Vatan columnist Gungor Mengi complained in his column about lack of interest on the part of the authorities in the severe beating of three of Vatan reporters at the hands of members of Islamist Ismailaga sect. Mengi wrote, “PM Erdogan, in his public speeches in city squares frequently says that he ‘loves the created, out of love for the Creator’ [a Sufi saying] implying that he doesn’t differentiate among people and loves them all. He calls female students all over the country that allegedly suffered discrimination because of their Islamic headscarves. He calls to console their parents. He calls to congratulate someone in southeastern Turkey for having his fourth child that he named Tayyip. But the PM didn’t think it was necessary to call Vatan to express sorrow for the vicious attacks that injured its journalists – who are created by Allah too. If he did, he would have to condemn the act of the Islamists and of course he wouldn’t want to do that”.
Vatan criticized the interior minister, Istanbul’s governor and chief of security for keeping silent and ignoring this outrageous assault, and the fact that the suspects were released after their interrogation.
Source: Vatan, Turkey, May 6, 2008
