In a case of the biter bitten, the BBC, a long time supporter of Turkey being a 'European' and not an 'Asian' country, has found out exactly how 'Democratic Liberal' Turkey really is, with BBC reporters being attacked as "English Agents" by many Government supporters, such as the Mayor of Istanbul. It must be a shock for an organisation that generally supports getting Turkey into the EU, to find that this supposedly 'democratic, acceptable face of Islam' country, acts rather like the hard-line Syrian or Iranian regimes, when reported upon in a less than wholly fawning manner.
It has had to admit that "a large number of threatening messages have been sent to one of our reporters" .... and that it was a woman reporter as well. How could a Turkish man treat a woman like this? Is there no end to the slap in the face the BBC has got .... a women reporter being insulted, practically a hanging offence in the PC UK (but luckily its just 'cultural' when its a Muslim man, so no offence eh?).
This is a regime that declares reporters for western news organisations as 'agents' of the West (of which it also claims it's a part - they don't do irony), and that the demonstrators were working for 'foreign powers' (aka Israel), and that the protesters had been manipulated by "terrorists" ..... The freedom loving mayor of Istanbul has also threatened to sue everyone who criticised him on twitter by using the #hashtag "Melih Gokcek is a provocateur" ... he has followed this up with a statement that it was "unacceptable that Turkey is targeted by the BBC" - that's the spirit of democratic cut'n'thrust for you.
Note the emotive and violent terms used by the Turkish government in the last few weeks : 'terrorist', 'targeted', 'agent', 'final warning', 'armed forces ..... to establish peace' . Just the sort of language Tony Blair would never have used, but that would could happily spout forth from the mouth of President Assad.
You should always be careful who you cuddle up to as 'friends', and Britain and the BBC are far too ready to apologise for regimes that are not sharing any of our values, when they should be openly condemning them.
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| Mayor Ibrahim Melih Gokcek accused BBC Turkish reporter Selin Girit of being an English agent |
It has had to admit that "a large number of threatening messages have been sent to one of our reporters" .... and that it was a woman reporter as well. How could a Turkish man treat a woman like this? Is there no end to the slap in the face the BBC has got .... a women reporter being insulted, practically a hanging offence in the PC UK (but luckily its just 'cultural' when its a Muslim man, so no offence eh?).
This is a regime that declares reporters for western news organisations as 'agents' of the West (of which it also claims it's a part - they don't do irony), and that the demonstrators were working for 'foreign powers' (aka Israel), and that the protesters had been manipulated by "terrorists" ..... The freedom loving mayor of Istanbul has also threatened to sue everyone who criticised him on twitter by using the #hashtag "Melih Gokcek is a provocateur" ... he has followed this up with a statement that it was "unacceptable that Turkey is targeted by the BBC" - that's the spirit of democratic cut'n'thrust for you.
Note the emotive and violent terms used by the Turkish government in the last few weeks : 'terrorist', 'targeted', 'agent', 'final warning', 'armed forces ..... to establish peace' . Just the sort of language Tony Blair would never have used, but that would could happily spout forth from the mouth of President Assad.
You should always be careful who you cuddle up to as 'friends', and Britain and the BBC are far too ready to apologise for regimes that are not sharing any of our values, when they should be openly condemning them.
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