In Turkey, the rights of all Turkish citizens are treated equally is governed by a constitution founded on secular principles that Turkey established in 1923. 

Created by a man named Mustafa Kemal who is referred to as simply “Ataturk.”

Ataturk went to great lengths to reform his nation who were basically the puked out Turkish remains of the Ottoman Empire.

So how come Turkey is constantly taking steps to make sure one day non-Muslims will have the same rights as Muslims?

It is kind of depressing that in the year 2017 there are still people who are facing huge amounts of discrimination in their country.

During the Ottoman era, not many Turks at the time believed in concepts like equality.  The best some Turks could muster was not making their superiority over Armenians as well as all non-Muslims an issue, while other Turks made it a point to never let them forget who was in charge.

What about today, should not a country claiming it is founded on the principles of secularism belief in equality for all?

Obviously, religion still rules, and for centuries the Muslim religion has always played a key role in how Armenians were treated.   

Many issues between the Turks and Armenians all have a link to religion, even if it is only a slight one in some cases.  

For instance, when Armenians were disappearing right before their very Turkish eyes back between the late 1800’s right through to the Armenian Genocide surprisingly only handfuls of Turkish people were worried about their safety while even less were willing to risk their own lives to save Armenians.  

The fact Armenians were Christians was plenty good enough reason for those hard-core national Turks to not find Armenians worth saving, and not just for the fact  1.5 million Christian Armenians were killed, but for the fact, over a million other Christians not Armenian were also murdered.

Unlike the Germans, and all other countries who hid thousands of Jews, risking not only their lives but their family’s lives as well, the Turks, were an exception, with the majority of support, disinterest or lack of from them, it made it that easier for the Turkish government to slaughter thousands of innocent people based on their religion, and ethnic.  

The difference I think was people were eager to help the Jews for they saw the Jewish people as victims, and not just that but they were no different from how they saw them self, human beings. While some Turkish people thought  Armenians deserved what they got, as others felt if Armenians wanted to live bad enough they could just convert to Islam.

For non-Muslims in Turkey like Laki Vigna, a Turkish Greek who is the first non-Turkish Muslim who only recently became a member of the General Directorate of Foundations — an institution attached to the Prime Minister’s Office 

” This would obviously be a significant step forward for Turkish citizens, who just like Laki Vigna “hope” for simple things like democracy.

 

Turkey should feel very grateful for having minorities that are tolerant of their government’s ongoing discrimination against them.  Libya and Syria are good reminders of what comes after tolerance, something the Turkish government should keep in mind, for an uprising would only be par for the course for them..  Erdogan, of course, would immediately resign from office, yeah, now that is as about unlikely as his not sticking his foot in his mouth first.

Anyhow, what insurance does non-Muslims like  Laki Vigna have the Turkish Constitution will be upheld by the same racist system that supported discrimination of minorities. Never mind the racist, nationalistic majority, who wants a Turkified, Turkey, a  collective encrusted in them like a fungus who unlikely will embrace equality but more apt to beat it with a stick… Continue reading “The Ottoman Empire may long been dead, but the discrimination and oppression it inflicted continues..”