"Your so called opinion is nothing less than blasphemy and insult"
Subj: Turkish Times Article Titled "AKP Leaders -In Their Own Words"
[Nov 1-14, 2002 issue] Date: 11/12/2002
From:babaturk@kvnet.org
To: editor@theturkishtimes.com

Your so called opinion is nothing less than blasphemy and insult to Turkish Democracy, religion and Turkish people's choice of political party and a leader. It is astonishing and saddening to hear this sort of derogatory remarks from a Turkish publication. Unfortunately this is only the half of the tragedy. The other half of the tragedy is the display of ignorance and the lack of respect from the author of the article.

I don't necessarily understand what the gripe is all about here. Is it because so called "laik" politicians who could not play the game with a full deck will no longer be able to continue in their opulent life styles achieved by intentional bank failures, misuse of public funds, thievery, scandals and corruption?

Or is it something to do against Islam or not being in tune with so-called "Western imitation." But it does not surprise me to assume that this sort of comments comes from brains that did not wish the visit the parade of Mehter Takim'i in New York a few months earlier. It should be noted that every excerpt listed with its date and source in this article does not deserve any criticism, rather it deserves understanding with intellectuality.

Andrew Mango, in his book "Atatürk" states that "In front of hundreds of people he drank to ‘honor’ of his nation." No leader in the world had ever drunk in front of its people before. To do something like this would be a political suicide. We should grow and mature to accept the facts and learn from it.

On the contrary to degrading our Turkish identity, we should be proud that our democracy works... Its opportunities extend to women as well as people to all walks of life including graduates of religious schools. As a US born and ever proud Turk, I see nothing to be shamed of AK party, Erdogan's religious affiliation or his background.

What ruins a society is not always the religious leaders, but the intolerance, hatred and ignorance of individuals. We have only one Turkey, thus its our obligation to support help and wish well to political parties duly elected by Turkish voters.

Sincerely,
H. Babaturk