By Cemal Yigit
This is a response to an article written by one Marcos Kabuga and titled “The many lies of Cemal Yigit.” After reading the poorly written piece, the appropriate title should have been “The many lies of the Turkish Government.” Anyway, these are indeed interesting times with the events in Turkey that hav generated so much sympathy around the world, and I still find it worrisome that some individuals would still have the stomach to spread half-truths on issues they are clearly ignorant on, or maybe their motivation is monetary gains.
I have written extensively on the happenings in Turkey in my column in Leadership newspaper for quite a while. In some instances, other newspapers deem it worthy to reproduce some of my articles. There is just one reason for this; it is because I have strived to restrict myself to facts.
I also don’t allow sentiments to get the better part of me, even in the case of outright provocation, massive dehumanization, demonization and the large-scale clampdown on innocent Turks by the Erdogan administration; an administration Mr. Kabuga and his paymasters are striving to promote.
Kabuga replied to my piece on the Maarif Foundation, recently established by the Turkish government to provide “educational services” in the world. As a first, he called me a coward, which is fine, because he is entitled to his opinion. But I doubt if he understood the meaning of the word coward, or he just used it for the fun of it because a coward does not speak the truth.
A coward is not one that speaks out in the face of intimidation, harassment and clampdown on innocent people. A coward is not one that dared the consequences to inform the world on the atrocities of the Erdogan led government in Turkey. But a coward is one who would comment on issues he isn’t conversant with. A coward is someone who would sell his birthright for a plate of porridge. And a coward is one who would take sides with an administration committing crimes against humanity. So, who is the coward?
Anyway, Kabuga made some assertions intoning two things; one is that the journalists imprisoned by Erdogan in Turkey were “using their write-ups to promote Gulen’s ideas, plant sedative motives in their minds and help propagate an anti-government impression.”
I don’t know what to make of this inference because, in fairness, it is neither here nor there. But for a fact, he agreed that indeed some journos were jailed. But he was quick to admit that those jailed were under a category. I would like to ask Kabung what the current position on press freedom in Turkey is?
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Turkey was the worst country for media freedom in 2016. “After two years, Turkey is once again the world’s biggest prison for journalists,” Can Kabuga fault this statement?
For the information of Kabuga, I love my country, and if I decide to write about anomalies in my country based on recent happenings, what offense have I committed? And for the records, using the word FETO to describe the Hizmet movement is uncharitable and a pointer to where Kabuga’s motivation is coming from.
As for Maarif Foundation, it is pretty straight forward. I didn’t say anything untrue about the motive behind the establishment of Maarif Foundation. And I repeat, “The Turkish government in the aftermath of the coup attempt shut down 2099 schools, universities and dormitories in Turkey and over 6896 academics lost their jobs. It didn’t stop there, Erdogan through the various Turkish embassies in other countries requested for the closure of schools operated by private investors who share in the philosophy of Fethullah Gulen.
While some countries including Nigeria rebuked such overtures on lacking in merit or logic, some few African countries indeed headed and closed these institutions ironically.” And this is a statement of fact.
He also insinuated that respected Islamic scholar and writer, Fethullah Gulen, “has been guilty of severe human rights abuses and had no qualms about the use of violence.”
This is the height of ignorance. Gulen has every doubt with the use of force. The Hizmet movement’s philosophy does not encourage violence, it has never encouraged it and it will never because Gulen has spent over 40 years of his life preaching the message of peaceful coexistence and harmony in his books and teachings. And this is a fact that can easily be verified.
It’s just ironic that the accusations of Mr. Kabuga were not only baseless, but also smack of ignorance, and that is my concern. I invite him to any of the Hizmet affiliated institutions in Nigeria for first-hand assessment. So he can see the light and desist from unclassy campaign of character assassination because it is only a coward that would see the light but continues to dwell in darkness.
Yigit wrote from Abuja
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Turkey was the worst country for media freedom in 2016. “After two years, Turkey is once again the world’s biggest prison for journalists,” Can Kabuga fault this statement?
