Should be tried even if he lied

With a hero’s affection, theater actor Atilla Olgaç said, in a TV show on Kanaltürk called, "Orada Neler oluyor," that during the Cyprus operations he shot a young Turk of Greek descent in the head because the guy insulted him. Olgaç also said that he killed 10 people in this war. Nowadays there is a new trend forming in which people kill in the name of patriotism and praise themselves later on É This gentleman known as "Kılıç" in the TV series Kurtlar Vadisi is an example for this trend É Atilla Olgaç talked about what kind of Turkish hero he is.

He proudly announced the murder he committed probably not knowing that it is a crime to kill a hostage, that people are convicted thereof, that this type of crime is perceived as a crime against humanity and thus the statue of limitations does not apply. It is natural that this confession has the Turks of Greek descent and the Greeks in an uproar. And they are very right about it.

I’d do the same if I were in their place. Because for years now the Turks of Greek descent have been looking for hundreds of missing young men. These people claim that these young men were killed by the Turkish military and buried somewhere in Turkey or on the north side of the island. Turkey has denied this for years but cannot free itself from international allegations and inspections. Atilla Olgaç in his own words talking about missing Turks of Greek descent posing an example for the first time has caused old allegations to flare up again.

As you see, this person has opened Pandora’s Box in a devastating way without even noticing it. Of course, after hell has been raised he got scared and denied everything by saying, "My words have nothing to do with reality, it’s a scenario." He says he made it up in order to show the wickedness of war. Of course nobody believes him. If he came out and said, "I did this in order to attract attention and publicity," it would have been more persuasive.


Will prosecutors ignore this person?

This incidence is very serious. Prosecutors need to take action and refer Atilla Olgaç to court charging him with a crime against humanity. He himself has admitted the murder he committed. "I did not mean it," should not be valid. Even if he lied for publicity purposes he should be tried in court. This is not a game. Nobody can speak nonsense words that get the country in trouble on an international basis. Will prosecutors who have started an investigation based on 301 and insulting Turkishness regarding those who apologized to the Armenians stand by in view of the above scene?

If we are so vulnerable in respect to insulting Turkishness then in fact the words of this man should be perceived as a crime and be punished, and if his words are made up he should be punished again. For what he did is in fact an insult on Turkishness.

I have written about it numerous times. The bill for statements made by the prime minister confusing Israel and Jews in order to criticize Israel has finally arrived before us. Now try to sort it out.

A letter written by the most powerful Jewish lobby arrived in Ankara. Articles started to appear in the paper in succession. Turkish Jews are very much annoyed and have spread this annoyance. Murmurs in Jewish financial circles can be heard now. Israel has not made much fuzz about the prime minister’s attitude yet. On the contrary, Israel exhibited signs of understanding. But it is obvious that if this campaign continues their attitude will surely change.

Things have come so far because of the prime minister’s negligence and boorishly used words in respect to Jews that have been abused by extremely pious groups. They have threatened Turkish Jews and demonstrated with green flags. The government confined itself to only observing. Now everybody from President Gül to government spokesman Cemil Çiçek apologized and are reassuring the Turkish Jews.

For it is too late É This is what trust is like. It can’t stand boorishness. Once broken it will not be the same. You’d have to spend much more effort and prove yourself much more. One other victim of the prime minister’s hurtful language is the Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas. To fix the broken vase is again the president’s duty. I don’t know whether or not it is for the sake of winning the favor of Hamas or to continue as the only country able to establish dialogue with Hamas in the region. For it is time to pay attention.

I am a person in favor of and applauding the prime minister’s intervention in disputes in the Middle East. Besides I believe that the prime minister needs to pay attention to his statements and stop choosing hurtful words.