Wednesday, January 19

Reaction to my post on Hrant Dink (updated)

Wanted to share the following two tweets I received following my post on Hrant Dink and his murder.


Translation: The murder of Hrant Dink was a good thing. Armenian dogs and their friends down to hell. Piss off my list.


Translation: Who are you to feel sorry for the Armenians, you dishonorable dog. Aren't these humans [referring to the video] you, Armenian leftover.

Translation: @arzugeybulla @Gurgin Are you fucking Armenians. Cheap whore.

Translation: @arzugeybulla @nihgun If you support Hrant Dink while your own land Karabakh is under Armenian occupation that means you are a filthy dog.

Translation: @arzugeybulla @nihgun Those like you are not worth even spitting at your face. Its clear what shit you are from things you write.

Translation: @arzugeybulla @Gurgin Is Hrank Dink your uncle? I am hundred percent sure that you are an armenian pimp.

This is exactly what i was talking about in my post- things wont change as long as we have such violent, aggressive rhetoric among our people (It wasn't enough to insult me but they have started insulting my friends). I don't know even know what to say to these people...

10 comments:

Ł. said...

I think it's probably just best to ignore them if people speak out violently and with anger. After all, it's THEY who have a problem (obviously).

Arzu Geybulla said...

Yes, i agree! I have received hate e-mails before calling me a number of different things and when I got one for the very first time, I tried responding in a polite language but it didn't help. I got more hate e-mails. So I decided to ignore. After all its their problem not mine :)
Thanks for the comment,

Anonymous said...

Hi Arzu,

I understand your reaction and I agree that it is undesirable to use rhetoric of violence or offend people simply because they differ in their opinions.

Hrant Dink should not have been killed no matter what he said. Also, it is my firm belief that every caring, peace-seeking citizen of Turkey, Armenia or Azerbaijan would grieve for his death as every truly conscientious citizen of any aforementioned nations would feel pain for Nagorno-Karabagh, black January, Khojaly massacre or, to that end, Armenian genocide.

Nevertheless, with all due respect to your writings (as one of your long-standing readers) it looks less balanced and less diligent attempt when you commemorate Hrant Dink's death and don't jot down a note for black January. The hatred which cost to lose Hrant Dink is exactly the same hatred, albeit institutionalized and armed, that cost lives of dozens in black January. Why not to commemorate both? Don't you think it is ironic to recall death of one in January 19 and be silent about death of dozens a day later whose tragedy woven into that of Hrant Dink's by virtue of large-spread hatred, misunderstanding, tribal politics, wounded memories in Turkey and Caucasus? Or would you label me nationalist, ethno-centrist prig if I ask why you have never commemorated Khojaly massacre in your blog?

The point is not you recall death of one Armenian and are silent death of many Azerbaijanis. The point is why to choose one and ignore other? I understand if you don't mention Rwandan genocide. But why not to commemorate both, death of Hrant Dink and black January or Khojaly massacre (I would applaud you if you would be able to commemorate Armenian genocide too but I understand if you don't - perhaps you don't believe it. Or you are too scared, like me).

Anyway. Sorry for long comment.
Wish you brighter future and more balanced approaches.

Bakuvian

Arzu Geybulla said...

Hi Bakuvian,

And thank you for your comment. And as a response, while I understand your concern, I didn't write about January 20th because I already wrote about January 20th last year and didn't want to repeat myself. Here is the link to that post, in fact, you might remember it yourself: http://flyingcarpetsandbrokenpipelines.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-remember-20-years-exactly-from-today.html

Last year, I didn't write anything on Hrant Dink, so this year, I decided to write a post dedicated to him.

Thats all, if you got the intention that I was choosing one over the other than its a pity, as it wasn't my intention, I simply wanted to share my thoughts on Hrank Dink this year.

True, I haven't written anything about Khojaliy but that wont force me to swear at you or call you names or belittle you. I simply haven't written anything- its my decision at the end of the day however to decide whether to write a post on Khojaly or not, and that concerns all my other posts.

I never chose one over the other...

Thanks for your comment,

Saint Facetious said...

Woah, there are a bunch of future Nobel Peace Prize Laureates! It's unfortunate that the best hope for Azerbaijan (and Armenia) is some sort of reconciliation, but that can never happen when either side has such attitudes. Keep fighting the good fight.

Arzu Geybulla said...

Saint,
Thanks! I am and will :)

Thanks for the comment,

Anonymous said...

Arzu,

Thanks for your response. I'm glad to hear that you don't stereotype me for questions I ask. On another note, I was mistaken about your black January post. Apologies on that.

As to posting on/commemorating Khojaly massacre, I was not arguing what you should and should not post on your blog (if I correctly understood you, this looks like how you interpreted my comment). In fact, I was not arguing at all. I do recognize and respect your freedom of choice without necessarily agreeing on everything you write.

I was simply asking, out of curiosity, why you choose one way and not another way. Why you choose to be silent about Khojaly massacre? Of course, I don't want to read into silence too many things (as if in "susmaq razılıqdı", or "susmaq qızıldı" or if you are silent it is bad, you are not enough honest or any other similar absurdity). But let's acknowledge that the more publicly known, sensitive, and hence relevant is the issue to your blog topics (conflict and peace, losses, between Az-Ar, corruption in AR, democracy, media, etc), the more glaring your choices on to not write certain issues become. Thus, your choice not to write on some issues turns into silence (or ignoring, if you prefer that word) directly relevant to your concerns about peace and they have implications for your larger audience.

How to interpret that silence-choice? I don't know and I don't want to jump into conclusion - that's why I'm asking. You prefer to not disclose your reasons? That's your choice and I'm fine with that (I'm not scorning you because of that and I hope I was able to communicate it).

But I think peace does not come through burying wounds of Armenians, Turks, and Azerbaijanis into silence at critical moments, days, or on critical topics.

Again, brighter future to you and more balanced approaches.


Bakuvian

Arzu Geybulla said...

Dear Bakuvian,

Glad that all is clear about Jan 20th and Hrank Dink.

As to Khojaly- my silence should not be interpreted at all. Let it be.

You see, each post I write is not just a post with empty words or emotions. They are all personal. And it takes me time and emotions to put together my thoughts on any matter. Inspiration is one of them, grief another, happiness or joy and etc.

I grew up in a country where every year since grade 1 i would be shown pictures of murdered little children, raped women, brutally murdered men. Every year, we all see those images- that one day in each year thats dedicated to bringing back the horror memories to the people. But its not like that. The memories of Khojaly should always be with thus and not just remembered once every year. But this doesn't mean that we shouldn't look for reconciliation.

history is important, its what makes every nation speak for itself, for its past- good or bad, successful or failed.

I might write a post about Khojaly, or I might not. But this should not be interpreted as if I don't respect my history and forget about things simply to mend things up and look on forward. And just because I haven't written anything about it, it doesn't mean that I ignore it or forget about it.

As I said, there is no need whatsoever to interpret things- including silence of someone. It might lead to misguidance just like you thought I didn't write anything about January 20th.

Thanks again for your comment.

Anonymous said...

The peace will come when both sides realize that there are no chances for them to win. But, for that to come a lot of innocent people should die. Much much more. It was always like that in human history.
Nationalism, somehow, makes otherwise honest people from both sides defend their criminals and killers and blame totally innosent people from the other side for crimes commited by criminals from the other side. Until we stop blaming the whole nation and start seeing our own criminals, it will happen again.
If, somehow, with some miracle, both sides start caring and tailking more about each other problems and less about their own, suddenly, they will see a solution for the Kharabagh problem. And will wonder how come they didn't see it before.
This might sound too naive, too christian, may be. But I don't see any other solution for now.

Arzu Geybulla said...

Anonymous, thank you for your comment