let whoever wishes continue his servitude to those authorities they inform on as he pleases. We have sufficient reason from Islam not to lapse into racist delirium.

Racism, which is cursed in Islam, is cursed when directed against the Semitic race, and when directed against Kurds, and when directed against Roma. For our sensitivity on this matter to develop or continue, we do not need to be frightened by anyone's condemnation.

In this context, a second incident that perhaps was seen as an opportunity to bring this subject to the agenda is Vakit Gazetesi's announcing in a headline, in the Soma incidents, that the son-in-law of the company owner is Jewish. It is in no way possible to approve of this headline. It constitutes a hate crime against Jews. If there is a crime, tying it to a person's race and religion is itself an example of a type of Islamophobic approach from which Muslims suffer most in the world today. However, presenting this headline run by Vakit as a proof of the anti-Semitism of the AK Parti or Erdoğan is simply black propaganda, and its aim is clear. Vakit Gazetesi is not the AK Parti's publication; how can the AK Parti or Erdoğan be held responsible for its publications?

Murat Yetkin's article, published in English both in Radikal and in Hürriyet Daily News, forms an interesting example of producing an anti-Semitism story by making connections between unrelated data. After linking the above events to one another, when I saw that he tied even an answer I gave, in an interview entirely unrelated to the subject, entirely unrelated to the subject, to the anti-Semitism story, the whole fabrication of the story in fact came out.

To the question put by Murat Akgün on A Haber about the course of the investigation being carried out into the causes of the Soma incident, I give the answer open to all possibilities: "If an accident of this scale occurs in a mine where every kind of precaution is said to have been taken, of course the possibility of sabotage should also be considered; I do not dwell on it because I have no evidence or information, but it is not something unthinkable." This is in fact like saying nothing in the face of such an event.

Yetkin, apparently from even this cautious stance of mine, derived an insinuation that there are Jews behind the event, and from this insinuation immediately placed me in the subheading of Vakit Gazetesi's headline and from there in the anti-Semitism campaign.

Is the accusation of anti-Semitism made this easily? Astonishingly, it seems it is this easy. As seen in this very concrete example, the anti-Semitism radar is exceedingly sensitive, picking up moisture from a cloud, and in this way provides Israel with a magnificent protection.

A protection that has been granted to no religion and no race in history is thus realized in this way. Thus Israel comes out on top like oil in the world media even in its most lawless, most aggressive and most unjust circumstances, and can portray as guilty the people it has unjustly massacred and driven from their homes and lands. Because even criticisms in this direction can immediately be caught by the anti-Semitism radar it has stationed in certain media and political positions all over the world.

There is no point in confronting it with "by this logic, if you criticize any Muslim for any action, you are considered an enemy of Muslims." That logic has long since been refuted, not by the rules of logic but by the very scuffle of these networks.

Is Yetkin making a finding, when he says that if Erdoğan said today his 2005 words "anti-Semitism is a perversion," he could be accused of being an Israeli agent by AK Parti supporters themselves and by the pro-government media?

I wonder whether he does not notice what kind of categorical (you could also say racist) cliché he has produced about the whole AK Parti community with this finding. Let us not prolong it; for the questions that may arise on this occasion, let us say: not criticism of Israel and Zionism, but that anti-Semitism is a disease, Erdoğan would say today more strongly than in the past. But to assume that he cannot say this, that is Erdoğanophobia that needs to be treated.