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Turkey arrests Dutch political commentator for anti-Erdoan tweets

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Ebru Umar, a Dutch commentator of Turkish descent, has been arrested at her vacation residence in Kuidashi, Turkey. She writes op-eds for several Dutch magazines and blogs, usually criticizing the intolerance and sexism in Islamic countries and immigrant communities in a combative tone.

Shortly after her arrest she managed to call her editor to confirm that she's been detained for tweets critical of Turkish president Erdoğan.

As pressure from the Dutch consulate mounts, the police had her checked out at a hospital to prove that she's not been mistreated in any way. She's been kept overnight pending further investigation.

This is yet another blow by the Turkish government against critical voices at home and abroad using a combination of diplomatic pressure, litigation, repression and intimidation. The European Union's dependence on Turkish goodwill to mitigate the refugee crisis means European leaders, including the Dutch prime minister, are not as quick to condemn anti-democratic posturing as they used to be.

Alleged goatfucker Erdoğan seems to bet that the chilling effect outweighs the Streisand effect.

edit: English language source
 
Hopefully Turkey's allies issue some strong calls for her release in the name of free speech and democracy. Utter bullshit if she was really arrested for speaking out.
 

Nokterian

Member
I have read it yesterday on twitter before going to bed and now seeing this escalate even further like the 'mistake' they made on to report at the turkey consult in the netherlands of people saying bad stuff about erdogan. This is going to far and this is what i said in another thread mining everything about freedom of speech,satire etc.

This is what happens when you work with a dictator and EU and the netherlands don't have any balls to stand against it..pathetic on all levels on how not to do what democracy is.
 

Hrothgar

Member
Holy shit, Ebru Umar? Our government better does something about this... oh wait, Rutte and Koenders don't have any backbone.
 

Boney

Banned
Going back to Turkey for vacations seems incredibly risky and a terrible idea. Not blaming her obviously, it's the Turkish gov who are being totalitarian and oppressive and she might have any number of reasons to go, but still, I would never risk such a thing.

The Dutch need to move asap to get her back to safety, and not tolerate any bullshit.
 

Carcetti

Member
EU tourists who give a shit about human rights, free speech and all the so called western values, should boycott Turkey. Not like there's shortage of beaches in mediterranean climates.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Well she's fucked. Dutch government are weak and scared, and they have zero leverage.

Curious to see how our boy Rutte is going to spin this one.
 

roytheone

Member
For fucks sake, Erdogan is such an incredible scumbag and asshole. He is just a little spoiled child that has to much power and misuses it at every opportunity he gets.

And apparently we have the same laws prohibiting insulting the leader of a friendly nation (thankfully our politicians want to remove that law asap), so technically I just broke the law!
 

spekkeh

Banned
Is it true that he drinks a glass of donkey semen every morning?
I heard somewhere this is quite a common thing among cuckold presidents who let famous religious criticasters screw their wife. Whether this makes the rumor more or less probable I really don't know.
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
For fucks sake, Erdogan is such an incredible scumbag and asshole. He is just a little spoiled child that has to much power and misuses it at every opportunity he gets.

And apparently we have the same laws prohibiting insulting the leader of a friendly nation (thankfully our politicians want to remove that law asap), so technically I just broke the law!

Pretty sure those laws don't cover private opinion in messageboards ;) If you're on national TV in your own show, with the open intent of insult, that might be a different issue.
 
Strange to see some Turkish-Dutch people cheering this on on social media. Seeing some call her a "traitor" is bizarre, since these people live in Holland also.
 

roytheone

Member
Strange to see some Turkish-Dutch people cheering this on on social media. Seeing some call her a "traitor" is bizarre, since these people live in Holland also.

I would honestly call those people Traitors. Being against the freedom of speech that is one of the cornerstones of our civilization and being ok with a foreigner deciding what we can and can't say.
 

le.phat

Member
Can't believe our leaders are forced into complying with this assbackeatds regime. Oh wait, no its exactly as expected of dutch piliticians .
 

El Topo

Member
Strange to see some Turkish-Dutch people cheering this on on social media. Seeing some call her a "traitor" is bizarre, since these people live in Holland also.

If Twitter is any indication (which hopefully it is not), even amongst Turkish-German people there is a vocal group that loves Erdogan and will defend him to death.
 
Is anyone surprised? It's the same as badmouthing Kim Jong-Un in North Korea. Dictatorships don't work when the dictators are allowed to be criticised.
 
I would honestly call those people Traitors. Being against the freedom of speech that is one of the cornerstones of our civilization and being ok with a foreigner deciding what we can and can't say.

If Twitter is any indication, even amongst Turkish-German people there is a vocal group that loves Erdogan and will defend him to death.
It's a strange thing, if they think it is better in Turkey and applaud the things Erdogan is doing there, they still have a Turkish passport and are free to live there.

Very sad to see Turkey going down this nationalistic route. I always thought they were the ones in the region going more in a Western direction

Sadly, that's the state of their "integration".
I actually was under the impression that the Turkish community in Holland was integrated pretty well compared to other groups. Lots of small business owners and such also. That is why it surprised me to read these things now.
 
bah..
this is beyond stupid...
and erdogan's gonna erdogan, if this is europe's line of act...
I mean, one of your citizen is being ARRESTED for free speech, ffse netherlands... this is really a sad turn of foreign policy..
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
It's a strange thing, if they think it is better in Turkey and applaud the things Erdogan is doing there, they still have a Turkish passport and are free to live there.

Very sad to see Turkey going down this nationalistic route. I always thought they were the ones in the region going more in a Western direction


I actually was under the impression that the Turkish community in Holland was integrated pretty well compared to other groups. Lots of small business owners and such also. That is why it surprised me to read these things now.
They are, the younglings and young adults however are moving more towards Erdoganism and Turkish natiolism.
 

El Topo

Member
It's a strange thing, if they think it is better in Turkey and applaud the things Erdogan is doing there, they still have a Turkish passport and are free to live there.

Very sad to see Turkey going down this nationalistic route. I always thought they were the ones in the region going more in a Western direction

To be fair, I could see why someone would defend Erdogan from personal attacks, I understand why people might be in favor of him (at least on an emotional level), I just think that is shortsighted and I don't agree with them.
I think the question is what we as a society have done wrong that people find such a politician appealing. Personally I would say that one of the things is the lack of respect towards Turkish in Germany, the lack of attention and representation in media (and in particular print media).

I mean, think about it for a second: For almost a decade a group of nazis killed Turkish-Germans (and other migrants) and the only prevalent theory amongst media (and iirc police) was a super-secret foreign/Turkish mafia.
 
If Twitter is any indication (which hopefully it is not), even amongst Turkish-German people there is a vocal group that loves Erdogan and will defend him to death.

Its really bad. I know a restaurant that said that what Erdogan is doing is shitty. After that it got a lot of bad stars on Google reviews...

To be fair, I could see why someone would defend Erdogan from personal attacks, I understand why people might be in favor of him (at least on an emotional level), I just think that is shortsighted and I don't agree with them.

I dont actually think the people who defend Erdogan are even rational. I mean most of them are even German and are just in Turkey for 2-3 weeks each year. How people see that he might be the "reincarnation" of Attatürk, I will never get...
 

spekkeh

Banned
I actually was under the impression that the Turkish community in Holland was integrated pretty well compared to other groups. Lots of small business owners and such also. That is why it surprised me to read these things now.
I mean you have integrated and you have integrated. The Grey Wolves have always been very popular in the Netherlands too. As far as integration goes, Dutch people of Moroccan descent are often more integrated. Turkish descent people just don't cause a lot of trouble. Kind of like the Chinese. Often poorly integrated but people just go yeah whatever.
 

oti

Banned
Strange to see some Turkish-Dutch people cheering this on on social media. Seeing some call her a "traitor" is bizarre, since these people live in Holland also.

It's weird. I mean sure, you're Turkish and proud and all and that is totally fine, but you live in the Netherlands or in Germany and you just refuse to see what is happening?

Kant is dissappointed in you.

https://youtu.be/IOues8u8r4k
 
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