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Different Standards If Muslims Kill Muslims
(Hurriyet-Turkey) Burak Bekdil - In the Mavi Marmara raid in 2010, Israeli forces unintentionally killed nine Turks. On Dec. 28, 2011, the Turkish Air Force bombed a group of mostly teenage villagers from Uludere in southeastern Turkey, mistaking them for terrorists and killing 34 Turkish citizens. I tend to believe that in both cases the tragic deaths of Turkish citizens should be blamed on gross operational mistakes. But what makes the Mavi Marmara galaxies away from Uludere in terms of legal, moral and political implications? In May 2012, an Istanbul state prosecutor prepared indictments carrying life sentences for four Israeli commanders involved in the raid, charging each of them with first-degree murder, assault, and torture. Meanwhile, not a single Turkish officer/official has been indicted over Uludere. Is this a "family affair" in which the father can kill a son and go unaccountable, but would campaign for revenge if a stranger killed his son? In the immediate aftermath of Mavi Marmara, I wrote in this column: "Subconsciously (and sadly) the Muslim-Turkish thinking tolerates it if Muslims kill Muslims; does not tolerate it but does not turn the world upside down when Christians kill Muslims; pragmatically ignores it when too-powerful Christians kill Muslims; but is programmed to turn the world upside down when Jews kill Muslims."