Speaking to Today’s Zaman about a recent plot devised by some military officers called the Cage Action Plan that aimed to assassinate minority leaders, Özdemir said it was impossible for a country that eliminates its religious minorities to be laic. “If Turkey today was a country which still had its [non-Muslim] minorities, maybe its membership in the EU would have gone smoothly.”
Criticizing the application of the principle of laicism in Turkey, Özdemir said that the republic has always abused this principle. Noting that the Cage plan was despicable, he added that there still remained many questions to be answered such as whether those who have been spreading a fear of religious fundamentalism until now have used laicism to intervene in politics.
He also shared his opinion on the murder of his close friend Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed on Jan. 19, 2007 in broad daylight by an ultra-nationalist teenager. Saying that he has been following the murder trial closely, Özdemir stated that there was a deeper structure behind the murder.
He said Turkey has lost a lot of its values due to atrocities such as the killing of Hrant Dink, the killing of an Italian Priest in 2006, the incidents of Sept. 6-7 [1955], the exodus of the Greeks and the assets tax [imposed on non-Muslims in the early republican era]. “What kind of laicité is this? How can a Turkey purged from its non-Muslims possibly be laic?” he said.
He said Turkey was just beginning to emerge from the legacy of the Sept. 12 [1980] coup d’état. “Turkey has always been ruled with fear. There have always been fear mongers speaking of traitors, external enemies and other forces trying to destroy Turkey. From now on, the republic is on its way to becoming a real republic. They tried to hold the republic together with fear. But a country cannot stand on its feet with fear, but with a Constitution, rule of law and justice.”
