"
Nationalist MPs; tonight, we dine in hell!"
69 MHP deputies may have uttered something like that while preparing to confront 338 furious
AKP members in
a Taiwanese style fistfight in the Turkish parliament yesterday.
Surprisingly, outnumbered MHP have won the fight in the end as they have literally beaten the AKP men who retreated back to their seats in shock and awe.
It all started when MHP deputy Osman Durmus sarcastically said, “
How do you [the hospital] not let the wife of a prime minister who is regarded as prophet come into the hospital," referring to a recent incident in a military hospital where the Turkish First Lady was not allowed the enter because of her headscarf that would violate
the secular dress codes.
Enters Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's Prime Minister. Spitting fire at Durmus in his flash-speech, he accused him with blasphemy, emphasizing that Mohammed was the last prophet. Actually Durmus was quoting a local administrator of AKP, who had claimed last year that Erdogan was "
almost a prophet." Erdogan has ignored this reference completely. He twisted the story as always, making up a new narrative that he would comfortably place himself as a victim. All of his foes were oppressive and/or heretic again. In the end, he shouted the war cry and the horde of Erdoganians attacked absentmindedly.
However, AKP's well-calculated overreaction has ultimately backfired. A few MHP men, whose personal histories were stained by brutal anti-leftist violence, were hard nuts to crack. As all the niminy-piminy AKP deputies were flagging for truce, they were also accepting a public humiliation. Today, most people in Turkey were talking about the parliamentarian embarrassment of AKP. Almost nobody cares about the debate on prophecy, even after all the efforts of the pro-government media to highlight Erdogan's twisted version of the story. For MHP, it was dirty, but still a victory...
While looking at the red face of Erdogan, who seemed like he was in a convulsion of hatred and exasperation, I was seeing everything but religious composure. Was this the number-one political representative of moderate Islam in the world? If Islam is a religion of peace, shouldn't this man be regarded as its iconic antagonist?
Then I've read
a story in the Washington Post. Barack Obama's aides were telling that the US President was actually a
prayerful guy, but he was just not showing it off. Thanks to his faith, he was always remaining calm. The WP story continues as follows:
"
A third senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, said Obama's private religious beliefs have helped sustain his temperament during trying times in office. 'Part of that even temperament comes from his faith which is an important component," Jarrett said. Asked why the public did not hear much about his faith during his first year in office, she nodded and said, 'He's had a lot on his plate.'"
Now who's more Muslim? The Christian Obama or the Islamist Erdogan?
