Erdoğan has grown fond of legislating Islamic morality – journalist

PanARMENIAN.Net - Last autumn, several people very close to the prime minister [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] started pontificating loudly on the need for a “Hate Speech Law” curtailing disrespect of religious values, journalist Sevan Nisanyan said.

“Prime Minister Erdoğan has grown fond of legislating Islamic morality on issues like abortion, adultery, alcoholic drinks, religious education, and blasphemy. I thought it was a cheap shot to equate “hate speech” with “anti-Islamic speech,” and I felt somebody must stand up and say this.

In February 2012, tens of thousands of people gathered in Taksim Square in Istanbul for anti-Armenian protests. Some of the signs and slogans included, “You are all Armenians, you are all bastards.” Among the speakers at the rally was Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin.

I don’t believe anyone has ever been prosecuted in Turkey for advocating the murder, mayhem, or massacre of Armenians, Jews, Kurds, atheists, gays, or liberals. Thousands, on the other hand, were prosecuted and convicted in the past for “insulting Turkishness” under the notorious Article 301 of the penal code. Now, “insulting Islam” seems to be replacing that old juggernaut as a favorite instrument to hit dissidents with,” The Armenian Weekly quoted Nisanyan as saying.