Among many verbal assaults the Turkish PM has recently been dishing out, this one has hit very close to home and made me wonder if being here is worth it at all. My purpose of sharing this here is just to get the word out as far as possible, let the world know what kind of a man this is. Turks are generally nice people but this man is drunk with power and is hurting the majority. Here's a Facebook link and a screenshot:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=141906576003232&set=a.139178862942670.1073741829.139067759620447&type=1&theater

Whites are whites, blacks are blacks. Don't expect them to treat you as one of them

Pls, can you translate what he said.

I missed that part, here's a segment of what he said, the part you see on the screen.

"They think we don't understand/know anything about art and music. They think we're Negroes"

^^ That's a strange one. I know of many African art masterpieces and musical geniuses.

Can't think of any Turkish ones.

Put in context that is racist. No other way to define or refine it as some people are trying to do in the Turkish Facebook page.

If indeed this man used the words credited to him then he should feel the heat starting now.

It would be right and just if that speech marked the beginning of the end of his government. With all his country's current problems he had to go out of his way to insult black people who do not have anything to do with the violence on Turkish streets?

Erdogan should be made to pay for this. If not by Turks then by countries with black people. This statement must not go unpunished.

Turkish music and art. I laugh to abijan

Strange statement, in view of the fact that black people are generally much more associated with the arts and definitely music, than most other races.

Maybe its a diss of current forms of black music?

Here's a video and a clearer translation. People are trying to interpret his statement in other ways bt I don't see how the meaning can be missed.

He said:"...They think we don't understand politics, they think we don't understand art, cinema, theater, poetry. They think we don't understand esthetics and architecture. They think we are illiterate, ignorant, low class, people who should be content with what's given to them, in short, we are a black (negro) crowd."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kh93h0Sp-ok

Who utters such words?

ahamdiheme: Here's a video and a clearer translation. People are trying to interpret his statement in other ways bt I don't see how the meaning can be missed.

He said:"...They think we don't understand politics, they think we don't understand art, cinema, theater, poetry. They think we don't understand esthetics and architecture. They think we are illiterate, ignorant, low class, people who should be content with what's given to them, in short, we are a black (negro) crowd."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kh93h0Sp-ok

Who utters such words?

So who's the "WE " he's referring to?

ahamdiheme: Here's a video and a clearer translation. People are trying to interpret his statement in other ways bt I don't see how the meaning can be missed.

He said:"...They think we don't understand politics, they think we don't understand art, cinema, theater, poetry. They think we don't understand esthetics and architecture. They think we are illiterate, ignorant, low class, people who should be content with what's given to them, in short, we are a black (negro) crowd."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kh93h0Sp-ok

Who utters such words?

Sounds like one of Hitler's anti-jewish speaches.

gbanikiti: So who's the "WE " he's referring to?

Who's the "THEY" he's refering to?

In his narrow mind, by "we" he's referring to all Turks but the millions of protesters would say he's talking to just his followers

gbanikiti: So who's the "WE " he's referring to?

zetdee:
Who's the "THEY" he's refering to?

"They" the protesting crowd who he refers to as looters, hooligans and jobless folk. These are engineers, doctors...people from all works of life.

zetdee:
Who's the "THEY" he's refering to?

hey Dumbo,are you trying to say i was wrong? didn't you see the "WE " was in quote?

It's being condoned here on NL so what's the big deal? Since Oga Seun sees no crime using the N word on his site so wetin conjoin you? Despicable to say the least anyway.

Yeske!:
It's being condoned here on NL so what's the big deal? Since Oga Seun sees no crime using the N word on his site so wetin conjoin you? Despicable to say the least anyway.

Using negroe isn't the problem, but attributing all those qualities to black people is unwarranted, that from a prime minister.

.

zetdee:

Using negroe isn't the problem, but attributing all those qualities to black people is unwarranted, that from a prime minister.

Not disputing your view here but if Nigerians and Blacks around the world use such words on themselves, what do we expect? I know Caucasians and other races wounldn't do that. *Not reffering to the Nazis here*

Yeske!:
Not disputing your view here but if Nigerians and Blacks around the world use such words on themselves, what do we expect? I know Caucasians and other races wounldn't do that. *Not reffering to the Nazis here*

The point is that he has singled out the black race to be a list of horrible things. He would have said this about Asians and it would be as bad. That he said negro or black people is just so close to home otherwise I would not even post it here on NL

How are black people going to get respect, when many of us do not respect ourselves?

I think this is a better translation from youtube comments:

"According to them, we do not understand politics.
According to them, we do not understand art, theater, cinema, painting, poetry.
According to them, we do not understand aesthetics, architecture.
According to them, we are a crowd that is uneducated, ignorant, low class, who needs to make do with what is given to them, in other words, a crowd of black people.

ahamdiheme:

The point is that he has singled out the black race to be a list of horrible things. He would have said this about Asians and it would be as bad. That he said negro or black people is just so close to home otherwise I would not even post it here on NL

Erdogan has been spilling irritating statements that works on everyones nerves far and wide since the protest started, but on a general note Turkish are very nice, friendly and accommodating people, I go to Turkey yearly on holiday and they have tremendous respect for Nigerians, I have visited remote places and all I get is welcome and respect from the indigenes, and being a Nigerian Blackman/woman they want to take pictures and make friend with u and are always friendly, so from experience I take it that Erdogan has become confused in his own deluded world of trying to equate himself to the great Ataturk. An average turkish seperate politics and social norms from religion as laid down long ago by Ataturk but Erdogan is trying to force his citizens the other way by banning sales of beer near mosques and kissing in the public, hoping he wouldn't get resistance.

omanzo02:

Erdogan has been spilling irritating statements that works on everyones nerves far and wide since the protest started, but on a general note Turkish are very nice, friendly and accommodating people, I go to Turkey yearly on holiday and they have tremendous respect for Nigerians, I have visited remote places and all I get is welcome and respect from the indigenes, and being a Nigerian Blackman/woman they want to take pictures and make friend with u and are always friendly, so from experience I take it that Erdogan has become confused in his own deluded world of trying to equate himself to the great Ataturk. An average turkish seperate politics and social norms from religion as laid down long ago by Ataturk but Erdogan is trying to force his citizens the other way by banning sales of beer near mosques and kissing in the public, hoping he wouldn't get resistance.

I live in Turkey so yes I can confirm that there are Turks that are very nice and hospitable. Erdogan is not trying to equate himself to Ataturk he knows it is impossible. Ataturk was not conservative, Erdogan is. In fact Erdogan if left on his own will get rid of all the Ataturk principles and instill the old Ottoman-type of system. The man talks carelessly and shows no remorse; he has an ego that is bigger than his own country; he has proved to be undiplomatic and his people are tired. The followers he has are the ignorant and illiterate that NEED to be dictated to and will not question anything.
I am VERY impressed with the protesting Turks you should see how organized and unified they have been. Here's a petition written by African students it would be nice if you signed it, thanks and please do not say it does not concern you because it does. Thanks.

https://www.change.org/petitions/prime-minister-of-turkey-recep-tayyip-erdo%C4%9Fan-we-demand-public-apology-to-all-black-people-in-the-world?utm_campaign=share_button_mobile&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

i dont think it should be blown out of proportion.

White Turks versus Black Turks

[b]The origin of this distinction goes back to the 1980s, when the phrase "White Turk" was used by journalists to depict the rising urban bourgeoisie. It had a clear elitist and exclusionary undertone, distinguishing the so-called Kemalist secularists from the so-called anti-Kemalist "Islamists".

The "Black Turks" had no qualms with the distinction either. It was none other than Prime Minister Erdogan who declared in an interview, as early as 2003: "In this country, there is a segregation between White Turks and Black Turks. Your brother Tayyip belongs to the Black Turks."

The phrase "White Turks-Black Turks" quickly became a code word for the ideogical and cultural cleavages of the AKP era. Now, the distinction is based on lifestyle differences, with the urban, Westernised, educated and relatively wealthy classes opposed to rural, illiterate, backward and poor masses.

The class racism inherent in the distinction is mixed in certain cases with a strong dose of biological racism, as the infamous case of Mine Kirikkanat, a journalist who talked about Black Turks "with short legs, hairy and long arms, ruminating, burping and scratching" in an article she wrote in July 2005, illustrates.

It is often accompanied by an element of welfare chauvinism as the elites are no longer willing to share their prosperity with the poor masses.

Black Turks strike back

The Gezi protests have shown us that this distinction is more deep-seated and pervasive than we thought, and that White Turk elitism has created its own Frankenstein, Black Turk populism.

That a defiant Erdogan would rely on the imagery of the oppressed, yet silent and law-abiding majority, is not in itself surprising.[/b]


http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/06/201362495929920667.html

Do you know what the term "zenci" means? Beyaz (White) Turk and Siyah (Black) Turk are totally different things. I wonder why people try to explain or interpret his statement in another way; once you say zenci, everyone knows who you are refering to. The Aljazeera article has nothing to do with his specific statement.
It is so annoying

vedaxcool: White Turks versus Black Turks

[b]The origin of this distinction goes back to the 1980s, when the phrase "White Turk" was used by journalists to depict the rising urban bourgeoisie. It had a clear elitist and exclusionary undertone, distinguishing the so-called Kemalist secularists from the so-called anti-Kemalist "Islamists".

The "Black Turks" had no qualms with the distinction either. It was none other than Prime Minister Erdogan who declared in an interview, as early as 2003: "In this country, there is a segregation between White Turks and Black Turks. Your brother Tayyip belongs to the Black Turks."

The phrase "White Turks-Black Turks" quickly became a code word for the ideogical and cultural cleavages of the AKP era. Now, the distinction is based on lifestyle differences, with the urban, Westernised, educated and relatively wealthy classes opposed to rural, illiterate, backward and poor masses.

The class racism inherent in the distinction is mixed in certain cases with a strong dose of biological racism, as the infamous case of Mine Kirikkanat, a journalist who talked about Black Turks "with short legs, hairy and long arms, ruminating, burping and scratching" in an article she wrote in July 2005, illustrates.

It is often accompanied by an element of welfare chauvinism as the elites are no longer willing to share their prosperity with the poor masses.

Black Turks strike back

The Gezi protests have shown us that this distinction is more deep-seated and pervasive than we thought, and that White Turk elitism has created its own Frankenstein, Black Turk populism.

That a defiant Erdogan would rely on the imagery of the oppressed, yet silent and law-abiding majority, is not in itself surprising.[/b]


http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/06/201362495929920667.html