«Mein Kampf» - турецкий бестселлер

[Cepnyc]

What do Turks Read… and Don’t

(by Aris Babikian , Canada)

If what people read reflects their attitudes and interests then what Turks are reading these days should worry—if not scare—civilized people everywhere.

Adolf Hitler’s notorious racist creed ‘Mein Kampf’ is a bestseller in Turkey these days, so is a novel about an imminent U.S. invasion of Turkey.

‘Mein Kampf,’ the classic anti-Semitism text preaching and attacks on non-Teutonic races, is a hot seller in Istanbul and beyond. According to some estimates, over 100,000 copies of the book have been printed in Turkey. Uguz Tektas of the Manifesto publishing house, one of the two publishing houses which have issued the book, said their first run of 30,000 copies are almost sold out.

The publication of the book is threatening to create a diplomatic incident between Germany and Turkey. The German Government has raised its concerns about the publication of ‘Mein Kampf,’ which is banned in Germany. The Bavarian state finance minister Kurt Faltlhauser is contemplating court action to stop further publication of the book. Bavaria holds the copyright of ‘Mein Kampf.’ Minister Faltlhauser stated: “The book should not be reprinted.” A German embassy official in Ankara said: “The availability and rising popularity of this book in Turkey are matters of serious concern for us.”

The Jewish community of Turkey is also alarmed by the popularity of ‘Mein Kampf.’ Lina Filiba, the executive vice-president of the Jewish community, called the book’s popularity “disturbing.” The publication of ‘Mein Kampf’ and the ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ is a “ worrying trend,” she said. The latter is a well-known 19th century forgery concocted by Tsarist Russia’s secret police to justify pogroms against Jews.

Even more worrying is the sale of the books in mainstream and busy department stores, Filiba said. “I think there’s an increase in anti-Semitic, anti-American and anti-foreigner feeling…”

Silvio Ovadyo, a spokesman for the Jewish community of Istanbul, attributed the popularity of ‘Mein Kampf’ to rising anti-Semitism in the nationalist Turkish press. “This [‘Mein Kampf’] is an anti-Semitic book and, yes, we are concerned about it,” the spokesperson said.

The other Turkish bestseller—‘The Metal Storm’—is a novel. The events in the thriller take place in 2007 when an evil empire (the United States) invades Turkey to take control of Turkey’s uranium, borax and thorium deposits. The brave Turks, led by the military, resist the new Crusade. The anti-American nature of the book is the main reason for the book’s popularity, according to published reports. The book, first published in late 2004, is now in its eighth printing of 50,000.

Repeated surveys show anti-Americanism is on the rise in Turkey. In March, Ankara-based Pollmark Research Company found 31% of Turks believe the United States will invade Turkey. Turkish public opinion was almost unanimously against the war in Iraq. Turkish anti-Americanism stems from the belief that the U.S. invasion of Iraq will help the Kurds in Northern Iraq establish an independent Kurdish state that in turn would encourage Turkey’s Kurds to rebel and try to establish their own state in Eastern Turkey.

The Turkish government might be wrong, but it's certainly consistent in its misguided policies. So it comes as no surprise that while Ankara allows the sale of anti-Semitic ("Mein Kampf," and "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion") books and anti-American novel about an impending U.S. invasion of Turkey, the government is using its full might, under the new Turkish penal code, to intimidate, harass, ban, prosecute and jail Turkish scholars, journalists, human rights activists and professors who speak, write or publish anything to do with the Armenian Genocide or the status of the Kurdish people.

The most famous case is the recent fatwa against the well-known Turkish author Orhan Pamuk. In February Pamuk said in a series of interviews with Turkish and Swiss newspapers that "Thirty thousand Kurds and nearly a million Armenians were massacred on these lands [Turkey], and no one, but me, has dared to speak about it." Turkish nationalists have since issued a fatwa against Pamuk; some government officials have banned his books from libraries while his books were burned in mass demonstrations. Recently, Pamuk was charged with insulting Turkey's national character. His trial is in December. If convicted, he could be sent to prison for three years.

Journalist, publisher and human-rights activist Ragip Zarakolu is another public figure who has been indicted for publishing books on Kurds and Armenians.

Hrant Dink, the publisher of Turkish-Armenian “Agos” weekly newspaper, has been found guilty

for "insult to the Turkish national identity" and sentenced to six-month suspended sentence by the Turkish state for stating that he is not a Turk but a Turk of Armenian descent.

In the light of these regrettable developments, it’s incomprehensible to learn that the Anti-Defamation League in the U.S. recently awarded Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, the league’s Courage to Care award.

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Aris Babikian is a journalist with “Horzion” weekly and member of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada.

http://www.panarmenian.net/library/eng/?nid=75

[zZvanq]

Ого...

Далеко турки пойдут... Скоро на Америку нападут... Потом за неделю и Россию пешком пройдет турецкие солддаты а потом придет очередь наша с вами - армян - по конентрационным лагерям скитаться!!!

[Helen]

To make story short:

An old Armenian man is dying and his 3 sons are staying in front and asking him

- Dad give us your last advise...

he says:

- Keep Jewes...

Sons do not understand him and again ask him:

-Dad please give us your last advise , how to live...

-Keep Jewes, because when they finish with Jewes they will start with Armenians....

[zZvanq]

To make story short:

An old Armenian man is dying and his 3 sons are staying in front and asking him

- Dad give us your last advise...

he says:

- Keep Jewes...

Sons do not understand him and again ask him:

-Dad please give us your last advise , how to live...

-Keep Jewes, because when they finish with Jewes they will start with Armenians....

[Arm]

Скоро на Армерику нападут...

[zZvanq]

эх...

[Arm]

Вижу.. zZvanq-джан

просто я подумал о перспективах армяно-американского стратегического союзничества...

[zZvanq]

Вижу.. zZvanq-джан

просто я подумал о перспективах армяно-американского стратегического союзничества...

[Arm]

Ват чер лини - еще бы нам бюджет Америки (без их многотриллиардного долга) :diana:

[Sharky]

by Aris Babikian , Canada

[Cepnyc]

Sharky,

The ethnic origin of the author leaves room for prejudice ... in particular, for those who tend to seek and emphasize the ethnic element in the things and people they encounter.

If you don't doubt the popularity of Hitler's book in Turkey, then what is all the fuss about? Would it really have made any difference if the author's last name had ended in -son, -ov, or -dze, honestly?

Besides, what else should one think of the preferences of any given society where books such "Mein Kampf" are issued in hundred-thousands?