Meet the Man Who Suffocates Journalists At Home but Marches for Them in France
By Mahir Zeynalov
January 11, 2015
World leaders led more than a million demonstrators through Paris in the biggest march in French history, paying tribute to those killed in a shooting on Tuesday. Leaders from around the world were among the state dignitaries participating in the rally.
Ahmet Davutoğlu, an academic-turned-politician
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In a march that was supposed to denounce the "enemies of freedom" there was a man whose country has been suffocating journalists at home and jailing them for criticizing his government. Ahmet Davutoğlu, an academic-turned-politician, linked arms with other leaders to condemn the Charlie Hebdo attackers.
Reporters Without Border (RSF) has already condemned the participation of Davutoğlu, as well as other officials from countries such as Egypt and the UAE.
The secretary-general of the press advocacy body, Christophe Deloire, said it would be unacceptable if representatives of countries that silence journalists were to take advantage of the current outpouring of emotion to try to improve their international image and then continue their repressive policies when they return home.
"We must not let predators of press freedom spit on the graves of Charlie Hebdo.”
Politics is a realm of hypocrites, no doubt about it. Some politicians may really be honest; but it is mostly a waste of time to expect a politician to act in a principled way. To extend their throne, politicians are ready to do whatever it takes, and in countries such as Turkey, where no one cares if the rule of law is obliterated, politicians will do anything to preserve their authority longer.
We're not particularly surprised to see Davutoğlu, along with other "predators of freedom" such as Egypt and Israel, sending their leaders to polish their country's tarnished reputation.
Davutoğlu is the man who only last month cheered the arrest of Turkish muckraker journalists. Previously, he argued that Turkey has press freedom because journalists can safely go home after asking questions. Sorry to disappoint you Mr. Prime Minister, but I could not. So couldn't others.
Politicians are hypocrites, but ours are a special kind. For example, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made two speeches about press freedom in the last two weeks. In the first one, he argued that nowhere in the world is there as free a press as there is in Turkey, and he promised that more journalists will see the inside of prison -- in the same speech. Last week, he lectured ambassadors, telling them that Turkey's press is the freest in the world, minutes before Dutch journalist Frederike Geerdink was rounded up by anti-terrorism police for posting tweets that “created [a] negative opinion about the [Turkish] state."
The same accusations could be thrown at Egypt and Israel, whose foreign and prime ministers were present at the march.
The world is a better place without an Israeli leader who indiscriminately bombs schools, hospitals, shelter homes and press. The world is a better place without an Egyptian leader who has jailed 10,000 in a year, killed thousands of his opponents and virtually sent that glorious Arab nation into the darkness of authoritarianism. And the world is also a better place without a Turkish leader who muzzles dissent, jails those who expose his corruption ring and turns the Muslim World's most modern nation into a country of fear.
Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/blog/mahir-zeynalov/meet-the-man-who-suffocates-journalists-at-home-but-marches-for-them-in-france_369506.html
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/meet-man-suffocates-journalists-home/d/100985