Turkey promotes a counterfeit history and propaganda against Cyprus

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In September 2014 exiled Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut in an interview to a news site discussed a number of issues which are considered taboo in Turkey. She discussed the incessant Turkish pre-occupation of promoting a counterfeit history and non-stop propaganda against the Republic of Cyprus which, she explained, is pushed on to Turkish citizens the moment a young child takes their first steps in school. Almost after eight years, information provided in Bulut’s interview remains important.

Uzay Bulut is one of the courageous journalists who has been writing about Turkish atrocities committed in Cyprus in 1974, and the injustices meted out to the Greek Cypriots which haunt them to this day. She considers it as her journalistic and moral obligation. She hopes by exposing truth against counterfeit history and non-stop propaganda against Cyprus will help her country tear down the walls of propaganda that the state of Turkey is built on. Bulut insistently said, “I feel very angry when, on the one hand, I see Turkish TV channels denouncing and criticizing Netanyahu for attacks in Gaza, while, on the other hand, I see glowing TV reports from the same TV channels featuring the Turkish government’s “peacekeeping operation” in Cyprus”.

Following publication of Uzay Bulut’s article exposing anti-Cyprus propaganda run by the Turkish authorities, many Turks expressed surprise thinking someone of Turkish ancestry – especially a Turkish journalist – would dare point their finger at Turkey as it pertains to the atrocities that took place in Cyprus in 1974. In order to downplay Bulut’s position, many Turks claimed that she was not of Turkish ancestry but of Kurdish descent.

But in response to such anticipations, Uzay Bulut said,I am a Turk. Because I often discuss the Kurdish issue, many believe that I am of Kurdish origins. But I am a Turk”.

Regarding ongoing repression on journalists and violating human rights by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, where we have been witnessing many events in Turkey related to freedom of the press, a freedom which has been brutally crushed, Uzay Bulut said,To give you an impression of freedom of the press and of expression in Turkey I will give you an example of an incident. On December 28, 2011, a Turkish F-16 fighter bombed the Roboski region of the Sirnak province killing a total of 34 Kurdish citizens including 17 children. The victims were involved in smuggling cheap cigarettes and gasoline. The bodies of the victims were found charred and in unrecognizable condition.

“Turkish media chose not to cover this murderous attack which lasted for 12 hours until an official announcement by the Turkish Armed Forces was made. This tragic event shows you just how much freedom there is in the press.

“Now as it pertains to the more open-minded journalists…unfortunately there are not many in Turkey. Even the few open-minded journalists know that there are limits when it comes to Cyprus since it is a taboo subject for Turkey”.

While in 2014, Uzay Bulut anticipated that the election would see Recep Tayyip Erdogan installed as an “absolute leader” while she also said, “we do not know where he (Erdogan) wants to take the country”, it has become crystal clear by now that Erdogan has been pushing forward his notorious agenda of reviving Ottoman Empire or Ottoman Caliphate thus turning Turkey into a country that would apply military force in occupying other countries thus bringing those under the flag of Caliphate. This certainly is a matter that poses gravest threat to regional and international security.

At the same time, Erdogan has not only been appeasing radical Islam and jihad, he also has been extending patronization to jihadists, including Islamic State (ISIS). There are series of investigative reports exposing Erdogan’s secret connections with ISIS and his family’s direct involvement in business deals with this notorious jihadist group.

Hopefully in the near future, we shall hear from Uzay Bulut discussing few more topics on Turkey.

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