The bespectacled Ibrahim Melih Gökçek cowering when confronted in the real world
Ankara, Turkey. The city’s mayor, Ibrahim Melih Gökçek, made some offensive comments about abortion during a televised interview. “Women kill their babies born out of adultery. Why do babies die because of these so-called mothers? Let mothers kill themselves.” This led two young women to throw eggs at him, as an act of both overt and symbolic defiance, both expressing outrage and signifying they have control over their bodies and eggs. What was Gökçek’s move? Press charges against the women and seek to imprison them for ten years.
Yes, ten years for throwing eggs at somebody. Hello, abuse of power. The women were sentenced to two years and seven months behind bars, which is still absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention how absurd Gökçek’s comments were; some women need abortions for all sorts of reasons. Plus, if a woman knows she is unfit to be a parent, why should society force her to bear the burden of a pregnancy? Saying women who want to terminate their pregnancies should kill themselves is both heartless and hypocritical from a pro-life standpoint. As for infanticide of newborns born out of wedlock, well, maybe removing the social stigma against unwed mothers might be a good idea? But that wouldn’t be OK in totally modern Islam.
This isn’t the first time Gökçek has (ab)used his political office, which he has held for 25 years, to punish those who oppose him. He has sued numerous people (he claims the number is around 3,000) who have made snide remarks to him on Twitter, as well as those who publicly protest against him. No wonder he’s stayed in power so long; everyone who speaks against him ends up penniless.
One of the people Gökçek recently persecuted was a woman who posted an image of stilettoed feet stepping on the Qur’an, which many Muslims took offense to. Due to Gökçek’s party’s Islamist ties, his litigation jihad against the woman was a predictable response. “No one has the right to insult our religion,” Gökçek tweeted about the case. The woman was arrested on suspicion of blasphemy and inciting hatred, but was released after interrogation. Of course, Gökçek is now suing the woman, because somehow being offended is reason enough to sue somebody. Then again, all the perpetually-offended professional-victim liberals have started to adopt the same litigiousness because their women’s studies degrees haven’t been paying the bills. The entire point of free speech is that it is free, without the threat of being sued for speaking out. I wonder if Gökçek will sue me for his impending Muslim of the Month nomination…
On Twitter, Gökçek has also lauded anti-Semites and called a BBC reporter an English infiltrator. He tweeted: “Led by England, they are trying to collapse our economy via agents hired, both nationally and internationally. They are dreaming for Turkey to be the ‘Sick man of Europe’ once again. Here is a concrete proof.” Oh look, another conspiracy about the west trying to bring the Muslim world to ruin. When his crazed rantings drew international criticism, he responded in his typical fashion: “My lawyer is going to sue everyone one by one who tweets #ProvokatorMelihGokcek No one can get away with anything because Turkey is a country of law.” Excuse me while I roll my eyes. And you know what’s really bringing the Muslim world to ruin? The fact that a woman can get arrested for “blasphemy.” That’s the real problem. Hopefully the citizens of Ankara drive Gökçek out.
No comments:
Post a Comment