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Turkish consulate in the Netherlands calls on Turks to report insults against Erdogan

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E

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36104691

The Turkish consulate in Rotterdam has infuriated Dutch MPs by calling on Turkish groups in the Netherlands to inform it of insults against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Several MPs complained of the "long arm of the Turkish state" while the Dutch PM said it was a "strange" move.

Last week, Germany allowed the prosecution of a top satirist for insulting Mr Erdogan to proceed.

Jan Boehmermann had read a crude poem on TV, aimed at testing German law.

Both Germany and the Netherlands have old lese majeste laws against insulting the head of a friendly head of state.
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The Dutch cabinet called for a clarification from Turkey over the hotline, amid demands from some MPs for the Turkish ambassador to be summoned by the foreign ministry.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was surprised. "It's not obvious what the Turkish government is trying to achieve with this action," he said.

Integration Minister Lodewijk Asscher accused the Turkish embassy of interfering in freedom of speech in the Netherlands.

Almost 2,000 cases have been opened in Turkey itself for insulting Mr Erdogan. But there has been uproar in Germany that a satirist could apparently be prosecuted at the behest of a foreign power.

Last week Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had termed the poem "deliberately offensive", decided to let prosecutors decide whether to press charges.
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The Turkish consulate's offending email (from April 20th):

To the relevant person,

We ask urgently for the names and written comments of people who have given derogatory, disparaging, hateful and defamatory statements against the Turkish president, Turkey and Turkish society in general, which have reached the members and relatives of your non-governmental organisations or fellow citizens from your surroundings via their social media addresses (such as Twitter or Facebook) or via the official address and e-mail addresses of your non-governmental organisation, to be sent in before the close of business on 21 April 2016 by email to the consulate general in Rotterdam

Yours sincerely...
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Guess they are encouraged by the recent successes.
 
S

SnakeXs

about the same metal capacity as a cucumber
So this is what happens when insecurity and power grow hand in hand.

Hilarious, sad, pathetic.
 
N

neorej

ERMYGERD!
The most depressing thing is that the call to action is in Turkish. It really is exemplary of how integration is coming along in The Netherlands.
 
A

Apathy

Member
Palette Swap said:
That shrimp dick piece of shit sounds really insecure.
Enjoy the Streisand effect, Erdogan.
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Hey that's an insult... To shrimp.

I can't believe Germany allowed prosecution of a satirist. That's absurd. People with thin skin should not be public figures.
 
T

TatteredHat

Member
The Dutch parliament is already in the process of repealing the law that criminalizes insulting the head of state.

On a funny side note, they decided against repealing the law that criminalizes insulting the monarch. (however this may have changed since 2 days ago when I read it)
 
B

Bots are better than you

Banned
This is going to be a full time job since that whole Böhmermann stuff and that extra3 video before.

Also, South Park did it first, all Turks living in foreign countries are now supposed to be Butters taking care of Erdogan's Safe Space!

What an asshat this man is, a nearly complete opposing force for everything Atatürk worked for...
 
B

BreezyLimbo

Banned
Fenderputty said:
Is there a place i can go insult this man? I feel like just insulting him on GAF isn't enough
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Yeah.

Is there a way to forward insults to Netherland Turkish people, so they can then forward the insults to Erdogan, and then they'll be like 'LET'S GO CAUSING DIPLOMATIC ISSUE' but then they find out the insult originated from the US of A.
 
B

Berto

Member
I really admire Turkish (and old Ottoman) culture and history, but it's a real shame a guy like Erdogan is in charge there. He's a complete joke and embarrassment.
 
G

GoldenEye 007

Member
Isn't Germany actually entertaining the original request, though? I thought I saw that they aren't just telling Turkey and this request to screw off.
 
E

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
Berto said:
I really admire Turkish (and old Ottoman) culture and history, but it's a real shame a guy like Erdogan is in charge there. He's a complete joke and embarrassment.
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He really is a lovely person.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recep_Tayyip_Erdoğan#Media_intimidation_and_censorship

Erdoğan has been criticised for his politicisation of the media, especially after the 2013 protests. The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) alleged that over 1,863 journalists lost their jobs due to their anti-government views in 12 years of AKP rule.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_freedom_in_Turkey

Despite legal protections, media freedom in Turkey has steadily deteriorated over the last five years. Since 2013, Freedom House ranks Turkey as "Not Free". Reporters Without Borders rank Turkey at the 149th place out of over 180 countries, between Mexico and DR Congo, with a score of 44.16. In the third quarter of 2015, Bianet recorded a strengthening of attacks on the opposition media during AKP interim government, with the censorship of 101 websites, 40 Twitter accounts, 178 news; attacks against 21 journalists, three media organs, and one printing house; civil pursuits against 28 journalists; and the six-fold increase of arrests of media representatives, with 24 journalists and 9 distributors imprisoned.
Click to expand...
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
Fenderputty said:
Is there a place i can go insult this man? I feel like just insulting him on GAF isn't enough
Click to expand...

BreezyLimbo said:
Yeah.

Is there a way to forward insults to Netherland Turkish people, so they can then forward the insults to Erdogan, and then they'll be like 'LET'S GO CAUSING DIPLOMATIC ISSUE' but then they find out the insult originated from the US of A.
Click to expand...

What we need is an online Random Erdogan Insult Generator, with options for at least 7 European languages.
 
B

Boem

Member
Hey Turkish embassy:

I'm from the Netherlands. Erdogan is a big ol' poopyhead.

There, throw your lawyers at me.

Edit: They would need to sue pretty much every comedian, cartoonist and radio dj of the Netherlands, not to mention everyone cracking jokes in bars the weekend after the German business. Good luck to them.

I hope Rutte shows more backbone than Merkel if anything comes from this. He normally isn't a backbone kind of guy though. We may not be a large country, or a particularly beautiful or kind country, but we do take pride in our right to talk shit about everyone. Sometimes that gets taken to nasty extremes, but for this guy I'm fine with it.

I'm looking forward to the next couple of days. The jokes that will be made out of protest will be legendary.
 
P

Palette Swap

Member
ElTorro said:
He really is a lovely person.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recep_Tayyip_Erdoğan#Media_intimidation_and_censorship



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_freedom_in_Turkey
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This asshole also seized a high circulation paper, fired everyone and had its circulation collapse by 99% in a couple of weeks :
On 4 March 2016 the Turkish government seized control of Zaman.[7] The government takeover occurred after a court order widely criticized by Zaman newspaper staff.[18] After the takeover, the website of Zaman was closed with a message stated that the website is being updated, displayed for two days. All archived news and content became inaccessible, with some claiming all the data has been wiped.[19]

Two days later, the first government-controlled edition appeared, with no mention of the events during its seizure and with its front page carrying a series of pro-government articles and a picture of a smiling president Erdogan.[1][20][21]
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(I can't find a reliable source for the 99% figure. I heard it on French tv the other day from a former columnist)

Gentleman Jack said:
What we need is an online Random Erdogan Insult Generator, with options for at least 7 European languages.
Click to expand...
I wish there was a coordinated effort to have search engines suggest "Erdogan is an insecure idiot" or something like that.
 
F

Fenderputty

Banned
BreezyLimbo said:
Yeah.

Is there a way to forward insults to Netherland Turkish people, so they can then forward the insults to Erdogan, and then they'll be like 'LET'S GO CAUSING DIPLOMATIC ISSUE' but then they find out the insult originated from the US of A.
Click to expand...

EdwardTivrusky said:
I'd say the Netherlands after this news is out. It's guaranteed to get back to him :)
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Gentleman Jack said:
What we need is an online Random Erdogan Insult Generator, with options for at least 7 European languages.
Click to expand...

I like gentlemen's a idea because transatlantic flights sucks for someone who's 6'9". Lol

GAF can help make the generator go viral
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was surprised. "It's not obvious what the Turkish government is trying to achieve with this action," he said.
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The hell? It's completely obvious what the Turkish government is trying to achieve here. I'm dumbfounded that people are just watching this man form a dictatorship and pretend to be too stupid to notice.
 
A

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
Why is this motherfucker such a thin-skinned piece of shit?
 
E

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
Anoregon said:
Why is this motherfucker such a thin-skinned piece of shit?
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He probably is a thin-skinned piece of shit, but I reckon that this is part of a Machiavellian strategy: suppress all criticism to improve his public image and thereby secure the vote of the morons who don't care about autocratic governing, don't realize it, or even like it. It's up to the Turks to do something about it. But in the meantime Europe could show him the middle finger more forcefully for every such stunt he tries to pull on us.
 
B

Boem

Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
The hell? It's completely obvious what the Turkish government is trying to achieve here. I'm dumbfounded that people are just watching this man form a dictatorship and pretend to be too stupid to notice.
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That's Rutte for you. He's not stupid - he knows what's going on. But saying it out loud makes it real, and might have *shudder* consequences.

Not a man who's confident in sharing actual opinions that might not stroke with big, foreign partners, no matter how backwards they might be acting.
 
E

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
nynt9 said:
I sure am.
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To be fair, we can be equally embarrassed for having old-ass laws that allow him to troll us in the first place.

They are being repealed, but that doesn't excuse the fact that apparently nobody cleans up our legal codes from outdated and unused laws.
 
EdwardTivrusky

EdwardTivrusky

Member
ElTorro said:
To be fair, we can be equally embarrassed for having old-ass laws that allow him to troll us in the first place.

They are being repealed, but that doesn't excuse the fact that apparently nobody cleans up our legal codes from outdated and unused laws.
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Isn't that true of any country that has been around for a while? I've heard the UK still has many laws that are centuries old and irrelevant but technically still active. I know many of them have been superceeded by newer legislation which effectively repeals them but they are still on the books or am i totally wide of the mark here? I have no legal knowledge worth a damn in case it's not obvious :)
 
B

Boem

Member
EdwardTivrusky said:
Isn't that true of any country that has been around for a while? I've heard the UK still has many laws that are centuries old and irrelevant but technically still active. I know many of them have been superceeded by newer legislation which effectively repeals them but they are still on the books or am i totally wide of the mark here? I have no legal knowledge worth a damn in case it's not obvious :)
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We (Netherlands) also technically have a law that forbids making fun of our royalty. Which we do. All the time. There's a lot to make fun of.

Which lead to a legendary, multi-week satire debate involving the highest level of politics a few years back, mostly because of a popular talkshow at the time which had comedians impersonating royalty and politicians (although it's no big secret that Balkenende, the PM of the time, was particularly annoyed at his own - hilarious - Harry Potter-like impersonation). This went on for so long, and it was so ridiculous to see all these stuffy politicians discuss the 'rules' of comedy, that our then-queen broke her silence (they're not supposed to be allowed to discuss anything political in public and remain neutral in everything) and let it slip that she and her family thought all the jokes and impersonations were hilarious, putting and end to all the nonsensical debates.

That was a glorious time for a teen just getting into politics. Just pure, low-stakes madness.


Edit:
For the Dutchies among us, the first satire pieces are starting to come in. From De Speld (our version of the Onion):

http://speld.nl/2016/04/22/erdogan-nodigt-geit-uit-voor-avondje-netflix-chill/
 
H

Harmen

Member
Yeah, well, I think this will not work as intended for Erdogan. As a Dutch person, I look forward to the inevitable protest reaction to this.

But still, the fact that the leader of a large country goes this low because he can't handle criticism is beyond pathetic. I wonder what the Turkish community over here thinks about this (I assume they agree it is pathetic).
 
F

FDC1

Member
ElTorro said:
To be fair, we can be equally embarrassed for having old-ass laws that allow him to troll us in the first place.

They are being repealed, but that doesn't excuse the fact that apparently nobody cleans up our legal codes from outdated and unused laws.
Click to expand...

It's the same everywhere. By exemple, I'm French and until 2013, it was technically forbidden here for a woman to wear pants.
 
B

Boem

Member
Just in case anyone doubted it, they're already fast tracking the process to get rid of the law. Nothing will come of this, as expected.
 
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