Secularism/Islam

Turkey: Jihad against Cyprus :: Gatestone Institute

July 8, 2022 / By

Turkey is now using the distraction of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a cover to increase its likelihood of officially annexing Cyprus’s north. On April 14, a protocol was signed between Turkey and the illegal Turkish de facto regime that has been ruling occupied northern Cyprus. Although Turkey has already forcibly altered the demography of Cyprus through the ethnic cleansing campaign, the new protocol gives Turkish nationals even easier access to the region.

The protocol also stipulates the strengthening of the Religious Affairs Department in the area, as well as building religious complexes, such as mosques, and restoring Turkish-Islamic heritage sites. The protocol makes no secret of Turkey’s intention to annex the north. The introduction states, “the island of Cyprus has been a part of Anatolia politically and culturally since 1571.” 1571 is when the Ottoman Empire began occupying Cyprus.

Head of Greek Pomaks’ Association rips into Erdogan’s revisionist expansionism – To Vima Online

June 16, 2022 / By

You forget, of course, that these islands have been Greek for thousands of years, many centuries before your ancestors for the first time in their history laid their eyes on the… blue colour of the Aegean.
The islands of Imvros and Tenedos were also Greek. Why do you not implement, correspondingly, the provisions of Article 14 of the Treaty of Lausanne?
[Article 14 stipulates: “The islands of Imbros and Tenedos, remaining under Turkish sovereignty, shall enjoy a special administrative organisation composed of local elements and furnishing every guarantee for the native non-Moslem population in so far as concerns local administration and the protection of persons and property. The maintenance of order will be assured therein by a police force recruited from amongst the local population by the local administration above provided for and placed under its orders. The agreements which have been, or may be, concluded between Greece and Turkey relating to the exchange of the Greek and Turkish populations will not be applied to the inhabitants of the islands of Imbros and Tenedos.”]

2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Turkey – United States Department of State

June 4, 2022 / By

The government issues chip-enabled national identity cards that contain no visible section to identify religious affiliation.  The information on religious affiliation is recorded in the chip and remains visible to authorized public officials as “qualified personal data” and protected as private information.  Previously issued national identity cards, which continue in circulation, contain a space for religious identification with the option of leaving the space blank.  The new cards include the same options for religious identities as the older cards:  Muslim, Greek Orthodox, non-Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, “no religion,” or “other/unknown.”  Baha’i, Alevi, Yezidi, and other religious groups with known populations in the country were not options, requiring individuals of other religions or no religion to leave the category blank or to state “other/unknown.”

In the Battle Against Tsar Putin, Don’t Trust Sultan Erdogan – Haaretz.com

June 1, 2022 / By

From the top of his one thousand and one room palace, the Turkish president declared that he would oppose the entry of Finland and Sweden as new members of NATO. The reason: they are guesthouses for terrorists. Hannah Arendt, referring to totalitarian regimes, said we don’t know when we should laugh and when we should …

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A Fading Future in Istanbul – Palladium

May 22, 2022 / By

Image credit: Emir Eğricesu/Street musician in Istanbul, Turkey The neighborhood of Çengelköy (pronounced: Chengel-koy) is nestled in Istanbul on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus. Its streets are steep climbs, and a perilous journey for the uninitiated driver. It’s a place where the nightlife is lively but sober. The nouveau riche couples and families of …

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The irresistible rise of the civilisation-state – UnHerd

November 11, 2021 / By

A spectre is haunting the liberal West: the rise of the “civilisation-state”. As America’s political power wanes and its moral authority collapses, the rising challengers of Eurasia have adopted the model of the civilisation-state to distinguish themselves from a paralysed liberal order, which lurches from crisis to crisis without ever quite dying nor yet birthing a …

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There is no justification for turning Hagia Sophia into a mosque – Spectator

October 21, 2021 / By

It is official: Hagia Sophia, for a thousand years the world’s largest cathedral, and since 1934 a museum, is to be turned back into a mosque. Ever since I heard of the possibility, I have been praying it would not be so because of the impact it will have on Muslim-Christian relations in Turkey, the …

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