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.

‘Scared’

Initially the Turkish embassy declined to comment, saying merely that it had seen an increase in hate messages.

But after the story had prompted an outcry in the Netherlands, the embassy said there had been a misunderstanding.

It said a consulate employee had used an unfortunate choice of words in its message sent to Turkish groups in the Netherlands, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported. Apparently the consulate had only asked to hear about racist statements and hate campaigns.

 

Comment:

Last week there was a lot of commotion around the German comedian Jan Böhmermann who insulted President Erdogan on German National Television. This initiated uproar whereupon Erdogan’s lawyer in Germany filed a case against him. The dust had not even settled when some well-known figures from the Netherlands found themselves obliged to stand up for the so called “freedom of speech” which in their view was under threat. So in response they made the same kind of sexual explicit satires.

Like in every case there are always multiple angels from which you can approach the matter. For example we could ask ourselves the question as to why the German National Television approved or decides to air this kind of satire. With the full knowledge that Erdogan will react as he did, provoked. We could also ask the question about the timing of it, now Europe and especially Germany have bilateral agreements with Turkey on the refugee crises. Keeping in mind the tension that it will cause under the millions of citizens with a Turkish background living in Germany, what exactly is the purpose of putting a wedge between people?

Also we could ask ourselves the question about the reality of this so called “freedom of expression” or “freedom of speech”. We could question this so called “freedom” by asking why many Islamic groups, who are non-violent, are forbidden including the activities of Hizb ut Tahrir? Or we could ask the question why a “civilised” nation, as they describe themselves, resorts to such a low standard of communication, if you can classify it as such of course? Yes we could ask about the selective use of “freedom of speech” or its exclusive use of it.

Or you could ask the question why Erdogan took measurements for these insults against his person but maintained his friendly relationships with Western states, who defended the disgusting insults against the best of mankind, Rasulullah (saw) and stood firm behind the insulters.

There are many more questions we could elaborate on. But there is one point that I would like to point out and that is the arrogance and the colonial mind-set of the West. When the Turkish consulate in Holland advised the Turkish people living in the Netherlands to report any kind of insults against the Turkish nation and its leaders it caused tumult in parliament. They were outraged that “Erdogan’s long arm” was still interfering with the Turkish community in the Netherlands. Under all this pressure the consulate quickly took back their request and put it aside as being a mistake made by one of its employers.

The sad part of this is that the “long arm of the West” has been interfering in the affairs of every single Muslim county for the past century. Forcing their colonial agenda on the Muslim’s on a daily basis and we are not even able to proceed even one of our simplest agenda. The “tough” rhetoric of Erdogan will not change the dishonourable master-slave relation we have with the West until the Muslims unity around a sincere leader who will look after all the affairs of the Muslims and who will cut off every single tentacle who stranglehold this noble Ummah.

 

Okay Pala

Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in The Netherlands